#Maze insists on hunting down the responsible party

[ranger-of-estel]

Deckerstar (friendship or OTP, I'm feeling angst) + “She’s at the hospital. I—I don’t know what happened.”

“She’s at the hospital. I—I don’t know what happened.” Deckerstar - Established (alternate S5 where Lucifer got to come back without Michael ever being involved)

 So...this one got away from me. And honestly I have at least double this amount in my head for a continuation on this. But if I wait until I have time to write all of it then it’s more of a short story than a prompt fill, so I finally decided to cut it here.

First time writing these characters, so here’s hoping I didn’t butcher them.

~~~~~~~~~

               They are at the precinct, Ella updating them with what she’s found on their most recent case. Chloe stepped out for a call, and conversation slips to local events while they wait for her to return.

               “I’m just saying,” Ella points at him with a thin piece of metal. “I’ve heard you perform, you’d sell out a concert.”

               “I am not disagreeing, Miss Lopez.” Lucifer shrugs, “but Lux stays quite full as it is.”

               “That’s not –” She cuts off as the door opens, “Chloe, tell Lucifer…” She frowns, voice suddenly concerned, “Chloe?”

               Lucifer turns to face his partner, a fear he hasn’t seen in their eyes since…”Trixie?”

               She nods, “The school just called. She’s at the hospital,” he voice cracks, “I don’t know what happened. All they’ll say is she fell and –”

               “Detective,” she takes a shuddering breath as he takes her hand. “That’s it.” He turns to Ella, “Miss Lopes, would you be so kind as to inform the Captain that Detective Decker has had a family emergency?”

               “Totally!” She comes around the table, pulling the detective into a tight hug. Ash she pulls away she looks up at him, “keep me posted.”

               He nods, “of course.” He follows as Chloe grabs her bag, waiting to take her arm until they are outside.

               “What are you doing?” Chloe glares as he leads her to the side of the precinct. “Lucifer, this isn’t the time for your theatrics.”

               “On the contrary, it seems like exactly the time.” He opens his wings, holding an arm out. “Even you can’t drive faster than an Angel flies.” He tilts his head, “unless you would rather deal with lunch hour traffic?”

               “No,” She allows him to tuck her into his side, arms around his neck as he grabs her by the waist. Her only warning is his grip tightening, and then they are moving. It’s all so fast she hardly has time to register, his hands steadying her as he lands in an ally.

               “Easy, Chloe.” Her hand goes to her head, which is spinning. “Unfortunately you humans don’t handle flight as well as we do.”

               “No kidding.” After another minute the spinning has stopped, she’s mildly nauseated but ignores it.

               “You go ahead,” he motions toward the hospital. Before she can protest he waves a hand dismissively, “I’m just going back for the car. You can hardly tell the Captain that the devil flew you to the hospital when if he asks why our cars were still parked.”

               She nods, “Lucifer!” she grabs his wrist, his wings dropping as he looks at her. “Thank you.”

               He softens, “you needn’t thank me, not for this.” He motions toward the building once more, “now go, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

               Once back to his car he breaks speed limits and a few traffic laws to get back to the hospital. Once he’s parked he makes his way to the front desk. “Trixie Decker,” he states before the young receptionist has time to speak.

               “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a Trixie in my system.” She replies with a frown.

               “Ah, my apologies dear. Try Beatrice Decker,”

               Another moment of typing and she nods to herself, “are you the father?”

               “No,” he shakes his head. “But she is….family.” There’s a sentence he’d never expected to say. The woman nods again, giving him the room number and brief directions.

               When Lucifer arrives Chloe is sitting next to the bed; Trixie is unconscious, a bandaged wrapped around her head. There’s a cold fury settling in his chest, but for now he buries the need to punish someone in favor of comforting his partner.

               Chloe looks up when he comes into the room, rising to close the distance between them. The fear has shifted into concern, a frown etched on her lips. “They think it’s a mild concussion.” She turns back to face the bed, arms crossing over her chest. “All the school rep said she fell.”

               “Was no one watching them? Didn’t anyone see what happened?” He asks, looking from Chloe to the child then back.

               “They don’t want to tell me anything other than they are ‘still gathering information.’” He assumes her tone is a direct mockery of the representative she’d spoken with. “Doctor said once she wakes up and they can run a few tests they’ll have a better idea of the extent of the damage…” her voice wavers, trailing off before she take a shuddering breath.

               “Hey,” he gently tugs at her wrist, Chloe instantly pushing into his chest as his arms wrap around her. “She’s a strong little creature…like her mother.” He rests his chin on the top of her head, “I suspect Trixie will be up and about in no time.”

               He waits until she begins to pull away to release her, reaching up to push loose hair from her face. She nods, giving him a weak smile. She reaches down, grabbing her phone as she takes another step away from him. “I should try and reach Dan again,” she runs a hand through her hair. “He’s camping and the school wasn’t able to reach him.”

               “If it’s all right with you, I’m going to go find where they sell caffeinated beverages.” He tilts his head, “Would you like anything?”

               “Actually, a coffee sounds amazing.” She smiles at him, and with a dip of his head he’s taken to the halls once more. It doesn’t take long for him to procure the coffees and a pastry. He stops in one of the waiting rooms, pulling out his own phone.

               He listens to it ring before finally there’s a female voice on the other side. “Hello?”

               “Doctor,” he greets. “I need your advice?”

               “Oh, um sure. What’s going on?” Linda asks, Charlie cooing in the background.

               “The Detec- Chloe’s daughter is in the hospital,” he’s suddenly cut off.

               “Oh my God Lucifier, what happened?” Linda’s voice has pitched and he sighs.

               “She apparently fell at school, they believe it’s a concussion.” He replies adding before she can cut him off once more. “I need to know how to help Chloe. All of my experience thus far has been her in the hospital, not someone she cares about.”

               Linda’s voice softens, “Lucifer, you’re already doing it. The best thing you can do for Chloe right now is be there to support her.” He hears Charlie begin to cry in the background, “look Lucifer, I have to go. But if there is anything you need just let us know.”

               “Of course. Thank you, Doctor.” He ends the call and after pocketing his phone grabs the drinks and pastry once more. It wasn’t the answer he had hoped for, but at least looking out for his partner was something he knew he could do.

               When he makes it back to the room Chloe is in the bedside chair once more, some of tension leaving her shoulders when she sees him. “I thought you might be hungry,” he offers the iced muffin alongside her coffee.

               She accepts them gratefully, motioning to the seat beside her. “Dan is on his way, but it will be a few hours before he can get here.”  

               “Well, until dear Daniel can arrive…I’m not going anywhere.” He reaches out to rest his hand on her leg. “I’m here as long as you need me.”

               “Damn it, Lucifer.” Chloe’s voice wavers, and he watches as she rubs her eyes with the back of her hand. Before he can voice concern she continues, “you’re going to make me cry…”

               “I’m…sorry?” He’s not sure exactly how to proceed, thankfully she doesn’t give him time to question himself.

               “No,” she sets the coffee down so she can grab his hands with hers. “I just…you’re…” she takes a slow breath. “It means a lot, that you’ll stay.” Her gaze drops to their hands, “There are so many questions, and I’m terrified…but you.” She looks up to give him a small smile. “You’re like an anchor, keeping me steady.” She leans, resting her head on his shoulder. “Thank you.”

               “As I said before, you needn’t thank me, love.” He runs his thumb over her knuckles. “I’ve no intention of leaving you to handle things alone, not anymore.” He presses a ghost of a kiss to her crown, “besides, the little gremlin has grown on me.”

It pulls a laugh from her, and for now that is enough.

[zrtranscripts]

Season 9, Mission 14: Fort Knox

Tour group

~

JANINE DE LUCA: All right Runner Five, Mr. Yao. There is only audio surveillance in this room and I have muffled the microphones. We can talk freely.

SAM YAO: I really don't like this, Janine. I mean, okay, they did let us into Van Ark's mystery base, but then they stuck us in this tiny room, insisted we take medical exams. Peter and Maryam still aren't back from the med bay. I can't believe we let them just inject us with tracking devices.

JANINE DE LUCA: We had no choice, Mr. Yao. It was take the subcutaneous trackers or leave Red Scorpion Base. General Bakari claimed he would meet us on arrival, but so far we have only been escorted by soldiers. The security here is intense. Barbed wire fencing, perimeter guard towers, patrols in unmarked uniforms. If our operation goes wrong, escape will not be... [door creaks open] Someone's approaching. [loudly] Which is why they'd better pay well for this job! Don't you agree, Sven?

SAM YAO: Uh... yeah. Yes. Mercenaries, us. Money, ooh, we want it.

GENERAL BAKARI: You can relax. I've relieved the guards in this section, shut down the cameras.

JANINE DE LUCA: General Bakari, there are others in our team -

GENERAL BAKARI: - still in the medical bay. We can't wait. The trackers you've received are a new security provision powered by bioelectric energy. They didn't tell you this, but it takes about 40 minutes for a tracker to stabilize in its new host. We've got that long before your every movement is monitored. That's just enough time. [drops bag on the floor] There are maintenance uniforms in the duffel bag. Put them on.

JANINE DE LUCA: General -

GENERAL BAKARI: I trust you weren't counting on a sentimental reunion, De Luca? There's a mission at hand. Red Scorpion Base has a secret you're going to help me liberate. All of you, out into the corridor. No time to dawdle.

~

SAM YAO: This place is just a maze of metal hallways, isn't it? Shh. Hey, do you guys hear that?

[distant metallic footsteps]

GENERAL BAKARI: A patrol coming from the intersection ahead. Duck into that store room, quick. [cloth rustles, footsteps pass] They've passed. Those maintenance uniforms will help at a distance, but the patrols here know all the authorized faces. Come on, this way. Speaking of faces, it's Runner Five, isn't it? You gave me this gammy leg. My own stupid mistake, I admit, chasing you on that motorcycle.

JANINE DE LUCA: Perhaps if you had not sided with Prime Minister Hakkinen, General, you might have avoided injury.

GENERAL BAKARI: Is that reproach I hear, De Luca? You were always so quick to judge. Sigrid was a monster, but with impressive ambition. It seemed folly to oppose her, so i toed the party line loudly when she was listening. Soldiers served their country, after all. I hear there's a thief in charge these days. Not sure your vote turned out much more righteous than mine.

SAM YAO: Hey!

JANINE DE LUCA: Don't let him needle you, Mr. Yao. The base, General. It is in excellent condition, especially given we have seen evidence it predates Z-Day.

GENERAL BAKARI: Very good, De Luca. Yes, Red Scorpion Base has been here for many years. Once we get to the next intersection, you'll see where it came from. Where's Tom, Janine? I was sure he'd be with your team.

JANINE DE LUCA: Tom... Tom was killed in action some time ago.

GENERAL BAKARI: Unfortunate. He had a weak heart, that boy. I saw it every day I sheltered you two after your parents passed. Thought I taught you to watch out for each other!

I'm not authorized for this part of the base. I've stolen passes, but if we're caught here, we will be shot. Do you see the turrets bracketing the door ahead? Machine gun emplacements, automated. Look at the symbol on the turret mountings below each gun barrel.

SAM YAO: Those are stars and stripes. Flags, American flags.

[door rattles open]

GENERAL BAKARI: And past the door, a flag painted on the wall. They're not allowed to fly one outside. Red Scorpion Base was established by the American military 20 years before Z-Day. Black ops research, top secret, and they're still very much running it today. Quickly, all of you, there are a lot more patrols in the next section. Follow the corridor branch left, on the double.

~

SAM YAO: Look, Five, by the water cooler. That's the portrait of the last US president. God, this is crazy. There's still a US military and they're hanging around a base in Tunisia!

JANINE DE LUCA: A base somehow connected to Ernest Van Ark and V-type fungus.

GENERAL BAKARI: You already know about the local fungus, eh? The US military heard rumors of it decades before Z-Day, whispers unearthed by archaeologists in North Africa. They thought it had martial potential, set up a base here to dig for it. They hit on caves of the stuff underground. There's an archive room on our way. I'll show you what they found.

SAM YAO: Wow! Janine, look! Down the corridor to the right, that looks like the war room from, well, every movie with a war room ever. Ah, there must be a hundred screens in there.

JANINE DE LUCA: All cycling through images of landmarks. The Brandenburg Gate, Times Square full of zombies, a toppled Eiffel Tower. General, are these images current? What reach does this army have?

GENERAL BAKARI: Honestly, the US isn't what it was, but the man in charge of Red Scorpion Base likes to keep eyes everywhere. [drones whir] Come on, there are surveillance drones in these corridors. I hear some coming. Forward.

SAM YAO: [whispers] Likes to keep his eyes everywhere? Yeah, yeah, that sounds like Van Ark, doesn't it, Five? If the Americans are running Red Scorpion Base, is he backed by their army? The others are getting ahead. We'd best speed up.

~

[door rattles open]

GENERAL BAKARI: We're in the main research annex deep underground. This is an archive room, oldest on Red Scorpion Base. If you want to know about the fungus, this is the place.

SAM YAO: But it's just a room full of dusty filing cabinets. Oh, and Polaroid pictures of scientists stuck up on the wall. Scientists in a cavern full of black ash.

GENERAL BAKARI: Certain branches under the Department of Defense saw huge promise in the fungus. They dreamed of perfecting a symbiosis to make humans faster, better, stronger. The early experiments went poorly. People died. The decision was made to destroy the fungus after it nearly escaped containment, every trace burned away.

JANINE DE LUCA: General, the glass tank in that corner, the blackened lump inside...

GENERAL BAKARI: A relic. This room is a memorial. The old research data is all locked away. The lump is a museum piece, scorched rock from a once red cave, long dead now.

JANINE DE LUCA: Then... the fungus is not why you summoned us?

GENERAL BAKARI: Not at all, De Luca, though not a bad guess. What I have for you is much more important. Come along through the far door. Incidentally, you see the old photo on the left, the one showing a team in bulky armor scouring rocks with flamethrowers? They still call Red Scorpion’s emergency response the fire team. These days, they wear powered exoskeletons, flamethrowers integrated. They're what comes for us if we make a mistake. We're short on time. Go.

~

SAM YAO: Loads of fancy computers in here, Five. Must be in a sciency bit.

GENERAL BAKARI: Ancillary data storage. From here, we can access files from the Red Scorpion's latter day experiments. Listen carefully, De Luca. The base contracted your team on my recommendation. Since Z-Day, Red Scorpion's been short-handed. They sometimes recruit outside personnel. Three months ago, one of my aides went MIA. Any deserter is viewed as an unacceptable security risk.

SAM YAO: Did you kill him?

GENERAL BAKARI: Fellow took a bad fall. I disposed of the body, arranged evidence of his flight to the mountains, suggested we needed help to locate him. Obviously, no one's ever going to find him outside, and our security head is getting desperate. Once she briefs you, she'll send you into the mountains to hunt down the deserter. There, you'll divert to designated coordinates. You'll find buried parts of a vehicle I've had hidden. Assemble it and escape.

JANINE DE LUCA: You are not coming with us, General?

GENERAL BAKARI: I'm rarely allowed off the base, and I don't intend to return to the UK to stand trial. I know you're thinking it, De Luca.

JANINE DE LUCA: You betrayed your nation. It would be my duty.

GENERAL BAKARI: And you always loved duty. As a child, you used to turn your night light out on principle. [computer beeps] Give me a minute with the computer. I'll get what you're here for.

SAM YAO: Um, which is what, exactly?

GENERAL BAKARI: Research from Red Scorpion Base, something that can change the future. The file I'm giving you is encrypted, I can't open it. Did you bring a computer expert?

SAM YAO: Sort of. We, um, lost our equipment, though.

GENERAL BAKARI: The file is too big to transmit without powerful equipment. If you were able to decrypt it, you might have been able to send key details out. As it is, you'll need to get this thumb drive to the UK intact. If anyone suspects you're smuggling data off the base, you're dead, understand?

JANINE DE LUCA: General, if we leave you here -

GENERAL BAKARI: I'll be fine, so long as the operation succeeds. Humanity, kin, and hope, De Luca. That's what this is for. Do not let me down. The head of security just pinged me. The rest of your team is done in the medical center. She wants to brief you all, stat. We need to get back. There's one more thing I need to give you. Through the door on the right. The doctors should be on their break. This way, run!

~

JANINE DE LUCA: General, is this a hospital ward?

GENERAL BAKARI: It's an emergency care area. Ah, here it is. Five, give me your arm. My research indicates you'll be the best subject for this.

SAM YAO: Wait, what-what are you doing? You can't just inject strange substances into people!

GENERAL BAKARI: The bio data in the injection is a crucial component of the information in the files. The only way to transport it is inside a living host.

JANINE DE LUCA: It's long past time you explained exactly what this information is, General.

GENERAL BAKARI: It's a cure, Janine.

SAM YAO: For what?

GENERAL BAKARI: For everything. Every ailment that plagues humanity, every virus, every infection. A panacea.

JANINE DE LUCA: That's impossible.

GENERAL BAKARI: No. It may take years, even generations to formulate a usable vaccine, but the germ of it is here. The zombie plague has brought such pain to humanity. I accept I played my part in it. But this data, the antibodies in Five's blood, and the files on that drive, they may be the one worthwhile thing to come out of all that death.

JANINE DE LUCA: Then I leave the decision to you, Five. Very well. Proceed, General.

SAM YAO: I'm just gonna, um, not be here watching that. Injections always make me feel queasy.

GENERAL BAKARI: Your trust will be repaid, Janine, I promise you.

JANINE DE LUCA: I hope so.

SAM YAO: Oh my God. Janine, Five, over here! There's a door with a little porthole. On the other side, it's-it's Van Ark! He's unconscious, hooked up to, well, it's like a giant dialysis machine. Looks like it's draining him.

GENERAL BAKARI: I was saving him until last. Good bait to get you here, but if I explained too soon, you'd only get distracted.

JANINE DE LUCA: Is Van Ark running the research department? What are the Americans giving him through those tubes?

GENERAL BAKARI: Van Ark running the place? [laughs] Not at all. The fellow at the top, no one ever sees. Nasty piece of work by all accounts. But Van Ark here, he isn't in charge of anything. Van Ark is one of the experiments.

~

[tarralin]

3. Why Not?

This is the continuation of Diabolicus. You can find my other works on the Master List linked in my blog's description.

Thank you @ikemenfics for beta reading!

Enjoying my work? Buy me a coffe at http://ko-fi.com/tarralin

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

~*~

...

The indulgence of diversion was simply at an end.

...

At least, that was what Kennyo tried to tell himself each night he stood at the forest’s edge until the last candle had been snuffed out. He hadn’t entered her dreams in three nights. It was for the best. His place was in Hell where he needed to return and await his next summoning… and still he found himself watching over her daily actions.

Still he found himself peering through her dreamsphere each night, giving into curiosity.

This night, she sauntered along a stone balcony he knew only existed on castles of old lands and nowhere near these colonies of a young world. The golden gown that clothed her was the fashion of an ended age with the square neckline of a constraining bodice and full skirt swaying across the polished marble floor. A looping filigree traced the long, draping sleeves until the crimson trimming ended its pathway. Her silver locks were kept in their place by pearl encrusted combs pinned to the base of her head and then the luminous curls were allowed to dance freely in the moonlight.

Just as before, her gaze snapped to his without warning as a smile bloomed. “Now Puzzle Maker, I remember giving you permission to enter without invitation.”

“That you did,” Kennyo grinned as he joined her at the balcony. “As unnecessary as it was.”

Her smile faltered slightly at that. “Don't most immortals need permission to enter a realm or residence?”

“They do but, in the case of the Dreamscape—" Kennyo raised his left hand for her inspection, “—only a hair is needed to unlock the portal.”

