"So, this is the cave, huh?" asked Pacifica, looking into the darkness.
"That is correct," answered the Multi-Bear, nodding most of his heads. She had noticed that a few seemed more independent than the others.
"In here lies the creature that the Manotaurs fear over everything?" she asked.
"Yes."
"A creature that is so fearsome that even though they talk about Nev...the end of the world and all of the creatures almost killed us, they've refused to ever speak about what lies in this cave?"
"Yes," repeated the Multi-Bear more slowly, wondering where these questions were leading.
"And you want us, four barely teenage girls and a pre-teen boy, to go into this dark, ominous and mysterious cave where there's something that even a race of ultimate macho adrenaline junkies won't talk about, and somehow get it to help us rescue Dipper?"
"Um," said the Multi-Bear, remembering that it had sounded a lot smarter when he said it earlier. "Yes, that is an excellent summary of everything that I have told you in the hours it has taken to arrive here."
"Sound like a plan!" said Mabel. "Let's go!"
"Great job summarising!" said Grenda, giving Pacifica an approving slap on the back.
"Yes, it was very astute," agreed Candy. "Here, let me help you up."
"I don't recall reading anything about the Manotaurs fearing anything in the Journal," muttered Gideon, looking into the darkness. "How'd you come across this information?"
"I have learned much more about the Manotaurs since we were forced to ally during Weirdmageddon. While we are hardly friends, we are no longer the enemies that we once were."
"Sounds familiar," said Mabel as Pacifica and Gideon exchanged glances.
"Why would whatever's in there even help us?" asked Candy "It might just try to eat us!"
"Ah, don't worry," said Mabel with a dismissive wave. "I'm super persuasive. And cute! It won't be able to resist my charms."
"Even I wouldn't go that far," said Gideon hesitantly as even Candy and Grenda looked dubious.
"And if that fails, we can just shrink him!" said Mabel, ignoring her doubters and brandishing Dipper's size-altering flashlight. "And then stuff him in here!" She held up her backpack in her other hand. "Then we'll take him to the Manotaurs and threaten to make him big again and release him if they don't release Dipper. A genius plan with no flaws!"
"Well," began Pacifica, "we've still got to find out how hard it'll be to shrink this thing, whether your bag would hold him even if he is tiny, how long-"
"A genius plan with no flaws!" repeated Mabel. "Who needs Dipper? Well, me, obviously, 'cause he's my bro and I love him. Also our parents, they'd go crazy if anything ever happened. Especially mom. She'd - she'd be super angry." A rare look of fear appeared on the girl's face before she pushed it away. "Actually, loads of people would miss him, so let's go face almost certain death and find a monster!"
"It's what he would have wanted," agreed Candy.
"He'll be so jealous!" laughed Grenda.
"Good luck, children," said the Multi-Bear. "I hope that you succeed and rescue our friend. If any of you survive, please tell Dipper that he is welcome to visit me at any time. Also, there is a group of strange, blond men who will sometimes sing with me and they have already agreed Dipper can join us in song."
"You're not coming with us?" asked Pacifica. "It could be dangerous, we might need you."
"Unfortunately, I am too large to fit through this passage."
"No problem," said Mabel, flicking the switch on the flashlight. "Here you go."
They looked with interest as the bizarre creature slowly began to shrink under the beam of light until it was the size of a normal bear. "Don't worry," said Mabel, "I can change you back anytime too."
"This could prove to be very useful for helping me get through the winter," said the Multi-Bear, considering the world around him in his smaller state. "I could consume fewer fish and berries but still have plenty to survive on…"
"Sorry, this is Dipper's." Mabel put the flashlight back in her sweater. "He said I could only use it in emergencies after I got in trouble for the giant gummy chairs. So let's get this show on the road!"
She strode into the cave, the others pulling out their phones and using the lights to illuminate their journey through the dark.
"Why are you still carrying that thing?" Pacifica asked Gideon quietly as they made their way away from the falling light of the sun, their footfalls echoing in the cave.
Gideon looked at the bouquet in his hands, a few petals fewer than when he had originally purchased it. "Well, I hadn't planned on being delayed like this. I might be selfish and more than a tad ignorant of others feelings at times...but even I know that giving a girl flowers when her brother's missing is just plain wrong." He considered the state of the flowers. "I just hope I get an opportunity before they all fade away," he said sadly.
