Gravity Falls: Once More

by Absolute Rift

Four years after their faithful summer of weird, Dipper and Mabel finally return to the legendary town of Gravity Falls. Despite having new adventures and mysteries to take on, they are still tailed by the challenges that come with navigating teenage life. With friends and enemies, both new and old, the Pines must prepare themselves for whatever awaits them. (Cover by pau sketches)

26. Stan-doff: Part 3

"Ford…"

Zzzzzz…

"Forrrrrd…"

Zzzzzz…

"FORD!"

"Wha-?!" Ford asked as he finally jolted awake, frantically looking around in fear. "What's happening?!"

"Easy, bro," Stan's voice told him calmly. "Nothing's happening."

"God, Stanley, then why'd you wake me like that?" Ford asked annoyedly as he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Would ya just chill out for a sec?" Stan's voice told him. "Just look forward and tell me what you see."

Ford sighed exasperatedly as he placed his glasses back on his face. "I tell you, Stan. Sometimes you can be so utterly ridicu-"

He cut himself off once he got a good look at what was ahead. In front of them was a set of railings, signifying they were on a cliff of some sort. But right through the windshield and behind the railings, he found himself staring at the once familiar sight of a pair of hanging cliffs. As his vision continued to adjust, the cliffs became an apparent sight of what hung right over Gravity Falls itself. The valley the town resided within lay right underneath the cliffs; the town itself was illuminated slightly in the dark and starry night with the moon covered by a bunch of thick clouds that floated across the evening sky.

Gravity Falls, Oregon.

This was no dream. They had finally made it.

"We're... home..." Ford said as he marveled at the sight. "After all these years. After all these delays. All the adventures. After four long years, we're finally back in Gravity Falls."

"We are."

"Wow…" Ford said as he continued to stare in disbelief. He then chuckled as he recalled an earlier statement. "Ya know, Stanley, waking up to the hanging cliffs isn't the same as waking up to the Shack as you promised earlier. But still, after all this time, it's a sight just as marvelous."

"I agree," Stan said. "You're lucky to have a brother like me who cares about making your last sight memorable."

Ford chuckled. "Well, Stanley, I sure am lucky to have-"

He stopped himself as he repeated Stanley's statement in his head.

"Wait, what do you mean my last-"

SCREEEEEEEECH!

The wheels of the tires suddenly started rolling fast as Stan suddenly stomped on the gas without warning. Ford's body flew forward against the dashboard, realizing that for some reason, he wasn't even buckled into his seatbelt anymore.

"WOAH! STANLEY?! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU-"

At that moment, Stan had let go of the brakes and the car was sent speeding forward. Ford flew back into his seat, still not buckled in. He opened his eyes and tried to glance over at Stan. However, before he could react at all, the car burst straight through the railing and began its descent down the cliff. Ford began screaming as his body began flying throughout the car as it flipped forward, while Stan sat held in place with his seatbelt strapped in.

In the backseat, the Snacken tried to use its tentacles to hold onto the seat as tight as it could. On the way down, however, it lost its grip and got sent flying directly under the front car seat. There, it stuck itself in the tight space so it wouldn't keep flying around.

Soon enough, the car collided violently with the ground on its right side before bouncing and flipping around several more times through the forest it fell into below. Each flip and each bounce damaged the car immensely, adding several large dents, scratches, and cracks on the metallic surface of the car. Each window shattered as it made contact with the ground. Being an older car as well, the roof even began to tear.

The car then flipped itself straight into a large tree, which provided a violent stop to the flipping as it lay at an angle against the tree. At that point, the car was basically decimated. Having just dropped from the height it did, there was little to salvage from its crash. Just about everything was smashed in and broken.

After a brief moment of stillness, the passenger door was kicked off its hinge. Ford slowly emerged from it, crawling on his hands and knees to pull himself out of the car. He was badly bruised and bloodied in just about every area of his body. Crawling alone pained him in every muscle of his, but he was persistent. He threw himself out of the car onto the grass of the forest, laying on his back as he took several deep breaths, trying to recover himself before even beginning to process the event that had just transpired.

After laying for a brief second, he turned around and put himself back on his hands and knees. He coughed up some blood on the ground, holding onto his chest in pain.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Ford's head turned upon hearing the sudden voice. And a familiar one at that. He saw his brother walking toward him, his clothes torn and his body just as bruised and bloodied. However, he seemed to have no issue walking as he approached him. The voice and the glowing yellow eyes in the night darkness of the forest paired, and Ford's heart dropped hard as he realized exactly what was happening.

"OH, THAT LOOKS BAD, 'BRO!'" said the sinister voice of Bill Cipher from Stan's mouth. "WE SHOULD PROBABLY GET THAT CHECKED OUT, DONTCHA THINK?"

Ford didn't speak a word. He stared on at his greatest enemy taking control of his brother in absolute disbelief and trembling fear. While his body was still processing the crash, his mind seemed to have almost completely forgotten it and substituted that mental room with the sight he saw before him.

"YOU ALRIGHT, SIXER?" Bill taunted, smiling sinisterly with Stan's mouth. "DON'T WORRY! I WAS SEARCHING THROUGH THE POP'S OLD CAR EARLIER AND I FOUND THIS IN HIS GLOVEBOX!"

At that moment, Bill suddenly took out a handgun from the inside of Stan's jacket, which he pointed straight at Ford.

"MAYBE WE CAN USE IT TO MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

---

At the Mystery Shack, the Summerween party had long since begun. Orange, purple, and green strobe lighting flashed around, while the smoke machine produced enough smoke to mimic a dark street alley. The effects combined to fit the Summerween mood as bass-boosted music blasted through the stereo.

The party had a good amount of townsfolk around, although it didn't quite compare to the usual parties around the Shack. Still, those who showed up were dancing and having a good time. Everything seemed to be going to plan.

Soos stood at a DJ booth he kept standing in the back of the museum. He dressed as his favorite video game character, Lario, donning an orange plumber costume with black overalls. He also wore an obnoxiously large, fake handlebar mustache. He bobbed his head to the best of the music as he DJ'd, occasionally looking up to see all the dancing folks with their many costumes.

"Hope all you dudes are having a good time!" Soos spoke into the microphone. "DJ Lario's gotta step aside from the booth for a sec! But not to worry. The rad Muwigi is here to take over in the meantime!" he said as he gestured to his right, where Abuelita sat in a recliner dressed in a blue plumber costume reminiscent of Soos's. However, she simply sat asleep in her seat, not even paying any mind to the loud, bass-heavy music and partying going on.

At the front of the gift shop entrance, Wendy sat out at a table collecting the entry fees from those who came in. Her costume was reminiscent of her old apocalypse outfit during Weirdmageddon, except a bit more stylized as a costume rather than a last-minute survivor outfit. She sat at the stand appearing bored and somewhat sorrowful but did her job of taking the entry fees and placing them into a designated box.

Soos stood out right beside her. "How're things going over here, Wendy?"

"Oh, hey, Soos," Wendy said, working up a smile for him, but her eyes still showed slight dismay. "Great, I guess. Seems to be making more than the average day of tours."

"That's awesome!" Soos said excitedly.

"Yep, people are coming in fast, but I'm handling it," Wendy assured.

"Sure looks like it," Soos said with a nod. "Ya know, I'm surprised, Wendy. Having worked with you for all these years, I've usually come to expect laziness and a lack of worth ethic from you. Slacking off and leaving work to do other things."

"Who me?" Wendy asked awkwardly as if she didn't know what he was talking about. "Nahhhh."

"It's true!" Soos reinforced. "But recently, you've been doing a pretty great job around here. Just something I've noticed. I'm impressed. I mean, I'm a Soos, so that's pretty easy to do. But seriously, dude, I'm impressed!"

"Thanks... I guess…" Wendy accepted, though not so willingly.

"Yup! Keep up the good work, dawg," Soos said as he proceeded to walk back inside, not quite clueing in on Wendy's attitude.

As he walked back into the Shack, he walked through crowds of people, examining the various costumes of the guests. He appreciated the amount of diversity he saw and how many characters he recognized. He even found himself somewhat surprised by how few other Larios he had seen.

However, what caught his eye was the sparkling purple Princess Plum dress worn by none other than Melody herself. He knew she was dressing up as her to go along with his Lario costume, but it was the first time he had seen her that night, and was immediately awestruck by her appearance. They walked up to one another, smiles across their faces as they looked on at their couple's costumes.

"Wow, you look stunning, my princess," Soos said as he took her hand in his and held it in front of him.

Melody giggled at this, placing her other hand over her mouth. "Look, Soos, you're an adorable Lario, but that's like the cheesiest thing you could've said to me," she said as she gave another giggle of admiration.

"Sorry dude, I couldn't help it," Soos shrugged. "With this hat on my head, my inner Lario has awoken. I must embrace the cheesiness."

"Maybe you're right. I was considering being just as cheesy but didn't want to play into the whole damsel in distress sorta deal that Princess Plum is known for in the Lario franchise," Melody said with a smile.

"Dude, we could totally be cheesy together. Like cheese buddies!" Soos suggested. "Not cheese bros, cause those two over there already got the costume down," he told her as he pointed out a pair of guys walking by that were actually dressed as pieces of string cheese, oddly enough.

Elsewhere at the party, Mabel emerged from a crowd of people dancing. As planned, she had dressed up in the old Mr. Mystery costume with the intention of appearing as her Grunkle Stan, despite the character not exactly being his anymore. Still, the suit fit perfectly for her and she wore the fez that went with the character, of course. However, she quickly realized that the suit wasn't really made for dancing and she found a hard time enjoying herself at the party.

She felt odd being by herself during a big party. Normally she'd take such an event to go around meeting people and making friends. It's how she met Candy and Grenda after all. However, she just wasn't in the mingling mood at that moment, and simply kept to the sidelines. Between the fight with Dipper earlier and missing Grunkle Stan more and more each time she looked at herself in the mirror, she was lost in a mix of different sorrows. She was beginning to blame herself for everything, as the costume idea was quickly starting to become one of her biggest regrets.

"Dressing up as Grunkle Stan…" she had told herself a bit earlier when she looked at herself. "What was I thinking?"

But she committed to it, hoping her mixed feelings would blow over once she got lost in the fun of the night. However, it had become clear that she wasn't getting lost in much fun at all.

"Wow, you look down."

She had turned around to see the purple glow of a glow-in-the-dark skeleton hoodie, which had also concealed the wearer's face. However, the voice, appearance, and general mannerisms made it quite clear to her who it was.

"Wow, you look original," Mabel said with an eye roll. "A skeleton hoodie, Derrick? Your taste is along the same lines as Robbie's."

"Okay, first off- I have no idea who that is," Derrick said as he pulled his zipper down from his head to reveal his annoyed face. "Second- this holiday didn't even exist to me until Dipper told me last night. This was the best I could do."

"Again, real original," Mabel told him.

"And what are you?" Derrick asked, scanning her costume. "Isn't that the big guy's clothes?"

"That's not who I'm trying to…" Mabel tried to come back before realizing it was pointless. "Forget it. There's no point in explaining anything to you."

"Yeesh," Derrick replied. "You know, I remember how much of a fanatic about Halloween you used to be back in Piedmont. Throwing those big parties and such. Hell, it was always the one time of the year you'd actually be nice to me."

"Okay, for the record, I was never 'being nice to you.' I just tolerated you more," she corrected before her eyes bulged at a realization. "Oh my God, I sound like Pacifica."

"Again, no idea who that is," he told her. "But anyway, for such a similar holiday, you're being way more uptight than usual. I mean, I'm used to it. Some others probably aren't though."

"So what're you trying to do? Help me?" Mabel asked, not seeing his point in telling her this.

"Nah, I'm just saying you're being a jerk," Derrick said with a smirk as he proceeded to walk away. "I'm gonna get a drink. Later, Sparkles."

Mabel watched him walk away, eyes narrowing at him as he drifted into the crowd of people.

"Asshole," she said with an eye roll as she tuned his words out of her head.

"Woah there. I don't recall doing anything," another voice suddenly entered.

Mabel's head turned as she suddenly spotted Ryland and his younger brother Evan right behind her.

"W-what? No, no, no! Not you! Absolutely not you!" Mabel clarified frantically as her face reddened slightly.

"Chill. I'm just messing," Ryland said with a light chuckle.

Mabel smiled slightly for a second too, but then she processed the fact that she had also said such a word in front of a twelve-year-old too. "And Evan... I'm so sorry! I normally don't say stuff like that, but-"

"It's fine," Evan quickly dismissed as he turned over to Ryland. "Living with this guy, there's really nothing I haven't already heard."

"Haha. This kid, am I right?" Ryland laughed off, rubbing the top of Evan's head playfully, although seemingly with a bit of roughness too as Evan's expression showed slight irritation as one of his eyes twitched.

Mabel finally took a moment to process the fact that Ryland and Evan were actually dressed up in costumes too. Ryland wore a familiar dark blue constable outfit with a matching hat, while Evan dressed up in completely white clothing, while also wearing a green detective hat on his head.

At that moment, it had made sense to her.

"Ohhh... Duck-tective and the Constable!" she realized after a good moment of scanning their costumes, putting on a wide grin.

