Okay, so I have noticed that I'm still having some problems with adding cryptograms. This was noticed when someone did decode it, but at least one letter was wrong and a letter was in the wrong place. I am trying to work on adding coded messages, and I figure I should try to work on it like I was solving it myself. So I hope that I didn't mess up this time with the cryptogram at the end.
Also shout out time for those that took the time to decode the message in the last chapter: ultima-owner.
Wow, only one person decided to try and leave a decode in the review? Is okay, but it's still nice to know that people do have positive thoughts on the story.
Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Highschool DxD or Gravity Falls. If I did then I wouldn't be writing fanfiction. Also, this was co-written with shadowwriter329, and he doesn't own either series, or does he...likely not.
-Hollowed Inconvenience-
It was just another normal day at the mystery shack. Wendy was reading a magazine, Mabel was sitting on a large globe that was spinning, Soos was fixing something and Dipper was reading the Journal. "Huh, did you know that the author has an entry on ghosts?" asked Dipper.
"What kind of ghost?" Mabel asked. "Like actual ghosts that haven't moved on yet, or cursed imprints?"
"Don't know yet." Dipper admitted. "Maybe I should show Yuzu and Karin. They'd know more than I would."
Mabel laughed still spinning. "Yeah, and they aren't big dorks like you."
Dipper simply touched the ring part of the globe and froze it. This forced the globe to stop spinning, thus causing Mabel to fall off.
Stan walked in through the front door. "Wendy, Soos." he called out.
Soos quickly ran over, panting slightly before he asks, "What's up Mr. Pines?"
Wendy didn't even look up from her magazine. Stan however didn't notice as he said, "I'm heading out. You two are going to wash the bathrooms right?"
"Yes sir!" said Soos with a salute.
"Absolutely not" added Wendy with her own salute.
Stan laughed, before he said with narrow eyes. "Stay out of trouble you two." Before he closed the door and left.
Wendy however walked over to one corner of the gift shop. "Hey guys, what's this?" she asks pulling back a curtain. "A secret ladder to the roof?"
"Uh…" said Soos nervously, "I don't think Mr. Pines will like that."
Wendy started to tease Soos by reaching her hand out to grab the ladder and then pulled it back. Soos grabbed his hat. "You're freaking me out dude."
"We can actually go up there?" Dipper asked.
"Sure we can!" Wendy said already climbing up before she started chanting, "Roof time! Roof time!"
"Roof time! Roof time!" cheered Dipper and Mabel as they followed up after her.
Soos watched them nervously as they climbed it. Once they reached the roof Wendy lead them over the top, passed the sign, which the S had fallen off spelling Mystery Hack, and to another section of the roof. "Alright, check it out."
On that flat section of the roof was a cooler, a lawn chair, umbrella and a bucket of pinecones. The twins found they cool as they climbed down. "Did you put all this stuff up here?" Dipper asked.
Wendy smirked, "I may or may not sneak up here during work…all the time, every day."
She took a pinecone from the bucket and threw it hard the twins watched as the pinecone flew before it hit the bulls-eye placed near the top of the totem pole. Wendy pumped her fist at the hit before the twins grinned and decided to try. The three were throwing pinecones before one Dipper threw bounced off the totem pole, hitting the center, and hit a car, which caused the alarm to go off.
Dipper looked embarrassed but Wendy was impressed. "Jackpot! High five."
Dipper stared at Wendy who had her hand up and her hair flowing in the wind. "Don't' leave me hanging" Wendy said after a minute.
Dipper grinned and gave her a high five. Wendy heard a car horn and looked. She knew which one it was. "Hey it's my friends!"
The car pulled to a stop and a hand was seen out one of the windows. "Wendy!"
Wendy glanced at them. "Hey, you're not going to Stan about this, are you?"
Dipper smiled, zipped his lips, and made a motion that he was throwing the zipper or key away, which Wendy copied. Then the red head turned to leave. "Later dorks."
She jumped to the closest pine three and the tree bends downward before she jumped to a pine tree. The tree bent down to the ground allowing Wendy to jump to the ground then enter the open car door. Once inside the car took off with the teens inside cheering.
"Later Wendy!" Dipper called out laughing nervously.
"Uh-oh," Mabel in a teasing tone.
"What?" Dipper asked confused.
"Somebody has a crush." Mabel teased poking him.
Dipper rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, Wendy's just cool okay."
"It's always the redheads huh Dipper?" Mabel laughed a bit when she asked the question while working her way down to the main shop.
"It not always the red heads!" Dipper denied with a huff. "Besides, it's not like I lay awake at night thinking about her…"
Later that night Dipper was lying in his bed, wide-awake. "Oh crap…"
Dipper was waiting in the TV room, as the Sitri family seal came and two individuals came out of it. Both of which were girls.
"Hi Dipper-kun!" One of the two girls, both were clearly Japanese, said as she raised a hand in greetings. They were the same age, but looked different, the first girl with brown hair in pigtails, a decent developing bust, and wearing a sailor uniform.
"Yo, what's up?" This girl was different, save for the same eyes, but had black hair that was tied in a ponytail and had an attractive, if slightly fierce, look. Both were attractive, and were decently busty.
