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)

32. Back to the Bunker: Part 3

Back To The Bunker: Part 3

---

WHOOOSH!

A bag had been suddenly pulled off of Ryland's head, flashing his eyes with the sudden shine of daylight. His eyes continued to adjust as he looked around again. As he looked down, he noticed he had several ropes tying his entire body down to a slanted board. He tried to pull himself free but he quickly found that the ropes were tightly tied and found himself hardly able to move.

He narrowed his eyes angrily. "You damn gnomes! I swear once I'm free I'm gonna…huh?"

His eyes bulged as he looked around and noticed where he was. Surrounding him were the round walls of some sort of wooden coliseum where he was placed in the middle.

The coliseum itself wasn't very large. Up above on the walls and in the seats were hundreds of gnomes watching and booing him. The seats were designed for the gnomes themselves. While the coliseum was large enough to seat hundreds of gnomes, that didn't make it very viable for a lot of normal humans. It did, however, have a very tall height, as it used many of the surrounding tall trees of the forest as support.

The gnomes booed Ryland from above, with some throwing pinecones and rocks at him.

"Hey! Hey!" Ryland shouted as some of the objects thrown at him painfully made their mark. "I already bruise myself enough from my own stupidity! I don't need gnomes to top it off!"

"Ryland!" a voice cried out to him from the side. "Up here!"

He glanced around to one of the other walls and spotted Mabel along one of the coliseum seats. Like him, she was also tied down to a slanted board, but she was also surrounded by a bunch of gnomes, making escape even more improbable for her.

"Mabel!" Ryland called back to her. "Where the hell are we?"

"Why, you're in the Gnomoseum, blondie!" Jeff announced as he stood directly across from Ryland on the wall above a large gate. "The largest, deadliest, most inflammable gnome battle arena in Gravity Falls! Which isn't very large to you humans, actually, but, by gnome standards, it's pretty big. So, yeah! The largest!"

"Why'd you bring us here? What do you want with us?!" Ryland asked as he continued to try to struggle out of the ropes he was tied in.

"I thought it was obvious. We wanted Mabel...sooo, we kidnapped her," Jeff explained upfront. "And we kidnapped you because you were getting in the way. So, uh...yeah. Now, we're gonna kill you."

"WHAT?!" Ryland exclaimed, growing panicked.

"I'm sorry, was that not loud enough?" Jeff asked before putting his hands around his mouth to further amplify his voice. "I SAID...WE...ARE GOING...TO KILL YOU! Was that better?"

"This has gone too far, Jeff!" Mabel called out to him from her position on the wall. "It's not unlike you to stoop low, but I didn't think you were this bad! We helped you during Bill's invasion for crying out loud!"

"What's past is past, and what's now is now," Jeff said carelessly. "You see, Mabel, the gnomes are a very different race now than we were four years ago! We've gone through many governmental changes, disputes, and even a civil war! But we're past all of that now and we're at the point of rebuilding our colony. Part of that process involves finding the proper method of leadership. I was ready to make a change and give up the monarchy, and I did it for you!"

"Well, that was your first mistake: assuming that I wanted anything to do with you!" Mabel replied with a disgusted look.

"I suppose it was," Jeff admitted. "But you were given a chance! It's a shame you didn't take it. Now, instead of winning your heart, I gotta pry it from your date's perfectly tanned hands!"

Ryland glanced down at his hands, examining his own tan. "Huh, I've never been so conflicted about whether I should cuss someone out or say thanks."

"Anyways…" Jeff began as he looked down at the gnomes next to gate below him. "...RELEASE THE BEAST!"

The gnomes below nodded and proceeded to walk over to the opposite sides of the gate. One each side, there was a lever, which each gnome approached. At the same time, the two put their hands on the levers and pulled down, prompting the gate to begin slowly opening up. As it opened, there was an audible growling coming from the inside, which was too dark for anyone to be able to see through.

"Oh God," Ryland said worriedly as he heard the growling, unsure of what to expect.

"Jeff, what is that thing?" Mabel asked, growing panicked at what he had unleashed upon Ryland. "Some sorta giant three-headed mountain lion or something?"

"Oh, no! Something I think you both are much more familiar with!" Jeff replied with a grin. "You remember the Guardian of the Gnomes, don't you? Once owned by the oh-so-mighty Thomas the Great and his Timberland Gnomes?"

"THE FIRE-BREATHING DRAGON?!" Ryland asked fearfully once he recalled the creature.

"Yep! We've since renamed her Theresa!" Jeff mentioned. "And not too long after we took her under our wing, we made a great discovery..."

As the gates finished opening up, Ryland's eyes glanced forward anxiously. The ground shook as the creature inside began to walk forward, the steps getting louder as it got closer. Soon, it finally stepped out into the light, revealing itself. Mabel and Ryland's eyes both bulged in utter surprise to see that the creature wasn't the same large and might dragon they saw prior, but a smaller, infant-looking red dragon that appeared confused as it walked out into the daylight.

"...she was going to become a mother!"

The gnomes cheered as the baby dragon appeared, whereas Ryland held his look of terror as he sat right in the middle of the Gnomoseum, unable to move or escape. He knew he was a clear target the second the dragon laid eyes on him.

"Theresa's been a bit out of it since laying her eggs, so instead of sending her out to burn you alive, we sent one of her children to do her bidding," Jeff explained.

"NOOOoooOOoo! You separated her from one of her babies?!" Mabel cried out, her heart aching at the mere thought of it. "YOU MONSTER!"

At that moment, a gnome stepped up to Mabel's head and placed their hands over her mouth, silencing her. She continued to try and shout and scream things out, but nothing came out besides muffled noises.

"Thanks, Steve!" Jeff nodded thankfully in his direction for quieting Mabel. "Now, where were we? Oh, right! BURN THE BLONDE!"

The dragon still appeared confused as it stood out in the open of the Gnomoseum. It looked all around at the gnomes surrounding them above the walls and occasionally Ryland. Each time it looked at him, he froze fearfully, bracing himself as much as he could for whatever it would do to him.

"AH! How can something be so cute and so terrifying at the same time?!" Ryland asked as he turned his head away, shutting his eyes tightly as the dragon looked at him yet again.

"What are you waiting for?!" Jeff asked the dragon impatiently. "Stop looking around at everything and burn the boy! We don't have all day! Actually, we do, but we're not trying to prolong a good burning here! Shmebulock has barbecue plans!"

However, the dragon began to whimper fearfully as it looked around. It was too confused and didn't know where it was or where its mother was. This prompted it to grow progressively antsier as it looked around, beginning to huff repeatedly. Ryland looked on curiously while remaining somewhat horrified.

Jeff raised a concerned eyebrow as it saw the dragon beginning to act up. He looked down below at the gatekeepers inside the arena. "Hey! One of you go and try to calm him down! Something's going on with him."

The gnomes looked at one another hesitantly before one just decided to follow his order. He ran up to the dragon as it continued to huff and look around anxiously.

"Hey, boy! Over here, boy!" the gnome waved, trying to grab its attention. It worked, as the dragon proceeded to look down at him, studying him. "That's right! Everything's okay! You're alright!" He then pointed over at Ryland. "You see that tied up kid over there in the middle? What we're gonna need you to do is…"

The gnome was suddenly cut off by increased whimpering of the baby dragon. It began huffing again, with smoke soon beginning to steam from its small nostrils. It then proceeded to take a very quick breath before opening its mouth and firing a large fireball directly at the gnome.

"AH!" the gnome shouted just as it jumped out of the way of the fireball. Instead, the fireball hit the ground and against the edge between the wall and the ground, spreading a bunch of flames out among the wooden wall of the Gnomoseum.

"WHAT THE-?!" Jeff shouted as he witnessed the event before his eyes. As he looked over at the impact of the fireball, he noticed the flames beginning to slowly burn apart the wood the fire had been set upon. "NO!"

Continuing to feel confused, threatened, and scared by its surroundings, the dragon continued to huff defensively. Before any other gnome had a chance to go after it, it quickly breathed in again and shot another fireball out, this time, directly into the crowd of gnomes above the wall.

The gnomes in the way of the fireball proceeded to all jump out at once just as it hit. The impact left a large number of flames that proceeded to start burning into the wood as well. As the gnomes stood back up, they began running and screaming for their lives, as well as most of the other gnomes that sat down within the Gnomoseum as well.

"DRAGON FRENZY!"

The baby dragon continued to breathe in and repeatedly shoot out large balls of fire throughout the arena. Some hit the walls, some hit the ground, some hit the seats above, and some even hit some gnomes themselves. Each time it shot though, another part of the arena got set on fire and started to burn.

Jeff looked on in horror as the dragon continued to fire away. "THAT IDIOT DRAGON IS GONNA BURN DOWN OUR WHOLE GNOMOSEUM! SOMEONE GET IT UNDER CONTROL!"

Just as he spoke, the dragon had already aimed a fireball in his direction, promptly blasting it directly at him. With little time to react, Jeff simply ducked down below one of the seats. However, the spread of the fire was enough to reach him anyway and his hat caught fire, which he noticed just as he stood back up.

"AHHHH! I'M ON FIRE!" he screamed in horror as he began to run around.

