(Earlier that day)

"Curse that Pines Family!" a chubby 9 year old with incredibly tall blondish white hair screamed as he entered the clearing from the woods leading to the Mystery Shack.

"Curse Stan! "Curse Dipper! But especially Dipper!" the young psychic prodigy known as Lil' Gideon muttered to himself.

Gideon longed for the secrets than the elder Pines hid in his establishment. With such things at his control, the rotten child could easily rule over the quiet folk of Gravity Falls. Maybe, one day, even the tri-state area! However, he cringed at the thought of young Dipper Pines. As long as Dipper remained valiant in foiling his evil deeds, Gideon would never succeed in taking the Mystery Shack from Stanford Pines (nor would he regain a shot at dating his great-niece, Mabel)

This was the goal of today's 'recon' mission, as Gideon called it. He had finally realized his mistake. He had spent his time trying to find out Stan's weakness, when it was Dipper he should have concentrated on. As Gideon stated time and time again: everyone has their weak point. He only had to discover Dipper's to win this family feud.

He also had chosen to ditch his standard blue tuxedo outfit in lieu of a baby blue hoodie, blue sweats, and cheap white sneakers. Gideon went incognito to blend in with what he considered to be "the filthy moguls of this white-bread town." As he approached the ticket stand, Gideon pulled the blue hoodie over his head to help conceal his identity (luckily for him, no one noticed the huge extension on top his head).

He quickly snuck past 'the old fool' Stan Pines, pathetically trying to hustle his wares on unsuspecting travelers, and patiently stood in line for the new exhibit.

"Perfect..." the evil, yet short mastermind thought to himself. "All I have to do is wait, and hopefully, the answers I seek will fall straight into my hands..." He began to snicker in a devilish tone, but stopped when he realized it could ruin his blending in...

A few minutes later, Gideon (still in incognito) was exploring the new attraction among dozens of visitors. He looked with great disgust (and even a bit of pity) at the fools standing in line, just to take a picture along a bunch of fake props. As he turned his sights to the right side of the room, he noticed something different from all the other displays.

On the rightmost side of the room sat a tall, lanky redheaded girl wearing something that resembled a lumberjack's outfit. Her wrists were restrained with metal shackles attached to the brick wall behind her. Her long legs were strapped down across the wooden structure, to which the girl's bare feet were padlocked into a pillory at the front end.

"Poor, foolish girl..." pitied Gideon. "Stan must have caught this young thing stealing from the till..."

Gideon's thoughts stopped in fraction when he saw where the captive girl's dark green eyes focused on. To the side of her stood the apple of Gideon's eye, Mabel Pines. He watched in silent awe as Mabel and the redheaded teen chatted back and forth, and even laughing loudly among one another.

"Who..." Gideon pondered, "…is that tall ginger beauty?" He had never seen her at the Mystery Shack before? Was she a friend of Mabel's?

All of a sudden, Mabel leaned over to the imprisoned girl, and suddenly, her expression changed from a dimpled smile to that of worry and concern. Mabel sprinted away, leaving the redhead, still unable to move, shouting out after her.

"Oh? Now what's this then?" Gideon questioned, watching the scene with great curiosity.

His questions would quickly be answered as he (as well as everyone in the room) heard Mabel's screams throughout the house:

"DIPPER, COME QUICK!

"IT'S WENDY, DIPPER, SHE'S IN TROUBLE!"

"THEY GOT HER, DIPPER! THEY'RE HOLDING HER PRISONER!

"YOU'VE GOT TO SAVE HER, DIPPER!"

Gideon turned his head to the exit as he listened to the biggest and loudest "WWWHHHHHAATTTTTTT!" he had ever heard in his life. Rapid, yet loud banging came from the top floor of the house, to the outside hall, to the entrance of the exhibit.

