Every Road Trip Needs a Few Toys

The lab had two levels.

We entered through the top level which was the size of a tennis court. The walls were pure white without a spec of anything on them. I don't know how McGucket managed to keep them so clean. As many times as i'd been down here, I haven't seen a single assistant. The right wall was lined up with tons of high-tech machines constantly generating flashes and boops. On the left wall was a glass window. (Although I'd seen McGucket throw a wrench at it so it probably wasn't made of glass). Through it you could see an entire area dedicated to holding large inventions. Most of which were robots such as a giant mechanical bull, a repaired gobblewonker, a colossal squid, a puppy the size of a house, and a robot resembling Optimus Prime. There was also a house inside, I guess, for nights that he doesn't want to leave the lab.

And the center of the floor was covered with tables that had tons of blueprints spread out and unfinished designs that he was working on. As we passed through I caught a glimpse at a couple things on the tables.

"Tin-Man Suit"-A 30 meter tall robot that can attract all tin materials in a 2 mile radius.

"shOckWatch"- A wrist watch that releases an electrical impulse to the heart when it senses that the body has entered cardiac arrest.

"TwinkleToes"- Shoes that send electrical impulses into the nervous system causing the body to move like a world-champion ballerina.

"Degravitation Ray" - A gun that can cancel the effect gravity has on anything hit by its ray.

McGucket left the rest of the world behind when it came to technological inventions. Some of his inventions ventured into areas that many wouldn't dare seriously tamper with like the brain and nervous system.

Along the way, Ford got McGucket up to speed on everything that's happened so far.

"Great, FLOOBERNICKLE!! That's terrible!"

"Yeah, and so now we're going to go in there and get her back."

McGucket suddenly stopped and clasped Ford's shoulders.

"DON'T!! Whatever ya do, Do Not Go In THERE!!"

He seemed genuinely terrified.

"I know you mean well McGucket, but I don't think you can convince us otherwise. We have to get Mabel back." Great Uncle Ford said with finality in his voice.

I nodded with no less determination in my eyes.

He looked between the both of us and eventually sighed, throwing his hands up.

"Crazy!!! But fine. But don't say I didn't warn ya!"

He led us to a staircase and descended down to the second floor of the lab.

This level was the size of a football field. At one end was a huge pair of doors similar to those you'd see at an airplane hanger. Behind them was the area were he kept those large inventions. Evenly spread out through the room were hundreds of tables. On each table lay a complete invention with its accompanying blueprints.

"What y'all need is to the left."

He led us through the sea of inventions.

"Rain Maker" - One shot from this gun creates a rain cloud wherever you aim.

"Insta-Grilled Cheese Maker"- You simply put the uncooked sandwich inside, then a second later the bread would be cooked to a crisp texture and the cheese will be silky, rich and delicious. (We had McGucket make us one of these for the shack.)

"Laughing ray"- Induces uncontrollable laughter on the target. Inspired by Agent Powers.

"Fake Leg"-can replace any leg and can perform all functions that a leg can do. 10x stronger than normal leg, but permanent.

"Freeze Ray"-Shoots a beam at absolute zero temperature.

"Nose-Picker"-Self explanatory.

"Infinite-Air"-A small device that you place in your mouth that allows you to breath by transforming the particles in the air into the required elements to breath, allowing you to perform tasks underwater and in foreign environments without risk of losing air.

"Universal TV remote"- Has the same purpose as a normal universal remote, but this only requires the remote to be pointed at the TV that you desire to link up with then it automatically links up.

"Dog Translator"-Changes the frequency of the dog's bark to match the corresponding sound sounds in human language.

"Self-making Pizza Machine"-Responds to vocal commands to make a pizza of any kind all on its own.

There were just so many inventions that before I knew it, we stopped.

"Well. Here we are. Let me show ya the things you'll probably need."

He quickly dashed off and I took the opportunity to look around. In this area there were spears, shields, swords, halberts, staffs and knives. And they all looked futuristic and advanced, like the primitive age met the future and had a baby. And some of the things were modern weapons that were upgraded such as futuristic guns, bulletproof vests, and grenades. This was undoubtedly the combat inventions area.

McGucket came back in a hurry and in his hand were a pair of black gloves. They looked sleek and had a pattern on the back of each. On the left glove was an 'F' and on the right was an 'H'. Both white and written in a fancy font.

"These here are my latest invention in close-quarter combat."He handed them to me and continued.

"I've recently ventured into the use of nanotechnology into fabrics and I've had some major successes. One being these gloves. They're able to strengthen your punches 10 fold and provide resistance to any extreme temperature. They have a good amount of resistance to acidic substances. Any poisons too high on the ph chart won't affect you."

I nodded and he continued on.

"Remember. They increase your strength 10 fold. Your strength. The strength of the gloves rise and fall with you. If you increase your strength, then they will increase in strength output. If you decrease in strength, then they will also go decrease in output."

I nodded again.

"Dipper, why don't you go try them out on that test dummy over there?"

Great Uncle Ford pointed towards a test dummy not too far away. I put the gloves on and felt a tingly sensation spread through my arms, but it only lasted for an instant before it stopped. I walked over towards the dummy and threw a punch at it.

"Bang!"

