Disclaimer: I own everything now. Nope, I don't. Characters, setting and aspects of the plot belong to Disney. The OCs belong to their respective creators and should not be used without their permission.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Pain is hilarious!"
-Bill-Diapper.. Bipper. Gravity Falls; Sock Opera.
Just in case you forgot where our poor protoganists were..
" Isn't electric clothing kinda like a fire hazard?" Quinn asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No. It's a fun hazard," Mabel replied, her tone dead serious. "Now let me light the way!" She ran down the tunnel, with the others following her light from behind.
"That girl's nuts!" Deon said, but Mika just laughed.
"Come on; let's find them," he said, and started to run to catch up to Mabel.
Meanwhile, with Dipper and the girls..
"We're screwed," Riyadh whispered, staring wide eyed up at the author flicking through the journal. They were dealing with the shapeshifter.
"Uhh.. You know what? We should probably get going now," Penelope said, shuffling her feet awkwardly as she motioned to the others to start walking.
"Can I have my journal back?" Dipper asked, taking a tentatve step towards the shapeshifter. The shapeshifter, still disguised as the author turned around, his neck stretching so that he had turned his head around 180 degrees.
"You're not going anywhere!" He growled, his voice much deeper than before. With his head still facing Dipper and the girls, he crawled up the wall and hung on the cieling, where there was a brief flash and he changed forms. He resembled a large, white parasite now; one arm was lanky and had fingers ending in points, but the other had a large, swollen bicep and a hand that resembled a crab claw. It held onto the roof of the cave with four, crab like legs, connected to an oblong, slimy body. It's head was shaped vaguely like a tear-drop, with bugling pink eyes and a snout. He had four fangs on the outside of his mouth, and six smaller (but just as sharp) fangs inside.
"How do you like my true form? Go on, admit it, you like it!" he asked, giving a deep, cold laugh.
"Hey! What did you do to the real author?" Riyadh snapped, putting emphasis on the word 'real.'
"You'll likely never find out. That six-fingered nerd hasn't been himself in thirty years! But I thank you for bringing me his journal. He used to write it while I was in my cage. So many wonderful forms to take!" The shapeshifter laughed, flicking through the journal. He quickly changed forms, into a large goblin-like creature that Dipper recognised as the Gremloblin. Glowing red eyes, green skin and a muscular build stood out, but before anyone could get a good luck at it, the shape shifter changed forms. This time into a much smaller form. A small gnome, with a large red hat and brown beard. It giggled before changing once again. This time, it was a creature Dipper didn't recognise. A lanky, brown humanoid that he just couldn't place.
"We've got to get that journal back!" Dipper whispered to the girls. They nodded in agreement. Riyadh bent down and picked up a discarded can of beans.
"Hey! Look over here, you shape stealing worm!" she snapped, throwing the can right at him. Shape shifter dodged it easily, before changing forms again. This time, into a giant frog monster. It lashed it's long, slimy tongue at Riyadh, who was ready to take it head on. Cleo raced over and pulled Riyadh back. The tongue hit the ground, before retreating back. The shock made the creature drop the journal.
"Ugh, you!" Riyadh growled, sharply pulling away from her grasp.
"I just saved your life," Cleo replied, in a matter-of-fact tone.
"We don't have time for this!" Serena cried, quickly running over and snatching the journal.
"We have to run! Run!" Penelope yelled, leading the way out of the tunnel. The shapeshifter changed forms, this time into a giant roly poly monster. He curled into a wheel and rolled after the group.
"It's following us!" Cleo yelled, as they reached a fork in the tunnel. Fast on her feet, she grabbed Dipper's torch and threw it down one tunnel. "This way!" she said, running down the other tunnel. They continued running until they saw more shadows.
"DIPPER!" Mabel cheered, as her twin brother came into view.
"There you are!" Serena exclaimed, about to walk over, but Dipper held out his hand to stop her.
"Wait; one of them could be the shapeshifter.." Dipper said, narrowing his eyes. Bear nodded in agreement.
"Not me!" Mika exclaimed.
"Oh yeah? Who came to get you earlier today?" Cleo asked suspiciously.
"Bear," Mika replied with a smirk.
"I was there too!" Quinn added. That ruled the two of them out.
"I helped you earlier to get to the lever," Emmett told Bear, proving that he wasn't the shape shifter either.
"Hey, I'm not either! Nope! Just Joonie here! And I have my drawing notebook to prove it!" Joonie said proudly, taking out his notebook to show the group. All attention turned to Deon.
