Ohhhhhh boy guys. I have a lot to say before we begin this one. First of all THAT FINALE! OH MY WORD IT WAS SO GOOD BUT SO PAINFUL! I CRIED LIKE FIVE TIMES DURING IT AND I STILL GET REALLY EMOTIONAL EVERY TIME I THINK ABOUT IT! But enough screaming. As good as the finale was, we still have a ways to go here, so I present this chapter, which is honestly one of my favorites so far. Its another really long one, which was why it took so long, but don't fret, cause it is PACKED! Anyway, let's go onto the reviews!

R.E.W.4: Eh, Stan and Amethyst are more like partners in crime than anything. But don't worry! I have a chapter planned in which its just the two of them getting in all sorts of trouble! It will be great!

Z-King: Loved all your comments! (compacting them all into one response here) ;D

Jin Shirinue: Don't worry! We'll be getting most of those things. Onion will make some appearances, and in the chapter after this one, I'll be bringing Greg in! There will be a little tension between Connie and Mabel in regards to their relationships with Steven, but probably not that much (though I do have at least one chapter somewhat devoted to that later on). And don't worry! We'll get the twins and the Gems alone together a whole lot later on!

Gravity Fan: Carpet Diem and Alone Together will probably not be combined chapters, but stand alones, though I do plan on combining Fight Fighters and Arcade Mania! I'm pairing Steven and the Stevens with Double Dipper however, due to the clone element of them both, though I could see how Time Traver's Pig would work with it!

js842664: Eh... I can't say too much about that, but let's just say that when I think about that question in regards to my current plans, I get a little bit sad... And I might do some shorts. I haven't really decided yet.

The Keeper of Worlds: And here it is! (well that's not the bulk of that chapter, though that fight is in here a bit!)

Jarvis R. Yeriel: Eh, I'm not that bothered by that review. But thanks anyway! And I agree; Bill is one of my favorite villains in anything really, largely because he's so crazy and just has fun at what he does reguardless of any real motivation! And I've heard the arguement about Mabel come up a lot, but... I dont know... I can't say I approve of a lot of the things she does, but I still really do love her as a character, mostly because she is super charming and funny. I know her morality may not be the most sound, but honestly, none of the Pines are really excellent people on a moral standpoint. I mean, Stan is ridiculously stubborn, Dipper has a tenancy to take things too far and get carried away (just look at Sock Opera for a prime example of that) and I won't even begin to list all of the horrible things Ford has done! But yeah, I can understand why someone would have problems with Mabel and her selfishness, but I personally don't think I could ever bring myself to dislike her, or really anyone in GF for that matter (except maybe Dippy Fresh T_T...)

Dark Automaton: Yeah, the length of these chapters is a problem that I can't do too much about. What can I say! I always have so much to write! And yeah, I tend to type a little fast, hence why those mistakes happen. Some day I'll probably go through and edit everything :P

RubyVisablyShake: Well, the Sock Opera idea might be a problem considering Peridot and Bill won't have met by then, though that is pretty funny! The one about Stan and Ford is great too, though again, its complicated considering my plans for that part... (you'll see what I mean in time!) And along those same lines, details about what the Gems know about the portal are... complicated...

Smiles1998: Glad you like it! And I personally REALLY can't wait to bring in Peridot! She's my favorite SU character!

nbbb: Stan doesn't really believe the Gems to be paranormal along the same lines as the other magical things in Gravity Falls, though his motivations for lying about them are pretty much the same as they are in the show.

Galaxyspoon: I'm glad you like it! Smooth is what I'm definitely aiming for!

OMAC001: No Purple Puma just yet, but we will get that in a few chapters! :D

tipoima: Oh don't worry, there WILL be Cookie Cats soon!

markzilla6895: Yeah, I tried to squeeze that subplot in there, but I just couldn't figure out how... sorry!

fhnf: Nah, not really. I don't think its much of a spoiler to say that largely happened the same way it did in the show, with a few alterations...

I Am A Toad: Glad you liked it! Joy Ride will probably have all of the cool kids, since I could definitely see Wendy and her friends joining in on that adventure.

Ygvan Lord of Worlds: Yeah, it was a bit awkward, but I'm proud of the deviation this chapter has to make up for it!

Giff: The Gems have an interesting relationship with the government, one that I can't talk too much about until we get to that part!

Yeesh! That always takes so long, but its worth it since I LOVE hearing what you guys think! I'm not kidding! We're almost at 200 reviews and I am BEYOND amazed, especially since I never though this would gain any following at all! I'm so touched you guys, seriously I am. But for now, I'll stop rambling and give you what you came here for! (Caesar, once more!)

Chapter 9: Strong in the Real Way

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In the occasional event that the Gems would allow Steven to accompany them on one of their missions, the young Gem always eagerly leaped at the chance, and this particular mission was no exception. Though Garnet had made it clear that this was a routine inspection, with little chance of any danger befalling them, Steven didn't mind. The thought of getting to see another legendary Gem structure was exhilarating enough for him.

Stars were already in the young Gem's eyes as they warped to their destination, which was obviously quite a ways from Gravity Falls. Instead, it was somewhere in the middle of a desert, though thankfully the Gems were spared from the heat of the day as they had chosen to go at night. The bright glow of the moon rested upon the imposing structure only a few feet away from the warp pad, an illustrious pillared tower that stretched high into the starry skies as it emitted a thin beam of light from its tip that stretched even higher, perhaps even into space.

Steven's jaw was agape with awe as he stepped off the warp pad, the other Gems following not too far behind. "Whoa…" he whispered in amazement as he stared up the length of the tower. "What kind of magical place of mystery is this?"

"Oh, I'm so glad you asked!" Pearl grinned, always eager to divulge Gem knowledge to Steven. "This was once a communication hub, used to send messages among Gem-kind. But lately, it's begun transmitting bursts of electromagnetic interference!"

"What's that mean?" Steven asked with a confused frown as the group headed over to the pillars of the structure.

"It's hurting television," Garnet said succinctly, placing her hands on her hips.

"Oh no!" Steven exclaimed with a gasp of dismay. "We have to do something guys! We can't let television die!" In an admirable, yet futile effort to "save television", the young Gem pressed his weight against one of the load-bearing pillars near the ground in an attempt to shove the whole tower over, though of course it didn't budge.

"Sorry, dude," Amethyst grinned slyly as she easily picked Steven up and set him aside, curtailing his efforts. "But we need a Steven at least…" she paused as she shapeshifted into the younger Gem, only a taller, more muscular version of the original. "This strong for the job!"

Steven let out a wonderstruck gasp at seeing the buff rendition of himself. "It's all the me I could be!"

Still shapeshifting as Steven, Amethyst let out a rouge laugh as she gave one of the pillars a hearty punch, creating a crack in it and sending a bit of debris flying from it, but ultimately failing to cause integral damage.

Pearl shook her head disapprovingly as she deftly caught a piece of the rubble, knowing that a plan would be necessary to tackle this problem as opposed to brute force. "Amethyst, we could be here all day taking down these pillars individually."

"Ugh, I hate it when you're right…" Amethyst groaned in annoyance as she shapeshifted back into her original form. "You get this look on your face-" Before she could continue, she happened to glance over at the white Gem and notice the aggravatingly smug grin she was wearing. "Yeah, that's the one."

"What we need is a well thought-out plan…" Pearl began strategizing, her Gem glowing with an oncoming hologram that she could use for illustrative purposes, before she was abruptly cut off.

"No," Garnet said with resolve. "We don't need a plan. What we need is Sugilite. Amethyst, fuse with me."

"WHAT?!" both Pearl and Amethyst exclaimed in absolute shock, though the later was quick to break out into a series of uproarious screams of unbridled joy. Amethyst excitedly dashed forward, leaving Pearl behind as she glanced away somewhat bitterly.

"Yeah!" Amethyst cheered in clear delight. "Let's mash it up! Bigger! Badder! Better! Woo!"

As the purple Gem continued to enthusiastically celebrate, Steven watched her elation with confusion for a moment before he began to gather what was going on. "Wait wait wait!" he exclaimed, briefly halting Amethyst's revelry. "Are… you guys going to turn into a Gem fusion?"

Amethyst simply screamed happily as a reply, and her excitement was contagious as Steven soon joyed her, more than ready to see another fusion, especially one between Garnet and Amethyst.

"Wait!" Pearl broke in, practically shouting with her protest as she tried to call them all to reason. "Garnet, think about this. You and Amethyst can be a little… um… unstable when your personalities combine. We need to be careful in this situation. Why don't you fuse with me instead?"

"We don't need to be careful," Garnet replied with honesty as she placed a consoling hand on Pearl's shoulder, understanding her position, though she was still going to do what she believed was appropriate for the situation at hand. "We just need to be huge."

"Oh yeah!" Amethyst cheerfully bounded towards Garnet, already fully prepared to begin fusing. "Let's wreck this joint!"

Garnet agreed as she held up her hands, the gems on both of her palms already starting to glow in anticipation. "Synchronize," she ordered calmly, before she began to smoothly move her hips in time with their dance. Steven watched eagerly, but before he could see much more of it, his eyes were abruptly shielded by Pearl, who found the whole display to be a bit too inappropriate for him.

"Wha-? Who-?" the young Gem frowned in dismayed confusion. "Aw… C'mon, Pearl! I wanna see!"

He managed to pry away the white Gem's fingers just a bit to get a glimpse of the fusion dance. Garnet continued to swivel her hips and arms in deft, easy gestures, as Amethyst shook her shoulders about as her own gem began to shine. The two gradually began to approach each other, with Garnet planting herself in a firm, open stance before Amethyst took the initiative and rushed for her fusion partner in a zealous dash. Immediately upon contact, the two Gems' bodies merged, the fusion emitting a dazzling display of violet light that shot high into the air, until, out of the obscurity of the light, a set of five glowing eyes emerged. As the light faded to reveal the fusion, she quickly covered four of them with a set of triangular shades, leaving only one atop her forehead exposed.

Garnet and Amethyst's fusion was massive to say the least. She easily dwarfed Opal in size and made both Pearl and Steven look even smaller by comparison. Her frame was strong, muscular, and stocky, and her four arms were all buff as could be. Her skin was a dark lavender and her hair was a deep purple unkempt main that hung down her back messily. Her outfit was easily a mix between Garnet's and Amethyst's, with a predominantly violet coler scheme, rugged tears in several places, and pronounced shoulder pads. She wore a confident, sharp-toothed, twisted grin as she let out a loud playful laugh that rumbled across the desert like thunder.

"Ha! It's been a while!" the fusion exclaimed boisterously, cracking one set of her knuckles. "I forgot how great it feels to be me!"

"That's Sugilite?" Steven asked with an impressed grin, stunned at just how larger-than-life this new fusion seemed to be.

"You got it, baby," Sugilite replied with a sly smirk. "Hey, Steven, wanna see something cool?" she asked, bending down a bit closer to him and Pearl.

"Yeah!"

"Then check this out." As Sugilite rose to stand, she summoned Garnet's gauntlets, which were now big enough to fit her large hands. As the gauntlets rose up from her palms and joined together in a connected fist, Amethyst's whip caught the end of them as Sugilite pulled the combined weapon, now a giant flail, back down to the ground as it landed beside her.

Steven could scarcely contain his amazement upon seeing this, something that Sugilite clearly noticed as she let out another chuckle. "You like that, little man?"

"Are you gonna smash stuff with your giant wrecking-ball thing?" Steven asked eagerly, knowing that he couldn't wait to see Sugilite throw her impressive strength around.

"That's the plan!" the fusion shouted heartily. "Where should I start?"

"Do that one!" Steven exclaimed, pointing to the nearest pillar of the tower. Sugilite was quick to indulge him as she easily heaved her flail, swinging it around recklessly until it struck the tower squarely, creating a shower of rubble in the wake of its destruction.

Unable to hold back her distaste towards such a needless show of violence, Pearl finally voiced her disapproval as she realized that it was far too dangerous for Steven to be in Suglite's careless presence. "Steven, I think we should go."

"What? No way!" Steven frowned. "This is awesome!"

As Sugilite continued plowing down the numerous pillars of the hub, the chunks of debris thrown from it became even larger, something that Pearl took notice of as they fell closer to her and Steven. "Watch what you're doing!" she shouted angrily to the uncontrollable fusion, preemptively kicking one of the rocks that was flying their way in half. Unfortunately, one half of it managed to go haywire and accidently strike Steven squarely in the forehead, knocking him to the ground he let out a pained gasp. "Steven!" Pearl shouted worriedly before glaring at Sugilite for being responsible for this. "Ugh! You're just… too much!"

