Mad World

Mad World: The Earth Turd

In the middle of a horde of mixed creatures stood a teenager, back against the wall, no way out.

"Oh man, not this again." The boy muttered under his breath irritably. Readying his stance and dismissing his errant thoughts, he began to focus on the task on hand.

Getting out alive.

He readied his bo staff, a gift from Star before she had to cut her ties on Earth and become Queen of Mewni; that was infused with magic, and aimed for the nearest creature. Despite the fact that most of these things were physically bigger, better and magically stronger it didn't phase the boy at all. In fact it reassured him.

Living with Star Butterfly does that to you.

Even when fighting against terrible odds, the boy was holding his own, in fact he looked to be enjoying it too. In one blink and the next, he defeated them all at the cost of his remaining energy. Tired and out of breath, the boy noted that he couldn't continue on his mission half-dead and exhausted as he is. But he couldn't stay here where the creatures' owners were bound to find him. He was in no condition to fight smarter opponents and live to tell the tale. So with a grunt, he began to stealthily leave the place, covering his tracks and moving quickly.

If someone were to look at this barren wasteland of a battlefield they wouldn't find even the slightest flicker of life or even the fact that it was once a prosperous town albeit a small one.

The boy sneaked around the desolate streets and broken buildings. He used all his skills to pass by unseen and under the cover of the permanently red-tinted night sky, there were entirely too many demons out on the prowl.

He eventually reached an empty, two-story house that looked like it was on the verge of collapse. After checking the perimeters and deemed it safe enough to relax. He, of course, had no intention of staying here for a long period of time but he needed to take a breather before risking the post-apocalyptic area that used to be peaceful suburbs.

After setting down traps and alarm systems, he sat down on the dusty floor and closed his dark brown eyes for a second. Relaxing for a moment and just try to hear the world for a moment.

It was hard to believe sometimes that it has only been a year since the Weirdageddon and people still didn't know what happened. One moment he was at home brushing his dark brown hair and wearing his usual light gray shirt-red hoodie-dark gray skinny jeans combo. Trying to psyche himself to confess to Jackie Lynn Thomas because he was turning eighteen and going to college and everything was going so well but all of his plans was thrown out the window when the sky turned blood red and colorful balls of weirdness appeared. Lightning rained, fire ate, earth broke and wind tore things apart.

The screams echoed then, the bloodcurdling screams of hundreds of people haunted the streets with monsters made from nightmare fuel was rampaging everywhere. Coming from the guy that fights monsters on a daily basis this was whole new level of terror. But nothing quite matched the cold gripping fear that clutched his heart when in the midst of all that chaos there was one kid who was smiling.

It was Dipper Pines.

That little kid he babysat during summer break before he and his twin sister went to Gravity Falls and started going there every summer. That shy little kid that depended on Mabel for everything. The kid who loved mysteries a little too much and shied away from danger at every opportunity. The kid who spent his days buried in books and playing with his sister in one of her weird games...

What was he doing here and where was Mabel?

"Dipper!" He called out but stopped when he got a good look on his face. Dipper looked... Insane. Unstable. The lighting of the flames around him threw his features in sharp relief, giving him a harsher, crueler look. His oddly yellow, serpentine eyes glowed with magic and his grin stretched a little too wide and showed too much teeth to be natural or friendly.

His usual scruffy, casual look was changed into an old fashioned suit with a small floating top hat instead of the usual blue and white ball cap.

"... Dipper?"

He didn't hear him but Dipper started speaking, his voice was weird and distorted. So unlike the Dipper he had come to know.

"HAHAHAHA!" The not-Dipper laughed. "Silly humans you all look so stupid! Here let me help."

Impossibly, he flew up and shot a blue fireball at an old woman who was running for her life. She screamed in pain as the flames burned her up in a matter of seconds.

"Oops, my bad." But there wasn't a single shade of remorse on his face. Just cold, cold amusement.

What happened to you? he wondered in horror, the boy he had come to care for wasn't like this. Where was Mabel?

He felt his heart freeze. Not-Dipper was looking directly at him, and he was smiling.

The air felt heavy with killing intent so intense he could barely breathe much less move. Not-Dipper raised his hand and—

The sound of shattering glass alerted him to awareness. Someone was inside the house and tripped his alarms. He jumped up and mentally cursed himself for falling asleep as he hid near the door frame to get the advantage over the enemy.

There was tense silence as he waited for the intruder to pass through the only entrance in the room. He absently noted that it was dawn and his companions are probably worried sick. He should probably get back as soon as possible.

A step creaked and in a flash he had the intruder pinned down on the ground, his fist ready to knock it out when it suddenly yelled out.

"MARCO, WAIT IT'S ME!"

Marco stopped his momentum, his fist just barely touching it—her head.

"Theresa?"

The girl pinned below him gave a sigh of relief and Marco sheepishly got off her and helped her up.

"What are you doing here?"

The tall girl narrowed her dark blue eyes in skepticism while brushing the dust out of her short blue violet hair.

"I was looking for you," she explained. "You didn't come back on time and everyone was worried. So I went out to find you as soon as the sun rose."

"That was completely unnecessary Theresa," Marco replied. "You didn't have to."

"I wanted to," she replied simply then she averted her gaze and spoke again quietly. "Have you—?"

Marco shook his head and didn't reply. Theresa deflated slightly on the news and Marco felt guilty. Its been a whole month since the death of Howard Weinerman and three weeks since the disappearance of Randy Cunningham also known within the group as the Norriseville Ninja.

Marco's main mission objective was strictly recon but he searched for any sign of him anyway. Randy was a good friend and the morale center of the group that calms everyone down; with him gone, everyday just became a depressing  routine that was chipping at their sanity away slowly.

"C'mon, let's head back," she said at length. "We'll find him eventually."

Together they walked the empty streets toward their HQ. Hackles raised from the unnatural silence of dawn.