"Yep!" Ryland nodded excitedly. "I've actually managed to get Evan into Duck-tective recently, and we sorta figured doing this sorta matching costume thing for Summerween would've been kinda cool. I think it turned out pretty good, despite the fact he didn't put on the full Duck-tective costume we had initially planned."

"I'm not gonna glue feathers to my skin and tape a duckbill to my mouth when all you have to do is put on a pair of clothes," Evan groaned.

"You're Duck-tective! The star! You should be embracing the entire costume!" Ryland told him.

"Then why couldn't you have been Duck-tective and do the full embracing and let me be the Constable?" Evan asked.

"Pfft... are you implying the Constable is shorter than the Duck himself? God, you amateur. Can't even get basic facts of the show right," Ryland said, crossing his arms at Evan.

Evan turned to Mabel and pointed his thumb over at Ryland as if he wasn't standing right beside him. "I don't get him."

"If you don't get him, then I would stay away from looking up what the fandom has done online," Mabel told him with a smirk as she looked over at Ryland. "Even though your computer screen is probably great for viewing fanart."

"Yeah, some fans can get... pretty crazy…" Ryland nodded in agreement as he stared forward thinking about it. However, he quickly snapped himself out of it and looked back at Mabel and her costume. "Anyways, Mabel. That's a pretty cool costume you got going there. You don't look half-bad as Soos."

Mabel wanted to smile at his initial compliment but was only left frowning. She sighed as she facepalmed. "I'm not Soos. I'm supposed to be my Grunkle Stan."

"Really? But, the costume…"

"Grunkle Stan gave the title of Mr. Mystery to Soos when he took over the Mystery Shack," Mabel clarified for him.

"Oh…" Ryland said, understanding now. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's fine," Mabel said with a sorrowful sigh. "The idea was that Dipper was supposed to dress up as our Grunkle Ford, Stan's twin brother. We'd be twins dressing up as twins, but he didn't want to do it. I thought it'd be cute, but even I'm starting to have second thoughts."

The three heads then turned to see Waddles on the ground, biting off what appeared to be a Ford costume made for him. He tore off the coat with his mouth before moving onto the gray wig on his head, shaking it around violently in aggravation.

"Even Waddles isn't a fan," Mabel pointed out. She sighed again, staring down at the ground as she leaned against the wall. "I wanted to pay some sort of family homage to them since they weren't here. But it was probably a bad idea to think up the costume the night before Summerween."

Ryland looked on at her sympathetically, while Evan stood there displaying a slightly less amount of sympathy, simply due to this only being their second meeting. Yet he still felt for her on some level. Ryland then walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't be hard on yourself like that," Ryland told her with a comforting smile. "Sure, maybe it was planned a bit last minute. But that doesn't mean it was necessarily a bad idea. I mean, as you can see..." he said, gesturing toward himself and Evan. "...I think the idea of matching costumes with a sibling is pretty cool."

"Yeah," Mabel shrugged as she thought about it. "But at least your sibling actually matched with you."

"Ehem!"

The three looked to the side and noticed someone walking down the staircase toward them. The person wore a red turtleneck sweater with a tan coat on top. Over his torso, he wore a black belt across his chest. Combined with black pants, brown boots, and a pair of glasses without any actual lenses on them. The outfit was Ford's, but the face was Dipper's, who stood up straight with his chest out as he reached the bottom step, posing heroically as he reached the bottom.

Mabel and Ryland stared at him in surprise while Evan just looked on at him normally. Dipper stood staring at them in his pose for a second, his face straight. However, his eyes suddenly narrowed as he began to give a distressed look.

"This turtleneck is constricting my airflow..." he wheezed, his mannerisms signaling for help as his heroic pose disappeared.

Mabel and Ryland realized his struggle to breathe and quickly ran over to assist. Mabel grabbed ahold of the neck of the sweater and tugged on it. Ryland quickly handed her a pair of scissors that were lying to the side, which she accepted. Without hesitation, she cut straight through the middle of the front of the neck. As she did this, Dipper promptly took in a big gasp of air as if his neck had been previously belted up.

"Thanks…" he said as he panted, taking in as much air as he could. He then stood up and looked down at the cut she had made. "That pretty much ruins the sweater, but, thanks."

"Well, that sweater was about to ruin your life," Mabel justified as she patted around the front of his torso. "Why does it fit you so small? It's a turtleneck, not a superhero costume. I thought I got the correct size. You're medium, right?"

"Medium adult," Dipper clarified with a somewhat annoyed look on his face. "Not children's medium. You must've accidentally picked the wrong type of sweater and didn't notice."

"Huh... I was wondering why the turtleneck was so much cheaper than the rest of the outfit," Mabel realized. She then glanced down at the rest of Dipper's costume before looking back up at him. "But wait, I thought you didn't want to dress up as Ford because you were too busy caring about your morals?"

"Look, Mabel…" Dipper began as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I was being kind of stupid before. I don't know where I got all that nonsense about not thinking of myself as Ford when all you wanted me to do was dress up in a costume for fun for one night. Whatever 'morals' I had come up with, I don't care about anymore. My one moral now is making sure your Summerween doesn't get ruined because of me."

"Aw, Dipper," Mabel said as she gave him a sisterly nudge in the arm. "This is our Summerween, not just mine. And I admit... maybe I overreacted earlier when you said you wouldn't do the costume. Honestly, now that I've thought it through, I probably planned this all way too last minute for it to be effective at all."

"Well, to be fair, we did just find out that today was Summerween last night," Dipper pointed out.

"Exactly," Mabel nodded. "Still, I shouldn't have been so pushy about it. You had as much right to not wanna wear the costume as I had to want to wear it. I'm sorry."

"C'mon, let's not go back and forth with apologies now," Dipper blew off with a smile. "I'm already in the damn thing. While the night is still young, let's just have a good time. It's our second Summerween. Let's make the most out of it."

"Agreed," Mabel nodded as she grinned. She narrowed her eyes confidently as she looked over across the room where Soos was back working at the DJ Booth. "SOOS! CRANK UP THE MUSIC! LET'S GET SOME RAISE ON THIS ROOF!"

Soos gave her a nod and a thumbs-up as he placed his hand on the volume slider, promptly cranking up the music's volume and the bass at the same time. He raised it just as the beat dropped to the ongoing song, and everyone started cheering and dancing along.

Despite the struggle to dance in her costume, Mabel pushed herself to dance along as hard as she could. Dipper wasn't much of a dancer as she was and simply did an odd swaying-bobbing dance in his place. Ryland danced just as casually as most of the other party attendees but had his eyes fixating on how crazy Mabel was going. Evan simply stood back and watched, while lightly bobbing his head to the music. Big parties and loud music were never his thing but he was willing to kick back a bit for the fun of the evening.

Generally, everyone at the party seemed to be having a good time. Between those who were dancing and those who were just hanging out to the side, it seemed at that point that nothing could possibly go wrong.

---

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

In Stan's body, Bill continued to hold Ford at gunpoint a few meters from the crashed car. That distance only increased as Ford continued to back away slowly in fear, with Bill continuously walking toward him at the same speed.

"MY, OH, MY! STANFORD FILBRICK PINES! MY OLD FRIEND! MY OLD CHUM!" Bill began with a sinister smile and voice. "IT'S BEEN A WHILE, HASN'T IT? HOW HAVE THINGS BEEN?"

Ford remained silent as Bill kept up his gimmick of using smooth and friendly talk despite being the obvious enemy. No amount of supposed friendly talk could take away from the fact that he was literally pointing a gun at him. His father's gun, to be precise.

Why he kept one stored in his car? He had no idea. Why Sherman never found out about it during all the years he's had the car in his possession? He also had no idea. Why he never bothered to check the glovebox for himself when he got the car? Perhaps he was just being stupid.

More than anything though, Ford was in total shock to see Bill again. His heart had beat harder at that moment than it had ever beaten before from any near-death experience he had with Stanley during their various adventures. The demon that had given him more trouble in the past than any other enemy he had ever faced was back. The one who had spent decades haunting his dreams, causing him paranoia, and had spent numerous attempts trying to kill both him and his family.

He was back. Bill Cipher was back.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER, SIX FINGERS? AREN'T YOU GLAD TO SEE ME AGAIN?" Bill taunted. "ACTUALLY... MORE LIKE HEAR ME AGAIN. YOU'VE ALREADY BEEN STARING AT THIS UGLY FACE FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS, HAVEN'T YA? GET IT? UGLY? BECAUSE YOU TWO ARE... TWINS?"

He quickly realized the joke may not have been as great as it sounded in his head.

"CUT ME SOME SLACK, WOULD YA? I'VE BEEN OUT OF THE GAME FOR A WHILE."

"W-w-why…? H-how…?" Ford stuttered as he struggled to process Bill's presence.

"Ah, so you wanna know THOSE answers…" Bill cut off, realizing what Ford was trying to ask. "WELL YOU SEE, SIXER, THE HONEST TRUTH HERE IS THAT I NEVER LEFT!"

"What are you talking about?" Ford questioned, discontinuing his steps back. "We erased you from Stan's mind!"

"YOU DID, DIDN'T YOU?" he asked, pointing the gun away before casually tapping the barrel against the side of Stan's head as he looked up to think. "WELL, GUESS YOU DIDN'T GIVE THAT MIND A GOOD ENOUGH ERASING, HUH?"

He cackled evilly as he began pacing around, no longer pointing his gun at Ford. Ford realized this and wanted to take this as a chance to run, but instead, he gave in to his curiosity about Bill's intentions. More importantly, how he even came back into Stan's mind in the first place.

"YOU SEE, STANFORD, SINCE YOU WIPED STAN'S MIND CLEAN, RATHER THAN COMPLETELY WIPING ME ALONG, I FOUND MYSELF BLESSED ENOUGH TO HAVE A PIECE OF MYSELF LEFT ALIVE IN THE CORNER OF THE OLD MAN'S MIND," Bill explained to him as he paced around.

"You've been blessed?" Ford questioned, finding the term incredibly superstitious.

"BLESSED BY A POWERFUL FORCE, STANFORD!" Bill told him, turning to him with a wide grin. "WITH ONE INVOKING, I WAS PROMISED A DIFFERENT FORM AT A DIFFERENT TIME! ONE MERE PIECE OF MYSELF LEFT TO LINGER IN THE REGROWING VOID OF STAN'S MIND! NOT ENOUGH TO DO ANYTHING, OF COURSE. BUT OVER TIME, I REGREW TOO! SLOWLY, I FOUND MYSELF RESURGING A RECOGNIZABLE FORM, WHERE I WAS ACTUALLY ABLE TO HAVE AN INFLUENCE ON STAN HIMSELF! BUT IT STILL WASN'T ENOUGH. AT THE RATE I WAS GROWING BACK, IT'D BE DECADES AND THE OLD MAN PROBABLY WOULD'VE ALREADY BEEN SIX FEET IN THE GROUND! I NEEDED TO GROW FASTER! BUT THERE WAS NOTHING THAT I COULD DO. IF I WAS GONNA GROW BACK FASTER, I WAS GONNA NEED... A LITTLE HELP…"

Ford's eyes bulged as he knew where he was getting at.

"The creatures from the Nightmare Realm…" Ford remembered. "The incident in the Arctic... back at the mountain! Your cronies knew you were in Stan's mind and did what they did to speed up the growing process!"

Bill turned back to Ford with a demented smile as he began cackling again.

"ISN'T IT GREAT TO HAVE FRIENDS? TURNS OUT THAT THE MULTIVERSAL LEAK'S INSTABILITY COMBINED WITH THE ELECTRIC PULSING OF STAN'S NERVES WOULD TRIGGER BRAIN WAVES TO RAPIDLY FAST FORWARD MY REGROWTH! A PROCESS THAT WOULD'VE TAKEN DECADES, ALL TAKING PLACE IN THE SPAN OF A FEW MINUTES!" He sighed and facepalmed as a separate thought had come to mind. "IF ONLY ELECTORA'S BRAIN WAS AS STRONG AS HER ELECTRICITY! SHE COULD'VE FINISHED THE PROCESS AND GOT ME OUT RIGHT THEN AND THERE! THIS IS WHY I DON'T INVITE HER ANYWHERE!" His demented smile then returned as he looked back over at Ford. "LUCKILY, SHE STILL PROVIDED JUST ENOUGH CHARGE FOR ME TO FINISH THE JOB MYSELF! IT WOULD TAKE A FEW MORE DAYS, BUT THAT'S A SMALL PRICE TO PAY FOR ABSOLUTE CONTROL!"

"So that's why Stan has been acting strange!" Ford realized. "You constantly trying to escape put abnormal effects on his neural processes and emotions. The overly aggressive behavior, the short-term memory, the red eyes, the collapsing... it was all because of you!"

"THERE'S THE SIXER I REMEMBER! ALWAYS PUTTING HIS BRAIN IN THE BACKSEAT WHEN HE NEEDS IT MOST!" Bill confirmed as he cackled sinisterly. "HERE I AM, STANFORD! IN A DIFFERENT FORM! AT A DIFFERENT TIME!"

Ford clenched his teeth together as he looked on at Bill angrily. "So what's your grand plan now? Revenge? Starting with killing me? Is that it?!"

"AW, YOU KNOW ME SO WELL!" Bill said as he pointed the gun back at him, prompting Ford to get into a defensive stance again. Bill fiddled with the trigger for a bit without actually pulling it as he thought for a moment. He then put on a grin; one that said he had a plan. "BUT NOT WELL ENOUGH!"

