2005

~X~

"And that's when I bit their arm! I bit so hard, my tooth fell out! See?"

Ford smiled as his great niece smiled widely, pointing to the gap where the tooth was missing. "Yes, yes. That's quite an achievement you got there Mabel." He chuckled, patting the girl on the head. But the good mood didn't last long and he was soon frowning. "Mabel, why exactly did you bite them?" His frown deepened as Mabel turned her gaze to the floor, kicking one leg out and back. "Mabel." He bent down on one knee, placing a hand under the five year olds chin and lifted her head slightly till she was looking at him. "I need answers Mabel. I know you have them."

Mabel bit the inner layer of her cheek, adverting her gaze to anywhere but her great uncle's face.

"Mabel."

"…"

"What was that? Can you say it just a bit louder please?"

"… They were making fun of Dipper."

Ah. Now it made sense to Ford. "So you decided to bite them instead of doing the more reasonable thing?"

Mabel nodded her head, still keeping her eyes away from Ford.

"Mabel. Mabel, sweetie, look at me."

Reluctantly, Mabel slowly lifted her eyes till they locked on to Ford's.

"Mabel, what you did was not the right thing to do. You don't go biting people." Ford said with a stern tone. "For one thing, it's not nice. Another thing is that biting people does not solve anything."

"I know Grunkle Ford." Mabel dejectedly glanced to the side.

"… however." Ford started, gaining Mabel's attention. "I can see there was a good reason behind such action. Yes, it was good that you defended Dipper." He smiled warmly, pushing some strands of lose hair behind Mabel's ear, encouraging a small smile out of the young girl. "But it was still wrong that you bit someone. I'll let this slide for now Mabel, but next time that this happens again, come find me or Stan to take care of it." The smile quickly turned into a frown. "… Or maybe you should just come to me instead. I'm not too sure that Stanley would do such a good job in handling such situations."

A series of small giggles erupted from the young girl, in turn making her great uncle smile softly and join in.

"Now then, go and play with your brother. I'm sure that he'll be glad to see you." He lifted his niece up off the chair, setting her down on the floor and took off once he released his grip on her.

"Not too sure of what I'll do, eh?" Ford jumped a bit before sighing and straightening himself as he stood.

"Well, you're not really someone who's very predictable Stanley." He chuckled, glancing at his brother who bore a remarkable resemblance to his features. There slight differences between the two besides their clothing, (he liked to were simple clothes such as a red knit long sleeved wool shirt tucked into the brown pants with heavy boots and a sleeveless vest over the shirt while his brother tended to wear clothes of high price such as the white silk shirt, black steamed pressed pants and flat heel brown shoes), such as the cleft in Ford's chin, the five o'clock shadow under Stan's eyes, the light grey stripe in Fords hair, a slight wrinkle in Stan's nose, but the major difference between the two was the extra finger on both of Ford's hands.

"Got that right poindexter!" Stan chuckled, leaning off against the house. "Can't be too predictable for anythin'. How else am I supposed to keep the business runnin'?" He gestured to their home, smiling widely before it cracked and fell away. "What's with the long face Ford? Somethin' on your mind?"

Ford glanced away from his twin, crossing his arms tightly against his chest. "Stan…" He sighed, looking at Stan straight into his eyes. "I think it's time we move again."

"WHAT?!" Ford cringed. He expected Stan to shout out, but it always left one ear ringing for a while when he did. "Move?! Are ya KINDIN' me Sixer?! We've been livin' here fer 'bout six months now, an' yer tellin' me that we have ta move now?!" Stan ranted, stomping over to his twin, throwing his arms wildly in the air.

Ford cringed again. He knew that Stan's jersey accent only got thicker and more demonstrative when his twin was angry with him. "Stanley—"

"NO! Don' ya go Stanley me mista!" He jabbed a finger to Ford's chest. "Six whole months Ford! Six whole hot bangle waffle months! That's the longes' we've ever stayed in one place! I thought ya finally gotten over yer paranoia slick!" Stan grabbed a fistful of his hair. "Do ya even know how many times we hada move 'cause of ya?!"