Pacifica looked at the boy to her side. Being raised as a Northwest had given Pacifica more than her fair share of training in lies and deceit. Recently, she had tried to convert that training into detecting the hints and signs of when others were lying. She had found it hard at times, especially now that people were more honest with her now that she was no longer a billionaire, despite what her father had told her. But, as hard as she tried, she could not sense any trickery from the boy, only regret and...loneliness? She shook her head at the pang of sympathy she felt at that last thought. This was Gideon Gleeful. As fantastic a liar and manipulator as Pacifica had been before, Gideon was a thousand times better. Even Preston Northwest had seemed impressed by the boy on occasion, which Pacifica now knew said more than enough about just how dangerous he could be.
"Look," said Grenda, lifting her phone (a very expensive birthday present from her boyfriend Marius) and shining the light against the wall. "Paintings!"
They gazed at the pictures on the walls, depictions of stick figures and some of the non-human inhabitants of Gravity Falls. They walked as they looked, more and more of the creatures and phenomenon of the valley appearing as they moved deeper into the mountainside.
"Man, Grunkle Ford would love to see these," said Mabel. "I don't even think all of these things shown here were in his journals."
"I don't understand why the Manotaurs would live in the same mountain as their greatest fear," said Candy. "I understand that it is a big mountain, but if I were as scared as these Manotaurs are, I would try to live as far away as possible."
"I have wondered that myself," said the Multi-Bear. "However, as they are too scared to even speak of it, I have never been able to find a suitable answer."
"Maybe these paintings can tell us?" suggested Grenda.
"Ford and Dipper told me a bit of the history of Gravity Falls," said Mabel. "Sometimes I even listened. I think these were made by the original people who lived in the Falls. They left after Bill tried to make them build a portal and it all went to heck. Who knows what happened between then and when Trembley found the place?"
"Well, that piece of history might be lost forever," murmured Gideon, "But I reckon I can at least figure out some of the things that happened before then." Gideon glanced at a picture, an all-too familiar triangle standing above a kneeling stick figure, both surrounded in flame. "Some are pretty easy to figure out." His eyes fell on what appeared to be an upside down flamingo with kaleidoscope crocodiles dancing on its feet. "Others...I might just pretend I never saw."
The minutes stretched into hours as they walked deeper and deeper into the mountain. The lights from their phones showed more and more stories and the occasional nightmare to the group. For a while they moved in near silence as they observed the murals and considered the events that had been detailed on the walls. Gideon, Candy and the Multi-Bear broke the silence occasionally, giving their own interpretations and theories as to what stories were being recorded. After over an hour of this, Mabel decided that they were becoming too educational and began making her own stories, some wild even by Gravity Falls standards.
After a while, Mabel and Grenda began to move ahead slightly, creating their own fantastic tales while Candy and the Multi-Bear fell behind, evaluating and discussing the more likely but still bizarre theories they created.
Between the two groups were Gideon and Pacifica, the boy caught between his desire to learn more about the falls or to listen to the voice of his heart's desire. Pacifica was stuck between deciding which was worse; listening to the nerds or the crazies. She glanced at the boy at her side. And now I'm stuck next to both. Great.
"I must admit," said Gideon, "It feels good to be with people my own age. All my other friends are much older than me. And ex-cons. So this is a nice change of pace."
Pacifica only grunted in response, his words uncomfortably similar to her own thoughts. Well, except for the ex-cons. That was slightly worrying. She frowned. Actually, with the exception of the people in the cave and Dipper...Pacifica couldn't think of anyone she considered a friend.
She'd had people she'd thought were her friends, who had stuck with her while she'd been cruel and selfish and been rich enough to throw them parties, take them pony riding and buy them all VIP tickets to the best shows and pay for a group shopping spree at the mall. That had all changed after her father had lost their fortune and been forced to sell their family home. When the news had gotten out those same friends had turned their backs on her. Sure, she was still the richest girl in the falls, her family the richest after the McGuckets, and they still had the Mud-Flap Factory and a few other businesses that let them live in their summer home and support a pony - but they still had to make sacrifices. Now they only had a handful of house staff, one gardener, one chauffeur, and bodyguards only on very special occasions. No more private tutors, no more daily shopping trips or limo rides wherever and whenever.