"Yuzu, Karin, thanks for stopping by." Dipper addressed the two girls, the brunette being Yuzu and the ravenette being Karin.
"We should hang out more often." Karin started, and her companion agreed.
"Yeah, we always have time for friends!" Yuzu was definitely a very bright and innocent girl, despite being a devil, but she still was curious. "What did you want to talk about?"
"Okay, I found this old journal in the woods, we're in Gravity Falls by the way, and it has a section on ghosts." This got the attention of the two girls, as they started moving with Dipper to the gift shop. "I wanted your opinion on what kind of ghost the author was talking about."
They entered the gift shop as Wendy and Mabel were dancing. Wendy took a break to notice the two newcomers. "Whoa, where'd they come from?"
"Oh, these are my friends, and they're devils like me and Mabel." Dipper said as the two looked at Wendy, being around the same age and all.
"I'm Kurosaki Yuzu, it's very nice to meet you!" Yuzu stated, and that's when Karin stepped forward.
"I'm Kurosaki Karin, Yuzu's sister." Wendy shook the hands of the Kurosaki sisters. "We're twins."
"Oh, that's cool. I mean, the only devils I know are Dipper, Mabel, and their mom. So, it's cool to meet new devils, or people, however you want to call yourselves." Wendy was kind of excited, even if she didn't know everything about devils. The only reason she knew was through Stan summoning them on occasion to help with an attraction of some sort.
"Oh! You met Lady Leviathan! She's so cool, and a celebrity!" Yuzu said with stars in her eyes. Karin and Dipper just rolled their eyes, since Yuzu loved to meet celebrities.
Wendy looked at Mabel. "Your mom's a star?"
"She has her own TV show in the Underworld." Mabel explained. "I sometimes appear on the show."
Yuzu nodded, "It's always a fan favorite to see Levia-tan and Chibi-Levia working in the same episode."
"That's kinda cool," Wendy said before she looked at Dipper, "You ever been on the show?"
"Nope," Dipper said, "And I never want to."
"That bad?" Wendy asked.
"I don't want to talk about it," Dipper muttered, not wanting to talk about his mother's magical girl style show.
Karin smirked, deciding to tease Dipper a bit. "I'm sure your mom would love it if you went on the show."
Dipper gave her a pointed look. "Maybe we should have your dad take you on a father/daughter bonding trip."
Karin grimaced at that threat and she knew he would do it. "Touché."
Mabel blew a raspberry. "It's not that bad Dipper. Mom could do worst, like the time she forced you to learn the Lamby dance."
Dipper chuckled nervously before he said through gritted teeth. "Mabel now is not the time to talk about the Lamby dance."
Mabel however didn't listen. "Mom used to dress him up in a lamb costume and get him to sing a song about grazing."
"Really?" Wendy asked chuckled, and even Yuzu and Karin were giggling. "Like with little ears and a tail and everything?"
"Oh yeah." Mabel answered.
"You can't prove it," Dipper countered.
Mabel however made a photo appeared. The other girl tried to see but a wide-eyed Dipper quickly made an ice dagger and threw it through the photo and got it stuck into the wall. "None of that!" he took a deep breath, "Karin, Yuzu, let me show you what I was talking about."
Mable leaned over and whispered to Wendy, "I have more copies."
"Show me later," the red head said before she focused on Dipper, who was showing the second pair of twins the entry that talked about ghost.
Wendy watched them as Dipper read and explained the entry out to them. The two girls were fascinated by what the journal was showing them. Karin whistled, "Whoever made this was really smart. Even if he made different categories for them he got different forms of plus, demi-hollows, and even curse imprints."
"It's a shame we can't show Ich-nii, he might find it interesting." Yuzu added with a slightly frown.
"Why not?" Wendy asked, "Just have Dipper scan and copy the pages then you can bring it to him."
"We can't read this, not yet at least." Karin then explained from the questioning look on Wendy's face. "As reincarnated devils we can understand any spoken languages, but we can't read and write them unless we study."
"Reincarnated?" Wendy asked, "What did you two die and became devils?"
"Oh yeah!" Mabel said, "We never got around to explaining the evil piece system did we?"
"The what?" Wendy asked confused.
Dipper cleared his throat, "You know how the Great War is in a state of cease fire to rebuild and regain our numbers right?"
"Yeah," Wendy said with a shrug.
Dipper went on "Well, us Devils had a second war known as the Underworld Civil War between the Old Satan Faction, who fit the evil devil stereotype, and the Anti-Satan faction, the good devils. It left half of the seventy-two pillar houses and more dead. The current Satans are the rulers of the Underworld, mainly because the Old Satan faction had the ruling houses like Lucifer, and to remember the past the Four Satans are given the name of Lucifer, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, or Leviathan. Mom's from the Sitri clan, but is the current Leviathan."
"The history lesson is cool and all, but what does this have to do with the Evil Piece System?" Wendy asked, wanting to get to the point.