At that point, just about every gnome was already on the run, including the ones that had surrounded Mabel, who was now left tied up completely on her own. However, the dragon had previously launched fireballs close to enough to her position where the spreading fires began to grow closer and closer to her.

"Aw, c'mon!" she exclaimed as she looked down at her worsening situation.

More fireballs continued to be shot from the scared dragon, still landing in various places. It had soon fired one incredibly close to Ryland's position, with the flame that it left behind only mere inches away from his board.

However, one look down at the fire and Ryland was able to see that flames were actually occasionally making contact with his ropes. Each time the tip of a flame touched the rope, it sunk in a little burn that cut through slightly. As the wind continued to blow, the flame was found touching the rope multiple times, cutting pretty deeply through.

He knew that as long as the dragon didn't shoot a fireball straight at him, this would be his way of escaping.

"C'mon...c'mon!" Ryland pleaded as he looked on at the deepening cuts into his ropes made by the flames. To assist the process, he began pulling on the ropes by leaning his body the opposite direction from where flames were cutting.

SNAP!

After a moment, the ropes had broken loose and Ryland found himself thrown to the side as he was freed from the board.

"Yes!" he cheered victoriously at his escape, while also rubbing his arms due to the rope burn that came with it.

He quickly drew his focus back to the situation at hand, taking one look at the dragon as it continued to crankily set fire throughout the rest of the arena. Verifying he wasn't within its current line of sight, he looked back over to the section above the walls where Mabel was tied up. The fires that had previously surrounded her had gotten even closer at that point, and all she could do was struggle within her ropes.

"I'M COMING, MABEL!" Ryland shouted as jumped back to his feet and immediately began running over to her.

Ryland quickly rushed over to the wall that her board stood above, jumped up, and grabbed onto the ledge. He pulled himself up onto the small wooden seats, ran up to her and began to untie the knots of the ropes she was tied in, trying to do it fast before the spreading fire reached them.

"So I know sundresses are supposed to be made for warm weather, but this puppy does NOT respond well to fire at all," Mabel claimed casually as Ryland focused on untying the knots. "Seriously, this dress is starting to feel just as hot as the sun itself. And I have a high tolerance to this kinda stuff! I once wore sweaters for a whole summer!"

"I guess that explains why you've got me burning up, huh?" Ryland asked with a flirtatious smile as he stopped untying.

Mabel was everything but smitten, though. "Oh, Ryland, sweetie. Please don't tell me you got flirting advice from my brother..."

"Nope. That just sounded a lot better in my head," Ryland admitted awkwardly as he resumed untying, finally getting her loose. "Anyway, c'mon! Let's go!"

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her along with him as he ran back down the wooden steps, which began to burn behind them. The two then jumped down into the arena at the same time. As they hit the ground, they looked back up and watched as the fire had spread completely above the wall behind them.

Mabel proceeded to look above at the fire among the seats, realizing they have no way of getting through to get to the side exits. "Now how are we supposed to get out of here now?"

Ryland for a moment before glancing behind them, suddenly having an idea. "Quick! This way!"

He grabbed her wrist yet again and pulled her along with him as he ran in the direction of the dragon. Initially believing they were going to run past it toward the exit, Mabel suddenly became floored once she realized where they were actually running.

"Uh...Ryland? Why are we running toward the dragon?" she asked, raising a curious, yet nervous eyebrow.

"Because I'm gonna get us outta here!" Ryland replied as he kept running toward it.

"What?!" Mabel asked as Ryland suddenly let go of her.

"Watch!" he assured as he ran up to the dragon on his own, leaving her behind a few yards.

He ran directly behind the baby dragon as it was blasting fireballs in another direction, paying no attention to him or Mabel. Then, without warning, he jumped up and landed right on the dragon's back, placing his hands on its neck in an attempt to ride it.

"TO FREEDOM!" Ryland shouted heroically as he raised a fist in the air.

The baby dragon, however, did not take kindly to Ryland's sudden action and proceeded to roar angrily. It then made a violent jump, throwing Ryland off its back.

"AH!" Ryland yelled as he flew through the air for a brief second before violently hitting the ground. "OW! Well...that didn't work…"

Mabel quickly ran up to his side and tended to him, pulling him back up, and narrowing her eyes. "Ryland, I like you...like...a lot...but that was really stupid."

The dragon roared unhappily yet again, which grabbed the attention of the two as it turned toward them. With narrowed eyes, it began to slowly march up to them, shaking the ground with each step. Its nostrils were fuming with smoke as it huffed repeatedly at them.

"Yeah, I'm starting to see that now…" Ryland agreed as he looked on nervously.

Neither of them were sure what to do next or how to react as the baby dragon continued to approach them. They could run but they hardly had anywhere to run, especially from a creature capable of flight.

Without any other ideas, Mabel simply decided to stand up right in front of it. She smiled nervously as she slowly began to approach it with her arm outstretched.

"Mabel, what are you doing?" Ryland asked with a look of confusion as he watched her approach the dragon.

"It's okay!" she told the baby dragon in a friendly, yet shaky voice. "There's no need to be scared!"

The dragon appeared to grow slightly confused as it saw her continue to approach it. Still, it huffed aggressively and continued to keep its eyes narrowed at her. But she just continued walking up to it, showing no signs of stopping.

"Those bad gnomes are gone! I won't hurt you!" Mabel continued to tell it.

As she finally reached the scared dragon, she carefully placed a gentle hand right on the top of its large head and began to pet it softly. Maintaining a frozen, uptight posture, the dragon still looked confused and scared, but it also seemed to allow her to pet it.

"Don't worry...you're okay…" she continued to coax it soothingly, trying to maintain as calm of a demeanor as possible in order to assure the dragon could calm down and trust her. "Everything's gonna be fine…"

The longer she pet him, the less uptight the dragon began to appear. It started to lean forward a bit more, which allowed Mabel to more easily pet it. Eventually, it started to calm down to the point where it stopped huffing and smoke stopped expelling from its nostrils. It now appeared to be soothed by her gentle petting, which she and Ryland were able to quickly notice, much to their disbelief.

"No...way…" Ryland said in awe as he watched her gain the trust of a baby fire-breathing-dragon right before his eyes.

"He just wanted someone to comfort him!" Mabel said to Ryland as she proceeded to hug it. "Isn't that right you big, hot dragon, you!"

"I'm at a loss for words right now," Ryland said as he walked up beside her in front of the dragon. "This is just...amazing."

HUFF!

The baby dragon aggressively huffed once at Ryland upon his close approach beside Mabel, which prompted him to flinch back fearfully.

"Hey, hey! It's okay!" Mabel told the dragon quickly as she began giving him comfort pets again. "Trust me. He's alright."

Despite her coaxing, Ryland continued to receive untrusting looks from the dragon. But it remained calm under Mabel's handling.

After a moment though, there was the sound of creaking around the Gnomoseum. As the two looked around, they could see wood caving in and falling apart from the walls as a sign that the entire place was about to collapse from the burning flames.

"Mabel, we need to get out of here," Ryland reminded her, realizing they were running out of time.

Acknowledging this, she turned back to the dragon and gave it a pet on the side of its snout. "I know we just met, but you think you can do us a favor and give us a flight outta here?" she asked as she continued to give it side strokes. "Pleeeease?"

The baby dragon gave a gentle huff as it spread its wings out a bit and proceeded to sit upright, offering for the two to hop on.

Mabel laughed as she approached it and hopped on its back. "Awww! What a sweetie! He already trusts me!" She glanced over to Ryland and gestured for him to hop on behind her. "Now, c'mon! We have our escape!"

"I just can't believe it," Ryland shook his head as he sat down behind her on the dragon. "This thing actually understands what you're saying?"

"Probably not," Mabel admitted with a shrug. "Usually, it's not about what you say to animals. It's about how you say it! At least, in my experience." She then looked forward excitedly as she held her hands on the dragon's neck, holding on. "Now, hang on tight! First time flying a dragon here and I can't guarantee there won't be any accidents!" She patted down on the dragon's neck a few times. "C'mon, boy! Next stop: anywhere where there aren't gnomes! YAH!"

The baby dragon gave one final huff before leaping forward and spreading it's wingspan all the way out. As soon as it did so, Ryland took immediate safety precaution and held onto Mabel's waist as they took off in the air. Being as young as it was, the dragon wasn't a necessarily skilled flyer and made hard movements as its wings flapped.

Still, Mabel and Ryland managed to hold on long enough before it finally started to smoothen out it's flying. As they soared through the sky, Mabel let out a jubilant laugh as she felt the wind flow through her hair above. The feeling of flying on a dragon was nothing short of joyful for her and she didn't even notice when her matching blue floppy straw hat blew off her head. The rush was too good for her to care though.

Ryland didn't express the same amount of excitement as her, finding the circumstances a bit more terrifying due to how easy it was for him to slip off. However, he couldn't help but smile upon seeing Mabel so enthused and excited. Their date had shifted in a completely different direction once the gnomes showed up, and while things were still far off from what he had initially planned, he liked this better. And when she turned her head to look at him in the eye, he could tell that she did too.

Jeff poked his head out of a nearby stream of water that he had run to in order to put out the fire that covered him before. As he looked up, he spotted the couple flying off on the baby dragon. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists angrily.

