The remains of the bus was really something to behold. It reminded Wendy of a monster truck rally her dad had taken her to see once. She could clearly see where the leader of the Manotaurs, named Leaderaur (who came up with that name?) had charged through the woods to tackle the heavy vehicle, knocking it off the road and into the woods. Then, he had torn the roof from the bus and picked up the still dazed teenage boy while his sister had barely had time to take this in, check on the driver, and then run to the bust stop where she knew the best people in the world to help her with this situation just happened to be waiting.

The driver was still trembling when they reached the crash, sitting on what had been a wheel, with a sweater draped over his shoulders and another covering his legs as he sipped at the cup Mabel had prepared for him before she left. She had also slapped a bright 'Get Well Soon!' sticker to his forehead, complete with a cartoonish water well. He hadn't seemed to notice.

"It was huge!" the driver kept whispering. "It came out of nowhere! Covered in black hair and evil and loud! Like my mother!" He sipped from the cup again, failing to realise it was empty.

"That wasn't Mabel Juice you gave him, was it?" asked Wendy. She had once tried Mabel Juice on a dare, despite Dipper's warnings, and had decided to check with him before Mabel ever offered her any food or drink again. "I mean, he's already under stress, we don't need him to have a heart attack too."

"Nah," said Mabel, looking through the wreckage. "That would take too much much time to prepare. That's just regular juice. Found it!" she stood up suddenly and held aloft a flashlight with a multi-coloured gem attached to the glass. "We might need this! Lucky it wasn't smashed."

Meanwhile, Ford and Stan were atop the bus, looking around at the mess the fearsome monster had made. "Yeesh, this is gonna take some covering up," muttered Stan as, below them, the others were gathering up the twins' belongings and anything that might be needed for the journey. "Guess we'd better give the Prof a call. And McGucket. Might need his gajillions to pay for a new bus."

"Agreed," said Ford. "However, I can't think why the Manotaurs would want Dipper. They were our allies against Bill and I haven't heard of any trouble in the time we've been gone. Quite the opposite in fact."

"Hey, Stan!" The two men turned to Wendy as she called up to them. "Mabel found it! We're good to go."

"Good," said Ford, leaping off the bus and expertly landed next to the teenager. "We haven't any time to waste!"

"Show-off," muttered Stan, making his own, much slower way down what should have been the bottom of the bus.

"Woohoo!" screamed Grenda. "Adventure time! Adventure time!" she chanted as Candy and Mabel quickly started to join in.

"Whoa whoa whoa," said Stan, jumping the last part of his climb and regretting it. "What do you girls think your doing? This guy just tore up a bus! Don't you think you two should be heading back home? We don't want your parents to worry about you getting hurt, they could sue us!"

"But Mister Pines," said Candy, concern in her voice, "Dipper is Mabel's brother! And Mabel is like family. Thus, Dipper is also family. We cannot abandon our family!"

"Yeah!" said Grenda. "Candy's smart! Like, Dipper smart! And I'm strong! Like, not-Dipper strong! You might need us!"

"Ugh," groaned Stan, rubbing the bridge of his large nose. "Kids and their adventures. Why can't you just be cowards or sane like normal people? Alright," he said finally making the girls smile with delight as only young girls could. "You can come. But don't do anything too stupid or worse, too brave. Got it?"

"Thank you Mister Pines!"

"This will just be like that time with the troll in the forest! No cops this time either!"

"Wait, what?" asked Ford as Stan made shushing noises with his hand.

"I'm coming too!" declared Pacifica, making Wendy groan.

"So are we!" stated Gideon as Ghost-Eyes nodded, making Stan groan.

"I'll make some calls," said Ford, pulling out his phone, a part of him still marvelling at the technology and its usefulness. "See if we can start a clean-up before it's too late."

While his brother spoke to the relevant people, Stan turned to the Pacifica and Gideon. "Look you two," he said evenly. "Stopping by the bus stop is one thing, but this is an actual rescue mission we have here. The rest of us have a bit more experience than you and this is getting more personal. You should just go home."

"No way!" said Pacifica definitely. "Dipper helped me out with that ghost and I'm not going to just leave him like that! He deserves all the help he can get! Besides," she added, "Dipper and Mabel didn't always have experience and I'm older than them, so you can't use that excuse on me."

Stan looked at Wendy, an eyebrow raised. "She's got grit, I'll give her that," said the redhead grudgingly.

"Well, I may be the youngest one here," began Gideon, frustratingly reminding Stan that he still existed, "but I certainly do have plenty of experience, perhaps even more so than our dear Mabel and Dipper. I did find that journal well before Dipper found his, afterall."

"Yeah, and used it for evil!"

"I do not deny that I was led astray by the power that it brought me," agreed Gideon, nodding sadly, "However, I aim on doing my darndest to be someone worthy of...of being called a better man. Dipper taught me that lesson and I feel I owe it to him to help him in any way I can." The boy hesitated, then said, in a tone Stanley never knew he was capable of; "Please, Stanley. I know I don't deserve it. But I need to prove I'm not going to waste

my second chance."