Ford raised an eyebrow at him as he wondered what he meant this time.

"AS MUCH AS I WOULD LOVE TO PUT A NICE HOLE IN THAT BIG BRAIN OF YOURS RIGHT THIS SECOND, I CAN'T DO THAT JUST YET!" Bill admitted. "ACTUALLY, STANFORD, I'D BE LYING IF I SAID I DIDN'T NEED A LITTLE... FAVOR…"

"Well, you can go to hell!" Ford shouted as he speedily ducked down and made a quick bolt for behind a tree, just as Bill had pulled the trigger.

BANG!

Luckily, Ford was quick enough to dodge out of the way of Bill's first shot. What had helped even more was the fact that Bill himself wasn't ready for the violent recoil of the weapon as he fired, and found Stan's upper body flying back after the first shot.

"GAH!" Bill reacted. "I FORGOT ABOUT THE RECOIL ON THESE THINGS!"

This quick delay had given Ford an opportunity to start running through the forest. Bill quickly caught sight of his escape and proceeded to fire two more shots aimed at his legs. But they were clear misses, the bullets piercing right into surrounding trees.

"SO YOU CAN STILL WORK THOSE OLD MAN LEGS, HUH? WELL SO CAN I!" Bill called out as he began running after him.

Ford had no direct path, nor did he know where he was running exactly. But with every tree he passed, he moved behind to use as a potential defense as he ran.

He was caught at a mental crossroads in what he would be able to do. Bill was possessing his brother right now, so fighting back wasn't exactly a wise solution, as he didn't want to end up hurting or killing Stan. At the same time, he couldn't let Bill get the best of him. His best option would be to somehow take him by surprise and overpower him.

Not that that would be easy, of course.

He continued to ponder other ideas as he ran, hoping he'd come up with something easier. He obviously needed to keep his bounds within the forest, as entering the town itself could lead to others getting involved or hurt. The police getting involved wouldn't end well for either case. This was a problem that only he knew how to handle best. And he didn't know what he'd do if someone innocent and uninvolved ended up getting hurt by Bill.

The kids.

Dipper and Mabel.

He knew the two twins were very curious about Gravity Falls's anomalies and oddities. What if they were to hear the gunfire and possibly assume it to be something of that sort rather than an actual psychopathic demon?

Okay, perhaps they're not that curious, Ford thought to himself, mentally slapping himself in the face for assuming such an unintelligent move to be made by his more-than-smart-enough niece and nephew.

But he still needed to warn them of what was happening. Whatever happens to himself, he knows Bill will go after the kids next. They needed to know what was happening. What was at stake. They couldn't be unaware of something so vital and dangerous as Bill's return. Especially when he was in possession of Stan's body.

It was at that moment that he looked down at his watch as he ran.

Meridian.

He had forgotten he had inserted temporary batteries earlier in the day to make a call, but it was too busy recalibrating. He pressed the side button and the screen lit up.

Ready to go.

Of course, the longer the screen illuminated, the more the battery drained. Ford had to make a quick move here. He glanced back real quickly to see if Bill was still after him, which he still was, but he had a decent lead on him. He looked ahead again, ensuring he didn't bump into anything as he ran, and then tapped a variety of different touchscreen buttons before reaching a screen that read 'Call Mystery Shack'. He quickly pressed the button and began to dial up the Shack, awaiting a response as he continued to run from a pursuing Bill.

---

While the bass of the music thumped through the blaring speakers of Soos's DJ booth, several people kept up the partying attitude, dancing away. While most danced, Dipper and Derrick had met up a few moments ago and were conversing to the side.

"So what do you think, huh?" Dipper asked. "Quite the Summerween, huh?"

"A big costume party without any big attacks or anything else really interesting happening?" he asked, unsure what Dipper was finding fun.

"C'mon, I know after the whole gnome thing, you kind of expect weirdness and all that stuff from hanging out around us, but not every day in Gravity Falls has to be like that," Dipper told him. "Some days, even as weirdly celebrated as Summerween, are just to have some normal fun."

"I guess, but I don't know," Derrick shrugged. "For a weird town's own weird version of Halloween, I kind of expected something actually weird to happen."

"Trust me. I get the feeling," Dipper nodded. "I was even coming up with hypothetical creatures that could possibly strike later in the night. But, I mean, as it turns out, nothing so far has really warranted some sort of weird attack or anything. At the very least, no one has slammed the door in the face of a man-eating monster made of loser candy. I hope."

"Eh. It would be a nice change of pace, honestly," Derrick shrugged at the idea. "Anyway, you got a bathroom?"

"Upstairs," Dipper gestured with a finger pointing upwards.

"Be right back," Derrick said as he walked away, shuffling his way through the crowd of people right ahead of him.

As he left, Dipper heard a nearby ringing of a telephone. He glanced to his right as he turned around and saw the home telephone ringing on the table. There were some party attendees that stood closer to it than he did, but they paid no mind to it. It didn't appear any other Shack residents like Mabel or Soos were any closer to it than he was, so he made an effort to walk over to it.

As he reached it, he picked up the phone from its stand and held it up to his ear, placing his other hand on his other ear so he could better concentrate and hear the caller.

"Hello?" Dipper answered. "Dipper Pines of the Mystery Shack speaking."

"DIPPER?! OH THANK HEAVENS!" Ford's voice came in through the speaker.

"Wha…? Who is this?" Dipper asked in confusion, somewhat recognizing the voice.

"Dipper! Dipper, it's your Great Uncle Ford!"

"What? Great Uncle Ford?!" Dipper questioned in shock.

"Yes!" Ford confirmed. "Dipper, my boy, I don't have a lot of time, so I need you to listen quick! Bill is back!"

Dipper felt as though his heart was going to sink for a brief moment until he quickly stopped himself. The call was giving him a major sense of deja vu. Feeling as though he understood what was going on, he narrowed his eyes skeptically. "Oh... really?"

"Yes, Dipper, and he's taken possession of your Great Uncle Stan!" Ford added. "I'm currently in the forests of Gravity Falls under his pursuit!"

"The forest, huh…?" Dipper asked skeptically, his face beginning to show annoyance.

"Correct! Now listen up. He's armed and dangerous, and I'd rather be the one myself to handle him physically at this moment. So I'm sending this as a warning rather than a call for help," Ford told him. "Now while I have you on the line, I need you to do me a favor and…"

"Oh, let me guess, go out into the forest and find you anyway?" Dipper assumed passive-aggressively.

"What? No! I just told you! Bill's armed with a gun and it's too dangerous to…"

"So now you're actually telling me it's dangerous, huh, Mabel?"

"Mabel?! What the...? What are you on about, boy?!" Ford asked with utter confusion.

"Oh, shut it, Mabel! You think I forgot about the first time you pulled this little prank on me?" Dipper asked frustratedly. "You think I'm that forgetful? Well, I'm not. Your impression of Ford may have gotten better, but I'm not buying this cruel joke again!"

"Dipper, what on earth are you talking about?!" Ford asked, still completely confused about what he was raging at him about. "This isn't Mabel and this isn't a joke! It's really me! Your Great Uncle Ford!"

"Yeah, I'm done with this call, Mabel," Dipper said, preparing to hang up.

"NO! MASON, PLEASE…!"

"AND STOP CALLING ME THAT DAMN NAME!" Dipper yelled into the phone before slamming it right back onto the stand.

---

Ford saw a notification pop up on Meridian that the call had ended. A few seconds after, the entire device died again, with the screen going completely black.

He had so many feelings rushing through him at that moment, with the most prominent one being confusion. Why Dipper would assume he was Mabel playing a sick joke on him- he had no clue. But clearly, he was distressed by the call.

Regardless, Meridian was dead again now, and there was no way to call him back. Now he had to figure things out on his own.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Bill slowly gaining on him. He fired two more shots at him as he ran, which Ford managed to avoid. He put all of his focus back on running for his life, while also beginning to think out his next method against Bill.

"Alright, time for Plan B…"

---

"What's going on, bro?" Mabel asked as she ran over to her brother, who stood with his arms crossed frustratedly by the phone.

"I don't want to talk to you right now," Dipper said stubbornly, not even daring to make eye contact with her.

"Huh? What did I do?"

"Seriously, Mabel? Still?" Dipper asked with growing annoyance. "C'mon, the joke is over. That's why you're over here talking to me."

"What joke?" Mabel asked, still confused. "I came over here because I saw you being a hothead on the telephone. Did a telemarketer call? God, I hate those guys too."

"You're not being funny."

"What are you talking about?" Mabel asked, starting to get a little heated by Dipper's sudden change in attitude toward her for no reason. "I haven't done anything to you."

"Right... you totally weren't just trying to make a fool out of me again on Summerween," Dipper said sarcastically.

"Is this about the costume again?" Mabel said, getting a bit annoyed herself. "No one's forcing you to keep it on anymore. If you wanna change, go change! I don't care!"

"No, this is about you trying to fool me once again that our Great Uncles are running through the forest and making the same stupid joke that Bill has come back again! Well, I fell for it the first time! And it sure wasn't funny then! Did you really think it was gonna be any funnier now?"

"What?! I didn't do that again!" Mabel defended. "I know better than to repeat a prank! You know me! Everything I do is always original!"

"Right, so I guess the original idea here was that I embarrass myself in front of the entire party instead of just you and Ryland, huh?" He broke into a sarcastic slow clap. "WOO! REAL original, sis!"

Given how serious Dipper was about this apparent phone call, Mabel started to grow a little concerned. "Dipper... I really didn't make any phone call pretending to be Grunkle Ford again…"

"Oh, really? So you're saying it wasn't you who called, claimed that Bill was back, claimed that Ford was on the run, and then used my real name as an attempt to convince me that it was really him?"

"I mean, that's what I did the first time," Mabel admitted as she rubbed the back of her head. "But if that happened to you again just now, then I promise you that wasn't me."

"For God's sake, Mabel, the call was almost beat-for-beat the same as the first time, except you actually used a convincing impression of him instead of a drone... which I admittedly applaud you for. I almost did fall for it at first. But as soon as I heard the rest of the call, I knew it wasn't really him."

"But that wasn't me either! And I can't do a good impression of Grunkle Ford. Does this sound like a good impression to you? 'Smarts and books and Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons!'" Mabel said in her awkward Ford impression, which sounded like she was trying to mimic an old teacher with a messed-up accent. And her feminine voice was really showing as she spoke. It was safe to say that it sounded absolutely nothing like Ford's real voice if she really was doing her real impression of him.

"You're... you're just making it bad on purpose, right?" Dipper asked, still somewhat skeptical, though starting to grow a bit convinced that she may have been telling the truth.

"Dipper, if I really was trying to prank you, do you really think I'd go through this much of a stretch to do it?" she asked. "Especially when the last time I did it, I unintentionally got you really hurt? Do you really think I'm the kind of person to wanna go and do that to you again?"

Dipper thought for a moment as he looked into her eyes. It became apparent at that point that she really wasn't hiding anything. If there's anything he knew, it's that Mabel was terrible at lying and even hated doing so. Her pranks could be bad, but she was right. She wouldn't go through this much of a stretch to do one.

"Well if you weren't the one who made that phone call, then that means…" he began as he thought about the call. As he realized the horrible mistake he had made by accusing his sister, his eye bulged and his heart dropped as the truth settled in with him.

Mabel knew what he was thinking and she was feeling everything that he was. "Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford really are in the forest right now…"

"And Bill really has come back…" Dipper added as another realization struck him. "AND HE REALLY IS CONTROLLING GRUNKLE STAN!"

"WHAT?! YOU DIDN'T SAY THAT!" Mabel screamed, beginning to freak out as well.

"WELL, GRUNKLE FORD SAID IT!" Dipper told her. Their sudden shouting was beginning to attract looks from the surrounding partygoers.

"We have to go after them!" Mabel told him, turning around as if she was going to run for the door.

"Wait, no!" Dipper halted as he pulled her arm back. "Ford also said not to go into the forest! He said it was too dangerous!"

"So you want us to just stay here and do nothing about it?!"

"No! But... maybe there's another way…" Dipper said, struggling to think of another option.

"Screw another way, Dipper!" Mabel shouted, pulling her arm out of his grasp. "Our Grunkles have risked their lives numerous times for our safety! Now we need to do the same for them! So c'mon!"

Dipper sighed, somewhat agreeing with what she said, but remained hesitant. Still, he followed her as she rushed through the crowd. "Well, we can't do this alone! This is Bill we're talking about!"

"We're not doing this alone!" Mabel said as she marched up to the DJ booth. "Soos!"

"Oh, hey-a dudes!" Soos greeted with a small hand wave. "Party's pretty lit, am I right? Is that what the young dudes are saying nowadays? Lit? It's an interesting description, though I gotta say that despite the strobe lighting, it's still pretty dark in here. I think I'll stick to saying dope. It rolls off the tongue bett-"

"Soos, we need to ditch the party!" Dipper cut off.

"Grunkle Ford is in the forest being chased down by Bill!" Mabel quickly filled in.

"What? Bill?" Soos questioned. "You mean the triangle guy? He's back?!"

"Apparently!" Dipper nodded.

"We need your help to go out into the woods and find him!" Mabel said.

