Holy Pine trees! We just passed the fifty fifty-four fifty six followers milestone! Bring fourth the confetti canons! Sound the theme music! Release the party gnomes! Thank you all so much for hoping on the adventure with me, whether you reviewed, followed, left a favorite, or simply just read, I hope you all live amazing weeks!
In other news, I'd like to announce a slight continuity change. I'm sorry I realize in that in past chapters, I said that this took place after North West Mystery Manor, but I'm changing this story to have taken place just before that for several reasons. Most importantly, taking place after the fact throws off all of the timers that took place in that episode. And we can't have that. *Grins like an idiot* that would throw off some of my plans… *Laughs sinisterly*
Enjoy the chapter!
"Wendy!"
Wendy pulled out an earbud, sitting up.
"Dad?" She called, pushing herself off the bed. Wendy stood up and strolled over to her door. She cracked it open just enough to look into the hall.
"It's time for lunch!" Dan shouted from the kitchen. "Go get your brothers!"
Wendy sighed, unplugging her earbuds and tossing them to the bed.
"Alright Dad!" Wendy called back. She threw her door open and back pedaled to her window. She unlocked it and pushed it open. "Boys!" Wendy yelled into the woods. She heard some shouting and rustling behind the trees before a small red-head poked his head out of the brush.
"Yeah Wendy?" Asked her youngest brother, placing his tiny hands on his hips. "What's up?"
"It's time for you guys to come in," Wendy answered, leaning against the windowsill.
"We're kind of doing something important," Her youngest brother stated matter of factly. Wendy shrugged.
"Well, if you guys don't want to eat…" She trailed off. Wendy proceeded to over dramatically close the window.
"We're missing lunch?" Asked another voice in the woods. Wendy recognized it as her middle brother. He broke out of the tree line, jogging up to the house.
"Hey, wait for me!" Complained the youngest Corduroy as he raced to catch up with his brother.
"Guys? No, wait! The ladder! Guys!" Wendy winced as the sounds of crashing metal on wood followed her eldest brothers Complaints. He surfaced the tree line a moment later, wobbling from side to side. Twigs were protruding from his hair and hat. He pushed his hair up, blinking dizzily at his older sister. Wendy uneasily grinned back, giving him a thumbs up.
"Come on, you're alright," Wendy encouraged. "Just walk it off."
"Eh," He mumbled, spitting a leaf out of his mouth. Wendy watched as he stumbled around the corner of the house before closing her window and making her way to the kitchen.
Wendy sat down beside her eldest brother. He had begun to pick assorted bits of forest from his hair. Manly Dan walked away from the stove, and approaching the table, unceremoniously slid a large plate of assorted fish on the dining table.
"Fish?" Wendy questioned, crossing her arms. "I thought we ran out last week."
"We did!" Dan answered, sitting down at the head of the table. Beside her, her brother winced at their father's loud voice.
"Could you keep it down? I think I have a concussion," He muttered quietly, pulling off his hat and rubbing the back of his head. Dan continued without noticing.
"The creek down the road was full of fish!" Dan proclaimed, forking a large portion for his plate as he did so. The kids followed suit, each taking different portions.
"The one the flooded over?" Wendy asked.
"There's another one?"
"Dad!" Wendy exclaimed. "You can't just fish out of flood water! Who knows what could've gotten swept up in there?"
"We're fine Wendy," Dan assured her, "The water was as clear as a mirror. Now hush up and eat your fish."
Sighing, Wendy forked off of portion of fish and bit into her meal. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something about it tasted… strange.
Dipper sat patiently outside of the storage shed, watching as Soos dug around inside.
"I'm telling you Dipper, Mr. Pines used to have this kitty pool back here for his goat." He paused and yanked a large hose from the depts. "Hold this."
Dipper took it, draping it over his flank.
"Grunkle Stan kept a pool for that thing?"
"Yeah," Soos laughed. "He won't ever admit it, but he treats that goat better than most people treat their dogs. If you look under the porch you'll find an old heat lamp he sets up for Gompers in the winter. It's adorable."
Dipper cocked his head to the side.
"I always thought Gompers just happened to like hanging around in the parking lot and chewing on tires." Dipper stated. "Did Stan really buy a pool for that thing?"
Soos was quiet a moment.
"You know, now that I think about it, I don't remember him ever actually buying a kitty pool…" Soos trailed off. "I think he always had it." He paused, moving debris out of his way. "Dude!" Soos exclaimed triumphantly.