Stan scratched the back of his head and turned to Mabel. "He is really smart," his great-niece said, making the young boy beam. "And if Dipper trusted him before, maybe we should trust him now."

Stan looked from Mabel, her face full of hope despite the concern she had for her brother, to Gideon, a rare show of uncertainty clear on the boy's face.

"Alright," he sighed, earning a happy clap of applause from Mabel as Gideon brightened. "But I'll be watching you!"

"It's done," said Ford, putting his phone away as he joined them. "I've contacted Fiddleford and Professor Passuum has agreed to contact Officer Mendez to help clear this situation." Ford turned to the shaken driver and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "The police will be here soon," he gently told the man. "They'll take you to see a professional in town who will talk you through this."

"Who's he talking about?" asked Mabel, racking her brain for any of the town's residents who matched Ford's description.

"Oh, that's Professor Passuum," answered Wendy. "She's this super genius psychiatrist who moved here after Weirdmageddon. She was traveling through town when Bill attacked. Long story short, she saw what happened and decided to stick around to help people with PTSD after what happened." A scowl appeared on her lips. "Turns out just yelling 'never mind all that' and then tasing people isn't the best way to deal with trauma, so the mayor hired her to be the town's psychiatrist. She's actually helped a lot of people," she added quietly.

"Oh," said Mabel, more than a small amount of guilt in her voice. While she had told Dipper and her great-uncles about her role in almost bringing about the end of the world, she had never shared it with anyone else, not even Candy or Grenda, or even Soos. Her great-uncles had suggested that she wait until her return to the town before she confessed to them. Mabel had at first struggled with the idea of waiting for so long but Dipper had told her that he would support her whatever she chose. And with that little bit of extra support she had agreed to wait until she could see them in person before she admitted how Bill had tricked her. Unfortunately, as time went on she found it harder and harder to think of a way to bring up the subject with the people she cared so much about. It wasn't that she thought they would blame her...it was just that as time had gone on she had struggled more and more with the realisation that people were not moving on as quickly as she had first thought they would.

More than a few times in the last year, she and Dipper had woken screaming in the middle of the night, unable to explain to their parents that it wasn't nightmares that woke them, but memories. Pacifica, Candy and Grenda had all said they had experienced the same, as had Soos. And while Wendy had never mentioned to Mabel any difficulty she had with the memories of that time, Mabel knew that she spoke to Dipper much more often and was sure that she must have spoken to her brother about it. She considered that for a second. Dipper seemed to be struggling with something the closer they got to returning to Gravity Falls and when Mabel had teasingly asked if it was the thought of seeing Wendy again, Dipper had seemed more flustered than normal. At first she thought that it was due to his crush returning full bloom now that he was nearing seeing her in person again...but now she wondered if perhaps Wendy had said something to him about Weirdmageddon and he was struggling with the thought of keeping that a secret from his sister.

She suddenly became aware that Wendy and the other girls were looking at her with concern. "Huh? Did you say something?"

"I just asked if you were doing okay?" asked Pacifica, worry in her voice.

"Yeah," said Mabel, struggling with the lie but saying it before she could stop herself. "I'm just worried about Dipper." She quickly thought of something else to change the subject. "Who's Officer Mendez? I don't remember hearing that name before either."

Wendy and Stan both issued a groan at the mention of that name.

"She's the new cop in town," sighed Wendy. "Same with the Professor, was travelling through when Bill happened and decided to stay to help the town too. Gravity Falls' best cop ever," grunted Wendy with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"The crime rate increased a great deal when she first arrived here as she refused to just mark most cases as unsolvable to have lunch earlier or accept bribes or be swain by doctor or lawyer notes," said Candy with admiration in her voice. "Then the crime rate began to decrease after she scared everyone into obeying the law again. There is almost no graffiti or petty crime in Gravity Falls now that she has arrested so many of our criminals and forced them to behave."

"Really likes her community service and embarrassing people in public," muttered Wendy darkly. "Real hard for a girl to have some fun now."

"Alright," said Ford, drawing the entire group's attention to himself. "The police will be here soon. I think we should make our way now so that we don't lose anymore time."

"Aw man," sighed Soos. "We had so much planned for you guys too! Those Manotaurs turned from being such cool dudes to such buzzkills!" He smiled, "But if we get Dipper back soon enough we might get to do at least some of it! Let's go!"

The others nodded and murmured their agreements, but Stan and Ford looked at one another. Stan gave a resigned nod to his brother before speaking to his former employee. "Actually Soos," he said slowly, "me and Ford think it would be best if you stay here."

"What?" said Soos, the hurt apparent in his voice as Mabel and Wendy looked at Stan with surprise. "Aw, come on Mister Pines! Is this because I threw out all your Fully Clothed Women magazines?" he asked as the others in the group made noises of disgust. "I had to, my Abuelita told me to!"