He watched as his greatest archenemy, Dipper Pines, pushed his away past crowds of people, running back and forth, in search of someone. He listened to his rival's shouts over the crowd's banter:

"WENDY?! I'M HERE! (excuse me)

"WHERE ARE YOU? (pardon me)

"WENDY?!" (please let me through)

"ARE YOU OKAY?" (out of my way)

"Wendy?!" Gideon asked himself. "Now, just who is that?" Never before had he seen the Pines boy like this; in a state of pure fright and terror. Gideon hadn't even seen this behavior in times when he threatened the boy with a violent outcome. As Gideon thought about the sight set before his eyes, another cry went through the room:

"DIPPER! I'M OVER HERE!"

Gideon's attention went back over to the right side of the room. Gideon studied as Dipper ran towards the redheaded teen still trapped in the pillory prison. He observed how the terrified expression on Dipper's face vanished upon embracing the stocked girl. He also noticed how their world seemed to melt together when his soft brown eyes met her green ones.

Gideon began to chuckle to himself. "Wendy..." He had finally found his answer.

"How could I have been so blind?" he asked himself. "I had forgotten one of life's greatest lessons: the cunning warrior attacks neither body nor mind, but the 'heart.'" Hiding in the background, Gideon watched as Dipper failed to free Wendy from her confinement, as well as try unsuccessfully to apply tickle torture to the teenage girl. He thought to himself, "Really? I lose to THIS every time? Really?" He also eavesdropped on Mabel's promise to give Wendy a relaxing pedicure, and shortly after, seen Mabel bounce out of the room.

An evil plan began to formulate in Gideon's wicked mind. The teenage girl was finally alone, and in a perfect position to be used as a bargaining chip to hang over Dipper's head. But he had to act soon; she wasn't going to be left alone forever...

Within a few moments, the disguised psychic snuck out the "family only" exit of the Mystery Shack, and headed down the road towards his home, located right next to his idiot father's used car lot. He rushed into his room, and accessed the secret compartment in his desk drawers that led to his secret magical tome, simply labeled #2, along with a variety of mystical items. Gideon looked upon a row of bottles and pulled out a clear, yet thin solution.

"Oh, this should do the trick." he thought to himself. "After all, it worked wonders on all those ignorant worms at the salon. Three months later, and they're STILL in the insane asylum!"

Gideon manically laughed to himself, as he pulled out a piece of paper, and quickly dictated a ransom note to Dipper. He headed out the door, and back down the road to the Mystery Shack...

Within minutes, Gideon (with hoodie pulled back up) was back at the Shack. He swiftly snuck back in through the family room entrance (he had kept the door open by placing a rock in between a crack) and zoomed back into the exhibit.

Gideon looked around for either of the twins. Luckily for him, the captive redheaded damsel was still there, looking more bored than ever...

Gideon bent down in front of the stocks (to ensure Wendy had no clue who was there with her), pulled out a pair of latex gloves, and began to apply the strange solution to Wendy's bare feet, held in place in front of him.

Wendy was shocked out of her bored state of mind with the feeling of something ice-cold on her soles. She called out to her visitor, "Mabel, is that you?"

Gideon began to chuckle wickedly to himself, knowing that his plan was unfolding perfectly, and there wasn't anything Dipper could do to stop him this time.

Due to the distance, all Wendy heard was a child's laughter, so she shrugged it off and presumed all was well. Even though she wouldn't admit it, Wendy was totally comforted as she felt every inch of her peds being coated and massaged with some sort of skin softener.

Wendy again tried calling out to her visitor, "Hey kiddo, I don't know what this stuff is, but it feels GREAT!"

On the other hand, Gideon despised his actions. He hated the idea of lowering himself to this: rubbing another person's feet, but he told himself to play through the pain. After all, by exploiting the gullibility of this naïve girl, he would be able to force Dipper into a checkmate. After a few minutes, Gideon looked up and admired his handy work. The feet laid out in front of him glistened from the tips of the toes to the bottoms of the heels.

"Good..." Gideon chuckled. "The trap is set. All I do now is wait..."

Wendy came back around from zoning out as she felt the gentle hands leave her feet, "Hey! Little guy! Where'd ya go?!"

Wendy looked around and seen that the crowd had greatly declined. "Good." she thought to herself. "That's means that this nightmare is almost over!"

