Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OC Nikki
22 Into the Bunker
Dipper and I were at Wendy's house watching a movie called 'Nearly Almost Dead But Not Quite'. We were all laying on Wendy's bed, I was in the middle holding the popcorn bowl with Wendy on my left, the both of us laying on our stomachs, with Dipper on my right, sitting up.
"What do we do, Chadley? I thought they were dead!" said Trixandra.
"Far worse, Trixandra! They're…Nearly Almost Dead But Not Quite!" said Chadley.
Trixandra screams.
"Man, these movies are a lot less scary when you actually fought real zombies." Said Dipper.
"They're slow! Just power-walk away from them!" said Wendy.
"How much you want to bet that guy dies first?" Dipper asked as he nudged Wendy with his elbow.
"Aah! My face is being eaten a lot!" Chadley says as a zombie starts to bite him.
The three of us laugh.
"Chadley ain't pretty no more." Said Wendy.
Wendy's phone suddenly buzzes in her pocket.
"One second." Wendy said as she grabbed her phone, frowning after reading the message "Ugh, another text from Robbie!"
"Oh ho, yeah! Robbie. How's, uh, how's all that goin'?" asked Dipper.
"Ugh, I'm over him, I just wish he was over me! Just look at these texts. Winky frown? What does that even mean?" Wendy asked as she showed us her phone.
"And you're not…not like, seeing any other guys or…" Dipper said with a cough.
"Of course I am, meet my new boyfriend, dude." Wendy said as she hugged a walrus plush, making it squeak.
Dipper and I both laugh, though Dipper's laugh sounded nervous.
"Right, right. So, hoo, so you know, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to, I mean, if, if you and me whatever, I mean if, maybe you…" Dipper rambled as Wendy stared at him. "…wanted to join me, Nikki, and Mabel on this mystery hunt tomorrow. Conspiracy stuff and all that? That's all."
"Yeah, dude. I love doing junk with friends. Yo Chadley, watch out!" Wendy yelled at the tv.
We all laughed, though Dipper's laugh sounded sad.
"Yeah, that's all we are." Dipper said as he pulled a piece of paper from his vest, looking at it for a moment before crumpling it up "That's all we'll ever be." He lays back on the bed "Friends."
I look back at him worriedly.
"Dude, you're laying on my bra." Said Wendy.
Dipper screamed.
The next day, Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and I made our way to the area Dipper and I had found the Journal, leaving Pikachu and Stitch back at the Shack to distract Grunkle Stan in case he came looking for us.
"Thank you all for coming." Dipper said as he tapped his pen against a lantern.
"Hey, when there's a mystery, you can count on your sister…-Ey." Said Mabel.
"That's an amazing rhyme. When you want some, good…when when you need a Soos, you…oh oh, gosh, I don't know." Said Soos.
"We're here to solve the number one mystery in Gravity falls; who wrote this Journal?!" Dipper asked as I held out the Journal "Thirty years ago the Author vanished without a trace. But according to this new clue…" Dipper trailed off as he searched through his vest, not finding what he was looking for.
"Don't need that blacklight anymore bro." I said.
"Why?" asked Dipper.
"This." I said, reaching up to my glasses to flip a tiny hidden switch on the lenses, causing a purple beam of light to come from one of the corners on the edge of my glasses.
"Whoah!" Mabel and Soos said in wonder.
"I'm glad you finally got that to work, but I thought you were making a tiny flashlight in your glasses?" asked Dipper.
"I did, I just decided to add a blacklight selection as well after finding out about the invisible ink." I said with a shrug.
"Good thinking baby sis!" Dipper said, ruffling my hair before turning back to Mabel and Soos "According to this new clue, we may have found his secret hiding place. We find that Author, we learn the answers to everything. We just need to figure out a way to get down there."
"Chop it down, dudes!" Wendy called out as she pulled up next to us on her bike.
"Wendy!" said Mabel.
"Oh, hey! You came." Said Dipper.
"Dude, I'm so stoked about this. I've been wanting to go adventuring with you guys. Sure beats picking up after my dad at home. Thanks for the invite, man!" Wendy said before running towards the tree.
"Of course, anytime you wanna…I, we're always…us." Said Dipper.