"CURSE YOU, MABEL PINES!" he shouted at them, though his voice wasn't loud enough for them to possibly notice from so high up.

He sighed and looked down in defeat. At the same time, he looked down at himself and only then realized that the fire had burnt off all of his clothes. With this in mind, he promptly sat back down in the stream, letting the flowing water be his temporary cover.

"Help! Gnome president down!" he aimlessly called out for through the forest. "I'm in a stream and need a new set of clothes here!"

There was no response from any other gnomes that could've been in the area. Jeff continuously looked around, hoping someone would show up to aid him. However, even after a solid minute, there was still no answer to his calls.

"A-Anybody?"

---

Back in the observation room, Wendy continued to sit alone on the ground with her back laid against the wall. In her hands, she held an ax. With little pressure, she ran her finger along the cutting edge, staring at it.

"Ugh," she groaned at herself as she placed the ax down beside her. "This is so stupid. What's wrong with me? Why am I so scared? I've faced tons of other crap the same summer I came down here last. So, why does this place give me the creeps? Why am I so afraid of a monster that just turns into other monsters?"

She picked her ax back up and stared at it again, this time focusing on her glossy reflection within the head of the ax.

"Am I just scared of...myself?" she asked herself as she looked on at her reflection.

It was a ridiculous thing to think that all her fear of the bunker and the Shifter could've accumulated from a brief battle she had with herself when she fought the Shifter last. But as she recalled the circumstances of her life over the past month, the ridiculousness of the idea started to dissipate.

"It has been pretty stressful at home lately," she admitted, thinking over all the pressure that's been put on her as of late with her upcoming move. "And, of course, it's my fault for getting expelled in the first place. Maybe...I'm just worried about messing up again. Maybe the one bad memory of this place is just mixing in with all of the stress. I mean...is this place really as bad as I remember it?"

She stared forward for a moment, thinking over her feelings and fears. The more she thought it over, the more confident she began to get with herself.

"To hell with these so-called fears," she said to herself as she confidently stood up from the floor, pocketing her ax as she began walking across the room over to the decontamination chamber. "This place isn't anything I can't handle. I've gone through the apocalypse, dammit! And I don't get nightmares from that!" She proceeded to pull open the door to the decontamination chamber and step in, shutting the door behind her. "So, if that can't stop me, then neither can a little bit of PTSD! I can do this!"

She proceeded to pull down on the cord that hung above in the chamber, which immediately prompted a shower of water to rain down on her from above. The suddenness caught her by surprise and she shrieked as she held her hands above her head. The water eventually finished washing down on her, giving her a second to catch her breath. A few seconds after, though, she was blasted with hot air from both sides, the intensity blowing off her pine tree cap, as well as almost entirely drying her.

BEEP!

A sign that read 'Decontamination Complete' flashed above the next doorway, which promptly opened up. She picked her cap back up from the floor and adjusted it on her head, glancing around outside the doorway as she stepped out into the lab.

"Alright, I forgot how much I hated that," she claimed as she stepped away from the chamber. "On the bright side, as Ford said, the Shapeshifter's gone. So really, one near-death situation aside, what's there to be scared about?"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Wendy's eyes bulged as she was startled by the sudden sounds of metallic banging. She quickly turned her head and looked around the laboratory, trying to piece where the sound was coming from.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"MM-MMM!"

The extra banging allowed her to trace the sound back to a corner of the lab where a metal cabinet stood. Paired with the muffled screams from a familiar voice, she began to grow unnerved and hesitated on whether she should walk over and check it out for herself. Knowing the boys had already been through before her, she questioned whether it was just something normal that McGucket had kept around or if it was something worth being concerned about.

"MM-MMM! MM-MMMM!"

She deduced that someone was definitely inside the cabinet and they sounded like they were calling out for help. What continued to bring her concern was the fact that the voice of the muffled screams began to become even more familiar to her as they repeated. Her curiosity prompted her to start slowing walking over to the cabinet to get a better idea of the supposedly familiar voice to her, while also not jumping to the immediate conclusion of opening it up and potentially freeing something dangerous.

"MM-MMM! MMMMMMMMMM!"

"Dipper?!"

"MM-MMM! MM-MMM! MM-MMM!"

Her eyes widened as she finally came to recognize the muffled screams. Without further hesitation, she ran up to the cabinet quickly and attempted to pull it open. However, she quickly learned it was locked.

Not that it was a problem for her.

"Hang on!" she called out to him as she drew out her ax and slammed the blade right into the middle gap between the doors, cutting straight into the lock embedded inside with a single swing. She pulled the doors open and spotted Dipper at the bottom, all tied up and his mouth taped shut. He looked up at her with pleading, yet thankful eyes. "Oh my God!"

She immediately kneeled down to him, putting her hand on the piece of tape over his mouth and quickly peeling it off.

"Wendy!" he exclaimed gratefully as she found him.

"Dude! What the hell happened?!" she asked, shocked. "Who did this?!"

"I...uh…" he hesitated. "I don't think you wanna know…"

"Just tell me, man!" she demanded, not wanting anything being kept for her at that moment.

Dipper still looked reluctant to say for a moment but knew there wasn't use in starting an argument based on what was at stake. "The Shapeshifter! It cut out the power and caused a blackout, then swooped in, quickly tied me up, and locked me in this closet while it took my place. It's with the others right now!"

The mention of the Shifter's return alone brought a look of disbelief to Wendy's face and he immediately noticed it. She was horrified by this revelation. She knew it. But, she also knew what was at stake with it being with their friends and family. And so as scared as she may have wanted to be, she knew she had to be brave.

Dipper looked at her guiltily. "I know this was the last thing you would've wanted to hear on this whole trip, but…"

"Just forget it, man," she dismissed as she took her ax and carefully, yet speedily sliced through the ropes around his arms and legs, freeing him. She then grabbed his arm and quickly pulled him back up to his feet before beginning to run off toward one of the tunnels. "This isn't about me anymore! We gotta go save the others before it's too late! Come on!"

---

McGucket had continued to lead Ford, Derrick, Soos, and Dipper down into the storage area. The five of them continued to stay grouped together, with Ford still readily aiming his wristwatch around behind them. They moved at a steady pace, watching each tunnel they passed as they kept their eyes on the lookout for the Shapeshifter.

"Chemical testing lab up ahead," McGucket pointed out as he walked. "Any sign of the Shifter at all?"

"Nothing particularly notable, but then again, who knows?" Ford asked as he continued to look around. "If it wanted to, it could shift into a pebble. We could step right over him and he could pop out from right beneath us."

"Aw, c'mon, dude! I was already worried enough looking around for extra people!" Soos said, now growing even more anxious by Ford's words. "Now I'm learning this thing can shift into actual objects? My heart ain't gonna be able to take much more of this! I'm freaking out!"

"Calm down, Soos!" Ford assured him. "While my claim is possible, I meant it as a very strong 'if'. I don't believe he would choose that subtle of a form."

"You should consider adding these clarifications to your normal speech," Derrick claimed as he continued keeping his eye out. "I think that'd substantially lower the heart attack risk."

Dipper suddenly stopped walking and looked straight into a tunnel they were about to pass. Noticing something, he pointed into it and turned back to the others as they kept walking. "Guys, wait! The Quantum Destabilizer!"

The other four stopped and turned back to him in surprise; McGucket especially.

"You found it?" Ford asked.

"Yeah!" Dipper nodded as he continued to point into the tunnel. "It's right over here in this dark and scary tunnel!

"Really?" McGucket asked curiously as he stroked his beard. "What's it doing over there in a tunnel? The chemical lab is right ahead."

"Wait a second, guys…" Soos said as he narrowed his eyes at Dipper skeptically. "I've seen this in the movies. What if 'Dipper' is actually the Shapeshifter? And what if 'he' is trying to lead 'us' into 'his' 'trap?'" he suspected while improperly overusing air quotes.

Dipper glanced around casually. "Well, I mean, the gun is literally right there. I'm not even joking. You can see it from where I'm standing right now."

With that said, the four proceeded to walk back over to him, standing right behind him as they looked into the specified tunnel. And just as he said, they managed to spot the large gun lying against the back wall of the dead-ended tunnel.

"Well, I'll be darned. There it is!" McGucket said, finding himself surprised to actually see the Destabilizer.

"Huh," Soos said, also somewhat surprised. "In that case, I withdraw my accusation. Guess I've been watching too many movies. Sorry 'bout that, dude!"

"No problem...um...bro!" Dipper replied while giving Soos a friendly punch in the arm. "Anyways, we should all go in there and get it. Leaving anyone out here would leave someone open to the Shifter, you know? Same thing in there."

"I suppose you're right," Ford nodded as he and the others began to walk into the tunnel toward the weapon. "Quickly though. Someone grab the weapon so we can keep moving toward the chemical lab. We still need to stock up on weapons so we're more prepared to fight back against the Shifter. If he's here, then it's vital we stop him before we leave today."

Derrick walked up to the weapon and picked it up in his hands, struggling a bit due to the unexpectedly heavy weight of the gun. "Man...so this is how heavy an empty multidimensional death-ray is? Yikes. I'd hate to be carrying this if it was actually loaded."