Wendy didn't see the short, blue hooded villain head out the door, laughing to himself. Ironically, Dipper walked right past him, and with evil laugh and all, didn't recognize his worst enemy nor the horrific fate he had left his loved one to...

As a final measure, Gideon ran up the staircase at the front door and quickly noticed a door marked with an adorable label, stating, "Dipper and Mabel." He bent down, and slid the ransom note he created earlier into an envelope, and under the door.

Looking both ways, he ran back down the stairs, and through the front door one last time. He walked down the road, leaving Wendy to a terrible fate. He started to laugh to himself, expecting Dipper's surrender any minute now. As he said before,

"All I do now is wait..."

Upstairs, Mabel was still locked away in the upstairs room, preparing the necessities for the best pedicure ever for Wendy. She really didn't get that many chances to do girly stuff with other girls, but when Wendy agreed, Mabel was more than happy to oblige. Mabel suddenly turned around (thinking that she heard something outside) to find a sealed envelope, addressed to someone named "BOY." Mabel stared at the envelope, thought about it, and said, "WMOP!" tossing the item aside.

"Well, I don't know anyone named BOY, so..."

She turned back around and continued to gather items to do a proper job for Wendy. The envelope flew across the room, only to wind up under Dipper's bed. If only Mabel was curious enough to open the note, she would have found the message left by Gideon:

"TO DIPPER PINES,"

YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SUBMIT TO MY WILL, FOR I HAVE FOUND OUT "YOUR" GREATEST SECRET!

IF YOU WANT TO SAVE THE SANITY AND WELL-BEING OF YOUR PRECIOUS WENDY, YOU WILL SURRENDER THE DEED TO THE MYSTERY SHACK!

DON'T WAIT TOO LONG, BOY! REMEMBER, THE LONGER YOU DELAY, THE WORST SHE'LL GET!

TIME IS TICKING AWAY!

SINCERELY YOURS,

G.C.G"

Back in the exhibit, Dipper, filled with confidence, walked back to the still immobilized Wendy. Wendy looked down at the little man approaching her from the side, noticing a new demeanor in his eyes.

"Hey there." she called. "You still peeved from before?"

"What?" Dipper responded. "Oh, no. No. No. Actually..." he started, coming a bit closer to Wendy. "I wanted to know if I can get a rematch?" He then pointed at Wendy's tip jar.

She lowered her eyes to meet his. "Dude, didn't you learn ANYTHING from last time? I just can't be beaten..."

Dipper cut off Wendy's bragging, "Ah, Ah, true, but this time, I have a secret weapon..."

Wendy raised her eyebrows in curiosity. "Oh, really? she laughed at the 12 year old. "Tell me, what is it?"

With a smile on his face, Dipper reached into his blue vest pocket and pulled out a huge, stiff, white feather."

"Whoa!" exclaimed Wendy. "It's ginormous! Where did you swipe that from?"

Dipper answered, "The gift shop. So, what do you say..." he teased, taking the feather and slightly brushing her nose with it, "Still feeling brave?"

The dusty quill feather under her nose made Wendy sneeze in an incredibly quiet, yet cute way.

"HA!" exclaimed Dipper. "You sneeze like a kitten!" He now understood why people gave him grief for his same style of sneezing...

Feeling challenged, Wendy had NO intention of running away from a duel. "You, young sir, are on" Wendy downtalked to her opponent. She continued to tease her challenger, "Just remember, Dipper. It's not my fault if you lose all of your money to my tip jar; but then again, I need some extra scratch for the concert. Maybe to grab a T-Shirt or two..." She returned the same devilish grin he gave her.

Dipper turned around and went over to the tip jar. He turned to Wendy, making sure she could see his action. "Let's make this interesting..." He pulled out a five dollar bill and held up above the opening on the jar.

"Ooooooh." Wendy taunted the boy, "C'mon, big spender!"

Dipper threw the bill into the jar, and moved once again, in front of the stocks holding Wendy at a standstill, vanishing from Wendy's perspective.

Wendy called out to him from behind the display, "Hey Dipper, do me a favor! Let me know when you start, so I can fake acting surprised!" Wendy watched at the last few customers left the museum. She then closed her eyes and leaned back to relax.