A bark of laughter slipped from her throat once her eyes found the single silver strand wrapped around his fingers. “So, you've obviously had a plan from the beginning. You sought me out for possible connections to My Brother Once Was… but why do I still feel your presence like a second shadow? Why did you stay?”

Why indeed? Kennyo wasn't sure, even now, only knew that he felt a tug back to the mortal realm each time he stood at the precipice of Hell’s entrance. A pull that only ended in her presence like a fisherman's tether that had caught its prize. Not that he could tell her that, settling instead for indifference. “Why not?”

Her lavender eyes narrowed at the blasé response as if she could see through to the truth but kept her thoughts to herself. A sudden swell of music echoed through the stone walls of the palace to his ears, bringing back her usual radiant smile as she pushed from the balcony. A quick flourish of her hand had a pair of doors forming in the wall before her where previously only solid stone stood. Another flick of the wrist commanded them to swing, opening to a massive ballroom that hosted a moderate crowd of lavishly dressed dancers.

“What is this?” Kennyo questioned skeptically.

With a grin, she spun full circle as if to encompass the entire room until she met his gaze again. “My own means.”

He grinned at the repeated phrase from All Hallows Eve as he circled her in the same form of the dance portrayed by the dreamfolk before offering his hand to her in invitation. “So you often dream of parties that occurred before your time?”

She accepted his hand happily. “My time? Ha! You don’t know much of my kind, do you?”

“Of nephilim? Apologies, but no, I don't. The last Half-Born I know of was the giant Goliath.”

“Goliath? Truly? I didn’t realize we were so…”

“Rare?” He provided when her words trailed off.

“Yes… No wonder Heaven is so insistent on my conversion!” She shook her head, clearing her eyes of the evident disbelief before continuing with her original thought. “My twin and I were born in the spring of fourteen seventy-two but it wasn't until our fortieth winter approached that we realized we hadn't aged like those around us.”

Extended longevity, one more bit to file away on the knowledge of nephilim. “So these fashions and parties were of your time.”

“Yes,” her steps slowed a moment while she glanced around the ballroom, as if seeing memories of old play across her vision. “My brother’s scholarly pursuits lead us to London and in the presence of Henry VIII for a brief time. I was allowed to attend a party similar to this once.”

“Enjoyed it so much you now repeat it in sleep?”

The music ended and they parted per etiquette. “You catch on quick, Puzzle Maker.”

“I’d like to think so,” he raised his hand to her again as a new, lively tune arose.

Just as before, Kennyo picked up the rhythm of the new dance easily and was soon leading her through the steps as designed. She seemed to truly float in his arms with the absence of physical touch, the rustling of her dress along the floor as the only indicator she was there at all.

“Tell me, Lady Nephilim,” he started as he spun her in time with the music, pulling her back flush against his chest. “Why do you call me ‘Puzzle Maker'?”

“You've not offered another title for me to address you by, nor have you told me what you are. Our names have power, even on the Dreamscape, which is why I haven't asked you of yours or corrected that which you call me. Actually, I've grown quite fond of your gifted moniker.” She glanced over her shoulder to ensure he saw her grin. “Are you not a puzzle maker? Have to say, you had me fooled by all those games you sent me.”

“ ‘Games’?!” He scoffed at her flippant attitude, pivoting himself to face her again. “Did any of those ‘games’ challenge you? Frighten you?”

Her smile turned thoughtful for a moment. “The maze.”

“The maze? How so?”

“Come, I'll show you.” She turned on her heel and pulled him by the hand through the crowd. A curtain hung along the ballroom wall that she threw aside to reveal another set of double doors. They flew open without so much as a tap of her fingers, leading immediately outside where an expansive garden laid before them. A hedge work maze stretched as far as the eye could see, the wall of green standing twice Kennyo’s height and eliminating all visual capabilities aside from staring straight up into the sky.

“Now, let me think…”

His gaze settled back to her. The new, predatorial drawl to her words unsettled his resolve as the doors clamped shut behind them with a boom. A wolfish smirk blossomed upon her features when she released his hand and disappeared through a split in the trees. He sprinted through the same split, instincts screaming that he not lose sight of her. Truly, dear Lady, a chase?

“Something's missing...” her voice pranced across his ears as he turned the first corner. She was nowhere to be seen despite the closeness of her teasing statement. “Oh, now I remember!”

An ear shattering howl sounded from the entrance. If he possessed his physical senses, Kennyo was sure his lungs would have frozen. There was only one beast that could relinquish such a soul searing wail. He dove to the left wing and pounded down the gravel path, cursing himself for being so clever as to include Hell’s Hound in the crafted nightmares.

“And let’s not forget…”

A gale of wind whistled through the pathway with enough force to tumble him to his knees, leaves biting across his nose with the realization he could feel the sting. This was far beyond the common lucidity that even some mortals could master. Just what kind of sorcery did the Lady Nephilim practice to accomplish this feat?

The fiendish snarls of Hell’s cruelest creature grew close to his heels. If he could feel the leaves and wind, what damage could the hound’s fangs inflict?

The path brought him to another three way choice. He took the right wing this time, hoping to throw off the hound but still growls of the hunt followed his steps until another choice lay before him. Straight ahead it is.

Again? Right.

This is ridiculous! Left.

Kennyo happened upon another break in the tree line with the same choice trio. “What ‘game’ are you playing here?!” He shouted to the sky, knowing she’d hear him.

Her words were like warm honey over his conscious regardless of her role as the tormentor. “The very same you played at my expense. This one's not so fun, is it?” The chilled blast of wind carried the roar of the pursuing predator.

A sigh from the Nephilim. “Neither left, right, nor forward have proven successful, and you certainly can't go whence you came. Come now, think on it!”

The gale’s howling was rivaled only by that of the hound encroaching upon him. He had to choose again and he had to choose now but no matter which path he chose, it would continuously loop back to this same trident. How did she solve it when she was closed in on all sides—

No. Not all sides.

At the same moment the snarling beast would have captured him, Kennyo lunged onto a nearby branch of the hedge work and climbed. He focused solely on his footwork as he swung from one bough to the next, lest he fall to the jaws of his own handiwork. Once he scaled to the top, the ferocity of both wind and monstrosity ceased and he could see a clear passage to the epicenter.

She lounged across a stone bench waiting for him. She had changed from the golden gown of a queen to a shimmering cloth that matched her eyes, similar to that he often saw draped upon the women of Heaven when they came to dissuade contract seeking mortals. The robe flattered her greatly instead of appearing as if it had been wrapped around in haste and without care. She could have stepped into a painted rendition of the ancient isles and taken their wardrobe for herself.

Kennyo shook his head to clear away the distraction, focusing on her gaze. “You climbed the wall.”

“I climbed the wall,” she agreed, grinning again. “Though it took me nearly all night to figure it out, so I applaud your speed. Ironic that it took you seven turns.”

“Six,” he corrected only to witness her shaking her head.

“The climb counts as a turn, but enough of that.” She stood and crossed the distance to properly meet his gaze. “Why did you stay?”

“Pardon?” Why that question, of all things?

“My hair gives free reign to enter this realm and whatever plans you initially had for Nari dissolved once you learned I would be of no use to you. Yet, you continued to watch over me. Even now, here in the maze, you could have left at anytime. Yet, you worked through it. So I ask again… Why. Do. You. Stay?”

Persistent little thing aren't you? “I… wish I could tell you, dear Lady, but the truth is I don't know the answer.”

There was a glimmer in her eyes at the honesty. “I have a thought on that myself, but I think it best if you realize on your own.”

Suddenly, he wished he had told her of the frustrations of the last weeks, the sensation of being drawn back to her side, everything. In the centuries he walked as a demon, he possessed neither emotions nor indecisiveness. Only a hollowness that was continuously questioned by the mortals as he could never empathize with the tearful pleas or their need for the attentions of another. Even before selling his soul as a human, he’d been free of earthly entanglements and desires.

Now, he understood. Need. Desire. Longing. Did a term even exist to describe to the endless flurry of emotions swirling within him? As he willingly stood here at her mercy, he knew he would beg without qualms for an end to the storm just as much as he wished it to continue for eternity. How could he be affected so greatly? How was this possible?

There was only one impossible answer.

“You really do catch on quick,” she whispered as she lightly trailed a hand up his arm. “It appears you figured it out already.”

Kennyo framed her face in his palms, suddenly lamenting the lack of a physical presence. “Why?”

This time, the brilliance of her smile as she mimicked his motions of cupping his face nearly blinded him. “Why not?”

~*~

If you're curious, see the dress that I was inspired by and envisioned here:

~*~

[otome-addicts-notsoanonymous]

This is the entry by @tarralin for the fanfic giveaway! Remember, you must COMMENT on this post to vote! Voting rules and the master post are under #fanficgiveawaymaster or here. Submissions can also be found under #fanficsubmissions.

Diabolicus

Ch 3. Why not?

Author: @tarralin

~*~

Below is my entry for the Fan Writer Contest. This is actually the third installment of Diabolicus, a currently on going fic featuring IkeSen’s Kennyo and an OC that is the twin sister of IkeSen’s Mitsunari.

Thank you for your time! Enjoy!

~*~

At least, that was what Kennyo tried to tell himself each night he stood at the forest’s edge until the last candle had been snuffed out. He hadn’t entered her dreams in three nights. It was for the best. His place was in Hell where he needed to return and await his next summoning… and still he found himself watching over her daily actions.

Still he found himself peering through her dreamsphere each night, giving into curiosity.

This night, she sauntered along a stone balcony he knew only existed on castles of old lands and nowhere near these colonies of a young world. The golden gown that clothed her was the fashion of an ended age with the square neckline of a constraining bodice and full skirt swaying across the polished marble floor. A looping filigree traced the long, draping sleeves until the crimson trimming ended its pathway. Her silver locks were kept in their place by pearl encrusted combs pinned to the base of her head and then the luminous curls were allowed to dance freely in the moonlight.

Just as before, her gaze snapped to his without warning as a smile bloomed. “Now Puzzle Maker, I remember giving you permission to enter without invitation.”

“That you did,” Kennyo grinned as he joined her at the balcony. “As unnecessary as it was.”

Her smile faltered slightly at that. “Don’t most immortals need permission to enter a realm or residence?”

“They do but, in the case of the Dreamscape–” Kennyo raised his left hand for her inspection, “–only a hair is needed to unlock the portal.”

A bark of laughter slipped from her throat once her eyes found the single silver strand wrapped around his fingers. “So, you’ve obviously had a plan from the beginning. You sought me out for possible connections to the angel once my brother… and yet I still feel your presence like a second shadow. Why do you stay?”

Why indeed? Kennyo wasn’t sure, even now, only knew that he felt a tug back to the mortal realm each time he stood at the precipice of Hell’s entrance. A pull that only ended in her presence like a fisherman’s tether that had caught its prize. Not that he could tell her that, settling instead for indifference. “Why not?”

Her lavender eyes narrowed at the blasé response as if she could see through to the truth but kept her thoughts to herself. A sudden swell of music echoed through the stone walls of the palace to his ears, bringing back her usual radiant smile as she pushed from the balcony. A quick flourish of her hand had a pair of doors forming in the wall before her where previously only solid stone stood. Another flick of the wrist commanded them to swing, opening to a massive ballroom that hosted a moderate crowd of lavishly dressed dancers.

“What is this?” Kennyo questioned skeptically.

With a grin, she spun full circle as if to encompass the entire room until she met his gaze again. “My own means.”

He grinned at the repeated phrase from All Hallows Eve as he circled her in the same form of the dance portrayed by the dreamfolk before offering his hand to her in invitation. “So you often dream of parties that occurred before your time?”

She accepted his hand happily. “My time? Ha! You don’t know much of my kind, do you?”

“Of Nephilim? Apologies, but no, I don’t. The last Angel-Born I know of was the giant Goliath.”

“Goliath? Truly? I didn’t realize we were so…”

“Rare?” He provided when her words trailed off.

“Yes… No wonder Heaven is so insistent on my conversion!” She shook her head, clearing her eyes of the evident disbelief before continuing with her original thread of thought. “My twin and I were born in the spring of fourteen seventy-two but it wasn’t until our fortieth winter approached that we realized we hadn’t aged like those around us.”

Extended longevity, one more bit to file away on the knowledge of Nephilim. “So these fashions and parties were of your time.”

“Yes,” her steps slowed a moment while she glanced around the ballroom, as if seeing memories of old play across her vision. “My brother’s scholarly pursuits lead us to London and in the presence of Henry VIII for a brief time. I was allowed to attend a party similar to this once.”

“Enjoyed it so much you now repeat it in sleep?”

The music ended and they parted per etiquette. “You catch on quick, Puzzle Maker.”

“I’d like to think so,” he raised his hand to her again as a new, lively tune arose.

Just as before, Kennyo picked up the rhythm of the new dance easily and was soon leading her through the steps as designed. She seemed to truly float in his arms with the absence of physical touch, the rustling of her dress along the floor as the only indicator she was there at all.

“Tell me, Lady Nephilim,” he started as he spun her in time with the music, pulling her back flush against his chest. “Why do you call me ‘Puzzle Maker’?”

“You’ve not offered another title for me to address you by, nor have you told me what you are. Our names carry power, even on the Dreamscape, which is why I haven’t asked you of yours or corrected that which you call me. I’m actually quite fond of your gifted moniker.” She glanced over her shoulder to ensure he saw her teasing grin. “Are you not a puzzle maker then? Have to say, you had me fooled by all those games you sent me.”

“ ‘Games’?!” He scoffed at her flippant attitude, pivoting himself to face her again. “Did those so called ‘games’ offer any challenge to you? Frighten you?”

Her smile turned thoughtful for a moment. “The maze.”

“The maze? How so?”

“Come, I’ll show you.” She turned on her heel and pulled him by the hand through the crowd. A curtain hung along the ballroom wall that she threw aside to reveal another set of double doors that flew open without so much as a tap of her fingers, leading immediately outside where an expansive garden laid before them. A hedge work maze stretched as far as the eye could see, the wall of green standing twice Kennyo’s height and eliminating all visual capabilities aside from staring straight up into the sky.

“Now, let me think…”

His gaze snapped back to her. The new, predatorial drawl to her words unsettled his resolve as the doors clamped shut behind them with a boom. A wolfish smirk blossomed upon her features when she released his hand and disappeared through a split in the trees. He sprinted through the same opening, instincts screaming that he not lose sight of her. Truly, dear Lady, a chase?

“Something’s missing…” her voice pranced across his ears as he turned the first corner. She was nowhere to be seen despite the closeness of her teasing statement. “Oh, now I remember!”

An ear shattering howl sounded from the entrance. If he possessed his physical senses, Kennyo was sure his lungs would have frozen. There was only one beast that could relinquish such a soul searing wail. He dove to the left wing and pounded down the gravel path, cursing himself for being so clever as to include Hell’s Hound in the crafted nightmares.

“And let’s not forget…”

A gale of wind whistled through the pathway with enough force to tumble him to his knees, leaves biting across his nose with the realization he could feel the sting. This was far beyond the common lucidity that even some mortals could master. Just what kind of sorcery did the Lady Nephilim practice to accomplish this feat?

The fiendish snarls of Hell’s cruelest creature grew close to his heels. If he could feel the leaves and wind, what damage could the hound’s fangs inflict?

The path brought him to another three way choice. He took the right wing this time, hoping to throw off the hound but still growls of the hunt followed his steps until another choice lay before him. Straight ahead it is…

Again? Right.

This is ridiculous! Left.

Kennyo happened upon another break in the tree line with the same choice trio. “What ‘game’ are you playing here?!” He shouted to the sky, knowing she’d hear him.

Her words were like warm honey over his conscious regardless of her current role as the tormentor. “The very same you played at my expense. This one’s not so fun, is it?” The chilled blast of wind carried the roar of the pursuing predator.

A sigh from the Nephilim. “Neither left, right, nor forward have proven successful, and you certainly can’t go whence you came. Come now, think on it!”

The gale’s howling was rivaled only by that of the hound encroaching upon him. He had to choose again and he had to choose now but no matter which path he chose, it would continuously loop back to this same trident. How did she solve it when she was closed in on all sides–

No. Not all sides.

At the same moment the snarling beast leaped to capture him, Kennyo lunged onto a nearby branch of the hedge work and climbed. He focused solely on his footwork as he swung from one bough to the next, lest he fall to the jaws of his own handiwork. Once he scaled to the top, the ferocity of both wind and monster ceased and he could see a clear passage to the epicenter.

She lounged across a stone bench. She had changed from the golden gown of a queen to a shimmering cloth that matched her lavender eyes. The robe was similar to what the women of Heaven draped upon themselves when they came to dissuade contract seeking mortals and flattered her greatly instead of appearing as if it had been wrapped around without care. She could have stepped into a painted rendition of the ancient isles and taken their wardrobe for herself.

Kennyo shook his head to clear away the distraction, focusing on her gaze. “You climbed the wall.”

“I climbed the wall,” she agreed, grinning again. “Though it took me nearly all night to figure it out, so I applaud your speed. Ironic that it took you seven turns.”

“Six,” he corrected only to witness her shaking her head.

“The climb counts as a turn, but enough of that.” She stood and crossed the distance to properly meet his gaze. “Why do you stay?”

“Pardon?” Why that question, of all things?

“My hair gives free reign to enter this realm and whatever plans you initially had for Nari dissolved once you learned I would be of no use to you. Yet… you continued to watch over me. Even now, here in the maze, you could have left at anytime. Yet, you worked through it. So I ask again… Why. Do. You. Stay?”

Persistent little thing aren’t you? “I… wish I could tell you, dear Lady, but the truth is I don’t know the answer.”

There was a glimmer in her eyes at the honesty as she smiled up at him. “I have a thought on that myself, but I think it best if you realize on your own.”

Suddenly, he wished he had told her of the frustrations of the last weeks, the sensation of being drawn back to her side, everything.

In the centuries he walked as a demon, he possessed neither emotions nor indecisiveness. Only a hollowness that was continuously questioned by the mortals as he could never empathize with their tearful pleas or the need for the attentions of another. Even before selling his soul as a human, he’d been free of earthly entanglements and desires.

Now, he understood. Need. Desire. Longing. Did a term even exist to describe to the endless flurry of emotions swirling within him? As he willingly stood here at her mercy, he knew he would beg without qualms for an end to the storm just as much as he wished it to continue for eternity. How could he be affected so greatly? How was this possible?

There was only one impossible answer.

“You really do catch on quick,” she whispered as she lightly trailed a hand up his arm. “It appears you figured it out already.”

Kennyo framed her face in his palms, suddenly lamenting the lack of a physical presence. “Why?”

This time, the brilliance of her smile as she mimicked his motions of cupping his face nearly blinded him. “Why not?”

[flowercuco]

Veil Episode 2, Part 6

First session of the new year, will we manage to do this enough times to finish quid? Who knows!

Here’s a parody of a poem seedy wrote, that will be important later.

This is just to say

I have eaten/the swords/that were in/the novelty authentic japanese wall-mountable sword display rack

and which/you were probably/saving/to impress girls

Forgive me/they were delicious/so sweet/and so cold

So, we left off with one group escaping the assassin White Eagle while the others made their way with the robot psychic mercenary Bloodroot towards Snow Vision Structure to save Heartful Vale, Crescent Moon’s mom. A very stark departure from taking the virtual idol around town and but a lot more on the level with whatever happened in Azu.

Anyway, we begin with Fortuna and Senza trying to figure out where to actually go, with Crescent Moon insisting that given that the other group gave has met them with radio silence, they should go to SVS themselves. Crescent Moon is being a bit careless, as she’s ignoring the injuries that Senza and Fortuna were given in their escape, but the College Party manage to convince her when they figure out the most safe and secure location they could actually find, Ariel’s apartment. Senza uses LACUNA to try to find out where Ariel’s been hiding, which alerts 2Beta, Ariel’s younger sibling about the possibility of discovery.