"I was getting to that." Dipper said as he was getting back into the explanation. "You see, Devils are in a sense immortal, we can die but it's hard and waiting won't really work sense we seem to have eternal youth, and that means a lower fertility rate, meaning we don't have kids as often. So Ajuka Beelzebub thought, why not make more? That led to the creation of the Evil Piece System."
"They look like chess pieces!" Mabel proclaimed, "and they can turn almost anyone into a devil."
Dipper nodded. "Once a devil gets a high enough rank, they can petition to gain a set of Evil Pieces of their own. Each piece can turn people and other creatures into devils or half devils. Each piece has a special power and worth."
"Sounds amazing," Wendy admitted, "But what's stopping devils from just turning anyone into one?"
"Well it is not that simple." Dipper explained, "For those still alive they have to accept it willingly. It is either for their desire or for a contract. You can't force someone with an evil piece and turn them into a devil."
"Unless you died, or you're like near dead, then they can turn you." Mabel added.
"Wait." Wendy then asked stunned at what was said. "You can bring back the dead?"
"Only the recently deceased." Dipper explained. "If you just died, like a few hours ago, a devil can bring you back as a devil. At least, I think that's how it works."
"Sounds crazy." Wendy said, "Yet kinda awesome."
Up on the wall a clock chimed showing it was six o'clock. "Quitting time!" Wendy smiled as she took her nametag off. "It was nice meeting you Karin, Yuzu. Sorry to leave yea hanging but the gang's waiting for me."
"Wait, maybe we can hang with you?" Dipper suggested as Wendy thought it over a bit.
"I don't know, my friends are kind of intense. You sure you can handle it?"
"Yeah, the four of us can handle anything your friends throw our way." Dipper said confidently as he looked at the girls. "Right?"
"Meh, if I can live with my dad without nearly murdering him, then I can handle your friends." Karin said as she might as well hang out with the group, she didn't have anything better to do just yet.
"It's always cool to make new friends! And this will be the first American friends I'll make other then Dipper-kun, and those in Mabel's peerage!" Yuzu said as bright and cheerful as can be.
"Well, duh! I'm a superstar magical girl, that can kick ass with a scythe." Mabel added, and it was true since she did join her mother on the occasional autograph session.
"Alright, I like your moxie guys." Wendy let them join in, they were devils, and it was kind of cool to hang out with something not human.
"And you get to hang with your newest crush." Mabel said to Wendy missed it because she had already stepped outside. While Dipper tripped a bit with Mabel's choice of words.
"It's always the redheads isn't it?" Karin asked as Dipper rolled his eyes, wondering why people think he has a redhead fetish. Wendy was just cool.
"In the belly! In the belly!" Came the chant of two teenage boys as a third was tossing little balls, possibly candy balls, into a fourth boy's belly, the belly button to be exact. He kept missing, and was about to throw another. Someone beat him to it, and it was, "Wendy!"
"Hey guys," Wendy greeted before pointing to Dipper, and the girls. "These are my pals from work Dipper and Mabel. And these are their friends from out of town, Yuzu and Karin."
"Ladies." the tall blond and the dark skin boy said together winking at the girls.
Karin rolled her eyes while Yuzu bow politely. Mabel laughed while Dipper just shook his head. Wendy chuckled before she introduced her friends, "Okay the flirting boys are Lee and Nate." The two stood tall before Nate shot a jab to Lee's side. "This is Tambry." The only other girl of the group didn't even look up from her phone but waved at them. "Thompson, who once ate a run-over waffle for fifty cents."
Thompson looked embarrassed, "Don't tell them that."
Wendy rolled her eyes before she pointed to the last guy playing the guitar. "And Robbie, I'm sure you can figure him out."
Robbie looked at them, "Yeah I'm the guy that spray painted the water tower."
"Oh, you mean the big muffin?" Dipper said as he commented on the look of the spray paint.
"That is a very nice muffin." Yuzu commented as she looked at it as well.
Robbie scowled. "Uh, it's a giant explosion."
Everyone then started looking at the water tower, and the painting on the side. While Robbie said it was an explosion, really did look like a muffin.
"I don't see it." Karin muttered, not seeing what Robbie was trying to go for.
Lee chuckled and said. "Hey it kinda does look like a muffin."
This caused Nate to laugh as well which had Dipper joined in. Robbie scowled and glared at Dipper and Yuzu slightly for being the first to comment on the muffin-plosion. Karin noticed this, and moved between them, then glared harshly at the dark haired teen wearing a stitched heart hoodie. Robbie held back a flinch and looked away. "Enough clowning around guys!" Wendy said pointing to the car beside them. "I got big plans for tonight."
"Can we all even fit?" Karin asked rising a brow.
"It'll be a tight fit but we can squeeze in." Wendy assured her as they started to pile in.
"Shotgun!" Dipper called opening the door.
However, Robbie stopped him. "Sorry but I ride shotgun around here."
Dipper rolled his eyes and muttered a quick "Whatever" before climbing into the back.
Dipper got into the back with Mabel while Yuzu and Karin shared a seat next to him. Lee, Nate, Tambry and Wendy were in the middle seats while Thompson was driving. As Thompson started the car he turned back to look at them "Okay, just before we go; my mom says you're not allowed to punch the roof anymore. So..."