"Maybe I can give you some help, dude," Soos offered as he walked up to him.

"Actually, all of you are going to need help. Against me," Dipper said as his voice suddenly changed into something more deep and menacing as he stood behind the four threateningly, holding a sinister grin.

At that moment, Dipper was no longer Dipper, as he suddenly transformed and shifted into a giant spider-like creature with eight-long legs. Immediately, he turned his head toward the four and began to spit out heavy amounts of webbing from its mouth, blasting everyone one by one.

"AH!" Soos shouted as he was webbed to the wall.

"HEY!" Derrick exclaimed as he was webbed along with the Destabilizer.

"EH!" McGucket shrieked as his frontside got pinned to the wall with webbing.

"NO!" Ford shouted as he had attempted to aim his wristwatch, but was too late to avoid the webbing.

With little time to react, everyone soon found themselves webbed to the walls of the tunnel in different positions and angles.

"What the hell?!" Derrick questioned in horror as attempted to struggle out of the web, but to no avail. "Dipper?!"

"That ain't Dipper! That's the Shapeshifter!" McGucket called out fearfully as his eyes were just barely able to glance at it due to the position of his head.

"Oh no!" Soos exclaimed as he realized that Dipper actually was the Shapeshifter. "My sequel theory was true after all! I shouldn't have let my guard down!"

"Hahaha!" the Shapeshifter cackled evilly as it transformed back from the spider-creature into its normal form. "Yes! After all this time...after all my planning...I knew it'd lead to capturing the author!"

He walked up to Ford, who continued to try and struggle out of the webs. As he approached him, he took one look at his face and then one look at his hands, verifying his six fingers.

"At long last...I see your face!" the Shifter claimed as he stared at Ford. "And now I remember...the first face I had laid eyes on when I had hatched. A face that I thought I would never see again. A face to be forgotten as a youthful memory. Until now...Stanford Pines..."

"It's been awhile, Shifty," Ford greeted his old specimen with narrowed eyes. "I believe our last encounter ended with me freezing you after your remorseless attempt to lock up my partner and steal my journal."

"Yes, and a successful attempt it would have been had your partner kept his pathetic, stammering mouth shut," the Shifter replied as his eyes glanced over at McGucket on the wall.

"P-Pathetic? S-Stammering?!" McGucket stammered in an offended voice that had raised his pitch.

"Shut up," the Shifter demanded, already beginning to grow annoyed by McGucket. "Anyhow, as you can see, I'm frozen no more! And it hasn't been the first time either. You think I've dug all these tunnels in four years? Early on during your absence, I've managed to escape from my first freezing. Of course, no form I attained was prepared to break the bedrock barriers you surrounded this place with. Still, as seen today, these tunnels proved to be good spots to set traps!"

"Wait a minute...so you put the Quantum Destabilizer here?" Ford realized, surprised. "But how did you know we were even looking for it?"

"Four years ago, when McGucket freed me under the impression I was a boy named Dipper, I took it as my chance to make an escape," the Shifter explained. "However, McGucket's sudden return to the bunker surprised me and piqued my interest. If he were still around, I thought that perhaps, you were too. While not at that moment, I figured eventually. So rather than making my escape, I stayed behind and plotted for our reunion, occasionally following McGucket as he continued to come back again and again, dropping off even more frozen creatures that I soon learned were captured by you. But you rarely came down yourself. I figured I needed a way to lure you back in, so, during one of McGucket's visits, I stole a weapon; a big one too, assuming it would be more important. And important it was. I must've gotten lucky picking the exact device you were searching for. You think I'm as much of a nerd as you are to know what your Quantum Destable-whatever is?"

"So you had a chance to escape, but you didn't because you wanted to settle a grudge with Ford?" Soos asked, chuckling. "I'm sorry, dude, but that just sounds way too obsessive."

"Tell me about it," Derrick agreed. "Put me alone in a room with Mabel with the door open and you'd never see me sticking around."

"And if Shifty stole the Destabilizer from the bunker..." Ford began as he realized something, looking over at McGucket. "Then Fiddleford, you were right all along! You didn't misplace the weapon or forget where it was! It was in the weapon cache! Shifty just took it down here and also made your mind appear forgettable!"

"So...my mind isn't still that bad after all!" McGucket happily realized, only to be hit by the Shifter's former words as he turned back to it. "Hold on a second! Ya mean you've been following me around each time I've been down here? Aw, man! My paranoia of being constantly watched just skyrocketed all the way up to a thousand! Now the nightmares are just gonna get worse! Each and every single-!"

THWIP!

At that moment, McGucket's mouth had suddenly been shut by a web, which had come from the spider-like creature that the Shifter had quickly transformed back into. He shifted back to his normal form yet again and looked on at McGucket in annoyance.

"-mmm-MMM!"

"In the past four years he's been coming down here, I've grown EXTREMELY tired of listening to him," he said as shook his head irritatedly.

"Well, listen to me now, Shifty," Ford demanded, grabbing the Shifter's attention back. "I froze you because you were too curious. Too dangerous to be let loose. Yet here you are now, having had a chance to leave for four years. And you've made a fatal mistake by not taking that chance."

"Oh, I plan on leaving," the Shifter assured him. "But let's not play dumb, Ford. Revenge aside, you know the real reason why I haven't left yet…" He then held out his open claw to him. "There's been something I've been meaning to get my hands on…"

"I think he's talking about the journals, dude," Soos whispered loudly to Ford, unaware how he was essentially pointing out the obvious.

"Well, you're out of luck," Ford told the Shifter smugly. "I've been rid of those journals for the same four years you've hung down here. Talk about irony, huh?"

"You're bluffing," the Shifter refused to believe as he took a threatening step closer to him.

"Hey, if you don't believe me, you can surely jump into the bottomless pit and see for yourself!" Ford offered. "That is if you're lucky enough to end up wherever they landed."

"LIES!" the Shifter roared in denial to Ford's claims, suddenly shifting into a large, menacing creature with a big, split-jaw mouth.

"Uncle Ford?! Where are you?!"

"Yo! Anybody here?!"

At that moment, everyone but the Shifter turned their heads to see Dipper and Wendy suddenly run up to the tunnel entrance. They promptly stopped and gasped as they noticed everyone hung from the walls in thick spider webs.

"Dipper!" Ford shouted.

"Wendy!" Soos shouted gladly as he looked over at them. "You dudes are okay!"

"Guys!" Wendy shouted, growing concerned as she spotted them all hanging from the walls. "What happened here?"

At that moment, the Shifter turned it's head and looked over at the two in its current form. The two finally laid their eyes upon it and noticed it. Before they had a chance to process it, the creature opened its split-jaw mouth and roared at them, unveiling it's hundreds of razor-sharp teeth menacingly.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Dipper and Wendy screamed in horror at the terrifying form.

---

"AHHHHHHHH!" Mabel and Ryland screamed as they began descending to the ground on the baby dragon.

Having flown a fair enough distance away from the gnomes at that point, Mabel had figured it was a good time to land somewhere. Considering how easy it was taking off, she figured landing couldn't be any harder.

That was poor judgment on her part.

After commanding it to land, the baby dragon's lack of landing experience kicked in and it proceeded to go for a hard landing. Rather than descending at a smooth and steady pace, it basically dropped down at a steep angle.

The two held on for their lives as their smooth flying suddenly turned into a terrifying sky fall. Even Mabel was holding onto the dragon's neck so tightly that she almost drew her nails into its skin. But because she put her care for animals before her own safety, she resisted the urge.

As the baby dragon touched the ground, the heavy impact caused it to bounce up in an attempt to regain control of its flight. The sudden bounce sent Mabel and Ryland flying off its back, soaring through the air for a brief moment before tumbling violently against the forest ground. Eventually, they stopped rolling and they both lay flat on the ground in different positions.

"Ow…" Mabel groaned in agony as she laid the side of her face pressed against the ground.

After a moment, she slowly sat back up, placing a hand on the side of her head in pain. She looked down at her arms and legs, which were covered in bruises and scratches from the fall. She could feel similar pains from such throughout the rest of her body too.

She could complain all day about the pain, but her concern was suddenly drawn back to Ryland when she noticed him still lying on the ground. Unsure how bad his injuries might have compared to hers, she quickly jumped back to her feet and ran over to him worriedly.

"Oh my gosh! Ryland! Are you okay?!" she asked as she kneeled down next to him, placing her hands on his arm and shaking him to check to see if he was conscious at the very least.

"Ugh…" he groaned as he slowly sat up, rubbing the back of his neck painfully. "I'm okay...mostly..."

"Sorry about the landing," she apologized while awkwardly gripping her arm. "I can't say I've ever landed a baby dragon before..."

"You're good. Don't worry," he assured her. "Trust me. I've been in far worse bike accidents. I'm up to the point where I can't even tell when I'm bleeding anymore." He sat silently for a minute, thinking. "Am I bleeding?"

"You got some scratches, but nothing that makes you any less cute," she cleverly replied.

"That's reassuring," he replied with a flattered smile.

