The Devil's from New Jersey? P3


His worst fear springing into life, Stanford immediately looked back towards the Parker family who were looking on in confusion. "Is there a place inside your home where we can lie him down? If that's acceptable to you of course."

"Yeah… Sure thing…" Steven agreed hesitantly, not exactly sure what was going on.

"He can use my bed! It's a queen so he should fit just fine!" Abbey offered. It was the least she could do considering he'd gotten either hurt or sick trying to help her family.

"Thank you dear… Could you show us the way please?" Abbey nodded to Ford before racing towards her house. Ford took over the other half of the Dipper burden from Mabel as he and Wendy basically had to drag Dipper along with them.

Abbey's room was pretty much what you'd except to see from a teenaged girl, and was also very blue… The entire Pines family and their two friends were huddled around the bed near Dipper, while the Parker family were parked in the hallway just outside the room so they could stay in the information loop without feeling like they were intruding. Dipper was lying on the bed, the green discoloration of his facial features now even more prevalent as he labored to breathe.

"It was venom wasn't it?" Wendy asked bitterly, her emotions growing increasingly more frayed by the second. "That freakin' gas or whatever it was he blew into Dipper's face poisoned him didn't it?!"

Stanford nodded his head solemnly. "I'm afraid that is the most likely scenario… Stanley and I paid a visit to the local mortuary to perform an amateur autopsy on the body of a police officer that… We believe was infected with the same type of venom…"

"Mortuary…" Mabel's eyes got big. "You mean Dipper can die from this?!"

"I'm afraid so Mabel… If my hypothesis is correct, this particular toxin is quite lethal to humans. Officer Martinez almost certainly died from it."

"How long was it after he was infected that he died?" Wendy asked with hard glare at the older man.

"Well… It's difficult to say since his fellow officers couldn't be sure exactly when he was poisoned, but after they found him… Officer Martinez died less than twenty-four hours later."

At those words, Mabel's ass hit the ground, knocked over by the shock. She backpedaled until her back hit the wall, where she promptly curled up into a ball. "No… This isn't happening, this isn't happening…"

"Um, Excuse me…" Mrs. Parker said meekly, as she injected herself into the conversation. "I don't mean to interrupt but… Shouldn't we call an ambulance to take him to the hospital? He really looks like he could use a doctor."

"I'm afraid medial science won't be able to do much for him… There's no cure available for a toxin from a creature that's officially unknown to modern science. I fear his life will actually be more endangered there if he's subjected to a litany of unnecessary tests and red tape that would surely take up the limited amount of time we have available… We're his best hope for survival I'm afraid."

"So there is a way we can help him then?" Wendy asked impatiently.

"Possibly but… It's a long shot… Dare I say near improbable but… It'll take some time, but I may be able to formulate a batch of antivenom to counteract the effects of the poison, similar to how you would with a snake bite. Ironically, one of the reasons Stanley and I paid a visit to the mortuary was to acquire the samples necessary to craft said antivenom for this exact eventuality…"

"Then what the hell are you waitin' for?! Let's get to work then!"

"It's not that simple Wendy… I'm still missing one key ingredient to complete the formula that may just be impossible to obtain… And even if it was in our possession, there's still no guarantee I can craft the antivenom in a timely enough fashion to prevent the toxin from causing serious damage to his anatomy, if not lethal … Even if I did succeed and beat the clock, there's no guarantee the antivenom would even work…"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it Doc, the odds are damn near insurmountable," Takura spoke up irritably, uncrossing his arms and clenching his fists. "No offense, but we don't have time for one of your long-winded explanations. Just tell us what you need to finish that formula, and we'll go get it!"

"I…" The kids were right. He needed to get straight to the point and stop wasting time over analyzing everything. "To complete the formula I need a sizable sample of the creature's venom… Preferably straight from whatever sac, gland, or organ the creature uses to create and store the poison. It's not my intention to assign blame, but the failure to capture the monster has made that task not only difficult, but potentially impossible."

"Bullshit!" Wendy croaked, her eyes moist from a few stray tears she had no idea she even shed. "That bastard is right out there in those woods somewhere, so all we have to do is find the goddamn thing!"

"Admirable, but implausible…. The Pine Barrens are over a million acres of sandy difficult to traverse woodlands, and we have no idea where to even start searching… For a creature that's managed to stay relatively undetected for potentially centuries."

Ford paused as he heard a faint growling sound to his left. He looked at Takura, and if he didn't know any better, he could've sworn he saw the young man's eyes flash yellow. Takura looked over at Dipper laying on the bed… Not a good idea seeing as he was already having difficulty keeping his emotions under control… A task pivotal to keeping his Andorran half dominate over his Lycan half. Takura hadn't made many friends throughout his life… The circumstances of that life made it difficult and just plain ill-advised. With the Captain being more a parental figure to him, Dipper was the first person he allowed to get close enough to seriously consider him a friend, and he was going to be damned before he'd give up on him just because the odds seemed impossible. He'd kneed impossible in the balls before and laughed in the concepts face while flipping impossible off. Even if he couldn't save Dipper, that didn't mean he wasn't going to scratch and claw and do everything in his power trying. One look at Wendy, who anyone who felt human emotion could tell was barely holding it together, and Takura could tell she was feeling and thinking the exact same thing.

"I've wandered through jungles that make your little forest out there look like a child's playground…" Takura smirked. It was almost evil… "Besides, I have the bastard's scent now. There's no hiding from me anymore."

Tired of wasting time, Takura marched towards the door. "Wendy come with me! Dr. Pines, you might want to join us… This might be the only chance you get to witness this."

Stanford wasn't clear on what Takura meant by that, but he did see the logic in tagging along. If they did manage to track down and subdue the creature, he could get to work on the anti-venom immediately. "Okay then… It's worth the attempt…"

Before he left the room Takura glanced over at Dipper one last time, before his gaze drifted to Mabel, who was now standing up and looking at him almost pleadingly. "Mabel… It's probably best if you stay here with your brother… Just in case…"

"But…" Mabel wanted to argue. She wanted to go too, but… What if…

Wendy would help ease some of those concerns, as she stood in the doorway, her hand pressed against the door. "There is no just in case… We're not lettin' him die on us tonight Mabel…" Wendy forced herself to look her friend over, but quickly turned her head away before she lost it. There was no chance she was going to let things end this way… There was still too much unfinished business between them. Her fingers dug so deeply into the door that she left permanent scratch marks in the plaster.

"But… I want to help too…" Mabel whimpered after the others had left the room. That's when she a felt a familiar and comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Then you go do that Pumpkin," Stan encouraged with a smile. "I'll look after your brother. Now go help give that kooky devil hell!"

"Always my hero, aren't you Grunkle Stan?" Mabel smiled broadly as she wiped a tear from her eye.

Stan's smile faded after Mabel had raced off to join the others. He looked down at the bed and at the horrid state of his great-nephew. Why did he get the feeling he just volunteered for the worst job of them all?

"I have all the supplies to begin work on the Anti-venom!" Ford announced as he placed said materials in the jeep. "We've got a lot of ground to cover, but with any luck, the monster hopefully hasn't gotten very far."

"Oh we don't need luck…" Takura hissed as he looked up at the moon, his eyes shining yellow to match its glow. It wasn't full like the night before, but more than enough to get the job done. Especially with the blondes strained emotional state. "You've been asking for this for a while now Doc… You might want to take a good hard look while you have the chance."

"Excuse me?" It took Ford all of two seconds to understand what Takura had been hinting at. He watched on in awe as Takura's arms and legs elongated while the boy seemed to grow and additional foot in height, the reflection of the process playing out on Ford's glasses… His face stretched out into a snout that resembled more of a canid, as grey-silverish fur that matched his usual eye color sprouted all over his body. The metamorphism lasted mere seconds but left the scientist in Ford almost dumbfounded. "Astonishing…"

Takura calmed his primal urges, including the reflex to howl. Positive he was in full control, and all his sense multiplied to the max in his Lycan form, he sniffed the air, smirking as he easily picked up on a unique scent. "I've got you already you little bastard… You didn't get far at all…"

"Follow me!" Takura yelled towards the Jeep before he bounded off on the trail of the Jersey Devil. Wendy hopped into the vehicle next to Ford as he got ready to drive off, and to both their surprises, Mabel joined them.