As Dipper faced the captive soles one more time, he noticed something strange about them. This time around, Wendy's feet seemed to be super shiny for some reason. He was going to ask Wendy about it, but he didn't want Wendy to think him stranger than usual.

He placed the quill feather against the bottoms of his crush's feet. He closed his eyes, and thought "Here we go!"

As Dipper stroked Wendy's right sole, a shot of electricity surged through Wendy's body. Her eyes sprung open, and her entire frame reflexed!

"WHOA!" Wendy shouted. "What the heck was that?"

Dipper turned the corner to see that he had successfully wiped the smirk from Wendy's face. He continued to drag the stiff feather up and down every inch of Wendy's feet, making them spasm with even the littlest touch.

On the other end, Wendy was freaking out! She closed her eyes and bit her lip, trying to restrain herself. She kicked her feet wildly, hearing them bang on the wooden panels trapping them in place. The solid wood frame even started to chafe her unprotected ankles. "Curse you, Stan!" Wendy thought to herself, "Only you would cheap out on padding for this thing!"

Dipper looked back at Wendy. She sat her face up scrunched up and her body jerking in ticklish response. Dipper became conflicted; he felt terrible that he was literally torturing the love of his life, but then again, it felt so good being right.

Dipper, knowing he had the upper hand, began to tease his crush, whom was fighting herself to keep a cool head.

"WEN-DY!" Dipper sang to her. Wendy opened her eyes slightly to see the smiling pre-teen. Dipper continued while operating his feather, "WEN-DY! I want to hear that beautiful laugh!"

Wendy, using all of her strength, managed to release a strong, but quiet, "No..."

Dipper, still being playful, taunted her again, "WEN-DY! I guess I'm going to floss your toes with the feather!"

Wendy's eyes opened wide at the threat. "Dipper...wait!" she managed to cough out.

Perhaps taking too much pleasure in this, Dipper carefully held the feather with both hands and placed it between the big and index toe on her right foot. Slowly, he dragged the quill feather between the crease.

Once again, Wendy's bare feet attempted to free themselves from Dipper's range to no prevail. Wendy was kicking so hard, she could hear the padlock holding her captive banging against the wood paneling.

As Dipper started between her second and third toe, Wendy couldn't help but let out a small guffaw. Dipper's ears opened in excitement. When he moved down to her pinky toe, the small guffaws became louder giggles.

"Almost there..." Dipper thought to himself.

Dipper pulled the feather away and placed it on the toes of Wendy's left foot. Within seconds, the giggles became hysterical laughter. Even though this was a cruel way to do so, Dipper did love hearing Wendy's laugh.

Dipper looked again to see how Wendy was holding up. Wendy sat, still pulling on her trapped arms and legs, with tears pouring down her cheeks. She had moved around so much, the custom trapper hat that usually sat upon Wendy's head, had fallen to the ground, revealing a crown of gorgeous red hair.

Dipper hesitated for a moment, holding the fluffy feather at bay. Dipper peeked his head over to Wendy, ready to ease up.

"Had enough, yet?"

He gave Wendy a few minutes to catch her breath. The usually pasty complexion that Wendy was known for was replaced with one that was beet red. Her body was sore from struggling against the restraints. Wendy huffed and puffed, trying to return to a regular rate of breathing. She opened her eyes to see the young boy's face, simply offering a cute, yet arrogant smirk.

Despite everything, Wendy couldn't hate Dipper for this. She kinda started it by pranking him earlier (even though it WAS Mabel's idea), plus she did goad him into this second attempt. Besides, even though Wendy would never, ever admit it to Dipper, she DID actually enjoy the experience. The only thing she couldn't explain was that how was Dipper able to break her defenses like that? Wendy hadn't felt that vulnerable in years!

Wendy looked down at the small conqueror, "Well, kid. I guess you win! So, are we done? Can you retire your fluffy feather in peace?"

Dipper looked Wendy in her dark green eyes. Using his softest voice, he responded to Wendy's request, "Of course, Wendy..."

She released a huge sigh of relief.