"We only had to move because of the twins." Ford tried to stay calm, hoping to reason with his twin. He didn't like arguing with his brother when he was angry.

"Yeah, the first few months of movin' I could understand." Stan snorted. "But FIVE exact years of movin' place ta place?! It's just plain dumb poindexter!"

"W-we've stayed at a few places." Ford shrugged sheepishly, grinning slightly, hoping it was enough to defuse his brother's temper.

"Till ya decide ta move us 'gain." Stan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, exhaling sharply. "… What's the reason this time?"

Ford blinked. "W-what?"

"Each time we moved, there was always a reason." Stan glanced at Ford, dragging his hand down his face. "Sometimes they're serious one's an' sometimes they're just plain paranoia. What's the reason now?"

"…" Ford sighed. His shoulders drooped. "Mabel bit a child that was making fun of Dipper."

Stan blinked. "… That's it?"

"That's it."

Stan groaned, rolling his eyes at the elder twin as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Sixer, really. It's common for girls her age to bite someone… I think. It's no reason to get all paranoid an' make us pack our bags an' hit the road just 'cause Mabel bit someone—"

"She bit hard enough that her teeth broke through the skin of the child's arm."

Silence hung between the two as they stared at one another.

"… Screamin'?"

"Yes."

"Blood?"

"Plenty of it."

"Stitches?"

"A high possibility."

"Cops?"

"I'm pretty sure that I was able to evade anyone from seeing my face and avoid being seen by the police on the run back here." Ford hummed, rubbing his chin in thought. "Though, just to be sure, you probably want to avoid going anywhere near the playground and going into town is probably out of the option."

"Jeez louise, Ford." Stan sighed, covering his face in one hand. "Just when the kids started to settle in too. Alright, I'll start packin' while ya get the kids."

"Maybe I should pack this time." Ford laid a hand on Stan's shoulder. "You're better with words than me. You can break the news to them more softly then I ever could. Besides, I need to pull some weight around here. I can't let you go do all the heavy lifting on your own."

"Hey, just 'cause I do most of the work 'round here doesn't mean you're the lazy one here." Stan snapped back, but smiled softly. "Ya do plenty of work of your own with all that science stuff ya like so much."

"Stanley!" Ford chuckled, ruffling Stan's hair into a mess as the younger twin just laughed and walked away. "Oh! And just a heads up! Mabel lost a tooth today so be ready for an ear full!" Ford called after his brother.

A flash of pride crossed Stan's face. "Why didn't ya say so earlier poindexter?!" Stan chuckled, picking up his speed as he called out the younger Pines twins.

Ford smiled to himself, watching his brother disappear from his view and relaxed. Twisting around, he headed off towards the house. He needed to start packing. Who knew when the police would pick up on his trail and track him down to here? The sooner he started packing, the better. Once they were all packed up, they would be off and out of sight before anyone knew it.

But where would they go? Picking this place was easy because of the thick woods surrounding this place and far from any nearby towns and had a very low notice ratings thanks to the small population here. Now Ford had to find another place that had low notice ratings, a small population that had around twenty or thirty people, and an area that had plenty of thick woods for them to live in. But where would any place like that be?

Stan was banded from most of the states before the twins came into their care, so it would be harder for him to find the right place for them all to live in. He could try using his magic to alter some rules and bend them a bit so Stan could set foot in the states again, but last time he did that he got a week long splitting headache from it. So that was defiantly out of the question.

So where was the best place to go?

~X~

June 1, 2012

~X~

Pacifica Northwest was not having the best of days. First, her favorite dress was ruined. Then her riding dragon ran off. And now she was completely lost in the woods with no clue to where she was heading or which direction she needed to go to.

