Chapter 8: Into the Bunker Part 1

As stated in the AN at the ending of the previous chapter, I dedicate this chapter and the previous one to a nanny who was like a second mother to me.

Her life was ended to soon due to COVID-19.

May she rest in peace

Bill: No, Danny and Wendy did not watch the Will Smith version of The Wild Wild West. They saw a sort of remake of it. Basically the 1960s TV show that The Wild Wild West is based on is real in the Many Dates multiverse.


It was the day after Sam returned and the three friends of Danny, Sam, and Tucker were watching a zombie movie at Tucker's place.

"I'm gonna bet that guy is gonna be killed next." Danny said, referring to the movie referring to the character who obviously a type of red shirt.

Then the three friends, except for Sam, winched in shock as the guy in the movie was mauled by the zombies.

"You know, the horror factor is really toned down once you have fought actual zombies." Tucker said.

"I know right." Danny said.

Sam eyed them and said, "What do you mean fighting actual zombies?"

"During the time me and Jazz visited Gravity Falls to meet up with Danny and Wendy, we fought literal zombies." Tucker explained, "It was pretty awesome, especially when Danny finished them off with his ghostly wail."

"Really?" Sam questioned.

"Come on Sam.", Danny said, "We deal with ghosts pretty much every day, plus we live in a universe with supers, mutants, and aliens."

Sam simply shrugged and asked, "And where did those zombies come from?"

"That. Ohh, a friend of Wendy was trying to impress some government agents and used some journal that he had to accidentally raise the dead." Danny explained.

Sam just simply shrugged again and said, "Okay then."

It was then that Danny received a text on his phone.

"Who is it?" Tucker asked.

"It's Wendy." Danny answered, "She inviting me over for something she referred to as a mystery hunt with her friends tomorrow."

"Say Danny, if you say yes can me and Tucker come along?" Sam asked.

"Sure why not. I'm sure that Wendy would be excited to see you guys again." Danny said, oblivious that Sam was using the opportunity to spy on Wendy, for Danny's own 'safety' of course.

Tucker just glared at Sam, not liking what he was thinking Sam was planning to do.

"Tucker is something wrong?" Danny asked.

"Nothing Danny." Tucker responded, "Nothing at all."

Yesterday, Sam and Tucker had spied on Danny and Wendy after the couple had left the park and had followed them for the rest of their date. Nothing happened during the spying, or as Sam would like call it, scouting. She also tired to find any dirt on Wendy, which Sam found nothing on. Though when Sam found out that Wendy was from a family of lumberjacks, Sam being the eco-lover that she was, saw this as one strike in her mind.

Tucker was against his best friend spying on his other best friend's girlfriend, since he saw nothing wrong with Wendy. But Sam payed him a $100 to keep him quiet, which worked for now.

"Anyway, I'm glad that my two best friends and my girlfriend are all going to hang out together tomorrow." Danny said.

Sam's right eye slightly twitched at the sound of Danny saying 'my girlfriend'.

So Danny texted Wendy back and then decided to continue watching the movie with his two best friends, unaware of the jealously that Sam had towards his girlfriend.


The next day in Gravity Falls and Stan Pines was overseeing another reconstruction of the Mystery Shack, this time from the damage done by the Zombie hoard.

"Hey, easy with that, it's genuine plastic!" Stan yelled at the workers he hired so he can reopen the Shack as quickly as possible, "And repave the cracks in the parking lot while you're at it! I don't want my car falling into China!"

The foreman then walked up to Stan and asked, "Mr. Pines, what exactly caused all this damage? I need to write a report."

"Uhhhh, big woodpecker." Stan answered as the gift shop sign fell down, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention given what's down in the basement.

Stan then gave the foreman a couple hundred bucks and said, "Keep the change."

Stan then looked at the foreman and said, "I'm winking under my eye patch."

The foreman then said, "Works for…"

But he was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the Spector Speeder.

"Ahhh… Aliens!", the foreman yelled, "Call the Justice League or the Avengers!"

The rest of the workers ran away from what they perceived as an alien spacecraft.

Stan, who was annoyed, said, "What the?"

The Spector Speeder landed and the trio of friends left the vehicle.

"What the Danny, his geeky friend, and uhhh… who is this?" Stan said.