"Maybe you're just too little!" Sugilite taunted, holding her flail back before letting it lose with another uncalculated swing.

"Steven, we're going," Pearl said with finality, picking Steven up and taking him to the warp pad amidst the rain of debris before he could be hurt anymore.

"B-but I'm fine!" Steven protested, holding a hand against the injured spot on his forehead. "What about Sugilite? We can't just leave her here!"

"She can find her own way home!" Pearl said bitterly, not willing to hear another word about the overpowered fusion as her and Steven warped away, much to the young Gem's disappointment. And they did so just in the nick of time too, as mere seconds after they left, a large rock fell from the debris of the tower and crashed into the warp pad, shattering it completely.

With relatively little persuading, Dipper and Mabel had convinced Stan to take the morning off work and go to Greasy's Diner in town so they could satisfy their appetites with a late breakfast. Normally, the con man would have denied such a request on the grounds of saving money, but he admittedly hadn't been in the mood for dealing with the usual round of scatterbrained customers at the shack and so he sided with the kids just this once.

Since it was a sleepy Sunday morning, business at the diner was booming. A large number of the town's residents were enjoying breakfast as the Pines arrived and took a seat at a booth. Despite the bustling activity, they were waited on fairly quickly, before the twins even had a chance to decide what they wanted, though it soon became apparent that Stan had already made a meal choice for them all.

"Lazy Susan!" Stan greeted the waitress with a bright grin. "There's my little ray of sunshine! What were you up to yesterday?"

"I got hit by a bus!" Lazy Susan replied cheerfully.

Stan let out a hearty laugh at this, not believing her to be serious. "Hilarious!"

"Thank you!" Susan chuckled in return, her laughter going on for an awkwardly long amount of time.

"So, you do split plates here, right?" Stan asked, glancing over the menu.

"Maybe…" Lazy Susan said a bit coyly, forcing her one constantly shut eye up into a wink.

"Great! We'll all split one-fourth of the number seven, plus a free salad dressing for the lady and a small plate of ketchup for the boy," Stan ordered succinctly, ignoring the glance of dismay Dipper and Mabel exchanged upon hearing what little food their miserly great uncle expected them to eat.

"But Grunkle Stan, I want pancakes!" Mabel protested as Lazy Susan scribbled the order down and walked away from the table.

"With the fancy flour they use these days?" Stan scoffed. "What am I, made of money?" As he asked this, a dollar bill peeked out from his suit sleeve, though he was quick to tap it back into hiding before the kids could catch onto him.

Before either Dipper or Mabel could complain further, the clamor of the entire diner was suddenly broken as the door abruptly burst open, drawing everyone's attention that way. Steven stood in the doorframe, his posture bold as he stood with his arms crossed and his sunglasses further punctuating his "tough" manner along with the white gauze generously wrapped around his head. The young Gem clearly noticed all of the attention as he nodded to the crowd of restaurant patrons who were all giving him confused glances. "'Sup," he greeted simply, dropping his voice down a little to sound more masculine. Steven carried a bit of swagger in his step as he moved through the restaurant, which had buzzed back to life as everyone began muttering gossip amongst themselves.

"Whoa! Steven, what happened to you?" Dipper asked with concern as the young Gem approached their table.

"Seriously, you've got enough bandages wrapped around your head to patch up an amputee," Stan remarked sarcastically as he took a sip from his coffee.

"Oh, this?" Steven asked nonchalantly as he leaned against the table. "Just a little… battle damage from our last mission."

"Oooo, like what?" Mabel asked with a curious smile. "Did you guys face off against a giant monster?"

"Nope," Steven replied, smirking as he took off his sunglasses. Without any further prompting unraveled the bandages that Pearl had generously applied to reveal his "injury": a cut on his forehead that was so small that one had to squint to properly see it. "I got hit by a rock!"

Upon seeing the young Gem's minuscule scratch, all three of the Pines burst out laughing at how amusingly underwhelming it actually was. Steven frowned in confusion at this, clearly not getting the joke.

"It must not have been a very big rock," Dipper said, still chuckling good-nautredly.

"Well… uh… There's… internal bleeding!" Steven said defensively. "My hurt is on the inside!"

"Oh come on, kid, suck it up," Stan said, rolling his eyes. "I've seen paper cuts worse than that."

"You're right…" Steven said with a disheartened sigh as he took a seat at the booth beside Dipper. "I'm soft… I guess I'll never be as tough as Sugilite…"

"Sugilite? Who's that?" Mabel asked.

"Oh yeah!" Steven perked up almost instantly, realizing that he hadn't told the twins about the fusion he had met last night. "You guys remember Opal, right? The fusion between Pearl and Amethyst?" He paused for a moment as all three of them nodded in recollection, since their encounter with Opal had been just about a week ago. "Well, it turns out Garnet and Amethyst can do that too. So last night we needed to smash this tower thing, so they fused together into a super beefy, giant, giant woman named Sugilite! You guys should have seen her! She was so cool and loud and fun!"

"I wish I could!" Mabel exclaimed enthusiastically, remembering well how amazing Opal was as she tried to picture Sugilite. "Is she still around?"

"Eh… yes and no," Steven said with a half-smile. "I'm pretty sure Garnet and Amethyst are still fused, but I don't really know where she is now since me and Pearl left Sugilite back in the desert last night. I'm not really sure why, but I don't think Pearl likes her that much…"

"Oh gee, Pearl not liking something that's fun? That's a shock," Stan deadpanned dryly.

"But yeah…" Steven sighed again, his excitement fading as he leaned back in his seat. "Sugilite is way strong. She can break a huge rock just my throwing her wrecking ball at it! I wish I could be as tough as her…"

"Eh, I wouldn't sweat it too much, kid. It's not like you're alone in that boat," Stan said, shooting a rather pointed glance to Dipper.

"What?" Dipper asked in confusion, not catching his uncle's drift.

"No offense, Dipper, but you're not exactly "Manly Mannington"," Mabel said with a chuckle, sharing Stan's opinion.

"Hey! I am too Manly… Manny… or whatever it is you said," Dipper protested, trying his best to hide his already growing embarrassment at being called out on this point.

"Face the music, kid," Stan began apathetically. "You got no muscles, you smell like baby wipes, and let's not forget last Tuesday's… "incident"."

"What happened?" Steven asked.

"No!" Dipper exclaimed immediately, knowing exactly what incident Stan had been referring to. "Grunkle Stan, don't tell them!"

"I walked in on him singing "Disco Girl" to himself in the bathroom mirror," Stan laughed, ignoring his nephew's pleas and getting a good laugh out of both Steven and Mabel.

"You were listening to girly Icelandic pop sensation BABBA?" Mabel asked with a teasing grin, finding it hilarious that her brother was into such effeminate music.

"Me and Amethyst heard that song while listening to the radio once," Steven recalled with a wry grin. "She said that the only people who listen to that kind of music were middle-aged, single women. And Pearl."

"Well, I wasn't listening to it!" Dipper affirmed defensively, even if he knew that was a lie. "It's not important anyway. I'm plenty masculine. You see this chest hair?" he asked as he pulled his shirt down a bit, only to reveal his completely bare chest, with not a single hair in sight.

"Put it away!" Mabel cried jokingly, laughing as she shielded her eyes from how pale and empty her brother's chest was.

"So smooth! My eyes!" Stan leapt in on the teasing just as heartily, joining his niece in another round of laughter at Dipper's expense.

"Aw man…" Dipper muttered with a disappointed frown as he pulled his shirt back up in embarrassment.

"Don't feel bad, Dipper," Steven reassured empathetically. "I don't have any chest hair yet either."

"See?" Stan interrupted, still taking great amusement in all of this. "It's not so bad! At least you two can be wimps together!"

Dipper and Steven exchanged a frown at this, both of them tired of being belittled for their relative lack of strength or toughness. Even if they were both still rather young, they were both in the general age range in which qualities of manliness were supposed to begin showing themselves, so why hadn't they yet? Were they merely late bloomers or were they just doomed to be forever weak and fragile? If it was indeed the latter, then Dipper was resolved to fix that as soon as possible.

"Fine, family of little faith," Dipper said firmly after taking notice of the manliness tester towards the back end of the diner, which advertised a stack of free pancakes as a prize to the winner. "Allow me to prove to you just how manly I am by winning us all some free pancakes by beating that manliness tester. Get ready to eat your words," he said with a confident grin as he got up from his seat. "And some delicious pancakes."

"You? Beating a manliness tester?" Stan called after Dipper as he headed over to the machine, garnishing the attention of the curious restaurant patrons. "Ha! That'll be the day!"

Dipper largely ignored his uncle's teasing as he approached the machine with determination, knowing that the simple game couldn't be that hard to beat. Steven anxiously followed not too far behind, wanting to test his hand at the manliness tester as well so he could further aspire to share Sugilite's strength.

"Uh… Dipper? Are you sure you're up to this?" Steven asked with an uncertain frown, admittedly intimidated by the machine himself as the two boys stood before it.

"Are you kidding? Of course, I am!" Dipper scoffed, feigning his own confidence as he realized the majority of the restaurant was watching him in anticipation. Taking in a slightly nervous breath, he moved his hand over to the machine's handle, not quite taking hold of it yet as he mentally conditioned himself for this test of strength. "Okay…" he muttered in anxious preparation. "Here we go… And a one and a two-"

"Quit stallin'!" Stan called out impatiently from the other end of the diner, putting even more pressure on Dipper as he was prompted into quickly grabbing the handle. With as much force as he could muster, he forcibly pulled back on the lever, straining what few muscles he did have. Both boys' faces lit up with increasing excitement as they watched the light move up the machine's level indicator, slowly blinking from "whip", to "middle-aged woman", to "barely passible" as it gradually started to increase towards "man" and "manly man". However, before it could really come close to either of these categories, Dipper unfortunately and quickly reached his limit, and the machine clearly detected this as it immediately bottomed back down to "wimp" as his final result. To add even more embarrassment to this already humiliating failure, the machine spat out a small card with the image of a baby that read "You're a cutie-patootie!"

"Aw! What a cute baby!" Steven beamed as Dipper took the card with a dismayed frown.

"Oh what?" he asked in offended disbelief, hoping that something was simply wrong with the machine, even if he knew that probably wasn't the case. "This thing must be broken. It's totally broken, guys!" he said, turning to the face the restaurant customers who had all watched him lose. "It's like, a million years old. Probably ran out of steam power or-"

Before Dipper could finish, both him and Steven were abruptly pushed out the way by Manly Dan, who cracked his large knuckles before making his attempt at the machine. "Hey, um, excuse me?" Steven asked a bit timidly as him and Dipper picked themselves up off the ground. "I was going to try-"

The lumberjack didn't so much as heed the young Gem as he simply nudged the machine's handle with but his pinky, the light spiking all the way up to "manly man". Apparently, the manliness tester couldn't handle Manly Dan's brute strength, as it imploded immediately after, flinging the stack of free pancakes sitting beside it all across the restaurant so a least one landed on the plate of every patron. "Yes!" Manly Dan shouted in loud triumph. "Pancakes for everyone!"

No one was about to turn a free breakfast down as they all cheered and began scarfing the pancakes down. Dipper and Steven both frowned in disappointment, largely in themselves, especially as they noticed that Stan and Mabel were laughing at them even more than before.

"Um… Steven, at the risk of embarrassing ourselves even more, I think we should go!" Dipper quickly said to the other boy, knowing that this situation was beyond mortifying.

"Good idea," Steven nodded in immediate agreement, just as flustered as they rushed out of the diner. Both of them tripped over each other as they clumsily ran out, though they were quick to pick themselves out and leave with all due haste, both boys sharing the resolve to toughen up in any way possible.

"Yeesh!" Stan remarked as him and Mabel watched Dipper and Steven hurry out. "How am I related to that?"

"Oh come on, Grunkle Stan," Mabel said, feeling a bit bad for how she had teased the boys in retrospect. "Everyone has a soft side deep down, some more than others. I bet even you do too!"

"Ha! Not a chance!" Stan said, crossing his arms. "There's nothing in this chest but a cold, dark, empty soul."

Though Mabel wasn't entirely convinced, she had not time to protest as Lazy Susan arrived at the table with the measly breakfast Stan had ordered. "Here ya go!" she said with a cheerful grin as she placed the plate down.

"Thanks there, sugar pot," Stan began, though the hint of trepidation in his tone was clear. "I-I mean, uh, honey wasp, k-kitten baby, baby cow, uh…"

Susan merely chuckled in response to the con man's impromptu pet names. "Ha! Silly!" she beamed as she began to head back to the kitchen. "Silly man…"

"What was that about?" Mabel asked Stan with a curious frown once the waitress had left.