Her first day at public school had been especially hard. Her so-called friends had been quick to turn their back on her, teaching her exactly how she had made so many others feel with their snide comments behind her back and to her face. She could remember that cold emptiness when she had sat her by herself at lunch. But she could also remember how quickly it had lifted when Candy and Grenda, the two people she had treated the worst for longest, had sat next to her, asked her how she was doing on her first day and talked to her as if she had never said or done any of those terrible things to them.
"Whoa," said Grenda as they came to a larger cavern that connected to several other passages, similar to the one they had just walked through. "Now where do we go?"
"This way," said Gideon confidently, making his way to one of the other caverns.
"How do you know this is the right one?" asked Mabel. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You aren't just randomly picking one in a show of fake confidence to bring me encouragement and then use it to get closer to me, are you?"
"Um, no, actually," said Gideon, deflating slightly under the accusation. "When we were making our way here, I noticed that some of the cave paintings seemed different. More crude. And higher. I think that they may have been made by Manotaur. And looking about at these here passageways, there's one that doesn't have near as many Manotaurs style paintings around it. Stands to reason that this must be the passageway that leads to their greatest fear then, am I right?"
"Why didn't you say this while Candy and I were discussing the markings?" asked the Multi-Bear.
"And interrupt my sweet Mabel's magnificent stories and devine voice?" scoffed Gideon. "Now why on earth would I do that?"
"He does make sense, even if he turned creepy at the end," said Candy, earning a half-thankful, half-reproachful look from Gideon.
"Let's go then," said Grenda. "We can use this to test if Gideon really is as smart as Dipper!"
"I'm smarter, actually," muttered the child genius under his breath as they followed him into his selected path.
"Is it just me or are the paintings in this cave also more...colourful?" asked Pacifica as they progressed into the cave, this one large enough to support a Manotaur and even a full-sized Multi-Bear.
"I like them!" said Mabel joyfully as the stick figures and wild creatures became fewer and fewer, replaced by flowers, baby creatures of increasing levels of cuteness and other pretty things.
"Wait," said the Multi-Bear, "look at this one." He was pointing to what was obviously a depiction of Manotaurs, cowering or worshipping another figure painted above them.
"What is that?" asked Candy, straightening her glasses as she peered at the wall.
The Multi-Bear reached down and lifted Grenda from the floor, allowing her to shine the light higher up the wall and reveal the entire mural.
"Wait a minute," said Pacifica, "Is that-"
"Well, well, well," said a deep, loud voice behind them. "What are you all doing in my cave?"
Stan let out a deep sigh of relief as he gently lowered himself into the bubbling water. "Man, you guys have some tough tests, but you sure know how to relax too. We should hang out more often."
"Awesome!" yelled Glurk, high-fiving another Manotaur as he cradled his boil. "We get to hang out with Stanley Pines, Triangle Killer!"
"Woo!"
"Yeah!"
"In your face, math!"
"You other guys are welcome to hang out with us too," added Pubertaur, nodding to Ford and Ghost-Eyes. "You guys have done pretty well for humans. Especially Windy over there."
They turned to face the only female, gasping for breath and aching all over from the trials of that day. She let out a groan and stretched her aching back, trying to avoid looking at the older men and beasts bathing in the warm water but wishing she had a little pool of her own to wash away the pain. How did Dipper ever manage this? she thought, wiping the sweat from her brow. Gotta remember to thank dad for all his survival training.
"Hey, Windy!" She made the mistake of glancing over as one of the beasts stood up from the water, gagging as she saw more than she had ever wanted to see. "Why don't you join us? The water's great, makes you feel much better and heals your wounds quicker."
"Nope," said Wendy, lifting a hand to block her sight. "I'm good, I'll just sit over here and enjoy the pain and the sweat...build up my manly musk," she muttered.
"Okay!" said Pubertaur with a shrug. "Bit weird even for us, but whatever."
"So this is it?" asked Ford as he settled further into the water, relief coursing through his body, a makeshift scarf around his neck. "After we rest we can finally meet your leader and find my great-nephew?"
"Dude," muttered Ghost-Eyes, "What's with the scarf in the water? Got a battle scar or something?"
Ford turned slightly pink as Stan chuckled and hummed a song, earning a stern glance from his brother. "Forget about the scarf, we need to focus on Dipper. Can we go see him yet?"
