"DIPPER! COME DOWN HERE! HURRY!"

The concentration of Dipper Pines was shattered by the shrill shriek that echoed throughout the Mystery Shack. Somewhat annoyed, the boy sat up from his bed, removing the tattered journal simply labeled as "3" from his lap.

As he rose to his feet, he immediately recognized the scream as belonging to his twin, Mabel. He rolled his eyes in contempt as he imagined what type of emergency that the metal-mouthed pre-teen was beckoning him to:

"Dipper! Thank goodness you're here! Can you get me another soda from the fridge? I would…but IT'S SO FAR AWAY!"

"Dipper! There you are! Can you change the channel for me? I can't find the remote…"

However, a second, differentiating cry shortly followed, making Dipper rise to attention:

"C'MON, DIPPER! GET A MOVE ON, OR IT'S GONNA GET US!"

Without a moment's notice, Dipper flew from his shared, attic-converted room and down the rickety wooden stairs. After all, it wasn't every day that his secret crush, Wendy Corduroy, hollered for his assistance personally. Unlike the case with Mabel, while Wendy could be considered "unmotivated" at work, she would be the last person that would send him on a fool's errand.

"Surely," Dipper thought to himself, "If Wendy's calling for me, something must be up!"

With a burst of energy, the excited child ran through the door leading to the Mystery Shack's Gift Shop, "What's wrong?! What's going on?!"

"CLOSE THE DOOR!"

"DON'T LET THAT THING GET INSIDE THE HOUSE!"

"Aah!" Dipper gasped in reflex at the two girls shouting at him. He reached back and sealed the door leading into the living room. He turned around to see that the gift shop was in total dismay! Nearly all of the stands were knocked down, with their contents spread out over the floor! A path consisting of broken collectibles and bobbleheads seemingly circled around the room. On his right, both Mabel and Wendy sat on top of the gift shop counter with their legs tucked up against their chests (Mabel's were conveniently covered by an oversized purple sweater). A look of panic and dread was shared by the two girls.

"There, Dipper!" Mabel pointed to the opposite end of the room. "It's over there!"

"There? There?" Dipper nervously stammered. "What's over there?"

Wendy chirped in, "The biggest one I've ever seen in my life! The size of that thing…"

"And those beady, red eyes…"

"Yeah, and what about those claws?"

"And that creepy tail?"

"And those sharp teeth?"

The constant descriptions only added to Dipper's over-nervousness. "Girls, no offense, but you're not helping!"

Mabel bemoaned to her barely younger brother, "Come on, Dipper! You gotta help us out! Grunkle Stan and Soos just left for town, so it's going to be a while before they come back!"

"Yeah, Dipper!" Wendy attempted to encourage her cohort. "I mean, you got this covered. Besides, you're always talking about how you go monster hunting and creature seeking in the woods. Something like this should be a piece of cake, right?"

A sense of bravery rose from deep within the twelve-year-old's psyche. There was no way he could back out now, especially after what Wendy just said. Ever since the events at the haunted Dusk2Dawn convenience store, Dipper had obtained the unofficial status of being Wendy's "brave, little hero." This was a title that he was more than willing to live up to (especially for her sake).

With renewed vigor, Dipper made his way towards the opposite end of the room when he heard Wendy call out from behind him:

"Here, Dipper! Use this!"

She had reached behind the counter and tossed a broom to her friend for protection. Dipper leapt up and clumsily caught the makeshift weapon with both hands. As he readied a defensive position, Mabel piped in her own advice,

"Watch out, Dipper! It looks like it likes to bite! I think it likes to bite things!"

He sighed to himself, "Thanks, Mabel…"

Wendy saw that the child took Mabel's warning lightly, "She's right, Dipper. Just…Just be careful, okay?"

Dipper nodded in response, feeling greatly appreciated by Wendy's concern. He slowly made his way around the corner, his eyes shooting around for any signs of life. Out of the corner of his right eye, Dipper could have sworn to see something gray and fuzzy with a long, pink tail run around the edge of the aisle.

"WHAT…WAS THAT THING?!" he asked himself.

Both females were standing on the countertop, screaming and pointing at the fleeing creature, "THERE, DIPPER! THERE IT GOES! HURRY!"