"Mabes…" Wendy began warily. She saw the state Mabel had fallen in once Ford broke the severity of Dipper's condition to them. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

"Damn straight I'm sure! I've gotta score to settle with this asshole too!"

Ford didn't have time to argue. Takura was impressively swift and nimble in his wolf form, so losing track of him was not out of the realm of possibility if they lingered to long. The aged scientist laid on the gas, tailing Takura into the Pine Barrens. Takura took to the trees as soon as he hit the woods, Ford driving straight through a wooden 'no entry' sign and reducing it to splinters.

Ford had questioned the logic of taking the Jeep into the confining trails of the Pine Barrens, but the increasingly glaring crunch for time forced him to ignore the risks. There weren't exactly any roads through this section of wilderness, and barely enough space between the trees to fit the vehicle… Not to mention that the somewhat sandy terrain wasn't exactly kind on the tires. They were potentially one large rock or loose branch away from finishing this mission on foot.

Rather than fretting over the terrain though, Ford was more focused on keeping one eye on Takura leaping from treetop to treetop while being amazed by the boys dexterity. It wasn't exactly like the Jeep was rolling at top speed, but the fact that Takura in his wolf form was still outpacing them impressed the scientist in him. "Remarkable… He's completely aware of himself despite being in his Lycan form… All my studies on the subject suggested werewolves would practically be mindless beasts who likely wouldn't be able to recall what happen to them while they were in their transformed state… His amount of control is astonishing to say the least."

"I know! He's so cool right?"

Despite the desperate situation they were in, Wendy managed a grin, and even a little jab at her younger friend. "So, you really have graduated to the furry kind haven't you? I can remember when I first met ya, and one of your dreams was to date a Vampire!"

"Hey, I'm not twelve anymore! I'm a sophisticated woman now whose grown well out of that phase…" Despite her claim, a childlike grin forced itself onto Mabel's lips. "Werewolves are so much cooler!"

Takura stopped abruptly, both to reorient himself, and give Ford a little bit of time to catch up. Sure enough, the Jeep came skidding to a stop seconds later. "Why have we stopped? Is something amiss?"

"It's changed direction! Another couple of miles this way! Let's get moving!"

"Miles…" Mabel pouted. The ride so far hadn't exactly been smooth. and she was already tired of feeling like she was getting rocked up and down on a very angry Satna's knee. "Perfect…"

"Let's just hope we can find a clear path through," Ford sighed, just as wary as his niece but for entirely differen't reasons.

Deeper within the Pine Barrens, a bat-winged gargoyle-like creature landed on a treetop near the mouth of a small cave located on the hillside directly behind it. In fact, the modest sized hole seemed more like a burrow than s cave, as it appeared more artificially created rather than being a natural feature of the Barrens… Which would make sense considering the lack of caves or major rock formations to be found in those woods. The creature seemed to hiss in frustration as it rested in front of its home. Its chance for what should've been an easy meal had been thwarted for a second night in a row, and its hunger was making the creature increasingly volatile. If it didn't feed soon, it might be forced to settle for nourishment from lesser mammals or possibly even rodents… Not tempting options after tasting the delicacy that was human flesh.

The creature rested there for several minutes, recovering what strength it could, when it's mildly sensitive nose caught the scent of something approaching its location fast… Something that smelled familiar to it, yet foreign at the same time. It's survival instincts kicking in, the creature decided the safe thing to do was hide in its makeshift burrow and hopefully mask its scent.

The decision came too late. The devil heard a wolf like growl from the treetops surrounding him before something exploded out of them and nearly tackled it out of the tree. Panicked, the devil tried to take to the air and attempt an escape, only for the wolf-like creature to grab it by the throat and pull it towards him.

"Found you…"

The Wolf-Creature reared back it's fist and slammed it into the faux devil's face, knocking several of its teeth out. The wolf drew the devil closer to him, aiming his claws at the devil's throat, sending it into a panic. The creature had abnormally strong skin and skeletal structure, but two of its most vulnerable spots were its neck and the membranes on its bat-like wings, so seeing this… Wolf-man aiming for one of its weaknesses caused the creature great stress. A cryptid fist fight of sorts broke out, each creature flailing and clawing at one another's faces and throats while managing to maintain their balance. The flying fiend managed to land a slash on the Lycan's shoulder, who immediately responded by lashing his claws across his opponent's face. The Werewolf grabbed the devil by the throat again, but the alert demon managed to position its shoulder between its neck and the Lycan's head, using its powerful wings to smash into the werewolf's face, loosening his grip enough that the devil managed to wriggle it's way free.

The creature tried again to flee through the air, but it's Lycan adversary gabbed it by the leg and pulled it back towards him, where he tried to put the devil into a headlock. The demon still had its most lethal weapon at its disposal though… While it was difficult for it to unleash its venom more than once in a twenty-four-hour period, this desperate situation called for it to try. The devil swatted away the Lycan's arm and pivoted to face it's attacker, and in an instant, spat out the deadly toxin directly at the Werewolf's face. His assailant appeared prepared for this assault, however, and moved out of the way almost before the toxic spew passed the demon's lips. One failure led to another opportunity though, as the fiend coiled up its strong tail and used it like a whip, connecting full force into the Lycan's chest, and knocking him clear off the tree they'd be struggling upon.

The Jeep screeched to a halt just in time for the occupants to watch as Takura dropped out of the sky only to slam hard against the sandy soil of the Pine Barrens. "Takura! You alright dude?"

"I'm fine…" Takura growled unconvincingly as he pulled himself to his feet. "We can't let that thing escape again!"

And that's exactly what the faux devil was doing, finally able to take to the air without being impeded… Or so it thought at least. Just when escape was finally in sight, an abrupt tug at its leg somehow led to the monster finding itself being held it place. Down on the ground, Mabel held her grappling gun above her head confidentially, digging her feet into the ground and pulling like she was trying to reel in a big fish. The creature was strong however, and Mabel quickly found herself getting dragged forward as the monster struggled against its would-be captor. Before she could lose her footing, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist and held her steady.

"Thanks Grunkle Ford…" Mabel said appreciatively, now able to hold on to her catch without fear it would drag her into the sky along with it.

"Of course… Now would be a good time to activate the electric shock mechanism!"

Mabel appeared sheepish. "Um… Well… I was pretty kind of for sure certain I wouldn't be using it on this trip, so I may have neglected to charge up the stun function…"

Ford may have rolled his eyes if the timing wasn't so utterly inappropriate. "Your brother really needs to setup a crash course in preparedness for you."

While Mabel carried on making excuses, an idea was formulating in Wendy's mind. Brandishing her axe in her right hand, a murderous intent shimmered in her eyes. Now, if there was only a way she could… Wendy looked over at Takura and asked pointedly. "If you gave me a boost, do you think you could launch me onto that creep's back?"

"Possibly but…" Takura glared at Wendy, who appeared completely unfazed now by his wolf form. "Are you insane?"

Wendy shrugged. "A little."

If Wendy didn't know any better, she could've sworn she saw Takura smirk. He dropped down to a knee and held his arms out. Understanding the gesture, Wendy thanked him with a nod. She got a running start and jumped onto Takura's extended arms, who proceeded to launch the girl into the air like a catapult. Their aim was almost dead on, allowing Wendy to slam into the beast near the top of its back, wrapping her arm around the monster's neck as much to keep herself from plummeting back to the ground as it was to incapacitate the beast. The devil screech and immediately tried it's hand at bucking the lumberjack off of it.

"Okay Wendy, you're up here, so now what?!" she asked herself. Through the corner of her left eye, she noticed Takura scaling the tree next to them, intent on joining her. Before he could reach her though, Mabel's grappling gun lost its grip on the creature's leg, allowing the devil to slip way… While taking Wendy with it!