"This Sam Manson, my other best friend." Danny said.

Sam just simply nodded at Stan, while Tucker simply glared at Stan for not remembering his name.

While Stan said, "Whatever. What's this sci-fi contraption by the way?"

"The Spector Speeder, my parents build it." Danny explained.

"Who do your parents work for, Tony Stark?" Stan asked.

"No, they're at home inventors." Danny said, which is all he wanted to say about them.

"Say, when the Mystery Shack reopens, maybe you can tell your parents about me and maybe we can come to some kind of partnership." Stan said, "What do ya say?"

"No.", Danny said, "My parents have more time to spend then waste it with you."

Sam just was a little confused. Last night, besides trying to find dirt on Wendy, she also tired find dirt on her co-workers as well, in which she found nothing incriminating on them.

Well except for Stan that is, who had been arrested for a bunch of illegal activities here and there. Also Sam did find that Stan Pines had several professional doctorates in several scientific fields from Backupsmore University and apparently just wasted it by starting some random tourist trap in this redneck town.

Stan then said, "Fine kid, but you're wasting a big opportunity."

It was then that Wendy arrived on her bike and said, "Hey guys."

"Hi Wendy." Danny said.

"Glad you guys could make it.", Wendy said, "You dudes have never been to one of Dipper's mystery hunts before. This is gonna be so rad since this my first time as well."

"Whatever, you kids go have your fun." Stan said.

So Wendy led Team Phantom into the woods where eventually they saw Dipper, Mabel, and Soos.

Dipper, while holding out his journal, said, "We're here to solve the number one mystery in Gravity Falls, who wrote this journal? Thirty years ago the author vanished without a trace. But according to this new clue, we may have found his secret hiding place." Dipper then used a portable black light to reveal the new clue. "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 yelled from a distance, as she and Team Phantom arrived.

"Wendy!" Mabel yelled.

"Oh, hey! You came." Dipper said.

"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." Wendy said.

"Hey Danny. Hey Tucker. Hey… who are you?" Soos said.

"This is Sam. My other best friend." Danny explained.

"Nice to you meet you Sam." Soos said in a friendly tone, "So where's Jazz?"

"Out on a blind date." Danny explained.

Sam simply nodded to Soos with a slight frown to her face.

Dipper just glared at the trio of Team Phantom and said, "Wendy are you sure inviting your boyfriend and his friends is a good idea?"

"I've got my confidence in those two boys dude, it's Sam I don't trust." Wendy stated.

"Who's Sam?" Dipper asked.

"The goth girl." Wendy said.

"Why don't you trust her?" Dipper asked.

"Well, I can sense that she's jealous of me for getting Danny as a boyfriend before she could. I just hope she cares about Danny's feelings enough to leave us alone." Wendy explained, "Anyway, thanks for the invite dude."

"Of course, anytime you wanna.. I, we're always... Us." A flustered Dipper said.

Mabel went up to Dipper while the rest of group examined the tree where Dipper found the journal.

"Uh oh! Inviting Wendy on our mission? Me thinks there's romance afoot!" Mabel said to Dipper.

"No, look I've thought this through and I'm over Wendy. I've looked at it from every angle, and that thing was going nowhere. Besides she already has a boyfriend. I know what matters to me now, and it's finding the author of this journal." Dipper said.

"Hah! YOU'RE over Wendy?! Allow me to put on my "skepticals."" Mabel said.

"I've moved on, Mabel. You should too." Dipper said.

"Skepticals…" Mabel said.

Soon after some searching, Wendy noticed that one of the branches looked out of place.

"Hey, is it just me, or does that branch kinda look like a lever?" Wendy said.

"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." Dipper said.

While Dipper was pondering, Wendy decided to take action. Using her belt as a harness to climb the tree, she reached the lever and used the axe attached to her belt to hit the lever.

Everyone, except Sam, was amazed by Wendy's skill.

"Oh yeah, my dad used to make me compete in these lumberjack games when I was a kid. Guess I kinda ruled at it." Wendy explained.

Sam muttered under her breath, "Sure, while you and your tree-murdering friends destroyed the environment." Being the eco-lover that she was.