"Uh oh! Inviting Wendy on our mission? Me thinks there's romance afoot!" said Mabel.
"No, look Mabel I've thought this through and I'm over Wendy. I've looked at it from every angle, and that thing was going nowhere. I know what matters to me now, and it's finding the Author of this Journal." Said Dipper.
"Hah! YOU'RE over Wendy?! Allow me to put on my 'skepticals'. Bwhoop!" Mabel said as she used her hands to make a glasses shape around her eyes.
"I've moved on, Mabel. You should too." Dipper said as he walked towards Soos and Wendy.
"Skepticals…" said Mabel.
"Hey, is it just me, or does that branch kinda look like a lever?" asked Wendy.
"Huh, yeah. But how do we get up there…? It seems we'd need like a ladder, or like, ladder shoes…yeah, ladder shoes. I'll get Soos to draw up a prototype." Said Dipper.
As Dipper was talking, Wendy used her belt to climb up the tree to the branch and took out her ax once she got to it.
"Boosh." Wendy said after hitting the branch with her ax.
"Wow!" we all said in wonder, staring up at her.
"Oh yeah, my dad used to make me compete in these lumberjack games when I was a kid. Guess I kinda ruled at it." Said Wendy.
Suddenly, the tree started to shake.
"Whoa whoa, what is that!?" Wendy asked before the shaking caused her to fall off the tree, thankfully landing on a bush at the bottom.
The tree started sinking into the ground, we pulled Wendy back when she started sinking down with it, when it stopped, we looked down into the hole as what looked like stairs appeared along the edge, a door opening in the trunk of the tree.
"Alright guys, this is it. Remember, whatever happens down there, we tell no one." Said Dipper.
I nodded.
Mabel gave a thumbs up.
Soos turned his hat backwards.
Wendy zips her lips and flicks her hand away like she was throwing away the key.
"Now, who wants to go first?" Dipper asked as he held up his lantern.
I start to walk past him, but he grabs my jacket and pulls me back.
"Not you!" Dipper said as I laughed at him.
We start walking down the stairs, Dipper going first followed by me, Wendy, and Soos with Mabel at the end.
We get to a room that was stocked like a shelter.
"Whoa!" we all said.
"Dude!" said Soos.
"This is so, stupid cool!" said Wendy.
"It's like a fallout shelter or something. It must've belonged to the Author." Dipper said as we walked in and looked around.
"This is going over my bed." Wendy said as she pulled the fallout shelter sign off the wall.
Mabel stuck her face in a barrel, and when she pulled back, her face was covered in caterpillars.
"Haha! My face feels fuzzy!" Mabel laughed.
"This is incredible! It's like he was preparing for a disaster. But what kinda disaster would need supplies for over sixty year?" Dipper asked as he looked at a shelve stocked with boxes, each one with a different year on the front, one even labeled 2070.
I looked over as Soos opened a locker that was filled with weapons.
"Oh my gosh! A Smez dispenser! I remember these things. What's that, yes I will have some of your old-timey face food." Soos said before eating a piece of candy from the dispenser "Ew, dusty!" Soos said before eating a second piece.
"Wait guys, I think this can was opened recently." Dipper said, picking up an empty bean can.
"The Author might still be alive, down here!" said Soos.
"Wait a minute…" Wendy said as she walked over and pulled an old map off the wall, revealing a tunnel "I think I know where he might have gone…"
"Whoa!" we all said before crawling through the tunnel.
"Whoa! Was this place built in the past or the future?" Wendy asked as we got to a metal room with different symbols on the walls, floor, and ceiling.
"Yeah, this room is way creepy." Said Soos.
"Not as creepy as Dipper's internet history! Heyo!" Mabel said as she shoved Dipper, causing him to stumble forward.
When he stopped, the square his foot landed on went down and the door we came through closed and locked as the symbols in the room all glowed red.
A siren started to go off as the squares around the room started closing in on us.
"What's goin' on dudes?" asked Soos.
We backed up in the middle of the room and started screaming, when Mabel suddenly stopped and laughed.
"Haha, it's hard to be scared with caterpillars on your face." Mabel said before panicking again "wall things! Crazy wall things happening right now!"