"Ah hell!" Wendy wailed as she attempted to regroup with her will to fight rather than simply succumbing to the overwhelming instinct to hang on for dear life. Similarly, the creature was doing everything in its power to dislodge its unwelcomed passenger, spinning, and failing, and at one point even turning on its side and slamming Wendy's back hard against the side of a tall tree. Wendy fought through the pain though and continued to hang on. She needed to do something fast, and she knew it. The beast was clearly tiring, flying slower than usual due to its increased burden, but Wendy doubted she could cling onto its back long enough for the monster to completely tire itself out.

That's when her eyes shifted towards the creatures wings. They were so much like a bat's wings, and the monster even flew very much like one. Maybe that meant these wings were subject to the same weaknesses?

Knowing this might hurt… Or possible much worse, Wendy resolved herself that she had to do something. Taking a huge risk by sitting straight up on the devil's back, Wendy readied her axe and assaulted the soft membrane of the creature's wings. The fiend let out a hideous screech of pain, and briefly began to fall out of the sky before righting itself. Wendy wasn't done however, and continued to chop away, slicing large cuts into the membrane until the monster's wings became completely incapable of achieving their primary function… They could no longer keep the creature airborne, and it was nosediving towards the ground fast. Wendy latched back on to its neck for dear life, hoping to God the beast didn't turn upside or something as it plummeted out of the sky. The sting of tree branches whacked them both in the face as they descended, Wendy bracing herself and barely managing to hang on as the creature hit the ground and started to slide violently forward. They finally came to a stop a hundred feet later, the creature face first in the sandy dirt, and a temporarily shellshocked Wendy sitting up atop the creatures back, amazed she was still amongst the living. She came to her senses when she felt the creature stir beneath her and so the redhead jumped back to her feet. The monster had little strength to do much else however, unable to pick itself up as it rived on the ground.

Wendy stood up and tightened her grip on her axe, feeling not one ounce of pity for the wounded creature. It made children vanish without a trace for purposes she didn't even want to think about and may have delivered the death blow to someone very dear to her. This son of a bitch had forfeited it's right to live. Standing directly over its head now, Wendy lifted her axe… And brought it down upon the creatures neck, severing the head from the body in one blow. Blood spurted from the wound as the monster finally ceased it's wiggling, the head rolling several feet away. Wendy didn't acknowledge the Jeep as it pulled up behind her. Takura hoped off followed closely by Ford and Mabel.

"Wendy you…" Takura stopped mid-sentence at the sight of the faux Jersey Devil's body. The wings had been mangled and the creature's head cut clean off its shoulders. Takura felt no sympathy for the beast, and he'd personally done much worse in his lifetime but… This level of violence from Wendy was something he hadn't seen yet.

"Well… I suppose any attempts to detain the creature alive would've been extremely hazardous…" Ford sighed, unable to hide his disappointment that the monster hadn't lived long enough to be studied.

"Is this what your needin' Dr. Pines?" Wendy asked coarsely as she held up the severed head of the faux devil. Mabel blanched at the sight and had to turn her head for fret of vomiting all the way back to the Parker's house.

"Yes… The glans the creature uses store the poison before it's dispensed should be somewhere in the head region, or near the back of its throat… I… Have some old newspaper in the Jeep we can use to wrap that thing up…"

"Good, let's hurry and get back to Dipper then! I'll drive so you can get to work on that anti-venom Doc!"

"My thoughts exactly," Ford agreed as he walked back to the Jeep with Wendy. Takura and Mabel shared a glance with the other. The chain of command had never really been discussed due to the time sensitive emergency they found themselves in, but now it was plainly clear to them who was in charge whenever Dipper was out of action.


Less than two hours if barely that… That's how long it had been since the others had ventured out into the Pine Barrens. Dipper was getting worse by the second. He had even developed a couple of those legions Stan had seen on the body of that cop. His labored breathing alone was enough to make you squirm in discomfort, but then he would occasionally spit up… Bile, or something or other that was green and disgusting, and capable of even making the well-traveled Stanley Pines queasy. There wasn't much else Stan could do but occasionally clean him up and wait for his brother and the others to hopefully take care of business.

Stan did nearly have one slight altercation with Mr. Parker when the man none too delicately asked if Dipper was contagious. A perfectly fair inquiry now that Stan thought about it, but wasn't appreciated at the time, especially considering the blunt nature in which the question was asked. Stan really wanted to remind their 'host' that his great-nephew wouldn't be in the condition he was in if he hadn't taken an interest in preventing that man's own son from becoming flying bat-monster chow, but thankfully he didn't have too. Because the man's daughter did it for him, explaining to him what the difference between being poisoned and having a contagious disease was, with what Stan thought, was exactly the appropriate amount of sarcasm and indignation in her voice. She also reiterated Stan's mental point that Dipper had only ended up in the position he was in because he chose to take her and Todd's claims seriously when their own parents did not. This was enough to shut the man up for a while which Stan was thankful for. He didn't really like the guy, but he was trying to keep the peace. The family was giving them a place for the boy to rest while Ford and the others tried to figure out a way to help him, even if it was reluctantly.

Surely, they could figure out a way to help him. Surely they didn't fly all the way out to the East Coast for a funeral just to have to plan another one… Stan's relationship with his nephew was strained enough as it was without having to call up Dippers parents and explain to them that their son had died due to reasons related to what they'd always feared and hated about Gravity Falls.

Stan checked his watch for probably the fiftieth time, but only five minutes had passed since he last checked. He might as well hunker down… It could still be hours before Ford and the others tracked down that monster, if they managed to find the thing at all. The Pine Barrens wasn't your average patch of wilderness.

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel greeted with tempered excitement as she ran into the room, much to Stan's shock. Wendy followed right after her, limping in an odd way that saw her hunched over just a bit.

"Pumpkin?..." Stan mouthed as Mabel hugged him. His eyes shifted to Wendy. "What happened to you?"

"Got roughed up a bit… My back's a little sore, but otherwise, I'm fine…" Wendy lied as she rounded the bed and sat herself down in a chair next to Dipper. If fact, her back was screaming in pain right then. Hopefully, no serious damage had been done when she was slammed into that tree, but she wasn't worried about herself at the moment.

"Wait… Hold on second here! Don't tell me you guys tracked down big ugly already! I figured I'd be stuck here waitin' on ya all night!"

"Turns out, it's really hard to hide from a pissed off Werewolf who has your scent," Mabel bragged, but her good humor dissipated the second she heard the low groan from her brother. "Grunkle Ford's downstairs working on the cure or anti-toxin or whatever it is that's supposed to help Dipper…"

"Well I'll be a baboon's bright red arse… The kid just might have a chance…" Stan glanced briefly at his nephew. "There's something I need to talk to Ford about. You girls mind keepin' an eye on Dipper here?"

"No problem Grunkle Stan! We'll take over for a while…"

"I'm not goin' anywhere…" Wendy monotoned, eyes firmly locked on the young man in question with no discernable emotion in her voice nor on her face… Which must've been difficult considering that if you cared for Dipper at all, seeing him in the condition he was in had to be pure torture.

"Uh…" Stan whispered to Mabel. "Is she okay?"

"I don't think so…" Mabel replied loud enough for Wendy to hear but she wasn't listening.


It took a little negotiating, but the Parkers agreed to allow Stanford to setup his equipment at their kitchen table. Ford could sense their hesitance and wagered they must have felt obligated to cooperate in whatever manner they could due to the assistance of Dipper's team in helping safeguard their son from the faux devil. Takura stood nearby with his arms crossed, ready to offer whatever help Stanford might need.

"This task would be a much quicker affair if multiple sets of hands could handle the workload, but I'm afraid this is mostly a solo job… Perhaps you should go back upstairs with the girls and watch over Dipper?… You know, in case things do take a turn for the worse…"

Takura shook his head. "I'm the type who prefers to act rather than one who waits around on somebody else to do something… I don't know how much help I can be, but at least I'll be at the ready if you do need something."