Despite having been sent a message that was rather worrying from the grumpy young adult apparatus, 2Beta makes attempts to contact them, and when they fail, they take matters into their own hands. 

Fortuna and Senza hone in on a location, hoping to find some supplies and safety, but are unprepared for the security measures 2Beta activates, which is turning the interior of the condemned apartment complex into an elaborate maze, consisting of nearly identical rooms, modelled after a space ship from an anime that they’ve been watching.

En route to SVS, Bloodroot attempts to make smalltalk with Murder Party, teasing them about how much they care, which gets to Ariel as much as they don’t want it to. Synch actively tells him to stop talking, but Will claims that she’s doing it because of her job, which she likes. Bloodroot takes that as an opportunity to deride the Seat of Judges, implying that perhaps they aren’t as noble as Will believes them to be, but that maybe they’ll let her in on that kind of stuff later. Will, having not really had a lot of time to process the idea that her organisation is corrupt, doesn’t have a real response. 

When they properly arrive at SVS, through a forgotten service elevator, Bloodroot talks about how it’s likely that who and what they’re looking for is upstairs and he announces that it is unlikely he will be of much help getting there, as he is mostly skilled at going loud and going thorough, and that sneaking is not his forte. Ariel reaches into the security and unknowingly begins to tap into her new powers to reshape the Veil, creating some deadzones in the security system that will allow the group to rise through the corporation building undetected. It is at this point that I realised I didn’t describe SVS. It’s a generic cyberpunk evil skyscraper, the people inside are tired and overworked, there aren’t as many of them in the bottom, public facing floors, making it easy for Synch to tap into the emotional map of the building and hone in on their target.

The psychic senses the scared Heartful Vale, along with a peaceful figure and two other powerful feeling figures, likely Heartful Vale’s kidnappers. Synch is able to pretty solidly get a trail leading the group to them, lying and saying that he found them via other traces because he’s a private investigator. Bloodroot teases them about it, because Bloodroot knows what psychics are. With a route and method decided upon, the group make their way up SVS.

Fortuna uses the healing arm power she gained previously to heal a wound from her and Senza, and then tries to eat some of the Veil Made stuff in the apartment only to accidentally consume something that ended up turning back into scrap when she actually used her omnitool on it. Crescent Moon is very concerned by Fortuna’s capabilities, but is convinced that it is All Fine, and Nothing Bad Will Happen. She’s not completely convinced but changes tracks, observing the situation with the many identical rooms and figuring out enough to tell Senza that the veil did this as a security measure and that they should try to figure out how to get to Ariel’s flat. 

Senza and LACUNA discern that 2Beta has indeed altered the veil to do this, as a defensive measure, but that there are some imperfections, with some rooms being much worse off than others, and the ones that are most perfectly replicated all seem to have some kind of cardboard apparatus inside of them. Senza and LACUNA also hone in on 2Beta’s weaknesses, with their previous knowledge of them, hoping that they can convince the (emotionally) younger A.I. to assist them. 

The group move to find one of the cardboard robots, only to spot it running away, a sign that at least 2Beta is paying attention. Senza leaves this to Crescent Moon to deal with, assuming that even though her and Ariel haven’t been dating for a long time, she’s the best suited to convince 2Beta. Crescent Moon tells 2Beta that they’re Ariel’s friends, running away from an assassin, and that they just want to regroup and hopefully get some assistance, which 2Beta offers, creating a path to Ariel’s flat, a mess of wires and stuff, filled with trash and other piles of stuff that Ariel has acquired since coming to live here.

Crescent Moon vibrates at the thought of being in Ariel’s home, going inside of her room, but composes herself a little bit, though she’s clearly happy with the very lived abode, for whatever reason. She makes a star couch in the main living room and sits on it while Fortuna starts to clean up the obvious trash. 2Beta, who’s default body seems to be some cardboard flying UFO thing, hovers awkwardly around Senza and LACUNA, as if anticipating something. This hesitation is correct, as LACUNA takes this moment to tell Senza to question 2Beta...

Murder Party finally arrives at the upper floors of SVS, where their tactic of going places where they won’t be seen stops being as effective, as now that they’re in the more private parts of the company, there’s a lot more people, as the work they’re doing is perhaps, just a little illegal. Sneaking through some vents would prove problematic for Bloodroot, and he can’t disguise himself well enough to hide the fact that he’s an armored machine man, so the group split up just a bit to find some sort of disguise and maybe a trolley or something to push Bloodroot in.

Will makes an attempt, only to instead end up discovered by a scientist coincidentally roaming the halls, who spots her and tries to run to get security. Using her clout as an officer of the Seat of Judges, Will convinces the scientist that she’s here to investigate SVS for anything immoral and potentially harmful to the community of Quid and that if he co-operates, she will ensure that if anything bad is found, he will be not be as in trouble as others. After Will shows him placing him in a relevant database, he gets her a uniform and tells her that if she just goes around with a flatbed pallet trolley with a tarp over it, literally no one here is going to give her the time of day.

They elect Synch as the trolley pusher, as they look the least abnormal of the group, and they all lay down on the trolley, with Bloodroot posing like a french girl because of course he would. They go up to the penthouse floor, and in the hall, witness, most importantly, a semi-conscious and tied up Heartful Vale, but also a neutral looking Denno’s Coil and two of Whitefall’s agents, Black Lion, a woman with medium hair and half undercut holding a sword and shield, and Blue Tiger, a large, bald guy wearing sunglasses with explosives. The three of them all are waiting against a door, anticipating something, right on the horizon. 

College Party is sitting around, with Fortuna getting headway on cleaning and Senza popping some questions for 2Beta. Senza asks about 2Beta’s creators and gets some stuff that she had learned with Ariel, and not really gaining anything new, until they switch to asking about 2Beta specifically, asking about their capabilities, learning that they’re mostly about infiltrating and taking over systems, and most interestingly, that their ability to infiltrate biomechanical systems is one that they were taught, and that could be taught to other similarly capable A.I.’s. LACUNA tells Senza to ask 2Beta to ask how to do it, which Senza takes a moment to think about.

Fortuna and Crescent Moon finally talk about the virtual idol’s recent relationship troubles. Fortuna asks about Crescent Moon’s feelings, allowing her to talk about how much she likes both of them, and being upset about their feelings towards each other being so antagonistic. She doesn’t know what to do, and there’s so much going on, and she just can’t help being attracted to the both of them... Fortuna suggests that Crescent should get Will and Ariel together, and just have a long conversation about their feelings with each other, including how much Crescent likes the both of them. Fortuna even goes so far as to suggest that she will be there to help as a neutral party to mediate, though she intentionally thought about saying that Senza would do it.

Speaking of, Senza finally drops the question to 2Beta, who sheepishly refuses, not sure if LACUNA should learn how to do it. Before Senza can try to convince 2Beta further, an alarm goes off, and 2Beta puts up a virtual screen of White Eagle navigating the maze, on the hunt for them once again. Senza and Fortuna collect some of the cool swords that Ariel bought, some of which were before she knew what swords on the internet were real and which were fake, and end up getting some weird cyberswords that will have to be good enough to defend themselves with...

We’re getting even closer to a finale, and combat and drama will definitely be prominent in the next session, Senza’s plot to teach LACUNA how to hack into biological things involves convincing 2Beta to take over White Eagle’s body, which is going to be great, I’m sure. 

[zippdementia]

Part 69 Alignment May Vary: Demon Trains and Were-Houses

Situation: Having escaped the horrors of the City of Ghosts, Imoaza, Aldric, and Carrick rally back on board The Arc. 

Aldric wants to take a little break to go catch up with his Goblin fuck buddies but all three of the companions are severely injured and so Tinia gets started on caring for them. After a long rest, she turns her attentions to the complicated process of healing Jacobs with Puck’s begrudging (but promised) help. Geth fixes up Aldric and Carrick’s energy weapons, making it so they won’t blow up in their hands, and recharges their ammunition. Krisp lays out the situation for the companions.

“Things are bad and I don’t mind telling you that and thank you to keep any snarky responses to yourselves,” he says in his auctioneer’s voice at a “ we’re off to the races” pace. “As long as your souls are fresh and still in your body, they are like a beacon to everything here, a bright, big, beautiful light begging to be devoured by the forces of darkness. Or at least by a fiery devil who wants to rip apart from limb to limb. Our best option, and by that I mean only option, is to get off this rock and post haste! I’ve taken the liberty of fixing up the horse you rode in on, by which I mean that goddamn huge spacecraft. It’s a wonderful thing, at least when it isn’t all smashed to pieces. And to be fair, it was in better shape then I thought it would be after the crash it must have had. Still, even the prettiest wench has to eat from time to time and this girl is hungry! She needs fuel, and the only fuel she’ll take are crystals, the special ones that Alyss has been hunting down for months. We always knew the crystals held the answers, but we thought we’d have to build an engine capable of using them. Now, we’ve got the engine, we just need the gas, and the gas is the crystals, and they are being stored in the vault at Mammon Tower, seat of the President of Hell. To get in there, we’re going to need a little help.”

To break into Mammon Tower, Alyss planned to free the Demon Train from its bonds using Heartcarver and by speaking the demon’s secret name, which she has discovered. Now she has been captured and thrown inside the train to whatever fate the Yellow King decries for her. It’s up to the players to make it to the train and free her. Without her, they can’t get the train. Without the train, they won’t get the crystals from Mammon’s vault. Without the crystals, they will never escape Hell.

The Demon train makes its way across Hell’s blasted landscape, looking like a living train, with dozens of arms erupting from its front and constantly building new tracks for it at blinding speed. To catch up to the train, the players are going to have to use experimental rocket packs to jet over to it.

How does it go: The players strap into their rocket packs and are slingshot off the deck of The Arc. Only Aldric’s launch goes well: Carrick is sent spinning around and around as he turns to say something clever to Krisp right before he launches. And Imoaza’s rocket pack fails to ignite and she free falls towards the ground while the other two try (and fail) to catch her. Eventually she gets her pack working, but there is something wrong with it, and the whole contraption catches on fire on her back.

While all this is going on, the players are suddenly transported (in spirit) to Mammon’s tower, their minds pulled there by Mammon himself, who proceeds to try and banter with them in a lame attempt to find out what they are up to and whether they are willing to join his cause. His negotiations are hurt by the fact that he doesn’t really have anything to offer the players or even any idea of what they want. He ends up failing to impress them at the moment, and the players break free of his grasp to find themselves way off course and heading straight for a cliff side. And Imoaza is about to explode. Aldric banks sharply to avoid the cliff; Imoaza discards her rocket pack and free falls; Carrick grabs Imoaza and just barely manages to pull up before smashing them both to jelly against the cliff. They spot the Demon Train only a small ways away. In the last rush to the Train they are chased by Spiney Devils also wearing rocket packs. This leads to a crazy fight where Imoaza, hanging in Carrick’s grasp, is firing Eldritch blasts back at the Devils while they jetpack forward and attack with laser rifles. She ends up hitting their rocket packs and rupturing them, causing them all to explode.

The players land on the Demon train, Imoaza nearly falling off the Train but saving himself by digging Drosselgreymer into the Train’s roof and using it to halt her momentum. Drosselgreymer opens up a hole in the train’s roof and the three slip inside, only to find themselves not inside a train compartment, as they expected, but inside an entire city.

Notes:

Krisp isn’t especially thrilled to see they’ve brought Puck with them, and seems especially displeased when Puck refuses to try some of his cereal. There’s some odd interaction here, but the players don’t roll high enough to catch it.

Puck fills them in on the history of Arbeyach, telling them that he used to be a powerful devil, known the world over as The Yellow King. He is a corrupting force and famously corrupted Ia’fret (whose name will sound familiar to lovers of Abenthy!), turning the angelic knight into one of his lieutenants. But Ia’fret later betrayed him and took over his original domain and Arbeyach never truly recovered his political power. Now Ia’fret is gone, too, lost during the final assault on the Abyss during the Blood War, having gone in at the side of Asmodeus.

The players end up completely hating Mammon, which is not unexpected. I’m playing him here to be more annoying (complete with an exaggerated Southern accent) then truly threatening. Like I said, he doesn’t really have anything to entice them with, so this scene is meant really just to show how prevalent in this world he is and to give them a further challenge with the rocket pack. But the antics they get up to in his chamber are pretty funny. Aldric quips ridiculous insults and inane puns. Carrick and Imoaza ignore him completely, talking to each other the whole time. Imoaza realizes before the others that this is their psyches being pulled here and tries to snap Carrick out of it by punching him in the face. After, he gets a brief glimpse of what’s happening to their bodies and reports to Imoaza what he sees: “By the way, you’re on fire.”

Situation: The inside of the demon train is a maze of broken down warrens and crumbling infrastructure. In truth, it is a deteriorating version of Old Hell, the Hell that the scholars write of, remembered and loved now only by Arbeyach, who has made the Demon Train his domain and has full control over it. He’s populated his domain with vermin folk, most of them either humanoid rats or bugs (the bugs seem to have superior ranking in the hierarchy) and takes what precious souls he can capture for torture and sustenance.

The players have to find Alyss and free the Demon train, but first they have to get their bearings. They start exploring the rooftops and Carrick loses his footing and falls, smashing down through a halfway broken roof to land ungracefully on a poker table, surrounded by three rats and two bugs. The bugs call for backup and everything erupts into a fight. Bugs from outside, who were guarding the game, fly up to the roof to confront Imoaza, while Abenthy drops into the hallway outside of the poker room and cuts down anyone who tries to flee. Surprisingly, the rats turn on the bugs (well, one flees entirely), led by one in particular named Ratticus, who tells them that the rats and bugs don’t really get along: rats are treated like second class citizens, while the bugs work closely with Arbeyach, The Yellow King. The other rat left, Scampers, is extremely nervous to be helping the players, but Ratticus says it’s “every rat must band together if we want to survive!” He’s very curious to see “living souls” wandering through the Belly, which is what they call this city, but doesn’t seem to wish them harm. He decides to take them to Vaermin, his king, a huge swarm of rats that share a single mind. Vaermin shares some of his cheese stash with Aldric (who gobbles it up) and tells the companions that he can help them hunt down Alyss, but in return they must do something for him. Time is of the essence: captured souls don’t stay alive long in The Belly before their souls are drained and the remains of their being reshaped into either bug or rat. Despite this, Vaermin tells them it will take some time to hunt down their friend and insists they  all take a short rest inside his dungeons to prepare for the upcoming challenge, and the players uneasily oblige, and spend their short rest eating cheese and drinking mead supplied by Vaermin, and reflecting on how strange their circumstances have become.

The mission: The players have to infiltrate a rival gang, made up of Were Rats instead of “proper rat folk” (as Vaermin puts it). They are to find the leader of the group, a powerful wererat called Fernifang, and dispose of him. The wererats have been clever, never keeping to a single base, but moving constantly around the city. However, Vaermin has a plan. The wererats have been collecting a large amount of souls and that requires storing them somewhere. So he sets a trap. Scampers (whom it turns out Vaermin doesn’t like since he chickened out on a mission recently) is dispatched with a large tank of “soul stuff” to gather more from the territory the wererats were last seen in. Ratticus and the party quietly follow.

The companions moved in a half crouch along the rooftops, Ratticus keeping an eye on the sky to spot any “flyers” as he called the human sized bug creatures that frequently patrolled the skies. This part of the city was less their domain, he explained, pointing out how the buildings here were mismatched in terms of size and shape. “It’s hard for them to navigate,” he explained. “They like the wide open, where they can rule the skies. Places like this were made for us rats.”

Eventually, Rartticus motioned for them to stop and join him at the lip of a rooftop. He pointed excitedly below, where they could see an alley, and in that alley Scampers was standing next to a literal pus boil in the street. The boil pushed out from under cobblestone, pushing the cobblestones aside in a grotesque growth clearly filled near to bursting with a pink fluid. Scampers pulled a large needle from the pack at his back, the needle the size and length of a human arm, and stabbed it into the boil then began to pull on the needle’s plunger, sucking the pink juices up.

“Soul stuff,” Ratticus whispered to Carrick, who was looking on in disgust. “A lot of wayward souls drift to the train. Most of it gets picked up by Arbeyach, but some gets left behind and it eventually manifests like this, gets worked to the surface. We harvest it. A lot you can do with soul stuff. But watch now! Our quarry approaches!”

Indeed, Scampers did not notice them, but two large and hairy rats were silently climbing down the wall of the building that helped form the alley. At the last moment, Scampers realized his danger, lifting his head and sniffing madly, his whiskers bouncing every which way. Then he tried to run, but he was not fast enough. One of the wererats caught him, lifted him off his feet, and jabbed the harvesting needle into his eye, piercing his brain in a sudden lobotomy. The two Wererats then fell to a grisly feast, tearing Scampers apart right there in the street and devouring his flesh while he almost idly tried to remove the needle from his eye. Eventually, he stopped moving and the feast was finished. The Wererats grabbed the tank of soul stuff and began to move quickly out of the alley.

“Now the hunt is on!” Ratticus announced.

The Situation: The players follow the wererats back to their underground hideout with some minor difficulty (see below). They overhear the two wererats talking to a third, a guard at the warehouse entrance, about this being “the final day” they will be spending in the warehouse before moving on, on Fernifang’s orders. They also complain about the ventilation system being broken and it getting bloody hot in the warehouse. This gives the players a plan. They round the corner and proclaim themselves maintenance men, Aldric pointing to his leather jacket (the one he stole from Bones) and calling themselves the Hell’s Angels maintenance crew.

Amazingly, the ruse works, thanks to this wererat not being the brightest, the players having information about the ventilation system from the overheard conversation, and Aldric making an incredible deception roll.

“That’s a damn fine jacket,” the guard says, shaking his head appreciatively, as he directs them to a ventilation cover nearby. Ratticus (who nearly shit himself with fear during the ruse) climbs up and opens it, then ushers them all inside, everyone but him having to get on hands and knees to fit in the vent.

The vent I’ve designed with several different passages, each one of which will take them to a different area in the warehouse (one leads down to an incinerator and is a bad dead end). There’s a lot of elements to the warehouse itself. The vents leading to different spots, a possible gas leak in the vent, the possibility of parleying with the Warlock Wererat, Fernifang. Also the soul jars, if they are broken, will release shadows and (occasionally) wraiths, as the angered souls of the dead fight back against the living. Then there’s shelves and shelves of these things, which could create a lot of stealth possibilities, and a catwalk for snipping. In short, there’s a lot that could happen here.

Combat: What does end up happening is that the players sneak down beneath the main floor and overhear a conversation that the were rats are getting ready to move out with this mighty haul they got, biggest one yet! The players watch the movements of these wererats until they think the coast is clear, then come out of their cover. This doesn’t last long, though: while scouting the area by flying above the shelves, Carrick is spotted by Fernifang’s paramour, a wererat cleric who doesn’t give a name but simply shrieks a warning and the room erupts into combat.

The fight goes easier than I thought it would. Fernifang is swarmed immediately by the players and his biggest move, a polymorph into an abominable yeti (unique to his skill set) is disrupted by a dispel magic cast by Imoaza. After that, the fight is pretty much done. But things still get harry because the wererats, while climbing up to fight the flying Carrick, knock over the shelf they use to climb on and dozens of the soul cannisters shatter in the resultant domino chain. The souls burst forth as angry spirits and the players barely escape with their lives, while the spirits feast on the wererats left behind, snatching Ratticus as they go from the clutches of the doorguard, who proclaims one last time even as he tries to strike them down: “That’s a damn fine jacket.”

Notes:

Aldric and Carrick stand out like sore thumbs in the middle of the crowded bazaar, which is why the wererats realize they are being followed after a bad stealth roll from the players, and flee into the crowd. But Imoaza has taken on the disguise of one of the bug people and uses her fly spell to fly above the crowd and track the were rats to a secret entrance to the sewers, hidden in an alley. It’s a cool use of disguise self!