Dipper continued though, "but you need to answer one question for me, first."

"Oh?" Wendy asked. "And what would that be?"

Dipper took a step closer and explained himself, "Well, I want to know, how was it that you were able to resist this the first time? What's your secret?"

Wendy, without thinking, blurted out a response, "And if I refuse to talk?"

Wendy looked in horror as the devilish grin returned across Dipper's face. "Well then," he laughed, taking the feather and turning it upside-down. "We'll use this side next." he threatened, pointing at the rigid base of the quill.

Wendy dreaded her fate as Dipper walked back to the front of the stocks. She closed her eyes and nervously awaited the first stroke. As she felt the base of the feather dragging up her right foot, from the heel, all the way up the sole, against the arch, and towards the base of her toes, her hysterics started again.

Between the laughter and pleas for mercy, Wendy began to guffaw her secret:

"HAHAHAHAHAHSTOPITSTOPIT! I'LL TALK, DIPPER!

I WAS THE ONLY (*tee-hee*) GIRL OF AN ALL BOY FAMILY! PLEASESTOP!

I WAS CONSTANTLY (nononotmytoes!) TORTURED! I HAD TO BUILD A RE-RE-RESISTANCE!

HAHHAHHAHAHAHA! STOP, DIPPER, I GIVE UP! (*snicker*) UNCLE! DIPPER! UN-UN-CLE!"

"Wendy..." she heard his voice coming from the side of the display. "I'm not doing it..."

Upon hearing this, yet fighting her dreaded foot torture, Wendy opened her eyes to see Dipper standing on her side, still with upside down feather in hand. She looked down at him with puppy-dog eyes, "But...if you're here. What's tickling my feet?"

Dipper, somewhat worried, left Wendy's side to go back to the front of the stocks. Dipper looked in shock as he watched Wendy's bare feet flex and twitch in ticklish response without anyone torturing them. It was as if a ghost was tickling his poor crush.

In total agony, Wendy, once again, tried pleading with Dipper, "Dipper, PLEASE! PLEASE STOP! I don't care how you're doing this, but please MAKE IT STOP NOW!"

He ran back to the side to try to comfort Wendy, "Wendy, I swear. It's not me! There's no one up there!"

She couldn't believe her ears! How was this happening? Dipper seemed sincere in his responses, seemly throwing aside his playful pride. And he looked as scared as she did. But then again, what other explanation was there? Was Dipper really this cruel?

Dipper looked on in horror, totally helpless on how to help his favorite girl. In this rate, she would be tickled to death within minutes!

Suddenly, Mabel came bursting into the room, "Hey guys!" she greeted her favorite pair. "What's with all the screaming?"

Dipper grabbed Mabel, "Mabel, I need your help! I finally broke Wendy, tickle-wise, but now, she's being tortured by something I can't see. And I don't know how to help her!"

Mabel shook him back, "You see! I told you not to get started again, and now, look what happened!"

Dipper confessed, "I know! I know! But we need to help Wendy! NOW!"

Both twins turned towards their captive friend, who again, turned another shade of bright red. It broke Dipper to listen to Wendy's pleas for help:

"MAKE IT STOP, DIPPER!

HELP ME, PLEASE!

LET ME OUTTA HERE! PLEASE, DIPPER!"

Now, in a cruel sense of irony, Dipper had the perfect chance to be Wendy's hero in real-time, and he didn't know how to save the damsel in distress. Taking a minute to calm down, Dipper calmly analyzed the situation and quickly decided on the best course of action.

Wendy continued to cry out:

"HURRY, DIPPER! I CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS! HAHAHHHAHAHAHHAHHHAHHAHAHAHA HA!

"Mabel!" ordered Dipper. "Follow me to the side!" Mabel obediently followed her twin brother to Wendy's side.

He continued on, "Climb on my back and onto the table! Be careful not to step on Wendy!" Mabel stood on Dipper's back and landed on the wooden frame, nearly hitting Wendy's torso. She looked down at her brother for more instructions.

"Quick! Free her hands!" he ordered.