"Gosh, dudes…" Soos processed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Alright, I can see that this is bad. But... I can't just abandon the party like that! All these people paid to be here and-"

"SOOS, IF WE DON'T GO NOW, WE'RE RISKING STAN AND FORD'S LIVES!" Dipper cut off, reminding him how vital the situation is.

"Wait, STAN'S OUT THERE TOO?!" Soos asked, his eyes bulging at this realization.

"YES!" Mabel nodded frantically. "GRUNKLE FORD SAID THAT HE'S BEING CONTROLLED BY BILL!"

That was enough to convince Soos. He quickly drew a megaphone from underneath his DJ booth and activated it, holding it up to his mouth, and pointing it out at the guests of the party.

"EVERYBODY OUT!" he demanded, his yelling amplified through the megaphone at an ear-grating volume. "WE NEED ALL THE DUDES AND DUDETTES OUT OF THE BUILDING, STAT! IF WE DON'T KNOW YOU, YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING HERE!"

Dipper and Mabel had quickly covered their ears with the intense volume of Soos's yelling through the megaphone, and so did many other party guests as they began to quickly evacuate the party through the front door. Ironically enough, Abuelita continued to sleep peacefully despite Soos's loud megaphone wailing.

While guests began to leave through the front door, people like Melody, Ryland, and Evan stuck around in place as they looked around the living room in confusion as to what was happening. Waddles even ran over to Mabel's side as the room cleared out.

"SORRY TO DO THIS TO YA DUDES, BUT THIS IS A SERIOUS SITUATION!" Soos shouted through the megaphone as the guests continued to leave the Shack one by one through the front door. "HAPPY SUMMERWEEN, THOUGH! ALSO, T-SHIRTS WILL BE ON SALE NEXT MONDAY, SO BE SURE TO CHECK THAT OUT WHENEVER YOU DUDES HAVE A CHANCE!"

Soos then slammed the door shut, to which Derrick proceeded to walk back down the steps, and quickly caught sight of the suddenly emptying room compared to how packed it had been before.

"The hell? I go to the bathroom for a few minutes and apparently there's an evacuation?" he questioned as he walked up beside Dipper.

"Soos, what on earth is going on?" Melody asked as she ran over to him. "Why are we kicking everyone out?"

"Woah, boss, is everything alright?" Ryland asked, raising an eyebrow in concern as he and Evan walked closer to the ordeal.

"Yo, Soos!" Wendy's voice called out as she suddenly ran inside the Shack to see what was up. "Everyone just bailed. What's going on?"

"Look, everyone, something big just came up," Soos told them, putting his megaphone to the side.

"Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford are in the woods and they're in trouble!" Mabel told them as she lifted up Waddles in her hands.

"We need to go after them!" Dipper added.

"Woah, the Stan bros are back?" Wendy asked, eyebrows raising in surprise.

"Yeah, and Bill too!" Mabel added for her.

"Woah, woah, woah... BILL is back?!" Wendy questioned further, eyes now showing complete shock.

"Wait, is this the same Bill that you used to tell me about back in school?" Derrick asked Dipper, remembering all the times he had previously mentioned the triangular demon to him.

"Uh... who's Bill?" Ryland intervened with a raised hand, genuinely having no idea what anyone was talking about.

"GUYS!" Dipper shouted to grab everyone's attention, getting frustrated by how many questions were coming up all at once. "Look, there's too much to explain, and right now, there's just not enough time."

"We can talk about all of this later. Right now, we just need as much help as we can get in facing Bill," Mabel said.

"Well, if you two and Soos are going, then I'm obviously going," Wendy said, stepping forward. "I'm like the only other one here who really knows the Stans. This matters to me too."

"I'll come too," Ryland pitched in. "I don't know who this Bill guy is, but if he's your fight, then he's my fight too."

"Mine too," Evan said, stepping up as well.

"No, no, no. You're staying here," Ryland shook his head as he pushed Evan back.

"But I wanna help!" Evan said.

"Not with this. I brought you with me tonight to have fun, not to put you in danger," Ryland told him.

"But-"

"No buts," Ryland cut off. "Trust me, bro. I'm already worried about what I'm getting myself into. I don't want to have to worry about you at the same."

"Same for you, Melody," Soos branched off of Ryland's statement as he placed his hand on Melody's shoulder. "I need you to stay here and watch after Abuelita."

"What? No, Soos, I gotta come with y-"

"No! You can't!" Soos shouted, placing both his hands on her shoulders as he put his face up to hers. "Trust me, babe. We've dealt with Bill before! He's too dangerous! I couldn't live with myself if I let you come along and you end up getting hurt out there! The same goes for Abuelita. Please, Melody..."

Melody looked hesitant for a second but gave him a look of assurance. Soos marched his way toward the front door, opening it. He stood aside, gesturing for the others to go ahead of him.

Mabel placed Waddles back on the ground. "Stay behind me, okay?" she told him as she pointed back and forth between herself and him. Waddles gave a normal oink in response as he followed her outside the door.

Dipper looked over at Derrick. "Look, man, you don't have to come along if you don't want to."

"Are you kidding? This is the kind of thing I've been waiting for all night!" Derrick said eagerly as he began walking toward the door. "I'll be damned if I miss an encounter with the big bad you were always on about."

Dipper knew Derrick was just in for the thrill of what seemed to be another adventure to him. He knew that he didn't know what he was getting himself into. Regardless, he walked alongside him as he walked out the front door.

As the two proceeded to walk outside, Wendy soon followed behind, cracking her knuckles in preparation for what was to come. It had been a while since she went out on a mission of any sort with the Pines. Even though this one was more impromptu than anything, this was the most action she was getting herself involved in since Weirdmageddon.

"God, I've been waiting for something to fight," Wendy stated as she walked up beside Dipper. "And Bill, of all people? Man, I can't wait to bend his angles."

"Well, Ford said Bill was possessing Stan," Dipper clarified for her. "So I'm not sure you'll wanna do that."

"Then I'll just try not to hit too hard then," Wendy assured him, prompting a small smirk out of Dipper despite the current stakes.

Ryland stood back inside the Shack beside Evan. He placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a look that clearly said 'Stay here, and don't follow me.' Evan gave him a look of slight annoyance, but let out a sigh as he came to terms with staying behind. With that look of mutual understanding, Ryland proceeded to walk out the door, following the others.

Soos prepared to follow as well but looked over at Melody, who just stared at him with a look of concern.

"Be careful, sweetie," she told him.

Soos grabbed a hold of the bill of his Lario hat and pulled it down as he gave her an assuring nod. He then stepped out of the house, closing the door right behind him, leaving her with Evan and Abuelita. He then looked out into the woods where everyone was already heading into. Being the oldest of the group, he was the most responsible for everyone at that moment and therefore needed to live up to the role of being a good and reliable leader.

However, the fact that he was already yards behind the others who had already proceeded on without him wasn't doing his role much justice.

"Wait up, you guys!" he called out to the others as he ran after them.

---

Back in the forest, Bill slowly and quietly crept through the woods with his gun held up readily. He held his sinister grin as he looked around. He had eventually lost Ford during his pursuit, and now he was in a state of watching his surroundings at every moment. Every time something moved or he heard a noise, he turned. He wasn't really paranoid, but more so excited to be clashing with his old puppet again after so long.

"WHERE ARE YA, FORDSY?" Bill called out in an intimidating sing-song voice as he passed by a tree, looking right behind it, but to find nothing. "I THOUGHT YOU'D LIKE REUNITING WITH YOUR OLD PAL?"

Of course, there was the possibility that Ford could've just run away and wasn't anywhere near anymore. However, he knew he didn't do that. He knew because it would've been the wise thing to do. Ford was a smart guy, but he knew him enough to know that not everything he did was particularly wise.

He knew he was still around. He knew it.

He felt it.

"AIN'T THAT WHY YOU CAME BACK TO GRAVITY FALLS? TO REUNITE WITH YOUR OLD FRIENDS?"

"AHHHHH!" Ford's scream cried out as he jumped down from a tree branch above.

Bill attempted to turn around, but was too slow, as he soon found Ford's arms wrapped around Stan's neck, holding him tight. Bill put his hands on Ford's arms, trying to resist his headlock, but found himself failing to struggle free.

Although, this proved not to be much of an issue anyway, as his arms were still free. And in Stan's right hand, he still held Filbrick's gun. As a means of escape, he quickly bashed the gun against the side of Ford's head as hard as he could. The angle of the hit was odd and nearly missed, but it still did what it needed to. Ford reacted to the hit with a wince of pain as he let go of his arms around Stan's neck.

"WOW! THAT MUST'VE BEEN WORTH IT!" Bill said as he began to pick himself back up from the ground.

Ford rubbed the side of his face where he had been struck. Bill then gave a laugh as he prepared to aim the gun back at Ford. At the same time that Bill began to put pressure on the trigger, Ford quickly decided to react and grabbed a hold of Stan's equipped arm, violently pushing it upward as fast as he could. This sudden action resulted in Bill aiming the gun up until Ford had pushed his arm hard enough to where it ended up tapping against his forehead.

However, this further put pressure on Bill, and his grip on the trigger increased just as the top of the gun made contact with the tip of his forehead.

BANG!

---

"GRUNKLE FORD?!" Mabel called out as she walked through the woods. Due to the darkness of the night, she had a hard time getting a good sight of her surroundings. She frequently looked back at Waddles, as his lighter colors stood out in the dark.

"GREAT UNCLE FORD?!" Dipper called out a little louder than Mabel did.

"MR. PINES?!" Soos also called out from right behind the two.

"ANYONE OUT THERE?!" Ryland called out as well.

"C'mon, is this seriously our only way of finding them? Just shouting their name?" Derrick asked with a shrug, walking casually alongside.

"You're not even trying to do anything!" Mabel said as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry that I haven't been contributing to the world's useless yelling contest," Derrick said sarcastically.

"You're sure one to talk about being useless," Mabel rebuked.

"Look, in a less douchey way, I kinda have to agree that this yelling hasn't been doing anything so far," Wendy pitched in.

"These woods are huge! If they're a mile out, then of course the screaming isn't gonna do anything! But we don't know how far they are!" Mabel defended.

"I get it, but we can't place all of our bets of finding the Stans on walking and screaming all night," Wendy told her. "We need options."

"Split up maybe?" Ryland suggested.

"Hell no," Dipper immediately refused. "If this is Bill we're talking about, then the last thing any of us would wanna do is split up. Especially in the woods at night."

"Dipper's right," Wendy agreed. "Splitting up is a terrible idea."

"Alright, geez, it was just a suggestion," Ryland whispered to himself innocently.

"There's gotta be something else we can use from that phone call, Dipper," Mabel said as she walked up beside him. "Is there anything that Grunkle Ford said that we might be able to use as a lead?"

"I'm trying to remember," Dipper said as he thought back to the phone call. "But I think he just said that Bill possessed Stan. Maybe something about him being armed and dangerous..."

Mabel's eyes bulged in concern as she suddenly placed her hand on Dipper's chest, forcing him to come to a stop. "Armed with what?"

BANG!

The sound of the distant gunshot had taken everyone by surprise. Even Waddles had immediately begun squealing in fear with it as he ran over to Mabel's side, quivering. Everyone turned their heads right, where the shot had seemingly sounded from. The coincidence of the shot following their discussion left many hearts dropping in unison.

"He might've said gun..." Dipper said as he looked back over at Mabel.

"Relax, dude," Soos said calmly and heartily. "It's just a firework. You know how it is. Fourth of July celebrations and all."

"Soos, it's June 17th. Summerween. Not the Fourth of July," Wendy corrected.

"Oh…" Soos realized, his heart dropping as he began to grow nervous as well.

"Let's just call that our lead for now, shall we?" Ryland suggested, pointing off in the direction where the shot had been heard from.

"Agreed!" Dipper nodded as he began running in the direction of the shot. "Let's go!"

---

The ringing was loud and painful. Ford struggled to process any further thoughts on Bill as his ears just continued to ring. Having his head mere inches away from the barrel of a gun as it went off with absolutely no ear protection was probably one of his worst ideas. Although it did turn out to prevent him from taking a shot himself, he felt as though he was enduring something just as bad with the severe deafening ring in his ears.

He cupped his ears with his hands as he dropped to his knees, groaning in agony. He shut his eyes tightly as he tried to focus on ignoring the pain, but found it way too difficult. The painful ringing continued, and it was barely dying down.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER?" Bill asked as he stood over Ford with his gun. "CAN'T HANDLE A LITTLE EAR RINGING, FORD? I THOUGHT YOU WERE TOUGHER THAN THAT!"

Ford couldn't hear a word he said but noticed that he seemed completely unfazed by the fact that a bullet had been fired inches from his ears. Then again, Bill lives for that type of pain. He probably couldn't hear anything either, but he didn't seem to mind that.

Suddenly, Bill took the gun and bashed Ford on the side of the face with it again. This time, the hit was much more direct and had enough strength to send him collapsing to the ground. Bill just laughed as he watched Ford crawl and spit out a bit of blood from his mouth. The ringing in his ears was starting to go away slowly, but he knew that it was about to be the least of his problems.

"YEAH, GO AHEAD AND CRAWL!" Bill said as he kicked Ford over so his front side faced upwards, ending his crawl. He then pointed the gun straight at his thigh. "IN FACT, I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY AND CRAWL AFTER THIS!"

