"So, will you come with me?"
Gwen didn't need to think for that long as she quickly nodded her head in acceptance.
"Yes, I'll go with you, dad… There's nothing left here for us"
With an appreciating smile, Chase gathered his composure and took out his portal gun which caused Gwen to look over at it in scrutinizing surprise. This was the first time she had ever seen Chase's portal gun as all of their prior trips had always been in the C-137 universe, as Chase didn't feel that interdimensional exploration was safe enough for taking a child on an adventure.
"Alright, then let's go, I'll store your car in my pocket dimension before we leave"
With a nod, Gwen wiped away her remaining tears before turning to pack her clothes while Chase returned to the first floor to retrieve the car, and upon returning to Gwen's room, Chase was surprised to see she had already finished packing.
"That was fast!"
"Well, duh! Today was meant to be the day you came to pick me up for our adventure to begin with. Only now, I just packed the remaining things to take with me"
"Ahh, I see. Then let's get going"
With a nodding approval, Chase set the portal dial to the Prime Universe which after years of searching Chase had figured out to be known as Universe Z-0023
With the destination set, Chase opened the portal and grasped Gwen by the hand as he led her through to the other side where the portal began behind them. Upon arrival, both Gwen and Chase began to look around while taking in their surroundings. Gwen felt that there was no difference between this universe and their universe, but remembering what her father had told her growing up it was common to have an almost infinite number of universes where nothing is different and this was just one of them, or the slight difference has yet to be seen.
"Alright, follow me. Let's go visit your grandpa's home"
Chase took Gwen by the hand and with the other hand retrieved Gwen's car before leading his daughter into the passenger seat while he took the driver seat and began driving towards the destination. Outwardly, Chase appeared calm and composed, but inwardly he was anxious, he felt both fearful and hopeful. He feared that upon seeing his father that he might not recognise him after so many years of drinking the pain away, but he felt hopeful that upon meeting, they will connect like they used to and he would be able to feel that fatherly love once again, but Chase also knew that this version of Rick had lost his family and in turn he grew cold and nihilistic, not caring for familial affection, only focused on revenge.
"Here we are, 13754 Chestnut Court… Are you ready to meet your family?"
As Chase pulled into the driveway, he turned to Gwen and asked with a hopeful expectation, but she only rolled her eyes and challenged him with her own retort.
"I am, but are you?"
"Ahh… You damn brat! You got me… I'm a bit worried, it's been 26 years since I've seen my father, and a lot has happened, both in my life and in his… I wouldn't be surprised if he can't even recognise me"
When Chase expressed his worry to his daughter, he could only comfort him with a hug as she expressed her own thoughts on the situation.
"Well, if grandpa is anything like how you used to reflect him in stories, then I'm sure he will welcome you back with open arms"
As Gwen reassured her father, even she herself was getting excited, as Chase would always tell her stories about all the fun he had with his father when he was a kid, and about all the things they've built.
Just as the two were preparing to get out of the car, a boy around 14 years in age with short brown hair and wearing a yellow shirt with blue jeans had rolled up on his red bike next to the car and began to knock on the window, startling Gwen who sat closer to the window being knocked on. Seeing this, Chase rolled the window down, allowing for the young man to poke his head in and ask his questions.
"Hey, why are you guys just chilling in my driveway?"
When Chase heard the question from the young man, he only responded with a small chuckle and introduced himself.
"You must be Morty! I'm your Uncle Chase, and this is my daughter Gwen. We came by to check on my father, is Rick here, or is he out in the universe?"
When Morty heard the introduction, he was shocked, as this was the first time he had heard about having an uncle, but hearing Chase mention Rick exploring the universe, and seeing Chase's hair that held both a mix of Rick's blue hair and his mother's blonde hair, the story became more and more believable to Morty, but if it was true, then Morty felt that he could potentially get something from the long lost uncle of his, so he began to probe.
"So you're my uncle, huh? Got any proof? Any fancy tech you could show me?"
When Chase heard Morty begin poking around for handouts, Chase could only respond with a wryly smile as he popped the glove compartment of the car and pulled out what appeared to be a pen and handed it over to Morty to play with.
"Sorry, but I didn't know I was going to need to prove my identity, so all I brought with me was this pen, but is should work to prove what I said was ture"
As Morty took the pen, he began to inspect it, but as he observed it closer, he still failed to see the "cool tech" aspect that he was promised.
"Don't look down on that pen. It's special, just hold the butt end of the pen away from your face and say the key phrase 'The pen is mightier than the sword' and watch the magic happen"
Morty took note of the phrase and did exactly as Chase stated.
"The pen is mightier than the sword!"
As Morty spoke, the pen began to transform, as the body of the pen began to expand in his grip while the butt end of the pen began to extend upward into a long and sharp vibrating blade with a blue laser edge.
"Woah! Is this a fucking lightsaber?! COOL!"
"Hahaha, no Morty, it's not a lightsaber, it's called a Vibro Sword! The blade of the sword vibrates at high frequency that allows for easy cutting while the surrounding blue laser ray is for cauterizing the cut"
As Chase tried to explain the intrinsic nature of the blade, it was obvious that Morty wasn't listening, as he began to swing the sword around, completely ignorant to his surroundings, only giving Chase a backhanded reply to blow him off.
