"Stanford, the portal can't be finished. The kind of engine required to power something of this magnitude... It hasn't yet been invented." Fiddleford frowned slightly. "And likely won't be for another ten thousand years or so." Stanford had always known this day would come. In fact, he'd been waiting for it eagerly. Today was the day to reveal one of his secrets to his assistant.

"Yes, I know. Fiddleford, there's something I need to tell you." Stanford smirked, while Fiddleford raised an eyebrow quizzically. "You may want to sit down for this." Stanford motioned towards a nearby chair, and Fiddleford did as he suggested, watching Stanford suspiciously.

"There is a crashed UFO underneath this town." Ford started, pausing for a moment. "And I've been salvaging some of its technology for years now." Fiddleford's mouth opened slightly like he wanted to say something, and then his eyes widened.

"You mean to say that the engine we need is somewhere in the crashed ship?" He asked while shaking his head disbelievingly. Ford nodded wordlessly. Fiddleford's jaw dropped for a second, and then he started stammering countless questions.

"Are there aliens inside? Have you seen them? How long have you known about this ship? When did it crash?"

"Woah, woah!" Ford out his hands up, stopping before Fiddleford could rattle off any more questions. "Yes, there were aliens, but they all died in the crash, I've seen the remains. I've known about the ship for about four years now, and my best guess is that the ship crashed millions of years ago. I think it was drawn to Gravity Falls by the astoundingly high number of strange anomalies in the area."

"I- I can't believe this." Fiddleford covered his face with his hands for a second. "There is an actual alien spaceship under the town?! How did you find it?" He asked, starting to calm down a little.

"Well... It was a total accident." Ford admitted. "I was testing out a magnet gun, and it led me- or, pulled me- straight to the crash site." Ford finished. "And now we have to go back for the hyperdrive."

The next day, Stanford and Fiddleford had each packed themselves a bag and were setting off into the small hills onto a trail that led straight to Crash Site Omega, as Stanford referred to it. It was a two day journey, and several times during day one, Stanford would suddenly whip out his journal to sketch and catalogue information on some random mythical creature. At about noon the two men finally ceased hiking for lunch, and Fiddleford was drawing in the dirt with a stick out of boredom. Feeling a gentle nudge on his leg, he looked up to see a small, flannel-pelted beaver-like animal pawing his knee.

"Woah!" He cried, falling backwards off the rock he had been sitting on. "What is that thing?!" Fiddleford's outburst caused Stanford to look up as well.

"That is a plaidypus." Ford laughed at Fiddleford's irrational fear. "They're totally harmless, don't worry."

"Harmless. Right.." Fiddleford stood up and gently pushed the small animal away from himself. It nibbled on some bread crumbs that lay in the grass.

"They really are! Look, I'll show you." Ford crouched down and reached out slowly to pet the animal. It cowered away from his hand for a moment before slapping it's tail against the ground and waddling quickly into the nearby forest. Fiddleford let out a little snicker.

"Guess they're not so friendly to humans, are they?"

"No, I guess not." Stanford rolled his eyes in response to Fiddleford's question.

Several hours later the sun had set, and Fiddleford and Stanford had stopped for the night, getting out their sleeping bags and starting a fire. The day had been interesting, to say the least. After the plaidypus encounter, Fidd and Ford had also run into a giant tooth embedded deeply into the sand, a dead kerosene lamp in a pitch black cave, and several tiny rock monsters that twinkled with crystals. Now they were camped out and ready to fall asleep under the stars. For a while they discussed their dreams of the future, how they wanted it to go. The spaces between their replies grew larger and larger, and eventually both of them had nodded off.

In the morning, Fidd woke early. The first thing he did was stand up quietly and look around for his large backpack full of all sorts of equipment. A movement to his right caused him to whip around, his eyes darting through the trees and bushes. Finally he began to warily walk towards his backpack. He grabbed his banjo and walked over to a small stream, sat in the tall grass and began to play. Again, in his peripheral vision, Fiddleford saw a fleeting blur. Dropping his banjo, he stood up quickly.

"Alright, come on out now." He snapped. "This isn't funny." For a long time, nothing happened. Fiddleford turned in a slow circle, stopping once he'd finished. His eyes were now on the rushing water in front of him, glaring down at the smooth pebbles and his reflection playing on the moving surface of the water, there one second and gone the next. Then the same blur of black appeared next to his head just as he felt a tap on his shoulder. With a yell, he jumped and ran sideways up the tiny hill to where all his gear was.

"What happened? I heard a yell." Stanford said upon seeing Fiddleford bolting up the hill, already on his feet.

"I- I don't know! There's something stalking us!" Fiddleford exclaimed, readjusting his glasses nervously. As quickly as he could, he began to pack everything up.

"What do you mean, there's something stalking us?" Stanford raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure what Fidd had seen, but it being in the area of Gravity Falls, it could have been anything, and it was beginning to unnerve him as well.

"I didn't see it," Fiddleford admitted. "There was a blur of black, and a hand on my shoulder, but I didn't see anything!"

"The Hide Behind." Stanford said with absolute certainty. A rattling noise caused both men to look quickly to one side. For a split second, a drape of low hanging moss was swept aside with a brisk, howling wind, revealing a wood sign with an engraved message.

"In the corner of yer eye, a man appears to lean, but when you turn to meet his stare, he's nowhere to be seen. Hide your lumber, clutch your ax, and turn your lanterns out. Best to watch your back my friends, the Hide Behind's about.." Fiddleford read aloud.