Ford could find no fault in the young Lycans logic, so he nodded in affirmation. "I can relate… I'm afraid waiting is inevitable in this case. This process could take hours…"

Meanwhile, three-fourths of the Parker family stood at the entrance of their kitchen, amazed by the all the gizmos and gadgets the old scientist had setup to… Do whatever the heck it was that he was doing. Abigail was particularly fascinated with the makeshift laboratory setup on the table where the family ate their meals. She was particularly curious over whatever object they had wrapped up in a ball of old newspapers. She knew well enough not to lay a finger on any of the sensitive and expensive looking lab equipment, she might accidentally ruin the process of crafting the anti-venom, but whatever this object was couldn't be all that important if they just threw some newspaper over it… Maybe it wouldn't hurt to take just one little peek? Her curiosity getting the better of her, Abbey snuck over to the object and carefully began peeling the sections of newspaper away from whatever was on the inside. Abbey shrieked and jumped backwards as her parents both recoiled in disgust. It might've been the most shocking thing they'd seen that night, and that was saying something considering the evening they'd had.

What was staring back at the family, was the lifeless head of the phony Jersey Devil, it's mouth hanging open as if locked in a final death scream. Seeing what had happened, Takura rushed over and pulled the newspaper back over the severed monster head. "Please don't mess with anything… It wouldn't be on the table if it wasn't important to the Doc's work."

"Not that I mind seeing confirmation that the damn thing is dead, but why the hell did you have to bring its head into my house?!" Mr. Parker demanded.

Ford replied simply. "Are you familiar with the process of how snake venom is retrieved through the fangs of venomous serpents? This process is fairly similar to that, so I needed access to the glands on the monster where the poison was created and stored. Unfortunately, the beast wasn't feeling particularly cooperative so… Desperate measures were necessary in order to retrieve the sample."

"You didn't stick the rest of the body in my freezer did you?"

"The rest of the body is out rotting in the middle of the woods where we left it," Takura replied bluntly. Ford, per usual, was a bit more tactful with this response.

"As much as I would've loved to present the body to the local authorities to prove its existence… I needed to get to work on the anti-venom as soon as possible, and even if we hadn't been pressed for time, the lack of the proper equipment to preserve the body would've forced us to leave it behind regardless."

A brief period of silence followed before the fourth member of the Parker family walked into the kitchen and straight up to Takura. Thankfully, he'd missed the entire severed head incident. "Why are you wearing differen't clothes?"

Takura looked down at the boy and smirked slightly. He was now dressed down in his old light weight military uniform, specifically designed to expand and handle the stress of his transformation. The silver-grey coloring blended in well with his fur too. "I had to change… My other set of clothes got torn up fighting with that monster…"

"Oh…" Todd stared up at Takura innocently. "Is that why you shoulder is bleeding too?"

Surprised, Takura took at peek at his right shoulder, and sure enough there was a small patch of blood soaking through the fabric. It was a testament to how sharp the faux devil's claws were that they were able to pierce his thick Lycan hide. "It's just a scratch… Nothing to worry about kid."

"It won't hurt to let me take a look at it and clean up the wound," Mrs. Parker offered. She wasn't sure why, but Todd seemed to have become attached to the intimidating young man in the short amount of time he'd known him. The boy had even asked about 'Mr. Takura' several times while the group was out hunting for the monster. She personally found the guy to be cold and a bit creepy in a way that was hard to put into words, but he did seem to act much warmer towards the children than he did the adults. Offering whatever assistance she could to the people who helped out her family just felt like the appropriate thing to do. "I'll go fetch the first aid kit."

Takura wanted to argue, but somehow doing so just felt rude to him… So he nodded his head in appreciation instead.


Another hour ticked by, and the scene changed back to the bedroom where Wendy and Mabel remained close to Dipper's side. Not much had been said between the two women, though Mabel couldn't help but notice her redheaded friend had rarely averted her eyes from her brother since she sat down. Something Mabel normally would've gleefully teased her over, but considering the sour look on Wendy's face, Mabel wasn't a hundred percent certain she wouldn't get decked in the face if she made such a comment. She wasn't exactly in a playful mood to begin with anyway. Still, the silence was killing her… There was something nagging at her… A subject that the timing did feel appropriate for considering her brother's condition.

"Wendy… Do you think we did the right thing, signing up for this paranormal research mess?"

Wendy briefly took her eyes off of Dipper to glare at Mabel. "What do you mean?"

"Well… Look at the cases we've taken on so far… I was nearly kidnapped by a scarecrow, strangled by a possessed cornfield, could've died in a fire caused by a ghost pissed off at the Northwest family, and now Dipper might be on his deathbed because we never stopped to consider the Jersey Devil might actually be venomous… When I signed up for this job, Dipper gave me the impression that ninety percent of it was going to be a lot of waiting around without much to do, with a little excitement sprinkled in here and there. The first few weeks of this job have been anything but dull or boring! It makes me wonder if this paranormal stuff is worth all the danger we've been putting each other in…"

"You really don't get it do you?" Wendy asked almost condescendingly. "Dipper's right… If we hadn't taken on this case, nobody may have… The local authorities certainly wouldn't have, and who knows how many kids may have fallen victim to that monster if we hadn't! If anything, I understand better than ever why Dipper chose this particular line of work… And why he chose me to help watch his back… There's no damn way I'm walking away from that responsibly now."

"But who anointed us the gatekeepers of the paranormal world? Why are we the ones that have to risk our butts every time a ghost, monster, or God forbid another Bill Cipher decides to cause trouble!"

"Who else is going to do it Mabel?! The average person refuses to believe this kind of stuff even exists, and most of the few who do aren't exactly the reliable sort! Some ass hat with a shotgun whose only it for the money and fame, or some nutjob who saw a shootin' star once so now he thinks the government is coverin' up an alien invasion! Dipper and Ford are the only people I know of who take this paranormal stuff seriously and still treat the subject with the care and respect it deserves!"

"And look where that's gotten Dipper…" Mabel muttered bitterly.

"Dipper knows the risks he's subjectin' himself to better than anyone… You did too as a matter of fact, and you took the job anyway. You were all about this junk when we first started, so why do you sound like you're havin' doubts all of the sudden?"

"Because it wasn't supposed to be like this!" Mabel whaled as she finally broke down into tears. She'd been forcing a positive outlook to help her keep it together, and just barely at that, now allowing a couple of innocuous jabs by Wendy break right through. "It was supposed to be easy! Like the dozens of 'investigations' we used to go on as kids out in the woods or to some abandoned building… They were all boring because nothing ever happened, but we still somehow managed to have fun because we were together! Like all those stupid ghost shows Dipper watches where they never find anything or completely ham it up when they do! I wasn't expecting to see my brother literally lying on what could be his deathbed, praying my Great-Uncle can come up with some miracle cure to a poison from a monster that wasn't even supposed to exist!"

"I… I get it Mabel…" Wendy struggled, now regretting speaking to her in a manor she felt might've been too harsh. "I care about him too… Nothing about this is easy…"

"No, you don't get it Wendy… How I'm feeling right now," Mabel blubbered. "I haven't spoken to my parents in months… I've basically burned every bridge I had back home… My Grunkles and Dipper are all I have left, and now I might lose him, when it feels like I just got him back!"

"He's not dead yet Mabel… Give your Grunkle a chance to find a cure for this poison… And don't count your brother out just yet… He's more of a fighter than people give him credit for…"

Silence fell over the friends for a spell. Mabel examined Wendy as the redhead went back to her vigil watching over the ill form of her brother. "I envy you, you know… I can barely bring myself to look at Dipper in this condition, and you've sat there for hours and hardly taken your eyes off of him."

"Because if…" Wendy paused and corrected herself. "Because when he pulls through this, I want to remember this image of Dip right now, and how it makes me feel in this moment… How it's rippin' me apart inside… I never want to forget this feeling, so that way, I never lose my motivation to make sure nothing like this ever happens to him again!"

"What, so you're declaring yourself my brother's bodyguard now?" Mabel snickered. "Maybe you should make sure he knows all that if… When he wakes up. How all this made you feel I mean… That would get your point across much better than making dates with guys you have no interest in just to spite him when Dipper was basically the one who set you up with the guy in the first place!"