"Yeah, yeah, I understand. Thank you, Uncle Chase"
Chase felt that he was leaking hot air when he talked to Morty, but instead of getting angry, he decided it was time to meet the rest of the family.
"Well, since Morty is occupied, why don't we go visit your other cousin along with your Aunt and Uncle"
"Hmm, sounds good, dad!"
Chase and Gwen got out of the car and made their way to the front door while Morty continued playing with the sword in the front yard. Upon ringing the doorbell, the duo only had to wait a moment before a redheaded girl appearing only a few years younger than Gwen answered the door, phone still in hand with her eyes not even glancing up at the arriving visitors.
"Hello, you must be Summer, nice to meet you, I'm your Uncle Chase, and this is my daughter Gwen"
Upon hearing the introduction, Summer looked up to see two unknown individuals standing in the doorway, but two engrossed in her phone and unbothered to handle the situation, she only shouted back into the house.
"Mom! Some weirdo's are at the door claiming to be family"
Hearing Summer call him a weirdo caused Chase's smile to falter a bit before he ultimately surrendered himself to the throws of teenage skepticism. Shortly after Summer's call, a blonde woman came over to investigate the situation while a man with short brown hair followed behind, adamant on being a spectator, while Summer just turned around and went back to sitting on the couch.
"Um… Can I help you?"
Seeing the woman stand right in front of him, Chase couldn't help but get emotional. He knew this wasn't his little sister, but it was another version of his little sister and looked exactly the same. As he stood there silent, Beth noticed that tears began to gather in the strange man's eyes and was prepared to close the door and call the cops, but before she could do that, Gwen standing beside her father spoke up.
"Dad, aunt Beth asked you a question"
When Beth heard the words of the girl who appeared to be a few years older than her own daughter, she began to grow curious about what was happening, as she never had a brother, and Jerry was an only child as well, while Chase himself did seem to look a bit like Rick in her eyes, but this was a version of Rick in his youth before he left her and her mother.
"Ahh, right! Hello, Beth, my name is Chase, I'm your older brother"
When Beth heard the introduction given by the strange man, she couldn't believe it and was ready to close the door and call the cops, but before she could move or even speak, Chase took out a photo he had kept on him for 26 years and handed it over to Beth to look at.
"This is a family photo of us when we were younger"
As Beth subconsciously took the photo in hand and began to look at it, Jerry couldn't help but nosey his way into the conversation as he also began to observe and scrutinize the photo held in Beth's hand.
"Hmm, looks real to me… But Beth, you never told me you have an older brother!"
When Beth heard Jerry's accusation, she couldn't help but want to scold him, as she couldn't be blamed for not sharing something that she was unaware of as well.
"Look, Mr. This is really nice and all, but I've never knew about any older brother, and my mother never told me about having a brother either, so I'm sorry, but I'd like to ask you to leave"
Just as Beth prepared to close the door, Chase spoke up to stop her.
"Wait! Just ask dad, he should know all about me. Where is he? Is he not back from his space adventure yet?"
As Chase spoke more, Beth really began to think that the man in front of her was her older brother as he was too intimate with her and her family, along with their secrets like adventures through space. And just as Beth hesitated, the loud sound of engine kickback boomed through the air as a round saucer like space car utilizing scrap junk came barreling in at high speeds and completely crashed into Gwen's car.
"Ahh, my car!!"
Chase turned to look at the mess, but quickly reassured Gwen on the side.
"Don't worry, Gwen. Your dad built that car nice and sturdy, it's take more than a piece of junk like that to break it"
As if hearing the challenge, the junk car began to operate on its own as it resounded in provocation.
"Challenge Accepted! Initiating destruction mode!"
As the car spoke, a bunch of tools and laser weapons began to shoot up from all over the car and start targeting Gwen's car, and within 30 seconds, the car Gwen treasured dearly was now left as scrap metal in the driveway, while the junk car began to gloat.
"Mission accomplished! Whose the junk car now?"
Chase's smile froze and quickly shattered, while the door to Rick's space car popped open as a river of bottles and trash gently floated Rick's unconscious body out of the cockpit and out onto the lawn while everyone stood in awe as Rick's obvious wild night.
"Uhh, grandpa Rick? Are you okay?"
Morty was the first and closest to Rick to walk over and prod at his unconscious body, while Beth and Jerry who were at the door came out and began to check on Rick's wellbeing, while Chase and Gwen followed behind slowly.
"Dad, is this the grandpa Rick you used to tell me stories about?"
"Yeah, that's him… Disappointed?"
As Chase questioned his daughter on her thoughts, he could see in her eyes that the curious glimmer about meeting a bedtime hero had shattered and the ever present saying of "never meet your hero" rings ever present.
"Dad? Are you alright?"
Beth was the first to approach Rick, and as she bent down to help him up, the photo she had been holding slipped and fell onto Rick's face, causing him to open his eyes and focus on the image, an image all too familiar, or rather used to be.
"Beth, where did you *burp* get this photo?"
"Well, a man claiming to be my older brother gave it to me just now"