Click.

"Huh?" Bill questioned as he looked down at the gun, which didn't fire a bullet.

Click. Click.

"Hahaha," Ford laughed lightly as he began to pick himself up from the ground. "Not feeling so blessed now, huh, Cipher? Not without another clip that is... which you obviously don't have…"

Bill glanced back and forth between him and the gun. Eventually, he returned back to his wide grin as he looked back at Ford.

"AH, WHO CARES?" he shrugged as he dropped Filbrick's gun on the ground carelessly. "I DON'T NEED A GUN TO BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOU!"

At that moment, he lunged his fist directly at Ford's face, making direct contact, and knocking him back a bit. He didn't stop there, however, as he kept running after him as he continuously knocked him back with each subsequent punch he threw. When Ford finally focused back on the fight, he managed to dodge a few punches.

However, it led to Bill going for other parts of his body instead, using other parts of Stan's body. When Ford dodged a punch, Bill quickly retaliated with a knee to his stomach, which he would then top off with the return of the punch he had missed. Every punch and kick was hard enough to leave some sort of mark, whether it'd be a bruise or a cut against the skin. Bill was putting his all into senselessly beating up Ford.

Ford was hardly even trying to fight back, however. Not because he couldn't, but because he didn't want to hurt Stan. He continuously reminded himself that Bill was still in his brother's body and that any damage that he could do wouldn't be done to Bill, but Stan himself.

Although, the more punches and kicks he took, the harder it was to resist the urge to fight back. And eventually, with a few more whacks and bruises, Ford couldn't take it anymore. He wasn't going to let himself get beaten to death because he didn't bother to defend himself. He didn't want to hurt Stan's body, but he was already taking way too much damage to his own body to not do something about it.

When Bill threw his next punch, rather than dodging it, Ford caught it and held it tight.

"HUH?" Bill questioned in surprise at Ford's sudden catch.

He wasn't going to let this move stop him, though, as he threw a punch with his other hand instead. However, Ford caught this one too, holding it tight.

Without a tight grasp on both of Stan's fists, he stretched them out upwards and outwards, which seemed to surprise Bill. He seemed to be trying to fight against Ford's hold, but couldn't.

Ford then brought his face closer to Stan's and looked directly into Bill's eyes.

"Let go of my brother…"

He then pushed both of Stan's fists against his face, sending Bill backward a bit. However, while still within his reach, Ford topped it off with two violent punches to the face.

Bill appeared slightly disoriented and caught off guard by Ford's sudden willingness to fight back. He clenched Stan's fist and began charging at Ford, aiming for another face punch. However, Ford caught it yet again and instead, used his own force to push him back against a tree with his outstretched hand.

Back pinned to a tree, Bill found himself somewhat stuck and without much opportunity to get away. He looked up at Ford and narrowed his eyes as Ford angrily stared him back down.

He raised a fist before preparing another lunge.

"LET!"

POW!

"GO!"

POW!

"OF!"

POW!

"MY!"

POW!

"BROTHER!"

POW!

He kept continuously punching Stan's face against the tree for another moment, until he let go of his fist, dropping his body to the ground. As he dropped, Stan fell to his knees and stared down as he spat out blood and began breathing heavily. It was at that moment that Ford prepared to kick him and continue trying to beat Bill further.

"STANFORD, STOP!" Stan's voice suddenly cried out, holding his arm up helplessly as he kept his face and the rest of his body facing down weakly. "STANFORD, IT'S ME!"

"S-Stan?" Ford stuttered, eyes bulging in horror as he heard the voice of his brother again.

"Stanford...please…" Stan said weakly as he crawled on the ground. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"What…?"

"We were on the road together a second ago…" Stan reminded him tearfully. "I was driving and we were almost in Gravity Falls! Now you're beating up your own bro in the woods? Your own family?!"

"Stanley, I can explain!" Ford tried to tell him, reaching out to him before his hands were pushed away.

"Explain what?" Stan asked. "How disappointed Ma would be? Beating up her little free spirit for no reason?"

The mention of Ma sent a wave of different emotions washing over Ford. The sadness of her memory, confusion over her mention, and frustration over his actions.

"...or is there a reason?" Stan continued as he stared at the ground, refusing to look up at Ford. "Because you're still mad at me for ruining your project when we were in high school? Still haven't forgiven me for that, Ford? Now you're trying to empty out all that anger built up inside after all these years?"

Ford was now completely overwhelmed with emotions over various different things now. The mention of the science project and Stan crying over that being the reason for getting beaten up only peaked his feelings of absolute guilt. He was beginning to tear up just listening to Stan.

"IS THAT IT, FORD?!" Stan shouted as Ford shut his eyes tightly, trying to fight back tears. "YOU COULDN'T JUST LEARN TO FORGIVE AND FORGET?! IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?!"

Ford weakly dropped to his knees and placed his hands over his face as he began to weep over his guilty feelings. "I'm sorry, Stanley! I didn't mean to! I'm so, so sorry!"

"HAHA! SO PATHETIC!"

Ford suddenly stopped weeping as he took his hands off his face to look up. "W-what…?"

WHACK!

THUD!

Ford took a violent punch to the side of his face, forcing him back to the ground. That punch took a lot out of him, and he was too weak to even move. He was nearly knocked out, only managing to hold onto a sliver of unfocused consciousness as he lay on the ground with his whole world spinning.

"HAHAHA!" Bill's voice re-emerged from Stan's body, grinning sinisterly again. "YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO A GOOD IMPRESSION OF YOUR BROTHER, SIXER! BET YA FORGOT ABOUT THAT, HUH?"

Ford groaned weakly as he continued to lay mostly motionless on his side. Bill then walked over to him, grabbed ahold of the back of his coat, and began to drag him through the woods.

"I GOTTA HAND IT TO YA, FORD! YOU GOT PRETTY FAR INTO THESE WOODS HERE WHEN YOU WERE RUNNING FROM ME! SO FAR, IN FACT…"

Bill suddenly stopped and tossed Ford's body a few feet forward in front of him into an open spot of land in the middle of the forest, sending him face down to the ground. Ford weakly lifted his head up so he could see where they were and what was happening. Upon doing so, a chill went down his spine upon catching sight of what was right ahead of them.

"... THAT YOU BASICALLY BROUGHT ME RIGHT WHERE I WANTED US TO GO!"

Sunken a few inches into the dirt was a stone petrification of Bill's normal triangular form. It was covered in moss and vines and other overgrown plants and weeds. A long vine had even wrapped itself completely around his outstretched hand as though he was making a deal.

That deal was the final one he had made before getting wiped from Stan's mind.

Or that they thought he had been…

"Your physical form…" Ford said weakly as he stared at it with his wide eyes.

"A MIRACLE IT'S SURVIVED OUT HERE FOR SO LONG, HUH?" Bill said as he stood one of Stan's feet on top of Ford's head, forcefully pushing his chin back to the ground. "YOU SEE, STANFORD, HERE'S MY REAL ISSUE: WHILE I WAS ABLE TO REGROW WITHIN A HUMAN MIND, I DON'T HAVE MY ORIGINAL CONTROL OVER IT! I MAY BE IN CONTROL OF STANLEY NOW, BUT I DON'T HAVE ALL OF MY OLD POWERS! I CAN'T KICK HIM OUT, NOR CAN I FREE MYSELF! I'M FORCED TO SHARE THIS HIDEOUS, WEAK, AGING BODY WITH AN ELDERLY IMBECILE! AND THERE'S NOTHING THAT I CAN DO ABOUT IT!"

He had an annoyed look for a second as he recalled his circumstances. But soon, that look of annoyance reverted back to a wide, demented smile as he turned to look back down at Ford.

"BUT THERE'S SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN..."

"What are you getting at-"

Bill cut him off with a violent kick to his gut, which sent him rolling over closer to the statue. He groaned in pain as he wrapped his arms around his stomach. Bill then walked back over to him and grabbed the neck of his coat, pulling him up to his knees so he would come face to face with his petrified form and outstretched hand.

"I NEED YOU TO SHAKE MY HAND, STANFORD!" Bill ordered him aggressively. "I CAN'T MAKE DEALS WHILE I'M TRAPPED WITHIN A BODY I DON'T HAVE COMPLETE CONTROL OVER! BUT YOU SHAKING THE HAND OF MY REAL FORM WILL BRING ME MY FREEDOM FROM THIS BODY!"

"Please. Free you? Let you back out into the open world to cause as must chaos as you can? After all you've done to me? After all that you've done to my family? Do you really think that I'm going to set you free? Just like that?!"

"OH, YES, I DO…" Bill said as he grabbed a sharp-edged branch growing from a tree beside the statue. He then held it up to Stan's neck. "BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T, YOUR BROTHER AIN'T GONNA HAVE MUCH OF A HEAD ANYMORE! HAHAHA!"

"You won't!" Ford said confidently.

"TRY ME, STANFORD!"

"I don't have to!" Ford said, narrowing his eyes daringly at him. "I know you won't do it... because you sharing a mind with Stan and not having complete possession over it means you're just as much a part of that body as he is. If you kill Stan, you'll just kill yourself."

"YOU THINK SO, HUH?" Bill asked as though everything Ford was suggesting was still wrong. "WELL, NEARLY GETTING HIT BY A CAR BACK IN WYOMING SEEMED TO GET A SPOOK OUT OF YA!"

"You didn't do that to try and kill Stan. You did that to get my attention," Ford told him. "You heard me calling after Stan and kept walking. It was part of your plan to get us back on the road to Gravity Falls. If you were that desperate to get Stan killed, you would've done it long ago. Whether it'd be on the boat while being stuck out in the middle of the ocean or somewhere in Jersey. You had plenty of other chances. You knew what you were doing."

Ford could see Bill's smile fade into a look of hesitation, which further supported his word. In his current form, there was no way Bill could kill Stan without killing himself.

"Admit it, Cipher. We both know that you didn't wait four years to come back just to die..."

Bill brought the sharp-edged branch away from his neck as he gave Ford a daring look.

"LOOKS LIKE YOUR BRAIN FINALLY DECIDED TO KICK IN..." Bill said with a sigh. "YOU'RE RIGHT. I DIDN'T COME THIS FAR JUST TO THROW IT ALL AWAY. I CAN'T KILL STAN. NOT YET, ANYWAY."

Then he smiled again as he clenched the branch in his hands.

"...BUT I CAN STILL KILL YOU!"

He turned around and tackled Ford to the ground, trying to force the sharp end of the branch at his neck. But Ford put all his remaining strength into resisting the branch.

"IT DOESN'T NEED TO END THIS WAY, STANFORD!" Bill shouted as he struggled to try and force the branch at him. "ALL YOU HAVE TO DO... IS SHAKE... THE STATUE'S... HAND!"

Ford gave struggling grunts as he continued to resist the branch. "Never! I'll die before I ever help you again!"

Bill narrowed his eyes. "SUIT YOURSELF!"

"GREAT UNCLE FORD!"

"GRUNKLE STAN!"

Ford and Bill's heads both immediately turned as these familiar voices suddenly called through the woods. As they looked up, they immediately caught sight of Dipper, Mabel, Soos, Wendy, Ryland, Derrick, and Waddles running into the scene, stopping a good distance away as they looked upon what was happening.

"KIDS!" Ford shouted, suddenly overwhelmed with joy at seeing his great niece and nephew again. Though he was growing confused as to why they were dressed like he and Stan four years ago.

Dipper and Mabel's eyes soon glanced straight into Stan's, which they quickly realized to be Bill's once they caught sight of the yellow glow.

"BILL!" Dipper and Mabel shouted fearfully in unison.

"KIDS!" Bill shouted with an amused look.

"Soos?" Soos had said aloud, grabbing odd looks from everyone else.

"SOOS!" Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, and Ryland shouted in slight annoyance.

"Sorry, dudes! I'm just really confused right now about why we're all shouting each other's names!" Soos admitted, raising his arms defensively.

"AH, WOULD YOU LOOK HERE!" Bill shouted as he got off of Ford and wrapped his arms around his neck, using the other hand to hold the sharp branch up to his neck, holding him hostage. "IT'S A GOOD OL' PINES FAMILY REUNION! PINE TREE AND SHOOTING STAR! ALL GROWN UP! AND HOW COULD ANYONE FORGET ABOUT ICE BAG AND QUESTION MARK? OH WAIT! I DID UNTIL I ACTUALLY NOTICED YOU TWO! HAHAHA!"

"C'mon dude! I might be wearing my Lario costume right now, but I'm not that forgettable!" Soos said.

"Not the time, Soos!" Wendy told him sternly.

"Kids... what are you doing here?" Ford said as he tried struggling his way out of Bill's grasp. "Dipper, I thought I told you…"

"Forget that, Great Uncle Ford!" Dipper shook his head.

"We're here to help!" Mabel added, taking a few steps forward.

"WELL, IF YOU TAKE ANY STEP FURTHER, THERE WON'T BE ANYTHING LEFT OF HIM TO HELP!" Bill shouted as he took a few steps backward, gesturing toward the fact that he still held Ford hostage with a sharp branch at his neck.

"Mabel!" Dipper called out to her as he stuck his arm out and quickly pulled her back.