Aldric is charmed by Fernifang before the players take him down, using a strong suggestion spell to plant the idea in his mind that he must attack the Rat King, Vaermin, when they return to him. In fact, the suggestion is worded such that Aldric doesn’t even want to fight the Wererats: he immediately wants to rush back to the Rat King and deliver his “message.” But he is able to be convinced to fight when Imoaza convinces him that they can’t leave until Fernifang is dead; thus, he has to kill the wererat or never deliver his message.

The Situation: the players return to the Rat King and Aldric, charmed by Fernifang, suddenly attacks the King, prompting a combat! Aldric plays it perfect: insisting that he did nothing wrong. He plays it so well, the others don’t even realize he was charmed and suspicion grows in the party. There is little time to discuss, however, because even as the Rat King falls the Yellow King arrives, taking control of Ratticus, who desperately gives the players some vials of soul-stuff which he tells them can restore their health. He also tells them, before he loses his mind, that the Rat King knew where Alyss was all along but didn’t want to tell them until they’d helped him. He did intend to share the information until the players attacked him (here Carrick and Imoaza glare at Aldric, who innocently asks “what?”) but that it would have been a bit of a slap to their proverbial faces: Alyss is about to be executed and there is no way they can get there in time. He does tell them where the execution is to occur: at the central hive, a huge structure they can’t miss in the middle of the city. The players know they have to reach her before she is killed, or else her knowledge of the Demon Train’s name and their only escape from this foul place goes with her. The players flee through the sewer lair of the Rat King while Arbeyach gives chase.

The figure proceeding down the tunnel behind them looked like a sallow-skinned old man, with wispy white hair that hung in greasy tendrils down to his knees. His eyes blazed with a yellow light that matched his outfit, a worn, often patched coat that hung far past his knees. Underneath it was more yellow clothing: the striped pants and finery of nobility, but raggedy and greasy. He was surrounded by swarms of biting, flying insects, and as he drew ever closer to the fleeing group, they could hear voices speaking to them through the cloud of buzzing: “This is my domain,” the voices said as one. “You cannot win here.”

The chase takes the players out of the sewers and through the city. During the chase, both Aldric and Imoaza are caught briefly and infected by the King’s disease, which drains their health and will eventually kill them if not cured. Carrick is not affected: immune as he is to disease, being a Paladin. 

Out in the city the chaos continues as Arbeyach seems to be everywhere, stepping out of doorways into the path of their flight, even smashing through a window to grab at them as Imoaza casts fly again and they soar out over the broken city. Aldric stands his ground for a moment and manages to “kill” Arbeyach with a couple decisive sword strikes to the head, but there always seems to be another one ready to take his place, appearing with a taunting word and deadly smug smile. He knows there is no escape from his realm. He isn’t taking this too seriously: he is toying with them. Like Mammon, he doesn’t consider them a threat. Like Mammon, he is deadly wrong.

The players have no trouble, once flying, locating the Central Hive. It is a bulbous, horrible thing, growing like a cancer out of the center of the city and surrounded by crawling, flying, and chittering humanoid insects. The bugs are preparing Alyss’ public execution on a ledge constructed from their hardened saliva and debris on the edge of the hive. Here, three humans have been hooked up to a horrible machine of tubes and wires and needles, which is sucking the soul from them. Alyss is still intact, just being hooked up, when the players descend on the ledge. They cut her free and flee, Arbeyach now so angered by their impertinence that he has decided to kill them. But just as the army of bugs arrises behind them and The King in Yellow in front of them, Alyss wakes enough to call out a single, unspeakable name. The Yellow King screams in fury as a tunnel appears in the floor of the city, a tunnel leading out of this constructed reality and to the heart of the Demon Train, which is bound round with chains. A single stroke from Oathbreaker and the chains shatter!

Notes

When the players approach Alyss, there are too many bugs to handle. Something surprising happens here: Aldric grabs the Rod of Storms at his side and tries to use it... and is successful! This is strange, because it can only be attuned to and used by a magic user and Aldric has not an ounce of magic power in him. But nonetheless he unleashes a lightning blast at the ledge that scatters the bugs, dropping several dead from the sky. This use of the rod will have complications later.

Meanwhile, Carrick saves Alyss. Aldric is not super happy about this. He’s hoped to foster a relationship with Alyss so seeing her suddenly throw her arms around Carrick and cling to him while they all fly off, humorously disgruntles him.

Next time, we conclude our hellish adventures!

[minijenn]

Universe Falls Chapter 27

Holy shit.... this chapter is so damn long???? But its only ok, imo. Not great, not bad, but ok. And that’s fine. Because everything after this one is gonna wreck the feels, my dudes. But anyway, enjoy!

Previous: http://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/155876667429/universe-falls-chapter-26

Chapter 27: Land Before Swine

10-21-18-1-19-19-9-3 16-9-7 22-15-12-21-13-5 15-14-5: 8-15-23 20-15 20-18-1-9-14 25-15-21-18 3-5-14-20-9-16-5-5-4-12-5

The road that cut through the woods towards Gravity Falls was a relatively less traveled one, especially at night. Yet even so, the police station insisted on keeping up an evening roadside patrol there, even if traffic was quite sparse. Still, Sherriff Blubbs and Deputy Durland hardly minded having to sit in their squad car, tucked behind a billboard, waiting to clock in speeding motorists. Mostly because they found a sure-fire way to entertain themselves in their idle time.

“Focus, deputy,” Blubbs cautioned his partner, his tone dead serious. “Remember your training. Easy… easy…”

Sweat had formed on Durland’s brow as he kept his gaze intently focused on the children’s maze game he had been working on navigating for the past hour. Despite its admittedly easy difficulty, it had been a tumultuous challenge for the deputy, but the sheriff wholeheartedly supported him through it all. “You’re almost there!” Blubbs encouraged. However, this encouragement did little as Durland reached the end of the puzzle, somehow bypassing the treasure chest at the end of the maze and instead drawing a line straight into the shark’s mouth.

“Dang it! I almost got the treasure!” the deputy exclaimed in disappointment.

“The time we spend together is treasure enough,” Blubbs reassured with a warm smile, placing a hand on his partner’s shoulder. The tender moment was short lived however, as the squad car suddenly rocked slightly. “Hey, did you feel that?”

The car thrashed again, much more violently this time, as huge claws began to tear into the roof of the car. Frightened, the officers both ducked for cover, but fortunately they weren’t in too much danger as whatever mysterious force had gripped the roof soon peeled it off entirely before making off with it and flying off into the night. Neither Blubbs nor Durland were able to see what exactly had stolen the roof of their car, yet somehow neither of them were too shaken by the startling experience.

“Reckon we should report that?” Durland asked, sitting up in the now roofless car.

“We could,” Blubbs mused before coming up with a new idea. “Or we could go for a ride in our new convertible!”

Durland cheered in excited support to this and Blubbs joined in as they pulled onto the road and sped down it, completely oblivious to the large, ominous shape flying past the full moon.

By the next morning, word was going around Gravity Falls that several citizens had happened to spot an unknown creature lurking in the shadows of the town, supposedly the very creature that had torn the roof of the police car off. While it was all merely based on rumor, those rumors were enough to appear on the front page of the morning paper, and that wasn’t all. It was also enough to garnish the attention of the Gems, especially given their sworn responsibility to protect the people of Gravity Falls from any threat, be it Gem-related or supernatural.

Hence why the group was currently cutting a path through the deep woods of Gravity Falls, on the hunt for this unknown creature with the intent of subduing it before it could harm anyone. However, as was often the case, the Gems didn’t make it very far before they were faced with another threat, this time in the form of a Gem monster they had happened to cross paths with by chance. Garnet had deemed this sharp-tailed creature their first priority, and without any hesitation, the Gems launched themselves into battle against it as Steven cheered them on from the sides.

“Alright everyone!” Garnet shouted to her teammates, her gauntlets clenched as they cornered the monster. The creature had already used its saw-like tail to swipe through many of the nearby trees, creating something of a small clearing. But now, it had nowhere else to run as the Gems converged on it.

“One more attack should do it!” Pearl proclaimed, slicing her spear at the panicked creature. The monster squealed in pain as its arm was cut cleanly off, eliciting a gasp of sympathy from Steven.

“Yikes! Your arm!” the young Gem exclaimed, cringing as he held his own arm.

Still, the Gems continued their assault as Garnet sped for the monster, her gauntlets landing a heavy blow that dug quite deep. Soon enough, the creature stopped resisting and let out a piercing scream, before its form poofed and disappeared into nothing more than its small orange gemstone. Pearl rushed for the gem and quickly bubbled it before sending it back to the temple, letting out a relieved sigh as she did so.

“Well, that was a bit of a detour,” the white Gem remarked.

“Yeah, an annoying one,” Amethyst rolled her eyes, flipping her hair back.

“But at least now there’s nothing standing between us and finding that creature!” Pearl continued zealously. “Hopefully the rumors were right and we’re not just tracking what turns out to be nothing down on a wild goose chase.”

“We’ll find it,” Garnet assured. “In fact, we-” The Gem leader was cut off as something suddenly soared through the trees right over their heads at an alarming speed. No one had any time to see it, but the force of the wind it had created was enough to cause the last few trees the Gem monster had weakened to begin to topple over.  

“Whoa!” Steven exclaimed, his eyes wide as a tree began to fall over near him. Fortunately, Amethyst shoved him out of the way just in time as the tree only narrowly missed falling on her instead.

“Geez! This job’s kinda dangerous!” the purple Gem shouted as another tree fell over beside her, essentially trapping her.

“Amethyst!” the young Gem gasped. “Uh, don’t worry! I’ll get you out!” To the best of his abilities, Steven tried to push the trees apart from each other, only for them to not budge so much as an inch. At the same time, Garnet and Pearl glance up at the unsteady woods around them, knowing that it wouldn’t be much longer before the entire clearing caved in.

“We’ve got to get Steven out of here!” Pearl exclaimed fearfully.

Garnet nodded, hurrying over to the young Gem as she forcefully picked him up. “Hey-” Steven tried to protested, but the Gem leader was quick to cut him off.

“I’m sending you back to the temple,” Garnet said, not willing to listen to a single word of dissent on this.

“But Garnet, how are you gonna-” Steven was once again interrupted as Garnet did something quite unexpected. A large, maroon bubble suddenly formed around the young Gem, shielding him entirely as he floated above the Gem leader’s hands. “You can bubble me?!” Steven asked, amazed from inside the bubble.

“Garnet, no!” Pearl exclaimed in sudden panic, rushing towards the Gem leader only to be seconds too late. Without wasting another second, Garnet abruptly waved her hands, sending the bubble, and Steven off back to the temple. “Garnet!” the white Gem shouted, aghast at the risky move their leader had just done.

Yet even so, Garnet herself was hardly phased as she simply offered her teammate a useful bit of advice in the midst of the avalanche of trees falling upon them. “Watch your head.”

Mabel smiled as she held Waddles up to look outside the gift shop window with her. Her grin widened as she watched Stan drive the golf cart away from the shack with a large load of tourists on the newly developed, aptly named “Woods of Mystery tour”. All the same, it meant that the conman would be gone for quite a while, giving Mabel and Waddles ample free time.

“Finally, Waddles, the whole house to ourselves!” Mabel exclaimed to her beloved pig, who sat before her loyally. “What do you think we should do? Dance party?” Of course, Waddles simply offered an oink in response, but that was more than enough for Mabel. “I’m not hearing a no!”

Prompted by excitement, Mabel rushed to flip the shack’s open sign to closed before tuning the radio into her favorite dance mix station and turning it all the way up. From there, the girl and her pig engaged in what was easily a legendary dance party, even if its only attendees were just the two of them. Still, Mabel was having a wonderful time dancing as wildly and freely as she pleased as Waddles either sat by and watched or occasionally got in on the dancing action (with Mabel’s assistance of course). However, dancing wasn’t all they were filling their alone time with; the pair also indulged in trying on some of the gift shop’s sunglasses, snapping photos together, and eating random things off the floor, regardless of if they were really even edible or not. The fun went on for quite some time, until Mabel’s vast threshold of energy finally started to run low. As much as she wanted to keep the party going, she eventually ended up collapsing to the floor out of exhaustion, though she did open her eyes and smile as Waddles gave her outstretched fingers a gentle lick.

“Uh oh! Cuddle time!” she giggled, wrapping her arms around the pig and pulling him close. “Waddles, can I tell you a secret? You’re my favorite pig in the whole world!”

Waddles once again oinked in response to this, eliciting another affectionate laugh from Mabel before she let out a tired yawn. It wasn’t long before both her and Waddles fell into a content snooze together on the floor. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long after that that Stan returned from the tour, oblivious to the pair as he walked in, counting a sizable pile of cash. Since the conman didn’t see them, he of course ended up tripping over them, sending him crashing to the floor and startling Mabel and Waddles awake.

“Mabel?” Stan asked in confusion as he picked himself up off the ground. “What are ya doing lying on the floor?”

“Being cute and great,” Mabel said with a charming grin, pushing her face against Waddles’.

“Yeesh,” Stan rolled his eyes, putting his glasses back on. “And I thought your brother was weird.”

“Nah, he’s more like-” Mabel cut herself off as she grabbed one of pine tree hats from the nearby shelf and put it on before throwing her voice to sound like Dipper. “‘Ahh! Let’s go solve a mystery! I kiss a pillow with Wendy’s face on it!’”

The conman let out an amused chuckle at imitation. “Heh, that’s pretty good. Kissin’ a pillow.” The bout of levity was shortly lived however, as Stan’s attention was soon diverted by Waddles, who had taken to chewing on the leg of his pants.

“Go go!” Mabel cheered her pig on. “Chew that pant leg!”

Stan on the other hand, was far less accepting of this. “Hey!” he shouted, picking Waddles up. However, the pig was still chewing on the conman’s pants, and so he happened to tear off a piece of fabric as he was lifted away from them. “Alright, that’s it!” Stan growled, opening the nearby window. “Outside! Now!”

“No! Grunkle Stan!” Mabel protested, swiping her pig away from the conman. “It’s not safe for Waddles outside! There’s predators! And barbequers!”

“That’s just the natural order of things,” Stan argued with an apathetic shrug. “It’s not my fault your pig’s potentially delicious.”

“W-well you can’t make him go outside,” Mabel asserted firmly. “The Gems don’t force Steven to put Lion outside, so you shouldn’t force me to do the same to Waddles.”

“Oh sure, and if the Gems let Steven go into space then you’d wanna go too, huh?” Stan asked caustically. “Oh wait, that actually happened. Well, whatever. That pig is still outta here!”

“No! He should be inside like a person!” Mabel exclaimed adamantly.

“People don’t roll around in their own filth. Except for Soos.”

“And maybe we’re the lesser for it!” Mabel said, sending her uncle a cross glare. “Maybe we’re the ones who should be put outside, huh? Huh? Think about it! Hmph!” Turning her nose up in anger, Mabel stormed out of the gift shop with Waddles in tow, leaving a very confused Stan behind.

Steven had never experienced being bubbled before, which was why he couldn’t help but scream in fear and excitement as he was sent through an otherwise black, empty expanse towards a radiantly glowing light. When the young Gem realized he was no longer moving, he opened his eyes and gasped as he realized he was in a rather familiar place.

“Whoa! I’m back inside the temple!” Steven exclaimed, looking down from his bubble. He was quick to see that he was in the room where him, Connie, Dipper, and Mabel had confronted the Gems about the journal a few weeks ago, where all of the bubbled gems were safety and stilly contained.

The young Gem tentatively glanced around at all of bubbles his was hovering amidst, only to spot their most recent catch floating not too far away from him. “Heh, look at you now,” he remarked to the captured gem with a sly smirk. “Stuck in a bubble. Then again… I guess I am too… Hm… Let me see if I can…” Steven trailed off as he pushed his hands against the surface of the bubble, slowly forcing an opening wide enough to pop the bubble entirely. With it no longer around to hold the young Gem up, gravity did its job as Steven began to plummet downwards, but not before landing on another bubble right below him.

Still, this new bubble didn’t provide much support for long as it too, popped from the force of Steven landing on it, sending both him and the round gem inside of it tumbling to the ground. The young Gem let out a small cry of pain as he hit the ground, though he breathed a sigh of relief as he realized he was safe and sound. Or so he thought.

Steven only had seconds to recover before the now-free gem lying a few feet away from him began to glow brightly. The young Gem gasped as he sat up and watched a vaguely humanoid figure begin to form around the gem, though that form quickly turned monstrous as a shining green silhouette rose high above him.

“Oh man, what’s happening!?” Steven exclaimed in alarm, his eyes wide as the monster let out a loud screech, its many arms, pincher mouth, and lengthy body creating a familiar form. “Ah! The Centipeedle!” Steven shouted, remembering the Gem monster from the beginning of the summer. As the Centipeedle set its one-eyed gaze upon him, the young Gem quickly scrambled to his feet and hurried over to the far side of the room fearfully, knowing that the Gems weren’t around to provide him with any aid this time.

However, the Centipeedle’s reaction to this was surprisingly non-violent, as its large, imposing form steadily scaled down into a much smaller, quadruped one. As the light faded from the monster, it opened its maw, acid spilling down from it as it looked around and let out a frightened chirp. Slowly, Steven turned back towards the creature, surprised by its now diminutive size but even more surprised by how it was trembling and looking around, obviously distraught. And immediately, his sympathy for it was stirred.

“Aw… it looks so… scared...” Steven noted with a concerned from, stepping away from the wall. “Uh, hi….” He greeted the nervous monster with a small smile, getting down low as he crawled towards it so he could be on its level. The Centipeedle screamed and backed away, still shaking fearfully, but even so, Steven continued to slowly and carefully approach it. “Hey, its ok. Look, please don’t be scared of me.” The young Gem made himself even lower as he lay against the floor, but that still did little to comfort the Centipeedle. “See?” he asked in a gentle tone. “I’m not gonna hurt you. Just relax.”

Slowly, the Centipeedle’s trembling began to still as its screeches became less frequent. Steven smiled upon seeing this, knowing that he was starting to get somewhere with the poor creature. “Yeah, that’s it. Doesn’t relaxing feel nice?” The Centipeedle let out a soft, almost content coo in response, its white mane settling down as Steven continued speaking to it. “You wanna… come over here and relax with me? We can totally just hang out and relax, right here on the floor.” Hesitantly, the monster began to step towards the young Gem, who’s smile widened as he continued to welcome it towards him, despite the acid still dripping from its mouth. “Yeah, there you go! Don’t be shy. We can be friends! My name’s-”

“STEVEN!” Pearl shouted as her, Garnet, and Amethyst stood in the threshold of the temple. All three of them were quite shocked to see the young Gem fraternizing with the monster, who let out a terrified shriek, its former calm completely shattered. “Get away from that thing!”

“Whoa, dude!” Amethyst exclaimed, just as alarmed. Garnet, however, took action as she leapt into the room, her gauntlets already summoned.

“Wait! It’s not-” Steven tried to protest as Garnet landed almost right on top of the Centipeedle. Fortunately, it leapt away just in time, but the Gem leader wasn’t about to let it go that easily.

“Oh, this was a terrible idea!” Pearl exclaimed, landing beside Steven as she looked him over for any injuries. “And he’s even managed to pop a bubble and let out that awful… thing! If it hurt you, so help me, I’ll-”

“No! It didn’t do anything!” Steven exclaimed, startling the white Gem quite a bit. Upon seeing Garnet corner the Centipeedle, the young Gem hurried over and put himself between the monster and the Gem leader’s gauntlets. “Garnet, don’t hurt it! I accidently let it out of its bubble, but it didn’t even try to hurt me! It’s not like the other monsters. It’s just scared and confused. Please, Garnet. I’m begging you!”

Steven looked to the Gem leader with absolute desperation, his arms held out wide to protect the defenseless Centipeedle behind him. Garnet paused for what seemed like ages, her expression unreadable as she met her young charge’s gaze. And then, slowly, she lowered her gauntlets in defeat. “I can’t say no to that face…” she admitted sheepishly.

