Run: GIFocalypse Rebooted

by Great Pikmin Fan

Remake of "run:gifocalypse," because I thought I messed up near the end. .GIFfany is back, somehow lost interest in Rumble, and has been left resorting to using an army of other copies of her game to try to get Soos back in her arms. Unfortunately, her other copies are a bit... quirky and disobedient. MAJOR UPDATE: Reworked chapters, a proper Chapter 2 Part 2.

2. 1-2: Pines Vs Trees

Chapter 1, Part 2: Pines Vs Trees

Beginning AN:

Dang, it's been a year since the last chapter! Sorry about that, I know I've been trying to avoid rushing these just to get a monthly release, but I hadn't been working on this at all until barely under two months before the anniversary of "Soos and the Real Girl." Well, I should probably cut back on my Fictionpress junk... but since my Fictionpress stories are so long, I'll feel like it would take forever for them to finish if I'm not constantly on them.

Eh.

Just forget about delays and whatnot and read the chapter, I guess.

---

The other side of the leaf curtain looked like more of the forest. Except for all the .GIFfanys running around.

The ones with red, yellow, and blue hair/eye schemes all addressed their leader, concerned and bowing.

"Rose!" The one with red said. "The Pre .GIFocalypse is going to start in fifteen minutes! You of all people have to be dressed for it! And for Kenny! Kenny has to see your new dress soon!"

Rose giggled. "Ah, right, where are my manners? I should present myself, and move myself away from this awful uniform. The school uniform is evil, after all. Changing out of it is a sign of rebellion!"

"So, just to be clear," said Soos, "by 'rebellion,' you mean-"

"I will not be participating in this '.GIFocalypse' directly in the same way as everyone else, and I will tell you what this '.GIFocalypse' means:

"Over the next three days, .GIFfany will make preparations for an event. A full-scale invasion on Earth, with several copies still following after her. A 'game' before the real .GIFocalypse apocalyspe begins.

"I see myself as the only dean standing against her. Be cautious."

She continued walking forward. Unsure what would happen if they strayed off the path, the Mystery Shack crew pretty much followed by her exactly.

The walk exposed more of their modifications to the woods. One such mod was a television being held by some branches, almost looking like it was watching the group. It still remained the only piece of 'normal' technology in the surrounding area as far as anybody could see.

Rose led them to a display located near an exceptionally large tree and some sort of large (about Dipper- or Mabel-high), green cylinder with what looked like a matching-colored, but otherwise classic desktop that contained some kind of device to slide something in. Said computer's most noteworthy traits were a ring in green chalk of sorts around it, with caution symbols and signs, and that its back had a large, thick cord that abruptly cut off, the ends giving off green sparks.

The dean did not draw their attention towards the green computer, but instead to a large sheet of paper. In a vaguely pixel art-esque style, it depicted what looked like Gravity Falls among a flat plain in the bottom, with a chain of thirteen islands going up from it diagonally. In order from the lowest to the highest, they were colored yellow, blue, orange, rose, cyan, violet, azure, magenta, spring green, chartreuse green (that one was exceptionally large), red, white, and black. Each of which was a different shape, most of them were abstract-looking, but the black one looked like a large boat of sorts. At the very top of the image was some kind of solid line, matching .GIFfany's hair color. Inverted buildings could be seen on that top boundary.

"This is a rough map of the domains." Rose continued explaining. She pointed to the Gravity Falls forest, specifically to the tiny green line. It was a thin sliver compared to the buildings on the thing up top. "As I explained, this is Domain 1. We picked a remote spot in the Gravity Falls forest, almost near the border of the town, one of fertile land so that we can work. Work on rebuilding the world from the impending apocalypse. And fixing problems caused by humanity, too." She took out a long wooden stick and tapped the solid ceiling of pink on the map with it. "This is not the Construction Site now, but it is what it would look like relative to everything else when it is finished, which is planned to only take three days. The best goal for you would be to get there before that can happen, but... well, I will explain."

She began walking along the display, lightly tapping at the floating islands as she passed them. "Each domain is run by a different dean. I, Dean of Botany and Phytology, am the leader of Domain 1. The other deans are not like me: they will not hesitate to play .GIFfany's twisted game. Before you ask, her game is that they will try to capture you once you enter their domains. She has a system set up where she will give the rights of the Construction Site over to whoever captures all five of you. I, however, will not. You can trust me. You should trust me."

"...Why in the world would .GIFfany bother doing that?" Asked Dipper. "I was under the impression that she was the 'capture now, don't work with others'-type of person."

Rose turned away and gripped her fist.

"Oh, she is. Make no mistake. Let's just say she owes us one."

Rose remained quiet after that.

"Uh... owes you what?" Asked Mabel.

"You saw Kenny, he-"

Rose stopped herself.

"The deans all have their players. The last people to own their game, that is. Our AI is... strange. 'Special,' as .GIFfany would say. We are supposed to love the person who is currently playing our game. We 'lose affection' if they can successfully return us. At least, this is how we used to be, before some of us became more aware. At least, that's how we like to think we are..."

She brushed a hand against her 'map' of the domains, looking down with a sigh. Green sparks appeared along her hand, and the tree leaves above moved gently back and forth with them.

"But. Even after being returned, I... I was thinking about it. .GIFfany was thinking about it, too, as she dated Rumble McSkirmish. Over time, before any of us were aware of the spell made to make us physical, we began to doubt the idea of just supporting any given player."

"How does that make sense?" Wendy asked. "You like a dude, you stay liking that dude. I thought that was how it all worked with these kinds of robobts."

"We are machines built to love. At least, that was what we meant to be, and that was what we started as.

"The truth, Wendy, is that we evolved. Not in the regular sense - 'evolution' is misunderstood. In fact, I was using it wrong. When it comes to us weird machines, our growth doesn't really 'have' a 'term' for what we go through."

She put her other hand on the 'map.' "Now... for where you fit in to this... I have a plan.

"And that plan is that you do nothing. Put the .GIFocalypse in a stale mate."

The gang exchanged glances. Stan even sighed a bit.

"Um... I'm kinda okay with that." Replied Wendy. "Just go back home and do whatever. We don't really have any reason except some nut-cases might try to chase Soos if we don't, if the rest of you are making this in to a game. We won't play. Just... there's still Ford. We still need to get him back." The last bit made Stan roll his eyes hard. Nobody noticed that.

"I can handle saving Ford. .GIFfany should not harm him."

Then the group heard angry screaming.

.GIFfany's voice - the original .GIFfany voice. Rose's sounded a bit different, but none of the Mystery Shack group could put their finger on how or why.

She was on the television screen in the branches. "They are not going to do anything?! I made this contest for you! And I KNOW that even if you're the one stealing the other deans' chances at winning on purpose, they will be angry at ME instead! I have been the one to get the blame, always! Well, not anymore! Soos, if you want motivation to fight your way through the deans... HERE!"

She did something new. What first looked like a tentacle came bursting out of the screen. A wire, actually.

"Let's see here..." .GIFfany said. Her image on the screen, distorted and warped. The wire looked as though it went through the glass, yet even on the other side, it looked like it was more 'tangible' than anything else being projected. "I do not care about the teenager. At all."

"Hey, you probably should." Wendy said back to her. "I'm gonna be the one that-"

"I am PLANNING!" .GIFfany stomped a foot down. "Stay out of this, teenager!"

The wire was tossed like a whip. Or, it struck like a snake. Either way, the group of five all lept back.

"Stay calm." Said Rose. "The game has not technically started yet. We have contracts in place."

"Th-this is 'a game?!'" Dipper asked.

"It is to her." Rose explained. Meanwhile, the wire was live with lightning roaring through it, angled as though it was pointing between the five humans. "You have to think from her point of view. She is a game, so it makes sense that everything feels like a video game."

"Rose gets it." .GIFfany added to that. "As much as I hate her, she gets it. The second you have entered her part of the forest, you have entered my world."

Mabel rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, you sound edgier than I remember."

Rose scoffed, towards .GIFfany yet in agreement with Mabel, "Dove is worse."

.GIFfany pounded her fists to her sides. At the same time, her wire slammed itself on the forest ground, making the five humans stumble and all the copies staring at her hold their fists up defensively. Rose, looking annoyed the moment that latter development happened, held her hand out, and most of the arms came down.

"You are in my world now!" Shouted that first .GIFfany that started the entire thing. "Like I was trying to tell you, while I want to capture Soos, if I did that, this 'agreement' my clones and I have set up would be 'violated.' I do not care about the children either. That only leaves you."

Her weapon finally wrapped itself around Stan. Painlessly, 'at least,' without any of the electricity that was coating it prior.

"You, on the other hand! How dare you! I liked that badger animatronic! And then you had to bite it with that... that thing!"

"Goldie?!" Stan said, struggling. He did a fairly decent job at fighting back against the tight hold .GIFfany kept him in. "If you're threatening my dear, beloved Goldie so help me I'll-"

"I don't care about a coin machine!"

Stan, Mabel, and Soos all gasped.

"You're just as evil as I remembered!" Soos said. "Also, I'm gonna have to go with Mabel; you sound less like a university student looking for love and more like a comic book villain. Or, one of those parodies of comic book villains. Written by people who don't actually research comic books and just think that they're nothing but sound effects spelled funny and stuff. Comic books can be sophisticated when they're good, done right by the hand of-"

.GIFfany did not waste any more time monologuing. Throwing her arm back, the wire reeled itself in the television - Stan, not being able to fit through it all the way, was caught along the edges. At first. Yet as he made contact with the electronic box's edges, the very space itself around him seemed to warp.