The other teens stared before Robbie, Nate, Lee and Wendy started punching the roof of the car while chanting, "Thompson! Thompson! Thompson!" Thompson just sighed before he put the car into gear and started to drive off.
As they rode off Yuzu and Karin were watching the scenery as they drove by while Mabel was looking around the car. She took a marker from Dipper and on the armrest to the door she scribbled out 'You Stink' and wrote 'You look nice today!' underneath with a little heart over the 'I'. Mabel was pleased with herself as she laughed, "This is going to blow someone's mind."
"Mabel behave!" Dipper said annoyed.
Mabel scoffed at the command. "What? Am I embarrassing you in front of your new Girl-" she tried to shout this last word by Dipper slapped his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.
Before Mabel could do anything Dipper added. "Lick my hand and I will freeze it to an embarrassing ice sculpture tomorrow."
Mabel narrowed her eyes and scowled but did as she was told, as she didn't want another incident like last time. Making it look like she was licking a dog's tongue was bad enough the first time, and she didn't want to think what Dipper would do to top it.
While the teens were driving off to hang out, Stan was watching TV.
Welcome to the boring black and white old lady period movie channel. Tonight's movie is The Duchess Approves.
"Kids, I can't find the remote and I refuse to get up!" Stan said as the movie was showing the stars of the movie. "Kids!? NO!"
Stan had screamed as the movie itself had started.
"Check it out, the old abandoned Dusk 2 Dawn store." Wendy motioned to an abandoned convenience store that certainly looked abandoned. It was aged and not quite falling apart.
"Why did they shut it down?" Yuzu asked, curious on the store as it looked like it could still be operational.
"It might just have been a health code violation or something, and never got around to fixing it." Dipper suggested, but he wouldn't admit that it was creepy, even for a devil.
"Try murder." That got his attention, as well as Karin and Yuzu's. Lee continued on with. "Some old people were killed and the place has been haunted ever since."
"This town has such a colorful history." Mabel commented on how it has a supposed murder site still there.
"Is that true?" Karin had to ask, and she was beating Dipper to the punch.
"Yeah, we're all gonna die!" Wendy stated with sarcastic fear before easily turning back to her normal voice. "Just relax guys, I'm sure we'll be fine."
Of course the fact that Dipper, Yuzu, and Karin noticed that the sign saying 'trespassers will be prosecuted' had the word 'dead' over prosecuted didn't exactly help, it was probably a joke for scaring kids. It wasn't long before they started climbing over the fence, since they had found a gap in the barbed wire at the top that would have prevented them from entering without tearing themselves up. Then came another problem.
"It's stuck or locked or whatever." Robbie stated as he tried to push and then pull the doors open, but couldn't get them open.
"Maybe I should take a crack at it?" Dipper offered, and figured he might as well try to have some fun. If it did look like it was haunted, then he, Yuzu, and Karin would cross that bridge when they get there.
"Yeah, I can't get it open, but nerdy here's going to break it down like Hercules." Robbie joked, not believing that Dipper could do something he couldn't.
"That's not cool." Wendy was sympathetic to Dipper, since he was a Devil and didn't share that fact with just anyone. She only knew thanks her time with Stan, and when he summoned a devil for a workshop of ideas or to go get a few supplies, it became a norm.
"Where's Dipper?" Karin noticed first that Dipper had already left the group, but where he was she wasn't sure.
"Up there." Yuzu pointed out as Dipper had already, whether flying or not, gotten to the roof and was carefully taking a grate off to access the air ducts.
"Who wants to bet he doesn't make it?"
"He'll make it." Karin commented on Robbie's question, noticing he was feeling pretty smug about something, and just as she finished, Dipper opened the door to let everyone in.
The only one of the group not impressed was Robbie as the teen scowled at Dipper. The rest were laughing as they walked inside, "Good call bringing this manic!" Lee said high-fiving Dipper.
"Your new name is Dr. Fun-times!" Nate agreed walking in with Tambry.
As the rest entered Wendy told him, "nice work," which had Dipper smiling. Karin and Yuzu smirked at one another before softly laughing at Dipper's expense. After they entered and the door closed, none of them noticed the sign flipping from 'come in, we're open' to 'get lost we're closed'.
Inside the teens were exploring, seeing the dark store that had a large amount of dust and cobwebs. Dipper, Mabel, Karin and Yuzu had no trouble seeing the details of the store but they can tell it has been abandon for a good number of years. "Man this place is creepier then I imagined." Wendy said next to Robbie and Dipper.
Mabel was swiping her finger in the counter to see how dusty it really was. Dipper grabbed a newspaper on the rack. Wiping the dust away revealed the date to be May 2, 1995 since the store no doubt has been open last.
In one aisle Lee asked Nate, "Hey dude, where'd you think they keep the dead bodies?"
"Shut up man." Nate said pushing him slightly.
"No one is dumb enough to keep a dead body here." Karin said passing them, "not even you two are that dumb."
The two boys glanced at one another before Nate said, "She's talking about you dude."