"Stupid trees. Stupid mud. Ugh! Stupid leaves! If I could sue this whole forest I would in a heartbeat!" Pacifica huffed, brushing the leave off her high priced lavender dress. "Ugh! Dario! Dario! Come on you stupid dragon where are you?!" She shouted out, pushing back a hedge of bushes and growled when there was no sight of her dragon behind them. "Dario! Come on! This is SO like, not funny!" She huffed, stomping off again in a different direction.

It had been over an hour since her dragon, Dario, had taken off into the forest that her parents and many others had forbidden anyone to go into. It was full of wild dragons and dangerous creatures that were too wild to tame without losing a limb first. However, Pacifica wouldn't be dissuaded by old folk tales or some stupid rules. Dario was her riding dragon. Her best one yet after ten others. Not to mention that it cost around three clear gems to get a Tiger Stripe Black Clawed Dragon, and she was in no mood to get another one any time soon.

"Dario! DA! RI! O! Come on! Mom and dad are going to ground me for life if you don't come out this instant!" She stomped her foot down, glancing to and fro and steamed when there was still no sight of her dragon anywhere to be found. "This is sooo lame!" She huffed, placing her hands on her hip, looking around again before her eyes landed on something shining on the ground.

Going over to it, she carefully picked the item off the ground, examining it before smiling. It was a crystal bell with her family's insignia on it. Dario had crystal bells decorated on their saddle, so they must have gone along here some time ago. If that was so then there should be some indication to where Dario went. She didn't need to look very far. Another bell was a few feet away from her standing point, along with a footprint. A determined smile crossed her face. She was on the right path.

Sure the saddle may be ruined with one or two bells missing, but her butlers could sow the bells she could find back on again. "When I find you Dario, you are in a world of trouble." Pacifica vowed, putting both bells inside her belt bag and started to head in the general idea direction that was leading her to her dragon.

~X~

A clear crystal bell laid out in the open, catching the rays of the sun that gleamed off its surface and shone like a bright shining star. But the light was gone in seconds as a hand reached down and picked up the bell.

Dipper Pines smiled to himself, examining the bell in his hand before tucking it into his bag. He was finding a lot of these in the forest quite quickly. Maybe it was a good thing that the dragon ran straight instead of all over. He should be able to find them all in no problem and be able to head back in no time at all. Just a quick little search and pick up, then they would be on their way again.

He quickly spotted another bell by some bushes and headed over to it. He reached out to grab it and add it to his growing collection but his eyes were adverted by some noise behind him. Glancing behind him, he relaxed as a blue jay flew out of the trees. False alarm. There was nothing to worry about.

Sighing in relief, it took his more than what should have taken his to realize that his hand didn't feel the hard surface of a bell. Quickly, he glanced down, finding his hand on top of another hand that was covered by a purple glove. Glancing up, his brown eyes met with deep blue. Dipper was frozen as the girl, a human girl, stared at him. Silence hung between them before the girl broke it by shooting him a dark look.

"Hey! That's my bell that you're—"

Dipper screamed. Quickly, he took off, heading off to the direction where his sister and the dragon where waiting for him. "Ohmanohmanohmanohman! What's a human doing here in the forest?!" He jumped over a fall log. "No one ever goes into the forest except dragons!" Rounding a tree, he picked up the pace. "Gotta get to Mabel! Gotta make sure that she's safe!" He ducked under a branch. "Have to get back to the shack!" He hardly registered any of the smaller dragons watching him run. "MABEL!"

There. There she was. Still petting the Tiger Stripe Black Clawed Dragon right where he left her in the first place. "Mabel!" He ran through the bushes, rushing towards his twin. "Mabel! We have to go! Now!" He grabbed one of her arms, tugging on her shawl (pink with a red butterfly flying across it).

"Dipper? What's gotten you so riled up bro-bro?" Mabel asked him, tilting her head slightly. "Did you find all the bells at least?"

"Forget about the bells!" He tugged harder. "We have to get back to the shack right now!"