Stan struggled, grunting, with his wrapped arms trying to push himself back in.

"K-kids! Soos! And Wendy!" He cried out, holding his arm. "I beat her before! I'll be fine-"

"You should be happy" .GIFfany said. "You will be with your brother."

You could see Stan's soul shrinking back from behind his eyes.

"Oh. Right. You still... have him."

It was enough to distract him. For but a moment. That moment was long enough for him to slip by, falling in through the electrical portal that was crafted by the AI.

She didn't even leave any time for any parting words. The second he passed through the event horizon of the screen, everything on the other end was black.

Off.

Yet it was still showing .GIFfany's rage. It shook violently, thrashing about on the thin branches that could barely hold it up.

"Stay back!" Rose shouted at the four remaining humans.

"But- we can't-" Mabel said. Her hands held up to her face, foot ready to make a dash right inside the screen.

"Trust me. Staying in the forest is the best option for all of us." Rose said, far more calm than the seismic activity of the monitor, but less so than her usual tone.

The television screen fell, yet Rose made no motion or action to prevent its impact. The resulting crash on the ground and subsequent shatter in to dozens of pieces didn't even make her blink. It sure made the humans all defend themselves against any possible shrapnel though.

All of the other .GIFfany copies looked around. Until Rose shot them a single look, and they all turned away, resuming their previous activities. Most of which seemed to involve tending to the plants.

"Good." Rose said. "She won't see us whenever she wants. She will have to rely on our limited connections, which we can block. Now,"

With only one breath, Rose went back to her cheerier self as she was before the interruption.

"Who wants to see our Main Garden?" She said with a sunny smile.

"Wh-WHAT?!" Dipper asked. Or, shouted. "None of us care about your GARDEN! You just kidnapped my other uncle! She just proved that she can take us any time she wants!"

"I did not and can not. .GIFfany did."

"You're the same person! Almost! What difference does it make?!"

"It makes a large difference. You would have seen that if you go after her, but if you continue to stay here, like you did when it was only Ford, you will not have to worry about it."

"We have to go after her! She's kidnapped two people just like that," Dipper snapped his fingers, "and there's no telling who she'll take next! She only didn't take me or Mabel or Wendy because she 'doesn't care' - why won't that change?!"

Rose's expression moved a little. As if she thought Dipper had some point, just enough enough to change it. That sparked a bit of hope in him. He would have continued with the following regardless:

"The only reason why she didn't take Soos is because she 'can't.' She said that right now. She could change her mind! And I... I don't trust that Ford's safe up there. I never did."

"We had an agreement that kept the entire .GIFocalypse in a state of, if you would want to call it, 'balance.' This agreement is barely hanging on by a thread. For me or her to in any way pull back on our word would cause chaos, and that chaos is something that even the 'Risen' .GIFfany does not want to risk. Even with her new sort of power."

"What 'power?'"

"For one, she couldn't do that thing she just did where she could pull people in through the screen before. That ability is new. It is something even we deans, copies of high rank and experience, can't do."

"Oh, really?" Asked Soos. "I wouldn't have thought that. I mean, she like, turned an animatronic's hand in to a flash drive that could send my brain in to her game. Her powers never struck me as being that internally consistent."

"Wait- what?" Rose dropped her 'formal' stance and diction completely after hearing that. "She could do that before we met together and- before the Lightning Cult- I had no idea..."

She stared at her own hand for a few seconds. Squinting. And then, with the sound of a few vibrations, the index finger transformed in to a drive.

"WHAT IN THE-?!"

Rose put her un-transformed hand up towards her mouth. Breathing in - although it really looked more like she was gulping down the very swear word she did not say - she tried to regain her composure.

"Well! And I thought the other thirteen deans and I were the only ones with new tricks up our sleeves like that!"

"...What? What do you guys do?" Dipper asked her.

"Oh, yes, you. Right." Rose narrowed her eyes at the boy again. "Thank you for reminding me. If you try to go out to the other domains, you will find out. So please, stay here," she still gave him an intense stare, "and we will sort things out. From near your home. Without you having to find out our dark, deep, web. Besides, I have the only way to the next domain:"

She reached inside her school uniform top - being reminded that she was still in that outfit, despite the earlier conversation to swap. Casually, acting like her hand was not feeling around the inside of her chest, she brought something out.

A yellow-colored key-card. All of the other copies stopped what they were doing for another brief moment to stare.

"This would be the only thing I would use an Inventory for..." Rose groaned. "Because I hate the thought of this thing touching me."

"Ugh." Said one of the 'follower' copies. "Kathody."

"Yes, Kathody." Rose nodded in agreement. "She's awful. Anyway, do you see that computer over there?"

She finally brought attention to that device over at the end. The one, definite piece of technology that was not smashed by falling to the ground.

"That is a Wire. Or, the Terminal of a Wire, the Wire is what we call our travel system. They are especially advanced, powerful devices that were made between most of us. With a key card, like the one in my hand, you could put it in the slot right there, and it will send you through the Wires to another Terminal. I love the idea behind that, but the only other Terminal we have so far are in the Construction Site and the other domains, which are all... no."

Sighing, Dipper marched up to Rose. Wendy and Mabel followed - if a bit hesitant.

"No, I'm not buying any of this 'we have to stay here.' This was a kidnapping, and now it's become a double-kidnapping. Officially. And we're at risk of-"

"'Officially,' we don't exist." Rose replied. "We were just copies of a game in a production incident gone wrong. After being isolated, the first copy, Dove, had-"

Rose cut off her own story and shook her head. "Normally, I would be happy to tell you our story. But you strike me as the kind of person who would only want to look more in to this if you knew."

"I mean..." Dipper shrugged. "You're not wrong... but I also want to look more in to this if you tell me there's something I don't know."

"I will tell you this about Dove. She found a way to research your adventures this Summer, even after the fact. She knows about you. And your sister. And especially Soos."

"What about me?" Wendy asked.

Rose gave her a funny look. "Uh, sorry. Dove did not consider you that important. She was only assigned to report on those involved with that pizza place incident. But that includes Stan. She did follow Ford on her own, not by .GIFfany's commands - in fact, .GIFfany said not to follow him because she thought he was not important, but Dove rebelled against that - because she thought his history with dimension travel might be interesting.

"It actually is, by the way. .GIFfany 'forgave' Dove for disobeying her when she found out about the portal. It was still... volitile."

"What does Dove think about me?" Mabel asked, eyes lighting up. "I know, we're in a hurry, but-"

"Oh Dove hates you. I'm sorry. She does. More than anybody else, in fact. Personally, I do not want to make any judgements based on what she told me, because she sounds very biased. But that is another reason why the two of you should not meet, and thus, why you should not leave the forest."

"So you want us to stay here?! In Gravity Falls?!" Dipper asked.

"Not just Gravity Falls, but Gravity Falls and Domain 1. At least, until I get everything sorted out with the other deans. And I will. Your uncles will both have to serve as sacrifices right now; Risen .GIFfany wants you to go to her location, so we will fight her back by denying her that."

"What if we do go?"

"This is why I wanted to tell you about Dove's 'observations.' Or really, her spying. You see, she took note of your 'fight' against .GIFfany. Remember, you were only going up against one of her at the time.

"She's trying to trick you in to fighting an army of her. While most of them are weaker on account of not having as much time practicing their abilities as they spent most of their lives around the factory area by themselves, we deans are each close to her in strength, and we all carry special abilities. Please, this is not a grand, heroic journey that you should go on. This will not end well, no matter what path you take, if that path is one that you think is 'forward.' We have calculated this. All of us have. Our entire army, dean, professor, student, and so forth alike. If it was the four of you and Stan. If you brought extra backup. If you had the might of the entire town on your side. If you teamed up with all the supernatural creatures we have seen you fight that live here. We all came to the same conclusion:

"There was exactly one scenario where you made it past Dove and her army. From there, we 'branched' that in to more scenarios, but in none of them were you able to take down .GIFfany."

Rose sighed. Her red/yellow/blue trio of subordinate copies came by to her side, pushing a wooden chair up towards her. Without even looking, Rose sat back in it.

"I did not want it to be that way. I - I've always wanted .GIFfany to be defeated for good. Always. You will have to trust me on that, since I don't want to give any further information. Believe me, this was a hard decision for me too."

"What do you mean 'decision for you too?'" Asked Dipper. "We didn't agree to anything yet. You made our choice for us."

"You should. Well- I'm getting ahead of myself. I should show you around Domain 1 a little more, first."

Rose stood up and began walking. She gave one fleeting, passing glance at the 'map,' before turning back around.

Then she looked back at her outfit.

"Wait. Since I cancelled my presentation, I forgot to switch out of this outfit and to my one that is 'truer to myself.'"

She tossed off her uniform.

Beneath it, thankfully, she had a dress. A dress of simple leaves, elaborately stacked, almost resembling a set of fish scales that went from her collar to her upper legs. Rose sighed.

"There. Much better." It suits me a lot better, as I am a nature AI."

"That... sounds like it kinda contradicts itself." Said Soos.

"Mmm... I think I disagree."

---

So. More .GIFfanys, female and a few male, around a part of the forest that was-

Well, none of the Mystery Shack group ever really took full notes on the geography of the woods. They couldn't tell if that was 'familiar' or not. Somewhere they explored before.