"Nothing," Stan said stubbornly, awkwardly glancing away. "I don't wanna talk about it. Talk about what? Why is this table sticky?"

"Wait a second…" Mabel said, catching on to what she had just observed. "Oh my gosh… I think I get what's going on here! You-"

"No!" Stan protested before she could even say it, though nothing could really contain Mabel when she was excited.

"And her-"

"Stop it!"

"AHHHH!" the girl screed, nearly deafening her grunkle with her elation.

"Oh boy…" Stan sighed, knowing there would be no defusing her now.

"You have a crush on Lazy Susan! Aw! You really do have a soft side!"

"Hey! Keep it down will, ya?" Stan hushed her quickly before anyone could hear, especially the waitress in question. "Alright. I don't like admitting things like this, but you got me. I guess it would be kinda nice if she liked me. But I've been out of the dating game for so long, I wouldn't know where to start! I mean, look at her. She's so classy."

They both turned to see Lazy Susan beating the broken pie case in frustration, trying her best to get it to spin but failing. "She may be a bit out of your league…" Mabel began, resolve burning in her to make this unattainable romance happen for her hapless uncle. "But don't worry, Grunkle Stan. You may be a cranky, gross, weird old man-"

"Is that supposed to be reassuring?"

"But we'll get Lazy Susan to like you, because nothing is stronger than the power of-"

"Love?"

"Mabel," the girl corrected him boldly, confident in her match making skills. "To victory and romance!"

"One… t-two… t-t-three…"

"Two… three… f-four…"

"H-hey… Dipper…?"

"Y-yeah, Steven?"

"Are… are you making any progress?"

"Hold on; let me check." Admittedly grateful for the interruption, Dipper set the branch he had been trying to bench press aside as he sat up and glanced down his shirt, checking carefully to see if any masculine hairs had emerged. After leaving the diner, the boys had taken to the woods, hoping that the ruggedness of the outdoors would inspire them as they both conspired to work towards their shared image of manliness together. To this end, they had decided the best place to start was a solid, steady workout to help increase their strength and muscles, even if they both were essentially starting from nothing. "No chest hair yet…" Dipper sighed in disappointment as he flopped back down into the grass. "What about you?"

Still breathing heavily from exerting himself through a relatively small number of pushups, Steven took to an upright sitting position as he checked his chest as well, only to find nothing. "Nope," he frowned, though he quickly perked up again once more. "But we are just starting out. I'm sure that if we keep at it, we'll both be buff in no time!"

"More like in twenty years," Dipper remarked sarcastically. "What are we missing here? Is it physical, is it mental? What's the secret to being strong?"

"Maybe it's magical!" Steven suggested optimistically. "At least, that's what seems to work for the Gems…"

"Well, unlike you, I'm not a Gem," Dipper said dryly, wishing that it could come that easy to him. "Which means I actually have to work for this."

"Hey, I'm only half-Gem remember?" Steven asked, half-heartedly remembering how effortlessly Sugilite had thrown her massive flail around as a show of her marvelous strength. "So I guess the only thing we can do is keep working out. We're bound to get stronger eventually!"

"At this rate? I doubt it," Dipper sighed in defeat as he pulled out the bag of beef jerky they had picked up on the way to the woods for them to share as a snack. "We're gonna need some serious help."

Before either of the boys could dig into the bag of jerky, the ground beneath them suddenly began to softly tremble, though the shaking grew stronger with each passing second. By the time it escalated to the point that neither Dipper nor Steven could really keep their footing, the nearby forest animals had all cleared out, rushing through the clearing with frightful speed as they fled from the source of the rumbling.

"W-what is that?!" Steven shouted fearfully above the clamor.

Dipper had no time to respond as a loud, fierce roar sounded from the forest, most likely the source of the shaking earth. "Who cares!? Let's just get out of here!"

They both quickly turned in an attempt to flee, but before they could take even a single step, their path was blocked off by the tree that had suddenly come toppling down only a few feet in front of them. Seeing that there was no escape, the boys spun around to face this danger with a horrified cry, though Dipper was quick to correct his high pitched scream by throwing his voice a bit to make it sound lower and more manly. Both boys froze with fright as a huge, burly monster stormed out of the woods. Well, not exactly a monster; instead, the creature seemed to be mostly human, very tall, muscular, hairy and undoubtedly masculine. At the same time, however, he seemed to have several bovine features, such as a snout and sharply-pointed horns; likewise, his legs were more akin to those of a bull, hooved, stocky, and covered with ruddy hair. He belted out a wild roar as he stomped into the clearing, though it soon morphed into a yawn as he easily picked up a nearby dear in his large hand and used its antlers as a backscratcher before tossing it aside and glaring down at the two young boys cowering before him.

"P-please, don't eat us!" Dipper pleaded fearfully as him and Steven trembled together in the shadow of this massive creature.

"We don't taste good at all!" Steven vouched nervously. "And I'm really chewy; not in the good way, either!"

"Yeah!" Dipper readily agreed, backing up into the tree just behind them. "And I haven't showered. And I'm all elbows! Elbows and grilse!"

"YOU TWO!" the manly creature bellowed in a deep, powerful voice, frightening the two boys even more, despite the fact that his apparent rage quickly reverted to complacency. "Gonna finish that?" he asked, pointing to the bag of jerky that had fallen to the ground between Steven and Dipper.

"Um… no…" Dipper frowned as he exchanged a confused glance with Steven, before tossing the masculine monster the bag of jerky. Upon catching it, he savagely tore the bag open and devoured the strips of dried meat savagely as the boys stood by and watched curiously.

"Whoa…" Steven remarked with a small, amazed grin. "He's so beefy! He reminds me of Sugilite!"

"I can't believe it," Dipper said, equally as awed. "Part animal, part human. Are you some kind of minotaur?" he asked the creature, who had just finished scarfing down the entire bag of jerky.

"I'm a manotaur!" he roared boldly in response. "Half man, half… uh… half taur!"

"Cool!" Steven exclaimed with a grin.

"So… did we like, summon you, or-" Dipper began to ask, though he was quickly cut off.

"I smell of jerky summoned me! JERKY!" the manotaur shouted fiercely as he easily punched a nearby tree down before smashing a rock against his head merely as a testament of his brute strength. "YEAH!" he let out a hearty laugh before he paused and bent down to sniff the two youths before him. "I smell… emotional issues."

"Aw… you mean you don't smell the scent of manly toughness?" Steven asked in disappointment.

"Nope; the only things I smell from you two are sweat and desperation," the manotaur said, crossing his buff arms.

"You got us," Dipper sighed in relent. "We've got problems, manotaur. Man-related problems."

The manotaur nodded gruffly as he plopped down to a sitting position with a loud thud, patting his leg as he prompted both boys to join him so he could listen to their shared plight. From there, Dipper and Steven launched into their relatively short tale of embarrassment and the woes that came along with their lack of masculinity. The manotaur nodded in understanding as he heard their troubles, though as they listed them, both boys soon reached the same idea as to how they could fix them.

"Hey, you know, you seem pretty manly," Dipper said to the manotaur as soon as him and Steven were finished with their explanation. "Maybe you could give us some pointers?"

"Yeah!" Steven chimed in agreement. "If there's anyone who knows about being tough, I'm sure it would be someone as manly as you!"

"Very well," the manotaur said as he rose to stand. "I shall train you in the arts of manliness! Climb atop my back hair, children!"

Dipper and Steven exchanged an uncertain glance as the manotaur knelt down to allow them to scale his rather grimy back hair, but they tentatively did so nonetheless. Before they could really even get a good hold, the manotaur began barreling through the woods at a thunderous pace, disregarding any obstacles in his path. The boys held on for dear life as they crashed through tree branches, soared over a sizable gorge, and finally crashed through the rocky side of a mountain through sheer force alone. Though they were a bit shaken up from the rough trip, both Steven and Dipper were instantly awed by the place they now found themselves in.

They large cave they had smashed their way into was an absolute mess, littered with discarded bones and food scraps. At the same time however, it was also outfitted with several other features, including an impressive set of barbells, a few dart boards lining the stony walls, and even a foosball table. All of these activities were being enjoyed by the countless other manotaurs filling the cave, who were all aptly tough and macho in both their appearance and mannerisms.

"Whoa… This place is amazing!" Dipper remarked as him and Steven dismounted from the manotaur's back.

"The gnomes live in trees, the merpeople live in the water… 'cause they're LOSERS!" the manotaur proclaimed with pride. "But we manotaurs crash in the MAN CAVE!" With another loud roar, he punched the nearby gong with his bare fist, catching the attention of the other manotaurs. "Beasts! I have brought you two hairless children!" he announced as he pushed the two boys forward for the other manotaurs to see.

"Hiya!" Steven greeted with a friendly, cheerful grin.

"…S'up," Dipper said much more anxiously, clearly intimidated by the horde of incredibly manly manotaurs towering over them.

"This is Pubetor," the manotuar began, going down the line of other manotaurs as he introduced them. "Testosteror… Pituitor… And I'm Chutzpar. And you two are?"

"I'm Dipper," the first boy introduced himself, though he was quick to add a masculine addendum to his name as the manotaurs booed, clearly not impressed. "The… uh… Destructor?"

The manotaurs nodded in complacent approval of this title before Steven quickly came up with an additional name for himself. "And I'm Steven the Strong Guy!" the young Gem boldly proclaimed, much to the amusement of the manotaurs who took his title with a round of hearty laughs.

"Dipper the Destructor and Steven the Strong Guy want us to teach them the secrets of our manliness," Chutzpar informed the other manotaurs after silencing them with another bang of the gong.

"We really need your help, guys!" Dipper practically pleaded, knowing that the manotaurs might be their only chance for learning how to be truly tough. "We're both seriously lacking in the chest hair department!"

"And we wanna get huge, beefy muscles, just like all of you!" Steven added, flexing a bit to show his desire for toned, meaty biceps. "And like Sugilite. She's a really tough Gem fusion, just so you guys know."

"GEM?!" several of the manotaurs roared in angry unison, startling both boys quite a bit at their sudden shift in mood.

"What business do you have with those dainty, frilly Gems, boy?" one of the manotaurs asked Steven harshly.

"Oh, well I am one," Steven explained, seeing nothing wrong with that fact as he pulled his shirt up to reveal his Gem. "Well… half-one, anyway."

"Long have we manotaurs quarreled with the so-called Crystal Gems," Pubitor explained bitterly. "Their girliness is an insult to our MANLINESS!" he shouted as he brutally punched the manotaur beside him right in the face, though of course, he took it like a man.

"O-oh… Um… Well…" Steven began, trying to come up with something to say in defense of the Gems. After all, he really did find them to be quite strong in his eyes; perhaps not as macho as the manotaurs, but still quite tough and tenacious warriors all the same.

"Well, Steven is only half Gem, like he said," Dipper cut in, hoping that the manotaurs would still accept them both despite the rivalry they apparently had against the Gems. "So… that shouldn't really be that much of a problem, right?"

The manotaurs hesitated to themselves for a moment or two, muttering their dissent amongst themselves as both boys anxiously awaited their verdict. However, as they convened within a collective huddle, their discussion soon erupted into little more than a brutish fist fight, which was how the manotaurs solved most of their dilemmas. Eventually, the exchange of fists died down as the manotaurs apparently reached a consensus, which they finally relayed to Steven and Dipper. "After a lot of punching, we have decided to deny your request to learn our manly secrets."

"Denied?" Dipper repeated in clear dismay.

"Aw… Why?" Steven asked with a disappointed frown.

"The keys to manliness are far too sacred and awesome to give out to humans, and especially to prissy Gems!" Testostoraur growled firmly, the other manotaurs nodding in resolved agreement.

"B-but what if we-" Steven began, though Dipper was quick to interrupt as he utilized the sudden idea he had just come up with.

"Okay," he said calmly, pretending to be not at all concerned with their reaction of them. "That's fine with us. Obviously you guys must think it would be too hard to train us. Maybe you're not man enough to try."

"Not MAN enough?" one of the most burly manotaurs asked, clearly appalled by the boy's audacity.

"Destructor…" Chutzpar cautioned, already seeing how this call-out was incurring the wrath of the other manotaurs.

"Not MAN enough?!"

"He didn't mean it."

"I have three Y chromosomes, six adam's apples, pecs on my abs, and FISTS for nipples!" the enraged manotaur shouted brutally as he glared down at the two boys. "We're ALL more manly than you'll ever hope to be!"

"I-I believe you!" Steven stammered nervously, shrinking back a bit out of fear.