"I know what you're gettin' at Mabel, and just get that thought out of your head… I don't think Dip is all that into me that way anymore. Not like he used to be anyway…"

"Of course he isn't! He has it a lot worse now that he knows he actually has a chance with you. I don't know why he's being so stubborn, but that's all he's doing… Being stubborn."

"I don't know Mabes… It's not like I haven't tried… I just don't think he's interested anymore…"

"Has he told you that?"

"No… Not with words anyhow, but his actions speak pretty clearly."

"Eh, they sound more like French to me… I'd just ask him straight up and make him look you in the eye and tell you he doesn't have feelings for you anymore."

Wendy side-eyed her Chesnutt-haired friend. "What would be the point in that?"

"Well, you'd finally know for sure for one thing. Bro-bro is a horrible liar… I guaran-damn-tee that he won't be able to look you in the eyes and say it. Because we both know it's not true."

On reflex, Wendy opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Mabel's suggestion wasn't one of her typically terrible ideas when it came to relationship advice… At the very least it was something to consider.


Stanford Pines worked deep into the night using his decent, but by no means complete knowledge on the subject of anti-venom to formulate the best serum his capabilities could concoct. The clock had struck 4:00am before the old scientist finally had his eureka moment… Well, not so much eureka as it was a 'this is the best I can do so let's hold on to our butts and hope everything works out moment', but it was progress none the less.

"I believe… I've achieved the best possible result I could hope for considering the limitations in resources and time restraints… Dipper's best hope for survival lies in this vile…"

Stan, Mabel, and Takura all gathered around Dr. Pines which varying looks of hope, confusion, and wariness. "Not that I'm doubtin' ya Sixer, but are you sure this cocktail of gook is going to do the trick? I'm no expert, but doesn't something like creatin' a viable antivenom take weeks and requires loads of testing?"

"Certainly… When your bogged down by government bureaucracy and regulations designed to make pharmaceutical companies money more so than to ensure the health of the patients they're pedaling their medications too. Thankfully, I'm under no such obligation that I would have to fight through all their red tape… You aren't incorrect concerning the testing phase though… Unfortunately, Dipper will have to be the guinea pig in this case as well as the patient… Due to various limitations and the copious amount of time Dipper has already spent with the toxin spreading throughout his body."

"Couldn't this concoction have adverse side effects on him?"

Mabel eyed Takura impatiently. "What choice do we have? Considering the other option is that Dipper dies…"

"There are fates worse than death Mabel…"

"Well, not for me there isn't!"

Takura groaned in annoyance. "My apologies for failing to realize that your brother's near-death experience has actually been all about you this entire time…"

"Wha… I have not made this all about me!"

"Funny… You could've fooled me. You'd think your brother's wellbeing would be your primary concern at the moment, and that entails a lot more than whether or not he just lives or dies… There's a snake on Andorra we called the spine-eater because, while it's venom doesn't normally kill right away, it will usually cause near full body paralysis. Technically, the victim is still alive, but they'll be a mere shell of the person they were for as little time as they might have left… Yeah, now you look shocked, but of course you haven't even considered the possibility of something like that happening… So far, pretty much everything I've heard from your mouth is about all the ways this situation is and will affect you."

"I… Umm…" Mabel struggled to think up a comeback. She searched her memories to scrounge up an instance to prove him wrong but… She couldn't come up with one.

Stan, not wanting this disagreement to get ugly, decided to step in. "Okay, okay, kids! Emotions are runnin' high right now, so let's settle down before anyone says anything they'll regret later. I'm sure we can all agree that Dipper's health is the top priority right now…" Stan looked to his brother. "So, what say you Ford? Is this miracle goop gona help our boy out or what?"

"My best guess…. 60/40 chance that the antivenom works and cures Dipper outright… But those are my projections at their most optimistic… Takura is correct, there's no telling what kind of side-effects Dipper might have to endure if the solution works, but… I say saving Dipper's life should be paramount, and we'll deal with any other potential consequences down the road. Are we all in agreement?"

Stan and Mabel nodded their heads almost immediately. It took Takura an extra moment to follow suite, but he too concurred with the others. Concerned as he was, he knew deep down he'd never be able to say no to a chance at saving his friends life. With everyone downstairs onboard, all that was left to do now was for Ford to test his new antivenom solution on his unfortunate patient.

A pair of dark-brown eyes slowly opened and struggled to adjust to the sunlight pouring into the room through a nearby window. He felt like he was waking up form a nightmare, while simultaneously recovering from the worst case of the flu he'd ever contracted. That would explain the massive headache and the tightness in his chest. As his thoughts settled, he recognized that he didn't recognize the bedroom he was waking up in. That's when the events of the previous day caught up with him, causing the brown-eyed boy to bolt upright in the bed, and regret it immediately as his body screamed in protest.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy dude!… You've been through a lot these past few hours."

Dipper turned his head slightly to see a redheaded angel sitting at his bedside. If he wasn't so zonked out of his gourd, he might've taken a moment to notice Wendy was holding his hand and thus would've taken the appropriate two seconds necessary to blush like no man had ever blushed before. "Wendy… What happened? Why do I feel like I just survived the plague?…"

"Because you kinda did dude… What's the last thing you remember?"

"Well…" Dipper croaked. "I remember being out on the Parkers lawn wrestling with…" Dipper's eyes shot open wide. "Oh, that thing! Did we stop it?"

"Yeah, we got it Dip… Not before he spat some kind of poison into your face though… That's why you feel like crap right now. Dr. P managed to craft some antivenom to fight off the poison and it seems that it worked like a charm! You even woke up for a little bit early this morning and spoke to us a bit, but I'm guessin' you don't remember any of that."

"No… I've gotta remember to thank Grunkle Ford though," Dipper chuckled as he scratched at his cheek. He was surprised to find a bandage where his finger landed… In fact, further investigation of his kisser turned up three bandages in total. "Why is my face all bandaged up?"

"You had some boil like things on your face due to the poison… Ford didn't think you'd want to look like the Wicked Witch of the West the next time you looked into a mirror, so he performed some minor amateur surgery to get those things off."

"No, keeping those doesn't sound like it would've been pleasant…" Dipper laughed. "I guess this means my face will be all scarred up for a while… Who knows, maybe it won't be such a bad thing. Might make me look a little bit tougher!"

"I don't know about that dude, but scars are kind of hot," Wendy sniggered, before doing something that absolutely floored Dipper. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek… And it wasn't a quick peck either, as she allowed her lips to linger there. Dipper's face burned as hot as the rising sun, much to Wendy's delight.

"Wha… What was that for?"

"Hey, we thought you might die on us last night dude, so you're lucky I restrained myself to just a peck on the cheek. Besides, when we do have our first kiss, I don't want it to be on some teenage girl's bed after you were nearly poisoned to death! No offense man, but all the vomit and the Shrek complexion were kinda mood killers."

"When…" Dipper repeated to himself, focusing on the way Wendy had said that. She hadn't even added an if, like she'd already decided she was going to kiss him for real one of these days and didn't seem to care much if he had anything to say about it or not. A part of him… Well most of him really, wanted to squeal like a schoolgirl or his twelve-year-old self…. Both examples made the exact same sound, but reality wouldn't allow him to savor this moment. Because he knew deep down that it wasn't right. "You know, it's not nice to tease a guy like that… Especially one that… Well, you know."

"Whose teasin'? You know me well enough to tell when I'm messin' around with you or not Dip."

Wendy was right, Dipper could tell… And she certainly meant what she said… Hell, everything she'd been saying with her words and her actions for weeks. "But… I'm not sure it's right to talk that way Wendy… I mean, you've got a date waiting on you back in Oregon once we get home and…"

Wendy cut him off. "Already canceled it dude. Sorry, wasn't really interested in the guy in the first place… I only agreed to go out with him out of sheer pettiness anyway thinkin' I might get a rise out of you… Instead, you celebrated so hard I thought confetti was goin' to shoot out your butt!"

"Can't a guy be happy for a friend?" he asked innocently as Wendy smirked at him affectionately, and yet still managed to add a bit of, I'm not buying that shit, in said smirk. Dipper couldn't deny it at that moment if his life depended on it. Wendy was gorgeous, and it took all of his willpower not to pull her into that kiss she seemed to promise just moments before. That pang was as strong as ever, especially with the knowledge that his longtime crush would more than welcome it. If it wasn't for stupid stuttering time travelers and their god damn prophecies!