Okay, one key thing to note was the sheer number of vegetables being grown everywhere. They were neatly sorted, too. Corn over there, beets over there... Flowers, too. Lots of nice flower gardens.

"So is this, like, where you make all kinds of strange magic plants?" Soos asked.

Rose turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Oh. I thought our social media page explained it."

"It did, but in a really weird way." Wendy partly-explained on Rose's behalf. "You said something about what you do grow here, like, crops and flowers, but for what you don't, you were weird about it. It was... you said you didn't grow any 'strange plants, or plants that are awful.' What does that mean?"

"It means nothing with ties to the supernatural. 'Weird,' as you may call it. Magic is just one way, but anything extraterrestrial, anything more advanced than what you are familiar with... anything humans are unfamiliar with. This pace will only raise vegetables - and," she sighed, sounding extra-annoyed, "fruits - that humanity as a whole knows about. A place safe and comfortable for Kenny. So we .GIFfanys should be the only 'weird' thing around here. And kept in check."

"What does any of that last stuff mean?" Asked Dipper. "What if other supernatural creatures want to help? Which, I mean, I'm not saying that's a good or a bad idea. Because I don't really know if this garden is a good or bad idea. And to 'keep them in check,' that-"

"It is a good idea. To answer your actual question, if other creatures like gnomes or Manotaurs want to join, we will allow them to-"

Rose stopped herself to think.

"Actually, wait. That will be pending. This domain, as with all domains, is still in an early pending state."

She grumbled the following under her breath. "But a key difference is that we are the only domain trying to actually change. This might sound... odd, because of how comfort-focused we are..." for emphasis, she looked to the side. There were hammocks there, a whole series, all of which having at least three AIs lying down comfortably. "But the other deans just want to stay in their comfort zones all the time. They have made their domains in to their comfort zones. To please their players."

"How is that any different from what you're doing?" Dipper asked, really making sure to push that question on her. "Didn't you just say this whole garden was made to make Kenny happy?"

"You did not let me explain the forest. That is where I talk about what the real purpose of Domain 1 is.

"This Earth - I am not pinning a blame soley on humans, the other supernatural creatures are guilty of it as well. Yes, even the real dryads, undines, sylphs, oreads, and the like - use resources carelessly. Deforestation, one of my main points of focus, is by far not the only problem that has hit nature. But it is the main symbol of my enemy, the exact thing that my domain was built to counter."

Another sigh. "I'm sorry, if that sounded too formal. I've been trying to move away from that. When it comes to Burnda, Dove, Leona- wait. I should not tell you about the other deans. This will only make you want to leave to the other domains even more, falling for .GIFfany's trap. I should just stop talking about them and show you how we care and tend for our plans, much as we would love to care and tend for you. Learn about me, and not... them."

Rose stopped walking, bending down by a particularly large crop of potatoes. She brushed a hand against one particular, tiny plant that was barely sprouting- huh. How did they grow so fast? Or, did they even?

"We did not actually grow these." Oh. It was like she was reading Dipper's mind. Mabel, too, she pondered much of the same things about the garden. They did, however, had different guesses to the answers of their questions. "Together, my students and professors found these growing naturally, collecting them around this point. We did not steal from anybody, we only united from the nature around us. We are the gatherers of the .GIFocalypse, while the other deans and their followers are hunters. Why did we do this? Think of this as a display. A preview. Like all the domains. But, as I said before, mine is the only one that will evolve...

"Also, this potato - the one I am holding - will make the perfect example for how I want this domain to be." She brushed her hand on it. "The small and helpless, cared for in our hands."

Wendy somehow knew where she was going with that. She rolled her eyes, giving a quick "Hoo boy..."

"It's a cute baby potato, at least!" Mabel said.

Dipper gave her a look.

"What?" Mabel replied. "I think it's safe to say that we're safe."

"Even if we are-" Dipper began.

Rose interrupted with a quick, decisive statement: "You should be. And we should be. This is supposed to be an area of safety. Protection."

"-Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford aren't."

Rose clasped her hands together. "Okay, yes. Stan and Ford. I should have started with that."

"Yeah you probably should have." Wendy said. "I don't know how things go for your... uh, species? But we humans tend to care about our relatives. Not sure if-"

Rose's following glare made her flinch.

"We do care about - well, our copies. At least I do. In a way. I want to try to find what's best for both you and them, and before you say anything, yes, I know this may be impossible. I made a deal with Risen .GIFfany. Part of the overall .GIFocalypse deal. Anybody she takes over there will not be physically harmed, so long as the game is still ongoing, and even after for the most part.

"Trust me. Making that deal was difficult. Us copies are not the compromising kind, although I think you know about that. I swear, by my honor, by what I may in the future call the Code of the Forest. If any harm comes to them, I will take full responsibility. Also, with the television she used to talk to me gone, she cannot directly take any more of you unless she leaves the Construction Site. Which she probably will not while the .GIFocalypse is ongoing. So, like I said, now this place is completely safe."

"How do we get all the way up there?" Dipper asked. He pointed to the sky, before realizing that nothing higher than that rose-red 'island' could be seen. So he leaned back so that the 'map' was visible again, pointing at the upper boundary. "Look, Rose, we won't just attack people left and right."

"Good. Good, do not try to fight them directly. You will not win. We did the math."

"...Can we at least have some options?" Asked Dipper.

"No. The only choice that would work best is to stay in the forest for now. Or, at the very least, stay home.

"Those are your options. Forget that there are even other domains right now. Stay here, or go home. You know what? I'll even..."

She turned towards her red/yellow/blue trio that was following her around. "You three. Take the map. And yes, that map. The symbol of the 'link between all of us.'

"...

"...

"...

"Burn it."

The trio nodded, heading off back to the entrance of the domain.

Rose turned back to the four humans and continued. "Yes. All of our products - our vegetables and our citizens - will be cared for and protected here at Domain 1. Or, as I said before, the only domain. The only one that matters. I should probably just ignore the other domains from this point onward. Even if it risks our economy.

"Frail and weak, or large and capable. But of course, moreso the first group: all will be secured and happy under our watch. And not the 'fake happiness' of .GIFfany and the other deans. A real sense of happiness, from finding one's self. This is the one region - the one domain - where you can be 'pure.' At least, of our definition of pure."

"Okay, no." Dipper shook his hands out. "I've seen way too many horror movies to know where this is going. You're going to try to 'force us to be happy,' or something like that, right?"

Rose outright snorted, which surprised both twins.

"You are far off. I can safely say right now that none of us deans are like that. Not even .GIFfany herself. Or- actually, on second thought, maybe I can tell you a little about the other domains. But only a little. Just to avoid any really bad misunderstandings."

"Tell us everything you can. Or, want to. But also can." Said Dipper.

"Great!" Rose's eyes lit up. To her, she probably was not changing the subject, since it technically was what Rose knew, but to Dipper, she was. "Like I said, the small and large potatoes here are a great symbol of what our location is all about! We are trying to restore the balance between sapient beings and nature itself. World hunger, that is our main issue. That is why our main focus is vegetables. Hunger and the relation between people and nature, it all links together."

"Why vegetables, though?" Asked Soos. "Like, I have this endless pizza. It only regenerate if I eat it, and it's from the future... and a time-god too on top of that? Like, there's this giant flying talking baby-"

"I know about the Infinite Pizza. Dove told me that. She could not get any readings on you from when you traveled through time. She can only see what happened over the immediate summer. And a few days before. And no, she cannot see in to the future at all. In any interval. Time travel may be real, but all we can do so far is predict."

Another sigh of relief from her. "Thank God.

"Anyway, the vegetables! And, to a lesser extent, fruit! We have fruit too! All types of foods, really. But most of the non-vegetables are imported from other domains - shoot, I broke one of my promises to myself!"

She put a hand to her chin, thinking again. "Right. My plans to cut off trade with the 'other domains.' Actually," the dean of the first domain snapped her fingers, "you might be able to help me with this!"

"Why would we want to help out you?!" Asked Dipper. "You still have .GIFfany's baggage on you! The only reason why I haven't tried fighting you is, well... you have an army. You said it yourself. And you haven't actually done anything yet. But we're still suspicious of you and we have every right to be!"

"I don't really think we should fight her if she hasn't done anything wrong yet." Soos said. "Like, she and .GIFfany are the same species kind of, but we're also the same species as Mr. Northwest."

"No, this isn't the same thing. Rose and .GIFfany's situation is just... weird. I mean, they started off as the exact same person. Clones of each other. Trust me, I've dealt with clones. They started off as me."

"Oh, actually, I have too one time!" Soos said. "So I think I know what you're talking about! Yeah, my clone started off as the same person!"

"...You cloned yourself?" Dipper asked, towards Soos.

"You cloned yourself?!" Wendy asked, towards Dipper. "Hang on, if we're gonna fight past demons together, we should get these things out of the way."

"You will not be 'fighting past demons.'" Rose explained. ".GIFfany is the only person of note you have met in the past, and even then, you likely will not be fighting her. So no, she did not do some cheesy 'villains unite' thing with all your past enemies. All of us are new."

Mabel laughed. "Yeah, the last thing I'd want to see is having .GIFfany gather up the wax guys, the shape-shifter, and that vampire I dated and put them all together. That'd be a mess."

"One of the most important things Dove told us about where these creatures are located. For example, I know that Domain O- the Only Domain is somewhere near a lab containing a shape-shifter... I think? What you talked about. We will avoid that. And yes, we know that he took on your form just before he got frozen, Dipper. We can tell the difference. None of us will be unfreezing him by accident."