"You have passed our tests and Leaderaur will be glad to see so many of you meet the challenge." Chutzpar nodded approvingly. "But you will need some rest before you meet him and face the final challenge. Soak for another five minutes, then you'll be ready."
"Great," said Wendy as a Manotaur tore the towel from one of his brothers and whipped him with it. "Five more minutes of memories I'll need to bleach from my mind."
When the five minutes had passed and the men and beasts had dressed, they made their way to finally meet the leader of the Manotaurs. Even compared to the others of his kind he was fearsome. He was on his throne of stone and bones, towering over the others of his kind even when sitting, his red eyes staring at the group with an expression of cold rage, teeth bared as he considered the group before them, not seeming impressed at the humans before him as the Mantoaurs chanted and drummed sticks and bones against drums and skulls.
"Normally we'd have to offer a sacrifice to get his attention," Chutzpar whispered, "But we lost too many after Weirdmageddon and now we summon him with huge amounts of beef jerky."
"Um, they do know what that's made of, right?" asked Stan as a Manotaur tore open a packet of Real Man Jerky and threw the contents at the fearsome monster's maw before adding the packet to a mound of plastic. "Isn't that kind of cannibaly?"
"Would it be better or worse if they did know what was in it?" asked Wendy.
Stan opened his mouth and then closed it again. "I've no idea. Forget I asked."
The drumming and chanting stopped as Leaderaur stood to his full impressive height and issued a snort at the humans, smoke drifting from his nostrils. "Which one of you defeated the One Eyed Monster?" he growled.
Stan stepped forward. "That would be me, Stanley Pines. Now let my great-nephew go or I'll give you same!" He shook a fist at the beast, not flinching when the creature leaned closer.
Leaderaur considered the aging human for a moment, then stood straighter, speaking to his fellow beasts. "We stand in the presence of the one who slew the deadliest creature that we have ever faced! One who almost slew us all and burned the world in his madness! A true man!"
The Manotaurs cheered and thumped their chests and the walls. Stan scratched his head awkwardly at the praise. Normally, the only people who praised him were family and Soos.
Leaderaur turned back to Stanley Pines. "Your nephew once tried to become a man. He failed." Wendy and Ford both visible bristled at this and Stan raising a challenging eyebrow at a stranger talking about his family like that, but they decided to hold their tongues as bull-man continued speaking. "You saved my people from the storm of madness. You were strong. Your nephew and brother thought that using their brain-magic could defeat the greatest enemy. But you - you ended the war. Not with your brain, but with your fist!" He turned to face the other Manotaurs. "This is what I have been reminding you all! Strength is the only way to survive! We are the strongest of all the creatures! Brawn and not brains saved this world!"
"Actually," said Stan, grinning, "No, it wasn't."
Leaderaur paused in his speech, turning a baleful eye at the man he had just praised.
"He's right," said Ford, a clever grin on his face to match his brother's. "Stanley may have punched Bill out of existence in his mind, but that wouldn't have been possible if we hadn't tricked him - which was all Stanley's plan as well." He laughed. "And besides, muscles mean nothing in the mindscape, Stan's punch was driven by his will, not his body." He tapped his skull, the metal plate ringing. "Mind over matter."
The brothers laughed as the Manotaurs murmured amongst themselves at this revelation. Ghost-Eyes and Wendy both grinned as the Manotaur ruler's entire argument fell through with a simple clarification of what happened almost a year ago.
Leaderaur stood still, his eyes half-closed with a look of puzzled anger on his face. It took the humans a moment to realise that he was busy thinking. Then he opened his eyes fully and looked once more at Stan. "So?" he grunted.
"What do you mean 'so'?" demanded Ghost-Eyes as even the other Manotaurs looked alarmed. "We just proved that your whole argument was redundant! Your entire concept was centred around strength, but now it's been pointed out to you that the individual you were using as the focal point of your argument defeated his foe not through strength, but through deception, clearly something that has nothing to do with muscle! This has rendered your entire point moot. Besides," he added, "your argument was flawed from the start since Mister Pines might be strong for a guy his age, but you dudes are obviously way stronger. It should have been obvious that there was more to it than just punching Bill! And while Ford and Dipper didn't defeat Bill, they've often used their brains to defeat way bigger and tougher dudes than themselves. I mean look at Dipper; he took on that Multi-Bear, a dude that even you guys think is a tough fight, and he's a pretty scrawny kid. Your belief that 'manliness' is the only true measurement of a person's worth is completely flawed. Dipper didn't fail to kill the Multi-Bear; he choose not to do it, after he had already bested him in combat." The ex-con sighed. "Seriously, you guys need to re-evaluate your society if your arguments are this full of holes."