Dipper turned the corner to see the ferocious thing face-to-face. A salt-and-pepper colored possum stood quivering in front of the towering pre-teen. Its tiny eyes seemingly pleaded with the armed boy staring down at it.

"HA!" Dipper laughed in disbelief. "This is the scary creature that had you two screaming?" He bent down to take a closer look.

"Dipper…" Wendy warned.

"On second thought, it's kind of cute…" Dipper figured that the animal must have snuck inside as the various numbers of tourists went in and out of the small shop. He gently nudged at the possum using the bristled end of the broom. "It's okay, little fella. We have to get you outta here."

All of a sudden, the possum's disposition changed vastly. It quickly rose to all fours and snarled at Dipper. The sad eyes that he originally took pity upon were now an almost-demonic blood red. The cornered animal crept forward with its jagged teeth exposed.

"Whoa, now!" Dipper started to backpedal. "Remember, buddy; I'm on your side!"

Without further warning, the possum charged forward with a horrifying screech. Dipper shrieked at the sight, closing his eyes and swinging the broom at random. After a few seconds, Dipper opened his eyes to see that his opponent had disappeared.

Exhausted, Dipper called out to the girls, "Did I…Did I get him?"

Wendy cupped her hands, "No, dude! You totally missed!"

"Did you guys see where it went?"

Suddenly, Dipper could hear the sounds of several objects crashing a few aisles over. Wendy and Mabel both shouted over each other:

"Dipper, it ran down that aisle!"

"No, Dipper! It's on the shelf with the trucker caps!"

"Hurry up, Dipper! It's against the back wall!"

"I think I saw it in the rafters!"

Dipper turned around to chastise the girls barking orders at him, "ONE AT A TIME, OKAY?!" He noticed that both girls displayed a look of utter horror and fear.

"Dip…" Mabel forced herself to mumble out.

"Dork…" Wendy also had trouble finding the right words as well.

"What?! What's wrong?!"

Wendy and Mabel silently pointed behind the young boy. With a gulp, Dipper slowly turned around to see a pair of glowing red eyes focused solely on him. He glanced up to see that the possum was hanging upside down (via its tail) from the ceiling. The creature leapt onto Dipper's capped head with a growl, forcing the boy to scream in terror.

"AAH! Get it off! Get it off!"

With his blue and white hat blocking his sight, Dipper spun around blindly, crashing into several different shelves covered in merchandise, sending their contents flying to the floor. He could feel the tiny claws pinch his vest as the possum traveled around his body. Dipper tried to fling the creature off using the broom, but when that failed, he threw it down and tried to pat around to locate the beast.

Unbeknownst to Dipper, the critter had managed to find its way to his back. As he cried out, "Where'd did it go?" the possum raised its head, prepared to sink its teeth into the child's soft flesh…

*WHAM!*

Wendy carefully swung at the animal with the discarded broom, perfectly removing the menace from Dipper's back without injury. With a whimper, the possum ran out the open exit, to which Mabel firmly sealed shut afterwards.

The redhead shouted after the possum, pointing the broom out towards the horizon, as an Amazonian warrior would with her sword, "And stay out!"

Mabel ran up to the gloating freckled teenager, "Wendy…THAT WAS AWESOME! You really nailed that bad boy!"

Wendy used her thumb to lift her brown trapper hat with pride, "Yeah, I guess I did, didn't I?"

"Totally! You were like *KA-BLAM!* and it was like, "Oh, no way!" And you were all like, "Yeah, take that!"

Wendy laughed at the manic descriptions presented by her tiny friend. Mabel continued onward, "But the best had to be Dipper." She took a white and blue cap from the stand next to her, making sure it was very similar to the one her brother usually wore. In her deepest, bravado voice, the braced girl tried her best to impersonate her twin.

"Gee, don't worry, girls! I'll handle this!"

She put her hands to her chubby cheeks, "Oh, it's so cute!" She pulled her hat down over her eyes, "AHH! Get it off! Save me!"

Wendy looked down on her silly friend, "Hmm…nah!"

Mabel raised her cap high enough to see her super-tall co-worker.

" If anything, I'd say it was more like-" Wendy lowered her trapper hat over her face, joining in on the fun. "AAAAHHHH! Where is it?! Where is it?!" the girl teased in her best Dipper-esque voice, as she spun around in circles, wailing her arms wildly.