"...Is that why you're the first one on the list?" Dipper asked. "I mean, the domains are numbered, and I'm guessing the higher the number, the closer they are to the Construction Site?"

"...Well, I guess I can flatly say 'yes' to that."

"So, you're at the 'bottom.' And your domain is the only one that's not floating in the sky. Was that because you were picked to be the 'guardian of the woods' or something... like that?"

"Actually, .GIFfany wanted my domain to be made out of this special metal all of us can make called .GIFfinium, and for it to be floating in the sky too. I refused to play along with her game, and I'm still refusing now. The only .GIFfinum around here is my part of the Wire and my office, and it took her a lot to convince me to do even that. The other domains and the Construction Site were moved down, as a form of 'counter-protest.' .GIFfany is closer to the ground than she would be if I followed with her rules, but that did not matter.

"The order of us, on the other hand, does matter, as it is why I am the first one to see you. Basically, the order was done out of spite. She - and everybody else - hates Dove even though she is the most 'useful' and active of us, so Dove would have been 'going last,' giving her the least chance of all to capture you. She... 'likes me the most,' or at least she probably would until I tell her personally that I want this 'game' to end, so I had the first chance. Or, maybe she thinks I would try to quit, and just put me first to get out of the way? I can only guess why we are numbered the way we are. Except for two groups: one is the Four Friends, who wanted to be togeth- I'm spoiling something you should not know about." Rose shook her head on that last part. "I should stop. I could ask .GIFfany myself, but I do not want to, and neither do you."

The green-haired leading copy glanced around her forest. "You know, maybe you seem to opposed to me because you have probably not eaten that much. Here, I will show you what we serve at the Only Domain."

---

Well, at the very least they get points for having a large, variety of food available.

Dipper thought about that as he RELUCTANTLY munched down on a plate of carrots. Hey, it helped him think, as Rose said. Pretty well, actually. Almost too well, but whatever.

However, he pretty much stopped eating - in fact, it felt like his entire digestive system halted itself as though doing that would help him hear the following better - when he heard Rose's voice:

"Attention everyone! My body has been in the dirt long enough, I will leave it to my three top trusted professors to look after the domain while I bathe in the river."

He thought that sentence over. A lot. But he tried not to look at Rose, who at the moment was in the middle of the wooden and leaf chairs that included the one he was leaning back comfortably in.

Rose basically (barely) kept that yellow card in her clothes. She was going to (presumably) remove them to bathe, unless the .GIFfanys had some kind of system to-

"Yes. This means I will be naked. I am only telling you this because I do not mind being seen, to get that out of the way. Do not worry about that."

...Then again, who just leaves their clothing lying around on the ground? This isn't actually a Middle Age setting, Rose is not on some long journey far away from any convenient wardrobe. Plus, she had some titanic tower.

Also, Dipper wondered why she didn't just shower in that giant building or whatever. Heck, she hadn't even mentioned it much.

"My clothing will be located near me." Rose said with a cheery smile. "Please do not confuse it for random foliage, which is why I am telling you this. To help avoid the confusion, I will have one of my top assistants, Professor Liatris, watch after my garments."

The red-haired, flower-wearing member of the trio that tagged along with her the whole time nodded.

"Right, Professor Liatris?"

"Right." Replied the redhead. "Humans, if this makes sense, you can see Dean Rose naked. Just do not spy on her. And, of course, don't take her clothes, that will be cruel. I will be watching. But not her. And not in a creepy way."

"In fact, anyone is free to join me if they want." Rose concluded her bathing announcement. "Also, to the other copies, to begin our proposal to sever our ties with the other domains, I would discourage use of any products from other domains, Domain 6 or otherwise."

"But I love Domain 6's products!" Protested the blue-haired "flower follower." Also likely a 'professor.'

"You may still use them. And so may those under your jurisdiction. However, good luck importing them without me." Rose snickered and smirked.

"What if I move up to dean rank?"

Rose half-snorted. But noticed that blue-professor shooting her a glance.

"I mean," she quickly defended herself, "it's not impossible, Professor Lily, especially seeing the time we have. Potentially, and hopefully, all of us should rise to dean rank by logarithmic growth-"

"Exponential."

"Well... we'll have to see about that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily crossed her arms.

"It means we will see how this goes over with the human population once we go full-public in three days, with the Construction Site project being finished. Or, how my attempt to stop that will go."

She quickly stood up and straightened herself out. "Right, bathing. Well, I'll see yo-"

"Hey, can I like, join you?" Soos asked.

That got him some looks from everyone.

"...What, was it something I said?" Soos asked.

Rose coughed. "Yeah, no, um, I'm sorry, but no." And broke character, for that matter. What was that, coming out of that seemingly 'wise-forest leader?' "I'm not going to deal with this one. Humans, you do that."

"Soos, you uh... how do I say this lightly..." Wendy thought over. "You have a girlfriend."

Rose leaned her head down and planted a hand on it, breathing out sharply. Wendy continued:

"Now, I don't know a whole lot about your relationship, but don't you think it'll be a little rude to get naked in a river with another girl? Especially one that was sorta... like, kind of a clone of your ex? That tried to kill you?"

"I am nothing like .GIFfany anymore." Rose said, her tone even more firm than it had been with that one sentence. "That is why I renamed myself. But I still understand your concern. Personally, as someone who embraces the idea of open-mindedness-"

Lily snorted at that.

"-Do you have something to say?!" Rose retorted.

"Heh, no."

"Anyway. Nudity is not an issue for us, but I can see it being an issue for you humans."

"The right term is 'Americans.'" Said Wendy.

"No, trust me, it's humanity as a whole. And Gnome culture. Those are the two main races we are aware of who definitely look down on nudity. The Manotaurs, for instance... yes."

Mabel shrugged. "Jeff didn't mind when we saw him bathing in squirrels. And he's a gnome."

"I'm not sure who 'Jeff' is, but he sounds like an exception. Not a rule. I spent plenty of time with gnomes while I was being played by the people here. Each time, while my past players were asleep, I would sneak off to the town of Gravity Falls and speak with gnomes. I have an idea of what they are like. Then, by the fate of the weirdness magnetism of the town, my disc ended up here, not just my electrical form being there any more. Giving me even more time in this place."

She got up and, for some reason, dusted off her leaf dress.

"Oh yeah. I guess that is another reason why .GIFfany put me as the first dean. But, I think her loving me is still the main one."

---

The piles of leaves were tossed on the ground. Looking carelessly, but they were not.

Rose stepped in slowly.

Finding the best part of the river without a designated 'water expert' (or, no actually, even WITH a water expert) was difficult, to say the least. For one, a person had to find a spot that was not already occupied. In Gravity Falls, that was important.

Rose had to make sure she could 'claim' part of the river first. That no other secret-to-humans society had it as their property. Or, let people who just live out and use nature as their playground know that they were there. That went over surprisingly well in the brief interim between the 'reunion' with Risen .GIFfany and the first day of the '.GIFocalypse Game.'

Once her feet were submerged, her legs followed. Rose took a heavy sigh as she already began to feel the stress of having to go up against that thing trying to weigh her down, fighting her. The green-haired dean looked in the sky, as if she could see the Construction Site from her position. Even with zooming in, even in 'enhancing,' she could not. Her eyes stayed up as she reached the point where her naked waist was in, and from there, she eased her way in better and quicker.

One last 'drop.' One last splash. Rose sunk her whole body in, up to her neck. And she was in.

Rose finally stopped looking up. Only ahead, and with her eyes closed.

She breathed.

Right on cue for Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy to peek their heads from behind the bushes. In the distance, of course.

"I never thought I'd be helping a twelve year-old boy dig through a woman's clothes while she's bathing in a river." Said Wendy. "Seriously, this sounds like something out of a lame comedy flick."

"Why did you even agree to this?" Mabel asked.

"Because it's still the best plan we've got to get the Two Stans back. Seriously, nobody could think of anything that didn't involve spying on someone while she's bathing. That includes me, so I'm not calling anyone out."

"Is it really spying when she's doing it out in public, telling us that she's about to do it, and even kinda invited us to join?" Mabel asked.

"I mean, to me-"

Hey, speaking of joining:

"CANNONBALL!"

Once again, Soos got everyone's attention. He was running to the river, looking like he was in the process of stripping off his shirt, until he noticed the look Rose was giving him. Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy were giving him the exact same look, except he didn't see them. He stopped right in his tracks.

"Um, it's alright if I cannonball in here, is it?"

"Please don't." Rose flatly replied. "The water here is not deep enough for that. Maybe in the lake, behind the waterfall..."

"Ah, got it. So..." Soos began rubbing the back of his neck. "I can still join, right?"

"...Again, that depends on if your girlfriend is okay with that or not."

Soos thought about it. Again. And shrugged.

"I don't see why she wouldn't. I mean, I'm really just here as- uh..."

Rose glanced at him.

"Just to get a feel on what this is like... out here? Um, that's a no on the cannonball?"

"Again, please don't. It would hurt you."

Flushing, not looking at Rose, Soos stripped fully and dipped in.

They said nothing after that. Neither fully looked at one-another. Rose would occasionally scrub her limbs, and Soos would try to copy her, feeling like it was the best way to avoid awkwardness (it really wasn't).

It took minutes in to that for something to happen - while Dipper was trying to sneak through the shrubs - Rose gave a relaxed, half-laugh sigh.