Wendy tried to push the squares back in, but it didn't work.
"It won't stop!" said Wendy.
"Dipper! What do we do?!" Mabel yells.
"Uh uh! Come on!" Dipper said as he flipped through the Journal while the square we were standing on started going up.
"Wait! There!" I said as he got to a page that had the same symbols from the room, I turned the blacklight on and it illuminated four of the symbols with the numbers 1-4.
"Find these four symbols! Quick! Everybody step on one!" Dipper said as he showed the others.
"One!" Soos said as he pushes one.
"Two!" Wendy said as she punches one.
"Three!" Mabel said as she jumps and slaps one.
Dipper and I look around for the fourth before I spotted it.
"Dipper! Up there!" I said, pointing towards it.
Dipper quickly hands me the journal before climbing the squares and pushes the symbol just before it was covered by another square.
"Four!" said Dipper.
We look around as the squares are still closing in on us when a door suddenly opens.
"Run for it!" Mabel said as she pointed at the door.
Mabel picked me up and we all ran out, Dipper nearly not making it, getting his vest stuck and pulled off of him as the squares closed up in the doorway.
We all cheered and got up.
"Yes! Yes! That was, huh, that was nuts! You ruled back there, man!" Wendy said as she punched Dipper's shoulder.
"Haha, thanks." Dipper said as he rubbed his arm.
"Get a load of this crazy Surveillance Room." Wendy said as we all started looking around the room.
"Check it out dudes!" Soos said as he put beakers in front of his eyes and started making a funny noise.
"Soos, Soos…that is hilarious." Wendy said as I walked over next to her.
"Hey bro, you forgot your vest." Mabel said as she walked over to get Dipper's vest unstuck from between the squares, as she got it out a paper fell out of the inner pocket "What the…?" she said before picking it up and started reading it to herself before getting excited and walking over to were Dipper was standing. "Hey. Dipper! Look what I found…" Mabel said as she showed Dipper the paper.
"What are you…? Give me that!" Dipper said as he took the paper from her.
They started whispering to each other, and I just rolled my eyes at them with a smile before looking around and noticing a door that was on the other end from where we came in.
I tried to reach for the doorknob and groaned in frustration as I couldn't reach it.
I looked up as I felt someone step right behind me and saw Wendy looking down at me.
"Need some help there Squirt?" asked Wendy.
"Yes please! I hate being so little sometimes." I said as Wendy opened the door.
"Just be patient, Squirt, and I bet you'll start getting taller before you know it." Wendy said as I stepped through the door into what looked like a closet.
I hummed and looked around the room, trying to figure out why there wasn't anything in here as there were at least other small things in the other room while this one was completely empty.
"Dude! Dipper, you gotta check out this weird metal closet." Wendy said before stepping in next to me and saying in a robot voice "I am a robot, I have a metal closet."
"Coming!" Dipper said as I laughed a little.
Dipper whispered something to Mabel before walking over to us. Mabel ran up behind him and stopped him just as he got to the door by wrapping her arms around him.
"Brother, whatever happens I just want you to know something…this is for your own good." Said Mabel.
"What?" Dipper asked before Mabel shoved him in with us, where he landed face first on the floor right at Wendy's feet, and closed the door.
"…Seriously?" I ask as I turned the flashlight in my glasses on.
"What the-?" Dipper asked as he looked up and saw Wendy right in front of him before panicking and turning around to pound on the door and yell "MABEL! Let us out!"
"Oh, I'll let you out Dipper, as soon as you tell Wendy that thing you've been wanting to tell her! You'll thank me for this later!" said Mabel.
"What is she talking about?" asked Wendy.
"Nothing! Mabel's just been eating raw sugar packets again." Said Dipper.
"Om nom…that's besides the point!" said Mabel.
"Let me out RIGHT NOW!" Dipper yelled as he pounded on the door.
"Can we get a little more light in here? My flashlight isn't enough." I said as I looked around.
"Yeah! Where are the lights?" asked Wendy.
I looked up and noticed a cord hanging from the ceiling, I tugged on Wendy's pants to get her attention, and pointed at the cord when she looked down.