"Whoa whoa whoa! Calm down Dipper!" Mabel yanked her arm out of her brother's grip. "Why do we need to head back to the shack? Is there a rouge dragon following you?"

"Worse!" Dipper threw his hands up in the air. "It's a human!"

"Soos?" Mabel smiled widely.

"… Mabel, Soos isn't the only human out there you know."

"I know. But he's the only person that Grunkle Ford allows in the shack!"

"Only because Grunkle Stan persuaded him to do so!"

"Come on! You know old Fordsie warmed up to him."

"He only warmed up to Soos three years after Stan promised to keep an eye on him so that he didn't do anything suspicious in the shack."

"And he proved to be a good person!"

"We were lucky that Great Uncle Ford didn't have us move again." Dipper huffed, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "You know how he gets when he thinks the shack's been found by other people. We moved seven whole times when we were still four years old! Just because some stranger or a neighbor found the house." He shrugged, looking up at the sky.

"Seven times?"

Dipper froze.

"Wow, that's one paranoid person."

"Yep!" Mabel beamed as Dipper quickly turned around and tensed. "That's our Grunkle for ya!"

"Whatever." The girl from earlier scoffed, stepping out for behind the bushes. "Look, that Tiger Stripe Black Clawed Dragon right there that you're petting?" She pointed at the dragon. "That's my Tiger Stripe Black Clawed Dragon. Here Dario!" She placed two fingers in her mouth and let out a high whistle.

Dipper backed away from the girl as the dragon, Dario, went over to the girl. "L-look we don't want any trouble from you, uh, lady." He stood tall beside his twin, watching the girl with careful precision in case she did anything.

"The name is Pacifica. Pacifica Northwest." The girl, Pacifica, pointed out as she petted her dragon on the head. "And you're lucky that I'm in a good mood or otherwise I would be suing the both of you right now."

"… Suing?" Dipper repeated, tilting his head in confusion.

"Hiya Pacifica! My name's Mabel! And this here is my brother Dipper!" Mabel cut in, wrapping an arm around Dipper and pulled him into a side hug. "And yes, we are indeed twins!"

"Mabel! We're not supposed to be giving our names to strangers! Remember what Great Uncle Ford said about talking to other humans besides Soos!"

"That we shouldn't do that and we should run straight back to the shack immediately if we're spotted by a dangerous looking person. I know." Mabel sighed. "But look at her Dipper!" She held out a hand. "Pacifica doesn't look dangerous! There's nothing about her that says she's dangerous at all. Just a normal human being with her riding dragon."

"I'll have you know that I took karate class since I was five." Pacifica huffed, mounting on her dragon. "And I'm a black belt."

"I would try to understand that if I could." Dipper deadpanned, pulling out of his sister's grasp. "Look, why are you even here in the woods in the first place anyway? Not most people come out here."

"I should be asking you the same thing." Pacifica shot back. "I only came in here because someone decided to run off here and leave me behind." She shot a glare at Dario. "I had to go in and look all around for him and look what that did to my dress!" She held up the side of her clothes where a large noticeable tear was. "It's ruined! And it was my favorite too."

"I could fix it up for you!" Mabel offered. "I'm good at making dresses! I even make my own shawls each day to wear!"

"Mabel, we're probably already in enough trouble just by talking to Pacifica here." Dipper placed a hand on his sister's shoulder. "I don't think you should involve yourself with this any longer."

"But, Dipper."

"We should go. Uncle Ford might call us soon if we don't head back now." He started to pull his twin along. "And you should be heading back to your place too."

"I would, but I have no clue on where to go from here." Pacifica huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, you should head that way." Dipper pointed off to one direction as he kept pulling Mabel along. "That's the usual direction Stan takes to head into town to grab supplies. Maybe if you head that way you might find the town."

Pacifica glanced at the direction he pointed at. "… Hump. Thanks, I guess." With that, she click the reins and headed off on her dragon.