Thankfully, the wall shackles were merely open-and-close-devices without any latches or real locks. Mabel released Wendy's wrists within seconds. Wendy sighed in relief as she finally was able to let her arms down. She rubbed the raw areas where the shackles held Wendy's wrists tightly.

Meanwhile, Dipper (standing on his tip-toes) reached across Wendy's knees and unbuckled the straps that pinned her jeaned legs to the table.

Now came the hardest part.

Using the newly gained leverage, Wendy pulled her body up to that of her still stocked feet. With her now-freed hands, Wendy pulled on her ankles, hopeful that she could pull her tortured feet through the small openings. The wooden base stopped her short every single time.

At this point, the ticklish feelings in her foot bottoms increased to that of a burning, painful sensation. Wendy cried out to her friends one more time, through gritted teeth, "GUYS! PLEASE! UNLOCK THIS THING!"

She continued to pull on her legs, even arguing with the restraints: "Let...Go...Of...MY...FEET!"

Dipper and Mabel looked around to find a blunt object that they could use to break the padlock still pinning Wendy to the table.

Using rocks, both twins began to pound on the lock, hoping that it would let go of its iron grip on the stock latch. Again, it was no use. They didn't even make a mark on the shiny silver lock.

Mabel began to panic, "Dipper! What do we do?!"

Dipper looked up at the love of his life, into her green eyes, and could easily see the suffering going through her mind.

He needed to act, now!

Suddenly, a crazy thought popped up in his head. It probably wouldn't work, but he had to try. He couldn't leave his Wendy to suffer like this!

He ran up to her and took her hand. In a shock, Wendy looked down at him.

"Wendy, I have an idea, but I gotta get something from upstairs. I'll be right back. I will get you outta this...I promise."

He hated to let go of her hand and leave her like that, but this was his last chance to save her.

As he ran out the door and up the stairs, he could hear Wendy cry out, breaking his heart:

"WAIT! DUDE! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!

Meanwhile, Mabel took Dipper's place at Wendy's side. She picked up Wendy's hand and began to reassure her worries:

"Don't worry, Wendy! He'll be back! Trust me, Dipper is the last person who would ever want to hurt you!"

With that last comment, Wendy glared down at the bubbly pre-teen and looked into her saddened eyes. She really hoped that Mabel was right...

"WENDY!" a voice cried out.

Wendy looked up to see Dipper, blazing at full speed, nearly tripping along the way, hurrying back to her rescue. She also noticed that Dipper was carrying a golden key.

Mabel instantly recognized the huge key, "Hey! That's the President's Key Quentin Trembly awarded you with, right?

"That's right." he confirmed. "A key said to open any lock in America. Let's hope it works..."

Dipper reached up and prayed that the key would fit, finally freeing his Wendy from her prison. With a hard turn, all three heard a loud CLICK. Successful, Dipper pulled the padlock off, released the latch, and lifted the stocks off Wendy's feet.

He turned to Wendy, "WENDY! YOU'RE FRE-"

Wendy immediately hopped off the table, and pushed her way past the pre-teens. Still in bare feet, she ran out of the room, and in the distance, the twins heard the outside door open and slam.

The twins, confused, looked at each other. Mabel broke the silence, "Where do you think she went?"

Dipper looked down and shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. I hope she's okay though..."

Outside, Wendy ran towards the entrance to the woods right outside the Mystery Shack. She felt her feet burn with every step. It was like the world's most athlete's foot! Wendy had an idea, but she had to make it to her destination first.

Just past the entrance of the forest, Wendy remembered that there was a small, yet clean pond. She remembered that the water there was always ice-cold, even on the hottest of summer days. Plus, the depth was at least knee-deep.

When she arrived at the cozy pond, Wendy, without hesitation, jumped feet first into the soothing water. As her soles met the muddy bottom, Wendy let out a huge sigh of relief. Wendy stood in the cooling, yet somehow healing waters, reflecting on the recent, yet awkward situation. What the heck just happened in the display room? How did it go from playful banter and teasing with Dipper, to an all-out crazy crisis? Was it just a prank that spiraled out of control?