Soon the bottom of the tree began shaking and then the tree began to sink into the ground. The motion of the tree soon caused Wendy to fall, thankfully Danny and Soos caught her before she hit the ground.

A hole had formed around the tree and a staircase soon immediately popped out of the side of the hole. At the base of the hole where the tree was a door, which soon opened.

After the reveal, Dipper then said, "Alright guys, this is it. Remember, whatever happens down there, we tell no one."

Mabel gave him thumbs up. Danny and Tucker simply nodded. Soos turned his hat backwards. Sam simply rolled eyes. Wendy zipped her lips.

Dipper then hold up a lantern and said, "Now, who wants to go first?"

So everybody went down and entered the door. What they saw when they went through the door was a room with various of supplies and equipment. The group were in aww at what they saw.

"This is so, stupid cool!" Wendy said.

"It's like a fallout shelter or something. It must've belonged to the author." Dipper pondered.

The rest of the group went to various of parts of the room.

Wendy grabbed a metal fallout poster and said, "This is going over my bed."

Mabel put her head in a barrel and when she pulled it out her face was covered in caterpillars. She then laughed and said, "My face feels fuzzy!"

Sam then looked at a locker that weapons. She opened it and saw guns that looked futuristic or alien. She then said to Danny, "As much as I abhor guns, don't you think this will be…"

Danny then interrupted her by saying quietly, "Sam, only my girlfriend knows about my umm… secret."

Sam's right eye once again slightly twitched.

Dipper overheard them, but decided not to say anything for now. Looking at the food shelf, with the top box dating to 2070, he said, "This is incredible! It's like he was preparing for a disaster. But what kinda disaster would need supplies for over sixty years?"

Soos, meanwhile looked into the weapons locker as well and then said, "Oh my gosh! A Smez dispenser! I remember these things. What's that, yes I will have some of your old-timey face food." He then eat the candy piece. "Ew, dusty!" He then eat an another piece.

Danny then found a bean can open with fresh drool on it and then said, "Wait guys, I think this can was opened recently."

"The author might still be alive, down here!" Dipper said excitedly.

"Wait a minute…", Wendy said, as she noticed a map on the wall was blowing and saw part of an opening. She then pulled the map down and saw the entrance of a tunnel. "I think I know where he might have gone."

Soon the group were crawling in the tunnel with Wendy in the lead. The tunnel led the group to a metal room filled various of strange symbols, which the group was awed by.

"Whoa! Oh, man! Was this place built in the past or the future?" Wendy said.

Even Sam was impressed by saying, "Man, this room is so dark and edgy."

"This room is way creepy." Soos said.

"Not as creepy as Dipper's internet history! Heyo!" Mabel exclaimed as she slapped Dipper in the back, which caused him to step on a symbol, which slightly lowered into the ground.

As soon as that happened the hatch that led the way out closed and locked itself. The other symbols began glowing red and most of the metal panels began to poke out into the room.

"What's goin' on, dudes?" Soos said as everyone else began to panic.

Danny considered perhaps he could go ghost and rescue the group, though he didn't know wether he phase all of them, especially Soos due to his large size.

Wendy and Soos tired to push the panels back, but it wouldn't budge.

"It won't stop!" Wendy yelled.

Sam muttered under her breath, "I'm so not gonna be crushed with her."

"Dipper! What do we do?!" Mabel yelled.

Dipper was quickly scanning the pages of the journal, trying to find clues of how to get out. He quickly found the right page and using his black light found the clues on how to get out.

"Find these four symbols! Quick! Everybody step on one!" Dipper yelled.

Soon most of the members of the group found the specific symbols.

Sam punched the first symbol, Soos punched the second symbol, Wendy punched the third symbol, and finally Danny punched the final symbol.

Immediately an opening appeared on the other side from where the group entered.

"Run for it!" Mabel yelled.

The group then ran towards the opening before the room crushed them. All of them made it to the next room safe and sound, though Dipper's vest was slightly caught in.

Wendy said, "Yes! Yes! That was, huh, that was nuts!" Wendy then turned to Dipper and said, "You ruled back there, man!"

"Yeah Dipper." Danny said, "That was awesome."

Sam then smiled and said, "I'll admit, you were pretty cool there, dude."