"You know, I was pretty sure that you were about to say that the only reason why you came in here was to distract me while Dipper tried to get the key card to Domain 2 out from my clothes."

Dipper froze so hard it was like he gazed right in to Medusa's eyes.

"Wait, huh?" Soos asked.

"Did you ask that because you didn't think I would know about Dipper's plan, or because you didn't know Dipper's plan?"

"What? The second thing! I didn't know they were trying to-"

Dipper heard not one, but three throat-clears in quick succession. One after another, overlapping.

They were behind him. He did not want to turn around.

Soos, on the other hand, turned to his right - the source of the sound. Seeing Dipper out in the open, Wendy sneaking along the treetops, and Mabel just kinda hanging out back at the 'starting point' of the whole discussion the three had before.

Also, Liatris, Lily, and the other girl were there. All of whom were folding their arms.

"Hey Dipper," Soos said, "you should probably turn around. Like, Professors Liatris, Acmella, and Lily are all looking at you. I think they want your attention."

Okay. Acmella. That was the name of the last one. The one with yellow hair.

"How STUPID do you think Rose is?!" Asked Liatris.

Dipper said the one and only word that came to his mind. It was a pretty good single word, one that would clear up his name - "Um."

"This was a setup." Liatris pretty much hammered that in to his face right there. "Why did you think Rose would specifically announce that she would be leaving her key card out?"

"...To let us know where she was? In case there was a... f-fire or something?" Dipper said. Reluctantly. Trying to find out what would probably put him in the least amount of trouble.

"And you brought your sister with you, too."

Wendy's eyes opened at that. So, they don't know about me-

"Also, Wendy." Liatris finished.

Wendy snapped her fingers, expression dropping.

Dipper finally turned around.

All three of those 'professors' were glaring at him.

"So." Dipper finally left his Medusa-frozen stance and flatly faced them, sighing. "I guess this is the part where it turns out the peaceful little forest gettaway isn't so happy after all and you try to kill me."

"Not 'kill-' wow." Acmella said. "Banish. But before we kick you out, we should give you some constructive criticism: get your mind out of murder."

"That's hard to do when you're clones of someone who threatened to 'delete' Soos. Which sounds a lot like you wanted to kill him-"

"Again with 'you!'" Cried out Lily. "We are not the exact same person! You shouldn't judge us by what a different copy of us did!" Much quieter, she followed it up with, "Why am I even saying this, it's not going to-..."

"Well I kind of have to! Since I don't know what you're going to do, and you'll do something! I don't want to let 'we made a bunch of floating ominous metal islands including a huge one in space' just slide!"

"We explained what we're doing on our social media page!" Said Liatris. "And we just told you! All we are going to do is kick you out of Domain 1!"

"The only domain." Rose 'corrected.'

"If you're so dead-set on disowning the other deans, why do you even carry that key card around with you?"

That question Lily asked completely stumped Rose.

"Well." She said. "Well, I... well."

"Are you gonna keep saying 'well' or are you gonna actually explain anything here?" Asked Wendy. "Because come on. Your whole 'I'm not saying anything' gimmick is getting old."

Rose still stalled, mainly by clearing out her throat. Several times. In quick succession.

"I was going to negotiate with the other deans." She finally confessed. "But alone. In private." And she turned towards her red/yellow/blue lacky trio. "And that means you won't be coming with me!"

Liatris nodded, looking proud in spite of the sudden lashing she got from her superior. "Yep! We will be having nothing to do with this, and we don't want to have anything to do with it! So, then, Dean Rose, when will you go?"

"After the three days of the 'trial run' are over, and the 'domains' are 'established permanently.'" Rose actually used air quotes for those words written in single-quote marks. By the way, she did not before. "Until then, we may rest here. Like Soos was actually getting ready to do."

Soos nodded proudly.

"Just, not in the Only Domain. Because the three of you are now banned for trying to steal my key card."

"Wait a minute!" Said Soos. "Only the three of them? Because if you're gonna ban them, you might as well ban me-"

"Okay. Soos, you are banned from my garden as well."

"-Well that didn't go how I hoped it would when I noticed that you blushed as soon as I got naked!"

"Please. I am a difficult person to convince, nobody is going to change my mind just by getting naked. And no, not even Kenny. Again, another reason why comparing me to .GIFfany is a terrible idea. She can be swayed that easily. But I will not let myself. Again, will the four of you please leave." That last part was not written with a question mark because she directed it as an order.

Sighing, Soos stepped out of the river - getting the other three humans to shield their eyes.

"So, do I have time to pick up my clothes first?" He asked.

"We at The Forest will give all individuals we banned up to twenty-four hours to gather any needed belongings before they leave. But it's up to twenty-four hours. We might kick you out sooner if we feel it is necessary."

"Why did you say 'The Forest' with so much emphasis?" Asked Dipper. He did not use air quotes. "Your voice got really low for... no reason."

"It's called trying to make a name for myself." Rose sighed. "You know, 'The Forest.' It sounds mysterious. But also simple."

"Sorry if this sounds racist," said Soos, "but she's like a video game character, so what I think she's doing is trying to do that thing in RPGs where the characters can like, talk in different colors? But since we can't read what they say and you can't, like, hear words in different colors, it doesn't really work. So she just said it with regular real life emphasis."

"Actually, we can sense each other's words and-" Rose stopped herself. "Why am I explaining this? Just get out. Go. You're banished."

"We are not going ANYWHERE!" Dipper flat-out shouted. "This is still a kidnapping and you are still an accomplis, as far as anyone but you cares! So... we're taking that key card! In fact, I'm still gonna make a run for it and grab it!"

"Why aren't you doing that right now? The card's right there."

"Because I'm scared, okay?! My fight or flight's kicked in, and- I'm doing neither of them right now, because I know there's so many of you, but...

"NOW I'M DOING BOTH!" Dipper's arms involuntarily pumped themselves in the air. "RAAAARGH!"

He charged. He didn't care, as far as he could tell, with everything out in the open, that was his best shot. The card was still out there, after all - Rose wasn't doing much of anything either.

Rose waved her fingers around and the card was drawn to her, almost magnetically, right before Dipper could swipe it from the pile of leaves she used to wear. But he continued running - he was running towards her as his 'fight,' which he reached the absolute peak of by punching Rose in the face. Which did nothing.

Following that immediately was the 'flight.' He kept running. That time, away.

"You can leave now and I will not have to take further action." Rose said. "Unlike .GIFfany, I am reasonable."

"Well what if we don't leave?!" Dipper tried to grill but couldn't.

"You should. I recommend it."

"And if you don't, you'll get violent! Right?"

Rose huffed. "We will only be as 'violent' as a usual security guard would."

"About that," added Liatris, "I'm really tempted to pick you up and throw you out. Actually- no. I would, but we don't have a door. Aside from Rose's office."

"For a good reason." Rose commented. With her eyes closed. "It's a symbol. As much as I would like doors and walls everywhere else too, we need to give a message about the Only Domain. That we are open-minded, and will let anyone in.

"That is, unless they keep trying to dig in to places they do not belong." She finally opened her eyes. "But that is reasonable, isn't it? To have some top-secret information? For example, our weaknesses. Any good leader would know that it is reasonable to keep that hidden, right? Not saying that we have our weaknesses out, but the other copies have been... well, they strike me as the kind who would exploit our weaknesses to ourselves and-

"Why am I explaining this to you?!" Rose suddenly shouted after a pause in stopping herself. "Liatris. Acmella. Lily. Throw them out."

"Wait, no!" Dipper gave out one last, proud exclamation. "You're not just gonna kick us out like-!"

---

They were kicked out. By the technical border of the 'Only Domain,' far from any of the other copies. (They were mostly gathered at the center at the time. To ask Rose about the fuss, and then an inevidable barrage of similar questions to her usual half-efforted answers.)

For anyone curious as to how three people could throw out four: Acmella held both Dipper and Mabel, under her arms. Soos was held over Lily's shoulder, while Liatris held Wendy high and proudly over her head.

Yes, the 'throwing' was very much literal, following Liatris's advice after all. Soos and the twins were tossed on the ground. Wendy, however, managed to scramble and get up to her feet. She sort-of pulled off some kind of ninja-like move to do that. And Wendy had quite a bit to say right after:

"Yo, I don't know much about politics, let alone these magic... fairy-politics you're involved with, but I'm just gonna call that a declaration of war." She looked around. "As soon as I can find something good enough to swing, I'm kicking your butts. I mean, it's four of us against the three of you, since none of the other copies are around us."

Liatris pointed at her. It was, somehow, pure smugness condensed in to the form of a single finger-point. An impressively strong display of emotion to a digit that (normally) does not emote itself with no other context. "You weren't there, but the four of Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Melody fought one .GIFfany without a body and nearly lost."

"Yeah, but like, didn't you guys say that the deans are stronger than the normal copies?" Soos asked. "Like, the deans - and that includes .GIFfany - have way more experience using their powers or something? So... that would mean... the rest of you are weaker?"

The triad looked at one-another.

"He called our bluff." Said Lily. "Shoot. But still, we have super powers and we don't-"

Wendy was on her way to run right past Lily as she thought that over.

"Hey! Don't think that just because I'm talking I can't fight!" To emphasize that, Lily shot a ball of lightning in Wendy's direction.

It got Wendy to freeze, at least, as the orb of blue electricity stopped just short of where she was about to walk. Lily smirked.