"I dunno…" Dipper said caustically, still upholding his casual manner. "Seems to me like you're too scared to teach us how to be men. Maybe it's just too much of a challenge for you guys. In fact… it kinda seems like you're all a bunch of-"

"Dipper, don't say it!" Steven pleaded in a whisper, not too keen on the idea of getting pummeled into the ground by a group of angry manotaurs.

"Chickens," Dipper finished with a bold, daring grin. He could tell just by how insulted the manotaurs all seemed to be by this statement that he had them right where he wanted them. Fortunately, Steven's fears of the manotaurs taking their anger out on the two of them were disproven as they formed a huddle once more and quickly talked over their previous decision before announcing their intention to change it, lest they be proven cowards.

"After a second round of deliberation, we have decided to help you two become men!"

"Men! Men! Men!" the manotaurs all chanted loudly as Steven and Dipper high-fived in triumph of their unexpected success, knowing that their journey into manliness and toughness was about to begin.

"Thanks guys," Dipper said with a grin of satisfaction. "Whatever we have to do, we won'tlet you down."

"Yeah!" Steven added enthusiastically. "Just you wait! We'll be the toughest, strongest men the world has ever seen!" Despite his boldness, he quickly retracted this statement as the manotaurs all growled their mutual disapproval of it. "A-aside from you guys, of course!"

Mabel had practically dragged Stan out of the diner so they could begin what she called "dating practice". Though the con man wasn't as enthusiastic as his niece, he didn't complain too much as they headed back to the shack, especially since they had managed to leave the restaurant without paying for their meal, which was more than good enough for him.

"Okay, Grunkle Stan," Mabel began as her and Stan emerged from the car once they got back to the shack. "Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life! We're gonna teach you how to impress a lady! But first, a before picture."

Before Stan had really even gotten out of the car, Mabel suddenly snapped a rather unflattering picture of him, startling him to the point that he nearly fell right back into the car. "I never miss a scrapbookertunity!" Mabel proclaimed brightly as she slapped the picture into her scrapbook. "Ah, memories…"

"Listen, kid, I appreciate your energy, but can't this wait till later?" Stan asked with relative disinterest. "I had a big day of sitting around and watching TV planned out and I kinda don't wanna miss out on that."

"C'mon, Grunkle Stan," Mabel said with a bit of an impatient huff. "You're not getting any younger. Who knows how many years you have left to find love?"

"Gee, thanks," Stan said, rolling his eyes sarcastically.

"Just you wait," Mabel said with determination. "By the time we're though, Lazy Susan will think you're irresistible! Let's start with some roleplaying. Soos! You can come on out now!"

The handyman stepped out of the shack at this que, oddly enough dressed in drag and plenty of makeup, much to Stan's confusion. "Soos will play Lazy Susan," Mabel said to her grunkle with a confident grin.

"I'm soft, like a woman," Soos remarked, gesturing to the dress Mabel had given him to wear.

"Uh… I don't know about this…" Stan frowned, already feeling uncomfortable with this situation.

"Oh, you'll do fine," Mabel said with a casual wave of her hand. "First of all, show me how you approach a woman. Remember, this is a safe, non-judgmental environment. I'll just be right off to the side here judging you on a scale from one to ten." However, before this simulation could begin, Mabel happened to catch sight of the familiar figure coming along down the forest path towards the intersection between the Mystery Shack and the Gem temple, and she didn't hesitate to cheerfully greet her. "Hi, Pearl!" she called as the white Gem passed by, not noticing her apparent anxiety.

"Oh, hello Mabel," Pearl put on a quick smile, though it faded into confusion as she noticed Stan and Soos. "Um… What's going on here?"

"We're teaching Grunkle Stan how to talk to women!" Mabel informed her chipperly. "Wanna watch?"

Pearl frowned as she looked Stan over, already knowing there would be no success on that front. "…No," she said simply, not offering much of a goodbye as she turned and continued up the path to the temple. Stan merely scoffed with slight distain and little concern as he watched her go.

"Ok! See you later then!" Mabel called out after the white Gem as she turned her attention back to her current project. "Alright. Ready and… flirt!"

Stan did as he was told, taking in a deep breath as he approached "Lazy Susan" with apt confidence. However, he quickly lost his edge as soon as he rudely spit to the side and held out his hand demandingly. "Can I borrow some money?" he asked callously, though Mabel was quick to call out his failure with a blow of her whistle.

"This is gonna be harder than I thought…" she sighed, knowing that she certainly had her work cut out for her.

The ongoing bubble of anxiety Pearl had been feeling ever since they had left the communication hub only grew as she arrived back at the temple to find that neither Garnet nor Amethyst, or even Sugilite for that matter, had returned. It was already early afternoon and the fusion had been MIA ever since the previous night, much to the white Gem's alarm, especially considering the fact that the desert warp pad was inexplicably down. While Pearl didn't doubt her teammates could hold their own, she knew well what happened to fusions who remained together for too long, and considering how brash and volatile Sugilite was, the chances of that occurring were dangerously high.

However, instead of arriving back at the house to find Garnet or Amethyst, the white Gem did happen upon another pair as she glanced up to the loft after noticing the trail of discarded clothes leading up to it. Pearl frowned at the mess as she came to stand at the base of the stairs, glancing up to the two boys who had scarcely noticed her arrival as they were apparently hunting through a large pile of clothes for something.

"Steven? Dipper?" Pearl called up to them, catching their attention instantly.

"Oh, hey, Pearl," Dipper greeted with a casual grin as Steven quickly popped his head out of a mountain of clothes.

"Pearl!" the young Gem exclaimed. "Have you seen my sweatbands anywhere around here? We need them for something really important!"

"I… can't say that I have…" Pearl said with slight confusion as she distastefully glanced over the clothes scattered all over. "What do you need them so badly for anyway?"

"We're going to learn how to be real men from a group of manotaurs," Dipper explained as both boys climbed down the stairs to the main floor.

"What?!" Pearl asked with a concerned gasp.

"Yeah!" Steven chimed, having managed to find one of the sweatbands he had been searching for not too far away from the stash of jerky that they were going to take back to the Man Cave so they could stay in the manotaurs' good graces. "They're gonna teach us all sorts of stuff about being tough! We're gonna get supa strong! Like Sugilite!"

Pearl flinched a bit upon hearing the reckless fusion's name, but she ignored her resentment for Sugilite for the moment as she focused on the more immediate issue. "Manotaurs?" she repeated with a disapproving glower. "How on earth did you two run into those brutes anyway? They're hardly a good source of advice, considering the fact that they rarely think."

"Oh yeah! They mentioned something about having some sort of rivalry with you guys," Dipper said, remembering how the manotaurs had made their derision for the Gems quite clear. "What's the deal with that?"

"Well… it's not so much of a rivalry as it is… a mutual sense of contempt," Pearl said rather blatantly. "We try to get along with all of the various tribes and creatures of Gravity Falls, but the manotaurs have never been willing to meet us halfway. Apparently, they have a problem with our "girliness", whatever that means."

"Aw, come on, Pearl," Steven pleaded. "The manotaurs aren't so bad. Like we said, they're gonna help us be manly!"

"Yes… Well, maybe that's not such a good idea…" the white Gem remarked dubiously, knowing that if there was anything that both the manotaurs and Sugilite had in common, it was that they certainly took the concept of being "tough" way too far.

"What?" Dipper asked with a puzzled frown, not understanding what Pearl was so apprehensive about. "Why not?"

"Um… Well…"

"But Pearl," Steven protested zealously, cutting the white Gem off. "How else are we gonna become men?"

"You know, maybe being a… 'man' isn't the most important thing in the world," Pearl cautioned tentatively. "After all, you both are still rather young. And besides, there are different ways of being strong…"

"But we wanna be strong in the real way!" Steven emphasized, believing that lied only in physical strength and little else.

"Yeah!" Dipper readily agreed with a confident grin. "Like men!"

"Yeah!" Steven cheered in response before launching into a round of enthusiastic chants, which Dipper was quick to join in on as the two headed out. "Men! Men! Men!"

"Steven, Dipper, wait!" Pearl called out after them, though they hardly heeded her as they left to head back to the manotaurs. The white Gem let out a worried, somewhat disdainful sigh as the door slammed behind them, still wanting to derail them from the risky path they had chosen. But instead, she merely glared down at the clothes littering the floor, creating quite a mess as she thought of how headstrong and thoughtless both boys were being, much like the manotaurs and the fusion they were striving to be like.

She should have guessed that Steven would become enthralled with the idea of being "strong" after seeing Sugilite's careless display of raw physical power the previous night. However, the fact that him and Dipper had decided to follow after the barbaric ways of the manotaurs only made matters worse. Pearl couldn't help but feel as though they were both searching for the wrong kind of strength in the wrong kind of places. If they had only asked, then she would have been more than happy to educate them in a much more well-rounded kind of strength, one that was physical and mental, one that would never falter no matter what the occasion. But instead, they had chosen brute strength, which, at most, was only ever superficial and temporary, hardly anything resembling what she believed to be real strength.

Not really knowing how else to vent her frustrations over the situation, Pearl resorted to the method she often took when she wanted to express her deeper emotions: song. And so, she busied herself with tiding up the mess of clothes the boys had left behind as she sang to no one in particular, her harmonious voice belting out throughout the house in a passionate melody nonetheless.

"Why do you have to look up to them? Aside from in a literal sense…" the white Gem began with apparent scorn as she gathered a bundle of Steven's clothes and began folding them neatly. "Don't you know that a power that big, comes with a bigger expense?"

An expense that, at least Pearl believed, was common sense. Physical strength had its place, but she knew that reliance on it could be deadly, something that both Steven and Dipper had yet to learn. "And can't you see that they're out of control and overzealous? I'm telling you for your own good, and not because I'm-"

She quickly cut herself off before she could even admit it to herself, even if she knew it was true. The aversion she harbored towards the manotaurs was one thing, but her hidden envy towards Sugilite ran far deeper than she really cared to express. "I could show you how to be strong… In the real way. And I know that we can be strong… In the real way!"

Pearl paused for a brief moment as she stole another glance towards the door, a new idea striking her. She couldn't deny that she was quite concerned for both boys in their mission towards manliness, especially since she had a firsthand idea of how unforgiving and harsh they could be. Perhaps, even if they weren't going to listen to her advice, the least she could do was follow after them from a distance and keep an eye on them to make sure they weren't getting hurt or pushing themselves too far. She figured she would only really get involved if the situation spiraled out of their control; otherwise, she was content to let them learn the error of their ways the hard way. "And I want to inspire you," the white Gem sang boldly as she ventured out of the house, knowing that she would easily be able to catch up with Steven and Dipper as they made their way back to the Man Cave. "I want to be your rock, and when I talk, it lights a fire in you…"

As it turned out, the manotaurs had quite a training routine cut out for the two boys, a "gauntlet of manliness", as they called it. Nonetheless, Dipper and Steven were more than ready to take on the all of the challenges laid out before them, no matter how daunting or intimidating. As was expected, all of these tasks involved some form of physical strength or endurance, as their first trial of pulling the manotaurs' "party wagon", made clear. As the boys went through each of these manly tests, Pearl was never too far behind, taking refuge behind trees or just outside of the Man Cave as a refrain of her song rang through her mind as she watched them struggle for their idea of strength.

"I can show you how to be strong… In the real way…"

The white Gem couldn't help but roll her eyes as the manotaurs eagerly plastered both boys in temporary tattoos as symbols of their increasing manly toughness or how they foolishly tried gluing hair to their bare chests. Though she didn't have much knowledge on what human men believed to be masculine, she hardly thought such things were dignified or respectable when combined with the Neanderthal behavior the manotaurs were known to exhibit.

"And I know that we can be strong… In the real way…"

Regardless of Pearl's low opinion on the situation, neither Steven nor Dipper could deny they were having the time of their lives with the wild, eccentric manotaurs, who, despite their rough exteriors, were actually quite likable. Though some of the activities they took part in were questionable, such as the obstacle course they had set up over a gator-filled river, they still knew how to have a good time with their complete disregard for manners or authority. For all of their manly statures, both boys couldn't deny that there was a wonderful, refreshing freedom in all of it, one that not only liberated them, but made them feel as though they were making real progress on their road to masculinity.

"And I want to inspire you, I want to be your rock…"

As the day progressed and the challenges became more physically demanding, it was becoming quite apparent that Steven in particular was starting to lag behind in comparison to Dipper, who only became more zealous and passionate about their trials. Though neither boy was used to such strenuous activity, the young Gem was starting to realize that he was less fit than he thought, especially when they were tasked with scaling up a tall cliff-face with but their bare hands alone. They both managed to reach the top, though Steven only managed to do so with Dipper's help, despite the manotaur's firm motto of "every man for himself". Though Pearl nearly emerged from hiding upon seeing how worn out and fatigued the younger Gem was, she restrained herself; after all, Steven had to learn that the strength he sought came at a price, even if it was as simple as a tired body and sore bones.