"No way! She's talking about you!"
Wendy however found the light switches, "Hey guys check it out! You think these still work?"
Dipper just shrugged as Wendy flipped the switches. It took a minute but the lights all turned on, all the machines turned back on and even the small security TV turned on. The teens were surprised but the non-devils thought it was better by far. "Huh," Karin muttered, "you think they would have the power to here shut off if it was closed."
"Maybe they forgot?" Yuzu suggested.
"Jackpot!" Mabel said seeing the swirly machine on as well as the other snack machines.
"So what do we do now?" Dipper asked Wendy since it was her idea to be here.
She just grinned at them. "Anything we want."
The group grinned at this and started to have fun. They took many of the snack cakes and treats to eat, which were surprisingly still good. They found a bunch of balloons, which Lee and Nate made into water balloons before the group split into two teams and had a small fight using the aisles and cover. Lee and Nate had fun using big bags of kitty litter to smack each other with. Karin and Dipper surprised them both by attacking them from behind but the four just laughed it up. Yuzu and Mabel were mixing different flavors of slushies to figure out which combo was the best. The boys then took a large container of diet soda and dropped several Mentos into it. They all cheered when the soda sprayed out of the top, which Yuzu found very cool. Karin and Yuzu were having fun the whole time, not really able to say they ever experience this before.
Mabel down on of the aisles before she slid to a stop and notice a candy stand. It was full of candy with a picture of a yellow smiling dog on top. Several ribbons over the stand all saying 'Do Not Sell'. But Mabel was focusing on the candy itself, "Oh my Gosh! Smile Dip!" she took a packet off the shelf as Yuzu, Karin and Dipper walked over to her. "I thought this stuff was banded in America."
"Maybe they had a good reason." Dipper stated crossing his arms.
"Never heard of it," Karin said confused, having never heard of Smile Dip before.
"I don't think we should try it." Yuzu advised, after checking a packet's ingredients before putting it back on the shelf.
However, water balloons splashed all three of them. The three wiped their faced and armed themselves again before charging at the laughing teens, "You're going down Nate!" Karin said as she dashed off with Dipper and Yuzu.
Mabel however decided to sit down and enjoy the candy. She opened it up and dipped the candy stick into the power treat…. before she dumps the rest of the bag into her open mouth. This is not going to end well.
Some time had passed as Dipper and Wendy were just sitting on top one of the aisles eating some ice cream, which was suspiciously not melted and still good, despite the Neapolitan bar was way passed the expiration date.
"It's been a long time since I've seen the gang bonding like this." Wendy commented as the group was happy at their revelry, "I don't think I can remember the last time Tambry looked up from her phone for this long."
Tambry did look up from her phone, for a second or two before going back to texting as Lee and Nate were once again doing something stupid but fun.
"Huh, she really should get off the phone." Karin said, as she was right behind Dipper eating a bar of ice cream herself.
"Well, Mabel should've listened to us." Yuzu, who was next to Karin, pointed to Mabel as the girl's eyes were dilated and she seemed to be hallucinating.
"I think I've had enough, what do you think?" Mabel said, but she was in the Smile Dip hallucination, which seemed to have everything made in candy. Then a yellow dog, like the Smile Dip mascot, jumped next to her.
"Tsurtsim elknurg Nats." It said before another came up to Mabel asking, "Would you like to eat my candy paw?"
"Of course you adorable angel." Mabel said and started chewing the paw. Back in reality, Mabel was just chewing air.
"Yeah." Dipper had no other words for that, but that's when Lee, Nate, and Robbie called out, "We need some more ice!"
"I'll get it." Dipper figured it would be too suspicious to use magic to create the ice, so he went to get a bag of ice, knowing it would be shoved down Thompson's pants. He went to the icebox of the store and opened the door. He stared a bit at the floating brain like creature with eyes before slamming it shut.
He took a minute to slow his breathing before he opens the door again, his magic ready this time in case it was still there. But he found the brain thing was gone. Confused he closed the door but everyone else, besides Mabel, were coming over. "What's going on?" Lee asked.
"You freaking out man?" Nate said chuckling.
Dipper just shook his head, "Nothing. I'm sure I was seeing things."
"You scared?" Robbie asked with a smirk.
Dipper ignored him and looked to Yuzu and Karin, wanting to ask them something. But with everyone else here he couldn't luckily he found a distraction, "Hey!" he points to a dance machine in the corner, "Is that Dancy Pants Revolution? The game that tricks you into exercising?"
The other teens seemed excited and headed towards it. Karin and Yuzu however waited before Dipper asked them, "Do you two sense anything?"
"Not really," Karin said with a frown.
"We haven't really sensed anything since we got here. If it's here, then its hiding." Yuzu added.
"You saw a ghost or something?" Karin asked.
"I don't know," Dipper admitted. "I never heard of a ghost that was just a brain, veins and eyes."
"We'll keep our senses up," Karin said to which her twin nodded.
Nodded to the twins they joined the others around the dancing game. Thompson was trying his luck in playing and following the rhythm. He wasn't very good but he was trying his hardest while his friends chant, "Go! Go! Go! Go!"