"Oh my god," said Wendy, breaking the silence. "You're actually kind of smart."
"I find your assumption that I didn't have a have an education or possessed any mental merit, which I assume was based upon my appearance, to be insulting," said Ghost-Eyes reproachfully.
Leadereaur slammed his fist into the floor with such force that all of the humans and even some of the Manotaurs bounced. "No more talk!" he snarled. "Strength is the key to victory, not thinking! We are the Manotaurs! We are the strongest!" He pointed a finger at Stan and the others. "I will prove it! There is no plan that can save your nephew! When plans fail you must rely on strength! If you wish for the boy to be returned you must complete our final test!" The beast reached into his own chest, a roar of pain echoing throughout the cavern, the humans recoiling in horror as he pulled out a spear of bone, an organic, green liquid dripping from the handle. He threw the weapon at the feet of the group. "Take this weapon and bring back the head of the Multi-Bear! Only then will your family be returned!" He released his flames from his nostrils again, the humans shielding their eyes from the lights and patting at their clothes, skin and hair where embers had fallen. "We do not need allies! We do not need friends! We are stronger alone!"
"Alright, that is a load of crap right there," snapped Wendy. "Dude, I get the whole manly man thing! I've got three brothers and a dad and they're all manly! I mean, my dad's called Manly Dan for crying out loud! But you know what? Even they wouldn't turn their back on friends or allies! We do survival training every winter and sure, we can survive on our own, but it's so much better if you have someone else out there to help you out!"
Leaderaur frowned at the smallest and thinnest of the humans. He had been told that this one had performed the best at most of the trials, despite their smaller frame. His nostrils flared as he considered this human.
Wendy gestured at the huge bundle of jerky wrappers. "Look at all these! I know how you got them, they were gifts from the gnomes and people and others as thanks for helping them! If you guys hadn't allied during Weirdmageddon, you'd still be scrounging for jerky dropped by tourists or towners you freaked out! Now you can go into town and get barrels full of the stuff!"
"We do love jerky," agreed Beardy as the others nodded.
"Look," continued Wendy, fuelled primarily by pain and anger, but also from some of the supportive looks she was getting now that some of the Manotaurs seemed to be listening to her. "You guys no longer scare the townsfolk away, we've helped you out by showing you things like tv and bowling, you guys have helped us if a tree's fallen on someone or if there's a rockslide. How do you think people will react when they hear you've kidnapped a kid! And not just any kid - Dipper! One of the town's heroes!"
She turned to find herself face to face with Leaderaur, staring at her with narrow eyes. She looked into those blood red orbs of hate and took a step closer to the maw that could swallow her whole. "Kidnaping a kid isn't something a man would do," she said. "But a coward would."
The Manotaurs gasped.
The humans flinched.
Leaderaur said nothing, only staring into the green eyes that looked back at him, unflinching and defiant, despite his fearsome mass. "You smell like a woman," he stated and brushed a finger against her face.
Even as gentle as it was for the huge creature, there was still a great amount of muscle behind it and the hair that was stuck to her lip fell away under a mixture of his strength, the day's exertions and the steam from the baths.
"Oh crap," said Stan as the Manotaurs gasped an reacted with outrage.
"You have defiled our sanctuary!" roared Leaderaur, his fists moving with amazing speed for a creature his size, slamming the floor with such force that a massive crack appeared, the humans and Manotaurs side-stepping to avoid falling into the darkness, the fissure large enough for even their leader to fall through. "Seize them!"
Ford reached into his coat for his laser pistol as Stan and Ford also tried to draw their own weapons, but were all stopped as a Manotaur grabbed each of them, pinning their arms to their side.
Wendy managed to grab her axe and brandished it threateningly, only to have one of the beast-men pick her up by the foot, taking her axe from her with his other hand as her world went upside down.