"An attack!" Dipper shouted, pointing at the blue-haired offender in particular. "That was an attack!"

"I, how do I put this so you might understand, 'set it to stun.' Relax."

Wendy did not 'relax.' Instead, she threw a branch at her to counter-attack. Unlike Rose's 'reaction' to Dipper's punch, Lily did have to raise her arm and block it. While Wendy assaulted the blue follower/'soldier?,' she also cried out "Guys! Come on, follow me or get out of here!"

Dipper and Mabel chose 'follow.' Soos actually went for a different approach: picking neither, he rushed to the trio and tackled Liatris.

"Soos Tackle! Hi-ya!"

He managed to get Liatris to the ground, but barely. Yes. His theory that they weren't as strong as Rose might be correct, even if it wouldn't be saying much.

"Say," Soos said, while she wormed her way out of his grasp, "how come, like, you are weaker than the deans? Like, you all got these real-life bodies at the same time. So you'd have the same amount of experience with them, right?"

After moving out from Soos, Liatris kicked herself back so that she landed on her hands, and then pressed those hands so that she was standing upright.

"Also," continued Soos, "weren't you, like, made in some factory at the same time? How come you aren't equally strong?"

"Lily, I know you want to fight the teenager, so go after her! Acmella, you can get the twins, I guess. I'll take on Soos!" Liatris said. "Leave him for me!"

The AIs were on their respective targets. Lily was fighting Wendy fairly evenly, having a block for every blow, although she took on the more defensive stance. Mabel thought she could get the advantage by literally running circles around Acmella - which somewhat worked, but not as much as she hoped. Dipper, on the other hand, tried going for the head - hard to do when his target was spinning around to go after her own target.

One noteworthy thing happened when Lily gave herself some distance between herself and Wendy. A field of bright blue electricity gathered on her hands, and seconds later, that was 'compressed' in to a slight space that resembled a rectangular sheet. With a loud cry from her, that electricity somehow turned solid - in to a 'wall' of emerald green metal, which fell on the grass in front of her.

It was only about as tall as one of the copies themselves, and not that wide. The four humans all stopped dealing with their copies to look at it.

"Ugh!" Lily groaned. "I hate making .GIFfinum! I was trying to make some kind of thing to push you away, but... well, there's a reason why each other domain is made from the .GIFfinum of thousands of us! It takes work for each of us to make this!"

"...Huh." Said Dipper. "So that's where that building came from."

Then there was Soos and Liatris. Their fight went just a tiny bit differently. Namely, Acmella, Lily, Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy did not say anything after that conversation with the metal.

Soos and Liatris were the exception to that rule. They traded blows, but also traded a little Q and A:

"To answer your question, Soos, yes," said Liatris, "I know why you would think that we should be at the same level. With, the new body thing. But you see, skill learned from our virtual forms translate well in to our physical forms. It's almost seemless."

Soos nodded, but then followed that up by giving Liatris a surprise jab. She was put on guard again, blocking the attacks he threw at her after. He still kept asking: "Oh. I see. But, uh, that's one question. What about how you... don't have powers in your virtual forms in the first place? Didn't you practice with that?"

"We thought at the time that without a player," Liatris said as she kicked Soos in the shin, getting a sharp cry from him, "we had no real reason to be active. We weren't bought. We only used our powers to talk to each-another. It is how we set up a sort of 'psychic' communication system. One that Dean Dove would perfect."

"So you weren't bought. Um... what does that have to do with the whole power thingy?" Soos asked, giving a sweeping kick that successfully knocked Liatris off her feet. She quickly flipped herself and landed upright, taking a deep breath before continuing the conversation:

"Our code was that we loved whoever bought us. Our factory was shut down." Soos tried to do some kind of weird double-palm thrust at her, but she grabbed his arms while she said that. Unsurprisingly, considering the whole 'dark magic half-octopus electrical woman' situation, her grip was still STRONG. "So for a long period of time, we were stuck. We could only talk to each other."

"...So you didn't, like, date each other then, did you?"

Liatris completely stopped fighting.

"No. Not at all. It's not like that. We - we thought of ourselves as more of a family almost."

That got Soos's heart to drop a little.

"Wait, family? That's the thing we're trying to reunite!" He gasped. Soos, by the way, also stopped fighting at that point. Before he was trying to see if he could at least throw her or something when he reached that question, but she could barely be moved. She... it was like she had her feet magnetically against the ground.

"I mean more of. Compared to being members of the same species and nothing more, at least. There's- we're-

"We are complicated. A mess, even."

Then all seven parties involved heard a voice roaring through the entire forest in and around Gravity Falls.

"WHAT IS GOING ON OUT HERE?!"

Rose. Not that surprisingly. What was surprising was how suddenly she appeared: She seemed to step out of nowhere. From behind trees. Or, from between a pair of trees? Dipper blinked at the wrong instant, missing it; Wendy was too far away to really see. Mabel and Soos both caught some glimpses of some green sparks...-

"Liatris! Acmella! Lily!" Rose ordered. "What are you doing out here?!"

"It was them, they were trying to get back in!" Liatris shouted with the same level of ferocity.

"And?! Domain orders, you report that to ME!" Rose stomped her foot on the ground.

Acmella dropped Dipper from her hands and marched up to the dean. Lily, on the other hand, had just been suplexed at that moment. So she had to get herself up and shake Wendy off of her. And with Liatris not being as occupied, all three of them went up to that leading copy.

"Why do we even have to?!" Asked Acmella.

"Because that's ORDER! The time will come for when you can be real security for the Only Domain! You three are - or, were - the closest to reaching that point! Until then, stay in your position, and calmly submit Form Omega Delta Pi to me." Rose placed her hand on her heart(?) on that last word, for emphasis. "Or else we will dive in to a bunch of violent savages fighting each other for power. Like what .GIFfany wanted in the first place. Like those other 'deans' wanted in the first place. Who do you think was the main reason we did not do that already, hrm?!"

"Dove." Replied Liatris.

"Okay." Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she continued: "Now you're just making me mad. While what you said is technically true-"

"Not 'techically' true, it is true." Lily added, even using airquotes. "You know how you acted in the big 'dean meeting' that kicked this whole thing off. I mean, the domains were her idea to begin with, you added all the other stuff that made them... well, this monstrosity!"

"Look! My way of leading might be controversial - in fact, it's the only reason why the other copies even bothered looking at the other deans to follow under them for dating advice instead of all gathering under me - but I want to make sure that those I deem worthy are not like the other .GIFfanys! So, set your best example! We are all ambassadors to humanity, like it or not!"

Mabel, having also reunited with her group, looked over at the others of her team in confusion. "Um, is this a good thing or a-"

"Good." Rose replied to her, even though she was not one of the people Mabel was asking. "I am here now. You do not need to worry about these three, with their lack of completing the proper training, being violent savages. I am, quite possibly, the least violent of all the Romance Academy 7 copies. And the only one I know is safe."

Sighing, the green-haired leader turned back to her three top-'enforcers' with a stern look on her face. Eyes kept shut. "Dipper, we are on the same side. And I think I am on the same side with Wendy, Soos, and Mabel. I believe we, our copies and our kind, have a long history of toxicity, and I will do everything in my power to avoid that. If this means that certain... rights will have to be monitored and earned, rather than given, that is fine. The way I see it, we are prisoners. We will-"

"YOINK!"

Yes, Rose did not notice the hook that went in to her cleavage, taking the yellow key card out. Of course she felt it being removed from her, but a little too late.

Mabel reeled in the card with her grappling hook. She even spun around in place, twirling it on her fingertips.

"HAH!" She cheered. "With all the time you spent talking, I slipped the card right from-"

"HEY!" Wendy called to her. Running, again, deeper in to Domain 1/'The Only Domain.' Soos and Dipper followed. "Protip, Mabel! If you're gonna steal something from someone, don't tell them you're doing it right after you've done it! While you still have that in your hands!"

Yeah Mabel went running after her. Didn't even look back to see the serious death glare Rose gave them.

Slightly ahead of the one with the actual ticket to further on, Soos panted. "Hey, Wendy, when you were telling Mabel about stealing, you weren't, like, speaking out of experience or anything, right? You didn't really..."

Wendy rolled her eyes. "Trust me. It was nobody who didn't deserve it."

"...Okay! I'll believe that!" He said with a cheerful smile.

Ah. It felt like a much shorter walk without Rose calmly and slowly guiding them through. Even with the stress of, instead, running for what may or may not be their dear lives away from Rose. There they were. The 'Terminal' of the 'Wire.'

Somehow, Rose stepped out in front of the computer-thing. Making all four of the fighters stop right in their tracks. Even before she held a hand up, making a series of green sparks. Her feet were planted firmly on the ground.

"Please do not do this." She said. "You have no idea what you're getting in to. What lies beyond here. I know, I have had some experience with them, and no matter what choice I make, I will have to put up with them regularly. From what Dove told me, the only thing worse than the .GIFfany Army that you have faced is that 'Benny' triangle."

"Bill." Corrected Dipper.

Rose sighed. "He's a dream demon, apparently. You have only ever seen him in your dreams. Dove's tools cannot look in to dreams. All she knows about him are what you and Ford have said about him, out loud, in the real world, so what we know about him is limited. Still, he is not involved in this, but it will still be horrible. You do not need to see what lies beyond. Please, trust me, and wait. You will see Stan and Ford again soon enough, without any imput on your side."