"Let's get out of here." Stanford said quickly, almost packing up faster than Fiddleford had. An eerie howl echoed through the air, almost too low pitched for human ears to pick up. Walking back to back, Stanford and Fiddleford retreated from the area, Fiddleford grabbing his banjo from beside the creek on the way, and as quickly and quietly as they could, the two scientists left.

"Are those cows?" Fiddleford squinted ahead to where a gathering of large beasts was taking place.

"I think they are." Ford replied, squinting as well to get a better look at the animals. Soon enough, Stanford and Fiddleford had caught up with the hooved farm animals and were walking among them. Then Fiddleford got an idea.

"I'm gonna milk one." He stated, getting out a steel bucket intended for carrying small parts from the spaceship.

"No, don't milk the thing!" Stanford groaned. Fiddleford had grown up on a farm, and had held on to many habits that Stanford wasn't too fond of.

"Why not?" Fiddleford laughed, already having an inch or two of liquid in the container. Stanford's reply was a shaking head and an eye roll. Slightly annoyed, Ford turned around to have another look at the cows. They were mostly white, but had large red markings on their coats. With every second spent staring at them, Stanford felt more and more dizzy, and finally had to turn away to keep from falling over. He was greeted with the sight of Fiddleford holding the bucket of space cow milk to his mouth.

"Don't drink that! You have no idea what's in it!" Stanford said, appalled that his friend would be willing to put such a potentially dangerous substance in his body.

"It'll be fine!" Fiddleford replied, then took a few sips.

"Stop it!" Stanford said again.

"No, it tastes good." Fiddleford finished off the small bucket. Still not trusting it, Stanford took a look at the few remaining drops in the bottom. The liquid seemed to hum and bubble.

"What if you, like, die or something? Then what?" Stanford asked Fiddleford as they began to push their way through the few remaining cows in their way.

"That's not gonna happen." Fiddleford said dismissively. "Hey, is that it?!" He pointed ahead to a large sheet of metal embedded in the grass, picking up his pace.

"Yes!" Stanford laughed, then rummaged through his backpack for a magnet gun. When he found one, he used it to pry the sheet of metal off its hinges.

"Ready to see an alien spaceship?" Ford asked with a grin as he descended first into the darkness.

Everything, literally everything, came as a shock to Fiddleford inside the ship. He pressed all the buttons on the control boards and opened every door and drawer on the craft.

"I have no words to describe how I feel right now." He said at several points in the trek through the ship.

"I felt the exact same way four years ago." Stanford said, looking through a stack of spare parts in what looked to be a storage room. Of course, neither of the scientists could read the alien labels on anything. "Ah, here we go."

"That's the hyperdrive? It looks so... Unimpressive, considering what it's going to provide power for."

"I agree." Stanford picked up the heavy piece of equipment and placed it in an empty backpack, zipping it up securely. The hyperdrive barely fit.

"Now let's get out of here." Fidd's face fell slightly. "There are still some security systems activated down here you know." Stanford reminded him, and suddenly Fiddlefrd seemed less reluctant to leave the spaceship. On the hike home, Stanford decided they should cut through the thickly forested part of a small mountain. He said it would be much quicker, and even better, he would get the opportunity to see and catalogue so many more creatures this way.

Much to Stanford's disappointment, the only animals that seemed to be out and about were a couple of eye-ball bats and a bear with multiple heads. For the longest time, nothing new came about, until they were nearly back to the cabin. That's when Stanford saw something he'd been waiting to see for almost five years.

"A Gremloblin!" He whispered, slowly moving towards the slumbering creature. It was monstrous, a huge green beast with multiple spikes poking out of its back and giant teeth protruding from its lower jaw. Fiddleford was immediately floored by the sight of the creature, and he backed away slowly.

"This is amazing!" Stanford was on cloud nine as he drew the animal in its sleep, recording all the information he could call to mind about it.

"Okay, you've got it. Can we go now? That thing is going to wake up and kill us both." Fiddleford was watching the creature, never taking his eyes away from it for a second.

"I'm almost done." Stanford turned to Fiddleford, turning his back on the beast. "Besides, these things don't sleep for weeks on end, so when they do, it takes a lot to wake one." He turned back to the animal, but kept his distance his time. "Trust me, it'll take a lot more than-" An ear splitting screech tore through the air.

"The hyperdrive!" Fiddleford yelled, but the blaring alarm blocked out his voice. It also, unfortunately, woke up the Gremloblin. Dropping his backpack, Fiddleford tried to deactivate whatever alarm was causing all the noise. Suddenly he felt claws pierce his skin.

"Wow!" Stanford marvelled at the Gremloblin's claws and wings, they were impressive! His awe turned to horror and shock, though, as the beast grabbed Fiddleford and stared deeply into his eyes. Fiddleford's fierce struggling ceased as the yellow light penetrated his retinas. "Hey!" Stanford yelled, throwing his canteen at the monster, splashing it with water. With a roar, it rubbed its eyes and dropped Fiddleford, who still had the backpack with the hyperdrive clutched in his arms. Then something happened to the Gremloblin. It's wings grew, and so did its claws and teeth. The already well defined muscles in its forearms became taut, and it roared even louder than the hyperdrive before picking Fiddleford up again and flying off with him in its clutches.

I'm not very good at writing action scenes like that last one, so if anyone could do an honest critique of it, that would be great! Thank you so much for reading. \(:D)/ Please vote and comment, and I will be back with chapter five in a few days! Later, GreyJay13.