“Excuse me?!” Pearl asked, aghast. “Garnet, you can’t be serious!”

“I am,” Garnet nodded affirmatively. “I think you should try and tame it, Steven.”

“Garnet, thank you so much!” Steven exclaimed joyously, hugging the Gem leader’s legs tightly.

“Ohhh! Shut down by the G-Squad!” Amethyst laughed as Pearl scowled and placed her hands on her hips.

“Well,” Pearl huffed, aptly annoyed. “We should at least take some precautions.”

“This isn’t what I meant by ‘precautions’…” Pearl frowned, crossing her arms as she looked over the setup Steven had conceived for restraining the Centipeedle. While the Gems had wanted to use solid metal chains to keep the monster confined to a rock or a tree, the young Gem had insisted on something a little more humane. While the Centipeedle was no fan of the leash she now had to wear, Steven was at the very least content that she had some way of moving about at all. Still, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Lion lingered close as the young Gem stood before the monster, whose leash was attached to a tree at the end, just in case anything were to go wrong.

“Alright, Steven,” Garnet said evenly. “Let’s see if you can get it to calm down.”

Steven frowned as he glanced towards the Centipeedle, who was desperately trying to pull herself off of the leash, spitting small bouts of acid and screeching all the while. “Um… it still seems a little scared…”

As the young Gem said this, the Centipeedle pulled against the leash once more, lobbing acid randomly. Some of the toxic liquid landed on the ground quite close to Steven, startling the Gems and Lion just enough to prompt them into an offensive pose. The Centipeedle cried fearfully as it shrunk back, shaking once more. “Uh, maybe you guys could put your weapons away and watch from the house?” Steven suggested tentatively.

“Absolutely not!” Pearl proclaimed firmly. However, her authority was quickly ruled out as Garnet’s gauntlets dissipated.

“Steven can handle it,” the Gem leader agreed, turning to head back to the temple.

“Garnet?!” the white Gem gasped in shock.

“Pearl,” Garnet replied calmly, walking away.

“Ohhhhhhh! You just got Garneted!” Amethyst exclaimed with a rowdy laugh, not even noticing the glare Pearl shot her way.

“Ugh, fine,” Pearl sighed in annoyance. “I suppose I’ll just keep tracking that monster down then…”

“Good luck, Ste-man!” Amethyst called as her and Garnet began to head back to the temple as Pearl went off on her own mission. “You’re gonna need it!”

As the Gems headed back to the temple, Lion stayed behind, ready to protect his young owner in case anything went awry. Still, with the Gems gone, the Centipeedle calmed down just the slightest bit, but even so, Steven made sure to turn back towards her with a gentle, calming smile. “Ok, friend, it’s just us now,” he reassured, taking a careful step towards her. “It’s just like before. Just relax and let your hair down…” The monster grew increasingly more relaxed as the young Gem approached her, until she finally managed to let him get close enough to touch her. Stars were in Steven’s eyes as he slowly reached his hand out and gently placed it against the Centipeedle’s head, eliciting a soothed purr from the creature.

“Yesss….” Steven whispered, knowing he had reached a new point with the monster. “We’re friends now, right? Just stay still if we are.” In response to the young Gem’s question, the Centipeedle remained still, looking up to him expectantly. “Yay! This is so cool!” Steven suddenly let out an excited gasp, causing the Centipeedle to tilt her head in apt confusion. “Oh my gosh! I gotta go show Dipper and Mabel! They’ll be so impressed by how much you’ve changed!”

Steven paused for a moment as he looked up towards the temple, making sure that none of the Gems were keeping too close of an eye on him. And then, being as stealthy as possible, the young Gem untied the Centipeedle’s leash from the tree, wrapping it around his own wrist tightly before she could try to run off. “Alright, Centi!” Steven exclaimed boldly, pointing down the hill. “To the Mystery Shack we—whoa!”

Without any warning, the Centipeedle suddenly bolted, dragging the young Gem along with her. Lion let out a fierce roar as he ran after the pair, but even so, Steven simply laughed, amused by what he assumed was the monster’s enthusiasm as she raced down the hill towards the shack with him in tow.

With rumors of an unknown monster still floating about the town, the Gems were hardly the only ones trying to see if they held any weight to them. Dipper had also decided to set out on his own quest to discover the truth and he had brought Soos along with him, knowing that he would need the help in what could be a potentially dangerous search.

“Today’s the day, Soos,” Dipper said with a bold grin as he checked over his camera. “Thanks for coming along on this mission.”

“Dude, it’s an honor,” Soos nodded, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Today I’m sweating from heat and excitement! Whoo!”

“There’s something hiding in these woods,” Dipper said, pulling out the newspaper that recounted the vague details of the monster attack from last night. “Something big enough to rip the roof off of a car. And if we get a photo of this thing, we’ll be heroes!”

“Yeah, we’ll get all the babes,” Soos smiled confidently. “You’ll be fending off smooches with a stick!”

Dipper let out a small laugh as Soos gave him a playful nudge, which he was happy to return. “Shut up, man,”

“With a stick, dude!” the handyman reiterated, laughing himself.

“Well, we’ll have time for all that later,” Dipper remarked as the levity passed, returning to the matter at hand. “For now, what we need to focus on is getting proof that this monster even exists in the first place.”

“Is there any chance of that monster looking anything like Pearl, dude?” Soos asked out of the blue.

“What?” Dipper frowned in confusion, though he quickly understood what the handyman was talking about as the white Gem in question arrived on the scene.

“Dipper? Soos?” Pearl asked as she emerged from the nearby woods and noticed the pair. “What are you two doing all the way out here?”

“We’re on a monster hunt, dude!” Soos quipped brightly.

“We’re looking for that mysterious monster everyone’s been talking about,” Dipper elaborated, showing the white Gem the newspaper. “You know, the one that tore the roof off that cop car?”

“Oh well isn’t that a coincidence?” Pearl said with a grin. “I’m looking for the very same creature myself. Garnet and Amethyst would have joined me if not for our… other monster problem…”

“What other monster problem?” Dipper asked, confused.

“It’s a… long story,” Pearl groaned, still quite exasperated over the matter.

“Yo, you should totally join us on our monster hunt, Pearl,” Soos invited casually.

“Yeah!” Dipper agreed. “I already came up with a plan to get a picture of it and everything. Plus, if the monster turns out to be dangerous, which it likely will be, then you’ll be around to save us from it.”

“Well, my intent is to subdue the monster, especially if it does end up being a legitimate threat…” Pearl mused. “But I suppose the best way to start would be with some proper reconnaissance.”

“Isn’t reconnaissance where all those famous artists came from?” Soos whispered to Dipper, someone confused by the white Gem’s extensive vocabulary.

“Very well then,” Pearl agreed with a broad smile. “I’ll help you both in this endeavor. I’m sure between the three of us, we’ll find our monster in no time!”

“Great!” Dipper exclaimed excitedly. “Then Soos, give me a boost.”

“You got it, dude,” Soos said with a thumbs up, hoisting Dipper up so he could scale the nearby tree. The handyman followed by clumsily climbing up while Pearl preformed a graceful leap up into the tree.

“So what’s the plan?” Pearl asked Dipper, taking a seat on the branch beside him.

“Ok, so Soos and I have already set up three cameras throughout the clearing,” Dipper explained. “If everything goes according to plan, the creature will grab that steak,” he nodded to the steak they had positioned atop a high tree stump with several ropes attached to it. “And cross through the strings, setting off cameras A, B, and C.”

“Hm, impressive…” Pearl noted with a smile. “And very inventive. Though I must say… I’m not sure what good a picture’s going to do aside from just proving that the monster exists…”

“That’s… kinda the point,” Dipper shrugged as Soos finally made it to their branch and joined them.

“Woo…” the handyman breathed in exhaustion, placing his hand against the side of the sap-covered tree before realizing it was stuck there. “Uh… is sap supposed to be this sticky?”

“So… what do we do now?” Pearl asked, still not entirely understanding why they needed to get a picture of the monster at all.

“Now all we gotta do is wait for the monster to come by,” Dipper said, poising his own camera to get a good picture of it.

“And nothing can go wrong!” Soos proclaimed confidently. “High five!” As the handyman held his hand up, Dipper gladly met it in a high five, only for their hands to get stuck together thanks to the sap.

“This was poorly planned…” Dipper frowned, trying to pull his hand away from Soos’. However, while the trio was distracted by this, they all failed to notice the large shape that glided over the clearing, stirring up a heavy breeze that nearly knocked them all out of the tree. The cameras all snapped in quick succession, their flashes blindsiding the trio even moreso.

“What was that?!” Pearl exclaimed, fixing her hair as they all turned towards where the steak was. Or rather, where it used to be.

“That,” Dipper said with an excited grin, knowing his plan had succeeded. “Was our monster.”

Mabel was just putting on the finishing touches on the matching sweaters she was knitting for herself and Waddles when Steven burst into the shack’s den. Or rather, when Lion burst in first, followed by Steven and his new companion.

“Steven!” Mabel exclaimed brightly, perking up upon seeing the young Gem. “I’m glad you’re here! I was just finishing-” She abruptly cut herself off as she noticed Steven struggling to pull the Centipeedle into the room along with him. “Uh… who’s your friend?”

“Hi, Mabel!” Steven greeted first before explaining his situation. “You remember that Centipeedle monster from a few weeks ago, right?”

“Well, yeah!” Mabel quipped, leaning forward in interest. “That was sorta like, our first huge adventure together! How could I forget it? So what, is that one of its babies?”

“Uh, no actually,” the young Gem shrugged, finally getting the Centipeedle to settle down and stand beside him. “She’s the main one. I accidently let her out of her bubble earlier. It’s… kinda a long story.”

“So why’s it—oops, sorry, I mean she so cute and tiny now?” Mabel asked with a smile, getting up to head over to approach the creature. However, since the Centipeedle was unfamiliar with her, she let out a frightened screech and cowered behind Steven once more. “Oh no!” Mabel gasped with concern, drawing back a bit. “Did I scare her?”

“Eh, a little,” Steven admitted. “She can be a little jumpy sometimes.” With a calming smile, the young Gem turned and knelt down before the skittish monster. “Hey now, it’s ok. Mabel’s a friend, just like me. She won’t hurt you, I promise. You can trust her.”

“Yeah!” Mabel added, toning down her usual verve a bit as not to startle the Centipeedle again. “You don’t have to be shy around me. I’m all about adorable little things like you!”

Upon getting another reassuring smile from Steven, the Centipeedle calmed down steadily, hesitantly letting Mabel give her a gentle pat on the head. “Oh, she is so cute!” Mabel gushed cheerfully. “You know, for an acid-spitting, potentially deadly monster. So is she like, your new pet now?” she asked Steven.

“I don’t know if I’d call her a pet…” Steven mused. “After all, Pearl said that all of the Gem monsters used to be Gems too. So I’d say she’s more like a… buddy! That’s why I’m trying to tame her; so the Gems will let me keep her around instead of bubbling her again.”

“Oh! Oh! Can I help?” Mabel asked eagerly. “I’m great at teaching animals how to do stuff! I’ve already taught Waddles how to say cupcake, right Waddles?”

The pig oinked twice in response to this, the sound vaguely sounding like the word ‘cupcake’. “Whoa, that’s amazing, Mabel!” Steven exclaimed, thoroughly impressed. “You can totally help! Between the two of us, we’ll be able to reform Centi enough that there’s no way the Gems won’t be able to accept her as part of the team!”

“Yeah!” Mabel cheered excitedly, already heading for the door. “Let’s get-”

“Hey you!” the TV suddenly shouted, catching Mabel’s attention and stopping both her and Steven in their tracks.

“Me?” Mabel questioned curiously.

“Yeah you!” the TV announcer exclaimed. “Sick of constantly dropping your baby?”

“Yes!” the man on screen agreed, almost dropping the baby he was holding.

“Hi, I’m Bobby Renzobbi!” the excitable announcer declared as he appeared on screen. “And what you need is the Huggy Wuvvy Tummy Bundle!”

“The what?” Steven asked, confused.

“I can hold ten babies at once!” the man exclaimed, carrying no less than ten babies within the carrier strapped to his chest.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Bobby continued. “Does it work for pigs? Ah ha ha, yeah of course it works for pigs, stupid! Feel your pig’s heartbeat next to yours! IT WORKS FOR PIIIIIIIIIGGGGS!”

Startled by the noise on TV, Centipeedle tucked away behind Steven once more, shivering nervously. Mabel on the other hand, let out an amazed gasp as the commercial came to a close, her awe turning into a huge grin as she glanced over at Waddles, knowing that such a product would be perfect for him.

“Grunkle Stan!” she shouted to the conman who was just entering the room. “I’m off to get a Huggy Wuvvy Tummy Bundle for Waddles!”

“Yeesh,” Stan remarked caustically. “Isn’t knitting matching sweaters for that pig enough?”

“Nope,” Mabel answered, completely straight faced as she stood alongside Waddles, their pair of sweaters perfectly matched.

“And hey!” the conman exclaimed hotly upon noticing the Centipeedle still hiding behind Steven. “What the heck is that thing and what’s it doing in my living room?!”

“This is Centipeedle, Mr. Pines,” Steven introduced with a smile. “You might remember her from a few weeks ago when she… heh, kinda tried attacking the Mystery Shack?”

“Oh right,” Stan scowled and crossed his arms. “The eyesore.”

“I’m trying to train her to get her used to being around people,” the young Gem explained, soothing the monster with a stroke on the head. “And you know what, Mabel? I think taking Centi into town with us to get that Huggy Wuvvy Tummy Bundle would be the perfect way for her to learn some people skills!”

“Oh my gosh, Steven, you’re so right!” Mabel readily agreed. “Grunkle Stan, can you look after this little gentlemen while we’re gone?” she asked, nodding towards Waddles, who was in the midst of eating a fly.

“Not now, kid,” Stan remarked with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I got some tourists coming through.”

“Aw, don’t worry, Mr. Pines,” Steven encouraged. “Lion will be more than happy to help you keep an eye on Waddles! After all, they love each other! See?” No sooner had the young Gem said this than Lion settled down beside Waddles, who was quick to curl up next to him happily.

“Oh, they’re so precious,” Mabel gushed, absolutely delighted at the adorable sight.

“Yeah, sure, kid,” the conman deadpanned stubbornly. “Because I definitely wanna waste my afternoon babysitting two pink pests.”

“Now, Grunkle Stan, I know you’re not crazy about Waddles,” Mabel admonished.

“He’s a fat, naked jerk.”

“But I know you do care about me,” Mabel continued. “Promise me you won’t let him outside.”

“Fine, yeah, whatever,” Stan rolled his eyes, clearly not too concerned. “I promise.”

“Thanks, Grunkle Stan!” Mabel called out as she ran outside, Steven following with the Centipeedle not too far behind. Of course, Lion attempted to go after them too, wanting to ensure the young Gem’s safety, but he was stopped before he could make it out the door.

“No, Lion,” Steven said firmly, holding his hand up as the Centipeedle continued trying to drag him out the door. “You stay here with Waddles and Mr. Pines, ok? We’ll be back soon!”

The pink beast let out a huff of disappointment but begrudgingly sat down, watching angrily as his owner left along with the potentially dangerous monster in his care. Still, Lion did find the time to turn around to glare at Stan, letting out a testy, bitter growl.

“Yeah, same to you, bucko,” Stan remarked dryly before scowling down at Waddles. “I’m watching you, pig.”

As the conman pointed a stern finger at Waddles, the pig simply responded by lifting up its foot and placing it against it. While anyone else would have seen this as charming, Stan let out a groan of disgust and pulled his finger away before heading back into the museum, not even bothering to take so much as a glance back at the pig that was his charge to look after.

With their intent to uncover the truth behind the unknown monster as clear as ever, Dipper and Pearl had wasted no time in working to convert the shack’s attic into a temporary darkroom so they could develop the pictures they had captured earlier. While Soos worked on making some nachos to celebrate the occasion, Pearl and Dipper busied themselves with developing the photos. It wasn’t a process that the white Gem particularly understood that well, but she did appreciate the science behind it as Dipper walked her through it. And though it took some time and care, but with the more photos they developed, the clearer the overall picture of what they were dealing with became.

“C’mon… c’mon…” Dipper muttered impatiently as he hung the next picture up on the line to dry, its image appearing as he did so. “Oh my gosh! That’s a wing!” he exclaimed upon seeing the large, somewhat blurry wing in the photo.

“Incredible…” Pearl mused, getting a better look at the photo. “What kind of monster is this…?”

“We’re about to find out,” Dipper said, hurrying over to the next picture being developed. “So if camera B got the wing, then the one that should have gotten the rest is… camera C!”

Pearl curiously watched over Dipper’s shoulder as he held up the final picture, a large, ominous shape slowly but surely becoming visible. “That’s it!” the white Gem gasped, her eyes widened in amazement as the monster appeared.

However, before either of them could really see what exactly the creature was, the attic door suddenly burst open, flooding the room with a great deal of unwanted light. “Who wants victory nachos?” Soos asked with a huge grin, carrying a large bowl. Of course thanks to all the excess light from the hall, all of the pictures that Dipper and Pearl had been developing all immediately faded, to the point that nothing could be made out of them at all.

“No!” the pair exclaimed in distraught unison, desperately trying to shield their pictures from the light, lest they lose their leads. But even so, their panic went right over the handyman’s head.

“Dudes, don’t worry,” Soos reassured calmly. “I only ate like a third of them… Ok, half of ‘em…. Just kidding, I ate them all, dude.”

“And here, ladies and gentlemen, is our final exhibit,” Stan smirked, finishing up his latest tour as the tourists followed him and clung onto his every word. “The most hideous creatures known to man!”

The conman pulled the cloth off of said exhibit, revealing a mirror that reflected the tourists’ reflections right back at them. The group was confused for a second before they all burst into unanimous laughter, understanding the joke. “Right? Right?” Stan chuckled in agreement. “We have fun here. But seriously, folks,” he said, heading over to the next covered exhibit. “This is something. I present to you, a unicorn, made out of corn! The Corn-i-corn! I-I don’t know. I’m tired.” Without much of a dramatic flourish, the conman unveiled said corn-i-corn, only for the crowd to gasp upon seeing a horse-shaped mesh of empty wires, completely bereft of any corn whatsoever. “What the-?!” Stan exclaimed in absolute shock.

As a ripple of dissent ran through the crowd, the conman glanced around in a panic before spotting Waddles sitting on the far side of the museum, Lion stoically accompanying him. But what caught Stan’s attention more than anything else were the incriminating bits of corn stuck to the pig’s pink face.

“What a rip off!” one of the tourists shouted in heated disappointment. “Kids, we’re leaving.” As the tourists all headed off in a huff, the pair of children in the group threw down their unpurchased merchandise and stormed off as well, leaving the conman with no profits to show for it.

“No!” Stan shouted in protest as he helplessly watched his customers leave. “You!” he shouted at Waddles, turning around to face the pig who had eaten his exhibit. Of course, Lion was quick to stand between the two of them, growling at the conman all the while, but even so, Stan wasn’t about to let the intimidating pink beast stop him. “Outta the way, powder puff! This is between me and the pig!”

Fortunately, Lion didn’t outright attack Stan as he picked Waddles up and began carrying him to the door. But the pink beast still did try to stop the conman by biting on his pant leg to try and stop him from hauling his friend away. “Beat it, ya fluffy freak!” Stan scowled, shaking Lion off of his leg as he continued on his way out the door. “Actually, you know what? If you care so much about the little freeloader, you can go right on outside with him too!” Still showing no fear for the pink beast, Stan grabbed him by the ear and pulled him outside along with Waddles.

