February. That's when we get our final episode. This story's ending is probably going to be very different from Alex's, but I hope it still stands on its own merit.

Sorry for not getting this out sooner. Taking care of my family over the holidays AND starting a new job immediately after flying back home was...exhausting and didn't leave very much time to write. But it's the new year, and I'm determined I'm going to try and do this more often. After making this, there were a few things I really should have done differently. Oh well, I really wanted it out; it had been too long.

Now how do I get McGucket into this?

The four of them hit the ground, and Bill swiveled the top portion of this body towards them. His form was indescribable, and each time the group looked at him, their minds recoiled and could not fully comprehend what their eyes were seeing.

"Huh," he said, "So the Pine Tree managed to escape after all. I'll have to make a stronger prison for you in a moment. In the meantime..." he snapped the fingers from one of his six arms, and Pacifica and Wendy began floating into the air before their own respective bubbles encased them as well. "I'm going to punish Dipping Sauce here for escaping. See, I did say I'd have a bubble waiting for you when you left. I'm a man of my word. Well, Sixer, after all these years, don't you and I have some things to discuss?"

"There's nothing left to say," Ford said, pulling the laser rifle off his back, "Are you going to try your bubble prison trick on me as well?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Bill replied, "But of course I know you'd get out of it pretty easy. I already know my mind tricks don't work very well on you, given that freakish metal plate in your head. Oh yeah, I'm already onto your strategies, tin man. Besides, I need you for other things, like getting out of the force field around this town. In the meantime, no distractions..." With that, he lifted a hand and fired blue energy blast at Dipper.

Ford quickly pushed Dipper out of the way, and the blast flew between them.

"Leave the boy out of this," Ford said, reaching into his coat and pulling out a new device. He placed it on the ground, pressed a button, and the room was enveloped in yellow light. Dipper felt a momentary shock as the light hit him, but was fine shortly after that.

"What is this goofiness you're trying now, Sixer?" Bill asked. Bill raised his hand

"This is an anti-energy field," Ford said, "just to ensure you won't be immediately vaporizing us for now." And hopefully no more weird bubbles, Ford and Dipper collectively thought.

"Alright, alright," Bill said, "I'll play your little game for now. I know that thing has a battery limit, so we'll just bide our time here. But you probably guessed this only created limitations for me, just a minor setback. I've still got some energy blasts headed your way. Let's see how many you can dodge, old man." With that, the floating creature Bill had become began firing short bursts of energy from its "hands" at Ford. (Though they weren't quite as powerful as before, they did leave small burn marks on impact) Ford ducked and dodged as much as he could, while Dipper could only watch as his newest gruncle distracted the beast. Ford's laser cannon wouldn't work very well in this field, but what could it do to Bill at this point? Tickle him? He would just stick to dodging for now.

Bill attempted to blast the device, but the anti-energy field was stronger in proximity to the device, dissipating the attack. Bill shrugged his "shoulders" (if one could call them that) and kept up his assault on Ford.

Dipper looked over and found that the previously incapacitated Gideon began to move. He rushed over to him, half wanting to pull him up and ask for help and half wanting to punch him in the face.

"Gideon..." Dipper was able to mutter as he got closer. How much had this little puke betrayed them this time? How much had this freak done to hurt them in the past? He raised his fist, oh so hoping he could caus it to collide with his nose and at least break a bit of cartilage. (Wimpy noodle arms could really only do so much)

"Wha? Dipper Pines?" Gideon muttered out as he sat upwards, "What happened? Actually, it don't matter. My darlin' Mabel's imprisoned, thanks to my cosmic buddy, Bill, and there's nothin' you or your Gruncle Stan can do to stop us."

"Stop you? What do you have planned?" Dipper stammered, not really knowing how to respond as his mind was still reeling from having witnessed all he had.

"Ha," Gideon laughed, "After Bill takes Gravity Falls, he promised me Mabel would be my queen after we decimated this lil' ol' backwater town that turned against me. He just needed to use me as a meat puppet for a little while s'all."

Dipper shook his head, his logical mode coming back to him. He was obviously overthinking the situation, but he couldn't find any remote logic in Gideon's deal with Bill.

"Gideon," Dipper began, "Let me be straight with you." He grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. There were so many things he wanted to say to this kid, but despite his mental state being compromised, he blurted them out anyways. "You obviously feel like you're in love with my sister, right? Do you really even know what that means? You hold her against her will and then you expect her to love you after that? You can't make someone love you. I should know; I tried forcing a breakup between Robbie and Wendy, partially because I wanted to be with her, (and partially because his music had some weird mind control element) and she didn't speak to me for several days."

Dipper loosened his grip on Gideon's shirt, as he could see on Gideon's chubby face that he was getting through to him.

"You've done some seriously selfish things as of late, but this has to be the biggest," Dipper continued, "But you know, I was duped by Bill as well. I made a deal with him once, and it blew up in my face, just like it's going to with you and by process, the rest of this town. But it's not too late. You still have time to make the right decision and help us out of this."

There was a long pause between them. Ford was still doing his best to distract Bill, the blasts and shouts echoing through the cavern. Gideon looked over at Mabel's bubble and focused on it hard. He thought he could see through it and into the world that lay within. He had an image in his head of Mabel sitting alone in a dead gray, monochrome desert, a blackened sky overhead, and not a creature to give her comfort. A broken sign reading "Mabeland" swung loose on its hinges as the cold wind swept over her. Is this what he had brought upon her, a cold, lonely, and empty world? Is this what he wanted for her? It was time he needed to ask himself how Mabel felt, and he felt sick when he thought about the harassment and malice he had brought to her and her brother.

"What do you need me to do?" Gideon asked in a hushed, humbled tone.

Dipper looked at the cliff side and saw Soos and Robbie sliding down to the giant alter. Soos leapt into Stan's bubble, yelling something like, "Don't worry, Mr. Pines. We'll find your mouth again." Robbie jumped into Wendy's bubble; they were still friends, despite their recent petty differences, and the last thing he wanted was to see anything bad happen to her.

"I think we're able to enter these bubbles," Dipper said, looking upward at Pacifica's bubble. He caught a brief glimpse of her in his mind's eye; she appeared to be by strings, like a puppet. No, not strings. Chains. "We have to get everyone out of their bubbles. I've seen the design of this room before in the journals. It looks like the wheel surrounding Bill. If everyone can pick a symbol, I think we can activate the rooms powers. It's going to be up to you to get Mabel out of her bubble."

"But..." Gideon stammered.

"You got her into this mess, but now you're going to get her out," Dipper continued, "She might not trust you at first, but that's something you're going to need to work on. But if you want to prove yourself to her, this is the way to do it. Release her and stand up to Bill."

"You're right," Gideon said, breathing heavily, steeling himself, and finding new resolve, "I can do this. I can tell her how sorry I am and get her out of that world." With that, he raced towards Mabel's bubble, all the while Ford looked gradually more exhausted from dodging Bill's assault.

"Give up yet, old man?" Bill's voice echoed. Dipper turned from the scene and looked towards Pacifica's bubble again. There was what looked like a long stretch of rocks near a violent sea. Pacifica was chained to the large rock at the far end of it. Dipper took a deep breath and leapt into the bubble.