Dipper watched as Pacifica's form disappeared from his view in the thick trees. "Alright, let's go before—OW! What was that for?!" He shot his sister a glare, rubbing his sore arm.

"What was that all about?!" Mabel glared at him. "That was super rude of you Dipper!"

"Rude? Me? Mabel, did you not see the way she was glaring at us? The way she talked to us? She was a complete snob towards us!"

"You don't know that! You've never interacted with other people other than Soos!"

"Well Soos acts much nicer than that!"

"That's not the point Dipper! The point is that Pacifica wasn't anything like how Grunkle Ford described people to be! She was short, didn't have any weapons on her, her skin was clean as clean can be, her clothes were okay. Plus she smelled nice too!"

"Mabel, didn't you learn anything from Great Uncle Ford? Looks can be deceiving. Yeah she was short, her clothes were… eh, and she did smell nice and clean, but she could have been hiding her weapons and she did say that she knew karate and a black belt! Whatever that means."

"Dipper, Dipper, Dipper. You don't know that."

"And you don't know that either! How can you be so optimistic and not try to see the possible danger around her?"

"Because I try to see the best in everyone! And Grunkle Stan says that the best way to swipe money from someone is to pick their pockets clean when they're not looking!"

"… That is the worst words of wisdom I have ever heard. Now we really should be heading back to the shack before—"

His sentence was cut off by a distant scream.

"What was that?!"

"It sounded like—"

"PACIFICA!"

~X~

"Stay back! I'm warning you!" Pacifica warned, pressing herself against Dario's side, holding a stick she managed to pick up in both hands held high above her head. "You! Y-you stay away from us you hear me!"

In some cases, there would be times that Pacifica would put on a brave front in certain situations, but this had certainly broke through her brave face. Especially concerning the fact that it was a wild enraged Hyper Curve Horn Bullhog Dragon. She had read about these types of dragons before. They were tough, hard skinned, and, worst of all, had never been known to back down from a fight or leave a victim alive.

Especially the Hyper Curve Horns. They were the most deadly of all.

She glanced at Dario, feeling her guts twist in sorrow. Her poor dragon, taking a full blown hit to the side. Tiger Stripe Black Clawed Dragons had tough scales, but a blow from a Hyper Curve Horn Bullhog Dragon was sure to have cracked a rib or two.

Snapping her focus back on the Hyper Horn, she swallowed back her fear, still keeping the stick pointed at the wild dragon. If she was going down, she was going down with a fight. No one took on Pacifica Northwest and expect her to go down easy.

The wild dragon was impassive about Pacifica's brave front. It was hungry, and it already found an easy meal to make out of the girl and their dragon.

Pacifica held her breath, watching as the Hyper Horn stood at full height and bellowed out a hungry, loud roar. Her heart skipped a few beats as her mind raced. She was going to die. She was going to die here and be some dragon's meal, and no one would know that she died here alone with no one expect her dragon.

"HEY!"

"LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Her eyes snapped off her impending doom over to the two identical forms running towards her. She would have cried, if not for her pried, and call out to the twins, (what were their names again?), to run or get help, but the Hyper Horn spotted them as well and roared fiercely.

It didn't care if two smaller morsels were heading this way, it just meant more food for the dragon. Getting down on all four limbs again, it charged at full speed at the twins.

"Hey! Watch out! You'll get…" Pacifica started, only for her words to slowly die off. It her surprise, the twins, (Dapple and Hazel?), only charged forwards, each grabbing a horn of the wild dragon and with what looked like little effort, flipped the entire dragon over onto its back.

"Mabel!" The boy twin shouted.

"On it!" The girl twin, Mabel, smiled and gave her brother a thumbs up. She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath, and, to the great surprise of Pacifica, breathed out ice on the Hyper Curve Horn Bullhog Dragon, covering in a thick layer of ice. "Ta-da!" She shouted, holding her hands high in the air.

