Adventuring around the Multiverse, starring Stanford Pines! (If you have not seen Gravity Falls up to Not What He Seems, please replace Stanford with another character)
- With Wander and Sylvia
- In the last TV show, comic or game universe you encountered -- Gallifreya
[Of firkin course I've seen Gravity Falls. I was just never up on the decoding things because I (a) lacked the reflexes and (b) lacked the smarts. This is an author who needs help at every third Professor Layton puzzle. Also, this puts the gap count down to 14]
1)
In his continued adventures through realities, Ford learned a lot of things. Not the least of which was the inherent value of a paperclip. Another was the extreme importance of prestidigitation. Something for which his six fingers were extremely handy. No pun intended.
And having a pretty good knowledge of strategy and tactics helped more than he could believe.
Take... this place. He had arrived with nothing but what he had on him. And then he went from street magician to slightly-stunned leader of an intragalactic army that had managed to conquer over fifty planets and therefore gain a place on the leader board.
Most of this had happened before he worked out what was going on. He was just, sort of biding his time until and opportunity to head home presented itself. And being a benevolent dictator wasn't that hard in a universe apparently populated by idiots.
And one... really annoying guy in a funny hat.
He came with a gift basket, a banjo, and a Zbornak with a temper. He welcomed them with cakes and ginger ale. Had a good old chat about what the heck was going on in this reality. About who the major players were, who the real threat was, and what could be done about it.
"But in the end?" he said. "I just want to go home."
Which lead to information about the planetary conjunction, the cosmic being, and time Orbbles.
"So what about this mighty magic at your command?" growled Sylvia.
"I have no idea," Ford confessed. "I started doing card and coin tricks on Gullaibur Seven, and the next thing I knew, I was in command of a fleet."
"Oh. Yeah. They're easily impressed over that way," said Wander.
"Not for much longer. I've been doing something about their educational system in my spare time."
"So..." said Sylvia. "You're not evil."
"I don't think so. I've just been trying to help out while waiting for an opportunity."
Wander and Sylvia shrugged at each other, and gave him the location of Time Orbbles.
When he met up with Wander at the temple, he got a sandwich with mustard while Wander distracted the evil hordes with his shenanigans. Ford had spent some time formulating a wish that wouldn't backfire, and uttered it.
And just like that, he was into another universe.
2)
It was not... quite... the Earth he knew. For a start, all the people he met had ridiculous exaggerations to their faces. Another key difference was the ability to solve puzzles to help people.
They held a great value for the ability to resolve a conundrum, and it wasn't long before he found himself elevated to a position of fame. He had a luxury airship to explore the world, and he was halfway tempted to call her the Stan o' War. But because he was a nerd, it was a toss-up between Enterprise and Bucephalus. But both of those were taken, so he settled for Intrepid.
Sufficiently advanced technology existed in this semi-steampunk reality, so he collected as much as he could before he had enough of it for his purposes.
And then he left everything that belonged in this reality to that newcomer, Herschel Layton. He was a good kid with a sound future.
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