"There will be no final test!" thundered Leaderaur, stomping a hoof that rattled the entire cave and made the crack in the floor widen even further. "For this act of betrayal, you are all banished! You will never return!"
"LIKE HELL WE WON'T!"
"Give us back our great nephew or you'll be sorry!"
"Not cool, dudes!"
"Oh, come on!" snarled Wendy, stuffing her trucker hat into her pocket so it wouldn't be lost. "I passed all your tests, I have as much right to be here as anyone! And give me back my axe!" She sighed. "Honestly, you guys are so much like my bro-" Wendy froze as an idea came to her. "I can't believe I'm this desperate," she sighed. "Hey! Stans and Ghost-Eyes!" The men paused in their struggles to look at her. She took a deep breath. "I've got an idea. But if you ever tell Dipper I will kill you all!" The men looked at each other, the girl's face telling them that this was no idle threat. "And you'd better not look!" she added as she unbuttoned her shirt.
"Better not look at wha-WHOA!" cried Stan, clapping his hand over his eyes as Wendy reached under tank top. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he screamed, closing his eyes shut as Ford and Ghost-Eyes also shut their eyes and tried to turn away.
"Hey, big guy!" Testosteraur glanced down at the struggling female in his grip just as she twisted in his hand. "Have some of this!" snarled Wendy as she brandished her bra in his face.
Testosteraur screamed as he felt a strap slap his cheek, dropping the redhead who twisted as she fell, landing on her feet as the beast ran to a nearby wall and repeatedly slammed his head as hard as he could, screaming: "It touched me! It touched me!"
Wendy dashed between the beast-men's legs until she reached the spear of bone, wrapping one of the straps around the tip and turning the new weapon on the Manotaurs, watching with a sense of satisfaction as they recoiled, dropping the men who landed with varying degrees of dignity. Scared of anything feminine, she thought. Just like my brothers.
"Now listen up!" she yelled at he terrified beasts. "I have had a goddamn rough day, I've had my hair torn out, I need a shower, that pain hole is still killing my arm and worst of all - my friend's been kidnapped!" Wendy turned to Leaderaur. "Now give him back or I swear I'll ram this down your throat! And give me back my axe!"
Leaderaur snarled at her as the other Manotaurs glanced from their leader to the fearsome female brandishing her symbol of womanhood as a weapon, unsure of what to do. Then their leader raised his fists above his head, ready to smash the female to a pulp as the girl drew her arm back, ready to make good on her threat.
There was a thunderous crash as the one of the walls of the throne room was torn apart, sending dust and rubble and stone flying, the largest slab hitting Leaderaur in the skull and knocking him into the chasm he had made, his black form fading into the darkness as he roared in defiance even as he fell.
The humans and Manotaurs coughed and sputtered as the dust filled their lungs and blocked their vision. As the air cleared, they saw the silhouette of a dark figure step through the hole it had made, several smaller figures jumping of its back as it stepped forward.
"Hey, grunkles and Wendy!" said Mabel jumping for joy as the Multi-Bear also climbed through the new hole and the other girls and Gideon wiped the dust from their clothes. "Look who I found!"
"Oh no," breathed Chutzpar, as the other Manotaurs looked at the being that had smashed into their lair and knocked their greatest warrior into the new chasm, the horror in their eyes surpassing even that shown when Wendy had threatened them with her clothing. "It's too soon! It can't be-"
"Hello, boys," said the Womanotaur, grinning. "Mommy's home."
Author's Note: Hi all, sorry this chapter took longer to get out than the others - I've been pretty busy looking for a new job, so when I find one it'll give me more time to write! Or I might just waste my time watching Netflix and playing video games like most lazy people. Who knows? This story has also taken longer because it has so many cast members and it's hard to make sure they all get to say or do something, especially when I find some characters easier to write than others. But these are all good lessons for a writer and I don't plan on having so many people in one story again for a while. I've also noticed Multi-Bear's size is a bit inconsistent in the show, actually going from being massive in his first clip to noticeably smaller during his fight with Dipper and then roughly the size of the Manotaurs in the finale. I decided to make him heads and shoulders bigger than a Manotaur just to make him that little bit more threatening. Which raises the question of how he fit in the Shack in the first place, but let's face it - the Shack is practically a TARDIS when it comes to the inside.