"Nah." Wendy thought to herself. "It couldn't be; Dipper SWORE than he wasn't behind what just happened." Wendy wiggled her toes as the burning sensation simply vanished into a painful memory, when she began to notice than a milky-white residue started to form on the water's surface; it seems to be coming from underfoot. At that moment, Wendy began to recall an important factor she overlooked. "Mabel's perfect pedicure!" sprang in Wendy's mind. How could it be a coincidence that Dipper couldn't get a ticklish reaction from her, Mabel offered a pedicure, puts some strange ooze on her feet, and all of a sudden, her feet are super ticklish again?

The more Wendy thought about it, the angrier she became. As it came to a head, Wendy raised her arms in air, shouting so that all of the woods were able to hear her:

"DDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRKKKKKKKSSSSSS!"

Back at the shack, Dipper and Mabel continued to talk about their experience, they heard a massive howl come from the woods. It sent shivers down the spine of each twin.

Mabel looked with a serious look at Dipper, "What was that?!"

Dipper returned her frightened stare, "I don't know; I mean, I really don't wanna know..." Deep down, all Dipper worried about was Wendy's safety. Was she alright? Did something else happen to his sweetheart?

A shade of guilt hung on Dipper's mind.

Despite all of his feelings for Wendy, why was it that every time he became more involved in Wendy's life, she always ended up hurt or in danger? He went with her to the abandoned Dusk2Dawn, and she was attacked by teen-hating ghosts. He asked her to a simple carnival and he ends up accidentally giving her a black eye (throughout various areas of time and space). Maybe the universe was trying to tell him something he just didn't want to accept...

Mabel noticed the depression rising in her brother's demeanor, and tried to raise his spirits. "Hey, turn that frown upside down!" She pointed her small digit against his cheek, literally turning his frown in a semi-smile.

Dipper didn't even notice.

Mabel, not to be ignored, grabbed her brother and stood face to face with him.

"Listen, Dipper. You may not want to hear this now, but you came through for Wendy when she needed you. That's the important thing. I know it doesn't always seem like it, but when it comes down to it, you are always there for her, no matter what..."

Dipper began to show a small smile.

"And..." Mabel continued. "…if that doesn't mean anything, then, I don't-"

Mabel's inspiring speech was interrupted by a loud SLAM from the family only entrance of the Mystery Shack! The twins ran out of the room and down the hall to see Wendy standing in the doorway. Her long, red hair was matted and frizzled. Her body, from her mid-section to her still bare feet were dripping wet for some reason.

"Wendy!" Dipper shouted excitedly, running to his crush. "Are you okay?! How are you feel-"

Dipper stopped in mid-sentence when he looked up at her green eyes. She was staring daggers at the little 'hero.'

"Wendy?!" Dipper called out to her once again. Goosebumps began to spread throughout his small body.

Without saying a word, Wendy continued towards the terrified twins, making them retreat back down the hall, and into the empty room.

Wendy, still giving off a demonic, angry glare, cornered the freaked out twins in the same room where she spent the day imprisoned. Without blinking nor even taking her sights off Dipper and Mabel, she knelt to address the two, again making sure that her angered-filled eyes never left their terror-filled ones.

"Alright..." she started. "Do you two have something that you MAY want to tell me?"

Dipper and Mabel, still clinging to each other in horror, glanced at each other, and then, looked back at Wendy, shaking their heads.

Dipper let go of Mabel, and tried one more time to calm his secret love, "Wendy, please..." he pleaded. "I don't know what happened exactly, but we didn't-"

"Oh?" Wendy interrupted the shivering child. "Let's look at the facts: Dipper gets jealous that he couldn't win 'our little game.' Mabel offers out of the blue to give a pedicure..."

Dipper turned to give his sister a confused look. Mabel shrugged her shoulders, smiling sheepishly.

"…you put some strange liquid on my feet, and less than 10 minutes later, I'm in instant agony!" Wendy finished.

"Wait? What?!" Mabel objected, being careful not to further anger the teenager. "Wendy, I did offer, but I never actually did anything to you! The next time I saw you was when you were screaming your head off! I swear, Wendy, I didn't do anything else!"