"And when I talk, it lights a fire in you…"

After several hours of hard work and several manly challenges later, the boys finally got a well-deserved break as they joined the manotaurs in relaxing in one of the Man Cave's hot springs. Steven especially appreciated this as he sunk low into the refreshing, boiling water, hoping that it could soothe his aching muscles, which had been worked to their limit throughout their intense training session. However, he knew it would all be worth in the end when that raw soreness would hopefully be exchanged for muscles as big as the manotaurs' or Sugilite's.

"Guys," Dipper said to the manotaurs with a grateful grin, feeling quite indebted to them all for the advice and training them had imparted thus far. "I just wanna say that these last few hours have been…"

"Painful…" Steven moaned, his voice muffled a bit as he spoke half submerged in the water.

"Well, yeah," Dipper admitted, not able to deny that he was a little sore himself after spending the day using muscles that weren't used to being employed. "But I really do feel like we've been making progress here I mean, you guys took us under your wing and you've all been so supportive."

"Yeah!" Steven chimed with as much enthusiasm he could muster, sitting up a little, even if the movement alone made his back ache even more. "You guys are the best, hands down!"

"Oh, stop," Chutzpar said with a wave of his hand, clearly flattered, as all the other manotaurs were.

"No, you know what? Steven's right; you guys really are the best," Dipper said with sincerity. "I think I speak for both of us when I say that we're really starting to feel like men thanks to all of you."

Steven nodded in enthusiastic agreement with this statement, knowing that his sore bones were obviously a sign that he was inching his way towards being stronger. However, despite the boys' shared confidence, the manotaurs were not yet convinced. "Not yet, Destructor," Chutzpar clarified. "One final task remains for you both. The deadliest trial of all."

"Another one?!" Steven whispered in exasperated concern, not sure if he could take another test of his already wavering strength.

Dipper, on the other hand, was ready for any test or task the manotaurs had in store for them. "We've survived forty-nine other challenges," he said with a daring shrug. "Whatever it is, bring it on!"

Steven sucked in an anxious breath upon hearing this, not quite sharing the same sentiments. While he wanted to be strong and manly just as much as Dipper did, the young Gem felt as though he had already pushed himself too far to this end, to the point that he wasn't quite sure if he could push himself any further. Especially if this final challenge was as dangerous as the manotaurs were implying. But even so, Steven refrained from protesting, not wanting to be seen as weak or afraid by any of them. After all, Sugilite certainly wouldn't ever back down from a trial, no matter how daunting. Neither would he.

Wanting to get this final manly test over with so they could claim the rite to be called true men, the boys followed the manotaurs to their great hall deep within the Man Cave. While neither of them were really sure about what the nature of this last challenge would be, they were both a bit anxious as they stood together, waiting for further instructions about what supposedly deadly task they were to undertake. They didn't have to wait for too terribly long however, as the clanging of the gong rung out throughout the cave, calling all of the manotaurs to attention.

"Behold our leader!" Chutzpar announced, throwing his arm out to the obscured back of the cave. "Leadertaur!"

At this, a rather old, somewhat small manotaur stepped forward, his long beard greyed and his muscles nowhere near as impressive as those of his younger brethren.

"Aw… He's so old and wrinkly!" Steven gushed with a small grin.

"So, is he like the oldest, or the wisest, or…?" Dipper trailed off in slight confusion, having not expected such an weakly elder to be very highly revered among the manotaurs. And as it turned out, his suspicions were right, for no more than a moment after he posed this question, the old manotaur was abruptly captured in the jaws of a much larger, much more monstrous figure.

"Nah, he's just the offering," Chutzpar corrected. "That…" he paused to point to the massive manotaur who had just devoured the elder whole, a fierce beast that was at least ten times as large as the other manotaurs and somehow even more masculine, if that was even possible. "Is Leadertaur."

Both boys were awestruck and admittedly terrified as they craned their necks up to get the full scope of the manotaur leader, feeling incredibly small and intimidated in his presence. "YOU!" Leadertaur bellowed, his booming voice bouncing off the cave walls as he shouted at the two youths before him. "You wish to be men?!"

Though Dipper responded to this question with a bold battle cry, Steven simply swallowed and nodded nervously, trying his best to hide the fact that he was shaking fearfully. Leadertaur seemed to accept this, however as he continued, his tone stoic and stone-cold as his harsh, eternally glaring expression. "Then you both must do this heroic act. Go to the highest mountain and bring back the head of…" The manotaur leader paused as he suddenly let out a loud roar, reaching in between his toned pecks before pulling out a pair of crude spears. "The Multi-Bear!"

The other manotaurs let out a collective gasp as Leadertaur threw the two spears down at the boys' feet, providing them with weapons to complete this challenge. "The Multi-Bear?" Dipper asked with a hint of trepidation in his tone as he glanced down at the spear before picking it up. "Is that some sort of bear…?"

"He is our sworn enemy!" Leadertaur growled with fierce scorn. "Conquer him and your mansformation will be complete!"

"C-conquer?" Steven asked with a frown, taken aback by this concept. "As in… kill him?"

"Of course!" the manotaur leader exclaimed as if it were obvious. "How else are you going to prove your manly strength?!"

Steven and Dipper exchanged an uncertain glance upon hearing this, neither of them too keen on the idea of actually taking out another living being, even something that sounded as frightening as the Multi-Bear. The young Gem in particular found an anxious pit in his stomach forming as conflict filled him over this dilemma, but thankfully, before he could voice these concerns to the manotaurs and be called out for them, Dipper had the courage to do so first.

"…I don't know, man…" he said with a hesitant frown, not as much intimidated by the thought of facing off against the Multi-Bear as he was the task of slaughtering it in cold blood that they had both been given. He knew well that being violent was all part of being a man, but as far as he knew, the Multi-Bear was innocent. Did he really deserve to be killed just because of an ongoing rivalry he apparently had with the manotaurs?

"Hey, Destructor? Is this yours?" Chutzpar called to Dipper from across the cave, apparently having rooted through his backpack to happen upon the BABBA CD he kept in it. The boy let out a frightened gasp as he quickly snatched it away, trying his best to hide his embarrassment as the other manotaurs began to murmur their dissent to each other over this choice of such feminine music.

"W-what? Are you guys kidding? Of course it's not mine!" Dipper exclaimed, laughing awkwardly as he tried to play it off by hiding the CD behind his back.

"But Dipper, I thought you liked BABBA," Steven said with a confused frown, remembering the anecdote Stan had told earlier at the diner.

"Ha! Yeah right!" Dipper joked with a rather forced grin, begrudging Steven's tendency to be innocently honest. "I don't know whose this is. I'm just borrowing, uh… I mean, it's a friend's! Yeah, not mine. Not mine at all…"

The manotaurs didn't seem to be entirely convinced as they frowned down at the two boys, shaking their heads in disapproval as the crossed their arms suspiciously. Caught up in the heat of the moment as his desire to be accepted, Dipper was quick to act upon his first whim so he could prove to them all that he was just as manly as any of them, even if that meant taking on their rather unfavorable challenge. "We'll do it!" he proclaimed boldly and bravely, raising his spear above his head as Steven hesitantly picked up his own. "We will conquer the Multi-Bear!"

"Uh… Y-yeah…" Steven agreed with a half-hearted grin as the manotaurs all cheered their bombastic support. "What he said…" With their goal set out for them, both boys ran out of the cave, Dipper triumphantly leading the way as Steven followed a bit behind out of uncertainty. As they emerged from the Man Cave and set off on the arduous path towards the mountain, a lone figure stood hidden near its entrance, dread filling her as she caught wind of the dangerous, undoubtedly cruel mission that they had been sent on. But nonetheless, the white Gem dutifully followed after them, hoping that they wouldn't go too far in their misguided quest towards false strength.

Much like Steven and Dipper, Mabel had also been undertaking a difficult challenge for most of the afternoon, though one of an entirely different kind. She had completely thrown itself into the daunting task of implementing all of her skills and talents in trying to mold Stan into her idea of "datable". Of course, this entailed many things that the con man found rather unpleasant, such as Mabel trying to shave his untamable body hair, teaching him to walk with something resembling actual poise, and attempting to squeeze his gut into a girdle. It had been an undertaking, to be sure, but in time, they reached a point where Mabel felt satisfied with Stan's progress, which, despite her optimism, really wasn't that great.

"Okay, Grunkle Stan. You started out like this," Mabel said as she stood alongside Soos and Wendy to evaluate how far the conman had come by comparing her before picture to how he was now. "But you became…" Her smile quickly turned to a frown as she lowered the picture to reveal that her uncle was somehow even more of a sweaty, grizzled mess than he had been when they had started hours ago. "Oh…"

"Can I scratch myself now?' Stan asked in disinterest, none too interested in upholding the rules of etiquette Mabel had been enforcing upon him all day.

"No!" the girl exclaimed in angry dismay at how all of her hard work was for naught. "And is that throw up on your shirt?"

"I don't know how to answer that," the con man responded, taking a tentative glance down at his soiled undershirt.

"Ugh, I can't believe we didn't make any progress at all!" Mabel groaned in frustration as she ripped up the before picture. "If anything, he regressed! How in the world is he supposed to impress Lazy Susan looking like that?"

"Face it, Mabel, your uncle's unfixable," Wendy consoled as she placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Like that spinning pie thing in the diner."

Mabel let out a gasp of realization upon hearing this, her eyes widening as she looked back to Stan, who was standing by rather apathetically, once more. Indeed, he was a fixer-upper, but perhaps he wasn't in need of as much fixing as she thought. Or at least the kind of fixing she specialized in.

"Grunkle Stan, come with me!" she exclaimed with newfound zeal, heading for the door. "And leave your pants at home!"

"With pleasure!" Stan readily agreed, not questioning his niece's guidance this time as they headed out.

The trek to the mountain where the Multi-Bear's lair was certainly was a journey, one that spanned across the vast forests and ravines resting in the outskirt wilderness of Gravity Falls. For Dipper, it barely felt like a hike at all as he was fueled with both determination and adrenaline, but Steven admittedly struggled to keep up as he was weighed down not only by his own physical fatigue, but also by his ever growing conflict over the situation as a hole. Neither boy had really taken the chance to discuss their mission, even now that they were out of the Man Cave and away from the manotaurs. If anything, an uncomfortable silence lingered between them as they drew ever closer to their destination, neither of them wanting to address what they knew they had to do if they wanted to be acknowledged as true men.

Regardless of this malleable tension, it became increasingly obvious that it was bound to break as the pair scaled up the rugged path towards the Multi-Bear's cave towards the peak of the mountain. The inklings of apprehension that Steven had first felt when they had first been charged with this mission had steadily grown into a well of overwhelming anxiety that he could no longer keep to himself as him and Dipper found themselves standing at the mouth of the cave where their bounty awaited.

"Um… Dipper?" Steven asked hesitantly before either of them could step foot inside. "A-are… are you sure about this?"

Dipper immediately understood the concerns Steven was alluding to without him even needing to mention them at all, largely because he shared them. But as uneasy as he felt about having to flat-out kill the Multi-Bear, he knew that he would never be a real man if he didn't. And besides, they had both come so far towards masculinity in the course of one day alone. It wouldn't make sense to throw all that hard work away just because of something as temporal as guilt or remorse. "Of course, I am," he replied with assurance. "Now, let's do this!"

"Dipper, wait," Steven said a bit more insistently as he grabbed the other boy's arm to stop him in his tracks. "I… This doesn't seem like a very good idea… Maybe we should think about this before we go diving right in."

"You're not scared, are you, Steven?" Dipper asked with a frown, his tone not challenging or teasing, but rather genuinely concerned. Even if he knew what the young Gem was truly apprehensive about, he secretly hoped that Steven would admit to fear instead of trying to derail their final mission.

"No, not really…" Steven said with a small shrug. "I just… Well, this doesn't really feel… right."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" the young Gem paused and let out a heavy sigh, not entirely sure how to express his ongoing inner conflict in words, though he tried nonetheless. "Is we're about to do really worth it? I know that the manotaurs don't like the Multi-Bear, but does that really make it ok for us to hunt him down and… kill him?"

Dipper had seen this coming, and though he agreed with this line of reasoning, he stubbornly forced himself not to follow it, especially since it flew so in the face of all of the lessons of aggression and violence that the manotaurs had been imparting them with. "What? Are you serious?" asked with a somewhat relaxed smile. "It's totally worth it. Besides, the Multi-Bear is probably some horrifying monster that terrorizes these woods for fun. Getting rid of him will probably be for the best."