"You can do it Thompson!" Yuzu cried out to encourage him.
Wendy chuckled and elbowed Dipper, "Wow, he's really terrible at this."
Dipper chuckled before something caught his eye. In the refection of the front doors were skeletons dressed like Wendy, Robbie, Tambry, Yuzu, Karin, and himself. They all turned his way as one and it really was unsettling to him. Dipper rubbed his eyes but found the image was gone and the refection normal. He glanced to Karin and Yuzu but one was still cheering Thompson on and the other was frowning. "I'll be right back," he said before going to find Mabel.
Fortunately, he found Mabel in her same spot in front of the Smile Dip. "Something's not right here Mable. I have the feeling something is wrong and I think I am seeing things but Yuzu and Karin haven't sensed anything yet. I don't know if it's a ghost or a curse or something." He turned when he didn't get a respond and stared amazed, "How did you make that so fast?"
Mable was now riding an ice sculptor, no doubt made herself, of a giant dolphin with two man arms posed as if flying superman style. Mabel was holding on the dorsal fin and shouting, "The future is in the past, ONWARD AOSHIMA!"
Dipper rubbed his forehead seeing the state Mabel was in. Mabel eyes were wide and dilated and she was slightly foaming pink foam around the mouth. "Mabel!" Dipper cried pulling her down and shaking her, "How many of those things did you eat!?"
"Eleven-teen," Mable muttered still out of it.
"Mabel! Now is not the time to go on a drug trip!" Dipper called out before he moaned, "Mom must never find out about this ever."
While Dipper was trying to find a way to get everyone out without looking like he was scared, Robbie was messing with some scratch off lottery tickets before he dropped a coin.
"Whoa." He got everyone's attention as they came and saw that there were police markings of two people, the kind that the police draw when a death or homicide is investigated.
"Then the rumors are true." Lee said as they all looked at the. Yuzu and Karin were now feeling something, and like Wendy, Dipper, and Tambry were not as happy or excited as Robbie, Lee, and Nate seemed.
"Dare you to lie down in it." Lee dared Nate, and before he could.
"Let's not!" Dipper said, it was better to protect others then being proud.
"Yeah, don't you know that bad things happen when you disturb the place of a soul's death?" Karin said as she glared at the boys for tempting fate.
"Yeah right buzzkills, it's not like ghosts are just gonna pop out and haunt us." Robbie said before anyone can stop him, he decided to lie down in the sketch. "See, who cares about what some old dead people think!"
Then came a sudden dark howl, and for those that were sensitive to it, their hair stood on end. It wasn't a normal howl, but it was as the howl of a monster.
"H-hollow." Yuzu said, but no one knew what she meant before Tambry suddenly vanished. Dipper grabbed her phone and read what was there.
"Status update: AHHHH!" He read as Tambry suddenly disappeared, but soonreappeared on a surveillance screen that was in the corner of the shop, completely frightened at the experience.
"Oh this is not good," Dipper said looking around.
"What's happening man!?" Nate screamed.
"It's all Robbie fault!" Lee shouted pulling Robbie up by the front of his hoddie, and shouted sarcastically, "Let's lie down in the lines where they died. Yeah real smart man!"
Before anyone could do anything else Lee's form glowed and he vanished as well. They heard his scream and they found him on the cover of an off brand cereal, getting attacked by the bird mascot. "How is this happen?" Dipper called out.
"I think these hollows kept the abilities they had as ghost," Karin guessed, "I know they're here but I can see or sense where they are."
"You're talking crazy!" Robbie shouted, "Let's get out of here!"
They headed for the door before Wendy stopped, "Where's Thompson?"
They heard his cries of pain and they saw he was inside the dancing game, getting the arrows stuck in his body as he cried in pain. Lee pounded at the door to get out but it was locked.
"Out of the way!" Robbie shouted grabbing the cash register and threw it at the door. However, the glass seemed to bend like rubber and sent it back at Robbie, knocking him out.
Lee screamed in panic and shouted to the ceiling, "Let us out of here you freaks!"
"Stop it!" Karin tried to warn him but Lee vanished as well. He did appear again rolling on the hotdog rack…as a hot dog.
"On man," Dipper said getting really freaked out now, "What is this hollow doing?"
"You called it that before." Wendy said looking at Dipper, knowing he had an idea what was happening, "What is a hollow?"
"A hollow is a corrupted soul," Karin stated looking around and ready to fight. "They're souls whose form turns into that of a monster with their heart gone. The only thing they can do to ease the pain in their hearts is to eat souls."
Wendy looked in horror, "So everyone is?"
"They're still alive," Yuzu assured her, "Their bodies and souls are moved into the different forms and places. We can free them but we have to find the hollow first."
Dipper looked around and gasped, "Mabel!"
They turned to see Mabel floating in the air, not with her wings but as if she was held. Mabel giggled still out of it, "Man you are one ugly dog."
They hear the hollow roar again and Mabel moved up. Mabel however looked down and grinned, "You want to play? Okay then…snowball fight!"