He reached out of Dipper's view, pulling on something large. Soos tugged it loose, causing the backward contents of the shed to tumble in on themselves. Stepping back, Soos held out a purple kitty pool.
"Ta-da!" Soos grinned, placing it beneath his arm.
"That's Stan's?!" Dipper exclaimed, pointing towards the pool. It was printed with pastel pictures of small ducks and fishes that would right at home in a stereotypical 'meant for little girls' movie. The inside had a swirling pink pattern covering the bottom of the pool.
"I told you man, it's for his goat." Soos paused, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. "But you know, this might actually be that pool that disappeared from my kid neighbor's birthday a few years back."
"Of course it is," Dipper muttered, standing up and forcing the overstuffed shed doors closed. He stepped away from the shed and trotted over to the outdoor faucet.
Taking the hose of his furry backside, Dipper hooked it up the water spigot and turned the water on. The hose gurgled a moment before water started pouring out onto the yard.
"Soos?" Dipper called, looking up. He was met with an empty yard. "Soos!" He tried louder.
"Around the house dude!"
Picking up the hose, Dipper started to walk around the corner of the house. Man, Soos can move, Dipper thought to himself. I thought Golems were supposed to be slow!
Dipper rounded the house and strolled to where Soos was setting up the pool. He unceremoniously tossed the hose inside. Reaching down, Soos opened up a picnic umbrella they had set down earlier and stuck it in the ground beside the pool.
"Awesome," Soos muttered under his breath.
Mabel looked excitedly out the window, her tail waving it anticipation. Soos and Dipper were sitting beside the pool as it slowly filled up, occasionally smiling and waving back at her.
She sat in the kitchen sink, quietly fingering the thin fin-like things running down her spine. Mabel was pretty sure it was a fin, but she forget the word Dipper had used.
Dorsal fin maybe? Mabel thought to herself. Maybe I'll ask Dipper to talk out his old mythology book and look.
Earlier that morning, Mabel, Dipper and Soos figured it was about time to head out of the house and relax a bit. It had been a stressful past couple of days. All the rain, the flooding, the whole monster business… A long week to say at the least. The only problem being it took to till about noon before any of them could step a foot out of the door. Stanford seemed awfully wary to let any of them to leave the house, especially Mabel and Dipper. It took some convincing, but the three of them finally convinced Stanford to let them out on the promise none of them left the yard.
Mabel thought everything about it was strange. Especially since Stan was usually the first one to let her and Dipper run off to do things that probably weren't so safe. But she didn't say anything. Partially because Soos and Dipper were out filling the pool for her. The other reason was because Mabel was pretty certain Grunkle Stan had wandered off to brood in Wendy's break spot on the roof.
She grinned. She thought of Stanford sitting up there in a pose reminiscent of those old gargoyle statues crossed with a sleep deprived grunkle.
It wasn't long until Mabel heard the back door open. She turned around, rearranging herself to face to hall.
"Hey Mabel," Dipper announced, trotting carefully into the kitchen. Mabel grinned back.
"Hey Dipper." Mabel replied. She watched as Dipper quietly made his way over the sink, ever so carefully setting each of his hooves down as to make as little noise possible. Mabel had tried not to bring it up. Ever since he changed, Dipper had become extremely self-conscious about some of the deer like quirks he had picked up. One of which being the audible clomps his hooves made on the wooden floor in the shack.
"We finished filling the pool," Dipper grinned when he finally reached the edge of the sink. "Ready to come out?"
"You bet!" Mabel grinned. She swung her tail up and over the sink, resting in more of a sitting position than before. Dipper leaned back as the scaly limps brushed against his face. Mabel cocked her head to the side. "Something wrong Dips?"
Dipper shifted his hooves, pinching the end of Mabel's tail between his fingers.
"It didn't really occur to me that you couldn't walk out…" Dipper explained in a quiet voice.
"Oh…" Mabel sighed. A moment later her features lit up. "How about this?"
Reaching forward and wrapping her arms around her bother, Mabel pulled herself off the counter and onto Dipper's back. Rearing onto his back legs in surprise, an inhuman sound escaped Dipper lips.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Mabel yelled in surprise, tightening her grip around Dippers chest.
Dipper's front legs came crashing down to the floor, slipping out from underneath him. His upper half came crashing down after his lower, abruptly stopping when Dipper threw his hands onto the floor, stopping his face from colliding with the kitchen tile.