"But what if it's not?!" Steven asked, glancing down to his feet as he held onto his longtime belief that all life was worth salvaging, no matter if it was good or evil. "What if… what if the manotaurs were wrong? What if being a man isn't about being super macho or tough? What if being strong doesn't mean being mean?"

These questions held quite a bit of weight behind them, and as provocative as they were, Dipper resisted his natural urge to use logic to think them through and reach the right conclusions. After all, the manotaurs had made it clear that intelligence and reasoning had little to do with being manly, and morality had even less to do with it. Certainly, strength and ruthlessness were synopsis with each other, which meant that the only way to obtain strength was through rising above and conquering the weak and cowardly. Right?

"Oh, come on, Steven," Dipper said with a slight edge of exasperation. "I think the manotaurs know a thing or two about being manly. I mean, nobody's ever gotten strong from sitting around and just talking about their feelings. And besides, weren't you saying that you wanted to be super strong? Like Sugilite?"

"Well… yeah…" Steven admitted as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, knowing that he had been striving after the kind of fortitude Sugilite possessed all along. But now that it was within his reach, he found that perhaps it wasn't as appealing as he had once thought. "But at what cost? Hurting others doesn't really seem like the kind of thing that makes a man; it's the kind of thing that makes a bully."

"S-so what?" Dipper asked a bit too harshly, clearly on edge and conflicted, as much as he didn't want to admit it. "You're saying that after all we've been though, everything we've done, we should just turn around and head back like scared little kids?!"

"No…" Steven said calmly, his resolve growing ever clearer as he realized which path he had to take. "I'm saying that I… I just don't think I can go through with this. I don't care if that makes me weak or afraid or whatever… All I know is this is wrong… I won't stop you from going in there and doing what you feel you have to do, but… you can count me out."

"Are you sure?" Dipper asked, clearly taken aback and unsure of how to really respond to this sudden turn of events. Regardless though, even if he knew Steven was right on many of the points he had made, he wasn't quite willing to let his dreams of manliness slip through his fingers quite so easily.

Steven merely nodded his resolute reply, his expression hard, yet still a bit nervous as a long silence lingered between him and Dipper. The young Gem anxiously held his breath to see if his friend would give up this foolish quest and adopt the same merciful line of reasoning he had, so that they could both put all of this behind them. But instead, Steven's heart sank as he watched Dipper wordlessly turn towards the cave once more, his grip around his spear tightening with fearless resolve. At the same time, however, Steven was quite surprised; if he had expected anyone to listen to reason on something like this, it was Dipper. But apparently, the tempting call of manliness and strength were just too strong for him as he slowly ventured into the darkened cave, but not before the young Gem stopped him one last time.

"Dipper, wait," Steven called out with a saddened frown. Dipper paused only for a moment to glance back at the young Gem, trying to express stoicism, when what he really felt was remorse, not only for what he was about to go do, but for their disagreement over it as well. Steven took in an anxious breath, wanting to say something to convince Dipper against this cruel course of action, but all of his words went unsaid as he sent him off with a worried farewell instead. "Be careful…"

The other boy nodded in acceptance as he boldly returned to his quest, leaving the young Gem to restlessly wait for him just outside. Of course, neither one of them knew about the set of eyes that had watched their entire exchange from the shadows not too far away, and though she could not deny that she was overwhelmingly proud of one of them, she still harbored dread over the safety and morality of the other one.

The inside of the Multi-Bear's cave was just as dark and menacing on the inside as it appeared from the outside. Dipper was admittedly quite a bit on edge as he ventured inside, clinging onto his spear tightly with both hands as though his life depended on it, which it very well might. There were no immediate signs of any creature that would fit the bill of what the manotaurs had referred to as their sworn enemy, giving Dipper very little to go on as to what to expect.

"What is a Multi-Bear anyway?" he muttered to himself incredulously, figuring that it was a bear, though that was about all he knew. However, what he didn't see as he took a cautious glance around the cave was the large, lumbering figure that was looming in the shadows behind him. That is, of course, until it let out a sudden, fierce, echoing roar.

Dipper quickly spun around with a frightened gasp, his spear poised in defense as he faced the monstrosity before him. "Oh," he remarked in breathless nervousness. "That's a Multi-Bear." As it turned out, the "Multi" part of the creature's name was quite literal. It was a fearsome beast composed of several bears, all conjoined to form one massive, furry black body. The Multi-Bear possessed quite a few sets of limbs and several heads, many of which were still growling harshly as they glared down at the boy standing so audaciously before them.

"Bear heads, silence!" the central head called, somehow capable of English speech. However, the other heads apparently weren't as intelligent as one of the continued to roar, despite this command, though it was soon quieted by an authoritative smack. "Child, why have you come here?"

"Multi-Bear! I seek you head!" Dipper proclaimed brazenly, banishing his former dread, both literally and morally, and replacing it with zeal and courage. "Or… one of them, anyway. There's like what? Six heads?"

"This is foolish!" the Multi-Bear bellowed angrily, his deep voice rattling the walls of the cave. "Leave now or die!"

Undaunted by this threat, Dipper took up an offensive position as he pointed his spear at the Multi-Bear and set his expression in a hardened glare. "So be it…" the Multi-Bear growled as he rose to its full height, all of his heads roaring in violent unison as he prepared to attack.

Without much warning, he charged at the boy headfirst, though Dipper was more than ready for it. Acting quickly, he rolled out of the Multi-Bear's barreling path easily, not even missing a beat as he dodged most of the bones the beast had sent flying this way with a mere swipe of its paw. Taking advantage of his surroundings, Dipper snatched a rock from a nearby pile and chucked it straight at the Multi-Bear, watching with satisfaction as it struck his main head. Seeing that the creature was distracted in tending to its now-bleeding muzzle, the boy took a chance and rushed for the bear, leaping on top of one its lower heads as an aid in scaling its back and reaching the top of the behemoth. Now that he had the upper hand, Dipper used his spear to wrangle the Multi-Bear's main head into a tight head lock, not letting up even as the beast began to choke. Desperate to break free, the Multi-Bear lashed his claws up at the boy, and though he managed to land a few minor, shallow swipes, but most of them missed. After what seemed like ages, the mighty beast finally collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud, weak from asphyxiation as he lay on the ground in pitiful defeat.

"A real man shows no mercy!" Dipper shouted triumphantly, clearly caught up in the adrenaline that had kept him going through this fight as he stood over the fallen Multi-Bear, his spear poised to land the finishing blow.

"Very well, warrior…" the Multi-Bear sighed relenting, knowing that he had embarrassingly lost this battle against a mere human child. "Victory is yours… But will you grant a magical beast one last request?"

"Uh… okay?" Dipper shrugged, seeing nothing really wrong with this. After all, it was clear that the Multi-Bear intended on being a good sport about this, so why couldn't he do the same?

"I wish to die listening to my favorite song," the Multi-Bear said, nodding one of his heads towards a tape player sitting on a nearby rock. Hoping that this wasn't some sort of trick, Dipper hopped off the beast's back and headed over to it, wondering what kind of music a Multi-Bear would be into. However, his curiosity was soon replaced with absolute shock the moment he hit play and heard a song that he instantly recognized: "Disco Girl".

"You listen to Icelandic pop group BABBA?" Dipper asked in disbelief as he turned back to the Multi-Bear. "I… I love BABBA…"

"I thought I was the only one," the Multi-Bear said in slight shame. "All of the manotaurs made fun of me because I know all of the words to the song 'Disco Girl'."

"Oh, you mean: Disco girl…" Dipper began, singing along with the tape as the Multi-Bear quickly picked up the next lyrics.

"Coming through…"

"That girl is you!" they both finished with equal grins, a newfound sense of understanding formed between the two former adversaries.

"This is crazy!" Dipper said with a good-natured laugh, amazed at this incredible coincidence. "Finally someone who understands!" His enthusiastic grin soon turned into a remorseful frown however as he glanced down at the spear still in his hand, reminding him of what he had come here to do in the first place. "Oh yeah… Uh… I guess I'm supposed to… kill you? Or I'll never be a man?"

"It's fine," the Multi-Bear said with a compliant nod, clearly wanting to die with dignity. "I accept my fate."

"R-really?" Dipper asked, more hesitant than ever about all this as he remembered what Steven had said: perhaps taking the life of the Multi-Bear wasn't the right thing to do after all, even if it was a task of manliness and toughness. Perhaps it would only be a product of mindless violence instead of true strength and fortitude.

"It's for the best…" the Multi-Bear insisted amiably, though it was clear he wasn't going to put up a fight in his final moments. Dipper couldn't help but feel as though his own words were being thrown right back at him upon hearing this, making him feel all the more guilty now that he knew the Multi-Bear was truly an innocent, if not benevolent creature. He knew that if he really did go through with this, he'd probably regret it not just later, but immediately. But if he didn't, then certainly he'd never be considered a real man.

Right?

Steven let out an apprehensive sigh as he paced in front of the Man Cave worriedly, waiting for either Dipper to come out or for a sign that he might need help. Though the young Gem had heard sounds of fighting from inside the cave earlier, now things had gone eerily silent, much to his alarm. And yet, Steven remained firm in his resolve to not get involved, hoping that things would turn out the way they were supposed to.

Regardless of his neutrality, Steven was overwhelmingly relieved to see Dipper finally emerge from the cave, looking a bit disheveled but generally unharmed, even if he did look a bit forlorn. But even so, the always-sentimental young Gem didn't hesitate to meet his battle-worn friend with a sudden, yet sincere hug, startling him quite a bit.

"Dipper!" Steven exclaimed with an overjoyed grin. "I'm so glad you're ok! I was starting to think something happened in there!"

"I'm fine, Steven," Dipper said with a small laugh of amusement as the friendly embrace disbanded. "Well… physically, at least…"

"What happened?" Steven asked nervously, a bit confused as he realized that the Multi-Bear's decapitated head was thankfully nowhere in sight.

"I couldn't do it," Dipper admitted with a sigh. "You were right; turns out the Multi-Bear didn't deserve it at all. I beat him and everything, but when it came down to killing him… it didn't feel right… I guess this really does make me a wimp, huh?"

"Are you kidding?" Steven asked with a pleasantly surprised smile, his lingering dread gone all at once. "Not at all! I think deciding not to go through with it makes you even braver than if you actually had done it!"

"Yeah, well you know what will take even more bravery?" Dipper asked, still not entirely reassured, even if he was confident in the choice he had made. "Standing up to the manotaurs and telling them they were wrong about everything."

"Well, no matter what happens, I've got your back," Steven encouraged as the two of them began to descend the mountain together. "And who knows? Maybe we'll end up teaching those manotaurs a thing or two about what being manly really means!"

"You two know nothing about being manly!" Leadertaur roared in heated anger immediately after Steven and Dipper had asserted their position against killing the Multi-Bear upon their return to the Man Cave. "You were told! The price of manliness is the Multi-Bear's head!"

"But is it, really?" Steven asked with an incredulous frown.

"Listen, Leadertaur, alright?" Dipper began, utilizing his reasoning skills for perhaps the first time all day as opposed to brute force. "You too, Testostoraur, Pubertaur, and… I don't know, whatever your name is? Uh, Beardy?"

"It's Beardy," the heavily bearded manotaur in question affirmed.

"You guys keep telling us that being strong and manly means doing all these tasks, and being aggressive all the time, but I'm starting to think all that stuff's malarkey."

The manotaurs let out a collective gasp of shock at this, clearly none of them used to having their masculine viewpoints challenged so boldly. Despite their surprise, however, Dipper continued with just as much zeal. "You heard me: malarkey," he said brazenly, hoping that he was gaining some ground with this impromptu speech. "So maybe we don't have muscles or hair in certain places, and sure, when a girly pop song comes on the radio, sometimes I leave it on! Because dang it, top 40 hits are in the top 40 for a reason! They're catchy!"

"And maybe I am a Crystal Gem!" Steven added, motioning to the pink gem on his navel without shame this time. "But you know what? I'm proud to be one! The Crystal Gems are really brave and smart and heroic, even if they are all girls! I don't see anything wrong with that, and neither should any of you. After all…" he paused for a moment, a brief burst of guilt filling him as he remembered how he had so callously brushed off Pearl's advice, especially as he finally realized it had been true all along. "They're strong in the real way, and so are we!"

"So… what are you two saying?" Chutzpar asked, the point of the boys' message clearly not getting through to any of the rather dense manotaurs.

"We're saying that the Multi-Bear is a really nice guy," Dipper said, knowing that he had left the cave on actually quite good terms with the beast, despite his original mission. "And you're a bunch of jerks if you want us to cut off his head!"