Suddenly, there was a faint cry from the baby dragon that grabbed their attention. As they looked up, they saw the dragon slowly walking toward them. It didn't appear like it was hurt or angry and simply approached them with ease. It then hung out its wingspan as it walked up to Mabel and lowered its head for her.

"Well, looks like someone's not tired of Mabel!" she said with a tender smile as she wrapped her arms around the dragon's head and began petting it again. "Eeee! So adorable you are!" She stroked her hand over the dragon's nostrils, which actually turned out to be much hotter than the rest of the dragon's face, prompting her to quickly retract her hand as she received a slight burn. "Wowie, that nose can burn!"

"So, now what? Is he, like, yours now?" Ryland asked her, wondering what she plans to do with the dragon now.

"That'd be so cool, wouldn't it?" she claimed as she began to think about it. "I mean, imagine me going back home to Piedmont with a fire-breathing dragon at the end of the summer! People at school will think twice before calling my clothing designs too silly! I can burn all of my enemies!"

Ryland grew uncomfortable quick. "Uh...you okay there?"

She laughed as she turned back to him. "Don't worry. I'm just joking around."

"Oh. Phew," Ryland said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Well, sort of…" she added as she continued petting the dragon, her words prompting Ryland's eyes to bulge uneasily. "Anyway, as much as I'd love to add a dragon to my army, it's not gonna happen. I still have Waddles and I'm getting an octopus from another dimension soon anyway. Best not to push my luck."

"Didn't the gnomes say they had his mom too?" Ryland remembered.

"Yeah," Mabel said, narrowing her eyes at the thought of the gnomes handling the momma dragon. "And I'd be just as bad as those gnomes if I kept him from his mother…"

"To be fair, you haven't kidnapped anyone," Ryland justified. "At least, not to my knowledge…"

"True," she nodded before kneeling down and giving the dragon one final goodbye hug. "Goodbye, Firefly. Thank you for trusting me. Maybe someday, we'll meet again."

"Firefly?" Ryland asked.

"Just a name I came up with for him in the middle of our flight," Mabel briefly explained.

Ryland nodded at her response with a smile. "I like it."

Mabel smiled back at him before pulling away from her hug with Firefly. She stood back up and stepped away to give him some space. "Now, go! Be free! Find your mother!"

Firefly hesitated for a moment, as he still stood in place and stared up at her. But still, she continued making gestures for him to go off.

"Go on!" she told it again. "She's out there! Find her! Save her from the gnomes! Be with her again!"

It still took a good minute of standing in place before Firefly finally started to comprehend and do as told. He huffed gratefully once more before turning around and spreading his wingspan. He ran forward a bit before leaping into the air, flapping his wings as he took off again. Similar to his earlier takeoff from the Gnomoseum, his flight pattern was uneven and a bit violent at first. But as he got higher, he let his wings glide more through the air, the flapping only aiding in keeping the flight even and smooth.

Mabel felt a little bit emotional watching him fly off. Still, she smiled and was glad to see it going off on its own and hopefully, to go rescue his mother from the gnome.

"Bye, Firefly!" she waved at him with misty eyes. "Burn a few gnomes for me! Only if you have to, that is!"

Soon, he flew out of their sight, disappearing somewhere over the forest. Mabel sighed, feeling her heart going through the usual waves of loss when saying farewell to a wild animal. Of course, she knew it'd pass, and just felt grateful for the brief moment she got to spend with him.

"Wow," Ryland said as he continued to stare up at the sky after watching Firefly take off. "What a day, huh?"

"Tell me about it," Mabel agreed. "I mean, it's not every first date where you get to tame and fly a baby fire-breathing dragon." She then thought it over, tapping her chin with her finger. "Actually, that sounds like the kind of thing Pacifica would do…except maybe with a Stallion..."

"It's just so crazy," Ryland told her. "Don't you remember when you made up that story about knowing how to tame fire-breathing dragons that set gnomes on fire around the time we first met?"

Mabel's face reddened from guilty embarrassment upon being reminded of that time. "Yep...I sure do…remember that..."

"Hey, I'm not bringing it up to bash on you," Ryland assured her as he gave her a nudge in the arm. "I'm just saying that it's crazy how it actually kind of ended up happening after all."

"Yeah," Mabel agreed as she walked over to a large stump and sat down on it. "Crazy how one day, you make a fool out of yourself for lying to a boy you like, and only a few weeks later, that same lie makes you look like some sorta psychic to him when it actually happens."

"So, even then, you liked me?" Ryland curiously asked as he sat down right beside her on the same stump.

"I've kind of always liked you," Mabel admitted, her face reddening a bit. "Only difference between now and then is that I like you a little more now."

"Quite a difference," Ryland scoffed with a smile.

"Hey, at least you've always had it going for you," she claimed. "Meanwhile, I'm sure I've had multiple moments since we've met where you probably thought I wasn't that great."

"What? Are you kidding?" Ryland questioned with a chuckle. "I've pretty much always liked you too."

"Really?"

"Kind of, yeah," he nodded as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, from day one, you've always come off as likable to me."

"Ohhh, stop it," she dismissed blushingly.

"I'm serious," he assured her. "I mean, you're cool, funny, creative, energetic...You dress amazingly all the time...you're confident…"

"Pfft...confident…" she chuckled at the used term. "I don't know where you got that from. Before I told you my feelings, I've always been, like, a total mess around you."

"Well, I never noticed," he admitted. "But, all I'm trying to say is you're super likable. I mean, only you can keep on attracting gnomes four years later and tame a dragon as easily as you do."

"What can I say? I guess I'm just...irresistiblllle," she joked as she lightly flailed her arms around in front of her before the two burst out laughing together in amusement.

Once they settled down, Mabel set her hand back down on the stump. Without even looking, Ryland then found his hand laying on top of her's. They both looked down at their hands and then back up at one another in slight surprise. With neither of them making an effort to retract their hands back, their faces both flushed red as they began warmly smiling at one another.

"Yeah," Ryland said as his eyes awkwardly glanced to the side for a moment before looking back at her. "Guess you are."

Mabel wasn't sure her smile could get any wider or if her face could get any redder. But it felt like they both could the longer he had his hand on top of her's as she looked into his green eyes. The same way he felt about her as he watched her curly, brown hair blow around in the light summer breeze, the sunlight shining brightly upon her already bright expression.

It was clear that the moment had naturally presented itself, and the two promptly shut their eyes as they leaned for each other's lips. As soon as they touched, it felt as though everything that had built up between them since they met had finally been released. Like the weight they had been carrying for so long had finally been let go.

Sure, it wasn't either of their first kisses, but it was their first kiss. And finally sharing it after the bond they've managed to develop in the few weeks they've spent together just felt like an amazing payoff. Especially for Mabel, who was just glad to have finally found a great guy and score a relationship that wasn't rushed into from the start.

This was the epic summer romance that she had been dreaming of.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Mabel's eyes opened wide as she caught the sound of the sudden distant screams. Normally, she'd just find something like that to be a little off-putting during such an intimate moment, but something about these combined screams really grabbed her attention and unsettled her. So much to the point that she pulled away from her kiss with Ryland just so she could direct all her focus to it.

Ryland opened his eyes again as he realized that she pulled away. Looking at the concerned expression that now laid upon her face, he grew a little uneasy.

"Did I...uh...do something wrong?" he asked awkwardly. "Does my breath still smell like soufflé?" He proceeded to breathe out onto his hand and smell his breath. While he didn't think it was all that bad, he deduced it as the problem anyway and began frantically digging into his pocket. "Dammit! I thought two mints would've been enough!"

"Shhh!" Mabel shushed him while holding a finger to her mouth.

Ryland shut his mouth for a good moment. As nothing but silence prospered for a solid moment, he began to look around in confusion.

"What hap-"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

"You hear that?" Mabel asked him, her eyes bulging anxiously.

"It sounds like people screaming…" he realized.

"I know those terrified screams!" Mabel shouted as she suddenly stood up from the stump in panic. "That's my brother and Wendy!"

"Well, where are they coming from?" Ryland asked as he stood up as well, searching around for where the screams could've come from.

"This way!" Mabel claimed as she tracked the direction of the screams in the forest and began running toward them with Ryland following right behind her.

They didn't run very far, as Mabel found herself stopping right in front of a sunken tree in a familiar part of the woods. As she looked down into the hole surrounding the tree, she noticed the flight of steps that led to the bottom of the hole and to the entry point of the underground bunker. She realized how convenient it was that they had managed to land the dragon close enough for them to hear it.

Ryland stepped up beside her and looked down into the hole. "Trees with secret doors in them? Wow, this town really does have it all."

"Dipper said he was going on a mission down here with our friends and Grunkle!" Mabel explained to him.

"AHHHHHHHH!" the screams of Dipper and Wendy yet again faintly echoed from the bunker below.

"Well, clearly, they're in trouble!" Ryland concluded before rushing down the stairs, descending into the bunker below. "C'mon! Let's give them a hand!" he exclaimed, just as Mabel started following down behind him.

---

"AHHHHHHHH!"

As Dipper and Wendy screamed, the Shifter reverted back to its normal form, which sent an even bigger chill down their spine than did the form it took before.

"The Shapeshifter!" Wendy exclaimed fearfully as it revealed itself.