Suddenly ice formed around Mabel and spread. An arm was covered in ice holding her and was quickly covering a body. The hollow screeched and released Mabel before it became fully visible. The body looked large with long arms, short thick legs and floated in the air. It had a mask that was rounded out except for several curvy spikes as if it was solid flames. Wendy saw the in the middle of the hollow's chest was a large hole, a hole where the heart should be. She watched stunned as she could see completely through the hole and knew this creature wasn't human.
Karin and Yuzu focused on the hollow while Dipper quickly flew and grabbed a falling Mabel out of the air. The hollow roared and reached for him but jerked back as several arrows hit its hand. The hollow turned towards the second pair of twins and narrowed its yellow eyes. Yuzu held her hands on a bow made that she had brought to her using magic and a quiver of arrows and she had another arrow ready to fire, charged with magic. Karin however held a sword in her hands, looking like a katana but with a slightly thicker blade. Karin narrowed her eyes and held her stance, "No more hiding hollow."
She vanished and the hollow jerked before it roared and the hand with the arrows in it was cut completely off. Karin appeared above the hollow ready to hit the mask but was force to dodge as one of the machines on the counter flew at her.
Dipper pulled Mabel behind the counter with Wendy. Wendy was watching Yuzu and Karin fight the hollow, Karin with her speed and sword and Yuzu with her bow. The hollow was keeping its distance by floating in the air and making more machines and items around the store move. "Don't worry," Dipper said seeing her watch the pair, "They have the abilities to deal with ghosts and hollows."
"Can all devils do that?" Wendy asked, not taking her eyes off the fight.
"Well no," Dipper admitted, "At least without training. But even before devils their family has experience with ghost. Heck their brother deals with hollow in greater number and power than this. They can handle this no problem."
"But why is this happen?" Wendy asked and Dipper could see tears swelling up in her eyes, "I didn't want tonight to be like this. It's all my fault for getting everyone here."
"No it's not," Dipper assured her. "The ghost has been here since 1995. It was bound to become a hollow sooner or later. We just came and Robbie made it upset and sped the transformation up. None of this is your fault."
Wendy said nothing but watched, as Karin was force to cover for Yuzu and slice a machine in half. Suddenly Wendy stood and ran out of hiding.
"Hey ugly!" she shouted.
Everyone turned to her. "Wendy move!" Karin shouted to her.
But Wendy didn't listen as she shouted, "You're mad at us for being here right!? You're mad that we broke into your home and messed around with everything right!? That we disrespected your death like that right!? Well it was my fault!"
"Wendy! Get down!" Dipper shouted as the hollow's eyes narrowed at her.
"It was all my idea!" Wendy kept shouted with tears falling from her eyes, "None of us would have come here if it wasn't for me! So leave everyone alone and take it out on me!"
"Wendy stop!" Yuzu called out as the hollow roared.
"That's right come get me!" Wendy said staring down the glaring hollow "Do you even understand me!? I said, it! Is! All! My! Fa-"
Wham!
Wendy stopped when she felt something big blindsided her and sent her flying. Her side hurt from the blow and was caught unprepared for when she clashed into the glass door of one of the coolers. The glass door shattered from the force and Wendy fell to the ground.
"Wendy!" Dipper shouted horrified, as a second hollow was visible, exactly the same as the first expect for blue skin instead of green. It roared and slowly marched towards Wendy. Wendy shook, in pain from the blow and the glass cutting into her skin. She gasped, as it was hard to breathe. She didn't even notice the second hollow nor that it was coming right at her.
"No!" The three devils yelled, but Yuzu and Karin couldn't keep themselves off the current hollow. Dipper had to rush, as Wendy was bleeding and still barely conscious. The second Hollow was ready to deal the final blow before eating her soul, but that's when a blue magic seal appeared and stopped it. "I won't let...I won't let you hurt Wendy anymore!"
Dipper yelled out furiously before using his magic to create a chilling, freezing wind. It began to freeze the Hollow in place as Yuzu saw a chance for a shot. She fired an arrow at the Hollow's mask, and struck true. Unlike a normal arrow, this was infused with magic that was meant to purify the Hollow, and it vanished just as Wendy passed out.
"Alright, time to end this!" Karin said before using unleashing a great burst of speed to get behind and purify the hollow as well. The Hollow also vanished, as if it never was there. That's when the Kurosaki twins rushed over to assist Wendy.
"Is she going to make it?" Dipper asked as the two did what they could. Yuzu tried using magic, but she was still trying to get stronger in her healing spells.
"I'm doing all I can, but if we don't get her to a hospital soon then..." She didn't want to finish the statement, as they knew that they weren't going to make it without raising some serious questions.
"There has to be something that I can, wait, there is something." Dipper reached into his pocket and pulled out a crimson colored knight piece.
"You mean?" Karin asked, but the answer was clear. The girls stood back as Dipper prepared a magic seal.
"I command thee, Wendy Corduroy, upon my name of Sitri, to return to the world once more, and possess great joy as my knight." The knight piece vanished within the redhead's body as everyone began to heal. Glass was ejected from the redhead's body, bones began mending, and flesh sewed itself back together. Wendy soon stirred awake as the healing was setting. Yuzu decided to pitch in with what she knew of healing magic to help things along and get Wendy conscious.