"Oh, yeah," Mabel agreed. "He did do that, didn't he?!" She pulled the hat over her eyes once more, and spun along aside her friend as they playfully traded mockingly screams. Both girls continued until they dizzily collided into each other. Laughing hysterically, they fell to the ground in a tangled mess.

Getting over her case of the giggles, Wendy started again, "But all joking aside, Dipper, it was very sweet of you to come to our-"

The teenager raised her brown cap to see that he had vanished from sight.

Somewhat concerned, Wendy rose to her feet. She scanned the ruined shop to see where "her boy" had run off to.

"Dipper?"

She swiftly bent down to help Mabel up, who quickly shared Wendy's sentiment. She looked around, and then her brown eyes shot up, meeting the redhead's fretful green ones.

"Where'd he go?"

Dipper sat on the ledge just outside of his room, staring quietly out the red-tinted, triangle shaped window. With a hand pressed against his chin, he sighed as he watched the sun set over the treetops of the Gravity Falls Forest. Suddenly, he heard a voice shout out from behind him, instantly breaking his concentration.

"What the hey-hey, Broseph?" His twin Mabel was able to sneak up on the distracted boy. "We just finished straightening up the Shack, and Wendy went home for the night..."

Dipper continued to sit with his back to his sister, showing no response to her words.

"Um, she said to tell you "good night…"

The pre-teen simply heaved again without moving a muscle.

"She also said that she would love to take you out tomorrow night," the young girl fibbed, hoping to get a rise out of her sibling. "So you'll have to put on your 'Sunday best.'"

Dipper said nothing in return.

Somewhat annoyed, Mabel ran up and shook his shoulder, "Dipper, what's going on? Why are you so down in the dumps?"

After a moment of silence, she finally heard a faint whisper, "You were there, Mabel. You've seen what happened…"

A shade of guilt entered the back of Mabel's mind. While it was true that she and Wendy were poking fun at Dipper, neither of them meant any harm. They were laughing at more the circumstance rather than the person himself. After all, he was trying to help them in the first place!

"Dipper," she explained. "I was…err…we were just…we didn't mean…"

While continuing to watch the sunset, Dipper clarified further, "I made a fool of myself, Mabel. Wendy asked me to help her, and I totally embarrassed myself in front of her. "

"Oh!" Mabel exclaimed, relieved that she was not the source of Dipper's sadness. A second later, the reality of his words struck her.

"Ohh…."

Mabel squeezed his shoulder tighter, "Come on, Dipper! You know Wendy's not like that! Don't you realize that she thinks the world of you for just answering that call for help?"

Dipper slightly turned his head, offering a tiny smile to his twin before returning his attention to the outside world. "Thanks for saying that, Mabel," he said. "But you're my sister. You have to say things like that…"

Mabel shook her head in disbelief as Dipper went on, "It's just that…that Wendy knew that if she was ever in trouble, I'd be willing to do anything to get her out! I completely ruined that, Mabel! And that's something I can't make better so easily! Heck, Mabel…"

The boy's demeanor lowered ever further as he forced out his next sentence.

"That's the one thing I could say that I had over Robbie. Sure, he has tight pants and can play the guitar, but I was the one that Wendy could count on when she's in a jam! But now, what good am I?"

"Don't say that, Dipper!"

"But it's true, Mabel! I just showed Wendy that I am nothing but a scared, little kid!" He sunk down further, leading his face into his arms crossed on the windowsill. "How can I face her now?"

"So, that's it, then?" Mabel implored. "You're just going to spend the rest of the summer hiding up in the attic?" Dipper shrugged his shoulders at the claim.

Mabel turned on her heels and headed for the stairs, "Well, I know one way to get to the bottom of things…"

"WAIT!"

Mabel turned to see Dipper looking at her with widen eyes.

"Mabel, you have to promise me that you won't say a word to Wendy about this!"

"But, Dipper!"

"Mabel! Promise me!"

Cornered, the pre-teen raised her hand and swore to her brother, "I promise I won't tell Wendy about this…even though you're being completely unreasonable…"

"No, I'm not!" Dipper protested. "…and thank you." He returned to his sitting position, focusing on his own inner pain.