The next room was filled with various of monitors and panels. Apparently this room was used as some kind of surveillance room.

Tucker was awed at the various of old 1980s looking tech and said, "Baby, the times you and me will spend together!"

Danny and Sam both rolled their eyes.

Wendy then asked, "Danny, is Tucker usually like this around old technology?"

"Yes." Both Danny and Sam said unison rather bluntly.

"He even names his PDA's." Sam said rather annoyed.

"Dude." Soos said to Tucker, "Why do you still use PDA's?"

"Because they'll make a comeback!" Tucker yelled, "You'll see."

"Wouldn't be easier for you to switch to a smartphone?" Dipper asked.

"Those abominations. They don't have the style of PDA's." Tucker said.

Wendy, Dipper, Mabel, and Soos just blinked in confusion, while Danny and Sam once again rolled their eyes.

"Anyway, get a load of this crazy Surveillance Room." Wendy said wanting to change the subject.

"Check this out dudes." Soos said as he began making faces behind two beakers.

Danny and Tucker laughed at the sight.

Wendy said, "Soos, that is hilarious."

Mabel then walked up to her brother and said, "Hey bro, you forgot your vest."

Mabel then walked to the closed entry where Dipper's vest was caught in and popped it out, in which a note fell out of the vest.

"What the?", Mabel then read the note and said, ""Dear Wendy, I've always had a crush on…" OH MY GOSH!"

She then ran to her brother and said, "Hey. Dipper! Look what I found…"

Dipper then gasped and said, "What did you...? Give me that!" He then snatched the letter from Mabel.

"I know it! I know it! I know it! You're not over Wendy at all!" Mabel said. She gasped and said, "And you were gonna tell her today?"

"No, I changed my mind, it's a bad idea." Dipper said, "I'd embarrass myself and then I'd be another guy she hates, like Robbie. Besides she already has a boyfriend anyways."

"Dipper, you should just tell her already. One way or another, you'll feel better afterwards." Mabel said.

"Look, Mabel, I can't tell her no matter how much I want to, so just drop it OK?" Dipper said.

"Dude! Dipper, Danny, you gotta check out this weird metal closet." Wendy said. She then changed her voice to sound kinda like a robot, "I am a robot, I have a metal closet."

Danny laughed at the robot impression his girlfriend was doing.

"Coming!" Dipper yelled to Wendy. He then focused on Mabel and said, "This never happened."

As Dipper walked to the rest of the group, Mabel was in deep thought. She thought, he wants to tell her but he's scared, maybe he needs a little push. Good idea, Mabel. Thanks, Mabel.

Mabel then ran to her brother and said, "Brother, whatever happens I just you need to know something, this is for your own good."

"What?" Dipper said.

Mabel then pushed Dipper into the metal closet with Wendy inside it. Mabel then locked the door to the closet.

"What the…?" Dipper said. He then noticed he was in the closet with Wendy, Dipper gasped and yelled, "MABEL! Let us out!"

On the other side of the door, Mabel said, "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!"

What was heard inside was Wendy's voice saying, "What is she talking about?"

Dipper's voice then said, "Nothing! Mabel is just eating raw sugar packets once again."

Both Danny and Wendy knew what Mabel was referring too. While Mabel was really eating raw sugar packets she had in her pocket.

"That's besides the point" Mabel said after finishing the packets.

Danny then walked up to Mabel and said, "Mabel, can you please let your brother and my girlfriend out of that closet please."

"Not until Dipper tells Wendy his secret." Mabel said.

While that was happening, the group heard some water hissing and both Wendy and Dipper screaming.

"Mabel, I'm serious!" Danny said in an aggressive tone, "I don't want them to suffocate in there or get hurt."

"What is she talking about?" Sam said, "What secret?"

"Ohh, Dipper has a crush on Wendy." Danny said, much to the shock of Mabel and Soos.

"Wait, you know?!" Mabel and Soos both said in unison.

"Yes, I know and so does Wendy. She told about it on our first date after Dipper spied on us." Danny explained, "Plus it's kind of obvious."

Soos then said, "Wendy knows as well! Ohh man, that is some revelation."

"Wait." Mabel said, "How does Wendy know?"

"I told you it's obvious, plus Dipper is constantly muttering under his breath that he loves Wendy, which is easy to hear by the way." Danny said.

