Little Dipper

Creepy-Crawly

"Ten of these gold money things that the first spider is gonna be called Boris." Stan said as they entered the woods, Ford still slung over Waddles' shoulder.

"Stan, the spiders can't speak to tell us their names." Bill sighed. "But, sure, okay. You're on."

"Yes! Booooris the spiiiiideeeeer~." Stan sang as they walked on. "Creepy, crawly, creepy, crawly--"

"Can you please stop?!" Pacifica squeaked, clinging to Candy's arm tightly.

"Okay, okay." Stan looked at her. "Sorry, Pacifica."

"This place is creepy enough without you singing that." Pacifica glanced around anxiously.

"I liked his singing." Dipper commented. "It was fun."

"And pointing out our position. We can sing about Boris the spider later." Bill told him gently. "I'd rather not get ambushed by web-crawlers."

"Ohh...my head..." Ford groaned, slowly waking up. "Nn...why am I...who's carrying me?"

"I am!" Waddles said enthusiastically. "You got...what was the word?" He looked at Bill.

"Utterly and hilariously plastered." Bill said with a grin. "Rise and shine, dorkface. We're in the spider forest."

"We're WHAT?!" Ford looked around in a panic.

"Relax, no sightings yet. But if you freak out like that again, they just might come for us. Oh, look. Webs. We must be getting close." Bill pointed to some webbing between a couple trees as they passed them. "Weapons at the ready, everyone."

Waddles let Ford down and then they both prepared to fight. They could hear something rustling in the bushes and then an unholy screech sounded before it died.

"What...was that?" Mabel asked nervously.

There was silence, and then more rustling before a dark-elf rogue stepped out of the bushes with a human mage and a human brawler, wiping something off his knife casually. Bill blinked in surprise and lowered his knife. "...Tad?"

"Gideon! Blendin!" Dipper said excitedly.

"Hello, Bill. Time Baby sent me." Tad replied. "The Time Cops are apprehending your DM right now, he'll have to do a stint in Space Jail for all the crimes he has on his record."

"Thank goodness you're here!" Pacifica went over to him. "Please, get us out of this horrible place!"

"There's a portal opened for you all." Tad nodded. "Come along."

"How did you all get mixed up with that guy?" Gideon asked as they walked through the woods. "Blendin called Tad and I as soon as he saw you all vanish in a flash of light."

"Lee apparently won an illegal Infinity Die at an auction." Bill explained, annoyed by the whole thing. "Stan accidentally brought it out for us to play with when Lee asked him to get him his dice and then the pig knocked into them and the Die rolled 'wizard'. He was going to just eat their brains until I challenged him to a game. And that's how we got here."

Tad sighed and looked at Ford. "You're a bundle of trouble, aren't you? And are you drunk?"

"Hungover." Ford groaned.

"Typical." Gideon muttered, walking over to take Mabel's hand. "What kind of an idiot gets drunk in a life and death situation?"

"He was too excited about having five fingers for once, I guess." Bill sighed.

Ford looked at his hands solemnly. "It was good while it lasted."

Stan frowned. "Lee, you don't need to have five fingers. Six fingers are what make you special, but they don't define you. It's like Ma always said--"

"Ma was just trying to make me feel better, you and I both know that everyone, even dad, mistreated me for them!" Ford snapped.

"But, I never did." Stan reminded him. "I stood up for you, always. I told you that they were special, that you were special. Does that mean nothing to you?"

Ford just shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away.

"Uhh, this is feeling a bit awkward." Blendin said nervously.

"Family, huh." Tad sighed. "It's a mixed bag, and you really can't pick 'em."

They approached a glowing portal and Tad turned to them. "Once we go through this portal, you'll return to how you once were." He explained. "You might want to say your goodbyes to the pig while he can still talk."

"Oh, Waddles!" Mabel gasped and left Gideon's side to hug Waddles tightly. "I forgot that you can't talk normally! Oh, Waddles, I'll miss talking with you!"

Waddles gently hugged her and patted her back. "It's okay, Mabel. Even if I can't talk, I can still understand you. And, who knows, maybe there's a spell or invention that can let me talk in our world." He said optimistically.

"Maybe." Mabel wiped at her eyes and nodded. "Yeah. I'll look for that!" She looked at Gideon. "Will you help?"

"I'm focused on the other potion right now, but I can let you into the sub-dimension to look at my books." Gideon offered.

Mabel nodded. "Thank you. I'll do that. Hey, maybe Bill and Dipper can come with me and meet Midna!"

"Oh yeah, we still haven't met your dragon." Bill said, nodding.

"A DRAGON?!" Ford exclaimed, his eyes shining.

"You're not invited." Gideon said coldly.

"Hey, hey. It's okay, Gid. I'll make sure he doesn't do anything." Bill told him. "Let him meet the dragon."

"Fine. But if she says for him to leave, he leaves." Gideon looked away.

Ford nodded. "I understand."

"A 'thank you' would be appreciated." Gideon said, not looking at him.

"Oh, I'd like one, too." Stan held up a hand.

"Okay, time to go through the portal!" Mabel said, grabbing Dipper's hand and pulling him through.

"We'll finish this on the other side." Gideon told Ford before going through.

"See you there." Stan said as he passed through the portal after Gideon.

"...Candy..." Pacifica looked at her.

"It's going to be okay, Pacifica." Candy assured her.

"We'll make it work." Grenda assured her before the three went through.

Then it was just Ford and Bill left behind, Bill's image flickering like a glitched out computer screen. "I'll go through first." He told Ford, walking through.

Ford paused to consider that Bill had a physical form at ALL with Dipper in another world now and then followed him. 'That's NOT a good thing.' He concluded.