"B-but…" Mabel said hesitantly as she wondered how they were to go about helping. "Grunkle Ford, what do we do?"

"I don't know, kids," Ford admitted. "But it's not too late to go back to the Shack."

"We're not going back to the Shack!" Dipper assured him.

"THEN I KNOW WHAT YOU CAN DO WHILE YOU'RE HERE!" Bill told him as he pointed out the stone petrification. "YOU SEE THAT STONE STATUE OVER THERE THAT LOOKS LIKE A YOUNGER, MORE HANDSOME VERSION OF ME? ONE OF YOU- SHAKE HIS HAND!"

"KIDS, DON'T!" Ford shouted desperately. "If you do, then you'll be setting Bill fr-!"

Bill quickly shut Ford up by kicking the back of his leg joint to the ground, bending it, and locking him in place, while also causing a sharp wince of pain from him.

"DO IT OR YOUR OLD MAN GETS IT!" Bill shouted, growing impatient.

"Dipper, what are we supposed to do now?" Mabel turned to him, growing distressed and desperate.

"I-I don't know!" Dipper stuttered, trying to quickly think of a plan. "He wants us to shake the statue's hand, but that clearly does something bad. But if we don't, he kills Ford…"

"There's gotta be another way around this!" Mabel said as she turned to the others. "Does anyone else have a plan?"

Soos, Wendy, and Ryland all exchanged unsure looks with one another. However, Dipper looked around and quickly noticed that Derrick wasn't present anymore.

"Wait a minute... guys, where's Derrick?" he asked, prompting the others to look at their surroundings for him. "He was just with us a minute ago, wasn't he? Where'd he go?"

"Ah, forget him, Dipper! He's useless!" Mabel said, turning his attention back to the situation at hand. "We have other things to worry about than a friend of yours who couldn't care less about anyone else but himself!"

"YOU'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME HERE!" Bill shouted at the group impatiently, grabbing their attention again.

As their attention turned back to Bill, there was an unnoticed, hooded figure behind Bill. The figure slowly and silently crept up behind him while he was distracted by the others.

"MAYBE I NEED TO DRAW A LITTLE BLOOD IN ORDER TO SPEED YOU UP!" Bill suggested as he lightly pressed the sharp branch against the skin of Ford's neck. Ford immediately let out another painful wince as the branch edges gave him a light cut.

"NOOOO!" Mabel cried out, beginning to tear up as she noticed Ford's reaction.

"PLEASE! IT WAS ONLY A KNICK!" Bill assured them. "BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT IT WILL GET A LOT DEEPER IF YOU KEEP PUTTING OFF THAT HANDSHAKE!"

"GAAAHHHHH!" a voice suddenly yelled as the figure behind Bill suddenly jumped up to ambush him.

The yell proved to alert Bill much too soon, however. He quickly threw Ford onto the ground and turned around to catch the ambusher in his open hand. He proceeded to then wrap his arm around the ambusher's neck the same way he had done to Ford. As the ambusher's face became more visible in the moonlight, the others quickly identified him as Derrick, who was now being held hostage instead of Ford.

"ALRIGHT! THAT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE!" he shouted as he now struggled to escape Bill's grasp.

"Derrick?!" Dipper and Mabel yelled at the same time in surprise.

"Sorry, guys. I tried," Derrick told them, feeling guilty for his failed attempt at saving Ford. "Didn't work out as well as I had hoped."

"NOW I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BUT LET ME BE THE FIRST TO TELL YOU, KID!" Bill told Derrick as he tightened his grip on his neck and began backing up further away from Ford and the others. "DON'T. BE. A HERO."

"I'd rather be a hero than whatever you are," Derrick said as he narrowed his eyes up at him.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I AM."

Freed from Bill's grasp, Ford stood himself up from the ground, wiping the blood drawn from the cut on his neck. He then turned over to look back at Bill and how he was holding onto a boy he had never seen before.

"Bill, let the boy go!" Ford demanded.

"WOW, YOU SEEM TO CARE A LOT ABOUT A KID THAT YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW!" Bill said with a light chuckle.

"This is between you and me, Bill!" Ford reminded him. "This doesn't need outside involvement!"

"WELL, THIS OUTSIDE INVOLVEMENT SEEMS TO THINK OTHERWISE!" Bill argued, gesturing to Derrick.

"The name's Derrick, man…" Derrick clarified for him. "...or woman... or whatever the hell you are..."

"SHUT UP!"

"Bill, please…" Ford attempted to reason.

"SHAKE THE STATUE'S HAND, FORD!" Bill ordered aggressively as he used the branch to point toward it. "OR I PROMISE YOU... WHETHER IT'S ONE OF YOURS OR NOT... A KID IS GOING TO DIE TONIGHT!"

Ford began to consider giving in to Bill's request, despite how much he didn't want to. However, with Bill holding another innocent boy hostage, he was running out of options. The last thing he wanted was to have anyone else get hurt.

However, it was at that moment, he made a quick glance upwards at the tree above him. Up there, he had made note of something he had completely forgotten about until that moment. His eyes then glanced back at Bill and gave him a questionable look.

"Will one now?" he asked, tilting his head.

"YES, ONE WILL!" Bill assured him, getting frustrated. "I WILL SWALLOW ONE WHOLE IF I HAVE TO!"

"You're not the only one then…" Ford said as he crossed his arms and smirked at him.

"WHAT?"

SQUISH!

"MMMMMMMMMM!"

Bill began screaming as he suddenly found Stan's head completely wrapped around and trapped within the mouth of the baby Snacken, which had ambushed him from the trees above. At the same time, he dropped his hold of Derrick and the sharp branch. He stepped away a few inches as he tried to pull the Snacken off his head. Each pull that he made only prompted it to further tighten its hold.

At that moment, he was left vulnerable. And everyone took this as their chance.

"GET HIM!" Dipper called out to the others.

They had quickly begun running at Bill, where he, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy quickly jumped on each of Stan's open limbs. Dipper and Mabel had each taken hold of an arm, while Wendy and Soos both took his legs. The four had quickly pinned him down to the ground, using their combined weights and strength to prevent Bill from moving a muscle. Ryland walked alongside Waddles to the four, examining the situation.

"Well, it looks like you've got him," Ryland stated as he placed a hand on his waist.

Ford then proceeded to casually walk over toward Bill, kneeling down and placing his hand on the Snacken. He very quickly pulled the creature from his face and held it back in his hand, to which it had quickly crawled over onto his shoulder.

"Good one," he told it as he gently stroked it with the back of his hand, to which it responded with a pleased look.

"We did it! We got him!" Dipper said as he held down Stan's arm with all his weight.

"HAHAHA!" Bill cackled as he lay pinned down to the ground. "WHAT IS THIS? IS THAT IT? AM I SUPPOSED TO BE DEFEATED NOW? PLEASE!"

"I wouldn't say we've quite beaten you yet, Bill," Ford admitted as he stood over him. "But we've surely put you in a position in which we now have the upper hand."

"MAYBE SO! BUT I'M STILL HERE!" Bill reminded him. "I STILL HAVE CONTROL OF YOUR BROTHER'S BODY! AND YOU CAN'T KEEP ME PINNED FOREVER! SOONER OR LATER, ONE OF YOU WILL SLIP UP! TRY TO CATCH ME THEN!"

"Well, we'll keep you pinned all night if we have to!" Soos said confidently as he hugged his leg.

"Look, I'm not saying I wouldn't if we had to, but I'd rather not…" Wendy admitted as she held Stan's other leg down.

"Great Uncle Ford, what are we supposed to do with Bill now?" Dipper asked as he looked up at Ford, who was stroking his chin.

"How do we get Stan back?" Mabel asked, looking into Bill's glowing yellow eyes, hoping they would revert back to Stan's normal eyes at some point.

"I'm unsure. Bill isn't taking normal possession of Stan. More so, he's taking priority in a shared mind with him," Ford explained. "We can't drive him out, but perhaps, we can somehow weaken him enough so that Stan can take mental priority again and regain control."

"YEAH, 'WEAKEN ME'," Bill repeated amusedly. "GOOD LUCK WITH THAT! I MAY NOT HAVE FULL POSSESSION, BUT I LIVE FOR PAIN! DO WHAT YOU WANT TO THIS BODY, BUT YOU CAN'T HURT ME!"

At that moment, Mabel's eyes bulged.

"Mabel's got an idea!" she declared as her head then turned over to Ryland, who was just standing to the side looking over the entire ordeal. "Ryland, you have your phone and headphones on you?"

He nodded as he took out his cell phone and set of wired earbuds from the inside of his Constable jacket.

"You got that playlist I sent you the other day?" she asked.

"Yeah, Bippity Boppin' Bops, right?" Ryland assumed as he looked through the music playlists on his phone.

"That's the one!" Mabel nodded. "Hook Bill up. I have a good feeling he might be in the Bippity Boppin' mood."

Ryland wasn't sure where she was going with this, but he did as she told him. He kneeled over beside Stan's head and inserted both earbuds into his giant ears.

"Mabel, what are you doing?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow at her apparent plan.

"Just trust me on this," she told him.

"WHAT IS THIS?" Bill questioned as the earbuds were placed on Stan. "ARE YOU GONNA PLAY ME A BUNCH OF LULLABIES? HOPING TO TIRE ME OUT OF MY CURRENT CONTROL? NEWS FLASH, SHOOTING STAR! I DON'T SLEEP! I CAN KEEP MY EYES OPEN FOR MILLENNIUMS IF I WANTED TO!"

"Lullabies? Bro, lullabies aren't no bippity bops!" Mabel told him as she crossed her arms. She then looked up at Ryland and gave him a nod. On command, Ryland pressed play on the playlist, starting it.

At that moment, music started beating through Ryland's earbuds within Stan's ears. As it played, one of Bill's eyes began to twitch as he began to process the hard, crunching synthesizers of retro electronic dance beats.

"AHHHHHHHHH! NOT SYNTHESIZED MUSIC!" Bill screamed in agony, shaking his head around as he tried to free himself from the earbuds.

"YES, SYNTHESIZED MUSIC! LET HIM FEEL IT! LET HIM BECOME ONE WITH THE BIPPITY BOPS OF OLD 80s SYNTH-POP!" Mabel commanded as she raised her fists in the air.

"Of course!" Ford realized as he stood beside Mabel. "I had forgotten that the electrical sound signals made by synthesized rhythms could produce virtual electromagnetic pulses at the speed of sound that are damaging enough to stun dream demon neural cycles! Brilliant thinking, Mabel!"

"Uhh... yeah! That's exactly what I was thinking! Duh!" Mabel said, pretending to have understood what Ford had just claimed. Really, the inspiration for the idea was the fact that she had remembered that synths hurt Bill when they had first fought inside Stan's mind. "That also means we should make it louder, right?"

"An increase in amplitude should make the pulses even more effective, so... sure!" Ford nodded.

"LOUDER, RYLAND! LOUDER!" Mabel cried out as she threw her fists into the air again.

"NO, NO! PLEASE DON'T-" Bill pleaded until Ryland suddenly put the volume at max. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! NOOO! MAKE IT STOP!"

"That's harsh, man. I actually dig this song," Ryland said as he viewed the song from the playlist.

"Everybody's a critic," Mabel shrugged.

"NO-oooo-OOOO-oooo-O-oo-OOOO-o-OOOO!" Bill's voice suddenly began to phase as if he was suffering from a computer virus or a loading error. "I C-c-CAN'T TAKE AN-nnnn-NY MORE OF TH-i-I-i-SS!"

"Holy... I think it's working!" Dipper said as they all witnessed Bill phasing out.

"Told ya!" Mabel gloated.

"THIS ISN'T THE EN-nnnn-NN-n-ND! YOU'LL SEE ME AG-A-aaa-AA-aaaa-AIN!" Bill shouted as his voice began to phase out even harder, shaking his head around violently. "HLNV HFMMB WZB! AHHHHHHHH-hhhh-HH-hhhhhhhh-HHHHHHHHHHHH-hhhh-HHHHHHHHHH!"

His screaming then came to a stop and his head fell limp. Eyes closed and mouth hung open, Stan's body was now completely unconscious. The only sound heard at that moment was the faint music coming from Ryland's headphones still within Stan's ears.

"Uhh... did it work?" Ryland asked, as he just stood holding his phone in his hands.

"GAH!" Stan shouted as his eyes came flying back open, startled.

The first thing his eyes caught was Ryland standing right above him with the earbud wires coming directly from his phone. Ryland simply stared back down at him curiously.

"Kid, who are you and why are you blasting my eardrums with that synthesized garbage?" Stan asked him, giving him a curious look back. "Seriously, I wasn't sure anybody else but my great-niece could be into that kinda thing. And why does it feel like the blood flow to my arms and legs are-"

He had lifted his head to look at the rest of his surroundings, quickly spotting Soos and Wendy right ahead of him on his legs. A quick turn to the left and right allowed him to catch sight of Dipper, Mabel, and Waddles too, as well as Ford and Derrick, both of who stood further to the side.

"Wendy?! Soos?! KIDS?!"

"Mr. Pines?!" Wendy and Soos both said in unison, growing excited.

"GRUNKLE STAN?!" Dipper and Mabel exclaimed, smiles forming on their faces as they looked into his eyes, which no longer glowed yellow.