While maintaining her peeved-off attitude, Wendy thought to herself, "What if they're telling the truth?" She looked at the twins, still shaking in their boots. "But then again, what other explanation is there?"

She still felt like there was an important part of the story being left out. She figured that maybe if she pushed a bit harder, maybe they would provide the missing detail.

"Well," Wendy addressed Mabel in a grim voice, "Who else would? Or better yet, who else would even care?"

Mabel, unable to come up with a credible answer, merely replied with a simple, "Ummmmmm..."

Dipper, growing a bit braver, tried to reason with the angry redhead. "I dunno, Wendy," he tried to argue in defense. "A lot of strange things happen in this town. Maybe this was one of those...things?" Dipper tried to smile innocently.

"Oh, really?" Wendy questioned. "And pray tell, what mystical thing should we chalk this one up to?"

In a bind, Dipper looked around the room, trying to stall Wendy with a long "Hmmmmmmmm..." He noticed next to the pillory, the quill feather that he used to tease and torture Wendy.

"Ummm..." Dipper thought. "Maybe...magic feather?"

Wendy turned around to where Dipper's attention was. She stood up, walked over to her previous prison (which kinda gave her the shivers). She picked up the feather and walked back to where the twins stood spellbound by her behavior.

Wendy knelt back down, and presented the white fluff in front of Dipper's face. She then took it by both hands, and cracked the object in half, leaving the separated pieces fall to the floor, returning her dark stare to the twins.

This action made the twins jump!

"Wendy, please! We didn't do it!" Mabel begged.

"Y-Yeah, Wendy..." Dipper stuttered in fear. "I wouldn't do something so terrible because I lo-"

Dipper caught himself before he revealed his greatest secret out of fright.

Wendy noticed his change in behavior, and raised an eyebrow to it. She encouraged him to finish, "...because you what?"

Dipper, in great shame, looked down at the floor, unable to tell the love of his life the truth.

"Because..." he muttered. "Just because..."

Wendy sighed at his response. She could keep this up all night, and still not get the answer she was looking for (or expecting...) So, she decided to try a different method. Wendy shrunk back from the kids, and returned to her normal tone and posture.

"Alright, guys." she addressed the twins. "I would be totally lying if I said I hated pranks, and yes, however you did it, you got me; you got me good..."

"Wendy!" Dipper explained, "It's not true!"

She took her index finger and placed it over his lips. "SSShhhhhhh..." she gently hushed him.

"...but I want you two to know that revenge is a dish best served cold. And when you guys at least expecting it, that's when I'll STRIKE!" she exclaimed, raising her voice.

"AAHHHH!" both twins cried, again, clutching each other in fear.

Wendy stood back and walked over to her fallen trapper hat. She bent down and placed it back on top her head. Wendy then went over to her discarded boots (with socks tucked carefully inside) and clutched them in her right arm.

Wendy turned around and grabbed her tip jar with her free left hand, being at least 3/4s of the way full. She noticed that Dipper's $5 bill was on top of the pile. She began to walk out of the room, when Wendy turned around and gently taunted the twins one last time:

"Later, dorks! Sleep tight!" she sang, giving the frightened pre-teens a wink and a devilish smirk. Dipper and Mabel listened to the squishing sound made as Wendy walked away, leaving nothing left but a set of wet footprints...

Mabel turned to Dipper, "Out of all the weird things we've seen in this town: gnomes, lake monsters, living wax dummies, Grunkle Stan with his shirt off, that had to be the scariest thing ever!"

Dipper nodded in agreement, "I know, right!" he exclaimed. He lowered his head and whined, "...but this means that Wendy thinks that I did this to her..." A huge frown set upon his face.

Mabel punched his shoulder, "Don't worry!" she reassured him. "She'll figure it out! Then, she'll realize that no matter what, you've always been her 'little hero.'"

Dipper blew off Mabel's exaggeration. "Yeah, I guess...Still, I wish I had the some sort of proof that we're innocent."

If only the brave boy knew about the ransom note sent by his arch-rival, now hidden beneath his own bed.

If only...