Mabel took one last look at her sulking brother, and then proceeded down the stairs. She recalled the story of what happened at the Dusk2Dawn convenience store, where she was told Dipper saved Wendy and her friends from vicious, teenage-hating ghosts; she had no memory of the experience, as she was going through a Smile-Dip crash (or a ghostly possession as Wendy and Dipper claimed)at the time. She also noted that Dipper's reasoning might have some footing, since it was true that the lanky freckled faced girl grew closer to her secret admirer after that day.

Despite that, she knew that deep down, Dipper's fears over Wendy were nothing over than mere exaggeration. However, she had no idea how to even begin to make things right…

A few days later, Mabel was sitting on the floor of the Mystery Shack's parlor, playing with her pet pig, Waddles. Forcing the swine into a sitting position, the high-spirited girl gently wiggled his front legs as she confided her worries.

"I don't know what I'm going to do, Waddles," Mabel explained to her friend. "It's been days, and Dipper still hasn't come down from the attic. I keep trying to explain to him that he shouldn't be embarrassed over that whole thing with Wendy and the possum, but he just won't listen to reason! He feels like he let her down or something…" She cradled his hooves a bit tighter, "Boys can just be so…silly sometimes; thankfully, you're nothing like that!"

The pig snorted at the brunette's compliment.

Her vision narrowed down at the creature silently looking back at her with a slanted perspective. The downtrodden girl asked for guidance, "So, what do you say, Waddles? Any advice to offer?"

"So that's what's going on!"

Mabel drew closer to the pig, "Waddles! You talked!" She excitedly hugged the pig in celebration before she came to the realization that the voice came from behind her. Mabel turned around to see Wendy leaning against the doorway.

"WENDY!" Mabel shrieked. "How…How long were you standing there?"

The gingered girl crossed her arms, raising a boot against the folding, "Long enough…" She looked down at her friend with sympathetic eyes. "But don't you worry, Mabel," the teenager calmed the fretful girl as she rolled up her plaid-colored sleeves, "I'll straighten that boy out in no time!"

As Wendy turned to leave the room, Mabel hopped to her feet, forcing Waddles to fall into his side gently. She quickly ran and pulled on the back of Wendy's flannel, "Wait, Wendy! You can't!"

The lanky girl returned her attention to the pleading child behind her, "Hey, watch the threads, short stuff!"

Mabel started to explain her situation, "But Wendy, you don't understand! I promised Dipper I wouldn't tell you about this!"

Wendy lowered her eyes, "Relax, buddy. If anyone asks, I'll say I heard it from the pig, okay?"

Waddles squealed loudly, as if in response to being the proposed stool pigeon.

"Please, Wendy!" Mabel begged as she maintained her grip on Wendy's shirt. "If you go and confront him about this, it's only going to make things worse! I just know it!"

She twirled around to face Mabel, "Well, we can't just let him stay up there forever! What is it that you want to do about him?"

"I don't know!" Mabel distressed, bringing her tiny hands to her face. "I just wish-I wish that there was a way that we can help him get his confidence back. You know, make him feel like a "hero," then I'm sure things would go back to normal."

After a second, Wendy's eyes lit up as an idea entered her mind, "What if we could?"

"Huh?"

Wendy lowered herself to Mabel's level, "Think about it for a second: what if we set up Dipper with a problem where he can easily overcome it, making him feel like a 'hero?'" The teenager motioned her index and middle fingers to empathize the importance of the word, "hero." She continued on with her theory, "Afterwards, Dipper feels like himself again, and everything goes back to the way it should. " She smiled at her pre-teen companion, "How's that sound?"

Mabel was flabbergasted. "That…" she mumbled. "That sounds like…that might actually work."

Wendy's smile deepened further. "Glad to hear it." She moved closer to Mabel, "So, this is what we should do…"

The redhead whispered into Mabel's ear, causing the girl to giggle and snicker along to the details. After a minute or two, Wendy pulled back and asked, "So, whatcha think?"

Mabel cheered her friend, "That sounds awesome!" She extended her hand out, motioning for Wendy to join her. "Let's do it, girlfriend!"

Wendy placed her hand on top of Mabel's tiny hand, and laughed, "Ok, then. On three!"

"1…2…3!"

Both girls threw their arms up in the air with a "Whoo!" in celebration of their shared plot. With that, they set off in an effort to revive Dipper's fallen spirits…