"IT IS YOU!" Stan happily realized, prompting everyone to leap off of his arms and legs, allowing him to sit up straight before grouping together for one big hug.

"Grunkle Stan, we can't believe it's really you!" Dipper said happily as he hugged Stan.

"Grunkle Stan, I've missed you so much!" Mabel said tearfully as she hugged him as well.

"I've missed you a lot too, Mr. Pines!" Soos said tearfully as well, hugging him on his other side.

"We've all missed you, you old nag!" Wendy said as she also hugged along.

"I don't even know you, but I want in on this love!" Ryland shouted as he suddenly jumped in on the hugs.

"I don't know you either, but I think I'll pass on the love," Derrick said as he just casually stood to the side, placing his hands in his pockets, uninterested in the hug fest.

"I've missed all of you kids too!" Stan said through the smothering of hugs. "Except those two whom I've never seen before in my life. But as much as I appreciate the love, I still have no blood flowing to any of my arms or legs. And if these hugs continue, I may lose the blood flow to my brain too."

"Worth it!" Mabel exclaimed, only tightening her hug.

"Agreed!" Soos said as he did so as well.

"Alright kids, come on now," Ford said as he walked up to the group hug, making a gesture for everyone to back away. They soon did, leaving Stan sitting on the ground with limp arms and legs.

"Woo! This feels weird!" Stan said as he slowly began regaining feeling in his arms and legs again, shaking them. "Any of you ever wake up before with your arm over your head and you can't move it? Imagine that feeling in all of your limbs. That's what this feels like right now." He then looked up at Ford as he offered his hand to him. He grabbed ahold of it and was lifted back to his feet. "Thanks, Sixer."

As Stan stood back on his feet again, he found himself immediately hugged again by Mabel.

"Alright. Now it's time for hugs again," she said as she shut her eyes with her arms wrapped around him.

"Yeah, okay. One more," Stan replied as he placed his arms around her.

On the other hand, Ford found himself suddenly hugged by Dipper.

"It's, uh, good to see you again, Great Uncle Ford," Dipper told him somewhat awkwardly.

Ford looked down at him and smiled as he placed an arm around him, patting him on the back. "My boy, it's good to see you too."

They had their own personal hugs for a moment, however, both of the Stan twins had noticed that the two were dressed up as them from four years ago and felt a need to address that.

"So, is today, like... Dress Up Like Your Grunkle Day or what?" Stan asked as he pulled away from his hug with Mabel.

"No," Mabel denied. "Today was Summerween and I thought it'd be cute if Dipper and I dressed up as you two. You know... like the young twins dressing up as the old twins..." She then frowned as she looked down at the ground. "Yeah, it's not one of my best ideas..."

"What? Are you kidding?" Stan questioned with a smile. "That's a great idea! That suit looks great on you! In fact, it makes me question why I never thought of selling Mr. Mystery costumes in the past when I was the owner! You know how much money those could've made?" He then turned his head over to Soos and pointed at him. "Soos, you better be writing this down."

"Way ahead of you, Mr. Pines," Soos said as he already had a notepad and pencil in hand, scribbling away.

"And Dipper, I must say that at sixteen years old, that turtleneck looks better on you than it has on me," Ford told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Even though, it was never exactly a fashion choice of mine."

"Hah, well, uh, it's kinda got a cut in it," Dipper revealed to him by pulling on the spot Mabel snipped with the scissors earlier. "It was kinda small."

"I see," Ford acknowledged with a nod. "Well, you can always get a replacement better suited for you and I'd say you'd still be able to pull it off just fine."

"I'm more of a hoodie guy nowadays," Dipper told him. "But thanks, Great Uncle Ford."

Ford responded with nothing more than a smile. After all those years, the two great-uncles were just happy to see their great-niece and nephew again, regardless of how they dressed.

At that moment, Mabel turned to Ford and quickly looked over at the Snacken on his shoulder. Being the animal lover that she is, it immediately piqued her curiosity with its bright and beautiful colors.

"You know, we have to show respect to the real hero today! This little guy!" she said as she pointed at it.

Ford picked up the baby Snacken in his hands and held it out in front of her. "This 'little guy' is actually a little girl. She's a Snacken- a sugar-loving Kraken-like species from the Colorful Creature dimension. We came across a few that happened to leak into our world during our time in the Arctic, and Stan and I came across this friendly little one on the shores of New Jersey."

"Not too long after an encounter with its not-so-friendly mother," Stan added bitterly as he recalled the encounter.

"A Snacken?" Mabel repeated, her interest growing as she got a closer look at it. "Colorful? Sugar-loving? I'm in love!"

At that moment, the Snacken leaped onto her head, which triggered startled looks from both Stan and Ford for a brief second. However, the Snacken found itself content as it sat on her head. Mabel began giggling as she felt it squish around. It hadn't even been a minute yet and she already knew that she loved it.

"It's so adorable! Grunkle Ford, I love it so much! Can I keep it?" Mabel asked him as the Snacken crawled from her head to her shoulder. "Pleeeease!"

"Well, I mean, I did bring it back to study… but…" Ford said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"You can still study it!" Mabel told him with a nod as she let the Snacken crawl into her hands. "But like, can I have it after you're done? It's so beautiful! Just look at it!" she said as she raised the Snacken up to his face.

"I suppose that's a compromise I'm willing to accept," Ford told her with a smile.

"YES!" Mabel exclaimed as she spun around, hugging the Snacken in her arms. "And I think I'll call her... Berry! Because her colors make her look like a berry!" The Snacken gave Mabel a cheerful expression as if she approved of the name, wiggling its tentacles around joyfully.

"Alright, that's... a name, I guess…" Dipper said, not entirely satisfied with that name choice, but knew at the same time that it wasn't his pet. Then again, it wasn't Mabel's either ten seconds ago.

"Hold up, kid. Don't you have a pet already?" Stan asked.

"Of course I do!" she said as she played around with Berry before inserting two fingers in her mouth and letting out a whistle. "Hey, Waddles! Look who's back!"

"Wait, no, no! That's not what I mean-!" Stan cried out before suddenly getting tackled by Waddles, who began chewing on his sleeve. "Hey! HEY!"

"He missed you, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel told him happily. "Didn't you miss him?"

"Oh yeah, I sure missed this…" Stan said sarcastically as Waddles continued to gnaw and slobber all over his coat sleeve.

However, he soon let go and began smelling his face, giving off little oinks as he did. As Stan looked at him, he raised an eyebrow and simply acknowledged how innocent he looked. Eventually, he couldn't help but just crack a smile at him as he began petting his head.

"Man, I'm gonna hate having to deal with you again," Stan told him. "But fine. I admit I would be lying if I said I didn't miss having you around."

Waddles gave out an oink in response as he just began rubbing up against him, causing Mabel to laugh in amusement as the Snacken also crawled around her body. Even Dipper and Ford couldn't help but give off a few chuckles as they watched. And with the exception of Derrick, everyone else seemed to be amused by the sight as well.

As Stan lay on the ground with Waddles rubbing against him, he turned his head back up at Ford and began to wonder. "So Ford, now that the love has settled down a bit, I've been meaning to ask: what happened? Where's the car? How'd we get here? And why'd I wake up with everyone hugging my arms and legs? Also, what happened to you? Did you sleepwalk your way into a speeding car or something? HA!" he joked real quickly before his expression reverted back to a look of confusion. "Seriously though, I feel like I've missed a lot here. What's going on?"

Despite the questions being directed at Ford, everyone heard them and everyone looked at him. The amused looks had quickly faded into looks of concern and hesitation as if they didn't know how to break things down to Stan.

Suddenly, Ford walked up to Stan and kneeled down in front of him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder while giving him a serious, non-joking look.

"We need to talk," he simply told him.

Stan gave him a raised eyebrow, growing slightly concerned. Mabel then stepped forward up to Ford.

"Can we order a pizza, at least?" she asked him.

Ford thought about the question for a few seconds before shrugging. "Eh, why not?"

---

Upon returning to the Shack, those who had dressed for Summerween had stripped down to normal T-shirts and otherwise more comfortable wear now that the festivities were essentially over. Now, everyone including Melody, Evan, and Abuelita sat around in the living room as a few half-empty pizza boxes sat on the table.

Everyone sat with a paper plate in hand, looking up at Ford who had, in the last thirty minutes, explained the entire events of the incident regarding Bill's return within the forest, the car crash, and other relevant preceding events to Stan. While he explained, everyone ate slices of pizza, which Mabel also fed to Waddles and attempted to feed to the Snacken before realizing that it didn't particularly enjoy the pizza's sodium count, which she had substituted it with Gummy Koalas instead.

Throughout his retelling, Stan's expression had shifted and changed in minor ways as if he was processing and breaking down every new revelation carefully. He sat quietly for the majority of the explanation, not saying much aside from asking an occasional question about the situation.

"So yeah…" Ford finished, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at Stan. "That's about where we're at right now."

Despite being relatively quiet throughout Ford's explanation, Stan gripped the armrests of the chair tightly as his face began to shift angrily.

"God... dammit..." he said frustratedly as he slammed his fists down on the armrests. He then placed his hands on his face, rubbing it for a brief moment as he continued to process things. "So I never killed that freakin' demon then? He's been lurking around up in there all this time?" he asked as he pointed up to his head.

"Yes, but it wasn't until after the encounter with the Henchmaniacs in the Arctic mountain that he actually started to have any real impact on you," Ford clarified for him. "Maybe he's been alive all this time, but he had the power of a tiny, ineffective microorganism. There was little to nothing he could do before. But since his potential has been reinstated, he has become powerful enough to take over control of your mind. Or more so, share it rather than take over."

"So is Bill still inside Stan's mind then?" Dipper asked as he put his cleaned paper plate to the side. "Or did Mabel's terrible music taste drive him off?"

"Hey, you can call it what you want, but I don't recall your 'BABBA's Greatest Hits' playlist ever saving the day before," Mabel sputtered as she chewed on a pizza slice.

"Well, based on the eyes, we know that at the very least that he's not in control of your uncle now," Ford said as he stepped toward the stone wall of the living room. To everyone's surprise, he pressed a random rock on the wall like a button, which triggered some sort of secret compartment to extrude from the wall.

"Woah, woah! I never knew about that!" Stan pointed out as he saw the compartment.

"Alright, how many other secret compartments does this place even have that we haven't discovered?" Melody asked, glancing over at Ford.

"Considering that I had this place constructed and designed for my needs... let's just say a lot and they're all way less obvious than this," Ford answered as he pulled out a gold-colored device from the compartment before closing it.

The device looked almost like a handheld metal detector of some sort, except it had a trigger similar to one of a shotgun. He briefly presented it to everyone in the room in his hand for a quick moment.

"I once developed this device out of paranoia of Bill lurking within my own mind. A quick scan of the head will detect any anomalous activity within the mind," Ford explained as he held the device up to Stan's head, pulling the trigger, which gave off a blinking yellow light.

"What qualifies as anomalous activity?" Dipper asked.

"Essentially, if it detects anything paranormal or weird, the light will turn red," Ford explained. "However, it does detect lesser abnormalities such as brain diseases or tumors, to which it'll simply turn yellow without blinking. Otherwise, if everything is completely normal, then it'll just turn green."

There was a beeping noise that soon emerged from the device as Ford hovered it over Stan's head. The blinking yellow light now showed a constant red light.

"Unfortunately, it looks as though that's not the case..." Ford said with a frown as he looked at the red light.

"Oh no…" Mabel said, placing her hands over her mouth in horror at the revelation. She admittedly didn't expect the music to have completely defeated Bill, but she had still remained hopeful up to that point.

"Damn, Mr. Pines..." Wendy said sympathetically.

"So, Bill's still sharing a mind with Stan?" Soos asked in slight horror.

"It appears so," Ford said with a sigh as he turned off the device. Stan looked down with a mixed look of anger and distress.

"But, it's fine, right? Now that you guys are here?" Dipper asked, trying to maintain a hopeful outlook. "Being back at the Shack with access to your lab and everything, you can work on effectively clearing Bill from Stan's mind?"

Stan smiled. "Yeah, the kid's right, Sixer. Now that we're home, we can clear this sucker from my head once and for all, can't we? You've gotta have the tools for it."

"Well, we can certainly get to work…" Ford began, rubbing the back of his head. "...on finding out how to get rid of Bill effectively."

"You mean... you don't know to get rid of Bill?" Mabel asked.

Ford sighed. "Look, the way Bill is currently within Stan's mind is different than a normal possession of his, as said before. He's involuntarily sharing a mind with Stan, and he's trapped inside. My normal tactics against him will be completely ineffective, as they rely on his dream demon form. But the way it is right now, Bill hasn't retained a dream demon form again. His new form is within Stan," Ford explained.

"And that statue in the woods is his true form…" Dipper realized aloud. "It's the only other piece that's left of him. His other half. Now he's trying to get back to it and become whole again."

"Precisely," Ford nodded.

"Well, why don't we just play Mabel's synth-y music all the time around Stan to keep Bill from coming back out? Keep him suppressed?" Ryland suggested as he stepped into the middle of the group.

"Now that's an idea I can get down with!" Mabel said, pointing over at Ryland. "Not that I don't already listen to my music whenever I get the chance..."