A sound that resembled a small explosion rang out. I looked at the spot where my punch had landed and took in a cold breath. The mannequin now had a huge dent in its chest. If that had been a real person, they would surely be dead.

I turned towards Great Uncle Ford and I could see him equally as shocked. But he quickly regained his composure and waved for me to come back where McGucket was already waiting with a pair of boots in his hands.

McGucket handed them to me. They were black combat boots and reached up to just below my calves. They didn't have any straps or strings. I thought he must have forgotten them at first, but after I put the boots on I realized he hadn't made a mistake. They tightened around my feet, perfectly fitting in every way. I felt a similar tingly sensation spread up my legs as I felt with the gloves.

I picked up my feet and they were surprisingly light. It almost felt like they weren't even there.

"Those there are also made of those nano-doohickies. They have the same functions as the matching gloves and they also provide you with a 10 fold boost in speed. Give it a shot."

He pointed towards a empty stretch of space along the edge of the lab. I walked over to it, already feeling the effects of the boots. It felt so easy to move now. I judged the distance to be about a 100 meters and I took off. 2 seconds after I started running, I ran into the hangar door. It hurt. A lot.

As I lay there in a daze, I heard the sounds of laughter gradually getting louder. I looked up and saw McGucket and Great Uncle Ford walking towards me. It seemed I was dazed long enough for them to walk all the way here. McGucket was laughing loudly while Great Uncle Ford had a smirk on his lips.

"What's so goddamn funny?"

I was irritated. Today was not the day to play games with me.

"I forgot ta give ya these."

McGucket held out in his hand two contacts.

"They allow your eyes to see better and process the information your eyes receive faster. What happened a second ago was that your body was moving at a speed faster than your eyes could process and you weren't able to recognize that you needed to stop. Hence you hit the wall. These should fix that problem."

I took the contacts from his hand almost angrily and put them on my eyes. After a flash of blue and that now familiar tingly feeling, I could feel the effects of the contacts. I could see every detail on Great Uncle Ford's face. Even his individual pores and strands of hair. After looking around for a bit, I soon found out that I could adjust the amount I zoomed in. It was almost like using binoculars.

"Give that run another shot." I heard Great Uncle Ford say.

Although begrudgingly, I still got into a running position and took off toward the spot that I started from. This time I could clearly see how fast I was going. It looked like everything was moving slower, yet I knew that wasn't the case. I was just that fast.

This time I didn't crash into anything and was able to stop perfectly. The boots not only allowed me to move very fast, but I could also stop and change directions just as quickly.

After waiting for them to return, I was introduced to the next gadget.

"Next, you'll need a few things for basic survival."

He presented me with a canteen. It looked perfectly ordinary.

"Using a bit of space compression theory that I learned while working on that portal, I was able to design this along with a couple other things. It's able to contain a hundred liters of water inside. Or any other liquid that you want. And as a bonus feature, if you press the button on the top, it has the ability to gather moisture from the atmosphere and refill itself automatically with water."

I couldn't help but look at that small canteen in shock. Damn….that is one cool water bottle.

He gave me two of them. After that he went and grabbed a brown satchel. It was rectangular and had a single compartment that opened with a flap. It didn't have a hand grip to hold it with, instead it only had a shoulder strap. A classic adventurer's bag.

"This here uses the same technology as that canteen. Inside is 3 meters long, 3 meters tall. And it has a 3 meter depth. All in all 27 cubic meters of space available to store stuff. I installed cameras inside that are already linked up to your contacts to allow ya to see what you're grabbing."

I tested it out by putting the canteen inside and immediately after I placed my hand inside to retrieve it, a little screen showed up in my vision. With it I could clearly see where my hand moved in the space inside. I grabbed the canteen and pulled my hand out. The screen also vanished as well. It must have been responding to some kind of motion or heat sensor.

After playing around with the satchel for a bit, I finally turned my attention back to McGucket. He handed me a ring.

"This doohickie here creates a thin forcefield on your skin that absorbs the kinetic energy from a blow. It reduces the amount of injuries you'll receive from getting hit or hitting stuff."

I put on the ring and felt a warmth spread from my finger, up my arm, and to the rest of my body. It was very comfortable. Sorta like dipping into a warm bath and completely submerging in it. I contently closed my eyes.

"Now that you have those gloves, let me see your sword."

I took off the sword and handed it to him. He unsheathed the sword and pulled out a small section at the bottom of the handle. It was a small keypad. He pushed a few buttons and the glowing blue veins on the sword emitted a flash of light. I turned my eyes away and when I looked back McGucket was putting the keyboard back inside the handle.

"That should do it!"

He handed me back the sword.

"The blade should be sharper now. Trace an 'X' on the side of the handle."

I did.

The blue veins on the sword turned red and the blade of the sword started to heat up. It soon reached a terrifying temperature. The blade was now scarlet red instead of its original black.

"Now trace a 'O' on the handle."

I did as he said and this time the sword cooled down, returning to its original state.

"Draw another 'O'."

I drew another 'O' and the blue veins of the sword flashed white. The blade of the sword quickly dropped in temperature and its color became white. The temperature of the blade reached well below 0 degrees celsius.

"Now an 'X'."

The blade heated back up to its original form.

I stared in astonishment as the sword in my hands. For a long time, I couldn't find the right words to say. Eventually I settled on the only words I could think of at the moment.

….well damn.