“Just ten minutes without the pig in the house. Is that so much to ask?” Stan ranted to himself, tying Waddles to a peg in the lawn as Lion stood by, growling lividly all the while. “There. And if Mabel asks, this never happened.” As something of a bribe, the conman placed a five dollar bill in the pig’s mouth before turning to head back inside. “‘Oh but, Grunkle Stan!’” Stan continued, mocking his niece. “‘It’s not safe out there! There’s predators!’ Oh brother…”

The conman’s back was turned away from the pair of animals for only but a few seconds, but it was just enough for things to take a disastrous turn for the worst. For while Stan wasn’t watching, a massive creature, the very same creature the town was abuzz about, happened to swoop down in a heavy gust of wind, one that was enough to blow even Lion away. And, with one swipe of its massive claws, it snatched Waddles up and flew towards the skies once again, the squealing, panicking pig in its grasp all the while. Stan gasped as he spun around to see what could be nothing else but a dinosaur, a pterodactyl to be exact, soar away with Waddles in tow. And while the conman was far too stunned by this unbelievable sight to do anything about it, Lion was quick to leap into action.

The pink beast jumped to his feet and raced after the dinosaur that had captured his friend, letting out a super-sonic roar in the hopes of bringing it down. But the crafty creature managed to turn a full 180 in the air, dodging the attack with ease as it glided swiftly over the shack with its latest catch.

“I can’t believe this!” Pearl groaned, still trying to recover all of the lost pictures in vain. “How in the world are we supposed to track that creature down if we don’t even know what it looks like?!”

“I can’t believe you, man!” Dipper scolded Soos, who had only just realized the error he had made.

“Sorry, dude,” the handyman frowned apologetically. “I was just so excited! Nachos cause excitement!”

“But certainly, they could have waited until we were done perhaps?” Pearl asked caustically, adding a muttered statement afterwards. “And to be honest, I had no intentions of eating any of those… things anyway.”

“Soos, no offense, but you gotta be more careful sometimes,” Dipper said with a sigh of exasperation. “I mean, what are the odds we’ll get another picture of-”

He was abruptly cut off as the entire shack seemed to shake in its entirety, thanks to the large shape that flew just past the attic window. None of them even had to ask themselves twice about what it was as they all hurried downstairs and outside without delay, only to see a sight that made them all stop and stare. The pterodactyl had turned a full circle and was heading off into the woods once more, Lion furiously chasing it and sending more sonic roars its way each time, to no avail. As the dinosaur cleared over the trees, the pink beast at last begrudgingly gave up his purist, letting out an angry huff as it made off with Waddles. A single red string from the sweater Mabel had knitted for the pig trailed off after the creature and into the woods, the sole indication of where it might be heading.

“Whoa!” Amethyst exclaimed in awe as her and Garnet landed on the scene, having seen the dinosaur even from the temple. “What the heck was that crazy thing?! It was huge!”

“That was a dinosaur!” Soos exclaimed, aptly amazed. “Awesome!”

“How is it possible that a dinosaur survived 65 million years?” Dipper asked, also awestruck.

“It’s not possible,” Pearl shook her head in confusion. “Those creatures were long gone even before Gems first came to Earth! There’s no way one could have lived this long!”

“I wouldn’t say there’s no way,” Garnet interjected calmly. “After all, we’ve been in this town long enough to know that this is where the impossible happens on a daily basis.”

“Did you see it, Mr. Pines?” Soos asked his boss, who had been standing outside before any of them arrived. Stan offered no response however as he simply stood still, his gaze fixated on the direction that the pterodactyl had flown. “…Mr. Pines?”

“Yo, Stan,” Amethyst tried to get through to him, waving a hand in front of his face. “You in there?”

“It… it took him…” Stan finally muttered, blinking out of his daze.

“Took what?” Dipper asked.

“The pig!” the conman exclaimed in a sudden panic. “It took Waddles!”

“What did you say about Waddles?” Mabel asked as her, Steven, and Centipeedle returned. Everyone turned to the trio nervously, none of them entirely sure what to say as they exchanged uneasy glances. “Whoa, awkward silence,” Mabel chuckled, still having no idea about what happened to her beloved pig. “Bwah!”

“Whoa, hold on a minute,” Pearl cut in, noticing the monster standing alongside the young Gem. “Steven, why isn’t that thing tied to its tree?”

“Oh, uh, I was just… trying to train her,” Steven shrugged with a good-natured smile. “And she’s getting a lot better, by the way! We took her into town and she only ended up destroying three cars with her acid spit! She’s come so far.”

The white Gem let out a tired groan as Amethyst chuckled in amusement. “Steven,” Pearl began. “You can’t just-”

“Like I said,” Garnet cut her off with a hand on her shoulder. “Let him do his thing. He’s making progress with it. I can tell.” The Gem leader nodded to the Centipeedle, who seemed much less frightened and agitated over every little thing as it stood beside Steven, chirping calmly, despite all of the people around it.

“So… what’s going on?” Mabel asked. “Why are you all standing around here awkwardly? And… where’s Waddles?”

Everyone expectantly looked to Stan as this question was posed. “Um… uh…” the conman frowned with dread as he stepped in front of the peg he had tied Waddles to earlier, hiding it from view. Lion sulked towards Stan, snarling harshly all the while until Steven stopped him.

“Lion, cut that out! Its rude!” the young Gem scolded, allowing the conman to say his piece.

“So, uh… the good news is you’re getting a puppy!” he exclaimed to Mabel with a forced grin.

“W-what happened?” Mabel asked, growing steadily more concerned by the second.

“Well, see, uh… when the-” Stan tried to begin before Soos cut him off.

“Your pig got eaten by a pterodactyl, bro!”

“What?! Waddles!” Mabel cried, tears already forming in her eyes as she looked around the yard desperately. “Oh, how did this happen?! Grunkle Stan, you didn’t put him outside did you?”

Before Stan could even answer, Lion growled yet again in something of an attempt to out him for what he did. “Hush!” he snapped at the pink beast, pushing him away. “What? No!” he scoffed, turning back to his distraught niece. “I didn’t put him anywhere! I’m not acting suspicious! You’re acting suspicious! What’s a pig?!”

“Yeesh, Stan,” Amethyst remarked with an amused smirk. “Don’t have a flip out on us.”

“So what really happened then?” Dipper asked curiously.

Stan didn’t answer this right away as he instead took a brief moment to come up with a spur of the moment lie, one that would hopefully be convincing enough for Mabel if no one else. “Uh, look, it went down like this, see? So there I was in the living room, tenderly nursing the pig with only the richest of creams.”

Lion snorted indignantly at this complete lie, but since no one could understand his meaning, Stan was free to go on. “And then, all of the sudden, that thing, the—uh, what’s it called again?”

“Pterodactyl?” Pearl informed, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, that!” Stan nodded. “Anyway, it burst into the shack without any warning and ripped the pig right outta my arms! So I said, ‘no dice, cowboy!’ and whipped out my impressive gunshow.”

“Oh brother,” Garnet remarked drying, not buying this tall tale at all.

“Then I started punching it in the face!” Stan exclaimed, holding his fists up. “But he played dirty and poked me right in the eyes! That really happened! I couldn’t hold on any longer, which was how I lost him. And the pain of it all still cuts me like a knife… That’s, uh… that’s a good analogy for something upsetting, right?”

“Oh, Grunkle Stan!” Mabel gasped, her eyes wet with tears as she drew her uncle into a tight hug. “You tried to save him!”

“Uh, yeah!” Stan agreed, glancing away somewhat guiltily. “I’m a great man, alright.”

“Whoa, Mr. Pines, that was so brave of you!” Steven exclaimed, amazed. “That dinosaur must have been huge.”

“Oh it was huge…” the conman remarked, knowing that was the only part of his story that wasn’t an actual like. “Very huge.”

“Oh, please,” Pearl scoffed, crossing her arms. “I find that story hard to believe. It’s difficult enough to imagine you sticking your neck out for anyone but yourself, but taking on a pterodactyl? That’s just absurd.”

“What, you think I couldn’t fight off something like that if I really wanted to?” Stan asked challengingly. “Because I definitely could! And, uh, I did! Yeah!”

“Really?” Dipper questioned, also quite skeptical. “You punched a pterodactyl in the face? I thought you didn’t even believe in the supernatural.”

“Dinosaurs aren’t magic,” Stan protested. “They’re just big lizards! Get off my back.”

“Oh Waddles…” Mabel mourned, holding the carrier she had just gotten for him, one that might very well never see any use considering the fact that the pig was now long gone.

“Aw, don’t worry, Mabel,” Steven reassured with a smile. “We’ll get Waddles back.”

“That’s right,” Dipper boldly agreed. “No pterodactyl messes with my sister. We’re gonna go out there, catch that thing, and save your pig. For Mabel, guys!”

“For Mabel!” Soos, Steven, and the Gems cheered in full support of this plan.

“You guys really mean it?” Mabel asked with a small smile, using the sleeve of her sweater to wipe her tears away.

“Of course, we do,” Garnet said with an affirmative grin.

“Yeah, I mean, we were gonna go hunt that thing down anyway, but now I guess we got another reason to go after it,” Amethyst shrugged, eliciting a frustrated glare from Pearl for her tactlessness. “What?”

“But how do we even find the little guy?” Stan asked caustically.

Lion suddenly caught everyone’s attention with a sudden roar, diverting their attention to the red string from Waddles’ sweater that led into the woods. “Great thinking, Lion!” Steven exclaimed. “We’ll just follow that string! That’s bound to lead us to Waddles and that dinosaur, right?”

The others all nodded in agreement to this plan, save for Stan, who was far less on board with this entire venture. “Or, you know, we could just call it a day, maybe hit the pool hall or-” the conman cut himself off as he realized everyone was staring questioningly at him. Knowing that he couldn’t very well incriminate himself in front of Mabel, he decided that he had no choice but to play along. For now. “Uh, yeah! Let’s go… save Woggles!”

“Waddles,” Mabel corrected.

“Him too.”

“Oh this is so exciting!” Steven quipped, smiling to Centipeedle. “This will be our first chance to take Centi on a mission! She’ll be able to do so much to help us and-”

“Oh, no,” Pearl cut in firmly. “Out of the question! We are not taking thing with us!”

“Aw, but c’mon, Pearl!” Steven protested. “She won’t get in the way, I promise! And she’ll be really good, right, Centi?”

The Centipeedle let out a small affirmative chirp before accidently coughing up a bit of acid on accident. “Uh, Steven? I’m kinda with Pearl on this one,” Dipper remarked skeptically. “That thing seems like it could be a bit of a flight risk.”

“Oh, you guys worry too much,” Amethyst smirked nonchalantly. “Bring the little guy along, Steven! It’ll be funny.”

“I can see the Centipeedle potentially helping us, actually,” Garnet said, adjusting her shades. “In a few futures, at least.”

“Well, that’s that then!” Steven declared, grinning at the monster, who perked up under his cheerful smile. “We’re bringing her along! Get ready, Centi, because we’re going dinosaur hunting!”

“Alright!” Soos exclaimed brightly as he finished spray-painting the words “pterodactyl mobile” onto the side of his truck. “That p-terodactyl won’t know what hit him!”

Dipper let out a small laugh upon hearing the handyman mispronounce the dinosaur’s name before lightly correcting him. “It’s pterodactyl, man.”

“Actually, no one knows how to pronounce it because nobody was alive back in dinosaur days, so, uh… yeah!” Soos grinned with apt confidence.

“That’s an… interesting train of logic…” Pearl noted with a befuddled frown.

The handyman simply shrugged as he went to strap a gage to the undercarriage of his truck, only for him to forget that he hadn’t properly parked it as it jerked forward a bit. Soos gasped as he sat up quickly, mere seconds before it could hit him. “Whoa! Almost ran over my head there! Heh, wow.”

“Oh boy…” Pearl muttered to herself, facepalming, especially as she turned to see Steven still trying his best to control Centipeedle. “This mission is truly going to be… something else.”

“Mabel, we’ve gotta talk,” Dipper said, pulling his sister aside so they were just out of Soos’ earshot. “This is a really high-stakes mission and I’m a little worried about Soos coming along on this one. I love the guy, but sometimes… he messes up.”

“What?” Mabel scoffed, believing this to be just another case of her brother’s usual paranoia. “Since when?”

“Well, there was that time when he knocked the crystal ball in the museum over,” Dipper recalled pointedly.

“Well, yeah, but-”

“And the time he tried installing that window only for it to fall out of the frame.”

“Ok, maybe, but he still-”

“And the time he accidentally killed that fairy with a flyswatter-”

“Ok, you might actually have a point,” Mabel at last agreed. “Just let him down easy, ok?”

Dipper nodded as he went to go do so, steeling himself for what wouldn’t be an easy conversation. However, before he could even get a word out, Soos turned to him, his eyes alight with excitement. “This is so great! You and me, bro. Best friends. Fighting and potentially high-fiving dinosaurs.”

“Uh, Soos, look,” Dipper began, taking in a deep breath. “I, uh, gotta tell you something.”

“Okay, but before you do, check out these matching shirts I made for us!” Soos exclaimed, holding up two very large shirts, both of which had a rather simplistic design of the two of them on them. “Who’s this guy right here?” he pointed to the image of Dipper on one of the shirts. “You! Totally you, dude. And these rays indicate friendship! So what was it you were going to tell me again?”

Dipper frowned upon looking over the shirts, feeling somewhat guilty about even entertaining the thought of excluding Soos from this mission. Even if brining the absent-minded handyman along could prove to be dangerous, it was a risk Dipper knew they had to take. After all, how could he turn Soos down after he had gone to such good-natured lengths? “Uh… p-terodactyl, here we come!” he exclaimed with an awkward rather forced laugh.

“Yes!” Soos cheered, hopping into the truck. “Bros before dinos!”

With no further preparations in the way, the collective group all got in Soos’ truck, the Pines taking up the cabin with the handyman while Steven, Centipeedle, and the Gems sat in the bed and Lion following not too far behind. As they followed the red sweater string through the forest, the young Gem continued his attempts at training Centipeedle, while the Gems kept a close eye on the monster all the while.

“Ok, Centi, let’s try something new,” Steven smiled at the monster, who was cowering away from the Gems on the far side of the truck bed. “How about you come over here with us?” Centipeedle resisted this suggestion, letting out a small screech of protest at the Gems.

“Steven, I don’t think this is going to work,” Pearl remarked flatly.

“Oh, don’t worry, Pearl,” Steven reassured. “She just needs a little… encouragement! And I think I have just the thing.” With a sly smirk, the young Gem pulled out the bag of Chaaps he had brought along with him for the ride. “Oh, what’s this? Chiiips!” Centipeedle perked up a little as the young Gem rustled the bag. “You like chiiips? You want a chiiip? Yeah? Yeah?”

Steven grinned as he took a chip out of the bag. “Aw, look at this tasty chip!” he exclaimed before eating it. “Yum! Yum! Mm, tasty tasty! Try one!” Curious, Centipeedle slowly skittered forward towards the chip, sniffing it experimentally. “That’s it! Smells good, huh?” After another moment of investigation, the monster finally took the chip out of the young Gem’s hand and munched it down, cooing happily as it began vying for more.

“Whoa, I can’t believe that actually worked,” Amethyst remarked with an impressed smile.

“I don’t know how you eat with an eyeball in your mouth, but I’m glad you like it,” Steven grinned at Centipeedle, giving her another chip, which she was more than happy to devour.

“Wow!” Mabel exclaimed, looking out the back window and watching the whole ordeal. “That’s amazing! She totally loves those things, Steven! Give her more!”

“Uh, maybe that’s not the best idea?” Dipper called from his spot up front. “For all we know, it could go crazy for the chips and start attacking you for them.”

“Aw, I’m sure Centi wouldn’t do that,” Steven said, patting the monster on the head as he fed her a few more chips. “Right?” The monster chirped in response as the young Gem tossed a barrage of chips her way, laughing all the while. “Yeah! There we go!”

“Steven, please!” Pearl protested, brushing the myriad of crumbs off of her lap. “You’re making a mess!”

“Shh,” Garnet calmed the white Gem down. “Let him do his thing.”

The young Gem happily continued giving Centipeedle as many chips as he could, though it wasn’t long before the snack caught the attention of a nearby crow flying overhead. Hungry, the bird divebombed Steven, biting his finger in an attempt to get one of the chips and causing him to drop the bag entirely. “Ah! Shoo! Those aren’t for you!” the young Gem protested, trying to drive the crow off as it landed and began eating the fallen chips. As Centipeedle saw all this, her usual skittish behavior quickly turned to anger as she let out a low, feral growl. The Gems went on alert at this, all three of them sitting up as they prepared to summon their weapons against the creature if the need be.

“W-what are you doing?!” Steven asked the perturbed monster, alarmed as it got low and prepared to attack the bird. With a loud hiss, Centipeedle shot a wad of acid at the crow, burning a hole in the bed of the truck and frightening the bird enough to fly off without a second thought.

“Steven!” the Gems exclaimed in frightened unison, but their young ward was quick to calm them before they could do anything drastic.

“Wait! It’s ok!” Steven urged, throwing himself between them and Centipeedle. “She saved me! And… I think I found out how to train her…” Suddenly, the young Gem mimicked the crow and let out a sudden squawk, prompting Centipeedle to lob another wad of acid, one that landed alongside the road as they drove by. Steven made another bird noise, and as a response, the monster spit acid at Garnet, though the Gem leader easily dodged it.

Amethyst let out an amused laugh at this display, even if Pearl was absolutely appalled by it. “That was awesome!” she exclaimed, preparing to eat the sandwich she had brought along with her.

As the young Gem repeated the process for a third time, though, Centipeedle shot her acid at the very sandwich Amethyst was about to eat, knocking it from her hand and melting it away into nothingness. “No! Mi torta!” the purple Gem wailed in mourning.

“Steven, this is unacceptable!” Pearl scolded in a huff.

“Aw, come on, Pearl,” Steven frowned. “Maybe this is how she’ll be able to help us find the dinosaur! Right, Garnet?”

“Eh, is possible,” Garnet shrugged stoically, not about to stop the young Gem’s plans at all.

“We’re here!” Mabel announced as the truck pulled to a stop. The trail of string had led to an old, decrepit abandoned church, far out in the middle of the woods. The building looked as though it was just about ready to fall apart, and while it didn’t look anywhere near large enough to be sheltering a pterodactyl, the group ventured on inside to see what they could find.

What they did end up finding, however was far from the dinosaur or pig they were seeking.

The group entered the dilapidated church to find none other than Old Man McGucket dancing his usual zany jig near the broken-down pulpit and singing along to a non-existent tune. He was so caught up in his levity that he barely even noticed everyone as they came in.

“Oh, hey, its that crazy old guy,” Amethyst pointed out. “What’s his name again? McTruckit?”

“McGucket,” Mabel corrected, finally catching the hillbilly’s attention.

“Well, howdy, friends!” McGucket greeted with a wide grin as he stopped dancing.

“Hi!” Steven exclaimed just as brightly.

“What are you doing out here?” Dipper asked incredulously, knowing that it was quite strange to find even the eccentric hillbilly in such a place.

“You’ll never believe me!” McGucket exclaimed, slapping his knee. “Now I was doin’ my hourly hootnanny-” He cut himself off as he broke into his folksy jog once again, song and all.

“Ugh, this guy,” Stan deadpanned, already exasperated.

“When this enormous wing-ly critter stole my musical spoons and flew lickety-split into the abandoned mines down yonder!” McGucket finished, pointing to the large hole in the center of the church.

“That’s where we’re headed then,” Garnet proclaimed, undaunted as they all stood before what looked to be a darkened abyss.

“Yikes,” Stan remarked hesitantly, gazing down the hole. “Looks kinda hairy down there.”

“C’mon, Grunkle Stan, you can handle it!” Mabel encouraged. “You punched a pterodactyl in the face, remember?”

“O-oh, yeah,” the conman said quickly, remembering his cover-up. “Heh, I did do that, didn’t I?” he asked with a forced chuckle.