"What would Stan want those for?" asked the eleven-year old Gideon, genuine confusion in his voice as everyone else looked at each other awkwardly, unsure how to answer the pre-teen.

"You'll find out one day," promised Grenda, patting the top of his head affectionately as Wendy suddenly realised that the large girl actually had the longest lasting relationship out of all the girls there and wondered if she should have a talk with her about boys or just pretend that she never had that thought and hope for the best.

"This isn't a punishment, Soos," said Stan calmly, ignoring the others. "This is about responsibility. Someone needs to stay behind to watch the driver and explain everything that happened to the cops and then help get the cleanup started while the rest of us go after Dipper. I know, I know," he said putting his hands in front of him as Soos opened his mouth. "You want to help out, I get that. But someone else needs to be here and I can't stop anyone else from going, they wouldn't listen to me. So I'm asking you Soos, will you stay here and do what no one else is willing to do?"

Soos frowned as he struggled with the decision. He really wanted to join them, have another adventure just like the summer before. While being Mister Mystery really was a dream come true, he was surprised to find that it still had some downsides that he hadn't expected. There was less free time for him now, even when the Shack wasn't open. There was planning and taxes and making sure that Melody and Wendy were paid on time and the right amount, on making sure there was enough left over to prepare for the times in the year when the Shack was closed due to the low number of tourists. Even with the money that came flooding in, he still had to make sure that enough was saved away for the quiet periods of the year, for all three of them. And then there was planning the new attractions; that took time and effort. He was lucky that Mabel, Wendy, Dipper and Melody had all offered him plenty of suggestions that would likely last for years. But it still took time and money to organise these new attractions and replace them frequently enough to keep that sense of wonder for the tourists or townsfolk who appeared. Melody had told him that it was all a part of growing up and that even dreams could have consequences. But at the end of the day, even those days that seemed to have nothing but complaining customers, props that didn't get the right reaction, or nowhere near the sales that had been expected...even at the end of those days, he still felt proud that his hero had passed on the mantle to him and given him the opportunity to support his family and live his dream.

"Sure thing, Mister Pines," said Soos. "You can count on me."

"You're a good man, Soos," said Stan, nodding his appreciation. "We'll get Dipper and be back as soon as we can. Then you can tell them how well you've done with the Shack," he said, making Soos grin broadly at the praise. "And - here," he said, passing him the broken remains of a pink phone. "See if Fiddleford or someone can take a shot at fixing this if they can, Mabel's got photos on it she doesn't want to lose."

"I have Waddle's first kiss with Dipper," whispered Mabel sadly.

"Ew!" said Pacifica, "Why would he do that?"

"'Cause he was asleep and I kept whispering it was Wendy," explained Mabel as Pacifica's eye twitched and Wendy slapped a hand over her own eyes and shook her head. "Plus, I copied my photo of Dipper's first kiss with an actual person onto it! For blackmail!" She leaned closer to Pacifica, her grin broadening. "Wanna see?" she teased. "You'll never guess who it was…"

"He had his first kiss?" asked Wendy and Pacifica together, surprising each other.

"Jinx!" cried Mabel, making a fist-pump. "Wait," she frowned, "Can you actually call jinx if you weren't one of the ones who said the word? I'll have to look that up."

"Maybe we should start to make our way?" suggested Ford quickly as the younger members of the group and even Wendy seemed too interested in Mabel's blackmail material for his liking. "Perhaps this time we can really do it instead of just being distracted by something?"

"You got it, Great-Uncle Ford! Let's all go save my brother and let there be no more distractions! But first, I've been distracted and need to do this one last thing!"

Mabel reached down and picked up her pet pig, gently stroking his head. Then she ran up to Soos. "You've been super brave today but now you need to go with Uncle Soos, okay?" she said to Waddles, passing him over to Soos. "Take care of him, will you? He means a lot to me." She looked at Soos. "And you look after Waddles too!"

"You got it Hambone!" declared the former handyman. "Hey there Waddles!" he greeted the pig. "Man, it's been so long! Look how much you've shrunk!" Soos concentrated on the pig for a moment. "Yep, a full two millimetres since the end of last summer. Gained a few pounds though!" he said, rubbing the pig's head and making it grunt in pleasure.

"Hah, yeah," laughed Mabel, brandishing the size-changing flashlight. "That brother of mine, what a smart guy! Keeps mom off our backs about having a pig if he doesn't get too big." She turned to the trees, a determined look on her face. "Now let's go get him back!" she cried, raising the flashlight light a torch. "Onwards Aoshima! I mean gang. Onwards gang!"

The group cheered, including Pacifica and Gideon, and together they walked into the forest to find the last member of the Pines family.

"So where do these Manotaurs live anyway?" Wendy asked Mabel as they moved further from the road.

"I have no idea!"