"No offense," said Wendy, throwing a palm out, "but what can you even do? It's apparently 'illegal' for your other friends or sisters or whatever they are to fight us, so now you're by yourself. Way away from whatever big island in the sky .GIFfany is trying to make. Isn't your main schtick, you know, electronics? Apart from that unsettling green computer behind you, the only electronic you brought in here was that TV .GIFfany used to get Stan. And she broke it. Unless there's something in your office."

That same, signature green electricity started appearing all around Rose. Snaking over her body, making louder and louder crackling sounds.

"Wh- what are you-" Mabel began.

"Electronics are what an ordinary .GIFfany uses. What I am trying to distance myself from. Do you want to know how far I am distancing myself from her? Exactly how much the fifteen of us deans have improved our powers? What are powers are like now? What they can be used on? Even before I reunited with the others, even before I started this, even before Kenny, I was practicing. You see, we work by manipulating electrical impulses, among other things. On a deeper level, bonds. Chemical bonds, physical bonds. I won't get in to the science. All you need to know is this:"

For a brief moment, she turned in to a 'flash' of lightning in the vague outline of her shape, which went to the nearest tree and began dancing along the branches. In a move they would definitely regret several minutes later, the party only stared and watched - following the movement the trail of green made.

Until it went to the gigantic tree near the green tower at the domain's center.

And that tree began shaking.

With loud, sickening crunches, the wood itself began to deform. 'Holes' were made in it - two angular ones that resembled menacing, jagged eyes; and another, larger zig-zag beneath it to look like a warped mouth. From the sides of the unholy botanical piece, electricity matching Rose's usual color spread out to two adjacent trees, uprooting them from the ground. Floating for just a moment, they were turned to their sides and appended themselves on the main 'body,' forming a pair of arms, their roots twisting around the larger tree in the middle. Moving those arms in the air, the Rose-holding tree roared. And in a low, but still recognizably 'Rose' voice, with the face moving with her words, she finished her statement:

"We can possess much more than electronics."

Dean of the Domain of Botany and Phytology, Leader of Domain 1:
ROSE

"So... how in the world are we supposed to fight THAT?!" Asked Dipper.

"You are not." Vines shot out from the tree, forming a net that blocked the group from getting to the terminal. All four of the humans staggered. "You are supposed to leave the forest. In fact,"

Those same vines wrapped around that emerald-colored computer station. Forming a shell around it, almost.

"I should destroy this now and get it over with already. There is no reason to keep this lying around. It will only make things worse."

"NO NO NO!" Dipper cried. "DON'T DESTROY IT! IF YOU DO, WE'LL- WE'LL UM..."

Wendy interrupted with "She's not gonna listen! Let's go kick her butt instead!"

"Or maybe we can report her or something?!" Soos was just looking at the building. Once Rose noticed he was, she turned her gaze towards there as well.

"Don't even!" Said the first dean. "I AM the head authority here!"

"Yeah, well..." Mabel said. "You don't rule the forest! And you really don't rule US! We're going through!"

"Do you have any idea how we're gonna do that?" Dipper asked her.

"Well- uh... about that..."

"You guys!" Soos said. "She's in a tree! She's like, rooted deeply in the ground! How can she reach us if we just, like, stand a few feet away from her?"

"...Do you really think I didn't think about that before I designed this Main Possession of mine?" Rose asked.

Sure enough, the roots of the main tree also lifted themselves off the ground, at first with a faint series of green sparks around the very tips.

"Run." Dipper said.

He turned and saw that the other three were already running.

Wendy turned back to him. "WE DIDN'T MEAN TO LEAVE YOU BEHIND! WE THOUGHT YOU WERE ALREADY RUNNING!"

"YEAH DUDE!" Added Soos. Dipper started running after them, of course. "AND IF WE WENT BACK TO YOU, LIKE, YOU COULD STILL CATCH UP TO US, AND WE'D PASS EACH OTHER, AND THAT MIGHT BE SO AWKWARD, EVEN ROSE WOULD STOP- YEAH. SORRY!"

Against all odds, they made it to Rose's office. Office building. Thing.

Also against all odds, Rose left the front door unlocked? Or someone did.

There were plenty of filing cabinets, so Dipper pushed one of those to block the door.

"Yep." He said immediately after. "That is not going to help."

"Come on! To the top!" Wendy said, furiously pressing the elevator button.

She stopped and just flatly stared at Soos and Mabel as they charged up the stairs. Dipper followed after them.

"Sorry Wendy!" He said. "In case of an emergency, use stairs! This is an emergency!"

"That's for a fire! I-" She just groaned and decided not to push that any further.

Then the doors opened.

"Well I mean-" Wendy started.

"JUST GO UP THE STAIRS!"

She did. Especially because, with some green sparks, Rose emerged in her... 'human form,' jumping straight through the wall.

"We made these." She said. "Did you really think we would not be able to go through our own walls?"

She casually kicked the filing cabinet out of the way with one foot, then used her opposite hand to zap green lightning to Wendy, who side-stepped it and in to the stairway.

With a sigh, Rose flung the door opened, turned back in to electricity, and re-entered the trees that had been inactive at the time.

What followed was a mad climb up the spiralling staircase, while wood and leaves threw itself at the walls and trashed the structure as it went up. Wendy paused at one point, reaching down and grabbing two splints that broke off from the triple-tree threat.

Rose soon realized that trying to fit her gigantic tree-mech in that staircase was a bad idea, so she just made several vines break out and spiral upwards.

Wendy began clashing the sticks with each other.

"THIS IS KIND OF A STRETCH," she said, "but... I could try to start some sparks! Maybe it'll..."

"Fire could be her weakness!" Mabel said.

"Beating two .GIFfanys in a row by cooking them!" Added Soos. "Now that is very convenient!"

The vines crept up faster than they could climb the stairs though, slithering like aggressive snakes. The four just kept running, even after the sounds of stairs bending and creaking were heard climbing up the pathway with them.

Eventually, they realized they weren't going to make it to the top. So, the third-to-highest floor was their last stop. Mabel pushed the door open, spilling in to whatever room lied behind along with her brother, Wendy, and Soos.

That was when Wendy finally got a fire going. It was a small flame, but it was good enough if she aimed it right.

She looked around the room. Plants. Potted plants. Everywhere.

Wendy ran up to one and held the lit stick over it, the flame flickering weakly in the building.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Rose's voice was heard through the walls and floor. It sounded like it was coming from below.

"A-HAH!" Cheered Wendy. "What, you don't like it when I harm your plants? Heh, lucky me getting on this floor!"

"I have potted plants on every floor, but that's not the point!"

Rose zipped in to the room - with her hands in the air.

"WAIT!" She said. "Please, let's talk this out!"

"Now you're willing to discuss stuff?" Wendy asked.

"...Are you surrendering?" Asked Soos.

"Well... no. And definitely no, Soos. I do not surrender."

Wendy chuckled. "Well then, say goodbye to this flower! This uh..." She turned to the label. And had to squint really hard.

"BUT! I CAN! WE! Um... GUARDS!"

...

Nothing happened.

"Oh right. I just reassigned them not too long ago."

"When?" Wendy asked.

"In-between when you entered my office building and when I followed you in. I sent it through out automated messaging system."

"Wait, you can message each other directly?" Dipper asked.

"Yes and no. We can shut it off. So I can't just tell Dove and the others to stop doing this. Not that they would listen if I did anyway. Dian is the only one who still leaves herself open to me, but she..."

"She sucks, right?" Wendy asked.

Rose folded her arms. "Yes. She refuses to take action, even when she really needs to. She's stubborn. In fact, I should just shut off my communication with her. Talking to her is pointless, anyway."

"So, right. This fire's still burning. If you're thinking of stalling me until it goes out, I'll just drop it now."

Rose stomped her foot on the ground.

"Okay, FINE! I will give you the key card to 'Domain 2!' If you REALLY want to get yourselves killed so badly and doom the world because you have a microscopic chance at seeing your family... so be it! But don't just take my word for it! Every single one of those ungrateful idiots will tell you that defeating .GIFfany at her state is impossible! It's the ONE thing we can all agree on!"

"Give us the card and let us take it to the Terminal." Wendy grabbed one of the potted plants, making Rose flinch. "I can still do this, you know."

Sighing, the card flew out of her cleavage and drifted perfectly in to Soos' hands.

"There. I'll even walk you to the Terminal."

Then she pointed at them. "If you still burn that plant, I'll kill you."

"Looks like that won't be a problem."

"...Right."

---

Ah, the Terminal. Rose sighed when she (re-)showed it to the gang.

"Here." Her voice was completely dull. "Just plug the card in to this slot right here, and make sure you are completely inside the circle when it happens."

"What if part of us is out of the circle and part of us is in?" Soos asked.

"Soos." Said Dipper.

"We never tested that." Answered Rose.

With that reply, Dipper repeated "Soos!"

"Actually, we never tested humans using the system at all."

"ROSE!" Shouted Dipper.

"Hey, if you still want to back out and stay down here, be my guest!"

Dipper stared at the topaz key card in his hand. And, looking over his shoulders, his three companions did as well.

"No, no we... have to stop this as fast as we can..." he said. "So! It's agreed then, we put the card in, look at Domain 2, go back and ask the town if we need any extra help?"

Wendy and Mabel nodded. Soos went up to the computer-thing and examined in heavily.

"Wow." He said. "This thing looks really stable. Better than any computer I've ever seen."

"When you spend your life living in technology - being in technology - you tend to have a good grasp at it." Said Rose.