"It might be a good idea in theory, but dream demons like Bill are also highly adaptive," he explained. "He may lack his true form, but he still has a presence within Stan's mindscape. If we play synth music constantly, he'll learn to get used to it. The synths can never destroy him, but it distorts and weakens him. We are removing weakness by overexposing him to it. And so for now, it's only a good idea to use such weakness to our advantage sparingly. Besides, based on what he's already received today, it'll take some time for him to completely come back from this."

"Also, I'd rather not have my ears suffocated by the worst genre the 80's ever offered," Stan said, covering his ear reflexively at the mere thought of 24/7 synthpop.

"Mr. Pines, can ears even be suffocated?" Soos asked, raising his hand.

"If not, she'll find a way," Stan replied, narrowing his eyes at Mabel as he kept his ears covered.

"Anyway, I suppose the next objective will be finding another way to destroy Bill from Stan's mind…" Ford said as he looked over at Stan. "I have a feeling as Dipper brought up, there must be a strong correlation between him and the statue in the woods. We'll definitely have to look back into it. And soon. If we're going by what Bill had implied, then all it takes is one handshake from any one individual to reawaken his madness."

"So from all I've learned from this, you're saying that thing has sat out in the middle of the woods for all these years since you guys fought him and there hasn't been one person; not one kid; not one idiot, that has come out and shook that thing's hand?" Derrick asked, finally involving himself in the discussion.

"The kid's kinda got a point," Stan agreed as he turned to Ford. "What if Bill's bluffing about this handshake thing?"

"Well, again, that's only if we go off what Bill implied. And while he seemed determined to get one of us to do it, we have to learn not to trust Bill's word all the time," Ford replied. "That isn't to say go and shake the hand and call his bluff, but let's not jump to conclusions on what does what based on the words of someone who has done this family wrong several times."

"Well, whatever happens, we're just glad to finally have our two Grunkles back!" Mabel said as she walked up behind Stan and Ford and wrapped an arm around both of their necks, pulling them in close.

"Yeah, it feels good to finally be together again," Dipper nodded with a smile.

"It absolutely does," Ford nodded, hugging Mabel back.

"Already feels just like old times," Stan agreed as he looked back and forth between the two. "Except you both aren't the kids I remember you two being. All grown up now. Hell, I still remember the time I gave Dipper the ol' talk about the birds and the bees."

"Uhh... what?" Dipper asked, not recalling this incident.

"Just be thankful that you had your innocence for as long as you did," Mabel told him quietly as she stared forward with a scarred look in her eyes as she recalled the event that he couldn't.

"Anyway, I think we're ready to turn in for the night," Stan said as he rose from his chair and yawned.

"Agreed," Ford nodded. "Come morning, we have a lot of work to do."

"But where are you two gonna sleep?" Mabel asked.

"They can sleep in the room with me and Melody! They can have the bed and we'll take the floor!" Soos suggested as he immediately stood up from the floor.

"Uh... Soos, while I'd be happy to provide for Stan and Ford, we didn't talk this decision over…" Melody politely and calmly brought up despite Soos's sudden and absurd idea she didn't even agree to.

"It's alright, Soos," Stan dismissed with a simple hand wave as he and Ford walked over to the door leading to the gift shop. "The bro and I will just hang out in the basement."

The two proceeded to walk into the gift shop from the living room, to which everyone began to follow them. Ryland, however, stood behind everyone else processing the final detail mentioned.

"Wait a second. We have a basement?" Ryland asked, shocked by this revelation happening now after being an employee for several months.

"Yes, I've had it closed off and locked down since Stan and I left on our voyage. I wanted to have all my old projects and experiments kept down there for safekeeping. Having been four years, I'm sure it'll be in desperate need of a clean-up and dust-off," Ford said as he walked up to the vending machine.

"Oh great. Just what I wanted to come home to... Cleaning," Stan groaned sarcastically with an eye roll.

"Anyway, there shouldn't be much issue hearing the machinery as we reactivate everything again," Ford told everyone while ignoring Stan's sarcasm. "With us being underground and mostly out of the way, it should also offer the least amount of trouble for everybody."

"It's not like you two are much trouble any other way," Mabel told them as she walked over toward the two and gave them yet another hug.

"What's with you and the hugs, kid? That's like the twentieth one today." Stan asked with a light chuckle, but also getting a tad tired of them.

"It's been four years. Can't a girl catch up on her need for family hugging?" Mabel asked as she only tightened her hug. "I've missed you two."

Stan smiled as he placed a gentle hand on her back, patting it. "We've missed you too, pumpkin. But, we gotta get some shut-eye now. It's good to be back though."

Mabel didn't want to, but she let go of her hug with the two and backed up, acknowledging her Grunkles' need for rest. "It's good to have you back."

The brothers smiled as Ford pressed a button on the side of Meridian, which sent a signal triggering the vending machine door to open; one of the few other things he still managed to be able to do with it in its offline mode aside from toast-making. The vending machine door flew open with a puff of smoke, unveiling the secret doorway leading into the lab.

Ryland stared in awe at the secret doorway as it was revealed to him for the first time. "Alright, that's pretty cool."

The two brothers walked through the doorway, with Stan sticking back behind Ford waving goodnight to everyone before walking down the stairs.

Ford prepared Meridian so he could close the vending machine again. "Good night, everyone."

"Wait!" Dipper quickly spoke up before Ford closed the machine. He then proceeded to take out his blue journal, holding it out in front of Ford to see. "Great Uncle Ford, I don't know if it's too soon, but I was hoping that maybe you could read through the progress I've made on my journal? I've been working hard on it and cataloging the things we've come across since summer began. I know you said you wanted to see it when you got the chance."

Ford took his hand away from his watch and smiled warmly as he crouched down in front of Dipper, placing his hand on his shoulder. "I did say that. And I do want to see it. But understand, Dipper, that at this point in time, with such a vital threat as Bill coming back into our lives and plaguing the mind of your uncle, I need to devote most, if not, all of my focus on defeating him once and for all. I know you've been working hard and I know you wish to show me your progress. And I most certainly will look over it eventually. But for now, I ask that you just hold onto that journal."

"Oh, alright," Dipper accepted understandingly, though still feeling a bit dejected. "I figured it was too soon."

"It was a fine and honest question to ask," Ford told him with a smile. "And trust me. There are exciting discoveries I've made myself over the past four years and other things that I'm thrilled to share with you and Mabel. It's just that... well, this situation with your uncle takes priority first. But I promise you, my boy. When Bill has been handled and all is well, the rest of the summer is ours. Adventures and other exhilarating projects all around the Falls. Nothing like we've ever done before. That I can promise you, Dipper. I know you've waited four years for this, but all I ask is for a little more time to sort out the current stakes in place."

Dipper smiled, thrilled by the ideas that Ford had put forth for the inevitable future of the summer. "Okay. No worries. I can't wait, but I will."

"And so will I," Ford nodded in agreement as he stood back up and walked back through the vendor doorway. "Keep that journal updated, boy. Don't miss a thing."

He then proceeded to press the button on Meridian again, which triggered the vending machine to close right behind him as he began making his way down the stairs. Everyone else was left outside, staring at the closed vendor in awe.

"Wow," Soos said as he just stared at the vendor.

"You can say that again," Mabel replied.

"Wow," Soos repeated.

"I go vacuum the party now," Abuelita suddenly spoke out, separating herself from the group and making her way back into the living room while everyone else continued to stare at the vendor.

---

At the bottom of the stairway, Stan stood in front of a large metal door. The door was very shiny but also slightly rusted near the seam between the cobweb-covered wooden planks stationed around the walls. In the middle of the door, there was a large keypad. Stan stared at it while tapping his foot impatiently as he heard his brother's footsteps from the stairs.

"It ain't a lot of stairs, Poindexter. How does it take ya so long to walk down them?" Stan said as he turned around to see Ford finally reach the bottom.

"To be frank, Stanley, I'm quite tired of walking up and down stairs. Especially when raiding temples and climbing mountains tend to come with similar jobs," Ford admitted.

"Ya know, I do look forward to the day you finally grow old and tired enough to where you're just about as lazy as I am," Stan said as he crossed his arms. "Might finally take some stress off that brain of yours."

"Please. Growing irritated with the idea of climbing and descending terrain doesn't put me anywhere near the level of the indolence you attain," Ford said as he approached the metal door. "Anyway, let's see what we have here…"

"What we have here is the giant metal door that you built in front of the elevator and that only you know how to open because you insisted it would be best designed exclusively for your hand," Stan said in a passive-aggressive tone.

"My hand…" Ford restated from Stan, eyes soon widening as he came to a realization. "Ah! I remember now."

After studying the keypad for a brief minute, he simply placed his hand on the side of it and popped it open. Underneath it, there was an interface panel with a grid layout. Ford pressed his hand against it, to which there was soon a green light that scanned the entire surface of his six-fingered hand. Soon enough, the scanning stopped and there was a small beep. At that moment, the entire keypad and panel retracted itself, and the metal door slowly began to open; the heaviness and weight shaking up the entire underground as it did.

"Oh good. Nice to know that if we ever go on another trip where we need to put this up and you can't come back, all I gotta do is slice off your hand to get this thing open again," Stan said as he examined how Ford opened the door.

"I thought I had made this door more complicated…" Ford said as he tried to remember his initial setup of the metal door four years ago. He then pressed the panel for the elevator itself as it was unveiled. "It might've been one of the other ones."

"Other ones?"

"We'll worry about those later," Ford brushed off as he placed his hand on Stan's back, leading him into the elevator itself as the doors to it opened.

"So let's worry about what's happening now, then," Stan stated as the elevator doors closed. "What do I do now? I got a living demon from a literal nightmare dimension in my head who can supposedly take control of me whenever he wants. How the hell am I supposed to... I don't know... not have that happen?"

"Well, luckily I still have plenty of other precautionary devices made from my own paranoias of Bill," Ford told him as he recalled his previous inventions. "One of them includes a night-guard device that stabilizes your mind in your sleep. It should make it more challenging for Bill to take over while you sleep, which I can guarantee is the most likely time he'll attempt to strike. However, that's all it really does. It makes it challenging for him, but not impossible. Lessens the chance of another supposed sleepwalking incident like back in the Cheyenne, but doesn't completely eliminate it. You're still vulnerable. Still, it's better than nothing. I'll fish around for it and hand it to you to put on before bed."

Stan took a brief moment to process everything Ford had just said while thinking about other possibilities. "And what about when I'm awake? Like back when I was driving you back here to the Falls. I never fell asleep, Stanford. That thing took over while I was driving you. The last thing I remember was being out during the sunset, and the next thing I know, I'm being pinned to the ground." He turned to Ford and looked him in the eye, giving him a grave look of concern. "If that thing can take over at any moment when I'm awake... maybe when I'm with the kids, or with Soos, or maybe even on this elevator with you... what next?"

Ford thought for a moment, trying his hardest to look for the best response he could give Stan. He wanted to give him a good answer. One that he knew he'd like. But he was struggling to think of one that would satisfy him. And despite how much he wished he had the answer he wanted, he didn't.

"I don't know," Ford told him bluntly. "I really don't. I'm sorry, Stan."

Stan stared back at Ford for a minute without reaction. He looked disappointed, but his facial expression didn't change. But one could tell by the look in his eyes that he was disappointed.

Disappointment. That, along with fear and anger.

"But I do know one thing…" Ford continued, grabbing Stan's attention again. "I will not rest until that demon's dead. There is no other project I'll put ahead of your well-being, Stanley. You're my brother. I've spent the last four years of my life adventuring with you around the world. I've had to save your life several times, but in the end, all of that doesn't compare to the one time you saved mine. While I may not have been at the time, I am forever grateful that you brought me home, Stanley. And now, it's my turn to bring you home. That I owe you."

Stan gave a light chuckle. "You owe me nothing, Sixer. You've already given me my childhood dreams: Sailing around the world, finding treasures, getting babes... There ain't any more repayment that I need from you."

"Regardless, we still have more to do," Ford told him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "And just like everything else these past few years, we'll do it together."

Stan looked back over at him and stared at him for a brief second. Then he smiled gratefully at Ford, to which he smiled back.

At that moment, the elevator finally stopped. The doors opened to the third level. At first glance into the dark, they saw that all the electronics and machines were completely off. There was not a single light or noise coming from anything. And lastly, it was very warm. With all the power disabled to the floor, all the interior underground heat had been building up for several years and created a very muggy feeling.

Ford took a few steps inside before turning left. Despite the intense darkness and how long its been, he knew and remembered the lab like the back of his hand. He found a large lever and pulled it up.

There was a large flashing noise as every single ceiling light lit up. Then the sounds of about a hundred different types of machinery beginning to turn on sounded and echoed throughout the room. The room was still warm, but Ford felt heavy chills as he watched his lab light up and begin to function again. He smiled proudly as he remembered the sight and how it looked almost exactly as it did before they left, except a lot dustier.

He then turned to his brother, who still stood in the elevator, watching everything light up and function again.

"Good to be back, Stanley?"

Stan looked back at him and smiled readily.

"Good to be back indeed."

---

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---

We've reached the midseason. Essentially, every episode so far has been establishing and reintroducing concepts and characters- all building up to this. The future from now on will be much less focused on introductions and more so on working with what has already been placed on the table, including all the characters and OCs and such.

Hope you all are excited about what's ahead.

-Absolute Rift

(Chapter updated as of December 28, 2022)