Dipper panted heavily. He stared down at the floor below his shaking arms.
"…Dipper?" Mabel spoke up, releasing her grip around his middle. "Are you alright?"
Dipper twisted his chest, giving his sister a bewildered look.
"What are you doing!?" Dipper demanded, his voice squeaking through his heavy breaths.
"I figure you could give me a ride to the yard," Mabel shrugged shyly. "You know, because of your whole leg situation. I guess I should have asked you first, huh."
"Mabel!" Dipper shouted. He opened his mouth over and over to say more, but thought of nothing to say. So instead he just turned away, flustered. Finally, he managed out a halfhearted "You're unbelievable."
"What can I say?" Mabel shrugged. "Whoops?"
Hiding a smile in his hands, Dipper moaned. Then he pushed himself up, waving his arms to balance out his sisters extra weight.
"Alright," Dipper grinned, triumphantly placing his hands on his hips. "I can do this." Stepping forward with determination, Dipper slowly led the way down the hall with Mabel sitting on his back.
"This is amazing!" Mabel grinned, craning her neck around Dipper to look ahead. "Onward Deerpper!"
"Deerper?" Dipper questioned, looking back at Mabel.
"Aw, come on, you like it," Mabel grinned, patting Dipper's flank. "Besides, did you hear that deer noise you made back there? If you're not Deerper, no one else ever will be as close as you were."
"Never call me that."
"Alright dudes, try this one!"
Soos held out his hand in front of the two children before him, staring intensely at his limb. It began to swirl rapidly, morphing larger and filling in shapes until it stiffened into a definitive shape.
"A teddy bear!" Mabel exclaimed, looking out from the pool. Soos squinted again, and his hand began to shift.
"A Mallard!" Dipper cried.
"Correct again dudes!" Soos laughed, leaning back into the grass. Gompers laid down beside him, staring jealously at Mabel, who sat inside the kitty pool.
"Everything about this is so weird," Soos thought aloud, staring up at the sky.
"You're going to have to be more specific about that claim Soos."
"Everything little dude!" Soos spread his arms wide. "Your half deer, your sister's half fish, I guess I'm part clay now, and Mr. Pines is…" Soos trailed off.
"What about Grunkle Stan?" Mabel asked.
"Um…" Soos paused. He raised an arm to rub the back of his neck. "You see dudes, when I came over here this morning, Mr. Pines met me at the door."
"What about it?" Dipper questioned.
"You see dudes, I don't think he was acting quite himself," Soos began, then paused. "Do- do you dudes hear that?"
Dipper and Mabel fell silent.
"What is that?" Mabel muttered, struggling to hear. "It sounds like there's an elephant running through the woods. Is there anything that big around here Dipper?" Mabel paused, turning to face her brother. "…Dipper?"
Dipper remained silent. His face had turned pale and his ears dropped at the sides. His eyes had widened, along with his pupils, painting a look of terror on his face.
"Little dude?" Soos said, waving an arm in front of Dipper. Dipper remained silent.
"Help!" Screamed a voice in the woods. "Help!" The voice screamed, growing closer as it approached the yard.
"Isn't that Wendy's little brother?!" Mabel exclaimed, jerkily turning back towards her brother. Except he wasn't there. "Dipper!" Mabel screamed as she spotted the back end of her brother disappear into the Mystery Shack. "What are you doing?!"
Mabel turned again as the scream repeated.
"Kid?" Soos called into the forest. The shrieking paused a moment as Soos's voice sank in.
"Ah!" Screamed the young Corduroy as he burst through the woods. Soos quickly scooped him up into a hug.
"You're alright kid," Soos assured. He held the young boy in his arms, holding him in a bear hug.
"Um, Soos…" Mabel whispered, staring at the lower half of the boy. Soos looked down, his eyes widening.
"A manotaur?" Soos exclaimed. The little red head looked up, his eyes red and watery.
"What's going on?" He murmured. "Why's my family chasing me?"
"Who's chasing you? Soos asked, releasing the child from the hug.
The trio fell silent as a low growl began to sound.
"No!" Screamed the little Corduroy, trying to make a run from Soos's arms. Another growl joined the first, higher pitched than the first.
Slowly, a pair of red haired creatures emerged from the woods, hunched low to the ground. They both were canine, but first was smaller than the other. The other was…
Mabel blinked, breaking free from her frozen shock.
"…Wendy?"