"Ugh, what happened?" She asked, but this time she was joined by various groanings. Her friends were restored from whatever purgatory they were placed in, and thus had no further need to be rescued. Even Mabel was getting up with the help of Yuzu, "Ugh, I'm never going to eat or do anything ever again."
"I think there's some left." Yuzu said picking one packet up.
Mabel went stiff as a board before she slapped the Smile Dip pack from Yuzu's hands, "Evil!"
"What happen?" Lee asked.
"Yeah everything went all weird." Nate agreed.
"You idiots messed up!" Karin stated sternly, after she made sure her sword vanished. "You messed with the place a ghost died. How did you think that was even a good idea?"
"Lighten up man," Robbie said but she turned her glare to him and he flinched.
"You were the biggest reason this happen. I'm all for having fun but disrespecting the dead crosses the line." Karin said while keeping her glare on him the hooded teen.
"I think they all learned their lesson." Yuzu said looking their slightly ashamed faces. Well mostly Thompson, Lee, Nate and Tambry. "I say we go back home and rest."
The teens muttered in agreement and slowly left the shop. Karin kept her glare to make sure they leave which made Dipper ask, "Taking lessons from your brother?"
Karin nodded, "You have to admit Ichigo can be scary when he's serious."
"Tell me about it," Dipper said recalling being on the receiving end of that glare when he asked the twins to join his peerage. If he hadn't already gotten to know Ichigo, and if he wasn't such a nice guy, then he might not still be alive today.
As they exit the store Wendy looked around, noticing that she was seeing the night as if it was as clear as day. She glanced at Dipper who looked nervously at her. "Dipper…did something happen?"
Dipper flinched and the two stood in the doorway of the store. Dipper sighed, "Listen Wendy…you got hurt, like really badly hurt. I couldn't get you help because I didn't know where the hospital is and even then there would be questions and even then I wasn't sure you would make it in time. So I had to…. I changed you into a devil."
Wendy stared taken aback, "you what?"
"I had to Wendy," Dipper said "If I didn't then you would have died. I can't let my friend end up like that." He started pacing back and forth, "I didn't want it like this. I'll admit I thought of asking you to be one of my pieces but that would not be until we've gotten to known each other, and you learned more of devils and then you would make that choice yourself."
Wendy stared at him and she can see how torn up he was. She felt fine though she could remember the hit she took out of nowhere and how much pain she was in. she stopped his pacing by placing a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, was there no other way man?"
"No," Dipper said, "Not without you dying."
"Then I forgive you." She said with a small smile, "You saved my life and you had no other choice."
"Really?" Dipper asked, "You're not mad?"
"A little numb from all of this," Wendy admitted, "But I'm not going to hate you for this. Heck if we went with your plan I might have just said yes anyways."
"Really?" Dipper asked trying not to sound pleased.
Wendy laughed "Yeah I'm pretty sure I would. Let's just go home, let me adjust for a few days and then you can show me this whole devil business."
"Sure," Dipper said with a smile "not a problem."
Then headed towards the car where everyone else was already settled. "God, what a night," Wendy muttered before she cried out in pain and held her head.
"Yeah quick warning," Dipper added, "The big guy doesn't like us devils saying his name. Even the new ones."
"Seriously?" Wendy asked rubbing her forehead, "lame."
Dipper asked as they climbed the fence and got into the car. Dipper noticed Mabel groaning, holding her stomach and looking at the message she wrote hours before hand, "What kind of sick joke is this?"
Dipper chuckled and patted his twin's back, enjoying the irony.
Everyone else was dropped off at home and Dipper and Mabel assured the Thompson they were fine after dropping Wendy off at her house. Dipper waved goodbye to Wendy as she went inside and the four devils walked a short distance out of sight to teleport home. "Well that was crazy." Karin said.
"But fun," Yuzu admitted, "Until the hollows came."
Karin smirked at Dipper, "Well at least you got a knew knight out of this."
"I didn't plan this," Dipper said blushing, "But while I regret how it happen, I don't regret having her a part of the peerage."
"Always the redheads huh Dipper?" Karin teased as they stopped to go home.
Dipper and Mabel slowly vanished as the boy scowled, "Why does everyone say that?"
Karin and Yuzu just laughed as he vanished. They active their own teleportion seal before Yuzu asked her sister, "You think if we dyed our hair red then maybe he would notice us?"
Karin smirked, "Who knows…but if we did Ichigo would kill him, and Dad would constantly flip between crying about how we're leaving the nest or that he has a new son."
"True," Yuzu admitted as they vanished and returned home.
Dipper and Mabel appeared outside the Mystery Shack and were just happy to be home. As they walked towards the door they could hear Stan scream in fury and then to their surprise the TV was thrown out the window. They stared as Grunkle Stan looked outside and noticed them, "Ummm…. couldn't find the remote."
He ducked back inside and the twins shrugged, too tired to care and would have Soos fix everything tomorrow.
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