She looked up and pulled it, when she did, water started raining down on us, causing us to scream, when it stopped, there was a blast of hot air that pushed us together, knocking Wendy's hat off and turning Dipper's around.
A red light started flashing with a buzzing noise, over the door, a sign flashing the light said 'Decontamination Complete' before a door under it, which was opposite the one we came through opened, revealing another room that had a bunch of broken machines and a broken cage inside, as well as a bunch of holes in the wall.
"Whoa! A hidden lab! Maybe the Author did experiments down here." Dipper said as we walked into the room.
"Huh. What do you think dug all these tunnels?" asked Wendy.
"Let's hope we don't find out." Said Dipper.
We suddenly hear growling coming from one of the tunnels and a shadow coming closer.
We screamed and ran back for the door and started pounding on it.
"Mabel, open up, for real! There's a monster in here!" Dipper screamed.
"Ha, nice try! The only monsters are your own inner demons, Dipper!" said Mabel.
"That is so wise." Said Soos.
"Mabel! Now is not the time!" I yelled as we heard the monster getting closer.
"Sorry baby sister! I can't even let you out until Dipper tells Wendy!" said Mabel.
"Dipper, just say whatever Mabel wants you to say, so she'll let us outta here!" said Wendy.
"Come on Dipper! Now's the time, bro!" Mabel yelled.
"Wendy, I—I—I'm gonna find another way out!" Dipper said as he picked me up with one arm and grabbed Wendy's hand with his free one and started running down one of the tunnels.
"Wait, what? Dude, where are we going?" asked Wendy.
They kept running as we heard the monster following us, before they were forced to stop as we reached a dead end.
"What do we do?" asked Wendy.
"I don't know!" Dipper said as we saw the shadow of the monster get bigger on the wall.
We suddenly see a human shadow jump onto the monsters back before falling off of it and getting back up, grabbing the monster's tongue and ripping it out, making the monster scream and run away.
"Back, back you heinous beast!" a man yelled before walking towards us "I just ripped out a monster's tongue." The man said as he threw the tongue down in front of us.
"It's, it's you!" said Dipper.
"Hurry now, I scared it off, but it'll regenerate." The man said as he led us through the tunnel "I wasn't expecting guests. I've been down here for a very long time. Years! Weeks, maybe! I miss orange juice."
"You don't understand, you're the guy I've been looking for!" Dipper said excitedly.
"He's the guy?" asked Wendy.
"Wendy, he-it's the guy!" said Dipper.
"The guy?" the man asked.
"I've got like a gillion questions! Why did you write the Journals? Who was after you? Why did you build this bunker?" asked Dipper.
"Heh. My boy I'd love to discuss this in time. But we have more pressing matters. It's one of my experiments, a shape shifter. Able to take the form of anyone or anything it sees. It broke free from a cage of solid steel! I've gone half crazy trying to catch the creature alone. But now you're here!" will you help me catch it?" the man asked as he kneeled down in front of Dipper, grasped Dipper's shoulder, and lifted his goggles to look him in the eye and Dipper smiles in excitement.
The man let go of Dipper's shoulder and he glanced at me…when his hands suddenly darted out and grabbed my wrists, pulling me closer and looked intently at them.
"Interesting hands you have there, my girl, do you know of someone who has the same? Somebody perhaps…" he leaned closer and seemed to…sniff "…related to you?" he asked his voice gaining a bit of a growl to it as his grip tightened.
"Um…not that I know of sir…?" I said hesitantly and a little scared as I tried to pull out of his grip, wincing as he squeezed harder.
He hummed for a moment, his eyes narrowing, before abruptly letting go, making me stumble back into Dipper who caught me, and stood up.
"Well, let me show you to where I've been staying and we can plan to capture the creature!" the man said as he walked toward one of the other tunnels, Wendy followed but I stopped Dipper as he started to walk past me.
"Dipper…I don't think he's the Author…" I whispered to him.
"What? C'mon Nikki, he has to be! Who else would be down here this whole time?" asked Dipper.
"It's just…" I said, hesitating before continuing "I just have a feeling he isn't…and something just feels wrong!"