"Come on, you know I'm not the shapeshifter," Deon announced, casually leaning on a pipe. "I'd beat his ass before he had a chance to get here."
"AND I'M MABEL!" Mabel said. Dipper shrugged.
"Fair enough," he said.
"Anyway, what happened?" Emmett asked, as Dipper and the girls caught their breath.
"We got attacked by the shape shifter," Bear explained, anxiously looking behind her shoulder.
"He broke out of his cage, pretended to be the author, and wants Dipper's journal," Penelope finished. Quinn nodded, as realisation hit him.
"Imagine if he escapes to the town! He can transform into anything," he mumbled, glancing at the others.
" We could never trust anyone ever again!" Dipper replied, shaking his head.
"What do we do?" Serena asked. Mika smirked.
"I have an idea; we beat him at his own game,"
In the other tunnel, the shape shifter shrunk back down to his human form, the person seen on the can of beans.
"Dipper, my boy! Come out!" he called, his voice echoing off the walls of the tunnel. He changed his form, once again into a new one. A red, six legged creature with claws and one eye. It's head vaguely resembled a hand. "REVEAL YOURSELF, YOU SINGLE-FORMED HUMAN WEAKLING!" he yelled, slamming it's head into the ground. Just then, the Guild's two youngest members walked around the corner; Joonie and Bear.
"Oh boy, Joonie. That book sure is full of some great monsters!"Bear said, her voice sounding forced as if she was reading from a script.
"Sure is!" Joonie agreed, with slightly more energy than Bear. He still wore the over sized lab coat and held the brief case in his hand.
"There you are," the shape shifter growled, turning around. He looked slightly surprised to see the two there; they weren't Dipper. "Ooh, two great forms," he laughed, as he changed to match Joonie's form. Joonie took a step back in surprise. "Should I be one?" Then he changed to Bear's form. It was eerie to see herself smirking at her. "Or the other? How about both?" the shapeshifter chuckled. This time he turned into a new creature. The bottom half was mostly Bear's had an torso; her eyes white and glowing, with a large mouth and sharp teeth. Her torso connected to the bottom of Joonie's, whose eyes were also while and his mouth enlarged. They connected at the torso, where there was more of a white body connected to six, crab like legs. It roared straight at a horrified Joonie and Bear.
They screamed in shock and horror, before stumbling to get going.
"Run, run!" Bear encouraged Joonie. He wasn't as fast as her and was falling behind. She grabbed his hand and pulled him forward, the shape shifter in hot pursuit. They enter a room where the rest of the Guild was waiting. Emmett, Penelope, Deon and Riyadh were holding onto a valve of a large pipe.
"He's coming! He's coming!" Joonie yelled, his little legs carrying him as fast as he could.
"NOW, NOW, NOW!" Bear screamed frantically. The four holding onto the valve began to turn it.
"It's not working!" Penelope cried. The shape shifter caught up with them, still in the form of the Joonie-Bear-Monster-Hybrid. It attempted to grab Dipper's journal with it's tongue.
"Hurry guys!" Cleo snapped at the group struggling to turn the valve.
"Hey, let go!" Dipper exclaimed, struggling to pull his journal away. Quinn stumbled over to help Dipper, latching onto the journal. The shape shifter pulled it's tongue back in; taking the journal and Quinn with it.
"Quinn!" Mabel yelled in shock. Quinn climbed onto the shape shifter, giving it several quick jabs before dropping to the ground. The group had managed to successfully turn the valve, and a huge stream of water burst from the pipe. Everyone in the room is caught in the flow of the water, including the shape shifter. After a few seconds of floating around, the water subsided. The Guild gathered themsevles, taking in deep gulps of air.
"Is.. Is everyone okay?" Penelope asked, slowly getting to her feet.
"I think so," Mika nodded, spitting out a bit of water. He carefully looked around the group, who were getting to their feet. Then, he spotted Serena. She lay there, motionless and soaking wet. Deon walked over and looked down at Serena.
"What happened?" he asked, as Dipper came over to inspect.
"What if she's dead? Oh, this is my fault!" Dipper exclaimed, pacing out of stress. Deon then just started laughing.
"What are you laughing at?" Quinn asked, looking at him in shock.
"Serena is over there," Deon explained, motioning to Serena, who was now walk over towards them, now holding the Journal.
"Wait, then this is.." Dipper asked trailing off. 'Serena' sat up, using her hands to support her. She growled at looked around.
"Look out!"
The two Serena's leapt at each other.
"Give me the journal! We don't have to fight!" one cried.
