My eyes were straining from constant work. I knew I shouldn't complain since I am only an apprentice, but being trapped in that dark cavern writing equations on chalkboards in the dim lighting was exhausting. Secretly I loved it.

But Ford was wandering the thick forests, scribbling away in his journals, trying to make up for the lost years. I longed to be by his side, rediscovering the world!

I decided to go back to Greasy's Diner for lunch. I snuck out of the gift shop to avoid Soos's grandmother. That woman was a genius in the kitchen but I felt guilty having her cook for me. Still, she never took 'no' for an answer.

Greasy's was full of the usual customers. I took a seat next to a short, mustached man with a green, spiky mohawk. I took a look at the menu, noticing they served pancakes all day.

"Hi, welcome to Greasy's. What can I get you, or whatever," said a gloomy, monotone voice. I looked up. It was the teen I had seen working on my first day in Gravity Falls. He was wearing thick eyeliner, a baggy black hoodie, his Greasy's apron, and a name tag that said "Robbie V. 💀"

I paused, put off by his angsty attitude. "The pancakes, please."

He sighed, then walked into the kitchen.

I fingered the cuffs of my new lab coat. I was proud of my achievements, and still enchanted with the potential mysteries of Gravity Falls. Perhaps I could convince Ford to take me with him into the forest, in the name of science of course!

A stack of pancakes was shoved in front of me. Robbie didn't say anything and sulked away. I dug in. The pancakes where thick, fluffy, and buttery, but they paled in comparison to Soos's abuela's cooking.

Slowly the regular crowd began to thin out until it was only me, Robbie, and a couple of raccoons. Robbie was eyeing me as he wiped the counter clean. He spoke up.

"So, are you like a pharmacist, or something?"

I dabbed my mouth with a napkin, eyebrow raised. Robbie pointed to my coat. I chuckled. "No, I'm the new apprentice for the scientist at the Mystery Shack."

"Oooh, you're Science Dude!" Robbie said. I mentally face-palmed myself. He must have been friends with Wendy.

"There's really no escape from that nickname, is there?" I muttered.

Robbie shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. "So what are you doing here, anyway?"

"Well, it's not something people here like to discuss, I've noticed."

Robbie's eyes widened. "Oh! Oh you're here for that!"

I nodded. "There's a lot to study, which is excellent! To be honest, I feel like my best self when I'm work-"

"Oh man, it was so crazy!" interrupted Robbie. "There were these eye-bats that turned us to stone and then we weren't and we had to make a circle and it turns out there's two Stan Pines and geometry is the devil and the hillbilly is a genius and I have a destiny hoodie and-"

I raised a palm to stop him. "Slow down! I want to hear your side of the story."

"That's it," answered Robbie. I pursed my lips. The more I knew about Weirdmageddon, the more information I would have to continue my project, but I knew that getting enough people to talk about their individual experience would be difficult. There must have been another way...

"Robbie, you mentioned a genius. Who was that?"

Robbie turned back to cleaning the counter. "That's Old Man McGucket. Turns out he's, like, super smart or something. He lives at the Northwest Mansion, now."

McGucket... the name dawned on me. I was wearing his coat! I slammed a few bills on the counter for the pancakes. It got Robbie's attention. "Robbie, can you tell me how to get to the Northwest Mansion?"

Robbie smirked. "For five dollars I can."

***

The mansion was impressive. A manicured lawn rested behind solid oak gates, leading up to a extensive building that seemed to be made of the natural materials straight from Gravity Falls. It looked old and stately. It made me a little anxious to be standing on the doorstep, about to ask a favor of this mysterious Fiddleford McGucket.

I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. Not three seconds later the large doors opened. A man's face emerged. He had a large nose and a permanent scowl, but his eyes were hidden my a baseball hat. He stared at me. The silence made me incredibly uncomfortable.

I cleared my throat. "Is Fiddleford McGucket available?"

The man turned and shouted into the mansion. "Dad! Come downstairs!"

From deep within the building, I could hear the faint twanging of a banjo. It got louder as the person playing it got closer to the door. The doors were flung open unceremoniously to reveal a grand foyer complete with enormous archways and a polished staircase leading to the multiple floors of the mansion. Less impressive stood the man in front of me, in bold contrast.

He was short, hunched over, with a large nose like that of his son's, a long gray beard with a bandage stuck to it, a tipsy hat, and brown overalls. He was playing the banjo at agitato. Upon his face were steampunk, gold spectacles with green lenses. He smiled at me, displaying multiple missing teeth.

"Well, higgery-jigg! A Gravity Scout! Have you come to sell your popcorn?" he shrieked.

"F-fiddleford McGucket?" I asked, cautiously.

"Well, shoot, that's me!" answered the smelly man. I blinked in utter shock. "Wait a minute, you aren't a Gravity Scout! You're a doctor!"

"Well, I haven't gotten my doctorate yet," I said, half-sheepishly, half-prideful. I adjusted my glasses. "I'm merely a scientist."

Before I could explain any more, McGucket grabbed my arm, pulling me past his frowning son and up the stairs. "You must be the new apprentice Stanford told me about! You're the one helping him finish his research!"

I tugged my arm out of his grip. We were standing in a massive hall decorated with taxidermy and portraits of a family with a well-groomed, mustached man, a heavily botox-ed woman, and a snobbish, blonde young girl around Dipper and Mabel's age. I breathed heavily. "I have questions."

McGucket rung his hands. I noticed a cast on his right forearm. He looked guilty. "I'm sorry, I must have gotten carried away. I do that a lot now. You'll have to bear with me."

"You worked with Ford Pines. He said you didn't want to come back to complete the research. Why? And where are you taking me?" I asked, rubbing my sore wrist.

McGucket waved his hand, indicating I follow him. We walked down the hall as he told me his story. I felt terrible for judging him as soon as I met him. His story was tragic. He was an upcoming scientist like me, who had seen Bill Cipher's true intentions and destroyed his own mind to forget about the horror. He finished telling me how he had finally reconnected with his estranged son.

"Come into my thinking room!" commanded McGucket. We entered a small, cozy den. The curtains were drawn, but the dark room was softly lit by a warm fire in a stone fireplace. The walls were scattered with taxidermy. He gestured to multiple, oak desks covered with beakers, coils, and random machine parts.

"Here I've got some flapdoodles and pokery-twigs and all kinds of stuff I used to have!" announced McGucket.

"Are you studying something?" I asked, observing a retro desktop McGucket had disassembled and was in the process of reassembling.

"Oh, I'm just a-tinkering around!" called McGucket who had disappeared behind a desk. He reemerged with several tubes of paper. He rolled one out on the floor. It was a blue print for the portal.

"I held onto this for thirty-or-so years! I don't want to get involved with this 'portal business' again, but I wouldn't mind coming over to make sure this whole thing is over!" said McGucket as I surveyed the old blueprints.

"Why didn't you want to help him in the first place?" I asked, not sure if this was a sensitive topic.

McGucket picked up his banjo again, fiddling with the strings. "I've already explained to him. I don't think Bill could really come back. He was destroyed with the mind-erase-ray that I made! I'd prefer to dabble in science other than anomalies."

I left McGucket singing incomprehensible gibberish. As I walked out the front gates, I wondered if he was right. Was Ford's project really a waste of time? Sure, it was all good experience, but I really wanted to study something in the here and now.

I would have to talk to Ford about following him into the forest...