Pacifica was stunned. Not only did these two twins flip over a massive Hyper Curve Horn Bullhog Dragon, but Mabel was able to encase it in a thick layer of ice! Just by breathing out on it!

"Hey." She jumped a bit, clamping her hold on the stick again and pointed at the boy twin, (Dipper, his name is Dipper), who she didn't see walking up and stand in front of her without acknowledging his presence till the last second.

"You okay? Nothing broken or anything?" He asked monotone.

Her mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. So in alternative, she shook her head.

"Oh, poor Dario." Pacifica jumped again, twisting around to find Mabel kneeling over Dario and stroking their head softly. "The poor dragon got hurt really bad." Dario let out a low growl, leaning into Mabel's touch.

"… y-yeah. The dragon slammed into him and sent him hitting against a tree."

"Ouch. That's going to hurt for a while." She returned her attention back to Dipper. "But luckily, I don't sense any broken bones in him so he should be good to move again in a few minutes or an hour of resting."

She nodded her head numbly. That was good. Dragons are well known to heal fast from their injures depending on how bad the injury may be. "Wait, what do you mean by sense?"

"Magic." Dipper shrugged, answering like it was the most obvious answer there was.

"Yeah but—"

"DIPPER! MABEL!"

Pacifica went quiet as Dipper glanced away from her with wide eyes. "We better go Mabel. Great Uncle Ford is calling us."

"Aw, phowy. Alright." Mabel got up, walking past Pacifica with a small smile. "Bye Pacifica! It was nice meeting you!" She said in a slight sing song voice before running off.

"Oh, uh, by the way." Pacifica looked back at Dipper, looking at him confused as he held out a small bag. "The rest of your bells are in there. Though you might want them back." She blinked slowly, holding out her hands as the bag fell into them.

"… T-thank you."

"Yeah, yeah. Just, try not to come back in here much. There are bigger dangers than Hyper Curve Horn Bullhog Dragons in this forest." Dipper shrugged. "… See ya!" He saluted before running off after his sister.

"… Bye."

~X~

2005

~X~

"… Ford, I swear yer the dumbest genius I know." Stan sighed, readjusting his hold on the sleeping twins in his arms as he looked about the place with a mix of disgust and pity. "Ya couldn't settle for a more kid suitable place to pick as our new home now could ya?" He scoffed, kicking some rotten wood out of the way. "Look at this place! It looks like a rotten tomato turned inside out!"

"I know, I know. It's not the most habitable looking home we've ever moved into." Ford shrugged, placing a box down. "But it was the best deal I could find here! Deep in the woods, far from anyone stumbling on it by mistake. Plus with some hard work I can make it more livable in a day or two." He waved one hand, summoning boxes out of thin air and placed them all on the ground.

"…" Stan only sighed, shaking his head. "Fine, but don't go overworkin' yourself with your magic alright? I'm gonna go find a room that's a least bearable to put the twins in." With that, Stan stomped off somewhere, mumbling to himself about nerdy twin brother's and old rotting wood falling down on him.

Ford chuckled, pulling out a scrap of clean paper and already setting do the details and improvements he planned for their, hopefully permanent, new home. It was a start, but the first steps were always the hardest and the easiest for Ford to work through. First priority was to make sure that their new home was safe for everyone to live in. That was a work in progress at the moment right now. The second would be trying to find a way to keep his brother occupied so he wouldn't wander off into the nearest town. That would be a tricky one to handle considering how much his twin hated staying cooped up for so long without anything to do.

Maybe he could get a TV for this place. Stan did seem to have a large liking to TV when he first saw one, and even introduced it to the younger twins when he got the chance to do so. He even found some channels that were his taste and personality. So TV was defiantly going onto the list of what to get.

Third was supplies. Ford could figure out something in the little runs such as food, but clothes were going to be a lot trickier in the future as the kids grew. He really needed to find a solution for that one.

"Well." Ford sighed, folding the paper away for now. "It's a start. But it'll have to do for now. It'll have to do, for now."

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