"It's ok Nikki, you're probably just nervous about meeting new people after…you know…" Dipper said hesitantly, wincing as I flinched back, a hurt look on my face as I looked down at the floor, knowing I still felt extremely guilty about that, he quickly kneeled down and gently grabbed my shoulders "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned…Him." Dipper said before being interrupted.
"Hey! You guys comin' or what!?" Wendy asked from where she was standing next to the man at one of the tunnels.
Dipper turned back to me and looked sad at the tears falling down my face, he sighed sadly as he wiped them away.
"Look…how about I talk to him and you'll see he really is the Author, there's no way anyone else could be down here." Said Dipper.
I looked back up at him for a moment before glancing at the man for a second, still getting a bad feeling from him, then looking back at Dipper, then giving a quiet sigh.
"Ok." I said quietly.
Dipper gave me a quick hug before standing back up and taking my hand and took us over to where Wendy and the man were waiting.
The man led us through the tunnel to the place he had been staying this whole time a bunch of empty cans all over the place on the floor.
"Come in, come in! I apologize for the state of things! I don't get many non mole-people visitors. Now the beast must have some weakness we can exploit. I just wish I had my research on me. But alas, I lost my Journals so many years ago." Said the man.
"Did you say Journals?" asked Wendy.
"Dude! My sister and I found one of them! It's how we tracked you down here." Dipper reached towards my satchel before flinching away as he and I heard a low growling noise, I glanced down and saw Kero glairing towards Dipper, probably angry at him for earlier "Uh…Nikki, show him!" Dipper said, trying to keep the excitement still in his voice to try and not put any attention on Kero hiding in my bag.
I hesitated, glancing at the man and back at Dipper before sighing and pulling the Journal out and holding it in front of me.
"What? Could it be?" the man asked as he takes the Journal from me "My boy! I can't express my gratitude! Oh yes, after all these years…" he said as he turned his back to us while flipping through the Journal. "Yes, yes. It's all here."
"Wendy! Isn't it amazing we're actually meeting the real Author?" Dipper asked as Wendy was looking closely at one of the cans on the floor.
Wendy suddenly gasped.
"Guys! Look!" Wendy said as she showed us the can, it was an empty can of 'Baron Num Nums High Flyin' Beans'…and it had a picture of the man who was standing right in front of us.
Dipper paled and glanced down at me before gently pushing me closer to Wendy then turned and walked to the man.
"Uhh, you know what? We should probably get going. Can I have my sister's Journal back?" asked Dipper.
The man's head turned all the way around without moving his body.
"You're not going anywhere." The man said in a deep voice.
He started crawling up the wall, his neck stretching, when he reached the ceiling, four insect like legs grew from his sides. He roared at us as his eyes started glowing.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" we all screamed.
The man suddenly changed into a pale looking weirdly shaped monster with red eyes, the Shape Shifter.
"How do you like my true form? Go on, admit it, you like it!" said the Shape Shifter.
"You! What did you do to the real Author?!" asked Dipper.
"You'll likely never find him. That six-fingered nerd hasn't been himself in thirty years! But I do thank you for bringing me his Journal. He used to write it while I was in my cage. So many wonderful forms to take!" the Shape Shifter said before flipping through the Journal and changing into different forms, the Gremloblin, a gnome, the Hide Behind, laughing the whole time.
"…Six-fingered…" I whispered to myself, glancing at my hands, remembering what the Shape Shifter had said before as Dipper turned to Wendy.
"We've gotta get that Journal back!" Dipper whispered.
"Hey body snatcher! Snatch this!" Wendy yelled as she threw the can at him.
"Nikki don't!" Dipper yelled as I started to run towards the Shape Shifter to catch the Journal when he dropped it.
The Shape Shifter dodged the can and turned into some kind of frog monster and shot his tongue out towards me and I skidded to a stop.
"NO!" Dipper screamed.
Right before the tongue could hit me, a blue-white-green dome formed around me, which the tongue got stuck on.
I narrowed my eyes and pulled the Clow Key off my necklace and changing it to the Sealing Wand as I pulled out a card, tapping it and activating the Shot card which made bolts of energy shoot towards the Shape Shifter as I aimed the Sealing Wand at him.
The bolts hit him, causing him to fall to the ground and drop the Journal.