“My, what suspicious laughter!” McGucket exclaimed, oblivious as ever. However, while no one else caught onto Stan’s act, Lion certainly did as he sent another sharp glare his way, one that didn’t go unnoticed by the conman.

“What’s your problem, pinky?” Stan asked the pink beast rather harshly. “You got a thorn in your paw or somethin’?”

“Ok, everyone!” Mabel exclaimed, determined to rescue her beloved pig. “We’re going in!”

“Need someone to tag along and tell weird personal stories?” McGucket asked blithely.

While the kids weren’t exactly how to respond to this, the Gems all were quick to shake their heads and Stan offered his very blunt response. “No thanks.”

Still, the hillbilly didn’t really get the hint as he ended up trailing along all the same as the group slowly scaled down the hole using a long rope. “So there I am, fighting a racoon for the same piece of meat,” McGucket detailed, recounting one of his odd anecdotes as they climbed down into the darkness. “When our mouths get close, and we kiss accidentally!”

“You just can’t take a hint, can you?” Stan asked with an aggravated sigh.

“Nope!”

“Come on, Centi!” Steven called to the monster, who was still standing anxiously on the edge of the hole. “Jump on down, I’ll catch you!”

“Steven, how in the world are you even going to catch that thing while we’re climbing?” Pearl asked incredulously. “You’ll just end up falling off the rope!”

“No I won’t. I totally got this, Pearl,” Steven reassured confidently, turning back up to Centipeedle. “It’s ok! You can just jump! You don’t have to be scared, I-” As the young Gem was in the midst of convincing her, one of the monster’s feet happened to slip over the edge of the hole, sending her plummeting downward with a frightened shriek. Steven gasped as he reached out his arms to catch her, but as he did so, the rope sustaining all of them abruptly snapped from the sudden additional weight.

Of course, everyone panicked as they were sent into a freefall, though Lion happened to leap into the hole himself at this juncture, catching Steven and Centipeedle and ensuring they at the very least had a safe landing. Everyone else was just as fine however, as they landed, albeit a bit roughly, on the large, soft mushroom nestled at the bottom of the pit. After a moment of regathering their bearings, they all managed to get their first look at their new, admittedly amazing surroundings.

The abandoned mines hidden deep under Gravity Falls were vast, and quite impressive given their age. Steam geysers dotted the dank, craggy landscape, as well as the rusty remains of mine carts and tracks. But what was by far more fascinating was the rather unique vegetation that had taken up shop in the caverns, despite the relative lack of natural sunlight.

“Whoa,” Dipper mused in fascination as he shined his lantern on one of the nearby shrubs. “These plants look all Jurassic-y…”

“Huh, this little guy smells like battery acid!” Soos exclaimed, pointing to another plant, one that happened to spit a stream of acid into his face at random. “Augh!” he exclaimed in disgust before shrugging it off. “Welp, looks like I just lost my sense of smell. Ha ha!”

“Yo, this place is actually pretty sweet,” Amethyst remarked, glancing around with a grin as they continued on ahead. “Kinda reminds me of my room.”

“If only your room was as this empty,” Pearl commented sarcastically.

“Hold it,” Garnet suddenly stopped everyone in their tracks as they came up on where the red string was leading next: a corridor blocked off by a barricade of rocks.

“The pterodactyl must have caused a cave-in when it flew through here earlier,” Dipper guessed, looking over the obstacle.

“I’d call that a plumb coinkydink!” McGucket exclaimed with his usual verve.

“Well, it looks like we’re stuck!” Stan concluded, turning around. “Guess we might as well give up and head on home, huh?”

“Wait!” Steven interjected. “I have an idea.” With a knowing smile, the young Gem turned to Centipeedle before letting out the same crow noise from before. As if on cue, the monster fired a shot of acid right into the rock pile, which easily melted the stones until there was a hole that was large enough for them all to crawl through. “All right, Centipeedle!” Steven cheered, giving the monster more chips as a reward while Mabel, Dipper, Soos, and Amethyst applauded, impressed.

“Nice work,” Garnet praised, giving the young Gem a pat on the back.

“Oh come on!” the conman muttered in aggravation, begrudgingly following the others as they all climbed through the opening. As they arrived in the next room, the group were might with an even more unbelievable sight than before, one that made them all pause in apt amazement.

All throughout the cavern were mountainous piles of tree sap dripping from the ceiling. However, the sap itself was hardened, as if frozen, which was quite fortunate considering the gigantic beasts trapped by it. Around almost every turn were dinosaurs, of every size and classification, frozen in place by the sap as though it was ice. The sticky substance was still transparent enough for the creatures to be clearly seen, however, which was why everyone, including the Gems, was staring at the vast collection with wide eyes of shock.

“Wow!” Steven exclaimed with an awed grin. “Look at all the cool dinosaurs!”

“There are more of them?!” Pearl asked, alarmed. “But how?”

“They’re trapped inside the tree sap!” Dipper exclaimed in realization. “That’s how they survived for 65 million years!” He paused as he shined his lantern over at a nearby sap heap, one that was bereft of a dinosaur, but did have a very familiar pterodactyl shaped hole in it. “Whoa. The summer heat must be melting them loose!”

“Holy moley!” Stan grinned, already seeing the multiple ways he could profit off of this. “Forget the cornicorn! This is the attraction of a lifetime!”

“Oh no, you don’t, Stan,” Pearl admonished. “We’re not about to let you profiteer off of such a dangerous place. Humans shouldn’t even be down here, what with all these murderous dinosaurs just waiting to break free!”

“All I’m hearing is “blah blah dangerous, blah blah I’m a stuffy stick in the mud’!” the conman mimicked, irritating the white Gem even further. “You can’t stop a tourist trap like this! I could bring people down here and turn this into some sort of theme park! Jurassic… Sap Hole!”

“Heh, I’d come,” Amethyst chuckled, amused.

“Uh… dudes?” Soos interjected anxiously, pointing to a sap pile across the room that contained yet another pterodactyl. The creature had managed to free one of its claws from the sap, and it was clear by how the appendage was slowly wiggling that it was working on the rest of its hand as well.

“U-uh oh…” Steven frowned with apt concern.

“…Maybe we should keep moving,” Dipper said, also quite uneasy upon seeing this.

“Of course, we’ll have to come back someday and properly contain these creatures, right Garnet?” Pearl asked. “The last thing we want is for any more of them to break free and wreak havoc.”

“Eh, we’ll get around to it eventually,” the Gem leader shrugged apathetically as she started to lead the way onward.

“This could be a gold mine!” Stan declared, still wrapped up in his enterprising thoughts. “Velvety-rope type deal there, ticket booth here… ha! I should have put that pig outside ages ago!”

“Wait… what did you just say?”

The conman froze upon hearing his niece pose this question. “Huh?” he asked, turning around to face her and frowning upon seeing her expression steadily become more and more upset.

“You said the dinosaur flew into the house and-” Mabel cut herself off with a gasp, the horrible realization starting to dawn on her. But even still, Stan tried to play it off.

“Now, wait! Uh, if you think about it-”

“You put Waddles outside and then you lied to me about it!” Mabel shouted, infuriated as tears ran down her cheeks. “And now thanks to you, my pig could be dead! Waddles could be dead!”

“Aha!” Pearl remarked with something of a self-satisfied grin. “I knew that dinosaur story was just another one of Stan’s countless lies!”

“Now’s not the time, Pearl,” Garnet admonished the white Gem for her tactlessness in the midst of Mabel’s clear mourning.

“Look, the pig’s an animal,” Stan tried to justify. “He belongs outside! Just like that weird bug thing that’s been following Steven around all day.”

“Hey, now! Centi’s not an animal and she doesn’t belong outside,” Steven asserted, turning to the monster with a soft smile. “Right, girl? Here ya go! Have some more chips!” The young Gem cheerfully tossed a handful of chips Centipeedle’s way as she nuzzled against his leg and gobbled them up. “Aw, who’s a good Gem monster? You are! You are!”

“See what I mean?” Stan asked caustically.

“No, Grunkle Stan, that’s it!” Mabel exclaimed hotly. “I am never speaking to you again!”

“What? You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, is someone talking right now?” Mabel asked pointedly, turning her back on Stan. “Because I can’t hear them!”

“Kid-” Stan tried to reason, only to no avail.

“La la la la!” Mabel sang loudly, covering her ears. “I can’t hear anyone! No one’s talking to me!”

“Yikes…” Amethyst remarked to her fellow Gems. “This is getting kinda ugly…”

“Guys, guys!” Soos cut in between Stan and Mabel. “Don’t fight! Why can’t you be more like me and Dipper? Look, everything’s gonna be just fine. All we gotta do is follow is find the pig with this here yarn!” The handyman grinned widely, picking up the string on the ground as he began to roll it up into a ball. “Just keep following and following until we reach the-” He cut himself off as he realized that he had indeed reached the end, as they very yarn they had been tracking all this time now rested in a neat ball in the palm of his hand. “Uh oh… W-which cave was it again?”

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” Pearl groaned, completely exasperated.

“Ugh, Soos! You lost the trail!” Dipper exclaimed, just as frustrated.

“Hey, come on,” Soos reassured with a small smile. “We’ll find our way. Trust me.” As he said this, the handyman gave Dipper a hearty pat on the back, startling him enough to make him drop the lantern that had been lighting their way and causing it to break on the hard ground.

“…Sorry, dude,” Soos apologized stoutly.

“That’s it!” Dipper shouted, now about as upset as his sister was. “See, this is why I didn’t want to bring you along, Soos!”

“W-what do you mean?” the handyman asked with concerned confusion.

“I mean this was really important to Mabel, and you keep screwing everything up!” Dipper explained harshly. “You ruined our photograph and now you’ve got us hopelessly lost!”

“But… but we’re the p-terodactyl bros… I made us the tee-shirts!” Soos said, crestfallen as he pulled out the shirts.

“It’s pronounced pterodactyl! And these shirts are useless! They’re gigantic!”

“I have a different body type, dude!”

“Oh, so it’s my fault then?”

“Guys, please!” Steven interjected, hating to see all this anger spread around. “Don’t-”

Before the young Gem could even finish his statement, both Stan and Mabel and Soos and Dipper’s conflicts all quickly blew up into an intense argument on all sides. However, the argument itself was shortly lived as the Gems decided to intervene.

“That’s enough!” Garnet shouted above the noise, silencing everyone briefly. “We need to work together to find this creature. Arguing will get us nowhere.”

“Why don’t you use your special ‘future’ powers to guide the way?” Stan asked dryly. “That’s about all you three are good for down here.”

“Now, you hold on just a moment!” Pearl exclaimed, offended. “If it wasn’t for us, then you all would be in grave danger down here! Honestly, if anything, the last thing we need is someone like you trying to profit off of all of this, Stan!”

“Ooooh! Roast him, P!” Amethyst goaded, caught up in the heat of the moment as much as everyone else.

With no more restraints holding them back, the argument resumed, but this time the Gems joined in as everyone seemed to bicker at random. The only one who was silently and worriedly observing in all of this was Steven, who wanted nothing more than to keep his friends from fighting like this. However, before he could even try and stop them, a sudden panicked shriek from behind caught his attention. “Centipeedle?!” the young Gem exclaimed, spinning around to see the monster screaming in abject terror. He watched her in confusion for a moment as she began backing away from the group, but even so, he tried his best to console her.

“What’s wrong?” Steven asked the monster, concerned. “You want some more chips?” With a gentle smile, the young Gem held a chip out to Centipeedle, but this time she promptly refused his offer and contained her nervous cries. “Oh!” Steven exclaimed, finally understanding as he glanced to the arguing group behind him. “It’s all the noise, isn’t it? Well don’t worry. I’ll get them to-”

Centipeedle cut the young Gem off with another high-pitched wail, one that was just loud enough to distract the Gems away from the quarrel. “Something’s wrong,” Garnet noted, stepping away from the others as Pearl and Amethyst followed.

“Steven, what’s that thing’s deal?” the purple Gem asked. “What, did it get a stomach ache from all those chips or something?”

“It doesn’t like everyone arguing!” Steven exclaimed. “We need to-”

“Hey!” McGucket suddenly exclaimed, garnishing everyone’s attention and silencing the argument at last. “Cheer up, fellas! I fixed your lantern!” The hillbilly held said lantern up only for its light to reveal the pterodactyl itself standing right behind him. Everyone let out a unified scream of terror at this sight, one that McGucket mindlessly mimicked for fun. “Heh,” he chuckled, still oblivious. “What… what are we doin’?”

“Behind you, dude,” Soos whispered with an anxious frown.

“Hm?” McGucket spun around, freezing up upon seeing the dinosaur towering in front of him. “Oh. Nobody make any sudden movements or loud noises.” A beat of silence passed as everyone followed this rule, before the hillbilly himself broke it with a loud, excited shout. “YEEEHAW! We found a pterodactyl!”

Not needing any further provocation, the pterodactyl let out a fierce shriek, one that terrified nearly the entire group, save for Garnet of course. The Gem leader reacted accordingly, summoning her gauntlets and landing a heavy punch to the dinosaur’s face. While the creature was stunned, everyone took the opportunity and hurried past it, scrambling into the next narrow tunnel that soon gave way to a large, open room. Steven noticed that Centipeedle was lagging a bit behind however, her complete panic returned as she trembled heavily.

“Centi, come on!” Steven exclaimed, running back for the creature.

“Steven!” the Gems shouted, alarmed as the dinosaur continued to peruse them. Fortunately, the young Gem managed to grab the monster just in time, narrowly avoiding the acid spilling from her mouth as he ran on ahead to join the others, escaping the pterodactyl just in time.

Fortunately enough, the dinosaur managed to get itself stuck in the entry of the large room, its wide wingspan delaying it from perusing the group as they ran in and took refuge behind a nearby cluster of rocks. The pterodactyl didn’t see them as it finally made it into the room, gliding underneath the suspended mine car tracks to the deep chasm below.

“Ok, guys, we need a plan to get out of here,” Dipper said, worriedly glancing out from behind the rocks.

“I got a real simple one,” Amethyst remarked causally. “It’s called we go out there and beat that dumb old dino’s face in.”

“No, you can’t do that!” Steven exclaimed pleadingly. “It scares Centipeedle when you guys use your weapons!”

“Ugh, but how else are we supposed to take care of that thing?” Pearl asked, crossing her arms.

“I got it!” Stan exclaimed with a daring smirk. “Hows about Mabel gets Soos a pig costume-”

“I like it,” the handyman nodded compliantly.

“-and we use Soos as a human sacrifice!”

“I like it!” Soos agreed once again.

“What do you say, Mabel?” Stan asked his niece, hoping to coax her out of her anger towards him. Of course, it didn’t work as Mabel simply crossed her arms and glanced away stubbornly, refusing to even give her uncle a second glance. “Aw, come on. You can’t stop talking to me forever.”

“Yeah, Mabel,” Dipper agreed firmly. “We have to work together here.”

“Oh, what,” Soos scoffed crossly. “You wanna work with Mabel but not your buddy Soos?”

“Here we go again,” Garnet deadpanned to herself, already anticipating the next argument that stated but not a second later. However, this one was very shortly lived as a sudden familiar oink interrupted them all.

“Wait, did you hear that?” Mabel paused, looking to the pterodactyl’s large nest resting on a spire in the center of the room. “Waddles!” she exclaimed joyously upon spotting her beloved pig sitting in the middle of the nest, meeting her gaze intently even from a distance. Without hesitation, Mabel made a beeline for the nest, barely even regarding the potential danger as she left their hiding spot and ran across the rickety mine tracks to it.

“Kid, are you nuts?!” Stan asked as the others all let out concerned gaps.

“Oh, is someone speaking?” Mabel asked caustically, stopping only for a second to glare back at the conman. “Because I can’t hear anything!”

“Oh no!” McGucket cried. “She’s gone deaf with fear!”

“Mabel, get back here!” Dipper called to his sister with apt concern.

“Yeah!” Steven agreed just as fretfully. “What if the dinosaur comes back?!”

Mabel was hardly listening to any of their pleas however, as she finally reached the nest, wrapping her arms around Waddles tightly as she swept him into a loving embrace. “Oh, Waddles! I promise I’ll never lose you again!”

The pig simply let out a contented oink at this, one that he repeated as Lion jumped into the nest and joined them. Mabel smiled fondly as she watched the two pink animals nuzzle each other, and Steven joined in on her delight as him and the others reached the nest themselves. “Aw, they missed each other!” the young Gem exclaimed warmly.

“I know, right?” Mabel asked with a charmed laugh. “They’re so cute!”

“Uh, guys?” Dipper interjected somewhat nervously upon spotting a pile of bones, human bones to be exact, lying in the nest not too far away.

“Whoa, those guys don’t look like they had a very good time down here…” Amethyst commented with a frown.

“Y-yeah, we should probably get outta here, dudes…” Soos agreed anxiously. Still, Mabel was far too engrossed in reuniting with Waddles to so much as even worry. Until a certain pterodactyl happened to return.

The dinosaur suddenly flew high over the nest, letting out an ear-splitting screech as it did so. Frightened by the sight of the creature who had kidnapped him, Waddles let out a petrified squeal before darting away out of panic. Likewise, Centipeedle screamed in equal fear, letting an uncalculated burst of acid fly, one that narrowly missed hitting Steven.

“Waddles, wait!” Mabel called after her pig, unable to bear the thought of losing him again so soon. Waddles continued to let out terrified squeals as he eventually ended up barreling into Stan, who was completely unprepared for it.

“Get off me, ya dumb pig!” the conman exclaimed, trying to shove the squirming animal away from him. However, as Stan was already teetering on the mine tracks in an attempt to keep his balance, the pterodactyl swooped in once more, ready to reclaim its lunch. The group in the nest let out a collective gasp of shock as the dinosaur rammed into Stan and Waddles, sending them both plummeting off of the tracks and down into the mine shaft far below.

“Oh no!” Mabel cried with newfound concern over her uncle.

“Stan!” Dipper exclaimed, also quite alarmed.

“Mr. Pines!” both Soos and Steven gasped in worried unison.

“Don’t worry, Stan!” Amethyst called down, more than ready to leap down the chasm after him. “I’ll save—whoa!” Before the purple Gem could jump, the pterodactyl flew up once more, the force of its heavy wind it created being enough to knock her off her feet.

All the while, Stan and Waddles were in a freefall towards the bottom of the mine shaft, though fortunately they had a soft enough landing as they bounced off another large mushroom and into the mud puddle beside it.

“Ugh,” the conman groaned in both pain and disgust as he sat up, cringing at the mud now covering his suit. Waddles, on the other hand, was much happier about their current state of affairs as he took to happily rolling around in the mud, oinking brightly all the while. “Yeah, you would enjoy this,” Stan deadpanned to the pig, reaching out to grab his fallen fez. However, before he could, the pterodactyl came around once again, snatching it up in its massive claws as it carried it back up to its nest. The dinosaur dropped the hat into its nest, in full view of the group still gathered there, all of them quite shaken by what had just happened.

“Oh brother…” Pearl sighed in exasperation. “I suppose we have to go save Stan now, don’t we?”

“Uh, yeah we do!” Amethyst exclaimed as though it was obvious.

“And we gotta hurry!” Mabel urged, feeling incredibly guilty for how she had treated Stan earlier now. Especially in light of the very real possibility that she might never see him again. “Before that dinosaur eats them both!”

“McGucket, do you have an invention that can distract the pterodactyl?” Dipper asked the hillbilly, remembering his complex design for the Gobblewonker robot.

“Do I?!” McGucket exclaimed boldly, rummaging inside of his beard only for his search to come up empty. “Nope.”

Of course, the situation only went from bad to worse as the lone large egg resting in the nest behind them happened to hatch at that very moment, revealing a much smaller, but still large by comparison, baby pterodactyl.

“Aww!” Steven and Mabel gushed in unison at the newborn creature as it made a small peeping noise.