"Yeah!" Steven agreed firmly. "He did nothing wrong! You guys just like bullying him because he's different than you. Why don't you actually try getting along with him? Maybe then you guys could all be friends!"

"NEVER!" Leadertaur shouted, refusing to listen to reason over virility. "We'll give you one last chance: kill the Multi-Bear or never be men!"

Steven and Dipper exchanged a hardened glance, not even needing to consider this choice. Even after everything they had gone through and all their strides towards supposed manliness, physical strength would all mean nothing if they didn't have moral strength first. "Then I guess we'll never be men," Dipper said with calm finality, feeling strangely at ease with this choice despite his earlier panic over his prior lack of masculinity. Steven added his agreement with a simple firm nod, knowing that the kind of strength that the manotaurs flaunted was only skin-deep.

Expectantly, the manotaurs didn't take such impudence positively. Instead of heeding the truths that the boys had discussed with them, they simply disregarded them with a round of disapproving boos and jeers, though neither Dipper nor Steven paid them much attention as they took their leave from the Man Cave. Despite the manotaurs' teasing, both boys felt more confident and self-assured than they had all day. And even more than that, they had reached this high point all on their own.

None of this had gone unnoticed by Pearl, who had overheard the boys' standing up to the manotaurs from right outside the cave. Her heart swelled with pride and relief for both of them as she took to hiding one last time as they emerged from the cave, knowing that it was time to reveal herself for the sake of affirming their morally sound choice.

"I can't believe we just did that…" Dipper said with a frown as him and Steven exited the Man Cave, slightly regretting the fact that they could never really be called men. But even if he had scarified his claim to masculinity, at least he could claim that he had a clean conscious, which was indeed worthwhile.

"We did what we had to," Steven shrugged, rubbing his shoulder to try and ease the soreness he was still feeling. "At least we don't have to do any more "manly challenges". I don't know how many more of those I could take!"

"Yeah… But it still feels like something of a waste…" Dipper said with a sigh. "All that hard work, and we have nothing to show for it…"

"I wouldn't exactly say that…" a familiar voice mused from behind a nearby trees, startling both boys as they stopped in their tracks.

"What the…? Wait… Pearl?" Steven called in confusion, his bewilderment growing even more as the white Gem indeed emerged from behind the tree, a small, sheepish grin on her face.

"Hello, Steven, Dipper," she greeted rather cheerily as she ignored the bewilderment written all over their faces.

"What are you doing here?" Steven asked curiously, gathering from the fact that neither Garnet nor Amethyst were with her that Sugilite had still yet to return.

"Oh, well, I was concerned about the two of you hanging out with those brutish manotaurs, so I decided to tag along from a distance to make sure they didn't push you too far," Pearl explained. "But it turns out I had nothing to worry about! When given the choice between senseless violence and moral reasoning, you two made the right decision after all. I'm very proud of you both."

"So… you've been following us around all day?" Dipper asked with a disconcerted frown, though Steven was hardly concerned with this as he gladly accepted the white Gem's adulation.

"Thanks, Pearl!" Steven grinned widely. "And you were right; being tough and macho doesn't make someone strong in the real way. I only wish we had realized it sooner. Sorry for not listening to you earlier…"

"It's quite alright, Steven," Pearl said with a good-natured smile. "Now if only a certain rouge fusion could learn that lesson too…"

As if in answer to the white Gem's statement, the ground soon began to rumble softly, birds clearing out of the forest to the east as a booming, enraged shout echoed through the area. Confused, the trio made the unanimous decision to go check it out, getting a better vantage point on a nearby bluff as they watched the towering, angry figure that was approaching them.

"What is that?!" Dipper asked in alarm, not recognizing the four-armed being storming their way, even though Steven and Pearl immediately did.

Though the white Gem was filled with instant dread upon seeing the massive fusion return instead of having chosen to split up, Steven eagerly grinned as he announced her arrival, even if her fierce manner already had done that for him. "It's Sugilite!"

Sugilite let out an infuriated roar that rattled the woods she was plowing her way through, her double sets of arms easily pushing down the trees, which were all smaller than her, out of her way. It wasn't too long before she spotted the small group standing on the nearby cliff, all four of her hands clenched into tight fists as she shouted at them. "I'M BORED!" she growled bitterly, her fiery scowl apparent even behind her shades.

"Y-you're back!" Pearl exclaimed fearfully, instinctually positioning herself between the outraged fusion and the two boys.

"You left me behind!" Sugilite accused hotly, her menacing form towering high above all three of them, even despite the elevation of the cliff.

"We just thought you didn't need any help!" Pearl tried to reason, even if she knew well that Sugilite never listened. "Now, why don't you two separate and we can all sit down and-"

"NO!" the fusion shouted, abruptly interrupting the white Gem as she threw down one of her fists at all three of them, which they all narrowly dodged.

"Listen to me!" Pearl exclaimed more firmly, glaring up at Sugilite as she rose to stand. "You've been fused for too long! You're losing yourselves!"

"I AM myself, and I'm sick of being split up!" Sugilite proclaimed stubbornly. "So you better get used to me, baby! CAUSE I'M HERE TO STAY!"

With another brutal battle cry, the fusion swung her fists out at the bluff, knocking off large chucks of it as Pearl, Steven, and Dipper drew back a bit to escape her wrath.

"That's what Garnet and Amethyst are like fused together?" Dipper asked in disbelief, wondering why the two of them were so volatile and savage when combined.

"Yeah, but I don't get it!" Steven exclaimed, sharing Pearl's clear panic. "Why is she acting like this? Why is she attacking us?!"

"That doesn't matter!" Pearl called over the sounds of destruction, knowing she had no time to explain the intricacies of fusion now. "You two need to get out of here!"

"But we wanna help!" Steven insisted, ready to do anything to get Garnet and Amethyst to return to their senses.

"Yeah!" Dipper agreed, knowing that if there was any circumstance in which to combine both strength and reasoning, this was it.

Pearl had no time to argue with them as they attention was soon caught by a new party rushing headlong towards Sugilite from just underneath the cliff they were on. Apparently, the clamor the fusion was causing had not gone unnoticed by the manotaurs, who had all emerged from the Man Cave to fight off whatever the threat might be. "HEY! YOU!" Chutzpar shouted up at the fusion challengingly. "We don't care how big you might be; no woman is gonna come up here and wreck our turf! So beat it!"

"Your turf?" Sugilite retorted with a harsh scoff. "Yeah right! This place is mine now, boys, so why don't you beat it! Or how about I just beat all of YOU!"

Without much effort at all, she easily lifted a large bolder up from the forest floor and held it up high above her head, smirking darkly as she prepared to slam it down on the manotaurs. It was at that point that they all instantly realized that even with their muscles and spears, they were no match for the massive size and strength of the fusion. Which was why, in a rare act for the usually so bold manotaurs, they all instantly fled back to the Man Cave, right before Sugilite chucked her boulder after all of them, only narrowly missing as she laughed in crazed triumph.

"Huh," Dipper remarked to Steven as they watched the manotaurs hastily retreat. "So much for 'a real man never runs away from a fight'."

Seeing that the situation was only getting worse by the second, Pearl decided to take matters into her own hands, summoning her spear from her Gem as she dashed to the tip of the bluff and aimed it at Sugilite unflinchingly. "WHAT?!" the fusion challenged as she glared down at the much smaller Gem. "YOU WANNA FIGHT TOO?!"

"You'll thank me for this later!" Pearl exclaimed, deftly leaping towards Sugilite as Dipper and Steven ran to the edge of the cliff as well to watch what was about to unfold. Clearly, the fusion didn't see the white Gem as much of a challenge as she simply knocked her away with a bat of her large hand. Pearl wasn't about to give up so soon however as she managed to land on one of the nearby treetops, using her agility to aid her in jumping off of it and back towards Sugilite. The fusion tried punching her away once more, but the white Gem was ready for it as she maneuvered out of her fist's path and succeeding in kicking away Sugilite's visor to reveal all five of her eyes, which were all filled with unspeakable ire. The boys gasped in shock upon watching this, especially as Sugilite's fury grew to the point that she was visibly shaking with rage, which was something she all too quickly took out on her opponent.

"YOU THINK YOU'RE SOMETHING?!" Sugilite roared fiercely, catching Pearl by surprise as she used one set of arms to knock the white Gem upwards. Pearl let out a sharp gasp of pain as the fusion's huge fists struck her squarely in the side, sending her flying up into the air. "YOU!" Sugilite practically screamed as she threw her fists up at Pearl again, this time smashing her into the ground almost instantly. "AIN'T!" The white Gem let out a small sob of agony as she collided with the forest floor, every part of her body screaming with searing pain. But even so, the merciless fusion did not relent as she landed a heavy kick to Pearl's stomach, plowing her through several layers of trees as if she were nothing but a mere twig. "NOTHING!"

Pearl was nearly unconscious by the time she landed, though thankfully her gem was undamaged, which was the only reason why she was still going. She was, however, heavily injured, which only added to her despair as she glanced up to see Sugilite summoning her flail. The fusion threw it down in her direction, sliding it across the forest floor, though thankfully missing due to her limited visibility from the cover of the trees.

"Pearl!" Steven's concerned cry reached the white Gem as she weakly attempted to pick herself up off the ground, only to collapse to her knees breathlessly as her body recoiled with pain. Tears sparked in Pearl's eyes as she looked up, spotting Steven and Dipper as they stood high above her on the bluff, staring down at her with fearful worry. Shame flooded her as she stole another glance towards Sugilite, remembering that despite the fusion's heated, uncontrollable fury, her teammates were still in there, though there was painfully little she could do to separate them.

"I… I can't do this…" she muttered to herself mournfully, her tears finally falling as she bowed her head, knowing she had lost this battle. "I'm sorry!" she cried up to the two boys, her failure overwhelming her. "Garnet… Amethyst…" she choked on a sob as she realized that because of this failure, the two other Gems would be forever lost to their wild, untamed fusion. "I wasn't strong enough… to save you… I'm not strong enough to do anything…"

"That's not true!" Steven called down to the injured white Gem firmly, resolved to inspire her into action once more. "Come on, Pearl! Don't give up! I know you can take her down!"

"Yeah, you gotta get up, Pearl!" Dipper encouraged just as fervently. "Who else is gonna separate those two?!"

"I can't!" the white Gem replied dejectedly, tears still streaming down her cheeks as she prepared to surrender to the fusion's strength.

"Yes, you can!" Steven argued passionately, trying his best not to tear up himself. "You always know what to do! You gotta show her what you showed us! That you're strong, Pearl! Strong in the real way!"

Pearl took in a sharp breath upon hearing this, her heart beginning to stir with something far different from shame. Instead, the words of her own song echoed through her mind, ringing in tune with the sincere encouragement Dipper and Steven had offered her: "And I know that we can be strong… in the real way…" It was a strange, yet special irony, the white Gem thought as she shakily rose to stand once more, that the very same message she had wanted to inspire them with was now inspiring her. There was no doubt that Sugilite had ample amounts of physical strength, but without restraint and control, what was that really worth? And as Pearl realized that she had so much more to offer instead of muscles or brute force, she wiped her tears, her confidence renewed as she smiled, ready to stand firm and defeat the rogue fusion once and for all.

"Hey!" Pearl called out to Sugilite, refusing to back down this time.

"WHAT?!" the fusion snarled in disbelief, appalled that the white Gem was still alive. "YOU WANT SOME MORE?!"

"Any time!" Pearl proclaimed with determination as she summoned another spear. "You're no match for me! Not even CLOSE!" With a bold battle cry, the white Gem threw her spear up at Sugilite, landing a rather sizable cut across the side of her face. The fusion growled angrily as she threw a punch Pearl's way, but this time, she was more than ready to leap out of the way as she began to outmaneuver her larger opponent.

"Yeah, Pearl!" Steven cheered enthusiastically, overjoyed to see that the white Gem had gotten her morale back. Dipper, on the other hand, was no longer content to simply sit on the sidelines and watch this battle unfold.

"Steven, we have to help her!" he said with resolve, having already formulated a plan through watching Sugilite throw her weight around. "Follow my lead!"

Pearl grinned in assurance, realizing that she had something that Sugilite certainly didn't have as the fusion continued to try and crush her with her lumbering fists: speed. Using agile leaps, the white Gem made sure to steer clear of the fusion's attacks, all while trying to come up with a plan for defeating her. However, it seemed as though the boys already had that covered as they managed to distract Sugilite by launching a barrage of stones her way.

"Wha-?" the fusion spun around after being struck with several rocks from behind to see Steven and Dipper throwing them at her from the cliff.