"Grab it!" I yelled as the dome formed into a card called 'The Shield' and floated in front of me while Kero flew out of the satchel and grabbed the Journal and flew back towards me.
I grabbed the card, and the Journal as Kero reached me at the same time, and turned and ran back towards Dipper and Wendy, Kero flying right next to me.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Wendy yelled as I ran past them, grabbing Dipper's hand, who grabbed Wendy's hand right after, and pulled them after me down the tunnel.
"Ask later! Run now!" I yelled.
We let go of each others hands and ran faster as we heard the Shape Shifter get up and start running after us.
"DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" Dipper screamed at me as we ran.
"No promises!" I said as I pulled out the Jump card and activated it in order to keep up with them.
"What are you doing!? Just use your Dash Card!" Dipper yelled.
"I would be too fast! I'm not leaving you guys behind!" I yelled back.
Dipper was about to, no doubt, yell back at me, but stopped as we heard the monster get closer.
We eventually came to a fork in the tunnels and Wendy, Kero, and I went down one as Dipper threw his flashlight down the other before following us, we hid behind the corner and watched as the Shape Shifter rolled down that tunnel, following the light.
We ran down the tunnel we were in and crashed into Soos and Mabel.
"Dipper, Nikki, Wendy!" Mabel said excitedly before looking at Kero floating next to me "…and Kero?" Mabel asked in confusion.
"Mabel, Soos! Wait!" Dipper said before holding his arms in front of Wendy and I and backing us up into the tunnel "Careful! How do we know they're not the Shape Shifter?" Dipper asked in suspicion.
"Maybe I am! Mabel, inspect my shape!" Soos says as he pulls up his shirt.
"Poke!" Mabel said as she poked Soos' stomach making him laugh.
"Do that again!" said Soos.
"Poke!" Mabel said as she poked Soos' stomach again, making him laugh a second time.
"Even better the second time!" said Soos.
"It's definitely them." Dipper said before gasping and kneeling down and looking at Wendy's knee, where she had a hole in the knee of her pants, showing her knee was scraped up "Oh my gosh, Wendy, you're bleeding!"
"It's cool, it's cool. It's just blood man; don't freak out." Wendy said as she kneeled down next to him.
"What happened?" asked Mabel.
"We got attacked by the Shape Shifter. He broke out of his cage, pretended to be the Author, and wants Nikki's Journal." Wendy said as she took off her shirt and ripped the sleeve off to wrap it around her injured knee.
"Imagine if he escapes to the town! He can transform into anything! We could never trust anyone ever again!" said Dipper.
"What do we do?!" asked Mabel.
"Well, he took us into his home, tricked us, and tried to destroy us. I say we return the favor.
We get everything ready, and Kero and I wait with Wendy and Soos for Dipper and Mabel to lure the Shape Shifter to us.
We all tense up as we hear screams and roars coming from the tunnel in front of us.
We see Dipper and Mabel turn a corner with the Shape Shifter right behind them, looking like Dipper and Mabel formed together into a horrifying monster.
"…Okay that's going to haunt my nightmares for a while!" I said with wide eyes.
"Guys, he's coming! He's coming! NOW, NOW, NOW, NOW!" Dipper screamed as he and Mabel reached us and handed the Journal back to me, which I clutched to my chest with both arms in order to keep it safe.
"It's not working, dude!" Soos said as he and Wendy turned the valve.
The Shape Shifter reached us and his tongue lashed out, wrapping around both the Journal and me and started pulling.
"HEY, LET GO!" Dipper yelled as he ran forward and grabbed me.
"You leave her alone!" Wendy yelled as she let go of the valve and grabbed me as well.
The Shape Shifter pulled harder and pulled Wendy and I towards him as Dipper had lost his grip.
"Nikki! Wendy!" Dipper yelled.
When we got to the Shape Shifter, Wendy jumped on top of him and aimed her axe to hit him.
Soos finally got the water valve to work and water burst out of it, hitting the three of us and causing Wendy to drop her axe as the water knocked us back.
As the water got higher, we lost sight of everyone else.
