"Here, Souji, this is a little gift."
Once they arrived at the laboratory, Gorou offered a necklace to his bodyguard.
At first, Souji was confused by the pendant, but after observing it for a moment with an 'expert' eye, the young girl wore it with a satisfied smile.
"Thanks, that's nice of you."
Gorou nodded with a smile in response.
'A little gift that costs almost nothing on the way to the lab doesn't bother me.'
Sometimes, insignificant little gestures help strengthen important bonds.
A lesson Gorou learned the hard way.
As he thought about this mundane but precious lesson, he noticed Rei's envious look.
The red devil's eyes remained fixed on the other small box, without the slightest attempt to hide the gleam of expectation that animated them.
"Don't worry, you'll get something too."
'I spoiled him too much, unintentionally.'
Unlike Alpha and Souji, he gave him a birthday gift and spends almost all his time with him.
After all, Rei is the laboratory's guardian... and he considers himself his personal protector.
"I don't need these useless objects, but I'll take one, since you insist," he said, putting both arms behind his head.
The imposing teenager turned his head away, in an attempt to hide his facial expression.
"Welcome... father."
Just as Gorou wanted to tease Rei a little, Alpha's graceful voice was heard.
'I created her myself, but...'
He finds it hard to believe that this image is simply a mask shaped by Alpha, meant to hide something... or to appear more helpful.
Gorou isn't stupid.
He literally raised Alpha and the others himself, so he knows them better than anyone.
This allowed him to glimpse Alpha's mask of elegance, which fades slightly at the word "father."
At that moment, the gentleness in the pale woman's eyes is sincere.
That's why he hasn't destroyed her yet.
Her loyalty is authentic.
'Especially since she's incredibly useful.'
Most of his projects have advanced extremely fast thanks to her assistance and support.
When Gorou isn't there, Rei is the guardian and patrols the city of Khou.
Souji watches over him and his family during the night.
As for Alpha... she manages everything.
Unfortunately, Gorou has only speculated on one of the two options explaining Alpha's mask.
He hasn't thought about the possibility that she's hiding something else... and that she's simply seeking to serve him better.
"Thanks for the welcome."
Despite her elegant and distant appearance, Gorou stroked her hair with an affectionate and nonchalant gesture.
"Ahh... s-stop, you're gonna mess up my hair!" she said, in an annoyed tone.
Yet, he didn't move away.
"Sorry, I'm just in a good mood."
He took out his second small box, which was quickly snatched by pale, thin hands in a fluid gesture.
"A hair pin?"
Alpha seemed disappointed for a moment, but she immediately wore the object in her white hair.
Her hairstyle, disheveled because of Gorou's affectionate gesture, became presentable again.
"It looks good on you."
'She looks more like Echidna... but she doesn't need to know that.'
At Gorou's words, a brief red glow of genuine embarrassment was visible on the young scientist's pale face.
Unfortunately, this pleasant image was short-lived.
It was quickly covered by her mask.
"So father, what's the program?"
...
Gorou and his three creations began walking through the underground facilities to reach a small hidden elevator.
Throughout the journey, Souji was relaxed, fiddling with her silver necklace.
(Image)
Rei, on the other hand, sometimes cast hurt glances toward Alpha at the mention of the word father.
An element that distinguishes her from all of Gorou's other creations.
She is his biological daughter.
"As already mentioned, it's time to conduct tests on the dimensional portal."
The dimensional portal.
One of Stanford Pines' masterpieces in the Gravity Falls universe, but also his biggest mistake.
An object that caused the fall of his universe in an infinity of timelines... except for one single one.
'I only have two dimensional coordinates that I recognize.'
The knowledge about the dimensional portal that Gorou obtained via his system didn't come with an infinity of usable coordinates, but with a certain limited number.
Gorou identified two specific coordinates among those present in Stanford Pines' memory.
The first is the Gravity Falls universe, and the second, Dimension Number 0 (or The Nightmare Realm), a chaotic and dangerous reality.
It contains many dimensional entities, wanted throughout the multiverse because of their numerous misdeeds.