Examining every inch of her pretty face, Dipper now noticed the heavy bags beneath her eyes. "Wendy, you look exhausted… Did you sleep at all last night?"

"It was a long night… I'll get some sleep once we get you up and about, and everything packed up."

"You… Stayed awake this entire time watching over me?…" Dipper gapped, Wendy confirming his observation with a simple grin. "You didn't need to… I mean… Why?"

"Why do you think Dipper?!" Wendy groaned, losing a bit of her patience with her recovering friend. Happy she was, relieved she was, exhausted and irritable she very much was as well. "I know even you aren't that dense, and I haven't exactly been subtle with how I've been tryin' to let you know…" She didn't want to say how she felt. That felt too cliche and corny, and quite frankly, just not her. "What I want… The question is, why don't you seem to want the same thing anymore… Am I not your dream girl anymore Dip?"

Now that was Wendy teasing, Dipper could tell… He did fail, however, to pick up on the slight hint of apprehension in her voice. "It's… Complicated… We work so well as friends, and that relationship means a lot to me… I don't want to ruin what we have because I got greedy. I think it's best if we just leave things the way they are…"

"I could live with that… But I also think our friendship is strong enough that we'd be okay even if things didn't work out. I'd rather go for it and fail, rather than torture myself wonderin' what could've been if I'd just tried." Wendy paused, while Dipper hung his head dejectedly. The redheaded lumberjack could tell he was conflicted, and that both frustrated and gave her hope at the same time. "Look, I'll make a deal with ya… If you can look me in the eye… And I mean straight in the eye and tell me you don't have those kind of feelings for me anymore, I'll accept it and move on. No more questions asked, no hard feelings."

"And… If I can't?" Dipper asked nervously. Because he knew he wasn't going to be able to do that.

Wendy's grin was almost feral. "Then I have no reason to stop, and I'm going to find a way to get what I want."

God damn Blendin Blandin… God damn him to time hell! Dipper gulped and forced himself to turn his head, so he was face-to-face with Wendy… Who was grinning mischievously and even had the nerve to bat her eyelashes at him… Lousy cheater… Secretly though, Wendy was trying her damnedest not to look as nervous as she actually felt. Dipper finally managed to maintain eye contact for more than a second and started to sputter. "I'm… Sorry Wendy… But… I…" Dipper stared into her green eyes… Those beautiful shimmering emeralds… Damn it, how he wished he could just…

Accepting defeat, Dipper let out a growl, and threw himself back down on the bed dejectedly. Wendy practically jumped out of her chair, feeling almost giddy actually, and had to fight off the urge to tackle and just hug the crap out of her favorite dork. She'd gladly settle for the confirmation she so desperately craved though. "Well, I guess that's settled! We should get you cleaned up and head downstairs… The others will be glad to see you awake!"


While Wendy continued to look after Dipper, the rest of the team were finishing packing up their gear so they could head back to their hotel as soon as Dipper was strong enough to make the trip. Nobody wanted to abuse the Parker's hospitality any more than they already had.

Takura had just loaded the last of Ford's lab equipment onto the Jeep. Mabel was hanging off the back of it supervising… If you could even call it that.

"Takura…" She spoke up suddenly. "Do you really think I'm selfish?"

Takura paused, surprised by the question. Perhaps he had been a tad too harsh earlier, but his sentiment was genuine. "Selfish might be too strong of a word… But it does seem to me that when pivotal situations arise, you tend to focus primally on things that affect you without ever really taking into consideration how those same situations can affect the people around you just as much, if not more! It's also not uncommon for the actions you take afterward to make things even harder on others… Especially on your brother…"

"Hey now, I'm considerate of other people's feelings!..." Mabel stammered, not exactly sounding all that sure of herself. "Name one time I put my own wants above Dipper's!"

Mabel's eyes widened as Takura began naming off instances immediately. "The thing with the fish-man and Dipper's job at the time, the thing at the fair with the pig, guilting your brother into not accepting that offer of the mentorship with Doc Pines, and of course refusing to come out of that idealistic little fantasy world you were trapped in…"

"He… Told you about all that?!"

Takura shrugged at her bewildered reply. He guessed the girl had no idea he had any legitimate ammunition against her. "We didn't have TV's back on Andorra or countless electronic devices to distract ourselves with, so we talked a lot… His life back on Earth was a frequent topic."

"So basically, Dipper just complained about me being a crappy sister the entire time he was over there right?" Mabel moped as she crossed her arms.

"To the contrary… He had mostly very complimentary things to say about you and his friends and family here on Earth. Those examples I listed are merely my own interpretations of the stories he shared with me. My key observation being that Dipper tended to sacrifice a lot for you, a favor that was rarely returned by you, if ever. If anything, he was more likely to get belittled by you for it, rather than receive any form of appreciation for all he has given up hoping to make you happy… Even going as far as degrading himself to get you and your friends into that rich girl's party never really resulted in any kind of extended gratitude. I thought that maybe I was reading too much into his stories… But then I came to Earth and saw it happen with my own eyes…"

"Hey, I know that's a bunch of baloney! I've been nothing but supportive of Dipper since he got back from the Jurassic Park dimension!"

"Really now? Because you weren't all that supportive of Dipper's plans to open up his museum and form his paranormal investigation team… That was until you found out you'd be involved, and since Dipper's plans no longer negatively impacted what you wanted, you were suddenly okay with it. Or earlier this morning when you were willing to let Dipper suffer through living the remainder of his life as a barely animated corpse if that antivenom didn't work, just to prolong yourself having to feel sad if he didn't make it. Oh, and let's not forget how you haven't wasted an opportunity to let Dipper know how much his absence adversely affected you, but I don't recall you ever acting all that interested in how being separated from you affected him across dimensions. It's like you assumed he was off on some tropical vacation somewhere and not frequently risking his life in a land that was foreign to him, feeling just as miserable apart from you as you were apart from him." Takura waited for a response, but as he half expected, he got none. Mabel just stared at him with her mouth hanging partially open and faint traces of moisture forming at the corners of her eyes. While he took no joy in upsetting the girl, he didn't exactly pity her either. Dipper had warned him that his sister was the type of person you sometimes had to be very blunt with to get your point across, which suited Takura just fine seeing as that was the way he pretty much dealt with everybody he interacted with anyway. Blunt as hammer, only refraining from speaking his mind when he personally felt doing so would be ill-advised or served no practical purpose.

"I…" Mabel squeaked finally. She'd been struggling to find the words to defend herself… In fact, she was having to fight not to consider if Takura had a point. She couldn't help but think back to her recent conversation with Wendy for some reason… Damn it… "I've talked to Dipper a lot about his time on Andorra… He's told me all about his adventures over there…"

"Yes, but have you asked him about it personally? How he felt over there, during those times when he wasn't fighting for his life or crawling through ancient ruins?" Takura asked much more gently as he approached Mabel, now standing directly in front of her. Okay, so maybe he did pity her a little bit… For reasons he didn't quite understand and wasn't sure he liked. "How he felt being away from you, his family, and his friends… When all he wanted was to get home as soon as he possibly could while never really knowing for sure if he ever would."

"I… Don't…" Mabel's lip quivered as she hung her head. "I guess it never came up… I figured he'd come to me and talk about it if he ever had anything to say…"

"Or maybe he just didn't want to bother you with it, or worse, thought you wouldn't listen or even care… Maybe you should go to him and talk about it when you get the chance… He'd appreciate that…" Takura trailed off as he turned his head away. "Trust me, I know…"

Mabel looked up at Takura in mild wonderment. While it hurt to get so candidly dressed down by somebody you'd been quite openly crushing on, and the fact that might kind of be right made her feel even worse, it did kind of help that he seemed to be speaking out on his brother's behalf in a strange way… Takura was very protective of her twin, that had become obvious from pretty much the day he arrived back home, and Dipper seemed to trust Takura explicitly. She guessed that spending two years wandering a deadly jungle world together would do that for you. Mabel wasn't sure which relationship she was more jealous off… Takura and how he'd more or less taken over her role as her bro-bro's most trusted confidant, or Dipper who was able to establish an emotional connection to someone who seemed to merely tolerate her presence, and that was the best-case scenario.