I looked up as the Shape Shifter roared and saw that Kero had flew up to him and hit him in the eye, which caused him to let go of me and gave Wendy the chance to grab me and get farther from him and into the water.
As we got deeper in the water I heard Wendy grunt and felt her grip loosen slightly and looked to see we had hit a rock which knocked her out.
I quickly activated the Wave card and made the water go faster which made it drain faster until it was all gone, leaving Wendy and I on the tunnel floor.
I quickly turn to Wendy and started shaking her, trying to wake her up.
"Wendy!" I called out worriedly as I shook her.
She suddenly started coughing and I sighed in relief as she sat up.
"Oh man…" Wendy said before gasping and looking down at me and pulling me closer "You alright!"
"I'm okay Wendy." I said quietly and she sighed in relief as she pulled me into a hug.
We looked up as we saw Kero fly closer to us.
"Your little friend packs a mean punch there Squirt." Wendy said to me and Kero crosses his arms proudly.
Wendy slowly gets up while keeping me in her arms.
"We better get you back to Dipper and Mabel, they're probably worried sick about you right now!" Wendy said and I hummed in agreement.
We went down the tunnel until we eventually heard a voice.
"It's Dipper!" I say excitedly as Wendy started walking faster towards the voice.
We get to the end of the tunnel and found Dipper…kneeling over Wendy!?
"Wendy! No, no, no-no-no! Can you hear me? Oh, please be okay, please be okay! Oh no, oh no! this is all my fault! If I had told you when we were in the closet we wouldn't be in this mess. But I was too scared and now you could be hurt or worse, and I never even got to tell you I'm, like—in love with you, Wendy!" Dipper said as he started to cry and put his hands over his eyes.
I stared wide eyed at him, I look towards Wendy to see her staring at Dipper, she glanced down at me and I looked away awkwardly.
"Uh, Dipper?" said Wendy.
"Wha—wha—W—Wendy?! Nikki?!" Dipper asked as he looked back at us and stood up "W-Wait, then who's…?"
The Shape Shifter gets up and growls at us before crawling towards us.
"LOOK OUT!" Dipper yelled.
"Give me back that Journal!" the Shape Shifter yelled in Wendy's voice as he got closer.
Wendy snatched the Journal from me and quickly pushed me to the side just before the Shape Shifter reached us and held it out of his reach.
"Never!" said Wendy.
The Shape Shifter pushes Wendy to the ground and reached for the Journal.
"Get off me!" Wendy yelled as she kicked the Shape Shifter away.
I grab Kero and run towards Dipper and we watched as the two Wendy's fought, not sure which one was which anymore.
I looked over at Dipper as he picked up Wendy's axe then approached the two Wendy's.
"Give it back; it belongs to Nikki!" one Wendy said before they both turned towards Dipper "Hit her with the axe!"
"Don't listen to her, Dipper!" said the other Wendy.
"She's the Shape Shifter!" said the first Wendy.
"Uh, uh, I don't know who's who!" Dipper said before glancing back at me and I could only shake my head, I couldn't tell which one was which anymore with so much going on, he turned back to the two Wendy's and said "Give me a sign!"
One Wendy smiled and winked while the other zipped her lips and threw away the key.
Dipper and I both gasp at the same time before he ran up and swung the axe at the Wendy who winked, making her bleed green blood.
The Shape Shifter roared and changed back to his true form.
One of the tubes behind the Shape Shifter flashed 'READY' in green as he pulled the axe out of his chest.
"Push him in!" Dipper yelled.
We all ran up to the Shape Shifter and pushed him into the tube, the door closed and the tube begins freezing him.
"No! Let me ouuuut!" the Shape Shifter yelled as he changed into different monsters but was unable to break free.
"Let's get out of here, dudes." Said Soos.
We turned and started walking towards the exit.
We stop and turn as we hear the Shape Shifter laugh evilly.
We gasp as the Shape Shifter pressed his face into the glass.
"You think you're so clever don't you, Dipper? But you have no idea what you're up against. You will never find the Author. If you keep digging, you'll meet a fate worse than you can imagine. And this will be the last form you ever take!" the Shape Shifter says before transforming into Dipper and screaming in a horrifying pose before freezing completely.
"Ha, ha, good luck sleepin' tonight!" said Soos.