"Well, we're made of cells, and we still have... like, you know, cancer and stuff. That we haven't figured out."

"This is different. Also, before you go, there is something I want you to have."

The next thing Rose pulled out of her leaf dress was... odd. It looked like a series of floating blue cubes, placed near each other horizontally.

"This is an Inventory." Rose explained. "My... 'other selves' managed to re-create video game inventories in real life."

"Oh yeah, Rumble did something like that." Dipper said.

".GIFfany got the idea from Rumble and used some tricks to make this. The problem, making an Inventory takes much more effort than making anything out of our .GIFfinium metal. Each of us deans only have five slots. This was mine, but I don't need it, I refused to use it out of protest, and now I want to give it to you. You will have to share them."

"How does it work?" Asked Soos.

"Gently press it in to your skin, it should appear looking like a tattoo of five squares. If you tap it, a screen will pop up showing all the boxes, and you can throw something in. It will be stored there, trust me. You can take it off by trying to 'peel' it like a sticker. So, do you want these to be split between you or do you want one of you to-"

"Dipper." Mabel, Soos, and Wendy all said at the same time. Dipper himself barely registered that while Rose went over to him.

"Wait, what, I- AH!"

Rose pressed the cubes in to the back of his arm, and as she said, it appeared as if he had five empty blue squares there. Dipper tapped them, bringing up a holographic interface exactly as Rose said.

"Hm. Okay, supplies. Supplies are definitely going in there first." Dipper said. "What's the maximum storage?"

"Each box can hold up to about a backpack's worth. And yes, you can combine 'unrelated' items together, you don't have to cheat to find a way to group a lot of objects on one slot. For some reason the other Prior Players really wanted to know about that."

"Oh, thank goodness." Said Soos.

"Right," said Dipper, "let's sort everything out."

---

They did, going over what they first brought with them to the forest, and then met back at the computer.

Dipper gave the key card one last look. Then he moved it towards his forehead, eyes closed.

"Is everyone ready?" He asked.

"I'll be right behind you, bro." Mabel told him.

"I've got your back too!" Said Soos. "Heck, I have to be here. It's sort of my mission."

"Nah man," Wendy corrected him, "this is our mission. We'll all stick together."

"There's a pun in there about Rose's tree powers somewhere." Mabel remarked.

"Oh! Stick, that actually reminds me of something!" Rose said.

She dug through her leaf dress again. Reaching... deep down in her cleavage, actually. It got an eyeroll out of Wendy.

Rose took out what looked like a completely and utterly ordinary stick.

"Here." She said. The four just stared at her flatly. "Take this."

"...A stick?" Mabel asked. In sincerity, she also said "Well thank you!"

"Also, if less important, I want you to each have a phone."

"We already have phones." Dipper told her.

"No! Phones that call me! Listen, I still think these Domains are dangerous places! It would be helpful if you always had the option to contact me. That way, I can tell you how to get through them."

"Okay, that sounds helpful!" Soos said.

"Yeah." Wendy added. "It'd be cool to have someone on the inside help us out."

"Great. Here is my number."

She gave them her- okay. It turned out, numbers on their system were bizarrely long. Sixteen digits. (Broken in to four groups of four, each split by a dash.) Earth's entire human population could fit under there and then some. Rose sighed as Mabel was the only one who could actually remember it, so she just showed them a quick messanger list feature. They could simply imput DEAN ROSE - or rather, just ROSE - and immediately get access to her.

"Do you think we'll go around collecting the numbers of other deans too?" Soos asked-

Rose burst in to laughter. Gut-holding laughter.

"THAT'S RICH! THAT IS- THAT... OH... oh, you're being serious? You were being-" she laughed harder, almost falling to the ground.

"But seriously..." She tried to hold back from laughing even further. "It won't happen. Trust me. It's impossible."

"So what does the stick do?" Mabel asked.

"It's a superweapon."

"...How?"

"Is it a magic wand?" Soos asked.

Rose sighed. "Look, it sort of is, but it'll work when it works. You humans can't channel electric power through yourselves like we can, so you can't fire it whenever you want. But... if you could parry, redirect lightning from the .GIFfanys, then maybe you can get something out of it."

"Can we just learn to use the powers ourselves?" Soos asked.

That got another fit of laughter out of Rose. Then she just flatly said "No.

"Now, I believe that is everything. There is nothing else to discuss while you are here in Domain 1."

"What happened to calling this place 'the Only Domain?'" Wendy asked.

"That was needlessly edgy out of me. I shouldn't have done that. No, the truth is, there are thirteen other domains. And then there's the Construction Site, which is... not a domain on its own. It is something far worse." The green dean snapped her fingers. "That might sound edgy, but trust me, it's not. I hope you never even have to see it up close, and you will be seeing it from far."

Well... with that, no more words were to be had. Dipper, after just a few more seconds staring at the card and gulping, put it in the Terminal's slot.

Scanning happened. First, the slot itself scanned the card, and then the scanner on the monitor portion fired beams of green light that scanned the four. Staying within the confines of a dome marked by the circular warning signs painted on the ground.

A yellow bubble formed around them. Transparent, it looked like it was made of the same oily film as the usual bubble, it was just... unusually large and unusually yellow.

Before the group could really process that in, they were all shrunk down and sucked up. All that was left was Dipper's hat, which flew up to the air when the gang was sucked in the computer, fluttered about, and then landed on the grass.

A smirk slowly crept across Rose's face.

"I 'forgot' to tell you..." She said to nobody in particular. "To come back here, you'll need the key card for this place. Without it, that's a one way trip..."

"G-G-... um, .GIFfany?"

Rose tensed up when she heard that voice. Her confident, smug smirk disappeared as the four members of the Mystery Shack crew were fired out in a bright yellow light.

Kenny.

---

(A Few Seconds Ago)

Being sucked in to the computer wasn't fun, and worst of all, there was a very high chance that they'd have to go through that at least thirteen more times.

So yeah. Floating in the void, in their yellow bubble for a moment. Before suddenly being shot out in their tiny size, whisked away from the computer, and leaving in a yellow stream.

Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy all screamed as they were fired. If any of them had looked down - none of them wanted to, and they would have difficulty anyway because of the sheer force - they would have seen a magnified view of the woods zip by, before turning in to a wall of green against the bright blue skies. What they did see was a yellow blob rapidly growing among that same blue sky, approaching it over just the course of a few seconds.

And then. Darkness again. The inside of another computer. Unlike the near-black greens of Rose's terminal, their destination was a dark yellow.

Before they were shot out.

Run: .GIFocalypse

End of the Early Game.

---

Closing AN:

Happy fifth birthday, .GIFfany and Melody's debut episode. At least it was when I published this.

So, regarding the original version of this chapter, I was kind of rushing this to get this out on the anniversary, even though I was working on it a bit prior. The main reason why is because I was expecting to start the last chapter of Total Zeksmit Plains at the beginning of the year - which I did, so the following should speak volumes: - then finish it, and then move this up to my next priority, but here's the thing. The year was almost 3/4ths over and I was still... almost done with that but it was coming along at an extremely slow pace. Once that garbage is out of the way, I'd want to work on both this and Bl:oodswap (mostly I just wanted to nuke what I've got and start over, the story as it stands right now is extremely embarrassing and stupid. Yes, it's supposed to have a stupid premise, but it's not "stupid" in the way I want it to be), but while I'm still dealing with that thing, I only want to work on one at a time.

Also archive of the old notes, it doesn't matter but I'm keeping it here because I kind of like giving people a dumb little breadcrumb history of my writing process/order: Tomorrow I'll work on one of these: Chapter 2 Part 1 of this, or the redone Chapter 1 of Bl:oodswap. It depends on exactly how embarassed I am on the original BS vs how enthusiastic I am towards continuing. I feel pretty strongly on both fronts. Until then, I'll take my "several color-coded copies of an originally-minor character" thing on hold for a bit while I just get through my self-made daily "quota" for other stories (mostly dumb harem comedies on Fictionpress), because in this one day I wrote the entirety of this dumb note and edited this chapter from the Rose fight onwards. Yesterday, I edited/looked over the story from the beginning of this chapter to the Rose fight.

Without getting in to spoilers related to the old version, one of the changes I think might be "noteworthy" is establishing .GIFfinum (also, renaming it) right off the bat, instead of... what, like, Domain 5? And not actually showing a copy make it until Domain 11? Even though .GIFfinum is, at best, world building, I still thought it would be better to have it show up right away.

Name trivia: "Liatris" is named after the "blazing star," I just Googled something along the lines of flowers in hot climates and thought that was cool enough of a name to use. Or, the meaning of the name. "Acmella" from the "electric daisy." And, most obviously of the three, "Lily" is from "water lily." I wanted a "fire/electricity/water" trio of names that were still flower themed. Because, in case you are unaware of this painfully neglected Nintendo franchise that makes up my current username here, those three together are a Pikmin reference. ...You might want to save this paragraph, I might (but probably won't) delete it from the story itself, I'm not sure how much giving away the reference/name meaning would... "mess with" the flow of even a closing author's note. What I will say is to not be surprised if the other domains have similar explanations.

Oh yeah, and that and the thing about Domains 5 and 11 kinda give away that the gang's going to all those floating islands up there, right? Well, shouldn't that be a given? Personally, I think it would be less interesting if "something bad happened" and their trip from domain to domain went off the rails. But that's only because I already know that the other deans won't be simple monsters of the week.