The rest of the dimensions are unknown to him.
He wasn't an obsessive Gravity Falls fan, after all.
'If I want to find a specific universe, then I can only count on Rei... or luck.'
The particularity of demonic energy allows him to manipulate this phenomenon through the user's imagination and intention.
Gorou wanted to use it to orient his dimensional gate toward specific worlds, but Rei's current strength didn't allow for 100% precision.
"I-I understand, Father... but your presence isn't required for that," she said, in an attempt to isolate him from this potentially dangerous experimental site.
Alpha's attempt is commendable, but it's not welcome for Gorou.
'If I want to reach my 100% model, I have to be there myself!'
"Thanks for worrying, but it's my invention, after all."
After reassuring Alpha, they returned to a formal conversation about other elements related to the portal, like survival armor or the explorer robot.
Finally, the elevator reached its final level.
"I can't help but admire the Master, after seeing this thing," declared Souji, as she stood next to Rei.
"Too bad Asia can't see this..."
Rei's voice brought a slightly tense atmosphere, as Alpha had stopped smiling.
Ordinary humans wouldn't have noticed this, but no one was ordinary here.
In this laboratory, only Asia isn't aware of the competition between her and Alpha for Gorou's favor.
Of course, the latter and the blonde girl only have a normal platonic relationship.
Thus, Rei often uses his good affinity with the former Noone to annoy Alpha.
"Alpha? Won't you give me a summary of the modifications made?"
Thanks to Gorou's words, the situation was defused and Alpha could come back to Earth.
No one noticed Rei's little teasing smile.
...
"Rei..."
After the small disturbance and final checks, Gorou called the last piece of the puzzle.
Rei nodded, then stepped forward to sit in a chair.
In all respects, Stanford Pines' portal was similar to Gorou's version, except for one element:
the navigator's chair.
A tool that must draw on Rei's imagination and demonic energy, in an attempt to guide the gate toward a specific world.
"You okay? You can always give up if you're scared or uncomfortable."
At Gorou's question, the red devil shook his head in refusal.
"No. I was tired of watching this experiment without doing anything, without making any contribution."
Faced with such a declaration, Gorou could only respond:
"Thank you."
After a small encouraging shoulder pat and a drawing representing Shenron with the crystal balls, he returned to the control station.
"Are you sure he's not gonna mess anything up?"
Perhaps because of Rei's little joke, Gorou's assistant didn't fail to show her skepticism toward the operation's success.
"I trust Rei, and he won't disappoint me. Activate the machine at the same time as me."
Alpha hesitated slightly for a moment, but she finally turned the key at the same time as Gorou.
Beep!! Beep!! Beep!!
Several alarm bells rang around them, and the light began to flicker.
'As expected, nuclear energy wasn't enough.'
Yet, Gorou didn't lack energy, unlike Stanley at the time.
He opened his three personal journals, before entering the security codes one after another and performing a scan on the three books.
After a quick arm and retina scan, all the beeps and alarms suddenly stopped.
Darkness.
But this was temporary.
Ziii—
Electric sparks began to resonate in the portal. But that wasn't all.
"I... I'm flying?!"
Faced with the gravitational disturbance phenomenon that he had tried to inhibit, without success, Gorou clicked his tongue in annoyance.
'All the city's inhabitants must surely be floating now...'
Today, he'll surely have a lot of work if Rei's demonic energy can't cover everything.
BAM.
In a bright blue light, the portal opened completely.
(Image)
"N... no, no, there's a problem..."
A suction force, which he hadn't anticipated, began to be emitted by the portal.
"Affirmative. The portal seems... overloaded because of extraordinary power from the other side!"
As everyone was clinging to an element of the basement, Gorou was sucked in with a piece of steel pillar gripped by him.
Instinctively, Alpha wanted to follow him, but Souji caught her at the last second.
The portal closed.
[ Synchronization with the Stanford Pines model: 100% ]
[ Congratulations, you can obtain a new model. ]
[ Do you want to launch the draw? ]