"You… Really do seem to care about my brother…"

Takura grumbled and turned back to face Mabel, "Tell me something… Have you made a lot of friends? Now, and throughout your life?"

Mabel thought about the question… There was Wendy, Candy, Greta, Soos, and Pacifica amongst others as well as her friends from school growing up in Piedmont… Well, former friends in most cases, but she guessed she had to count them. She'd always been popular. "Yeah, I've had a whole lot of friends… Why?"

"Because I don't… So I tend to be very protective of the ones that I do…" Takura turned his back to her and headed towards the house. It took all the courage Mabel had to yell after him.

"Am I one of those friends too?"

Takura looked back at her… His usually emotionless expression broke into a smirk. "We're getting there… I wouldn't have told you any of this otherwise if I didn't hope it would help."

"So you… Don't think I'm a horrible person?"

Takura turned back towards her, his brow raised indignantly. "Now you're being ridiculous. Being an imperfect person doesn't make you a horrible person." He looked away again, his grey eyes looking darker than usual. "I know all about imperfection… Be glad you don't have the demons I have to deal with, almost literally growling at your door…"

Mabel's lips curved upward ever so slightly… There was an opportunity in that admission. "Would you like to… Talk about those demons sometime?"

Takura's eyes briefly widened in surprise. He'd chastise himself later for not realizing he should've expected this. "Trust like that… Is one of those demons I'm still wrestling with… We should go back inside and check on your brother… See if there's been any improvement…"

"Okay," Mabel nodded before following him towards the house, eager to know herself.

She had a lot to think about.


"Thank you again for allowing us the use of your home," Ford said to the owners of said house. "I understand completely that the intrusion wasn't the most convenient situation for you."

"It was the least we could do to thank you for helping our family…" Mrs. Parker replied, and then glowered and her dour looking husband before elbowing him in the ribs. "Wasn't it Steven?"

"Right, right… Thank you…"

Stanley, standing next to his brother, couldn't remember the last time he wanted to punch somebody in the throat so badly.. The ungrateful… If it wasn't for the rest of the family seeming so sincere in their gratitude, he just might've sent this bozo a little letter on Dipper's behalf, hinting that the group may have found an entire nest of those flying monstrosities and he personally may have accidentally given them directions to the jerk's house. Or maybe just a really large bill for their services. "Yeah… You've been a real peach Mrs. Parker… We've got all our crap packed up, so we'll be outta your hair as soon as Dipper is up and about."

"Well, looks like my timing is perfect then," a somewhat hoarse sounding voice joked from behind the elder Pines Twins. They turned to see Dipper standing at the base of the stairs smiling weakly. Wendy had her hand pressed up against his back to help him along… It wasn't really necessary, but it made the redhead feel a bit more comfortable allowing Dipper to move around on his own.

"Dipper my boy! It's good to see you up and about so soon… But then again, it's good to see you upright and speaking at all considering the condition you were in last night…"

"Yeah kid, you had us all on edge, especially ole Red here," Stan gestured to Wendy, who flushed ever so slightly and frowned, not liking getting called out one bit. "By the way, I'm sending you the bill for getting my clothes dry cleaned after all that gunk you slobbered all over me last night."

Dipper smiled weakly at his Grunkle when he heard yet another person shout out his name. "Dipper!" A brunette bullet crashed into him and locked him in a bone crunching hug, causing the still sore Dipper to wince in pain

"Mabel, ease up just a bit please!"

His sister nearly ignored him until she recalled what she and Takura had just talked about outside… Think about what he needs and not what she *wants* in this moment. She loosened her grip and finally noticed the look of discomfort on her brother's face. "Sorry… You're probably sore from what that monster did to you…"

Dipper looked surprised for a second, before smiling in appreciation. "Just a little… Thanks Mabes… Thank all of you… For absolutely saving my ass last night."

"How are you feeling by the way?" Takura asked with concern as he appeared behind Mabel. "Any strange effects from the poison?... Or the anti-venom for that matter?"

"Other than feeling like I'm getting over the world's worst cold, there's nothing noticeable."

"We should monitor you closely for the next few days just to be certain," Stanford insisted. "You can never be too careful, especially with rush jobs like this one…"

Mr. Parker, who just wanted these weird people out of his house as soon as possible, asked, "And you guys are positive whatever *he* had isn't contagious?"

"Almost assuredly," Ford replied as he adjusted his glasses. "Just to be safe though, you might want to wash those sheets he used… Or better yet just burn them."

Mrs. Parker looked down at her daughter who furiously nodded her head in agreement. Abbey then blushed, noticing Dipper looking at her in amusement. "Uh… No offense."

"None taken!"

Several minutes later, the crew had gathered in the living room and said their final goodbyes to the Parker family. Todd Parker had a parting gift to present to a particular member of the team. "Mr. Takura! I drew you a picture to take home with you!"

With a raised eyebrow, Takura knelt down to Todd's level, and accepted the piece of construction paper. The artwork was crafted in the familiar Crayola style of most kids his age. He'd drawn a crude version of the parker home, and just outside of the second-floor window, a scowling stick person with yellow hair was punching a bat looking creature in the face. Inside the house was a lone figure, smaller than the other two, that appeared to be cheering on the figure Takura assumed was supposed to represent him. Takura smirked at the boy, warmed by the look of pride and hope in his eyes. "It's lovely kid… Thank you."

"Hey now," Wendy snickered in amusement as she examined the picture over Takura's shoulder. "I helped out a little too! I'm the one who actually… Well, you know?" Wendy slid her finger across her throat, making a slicing sound. Probably not an appropriate gesture, or moment to even mention, in front of a child but Wendy never claimed to be ready for motherhood just yet.

Todd shrugged apologetically. "Uh… Sorry?"

Wendy laughed, while Takura ruffled the boy's hair. "I expect you to be brave from here on out. With that monster gone, there's nothing left to be afraid of right?"

"I'll be brave from now on! I promise!"

With their final goodbyes said, the Gravity Falls Crew left the Parker family to get on with what would now be a normal life without the threat of cryptid gargoyle creatures threatening to carry off one of their children. Before they headed back to their hotel for some much-needed rest, there was one other matter that required their attention… Or rather Dipper's input since he hadn't been conscious or coherent enough to give it until now.

"There's one final decision you need to make before we can put this case to a definitive close Dipper," his Grunkle Ford told him. "We know well now that this is not the same Jersey Devil from local legend… Yet it is a creature that poses a danger to humans, and if there's one of them lurking within the Pine Barrens…"

"Then the natural assumption is that there's probably more…" Dipper finished for him.

"Indeed… With the rare exception, supernatural beasts just don't materialize out of thin air. It's only logical to assume a breeding population exists somewhere… The question is, do we take our discovery public, or is it better to keep everyone in the dark as to what's stalking that forest."

"How's that a question at all?!" Wendy spat empathically. "Of course we should take the information public! These things go after kids for god's sake! People have the right to know that they're being hunted by these monsters!"

"We don't know that for sure though Wendy…" said Dipper thoughtfully. "If we reveal this creature to the world and what it's done, they'll be combing the Pine Barrens looking to wipe every last one of them off the face of the planet! We could be dooming an entire species to extinction…"

Takura snorted. "And that's a bad thing? Considering what these things are capable of?"

"Considering how long Jersey Devil type creatures have been spotted in this area, it's safe to assume they've been around a long time with minimal contact with humans… And as far as we know, the one we encountered was the only one actively preying on humans…. I don't know if I want to condemn the entire species for one member's actions… Just like on the rare occasion when a rouge shark bites a human, you don't cull every shark in the ocean. There's not even any proof another one of these creatures exists, let alone that any of the others have developed a taste for human flesh if they do."