"No!" the other yelled, grappling free and trying to run. Deon took action, grabbing one of the Serena's arms and holding them behind her back. Emmett followed, doing the same to the other Serena.
"She's the shape shifter!" they both yelled in unison. Joonie and Dipper stared at them, confused.
"We need a sign!" Dipper said. His eyes darting from the Serena on the left to the Serena on the right. Left Serena subtly winked at Dipper, and a small smile. Right Serena had a straight face, but managed to wriggle her hand free for a moment to give a mock salute. That was it. Riyadh was quick to react, landing a fast blow to left Serena's stomach. Deon, who was holding her, kneed her in the back and squeezed hard on her hands, enough to make her cry out in pain. Mika joined in, kicking her right in the face. The Serena hit back at Deon, kicking him in the stomach. This distraction enabled her to free herself from his grasp.
The shape shifter returned to it's true form, slowing stumbling to recover from the blows. Behind him, the tube Mabel froze and unfroze earlier flashed 'Ready.'
"Push him in!" Quinn ordered. Using their number advantage, they herded the shape shifter back towards the tube. Once he was close enough, Deon slipped in and tripped him, leaving him unbalanced. This gave Riyadh the chance to land a swift kick to his middle, with enough force to send him into the tube. In the survaillance area from earlier, Bear, Cleo, Mabel and Penelope watched from a screen.
"Frozen!" Mabel announced, pressing the button and freezing the shape shifter inside the tube.
"We did it!" Bear cheered, high fiving Penelope.
"Oh, thank goodness," Cleo sighed, shaking her head.
At the lab with the others, the shape shifter was attempting to escape.
"NO!" he growled. He turned to a large, rock monster, then a flame monster and then the man from earlier. "Let me ouut!" He returned to his true form and roared. It began to freeze, ice creeping up on him. Mabel, Penelope, Cleo and Bear joined the others in the room.
"Let's get out of here!" Joonie announced, eager to get going. As they turned to leave, there was a chilling laugh behind them. The group gasped in surprise. They turned around to see the shape shifter mid-freeze, it's face pressed against the glass. It was looking straight at Dipper.
"You think you're so clever don't you, Dipper? But you have no idea what you're up against. You will never find the author. If you keep digging, you'll meet a fate worse than you can imagine. And this will be the last form you ever take!" the shape shifter said, before making a final form change; Dipper, in the middle of screaming. Dipper watched as he was frozen like that, eyes wide with horror.
"Dude, that's messed up," Mika told them.
The Guild assembled again outside the tree, which was now returned to it's original, inconspicious position.
"That was crazy.." Emmett managed.
"I got attacked by myself; that was crazy," Serena replied.
"Everything we've done so far has been crazy," Cleo noted. "And probably everything we do in the future,"
"It's a crazy town," Penelope agreed, believing it now more than ever.
"I think we handled that shape shifter well," Riyadh said, shrugging her shoulders. "You did good," she told Deon. Deon nodded, looking a little surprised.
"You too; for a girl," he said, adding the last part as an after thought.
"I'm still bummed we're no closer to finding the author guy," Bear mumbled, kicking up dust with her foot. Joonie nodded.
"But hey, I got this cool jacket and brief case!" He chirped, holding the brief case up. The brief case dropped open, revealing that it wasn't a brief case; it was a laptop. "Whoa, what the?"
"It's a laptop!" Quinn realised.
"And a really busted up one too," Mabel added.
"We need to fix it; it could give us huge clues!" Penelope said excitedly. Dipper nodded in agreement.
"Soos is pretty good with stuff like this; he could probably fix it up!" he said. The Guild nodded in agreement. Serena smiled wide, looking at the laptop eagerly.
"Our next big clue!"
A/N: Yes, argh, this is a day late! Sorry guys! I was suffering with really bad headaches this week, and had to limit screen time a lot. There was no way I'd have it finished for Friday. But don't worry, it'll be back to normal this week. I just want to stress even more how important it is to check my profile for updates. Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed! Seriously, even short little reviews make me sooo happy! If you're reading this, please leave a review. It helps me stay focused. xD
I don't know why, this chapter just came a bit slowly to me. I hope it's okay! It's a little on the short side. Also, NEW EPISODE! As usual, I ask all my U.S.A readers to watch it live and support the show! I obviously would, but I can't, so. xD So, I think that's it. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! You guys are why I keep a regular update! THANK YOU, KEEP DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING! YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!
Next Chapter: The Guild search for the mysterious Hide-Behind. Plus team-building! YAY!