"Oh no! We were too late to warn them about it!" Dipper realized as he looked back up everyone hanging from giant spider webs.

"You..." the Shifter said as it pointed over at the two, recognizing them. "I remember you two! Of course, I was one of you a moment ago. How time has passed. Your older form isn't as useless your younger one. Not that that's saying much..."

"Don't let him get to you, Dipper!" Ford called out to him. "You have improved immensely over four years! Don't let him tell you otherwise!"

"You know, Ford, I've noticed that you seem rather defensive of this boy who has searched for you years ago. And you must have enough trust in him to bring him along," the Shifter realized aloud as he turned to him. "Is there a correlation that I'm missing here?"

"Uh, duh…" Soos chimed in. "The dude's name is Stanford Pines. Dipper's name is Dipper Pines. Is it not crystal clear at this point? I mean, he doesn't call him 'Great Uncle Ford' for nothing."

"SOOS!" Dipper and Ford called out irritatedly as he revealed this information.

"Soos, why would you tell him that?!" Wendy asked, also frustrated by Soos's absent-minded contribution.

"Sorry, dude. I just thought it was obvious," Soos apologized, realizing his mistake.

"A great uncle, huh?" the Shifter questioned before turning back to Dipper, beginning to approach him. "Well, perhaps, if you don't have the journals, Ford, then you must've trusted them in the hands of your nephew."

"The journals?" Dipper questioned as he began slowly backing up.

"Dude, the journals have been gone for, like, years already!" Wendy stated as she backed up along with him.

"Yeah! We threw them out into the bottomless pit!" Dipper supported.

"Lies! The same lies that rolled off of Ford's tongue!" the Shifter continued to deny. "Why should I believe that one would put so much time and effort into three intricately designed books only to throw them all away?"

"They were problematic and brought more misfortune to this family than benefit!" Ford intervened as he continued trying to struggle his way out of the webs.

"Well, your family is about to have even more misfortune in a second if Dipper doesn't hand those journals over!" the Shifter responded as he continued walking up to Dipper threateningly.

"You think he's lying?!" Wendy asked, continuing to defend Dipper.

"I'm telling you! The journals are gone! You hear me?! Gone," Dipper continued to reiterate. "And unless you jump into the bottomless pit yourself, then the chances of you ever getting one of your hands on them again are zero to none!"

Suddenly, as he continued walking backward, Dipper tripped on a wire that he didn't notice and fell backward. As he wore his backpack, he promptly fell on top of it, the pressure pushing his journal right from the bag and out into the open, flipped to a page with an illustrated creature on it. The Shifter's eyes immediately darted over to it and bulged in surprise.

"Oh no!" Ford said under his breath as he saw Dipper's journal slip out.

"Uh oh…" Dipper said to himself nervously, realizing the trouble he was about to get himself into.

"What's this?" it asked as he spotted it. "Another journal? With NEW forms?!"

"No! It's not!" Dipper tried to tell it as he crawled backward and grabbed his journal from the ground, closing it before standing back up. "It's just a book of mine! It's not what you're looking for!"

"What I'm looking for is another index of transformations to add to my collection!" the Shifter told it. "And if you claim that Ford's journals are gone, then that blue journal will fill the same purpose just nicely! So if you're wise, then you'll HAND IT OVER!"

"Dipper!" Ford called out to him from the tunnel. "RUN!"

"BOOK IT, MAN!" Wendy shouted in agreement as she pushed Dipper back, forcing him to get a move on as they started running back to the lab.

"COME BACK HERE!" the Shifter commanded angrily before shifting into a large, brown rolly polly monster. It let out a loud, ear-piercing shriek before rolling up into a ball and chasing after them through the tunnels.

"Aw man!" Derrick exclaimed worriedly.

"MMM-MMMMMM!" McGucket tried to scream through the web around his mouth.

"What do we do now?" Soos asked anxiously as he turned toward the others. "We need to go help them!"

"Yeah, we need to get out of these damn webs!" Derrick shouted as he continued to try and struggle out of them, but to no avail.

"I'm already on it," Ford said as he looked over at the webbed-up wrist where Meridian lay beneath. "Meridian: activate laser function at intensity - twenty-five."

Beep-beep.

Suddenly, beneath the webbing, a red light glowed indicating the activation of Ford's wristwatch laser going off. There was a buzzing noise that paired along with it, which seemed to indicate the laser was cutting through the webbing, albeit at a slow pace.

"This might take a while," Ford admitted, his expression becoming annoyed as he gave into the waiting process.

---

"This way, dude!" Wendy called out behind her to Dipper as they ran through the lab.

Having a solid lead on the Shifter, there were many different routes they could have gone. The tunnels or somewhere else next to the lab equipment were viable options. But with most of their team left behind and tangled up in webs, there was only so much that running could do for the two. They needed to take the time to devise a plan and they weren't going to do that if they continued running in circles.

So to buy them some time, Wendy pointed back toward the observation deck. With the door back into the decontamination chamber left open, the two quickly ran inside and pushed the door back onto the deck itself open. They then ran back inside and promptly closed the door again behind them. As an extra precaution, Wendy placed her hands on the door's valve and locked it shut before exhaustedly dropping to the ground with Dipper.

"You good, man?" Wendy asked Dipper through her panting.

"Yeah, yeah," Dipper nodded as he sat back up tiredly. "Can guarantee my legs are going to be destroyed tomorrow though."

Suddenly, they heard a belligerent roaring coming from back in the lab. They glanced at one another fearfully before deciding to crawl back over to the dashboard of buttons and computer monitors. They got on their knees and looked over at one of the screens displaying live camera footage of the lab activity.

In the monitor, they soon saw the Shapeshifter rolling up from its rolly polly form into the middle of the lab. It then shifted straight into a Gremloblin form and began aggressively flipping over equipment and smashing monitors. It continued to glance around the room, keeping an eye out for Dipper and Wendy, but grew frustrated by his lack of knowledge of their location and began roaring angrily.

"SHOW YOURSELVES!" it shouted as it marched offscreen to continue its search.

Dipper and Wendy looked on at the screen in horror, but also gained a slight sense of relief at the fact that they had thrown the Shifter off their trail.

For now, at least.

"Looks like we're safe for a bit," Wendy claimed as she sat back down on the floor, leaning her back against the dashboard as she tried to think for a moment. "I was really hoping I wouldn't have to see that thing again."

"UGH! This is all my fault!" Dipper exclaimed as he pulled down on the ears of his hat guiltily.

"Woah, what?" Wendy asked, wondering what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"I shouldn't have asked you to come along for this," he replied as he slumped back against the dashboard. "This was just supposed to be a harmless adventure, but instead, I dragged you into a nightmare that almost got you killed and put us against the Shapeshifter yet again. Rather than just respecting your decision not to come, I pushed you closer to your fears." He sighed as he rested his head on top of his knees. "I know you're probably under enough stress as it is with your move coming up. But I just wanted us to have a chance to hang out a bit more before then. I didn't mean to stress you out even more by asking you to come along."

Wendy looked at him for a moment, processing his remorseful words. But then, she smiled gratefully as she put a hand on his shoulder, prompting him to look back up at her.

"Hey, man, it's okay," she said forgivingly. "I mean, at no point so far today have I come close to pinning any of this stuff on you. At the same time, you need to keep in mind that I came along at my own will. If anything happened to me, the only person I have to blame is myself. Not the messenger. And what have I told you before? If I didn't think I could handle any of this, I would've left already."

"But, the Shapeshifter…" he reminded her. "I thought you were afraid of it."

"Yeah, sure. That thing kinda freaks me out," she admitted. "But you know what freaks me out even more? Knowing that the people I care about are in danger. And not to sound self-conceited or anything, but from what we've seen today, if I hadn't been here, who exactly would've been around to free you from a cabinet or even help go after your great uncle and the others?"

"That's true," he admitted as he rubbed his arm.

"You see?" she asked. "And as long as the Shapeshifter is free and everyone else is in trouble, I'm still not going anywhere. Regardless of how terrifying it might be, we came into this bunker together. And I'll be damned if we don't come out together with that gun to help Stan." She then offered her fist out to him. "Understood?"

Dipper thought for a second but then smiled as he bumped her fist back with his. "Understood."

"Awww, now, isn't that sweet?"

"AHHHH!" Dipper and Wendy screamed fearfully as they were startled by the sudden voice.

"Guys! Calm down! It's us!" Mabel claimed as she and Ryland stood right before them.

"Mabel?!" Dipper named in surprise.

"Ryland?!" Wendy named as well.

"What are you two doing here?" Dipper asked, incredibly confused by their presence. "I thought you two were supposed to be on a date?"

"Well...it kind of stopped being a date over an hour ago…" Mabel admitted as she rubbed the back of her neck and looked over at Ryland, the incident with the gnomes coming to both of their minds. "Anyway, we heard your screams and came down to rescue you guys!"

"Alright, I have a lot of questions right now, but I think my biggest one right now would be: how the hell did you guys get past the security room?" Dipper asked as he noticed the open door behind them that came from the security room.

"I mean, the door was open, so we just walked right across," Ryland answered.

"...without activating a single trigger…?" Dipper asked, eye twitching in shock by this revelation.