“Well!” McGucket exclaimed, approaching the baby dinosaur with a smile. “Welcome to the world, little feller-” The hillbilly was cut off as the baby pterodactyl suddenly threw its head down, snatching McGucket in its maw and swallowing him whole. The others all let out gasps and screams of abject terror at this, but even so, the Gems kept their cool.

“Looks like we’re on our own then,” Garnet proclaimed, reforming her gauntlets. “Gems! Let’s go!”

Amethyst and Pearl nodded loyally, summoning their own weapons as they stood off against the baby pterodactyl. However, before they could even start attacking, Centipeedle, who was already quite on edge, let out a shrill cry that stopped them right in their tracks.

“Oh no!” Steven exclaimed, running over to the frightened creature. “Not now!”

“Steven, what’s wrong with that thing?” Dipper asked, aptly alarmed by the monster’s clearly panicked behavior.

“I don’t-” the young Gem was cut off as Centipeedle began spitting acid out at random. “Whoa!” Steven gasped as one burst barely missed him, catching the Gems’ unified attention immediately.

“Steven!” Pearl gasped, rushing over. “Oh, I knew this would happen! That thing is more trouble than its worth!”

Before Steven could really even protest, the white Gem swung her spear at the monster, hitting her with the dull side of the weapon and sending her flying to the far side of the nest. “Ah! Pearl, stop! It was an accident!” the young Gem cried, running over to Centipeedle and accidently grabbing her hair in the process, eliciting a harsh hiss from the monster. “Oh! Sorry for pulling!”

“Steven!” Garnet shouted, kicking the monster away from the young Gem before it could harm him. Likewise, Lion ran to stand before Steven and Centipeedle in order to protect the young Gem, growling bitterly at the monster all the while.

“No!” Steven cried, tears forming in his eyes over this violent display. Fortunately though, before the Gems could really gang up on Centipeedle, they were all reminded of the other problem at hand as the baby pterodactyl let out a wild shriek, one that was soon followed by a unified frightened scream from the twins and Soos.

“Oh, right. Kinda forgot about that guy for a sec,” Amethyst said, summoning another whip and tossing at the dinosaur. The whip coiled itself around the pterodactyl’s mouth, muzzling it briefly and allowing Dipper, Mabel, and Soos to run for cover behind the dinosaur. “We’ll deal with you later, little guy!”

As the dual threats from both the baby pterodactyl and Centipeedle continued up atop the nest, Stan and Waddles were hiding out under one of the giant mushrooms from the larger pterodactyl. The conman took a tentative glance out from under the fungi, looking up to see that the dinosaur was still very much on the prowl as it flew only a few feet above them.

“The dumb thing must be hungry,” Stan remarked sourly. “I guess it’s you or me, pig.” Without any hesitation, the conman shoved Waddles out from underneath the mushroom, hoping that he would serve as the perfect decoy for his escape. However, instead of panicking, the pig simply remained still and gave Stan an innocent, almost endearing stare. “What are you looking at?” the conman asked caustically, though Waddles only continued looking to him intently. “Aw come on, don’t give me that look! What am I supposed to do? Let it eat me?”

Waddles only blinked in response to this, his innocuous stare still fixated on nothing but Stan. “Oh, I get it,” the conman tried to justify, even if the pig was starting to wear him down. “You’re trying to guilt trip me. Well it ain’t workin’, pal. Who cares if your Mabel’s favorite thing in the world? I can live without the kid talking to me all the time! …Telling me her jokes… Makin’ me laugh...”

The conman frowned as he trailed off, glancing down at the ground with apt guilt. He hated to admit it, but he knew he had done wrong by his niece, and while he would have liked to think that he didn’t care about that, deep down he knew he did. As sappy as he knew it was, Stan knew just how charming and lovable Mabel was, and the prospect that she might never speak to him again out of pure anger was actually a pretty terrible one. Still, the conman wasn’t entirely sold until he looked to Waddles once more, just as the pig tilted his head a little and let out a small, yet quite adorable snort.

Stan cracked a small grin at this, though it was short lived as he glanced up and noticed the pterodactyl swooping down upon them once more. “Aw, dang it!” the conman exclaimed relentingly, knowing that he had no other choice. With no need to mull it over any further, Stan hurried out from his hiding spot, strapping Waddles into the Huggy Wuvvy Tummy Bundle that had happened to fall down into the chasm with them and strapping it and the pig onto his chest. “Well, this is just about the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” the conman concluded, standing as boldly as he could in the face of such a danger. “Hey, ugly!” he shouted to the pterodactyl. “You want this pig?! Then you’re gonna have to get through me, you flying devil! Come and get me!””

The dinosaur screeched menacingly at the conman as it began to divebomb towards them. However, instead of hiding or running in fear, Stan took the creature head on, quite literally as a matter of fact.

Still, not all was going so well. Back up in the nest, as the baby pterodactyl struggled to free itself from the whip tied around its mouth, the Gems were still facing off against Centipeedle, much to Steven’s great distress. All the while, the monster was struggling to return to the young Gem’s side, only to be blocked off in her attempts each and every time. Eventually though, she had enough, for as Amethyst lashed her whip at the monster once more, she caught it in her maw briefly before tossing her head and sending the purple Gem flying into her teammates in an impressive show of strength. As the Gems were downed, Centipeedle let out a savage hiss as she approached them, more than ready to fire off a stream of acid at them.

And yet, before she could, Steven at last made it past Lion and hurried towards her, putting himself between the monster and the Gems. “Stop!” he exclaimed desperately. “You don’t need to fight! This isn’t you! You’re not a monster anymore. You’re so much more than that! We have so many memories now! Don’t you remember our trip downtown? The chip times?” Slowly, the young Gem approached Centipeedle, who was still clearly enraged as acid spilled from her mouth. “And how you saved me from that vicious crow? And how we became best friends?” Tears were streaming down Steven’s cheeks as he gently, yet tightly embraced the monster, disregarding her acidic spit. “You have to remember! This all happened today!”

As the young Gem clung onto her, Centipeedle’s rage soon began to simmer down, to the point that she eventually, finally relaxed and let her eye fall shut, a soft, soothed chip escaping her. Steven smiled tearfully as he heard it, relieved to see that she was truly coming along in terms of her behavior. Perhaps, in time, she would truly become a member of the team after all.

Still, the young Gem had little time to celebrate his success as the baby pterodactyl finally broke free from its bond, letting out an angry howl as it did so. “Steven! Go hide with the others!” Garnet commanded, knowing that they no longer had to focus their attention on Centipeedle now.

Steven simply nodded as he did as she said, running over to join Dipper, Mabel, and Soos as Centipeedle trailed close behind him. “Are you guys, ok?” Mabel asked worriedly.

“Yeah, I think we’ll be just fine now,” Steven said, sending Centipeedle a smile as she nuzzled up next to him affectionately.  

“Well, we won’t be fine for long if we can’t find a way to get away from that pterodactyl,” Dipper reminded, nodding to the creature as it tried to peck at the Gems.

“I still can’t believe he ate that prospector guy!” Soos exclaimed. “That was messed up!”

As if on cue, the baby pterodactyl paused from fighting the Gems and Lion as it coughed up McGucket’s hat. The hillbilly himself tried to climb up out of the creature’s throat at this juncture, his head peeking out of the dinosaur’s mouth as he grinned goofily. “I’m ok!” he announced, only for the pterodactyl to swallow him again, much to everyone’s shared horror.

“Ugh, how revolting!” Pearl exclaimed in absolute disgust.

“I dunno, I thought it was kinda funny,” Amethyst chuckled, somewhat amused as she swung her whip once more. “In a weird sorta way, you know?”

“What do we do?!” Dipper exclaimed, even more panicked over their situation than before. However, oddly enough, Soos was the first one to come up with a suggestion.

“We have to get in a straight line,” the handyman said firmly.

“What?” the kids asked in confused unison, none of them quite understanding this train of thought.

“The pterodactyl’s eyes are so far apart, that if you stand right in front of it, it can’t see you!” Soos explained.

“Soos, you’ve been wrong about stuff all day,” Dipper said, highly skeptical of this idea. “How can we-”

“Dude, look,” Soos interrupted, his tone sincere. “I know I mess stuff up a lot. I can be sort of clumsy and… It’s not always as loveable as I think. But please, as my friend, just trust me on this one!”

Dipper hesitated in giving a response, still not entirely sure if this plan would even work. After all, Soos wasn’t exactly known for coming up with the most brilliant ideas. But still, there were very few other options they had to work with at the moment. Which was why Dipper decided to place his trust in the handyman once again as he nodded and smiled slightly, even if he had no idea how this might turn out.

Soos grinned in return as he rose to stand, the kids following his lead. “Get behind me, dudes!” he instructed, leading the way out from their hiding spot as they all formed a single file line. Steven made sure to shush Centipeedle, who kept close behind him as they moved along quietly, just outside the pterodactyl’s frame of vision. And while the dinosaur didn’t see them, the Gems did as they all glanced towards them questioningly. Still, Soos didn’t explain his plan to them as he instead put a finger over his mouth, silently telling them to remain quiet about it. Garnet nodded in response to this, even if Pearl and Amethyst were still somewhat confused. As the kids started making their way back across the mine car tracks, the Gems and Lion also retreated from their battle and easily leapt to the other side of the room, as not to accidentally give them away to the dinosaur.

“It’s working!” Mabel exclaimed in an excited whisper as they continued to sidle their way along. And indeed it was working s the baby pterodactyl remained still, unaware of their presence. Each time the dinosaur happened to turn its head, the kids would leap from one side of the tracks to the other, narrowly missing the creature’s gaze each time. However, as they were about halfway across, the group leaped to the other line once again, only for Steven to accidently loose his balance and fall forward onto the tracks themselves.

“Steven!” the twins gasped in shared concern, especially as the pterodactyl perked up, now seeing the young Gem clearly. The young Gem gasped as he quickly picked himself back up, but it was already too late. The pterodactyl knew they were there, and it wasn’t about to let them go so easily.

With a fierce roar, the baby dinosaur lurched forward, pulling itself towards the kids at an alarming rate. However, before it could even clear the edge of its nest, someone else rushed forward to meet it.

“Centipeedle!” Steven cried in alarm as the monster hurried for the pterodactyl, stopping it in its tracks as it stood before it and screeched wildly. The young Gem had no time to go to its rescue as both Dipper and Mabel grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the other end of the tracks along with Soos before the dinosaur could see. Still, Centipeedle stood firm against the much larger creature, especially as she geared up to spit acid at it without restraint. And yet, before she could even get her first attack out, the unthinkable happened.

With another shriek, the pterodactyl clamped its wide jaws around the Gem monster, clamping down on her with a great amount of force. Centipeedle only lasted for about another second, but it was long enough for her to look directly at Steven one last time before she inevitably vanished in a puff of smoke, just as all downed Gems did.

“No!” Steven exclaimed in horrified shock, especially as the pterodactyl began to swallow Centipeedle’s lingering gemstone. However, the dinosaur ended up choking on the stone, prompting it to spit it out and send it flying across the room before returning to eating whatever was lying around in its nest. The monster’s gem landed safely on the other side of the room, but as it slowly rolled up to Steven, all the young Gem could do was collapse to his knees tearfully as he gently picked the stone up.

“You… you saved us…” Steven muttered morosely, holding Centipeedle’s gem close. The young Gem could scarcely find any other words to say in light of this fact, especially since he had just lost Centipeedle so soon after making her his friend. Yet in the end, she had ended up sacrificing herself to save not just him, but all of them really. And such a noble sacrifice, Steven knew, could not go unnoticed.

Everyone else stood around the young Gem as he mourned the lost monster, none of them quite sure how to console him, even if they all felt truly bad about what had happened. However, there was no time to pay tribute to the fallen monster, as everyone was reminded that there was another pterodactyl, a much larger one, lurking in the caverns, especially as it let out a shrill, almost painful cry. Confused, everyone glanced up to see the adult pterodactyl sour overhead, though the sunlight spilling into the room blocked everything save for its silhouette, at least for a moment. For when its shape cleared, they all got a glimpse of something that completely surprised and stunned them all.

“Is that…?” Dipper trailed off, unsure of if his eyes were just playing tricks on him.

“Stan?!” Mabel finished in apt disbelief. But sure enough, Stan was indeed riding atop the pterodactyl, holding on tightly with one hand and punching the creature squarely in the face with the other as he let out an angry battle cry. And while that was impressive enough, Mabel let out another awestruck, yet completely relieved gasp upon seeing the pig that the conman had in tow with him. “Waddles!”

“I can’t believe it…” Pearl muttered, her jaw dropped in shock. “He’s actually punching an actual dinosaur in the face. Stan of all people is punching a dinosaur in the face. How is that even possible?”

“Woo!” Amethyst cheered rowdily. “Get him, Stan! Punch that dumb old dino right back to the stone age!”

“From heck’s heart, I stab at thee!” Stan shouted fiercely, using both hands to land a very heavy blow on the already struggling dinosaur. The pterodactyl screamed in pain as it rammed into the side of the cliff, which was where Stan quickly jumped off before the creature could fall into the abyss and take him with it. After a moment or two, the conman made it to the top to join everyone else, tired, and a bit worse for wear from the perilous experience, but safe overall.

As the conman was brushing himself off, he hardly even noticed Dipper, Soos, and Amethyst all applauding him for his bravery, as well as Garnet sending an approving thumbs up his way. While Steven was still quite a bit torn up over what happened to Centipeedle, he still smiled softly, even if Pearl, crossed her arms and let out an aggravated huff over how she had been proven wrong. Mabel, on the other hand, was quite pleased with her uncle’s actions as she stood before him with a warm, though somewhat apologetic smile.

“Here’s your pig, kiddo,” Stan grinned, passing Waddles off to her.

“Waddles!” Mabel cried happily, embracing her pig. “You saved him for me!”

“Yeah, well,” Stan shrugged as though it were no big deal. “Sometimes you just gotta—LOOK OUT!” The conman let out a frightened shout as he noticed the pterodactyl steadily scaling the cliff behind him.

Not wanting to risk it with any more dinosaurs, the collective group turned and retreated, even though the pterodactyl was in hot pursuit. As they crossed the threshold of the narrow passage, Dipper was the last to make it through, though he only barely escaped as the dinosaur snapped at him, tearing a rather sizable hole in his vest. Still, everyone managed to make it back to the main cavern, only to discover something that made their situation even more dire: they had no way of getting back up to the surface.

“We’re trapped!” Stan exclaimed, alarmed.

“What do we do now?” Steven asked, taking a glance back to see the pterodactyl still trying to squeeze through the passageway.

“Quick!” Dipper pointed to one of the nearby geysers, one that could hopefully land them were they needed to go. “The geyser can shoot us back up!”

No one argued with this as they all jumped into the geyser, though unfortunately, it stubbornly refused to pump, even as the pterodactyl finally squirmed free and continued towards them. “Ugh, come on!” Amethyst exclaimed impatiently. “This is taking forever!”

As if to remind them the severity of their circumstances, the pterodactyl let out another roar, its wings spreading wide as it prepared to beset them all. However, as terrified as everyone else was by this, Soos steeled himself and let out a brazen battle cry. “Bros before dinos!” he shouted, pounding on the side of the geyser hard. At last, it finally burst, shooting the entire group up right before the dinosaur could devour them all. In mere seconds, they were all shot back up into the church, all of them landing roughly throughout the decrepit building and all of them soaking wet and quite shaken, but fortunately safe.

As a result of the rumbling earth below it, the crumbling church finally collapsed in on itself, covering up the hole that the pterodactyl had first come out of and hopefully trapping it for good. Fortunately though, the Pines and the Gems were all well out of the building and heading back to Soos’s truck in a mixed array of spirits.

“I can’t believe you did all that for Waddles!” Mabel exclaimed to Stan, aptly amazed upon hearing him recount his rescue.

“Aw, well, I can’t have my favorite niece not talking to me,” Stan remarked with a fond smirk as he leaned against a nearby tree. “And if I gotta leap onto a pterodactyl and punch him in the face, then that’s what I gotta do.”

“That’s kinda sappy,” Mabel chuckled blithely.

“What? That’s how I feel!”

“No, I mean the tree,” Mabel corrected, pointing to the sap that Stan had placed his hand against.

“Oh yeah,” the conman frowned, pulling his now sap-covered hand away from the tree before jokingly putting it on his niece’s face. “Gotcha!” he laughed, before realizing that it was now stuck there. “Uh oh.” In a sudden panic, the pair screamed as they tried to pull away from each other, though unfortunately the sap was pretty potent as far as its stickiness went.

Eventually, however, Stan and Mabel did manage to free themselves from the sap, even if they were still covered in the stuff as they slept against each other and Waddles on the ride home. Steven and the Gems once again took their seat in the back while Lion ran behind the vehicle, as the sun began to set over the woods as they headed back to the temple and the shack once again.

“Check it out!” Dipper exclaimed as he sat up front with Soos, looking over his torn vest. “That thing totally destroyed my vest!” However, that wasn’t all. For upon a closer inspection, Dipper managed to find something far more impressive: one of the pterodactyl’s teeth had gotten stuck in it as he had pulled away earlier. “Whoa, Soos, look!” he said with a wide grin, holding the large tooth up for the handyman to see.

“A real dinosaur tooth?” Soos asked, amazed. “That’s awesome!”

“Not as awesome as you saving us back there,” Dipper said somewhat sheepishly, admittedly ashamed of his former behavior. After all, in the end, Soos really had come through for them all, and for that, he was truly grateful. “Pterodactyl bros?”

“Pterodactyl bros!” Soos grinned as they two exchanged a fist bump. “Hey! I pronounced it right that time!”

“So you think we’ll need to worry about the rest of those dinosaurs?” Dipper asked with a slightly concerned frown.

“Eh, I doubt it.”

While Soos and the Pines were all relatively content after their latest misadventure, the same couldn’t exactly be said about Steven. The young Gem let out a sad sigh as he held Centipeedle’s gemstone, looking over its smooth green surface with remorse. His guardians all exchanged worried glances as they observed him, but as usual, Garnet was the first to reach out to him and console him.

“Steven…” the Gem leader began gently, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You did a good job trying to tame the Centipeedle. Your mother would be so proud.”

“She would?” Steven asked with a frown, glancing up from Centipeedle’s gem.

“The truth is,” Garnet began, looking down. “Rose Quartz had tried to use her powers to save these monsters too, but she was never able to heal any of them.”

“Never? But if she couldn’t do it…”

“Who knows?” Pearl asked with an encouraging smile. “Maybe when you have better control of your powers, you might be able to help them in ways even your mother couldn’t.”

“Even this one,” Garnet nodded to Centipeedle’s gem.

Steven smiled softly as he looked down to the stone himself, wishing that he could have truly helped Centipeedle this time. But even so, if she was willing to wait for him, then he would be willing to go the extra mile for her. Just as she had done for him. “Then I’ll keep her safe until then,” Steven said with resolve, wrapping his hands around the stone until a small, pink bubble happened to form around it, much to the Gem’s complete shock.

“Whoa!” Amethyst gasped, amazed.

“Steven!” Pearl exclaimed with a proud grin. “You can bubble Gems!”

“Wow…” the young Gem muttered, knowing that this was the first time he had ever accomplished such a feat. Still, he couldn’t focus on that so much right now. So instead, he focused on Centipeedle. “Wait for me, Centipeedle. I promise I’ll heal you up someday.”

With a warm smile, Steven sent the bubble he had created away to the temple, just as he had seen the Gems do countless times. “Oh, wait!” he exclaimed, forgetting something, something that he knew the monster would certainly appreciate when he did manage to heal her.

Back at the Gem temple, a lone green gem, enveloped in a pink bubble materialized in the burning room, floating amidst the countless others. And then, mere moments after it had arrived, another bubble appeared right beside it, holding only one thing, something that would serve as a welcome back gift to that Gem if she ever did reform: a half-eaten bag of chips.

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