Chapter 5: Meeting new old Friends

A day passed since then and honestly, Stanley was annoyed. Sure, he liked all the neat stuff Mabel showed him. Especially the television shows nowadays were a lot better than the one in 1960s, (they were even in color!) but he wanted to spend time with Ford! Unfortunately after getting the blood samples, the man had ushered Stan out of the lab and hadn't come out since. Which was disappointing for Stanley as he wanted to hang out with his "big brother" (which was more literal than ever) and ask about their future together.

"Stanley, please!" Ford said in the tense tone of an adult trying to keep his cool. "I'm trying to work here."

"You've been working all day!" the sixty year old in a six year old body and mind whined.

"Stanley. It's been an hour."

"Feels like forever." Stan looked longingly at the back of his brother. "Can't you take a break? I wanna check out this place."

Ford let out a sigh. He wasn't in the mood for this; yesterday's events had left Ford tired and exhausted, not to mention a bit sore. He was amazed at how Stan was able to jump and run around like he was despite the doctor insisting how badly he had been hurt. Then he remembered how durable Stan always was; you could drop a house on the man and he'd come staggering out with only a headache. It was almost admirable.

"Stan, don't you want to return to your proper age as soon as possible?" Stanley folded his arms and pouted.

"Not if I'm as stuffy as you." he mumbled.

Ford rolled his eyes. "Well, you'll be happy to know that we're nothing alike." He made a mark in his notes after checking a computer screen. Stanley walked over and tugged at his coat.

"C'mon, bro! That stuff can wait a little bit. I mean, the cult got eaten and the monster can't get here, right? So what's the rush?"

Ford finally looked at his brother. The boy brought so, so many memories and in all honesty Ford didn't want those memories as it made the present so bitter. Besides, Ford had questions to answer like, what was that cult? How long had they been around? Where in the world did they find the fountain of youth water? And that monster, what was it exactly? Why couldn't it come after them? And why did it seem to hate Stanley? (Okay that last one wasn't such a mystery. Stan's personality wasn't exactly a likeable one to many.)

Standing stiffly, Ford walked over to the child and ushered him towards the elevator.

"Stanley. Why don't you go hang with Mabel and Dipper?" he said, completely ignoring the boy's protests. "I'm sure they'd love to play with you." Stan let out a disagreeable cry as Ford pushed him in the lift.

"But-!" The door closed with a loud KRLANK! and Ford let out a breath of relief as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Finally! I might actually be able to get some work done." He said, ignoring how empty the lab suddenly felt now as hole in heart throbbed.

(*((*9

If there was one thing the followers of The Great Moon Rabbit were good at it was recovering quickly. This could be credited to their determination and sick persistence. It was this very thing that pushed the followers on despite the fact they had just escaped the devil herself (or at least what they considered to be a close representation).

"Just for the record, none of this was in the pamphlets when I joined." One sighed. "Just saying."

"We do what must be done for the greater good," The leader said. "We were fortunate this time, my fellows. Very fortunate."

"I'm still not sure about that deal we made." The leader nodded.

"It is a hit to our pride, it is true," he agreed. "However, in the name of our most holy duty we must take such hits. Especially if we don't want to get killed."

"Yeah, that's not it; I'm talking about this quest to find these four... gemulets?" The follower went on. "It sounds like the plot to an old 90s movie that lectures us about how nature is good and man is bad."

"What are you talking about? It's nothing like that!"

"Yeah, it's like the plot to a video game." the third put in.

"What you mean the crappy ones based on television series or movies? Or the old nintendo ones where you spend hours and hours playing without a guide and only get a crappy pixel cartoon as a reward?"

"Oh, you didn't play those games for the end; you played for the game."

"Which sucked on story."

"Did not!"

"Please! The most complicated plot we ever got was the one where Mario dreamed it all!"

"Meanwhile, you got to fly as a princess!"

"Enough! We're getting off topic. Also, that ending really was a cop out." the leader interrupted. "Crappy 90s plot or not, we must do what the beast commands."

"Why? She can't get to us now, can she?" The leader just about had enough of these questions. They were followers for goodness sake, not questioners! They should just follow like mindless sheep, like the other cult.

"Look, I'm not crossing a dark shadowy monster who knows were I live; I don't want to open a package and get attacked by a shadowy monster." he snapped. "Besides, if it means capturing the unworthy one we will make deals with a thousand demons, you hear?! Now suck it up! Besides, we're going to live forever, we don't need to worry about our 'immortal souls!'"

The followers weren't sure about this, but their leader was right; All that mattered was capturing the unworthy one so they could sacrifice him and appease their god. Everything else was immaterial.

(*(

"He's just trying to find a way to fix ya, Stan," Mabel said as the mini-grunkle laid flopped on the floor. Stan frowned.

"Nothin' wrong with me..." He rolled sat up angrily as Gomper started gnawing at his shirt. "UGH! Gompers! Knock it off!" he snapped, pulling his shirt away. "Why do I even own a goat?" Mabel just shrugged. She never did ask that. Laying opposite of Stanley was Dipper, who had his own issues at the moment.

"Oh man! I can't believe I lost Great Uncle Ford's journal!" he bemoaned. Now that he was rested, fed, and in the relative safety of the shack with Ford working on a cure for Stan he was free to let his distraught overcome him. "What am I supposed to do now? I'm useless!"

"Aw, don't say that, bro bro!" Maybe assured him as she shuffled over to his side. "You know that's not true..."

"Mabel! Yes it is!" Dipper snapped. "In that forest I wasn't able to do anything! We would have died if Ford and Wendy hadn't shown up."