"Damn, Ford's right," Wendy realized as she glanced at Dipper. "That is a terrible change for a security room."

BANG!

The observation deck shook violently as a large bang had suddenly occurred somewhere within the lab. The four glanced around at one another fearfully as they lost balance for a brief moment.

"REVEAL YOURSELVES AT ONCE, SINGLE-FORMED WEAKLINGS!" shouted the angry voice of the Shapeshifter as it continued searching for them.

"Single-formed?" Mabel asked, eyes displaying concern. "Oh no...is that…?"

"...the Shapeshifter? Yes, it is," Dipper confirmed as he looked back at the live lab footage being displayed on the screen. "And he's not happy."

"I thought we froze him! How'd he get out?" Mabel asked as she walked up beside him and looked over at the monitor.

"Quick question: who is 'he?'" Ryland asked, having absolutely no grasp on who or what the Shapeshifter is.

"Look, now's not really the time to be going into details," Wendy stated bluntly. "All you really need to know is that he's loose and we need to figure out a way to stop him."

"Yeah, but, who is he?" Ryland repeated.

"Ford, Soos, McGucket, and Derrick already got trapped by him," Dipper added, speaking completely over Ryland's question. "So, it's all up to us now."

"How exactly are we gonna beat him, then?" Mabel asked, trying to think it over.

"I guess the only way is by getting him back inside one of those freezing tubes," Wendy suggested.

"Right," Dipper agreed as he glanced back at the screen displaying the live feed of the cooling system. "But how exactly are we going to…? OH NO!"

Realizing his panic, the other three promptly looked over at the screen displaying the cooling system feed. Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy looked on in shock as they spotted the Shapeshifter in a large rock monster form smashing and destroying each empty cooling system tube.

"I know you kids think you're clever!" it shouted out aimlessly as he punched through another tube. "But your old tricks won't work again! You'll have to try harder than a little refrigeration!"

"Well...crap…" Wendy said, feeling a sense of hopelessness as she watched the Shifter destroy the final empty cooling system tube.

"What do we do now?" Mabel asked, growing somewhat panicked. "Those tubes were our only way to freeze him! It's not like we can rewire the system and freeze him in a pool of water!"

Dipper's eyes bulged as she said this and was suddenly reminded of the new adjustments to the system that McGucket had made. Remembering what he said about an emergency procedure that can use water for freezing instead of nitrogen, he realized that Mabel's idea was actually plausible.

"Actually, maybe we can!" he claimed as he pressed a button on the dashboard to switch between the various live camera feeds.

Eventually, he landed on the feed of a camera pointed toward an outer section not too far beyond the cooling system. There was a steep slope that led to a valve that was surrounded by a pool of water. It only looked moderately deep, but the pit was fairly wide, which seemed to make up for the depth.

"I think I have an idea," Dipper claimed as he looked on at the feed of the pit. "Of course, it's gonna require all of us."

"Your sis is here now, bro-bro," Mabel said as she lightly punched him in the arm. "And she's ready for anything!"

"Yeah, dude!" Wendy said with a confident smile. "Pitch us the plan!"

"I'm down to help too, but just for the record, I still have, like, no idea who this guy is nor do I really know what's happening right now," Ryland admitted.

"Don't worry," Dipper assured him. "You're about to find out."

---

Outside, the Shifter continued searching around the laboratory for Dipper and Wendy. It inspected every single area and destroyed every single piece of equipment in its way as it searched. But still, it continued to find nothing. And the longer it searched, the angrier and more impatient it got.

"If you wish to make your death quick and painless, you will hand me your journal now, Dipper!" the Shifter announced. "But, should you make me wait any longer, I'll enjoy tearing you limb for limb; cataloging each and every single piece of your human flesh as a transformation to show to your uncle!"

"My, oh, my!" Dipper said as he stepped out into the open with his journal in hand, pretending to sound intrigued as he read through. "I gotta hand it to myself! I did a great job at drawing ALL THESE MONSTERS! I can't believe I actually managed to draw SO MANY!"

At the brink of its anger, the Shapeshifter immediately changed into a large monster with multiple legs and multiple eyes and let out a vicious, deafening screech, prompting Dipper to even cover his ears up.

"GIVE ME THAT JOURNAL, BOY!" the Shifter demanded.

Having obtained the Shifter's attention, Dipper spoke no more. He tucked his journal under his arm and made a run for it. The Shifter continued to chase him within the menacing form, his speed gaining on him. Dipper glanced behind his back once to get an idea on the distance between him and the Shifter. Realizing that the Shifter was gaining, he pushed himself to run even faster.

Eventually, Dipper reached the top of the slope leading down into the pit of water next to the valve. He glanced back at the Shifter once more before jumping down and sliding his feet against the slope while using his hand to help slow him down. All the Shifter managed to see was him jumping down the slope.

Mabel and Ryland sat hidden to the sides near the edge of the slope, poking their heads out the slightest just to get an idea of where the Shifter was. As it neared the edge, the two prepared themselves to flank.

"NOW!" Mabel called out.

The two proceeded to leap forward in each others direction, hitting the ground in front of one another at the very edge of the slope. The Shifter had reached the edge at the exact same moment and managed to trip over the teens as they intercepted his path. The trip resulted in the Shifter flipping as it fell down the slope, violently splashing into the water below.

Dipper, on the other hand, had managed to stop himself from sliding all the way down the slope. Instead, he stood carefully balanced in the middle of it, watching the Shifter in the water from above.

"Yes!" Dipper exclaimed victoriously as he looked back up at Mabel and Ryland. "Nice going, guys!"

The Shifter switched back into its normal form as it stood back up, now drenched from head to toe in water. "Why are you celebrating? You think water is going to stop me? Please. You really DON'T know what you're up against."

"Actually, the water's not to stop you," Dipper smugly claimed as he leaned over to the side and patted down on a wire running down into the water from the top of the slope. "It's actually so the improved cooling system has another liquid vessel to run through to begin its freezing process."

"What?!" the Shifter asked in surprise.

BEEP!

At that moment, Wendy had pressed a red button on the observation deck to start the freezing process of the cooling system. She then sat back with a smug look on her face as she watched process take place over the live feed on the monitor.

With the system activated, a blue substance began running through the wire down the slope and into the pit of water. With a second wire running into the water from the opposite end of the slope, the blue substance was spreading throughout the water at a fast rate.

"What's happening?!" the Shifter asked as it looked around at the water, beginning to feel an intensifying cold that was beginning to make its movements slower.

"What does it look like, genius? You're freezing!" Mabel pointed out from above. "With a hundred-percent more water than last time!"

"The process is gonna continue spreading to whatever water it can find," Dipper explained. "And considering your entire body was submerged just a second ago…"

Just as he spoke, the freezing water began to spread upwards little by little from the Shifter's waist. Each second, it began growing colder and slower as the water started to turn to ice.

"NOOOOO!" the Shifter shouted lastly.

It was soon cut off as its face had suddenly frozen. At that moment, the Shapeshifter had been frozen from head-to-toe, with its lower half being submerged below in the frozen water and its upper half sticking out from above. Everyone else let out a sigh of relief as they had defeated it once again.

"WOO-HOO-HOOOO!" Wendy shouted ecstatically as she made her way over all the way from the observation deck. "We did it!"

"Yeah, we did!" Dipper shouted happily as he slid the rest of the way down the slope. He stood up on the ice and looked on at the frozen Shifter before turning back up to everyone else. "Woo! Nice work, everyone!"

"Thanks!" Ryland nodded. "I still had no idea what was happening, but at least I contributed!"

"Don't worry! You did great!" Mabel told him as she wrapped her arms around him affectionately, which he returned.

"Alright, this got sappy quick," Dipper said in slight disgust as he immediately turned away from the two.

"Start getting used to it, nerd," Mabel told him as she pulled Ryland even closer out of spite.

"God, I'm just glad we actually stopped that thing," Wendy stated as she looked back down at the frozen Shifter.

"I don't know about you guys though, but did anyone else feel like that was a bit too easy?" Ryland asked as he glanced back and forth between everyone. "Like, the way you guys were talking about him before back there, I figured he'd be much more of a fight. But here, we took him out pretty easily."

"To be fair, Mabel and I were twelve last time we fought it and Wendy was fifteen," Dipper claimed as he thought over it. "With that former experience in mind, maybe we were just more prepared to take this thing on a second time." A sudden thought entered his mind as he looked back at the Shifter. "Oh my God, Ford is going to be so proud when he finds out that we stopped the Shifter on our own again!"

"Yeah, we should probably go back and free him and the rest of the guys, shouldn't we?" Wendy asked.

"Do we have to get Derrick back too?" Mabel asked, rolling her eyes at the thought of him.

"Yes, we have to. That's not even a question," Dipper replied as he crossed his arms. "Don't start with that now."

CRACK!

Everyone's attention was then alerted toward a sudden cracking sound. As they glanced around for a moment, their eyes eventually glanced back down at the frozen Shifter. They soon noticed a number of various cracks expanding among its frozen upper half.

"I...will...be….FREE!"

