It did not take long for these local Humans to see the four young ones in distress and lost (during the Teratorn's attacking pursuit, Dipper had accidently lost grip of the map to a sudden wind gust). With kind hand gestures, due to language difficulties, Dipper asked the three men to take them to the best shelter they knew. Sadly, one of the Paiute hunters made it clear that their village was not that very accepting of outsiders at the moment (obviously due to territorial issues with settlers). Luckily, they did give the four young ones a bit of confidence by telling them to always look for hope in their darkest hour, including in this one since an elder of theirs was in distress. And so, taking these words meaningfully, our heroes moved on.
It had been a long day of hard traveling. The four once again settled down under a Western Juniper to rest for the approaching night. Soos gladly offered himself as like a pillow for his friends to rest their heads against. Dipper and Wendy huddled close together and began to cuddle.
"Do you think we'll ever find Grunkle Stan in time, Dipper?" Mabel asked her brother after a moment of silence.
"We'll definitely find him," replied Dipper calmly, "Sure, he's been selfish and not thinking of us before, but he's still family."
"I'm betting his inner family affection will magnetically draw him to you two," added Soos, hoping good things would come about for them all, "He might even give me and Wendy a raise!"
"You know, we might be miles away from home in a warm land, struggling for our lives while searching for Stan, but we're feeling more connected with our wild sides," commented Wendy, looking up at the great array of stars above, appearing just as the last bit of pink sunset light was sinking down over the western horizon, "and we're learning a lot on the way. And we're in this together. All of us." She then cuddled up to Dipper as she finished.
The next morning, the group was awoken by an unexpected, haunting cry. They were the mournful-sounding howls of wolves. But these did not sound exactly like the typical howls of Gray Wolves. Over the hill close by, silhouetted by the rising eastern dun, in wandered a hunting band of rather large wolves. These were Dire Wolves, averaging about 4.9 feet long.
"Will it ever end?" asked Soos, feeling so overwhelmed by all the predators he and his friends had encountered on this adventure.
Instead of attacking, though, the large wolves instantly recognized the group as Humans and wanted absolutely no trouble, thus they turned and retreated, in search of easier food. This was definitely an unbelievable stroke of luck for the four young ones. Wolves are quite often more afraid of their kind than the other way around.
Later that morning, after finding berries and Arthropods for breakfast, the group came to a small lake. Wading near the edges of the water were splendid-looking La Brea Storks. They stood over 4 feet tall and had wingspans up to 9 feet across.
"I was wondering," said Dipper, briefly looking at the Storks and other Birds near the lake, "How are we to react when we face a more serious threat in the Dark Elves, greater even than a great four-legged predator.
"We just hope for good fortune, I guess" Wendy guessed.
"Really?" asked both Mabel and Soos at once.
"Yeah, one of my old woodland friends, Pahin the porcupine, showed me how to live by it," answered Wendy casually with a smile - a smile that made Dipper's stomach feel like it had Butterflies in it - of good memories, "She told me to basically have...Tókhi wániphika ní. I'll tell you about it..."
(Flashback):
Twelve-year-old Wendy sat on in a small clearing in the forest with all her nonhuman friends. They were, of course, preadolescents like her.
"Tell us more about what a 'town' is like, Wendy!" one of her two young female Sasquatch friends asked her.
"Well, I've already told you about how my kind builds home..." pondered Wendy aloud.
"No offense, Wen, but your kin sound rather prideful," mumbled a young male Black-Chinned Hummingbird named Tah'nah nervously.
"Excuse me?" responded Wendy curiously.
"I mean they seem to think themselves better than the rest of the world," continued the little Bird.
"Hey, we're not all like that," Wendy assured Tah'nah, "Take me, for example."
"Maybe, if we want humanity to respect the rest of the world more," explained Pahin the young female Common Porcupine, "We need to hope for...Tókhi wániphika ní!"
"Tok-ee wa-who-na...ni?" replied Wendy in confusion at the words Pahin had just used.
"Oh no, don't encourage her!" moaned Sosho the young male Western Garter Snake.
"I'll tell you all about it!" Pahin said cheerfully, doing a little jig of excitement.
"Here we go again!" joked Hootah the young male Moose, preparing for the usual musical explanations that Pahin often did.
Pahin then began to sing in chorus while a number of Squirrels, Yellow-Billed Cuckoos and Belted Kingfishers:
Tókhi wániphika ní!
Tókhi wániphika ní!
Life can sometimes feel like it's bringing you down
It can make you feel scared and give you a frown
Tókhi wániphika ní!
But try to ignore all that and wish for good luck
Tókhi wániphika ní!
It can be for anyone, from a Snake, to a Shrew, and duck!
Tókhi wániphika ní!
After the song was over, Wendy and the rest of the young'un Animals cheered and applauded.