"What if you're wrong though?" Takura challenged. "What if we hear about more kids disappearing in this area once we get back to Oregon? Are you going to be able to live with yourself if more kids die because you didn't act when you had the chance?"

Before he could respond, Stanford placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know this isn't an easy call to make son… But not every creature is worth preserving… Not every case is going to be a Bruce situation."

"But who are we to make that decision on which cryptids get to live in peace, and which ones have to die?!"

"Dipper my boy… I'm fairly certain you accepted that burden when you chose this line of work for a living… Now, this is your case, so you need to decide… We have irrefutable evidence of this creatures existence. Now, what do you say we do with it?"

All of the sudden, Dipper wished he were still in Abbey's bed fighting off the effects of the poison. At least he didn't have to think about it too hard… There truly was only one right answer here…


It took several days for the information to leak, but soon the story was all over the local news in New Jersey and the surrounding states. A group of local cryptid hunters had turned in the severed head of an unclassified animal that seemed to bare a close resemblance to descriptions of the area's favorite monster, the Jersey Devil. As hard as it was for the locals to wrap their heads around the fact that their infamous local legend was not only fact, but it was now apparently deceased, and somehow linked to the disappearances of a number of missing children on the outskirts of the Pine Barrens area.

"While it's currently unknown if there are any more of these creatures lurking within the shadows of the Pine Barrens, authorities are urging residents to keep their children indoors after nightfall, and to keep a close eye on the skies… We'll bring you more information as this story develops here on Channel 7 news."

Having heard enough, Mr. Parker shut off the Television. His son was watching after all, and he didn't want to damage the boy's newfound sense of safety. His daughter looked up at him with worried eyes. "Dad… Do you think there could be more of those things out there?"

"There's no way to know for sure," he sighed. "Though you'd think if there was, people would spot something that freakin' ugly more often. At least people know these things could be out there, so they'll know to be prepared… And not to make the same mistake I did…" Instinctively, Steven Parker wrapped an arm around each kid and pulled them to him. To his mild surprise, Todd did not appear rattled by the unnerving news story in the least.

He was keeping the promise he made. He was going to brave and not live in fear.

Elsewhere in the area, Jerry Leeds turned down the radio he and his brother had been listening too out by his shed, airing a similar story to the one being shown on television. "It's probably for the best if you laid low for a couple of weeks Mel… At least until the hysteria calms down. Who knows, this might be a good thing for ya if everyone in the area thinks the Jersey Devil is toast."

Mel gave a few low chirping sounds in response.

"Yeah, yeah, I know… All you cared about was not being accused of hurtin' those kids. I'm still surprised you haven't been able to find the body though… Or anybody else for that matter. I wonder what happened to it?"

Mel snorted in agreement.


Two days earlier:


At the mouth of the small burrow where a werewolf and a bat-demon had done battle a short time before, a small head emerged from the cave and sniffed the air. And odd creature emerged from within, granite grey in color, bat-like wings, and sharp claws at the end of each appendage. It looked very much like a mini version of the creature that had been terrorizing the human children of the area. Two more identical creatures followed the slightly larger one out of the burrow, and they all began darting around. They were hungry, and their mother had yet to return home with dinner. She was close by, they could smell her, so they took flight and followed the scent several miles to the north of their burrow…

That's where they found the headless corpse of their mother, lying lifeless on the ground. The little creatures didn't seem to recognize this sad fact at first as they landed and began to pick, claw, and poke at their caregiver. She just would not move. When it became apparent that the creature that brought them life was no longer of use to them, they did the only thing that made sense to their instinct-driven minds… They dug in, ripping tiny bits of flesh off the carcass and swallowing them whole. They were hungry little devils after all, and there was no loyalty or sense of family for these primitive creatures. Just the will to survive by any means necessary.

After consuming their fill, the little monsters were just strong enough to drag what remained of their mother's body home. The carcass would keep their bellies full for quite some time.


Deep in the heart of nowhere Kansas sat a lonely farmhouse just off of a rural highway. While 9:00pm wasn't particularly late for your average person, for an elderly couple like Drake and Ethel Sawyer, it might as well have been the middle of the night. The pair were already in their night clothes and locking up their home for the evening. This was routine for the couple, and nothing particularly strange. What was out the ordinary was the strange car that pulled onto their isolated property so late in the evening. Stranger still, the visitor didn't drive all the way up the long dusty driveway that led to the front of house, instead choosing to park it just off the main highway. The driver casually climbed out of his vehicle while whistling an eerily familiar tune to himself. He walked around to the back of his yellow Oldsmobile Delta and popped opened his trunk. From within, he retrieved a weathered looking old wood-cutters axe and promptly closed the trunk. Gripping the axe in his right hand, he allowed the head to drop to the ground, dragging the axe along next to him as he approached the Sawyers home while calming singing to himself.

Keep smiling through….

Just like you always do…

'Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away…

So will you please say "Hello"… To the folks that I know…

Drake Sawyer readied to shut out the lights to the living room when he heard a gentle knock upon his door… So soft if fact that his poor hearing almost didn't pick up the sound. Wondering if he might be hearing things, he barked at the door. "Who is it?!"

There was no answer. Deciding his ears must be playing tricks on him, Drake went to shut off the light again when there was another, much more forceful knock at the door. This one he couldn't deny. "Whadyya want?! Do you realize what time of night it is? Now scram!" He waited a second or two, and sure enough, there was a third even louder series of knocks upon his door. He briefly considered going to fetch his shotgun, but in his irritation, ultimately decided to answer the door and give whoever was on the other side the ass chewing of a lifetime.

On the other side of that door, the visitor continued to serenade himself.

They'll be happy to know… That as you saw me go…

I was singing this song…

We'll meet again…

Don't know where, don't know when

Drake Sawyer opened the door… And the last thing he saw was the blade of an axe before it struck him straight between the eyes.

Elsewhere in the house, Ethel Sawyer was stirred by the commotion coming from her living room. First the loud knocking sounds, followed shortly by what sounded frighteningly like a muffled scream. Ethel cautiously waddled towards the living room to see what the fuss was all about. "Drake…" she called as she peered into the living room. She saw nothing at first… Not until she looked down and her heart nearly stopped at the sight of the bloody stump that used to be her husband. She never noticed the figure standing behind her, and barely had time to scream before the blade of an axe crashed into the back of her skull. The visitor continued to swing until the body fell limp and the old grandmother stopped moving.

Satisfied that his work was complete, the visitor casually left the building as he finished his song.

We'll meet again…

Don't know where, don't know when…

But I know we'll meet again some sunny day…

Sadly, there would be no more sunny days for the Sawyers, for tonight they'd been paid a visit by the Axeman.


CF005: The Devil's From New Jersey

The Leeds Devil: Status-Non-Hostile. Identity and existence will remain undisclosed to protect the subjects privacy and well-being.

Unknown Gargoyle Class Creature: Status-Terminated. The existence of any similar creatures within the Pine Barrens is currently unknown.

File Status: Case Closed


-Whew, I'm really starting to skirt the lines of T & MA aren't I? And yes, I just did that so feel free to start jumping to conclusions. Oh, and back when I said I was going to try and avoid overarching storylines, apparently I lied. It's here and there's no going back now.

-I am aware that the process of creating antivenom doesn't quite work the way it's described in this chapter, and initially that worried me… But then I remembered I'm dealing with a man who built an interdimensional portal amongst of number of other preposterous feats so why the hell couldn't Ford whip up a batch of antivenom in the span of a few hours? I've gotta remember that this is Gravity Falls I'm dealing with, and I don't have to worry about being completely logical with everything.

-The next case arc is going to get a bit busy. We have the Grand Opening of Dipper's Museum followed by another trip to the East Coast where the crew will be double dipping on cases… Pun not really intended, but I'll own it. This time its off to Long Island where Dipper has reluctantly agreed to investigate the site of what he considers to be one of the biggest Paranormal Hoaxes in the field… Or is it? Tensions arise with the rest of team as Dipper comes off as less than interested in their current job and more enthralled with a nearby rash of unsolved murders… Or rather, is it the mystery girl he suspects may have a connection with the case? Oh… And the Axeman might make another appearance.