"Ford didn't do anything," Stan just muttered bitterly. "The only reason he wasn't—whatever that was- food is because of the stupid silver guys." He blinked thoughtfully. "You think they got eaten?"

"I don't know, I don't have the journal!" Dipper exclaimed dropping an arm over his eyes. Stanley frowned at him.

"Er, are you going to be like this forever?" he asked. "Because if so, I'm gonna turn the tv back on." Mabel spoke up.

"What we need is someone who can cheer up you gloomy guses!" As soon as she said this the front door swung open and in the way a tall, round shape stood heroically.

"Hey, dudes!" Came the friendly tone of everyone's favorite handy man.

"Soos!" The kids minus a slightly confused Stan cheered happily as they leapt up to greet their friend. "Where were you?"

"You've missed out on like...Everything!" Soos bent nobly to throw his arms around their shoulders.

"That my friends is a long tale, full of adventure, survival, friendship, and cute animal friends. But never mind that, what happened here?" He stood and looked at the shack. "Did the corn and beaver people join forces?" Despite their best efforts the shack was less than up to speed.

"Uhh, excuse me!" Stan, who disliked being ignored, interrupted. "But anyone wanna tell me who this giant gofer man is?" Soos blinked at him.

"Mr. Pines? Whoa, did you curse yourself again? I thought you weren't going to use that cursed cream anymore?" Dipper frowned.

"Wait, again? Did this happen before?" Soos nodded.

"Oh yeah, like ten years ago," he said, thinking back to the memory which may or may not become it's own fanfic in the future depending on the 'steam' of a certain writer. "It's actually a long story; See, Mr. Pines was worried about his advancing age so he stole some anti-aging cream from a witch and turned into a baby," Soos' eyes went starry at the memory of the adorable infant Stan. "He was so beautiful!" Dipper's brain was running on full power.

"Wait! If something like this happened before then...Soos! How you guys fix it?" he asked quickly.

"Huh? Oh, well a series of unfortunate and life scarring events happened. Long story short, we went to see the Witch Under the Cliff."

Mabel though for a moment. "Come to think of it, Wendy said something about her. Isn't she dead?"

Soos rubbed the back of his head. "Er, yeah. She kinda melted after Stan threw one of her wax dolls into a boiling pot. And by kinda, I mean completely."

"Whoa! I'm a witch hunter, too!" Stan said, cheerfully missing the point that his adult self possibly murdered someone. "That's so cool!"

"Heh! Yeah, it was; It was like the wicked witch of the west only horrifying and mentally scarring for life. And an actual scar on my butt when she hit me with a fire ball. It looks like a honey comb, the cereal, I mean. Not the one with the bumblebee dude, but the one with the hairy dude. Er, what was he again?" Dipper's shoulder's slumped.

"So we're back to square one?" he said gloomily.

"Ah, don't be sad, dude. Here, I got something that's sure to cheer you up—BAM!" Soos produced Dipper's (technically Ford's) journal. Dipper brighten the sky on fourth of July before fireworks become illegal due to idiots setting fire to everything.

"The journal! You—You found it! But how?"

"Oh, I found it while looking for your charred remains in the motor home." Soos said nonchalantly. "I also got your secret Wendy photos, Mr. Pines' guide to teach a bear to drive, and Mabel's boy band CDs." Dipper quickly took what remained of the charred shoe box, then quickly hugged Soos.

"You're the best man!" he said happily. Stan frowned at the journal in his hands.

"So this is the thing you were freaking out about?" he asked. "Doesn't look like much."

"This Great Uncle Ford's journal."

"So it's full of nerd stuff?"

"No! It's full of notes on all the abnormalities in Gravity Falls. See?" Dipper didn't really expect Stan to be interested. After all his adult self just scoffed-

"WHOA! Neato!" Stan cried, much to Dipper's surprise. Dipper blinked.

"You... think this stuff is neat?" he said, unsure if he heard the boy right.

"Yeah! I mean look at all this stuff! It's monster galore! Did Ford and I discover them?" Stan took the book and started flipping through the pages. "Wow, lookit all this stuff-! Zombies? Anmd we can summon them! Sweet! I can summon a demon army and go after Crampelter!" Dipper jumped.

"Stan, I don't think-!"

"Hey, what's this?" Stanley pointed to an image of a door.

"Huh? Oh that's..." Dipper took the journal from Stan and started reading from it. "Case #28, the cursed door." Soos glanced over the boy's shoulder.

"He

"Whoa, sweet! Let's check it out." It took a few seconds for Stan's words to work their way through Dipper's brain, but it was Mabel who spoke.

"What?! Are you serious?" Stan nodded.

"Yeah, sure!" he said. "I mean places like this usually have gold and stuff, right? That's how Ford and I got most our stuff. Besides, Ford wants me out of the way, so I'll get out of his way." He added this last part gruffly. He ran towards the door way. "Last one there has to pay sacrifice!"

"I know I should be the responsible one, but I don't care! Adventure! WOO-HOO!" Dipper made to follow, but his sore body stiffen. "Ow! How how is he able to move like that?"

"Embrace the pain, bro!" Mabel said as she slapped his back. "It'll make you stronger and see blinding flashes of colors!" Laughing, Mabel ran after her mini-uncle. Dipper winced, but straightened himself before following the other two.

Soos waved after them.

"You dudes go ahead," he said. He looked around. "Err, I got work to do." A piece of the ceiling fell. "Welp. Time to pull out the wood glue and duck tape."

(End of Chapter5)

I know, short, but at least Soos is back! I know you all want more Stan and Ford bonding and you'll get it, but I want to get the others out of the way first. Also, I think Ford would be very stubborn in the beginning.

Thank you all for your patience; a lot's been happening in my life and well, I'm sure you know how it goes.

Please review!