It was then that they heard banging on the other side of the door of the closet.

"Mabel! Open up for real!" Dipper screamed from the other side, "There's a monster in here!"

"Ha. Nice try." Mabel said.

On the other side of the door, which actually led to a larger chamber, Wendy said, "Dipper. Just say whatever Mabel wants you to say so she'll let out of here."

"Wendy I…" Dipper said.

But before could say anything, the door opened and a pair of hands grabbed both him and Wendy out of the chamber.

"Thanks Danny." Wendy said.

"Well, Dipper was yelling at that there was a monster in there with you guys." Danny said, who had noticed that in fact the closet was in fact not a closet. But in fact a large cavern full of condiment cells of various kinds.

"Whoa." Tucker said, but before he went into the cavern all of the group heard a loud roar.

"What was that?" Soos said.

Danny then decided to step up and say, "Only one way to find out. Sam. Tucker. Soos. Keep an eye on Dipper and Mabel, while Wendy and I go and investigate the source of that noise."

"Danny, can go come with you instead?" Sam asked, not wanting Danny to be alone with Wendy on her watch.

Danny, unaware of his friend jealously, said, "Sure, you can handle ghosts. I bet you can this monster too."

So the trio headed into the other room.

The next room was filled with cages, suspended animation chambers, and various of other containment cells. The walls were made of dirt instead of metal with lots of chambers leading to other underground areas.

"Wow." Both Danny and Sam said in unison.

"I know right." Wendy said, "Dipper believes that Author of his journal must have done experiments down here."

Soon the trio heard a roar in one of the tunnels and saw the shadow of a large worm-like creature which frightened them a little bit. Then suddenly they saw the shadow of a human fighting the creature. The man then ripped the creatures tongue while fighting it.

They then heard a male voice saying, "Back, back you heinous beast!"

Then the man walked into view of the trio with the creatures tongue in his right hand and said casually as slabbed it on the ground, "Well, I just ripped out a monster's tongue."

The man looked to be in his sixtes with gray hair and a mustache, while wearing a long brown trench coat.

"Who are you?" Sam asked.

"You may think of me as a scientist who studies the mysteries of this area." The man said.

"And why are you down here?" Danny asked.

"To prepare for the worst." The man answered.

The trio then decided to save the answers for when they were out of this bunker.

"Wait." Wendy said, "I think you might be him."

"Who's him?" The man asked.

"The author of my friend Dipper's journal." Wendy said.

"So that where my journal ended up." The Author pondered.

"Yeah, he's most certainly gonna be excited to meet you." Wendy said.

"Well maybe can help me with this." The Author said showing the trio a broken cage, "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…"

"Hold on, experiment?" Sam said, "You experimented on this poor innocent animal."

"My dear, it's very intelligent and very dangerous." The Author said, "Plus I regret the things I did to it for I might have driven it mad."

Wendy then said, "Sam, now's not the time to debate the morality of this. A dangerous creature is on the loose."

"Your one to talk tree killer." Sam said rather aggressively.

"Excuse me dude." Wendy said.

"Wendy. Sam. Now's not the time to argue." Danny said.

"The boy is right." The author said, "We need to find it before it escapes to the outside world. Maybe you can show me my journal, which can help us defeat the monster. But maybe we can go outside and have some lunch, I would sure like a glass of orange juice."

"Yeah, sure man." Danny said.

So the group walk the way to the exit.

Sam then picked up an empty bean can lying on the floor and saw the Author's face on the can. She then put two and two together.

"Danny!" Sam yelled, "Don't let him out! This guy is the shapeshifter!"

Danny and Wendy were in shock.

The shapeshifter then smiled and said in a distorted voice, "Well then I guess you three will not be seeing the light of day ever again."

It then climbed on the cavern ceiling, twisted its head at 180 degrees with four spider legs coming out of its back. It then let out an unearthly roar.


So ending this on a cliffhanger. Hope I won't have to keep you guys waiting for long.

On terms of my opinion of Sam, I'm on the middle ground with just her and Danny being friends and nothing more. I'm just not a big fan of character bashing since I see it as a sign of bad writing.

Next Time: Into the Bunker Part 2