"Hey, Sugilite!" Dipper called out challengingly. "Bet you can't catch us!"

"You two?!" Sugilite scoffed, believing the two of them to be no match for her. "Please! I'll crush you like the bugs you are!"

Knowing that they had to act now, Dipper quickly took Steven by the hand and practically dragged him off the bluff just before Sugilite could smash it entirely. Running as fast as they could, the boys hurried down the hillside, already racing through the forest as the fusion began to peruse them with thunderous footsteps. Pearl gasped in sudden worry as she realized the danger they were in, and she didn't hesitate to give chase as well, her speed aiding her as she managed to pass between Sugilite's legs unnoticed to catch up with them.

"What are you two doing!?" the white Gem demanded as she joined stride alongside them.

"Don't worry!" Dipper reassured her a bit breathlessly as all three of them charged through the woods towards town. "I've got a plan!"

Pearl didn't outright protest as she decided to go along with whatever he had in mind, hoping that it would somehow work. All the while, Sugilite was starting to gain on them, her fury burning as hot as ever as she pursued them. "Get back here!" she shouted, punching a thicket of trees forward with the hopes of barricading their path. Unfortunately for them, this just so happened to work as the pile of trees landed only a few feet in front of them, stopping them right before they emerged out of the woods near the diner.

"Ha!" Sugilite laughed triumphantly as she smirked down at the trio, her lower set of arms ready to take them all out with one fell swing. "Nice try! But running away ain't gonna save you now!"

"O-okay…" Dipper said a bit nervously as they all backed up a bit, his plan suddenly falling apart at the seems. "We may need to come up with a new plan…"

"I think I may have something in mind…" Pearl said with a small smile as she looked over to the tall tree to her right. "You two stay down here and figure out a way to clear out these trees. I'll take care of Sugilite!"

Steven and Dipper nodded in agreement with this plan, both of them splitting up to divert the fusion's attention while at the same time hoping to push the trees away. Sugilite let out an infuriated roar, refusing to be tricked again as she slammed her fists down at the two of them, only to narrowly miss once more. Before she could try again, however, she was suddenly cut across the chest with a spear that came from above. With a bitter snarl, she glanced up to see that Pearl was precariously positioned atop one of the few trees that actually happened to be taller than Sugilite, balancing on its point on her tip-toes as she stood ready to leap. Sugilite took a swing at the tree, smashing it in half only after the white Gem had jumped from it, soaring high over the fusion's head. Not letting her get away this time, Sugilite quickly tossed her flail up at Pearl, only for it to miss its target and continue sailing high into the air, though the fusion was quick to disregard it as the white Gem landed squarely on the ground below.

"Is that all you got?!" Sugilite challenged with a sneer as she raised her foot to crush Pearl underneath it. "You think that's enough to beat-"

The fusion was abruptly cut off as her own flail suddenly fell from above, plummeting down to land hard and heavy on her head. The heavy shaking caused by this strike was enough to finally clear the path free of the fallen trees as they rolled out of the way, but that wasn't all. The brutal damage caused by the force of the heavy weapon was enough to damage Sugilite to the point that she could no longer remain together. She didn't even have time to let out any bitter remark or even a surprised gasp as she immediately fell apart, Garnet and Amethyst flying apart from each other as they fell to the ground, their fusion at least defeated and disbanded.

Mabel grinned brightly as her and Stan returned to Greasy's Diner to find that Lazy Susan was still beating the broken pie trolley, as the girl had been hoping for. After instructing Stan to forget everything she had taught him earlier, Mabel led the way to the waitress, confident that her new plan would succeed.

"Lazy Susan, listen," Mabel began, interrupting Susan's futile attempts to get the trolley spinning. "I know he may not be much too look at, but you're always fixing stuff here at the diner, so if you're into fixing stuff, look no further than my Grunkle Stan! Nothing needs more fixing than him! Also, women live longer than men, so your dating pool is smaller and you should really lower your standards."

Upon hearing this, Lazy Susan gave Stan an expectant look, not offering a response as she waited for him to speak first. "So, Lazy Susan… What do you say?" the conman asked with a small, hopeful grin.

The waitress was still silent as she looked him up and down with a rather neutral expression before simply walking away. Stan glanced down disappointment as Mabel gave him a pitied frown, both of them knowing that despite their earnest efforts, it had all been for naught. "Well, Grunkle Stan, I guess that's it…" Mabel sighed, hating to admit defeat as they two of them prepared to leave the diner. "I'm sorry…"

Stan was just about to reassure his niece before they were interrupted with a call from behind. "Hey!" Lazy Susan exclaimed, hurrying after them with a piece of paper and a plate of pie in her hand. "Here's my number!" she said with a coy grin, handing the conman the paper. "Why don't you give me a call sometime?"

"R-really?" Stan asked in surprise, his eyes wide as he looked down at the waitress's number.

"Really!" Susan nodded with a bright chuckle. "Also, here's some pie! For you!"

Stan gladly took the pie and took a seat at a nearby booth with Mable as Lazy Susan got back to work, but not before sending one last flirtatious wink his way. "EEEEEE!" Mabel squealed excitedly, amazed that her matchmaking had come to fruition. "We did it! When are you gonna call her? You wanna call now? I don't have a phone. Let's buy a phone! We can put it on a credit card! Let's get a credit card!"

"Mabel, please!" Stan said with a satisfied grin, unable to keep up with his enthusiastic niece who was talking a mile a minute in her elation. "Let a man enjoy his pie, huh?"

Mabel was about to start listing all of the things that Stan could talk about during his call with Lazy Susan, but before she could, the entire diner was suddenly rattled by a sudden earthquake apparently right outside. "Whoa!" Mabel exclaimed as soon as the spell of rumbling had ended. "What was that?!"

"Who cares?" Stan asked with little concern as he continued enjoying his pie.

"C'mon, Grunkle Stan!" the girl quickly got up from her seat, dragging her begrudging uncle away from the pie so they could see what had just happened. "Let's go check it out!"

"Amethyst! Garnet!" Pearl exclaimed with concern as she raced over to her fallen teammates, who were both lying semi-paralyzed and incapacitated on the ground in the aftermath of their defeat. Likewise, Dipper and Steven joined her, both of them relieved to see that Sugilite had been taken down and torn apart. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah…" Garnet moaned, clearly worn out as she remained unmoving on the ground. "Sugilite just overworked our bodies… It's… a little painful."

"Ugh… I've got a monster headache…" Amethyst muttered, every part of her body aching as she refused to move a single muscle.

Pearl, however, disregarded their pain as she expressed her joy at their return by tightly embracing them both, though she quickly released them upon hearing their unified agonized groans. "Whoops!" the white Gem laughed sheepishly as she allowed them both to rest and recover. "Sorry…"

"Pearl, you did it!" Steven congratulated enthusiastically.

"That's not entirely true…" Pearl said with a fond grin as she wrapped her arms around both boys' shoulders. "We did it."

Steven and Dipper more than readily accepted this affirmation, knowing that despite the manotaurs' claims that they would never achieve manliness, they had still found a way to prove their strength all the same. And unlike going against the Multi-Bear, this had been a challenge of true strength, one that, as far as both them and the white Gem were concerned, they had passed with flying colors.

"What the hey happened out here?" Stan asked as him and Mabel came from the diner to see the mess of fallen trees that had caused the rumbling they had felt from inside. "Oh," the conman noted gruffly upon seeing the Gems. "I should've guessed."

"Dipper!" Mabel greeted her brother with a cheerful grin, though it faded as she noticed how battle weary he looked. "Whoa! You're a mess, bro-bro! And so are you, Steven! What happened to you guys?"

"Sugilite got a little out of control, so we helped Pearl defeat her so she could split apart!" Steven explained with a proud grin.

"What?! You mean I missed her again?" Mabel asked with dismay. "Darn it! Oh well… Maybe I'll get to see her next time!"

"Hopefully not…" Pearl muttered to herself as she grinned knowingly at Garnet and Amethyst, who were still largely out of it.

"Well… Defeating a crazed Gem fusion wasn't the only thing we did today…" Dipper admitted a bit hesitantly.

"Oh really?" Mabel asked with interest. "What else happened? Fill me in on all the deets!"

"I'd rather not…"

"Good," Stan deadpanned, crossing his arms.

"It's just that these half-man half-bull humanoids were hanging out with us," Dipper began anyway, still clearly bothered by what had happened with the manotaurs earlier.

"Here we go…"

"But then they wanted us to do this really tough, horrible thing, but it just wasn't right. I was actually going to go through with it, but in the end, I decided not to."

"You were your own man and you stood up for yourself," Stan remarked rather out of nowhere, catching Dipper off guard quite a bit.

"Huh?" he asked in confusion, knowing that it wasn't like his gruff grunkle to be so oddly supportive.

"Well, you did what was right even if no one else agreed with you," the conman said with a hint of an almost proud smile. "Sounds pretty manly to me, but what do I know?"

Dipper smiled as he accepted what he knew to be something of a compliment, at least for Stan anyway. It was by this point, however, that Mabel had taken notice of something that her brother hadn't yet. "Wait a minute…" she mused, squinting scrutinizing at Dipper. "Do my eyes deceive me? Dipper, I think you have a chest hair!"

Upon hearing this, he immediately glanced down at his chest, pulling his shirt down a bit as he let out a gasp of pleasant surprise. "Oh my gosh! You're right!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "This is amazing! I really do! Take that, man tester! Take that, Pituitor!"

"Pituitor?" Stan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"This guy has a chest hair!" Dipper proclaimed proudly, pointing a thumb to himself with a broad grin. However, he only had a moment to celebrate this newfound sign of emerging masculinity before Mabel suddenly reached over and plucked the hair right from his chest.

"Scrap-bookertunity!" she blithely chimed as she plastered the hair in her scrap book, ignoring the look of horrified shock that her brother was giving her.

"Don't worry, kid," Stan reassured his nephew, placing a hand on his shoulder. "If you're anything like me, there's more where that came from!" With a wide smirk, the conman ripped his shirt open to reveal his chest covered in grayed hair, eliciting sounds of both amusement and disgust from the entire group.

"Ew…" Pearl recoiled in revulsion, though Amethyst, who was still lying on the ground, couldn't help but let out an entertained chuckle.

"Oh my gosh!" the purple Gem laughed as much as she could despite her sore body. "That is so gross! Awesome!"

Of course, everyone got a good laugh out of this, though it gradually faded as it became apparent that Stan had no replacement shrit. "Seriously though," Dipper said with a somewhat repulsed frown once the levity had passed. "That's disgusting.

"Pearl," Garnet spoke up in the midst of all this, catching the white Gem's attention. "We feel as though we should apologize," she said, speaking for herself and Amethyst, obviously. "We should have listened to you… You were right."

"Yeah," Pearl nodded, though she soon became emboldened as she realized the implications of what the Gem leader had just said. "Yeah, I was right, wasn't I?"

"Go Pearl!" Steven cheered enthusiastically, just as proud of the white Gem as she was of him.

"Come on!" Pearl declared rousingly to her listless teammates. "I feel great! Who's up for a mission?! Or…"

The white Gem continued on her cheerful rant as Amethyst and Garnet merely exchanged a passive glance, neither of them having the energy or really the right to derail her after Sugilite's rampage. "How long is she going to keep this up?" the purple Gem asked with a tired sigh, hating how Pearl often loved to filibuster like this.

"We deserve it," Garnet admitted, knowing that this was fair payback for how outlandishly their fusion had behaved. After all, if Sugilite had no mercy on Pearl, then it only made sense for Pearl to take no mercy on them. "Take it like a Gem."

Wooo, well this chapter certainly took it out of me, but like I said, it was a TON of fun to write, so I hope you all enjoyed! But for next time, I feel as though I need to explain how things are going to work. I might have mentioned before that this story is going to be split up into several "arcs", each one consisting of around ten chapters. Which means that next time, we're going to be reaching our first arc finale: Magic and Mystery! Its largely going to be an original chapter, though it will be inspired by a certain SU episode that is very close to my heart. Chances are I'll probably write it all at once, but split it up into two parts, since all of the other arc finales will be based on two part episodes of either show (like Ocean Gem/Mirror Gem, Dreamscapers/Gideon Rises, ect). So anyway, we'll have that to look forward to next time! But before I go, I'd like to do a little shameful self promotion! I've recently started a little side project, which is essentially a darker AUish retelling of the events of Weirdmageddon, entitled "At the End of Eveything"! I encourage you to go find it on my profile and give it a read, since I'll be working on it in between chapters of this! But for now I feel as though I've rambled on enough. And so please dont forget to leave a REVIEW! Until next time!