I whimper a little, unable to look away from the horrifying sight.
Dipper gasped and quickly blocked my view.
"It's okay! That's not me! I'm right here! Nothing's gonna happen!" Dipper said quickly but gently as he picked me up and hugged me.
I could only press closer and clutch at his vest.
"Let's get outta here." Dipper said quietly and we walk out.
We make it back outside and watch as the metal tree went back to its original position.
"Dude, I think I'm kind of adventured out for a while. My face hurts from doing this all day." Soos said as he made a screaming face.
"Yeah, but you gotta admit we're all total heroes." Said Mabel.
"Hey, who wants to get some heroes' breakfast, huh?" Soos asked as he put Mabel on his shoulders.
"Syrup on cereal!" Mabel cheered.
"Mabel, you're a visionary!" Soos said as he walked off.
"Look, Wendy, about earlier. In the heat of the moment, I might have said some dumb things, and can't we pretend none of that ever happened? Please?" asked Dipper.
"Dude, dude, it's okay. I always kinda knew." Wendy said as she crouched down and grabbed his shoulder.
"Wait, you did?" asked Dipper.
"Yeah man, I mean you think I can't here that stuff you're constantly whispering under your breath?" Wendy asked with a chuckle.
"Oh man!" Dipper said with a groan and covered his eyes as he backed up to sit on a log.
Wendy and followed and sat on either side of him.
"Listen Dipper, I'm like, super flattered, but…I'm too old for you. I mean, you know that, right?" asked Wendy.
"Mabel said confessing would make me feel better." Said Dipper.
"Well, how do you feel?" asked Wendy.
"Anxious. Scared. Kinda itchy." Dipper said as he scratched his arm.
"Dude, don't be itchy man. Let me tell you somethin'. This summer was super boring until you showed up. I have more fun with you than like practically anybody else. And if you ever stopped being my friend,…I would, like, throw myself into the Bottomless Pit!" said Wendy.
"So things won't be too, awkward, now?" asked Dipper.
"I just wrestled myself, dude. That was awkward. If you can handle that monster, you can handle a little awkwardness." Said Wendy.
"Friends?" asked Dipper.
"Yeah, dude! Friends!" Wendy said as she shoved Dipper off the log.
They both laughed before Wendy helped Dipper back onto the log.
"Oh, and hey Dipper? See you for movie night tomorrow. Your place this time, okay?" Wendy asked before she rode off on her bike.
"Sooo? How did it go?" Mabel asked as she sat next to me.
"Wha—Wh—What did you hear?" asked Dipper.
"Everything! All the time!" said Mabel.
"I'M NOT HERE!" Soos yelled from the bushes behind us, making me laugh a little.
"Mabel, how can everything be so amazing and so terrible all at the same time?" asked Dipper.
"I'm so sorry for being so pushy Dipper. If it's any consolation, I'm already working on a list of your potential rebound crushes." Mabel said as she reached around me to grab Dipper's shoulders.
"Thanks Mabel. Whoa!" Dipper said as Soos sat on the other side of Mabel, making the log lift up for a moment.
"I'm still bummed we're no closer to finding the Author guy. At least I got his science-y coat and briefcase." Soos said as he held out said briefcase, only for it to open and reveal it was actually a laptop. "Whoa! What the?"
"Soos, that's not a briefcase, that's a laptop!" said Dipper.
"And a really busted up one too." Said Mabel.
"I bet I could get this thing fixed up in a few days. It's gonna take a lotta duct tape." Said Soos.
"This could be our next clue!" said Dipper.
The next night, Dipper, Wendy, and I were all in the armchair with some popcorn, watching the tv.
"Is it just me or does Gravity Falls TV only have the worst movies?" asked Dipper.
"You're watching the Gravity Falls Bargain Movie Showcase. Coming up next, 'The Widdlest Wampire', 'The Planet People of Planet Planet!', 'Help! My Mummy's a Werewolf!', 'Attack of the Exclamation Points!', 'The Man with no Taste', 'Ghost Turtle', 'Help! My Mummy's a Werewolf 2: This Again!'." Said the tv announcer.
"You want to never watch this channel again?" asked Dipper.