At that moment, the Shifter bust through its frozen stasis, freeing the entire upper half of its body. Dipper, being the closest, was blasted by the various ice shards that spiked out as the Shifter burst free. Though he managed to avoid most of them, he still received various scratches amongst his exposed skin.

While the Shifter had its upper body freed, its lower body remained underneath the ice. It didn't hinder its ability to switch forms, however, and it proceeded to shift into its large rock monster form, nearly tripling its size. With its enlarged form, it managed to easily pull itself out from the rest of the ice, stomping its feet down to smash any shards that still remained attached.

Completely freed, its attention turned back to Dipper, Mabel, Ryland, and Wendy, who all stared at it in horror. Angered by their attempt to freeze it, it let out a loud, intimidating roar, which prompted everyone to take a few steps back in fear, with Mabel even grabbing onto Ryland's arm.

"Yeeeaaah...figured that was too easy…" Ryland stated nervously as he stared up at the Shifter.

---

"Dammit!" Ford exclaimed annoyedly as he looked on at his wristwatch, which still lay underneath the thick webbing, the laser still running and cutting through the webs. "Why is this taking so long?"

"Didn't you set that thing to a low intensity or something?" Derrick asked as he watched Ford grow frustrated.

"Yes, but if I set it any higher, I'll start cooking my hand under here," Ford replied as he continued to watch the red glow of the laser emitted from under the webs.

"Sounds like a small price to pay for freedom," Derrick claimed. "Set it to a hundred and let it blast for a few seconds. You'll have to deal with a second-degree burn for a few days, but you'll be able to make work with that watch now so we can go and help."

"Son, with the amount of power I've installed into this watch, if I set this laser to hundred, I'll be dealing with a lost hand. Not a second-degree-burn," Ford corrected, giving Derrick a strange look.

Derrick thought for a moment. "You're the uncle who's been through dimensions and stuff, right? I'm sure you've been somewhere where you can get a new six-fingered-hand or-"

SNAP!

"...AH!"

At that moment, Derrick's webs had suddenly snapped loose, resulting in him falling to the ground, much to the surprise of Ford, Soos, and McGucket. He remained surprised as well and looked around in confusion.

"Woah! Derrick, dude! You're free!" Soos addressed.

"But...how? I wasn't even moving," Derrick questioned.

Ford looked down at the snapped webbing and noticed the Quantum Destabilizer laying on top of most of the web that had come off. "Perhaps, your weight combined with that of the Quantum Destabilizer was enough to weaken the web with all the pressure you both exerted due to the force of gravity."

"But if it was the weight, then how is Soos still hanging?" Derrick asked before his eyes glanced over at the man himself. "No offense, dude. It's a genuine question."

"No worries, dawg," Soos assured him with a smile. "Heck, I was wondering that myself."

"Whatever might've caused it, all that matters is you're free now," Ford settled on. "Now come and free us too."

"Alright, but for the record, I don't know any of you people well enough for this not to be weird for me," Derrick claimed as he placed his hands on Ford's webbing and began pulling on it.

"Yeesh, dude. It only gets uncomfortable when you say things like that," Soos said as he gave Derrick an odd look.

"Mmmm-mmmmmm. Mm-mm-mm-mmmmm," McGucket muffled through his webs in agreement.

"Heh! See? Even the old dude agrees!" Soos chuckled.

"AHHHH!" screamed Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, and Ryland from the tunnels.

"Dude, maybe I'm going crazy, but I think I just heard Mabel and Ryland over there too!" Soos pointed out, eyes looking somewhat panicked.

"What?!" Ford exclaimed fearfully at the idea that his great-niece had also involved herself in the dangerous matters. "Derrick, hurry! The others are in trouble!"

"I'm trying!" he assured him as he kept pulling on the webs to no success. "These webs are so damn thick! What kind of spider makes webs so strong?"

"In that case, forget about us!" Ford told him. "Go and help the others yourself!"

"What? How am I supposed to help?" Derrick questioned. "I'm the only one in this room who's never even faced that thing before!"

"That doesn't mean anything!" Ford assured. "Trust me! Despite the many forms it can take, they all retain one weakness of his! And that's his impatience!"

"Impatience?" Derrick asked, confused. "What does that mean? I have to annoy it to death?"

"You'll understand what I mean! Now go!" Ford ordered.

Derrick looked hesitant for a moment, but then he nodded at his request. He then turned around and made a run for the tunnels to rescue his friends, leaving the others behind to dangle from the webs.

---

"Guys, run!" Dipper shouted to the others up above as he tried to run toward one of the other tunnels out of the pit.

"Oh no, you don't!" the Shapeshifter shouted as it swapped from its rock monster form into its spider form. It quickly jumped on to the wall and rapidly shot an abundance of webs at the four. The long webs shot out and stuck to the backs of Dipper, Mabel, and Ryland as they attempted to run.

"NO!" Dipper exclaimed as he was pulled back by the Shifter.

"AHH!" Mabel screamed.

"HEY!" Ryland shouted.

As the three were pulled back, the Shifter had shot another web directly at Wendy as she tried to run. However, instead of sticking to her, she grabbed a metal panel from the side and quickly tossed it behind her, allowing the web to stick to that instead. Having evaded the shot, she continued running away as fast as she could from the Shifter.

"Get back here, child!" the Shifter angrily called out to her.

Wendy paid no mind to it, however, and simply continued on her way. Soon, she reached the observation deck door and quickly ran inside.

"Ah, forget it!" the Shifter dismissed before pulling on the webs that it had shot, which pulled up Dipper, Mabel, and Ryland together. It then focused its sight on Dipper. "I already have just who I need!"

"No! Wait!" Dipper pleaded.

"Hand over the journal this instant, boy!" the Shifter demanded, as it drew a set of claws with one of his legs and held it up to his throat. "Or am I going to have to pry it from you?"

"Hey ugly!"

Everyone's eyes then turned back over in Wendy's direction, all the way across the lab and beside the door to the observation room. Despite the distance, they were able to see her visibly holding out a red booklet of some sort within her hands. On the front of it, there was a hint of gold that looked like a six-fingered hand. The entire booklet resembled one of Ford's journals.

"Look what I just found in the observation room!" she said as she held it out to them. "You know, Dipper's journal is great and all, but why settle for that when you could have one of the originals just like you wanted?"

"Wendy, what are you doing?!" Dipper asked, confused as to what she was trying to accomplish.

"No…" the Shifter said in disbelief as he looked on at the distant booklet. "Could it really be?"

"You want it? Come and get it!" Wendy challenged as she ran back onto the observation deck with the book in hand.

Taking Wendy's challenge, the Shifter proceeded to throw Dipper, Mabel, and Ryland at a wall, blasting them all with a web to stick and entrap them on the wall. With the teens trapped, it lept off from the wall, shifting back into its rolly polly form to ball up and roll quickly over toward her location.

"WENDY!" Dipper called out desperately.

---

As the Shifter rolled up to the door of the observation deck, it quickly swapped into its rock monster form again. Without hesitation or withdrawal, it proceeded to smash straight through the door, decimating the decontamination chamber entirely. It then transformed back into its normal form as it carefully stepped onto the deck.

As it walked onto the deck, it glanced it's head around for Wendy. But she didn't appear directly within its initial line of sight.

"Where are you, human?" it asked furiously. "I've grown tired of your little games of hide and seek! Reveal yourself and surrender the journal at once!"

As it looked around the deck, it failed to take a moment to glance behind it's back to spot Wendy in the corner. There, she was silently crouched as she had her ax wielded and ready to strike.

Unnoticed by the Shifter, she proceeded to stand back to her feet and charge herself at it with a vicious battle cry.

"AHHHHHH!"

Caught off-guard, the Shifter turned around to face her but was too late. At that point, Wendy had managed to successfully lay a hit in on its chest. The blade of the ax had pierced straight through the Shifter's skin, prompting it to cry out in agony as the wound oozed green blood.

Knowing it wouldn't be enough, she pulled the ax out and continued to hack at it. Each time she hit, she grunted and yelled viciously, putting her all into every single swing. She hit it in the side, the leg, the back, and in it's swollen arm, not holding back with any of her blows.

They had already tried to freeze it and that failed. Now, she was handling things her way.

After striking it multiple times throughout its body, she decided that she had done enough. She stood back with her ax, the blade covered in green blood, and watched the Shifter as it coughed and sputtered weakly.

"Had enough yet?" she asked through her panting.

To her surprise, the Shapeshifter began to laugh. As it turned back toward her, she held her ax back up readily.

"Foolish child. Have you forgotten? I'm a Shapeshifter! Any part of me that you break…" It cut himself off as it suddenly started to regenerate and heal the wounds that it had taken from the ax. "...I can easily repair!"

"And I can easily break again!" Wendy stated as she held the ax in her hand and proceeded to charge back at it.

However, she was quickly subdued as the Shapeshifter made a rapid switch into the Hide-Behind and swiftly evaded her charge before making yet another switch into Gremloblin and kicking her hard in the back, which sent her flying into a wall, bashing the side of her face.

She kneeled down to the ground in pain for a moment, but soon stood back up and gave the Shifter an angry glare as she wiped some blood that dripped down the side of her face from her nose.

"Is that the best you got?"

"Why do you insist on fighting me, child?" the Shifter asked, somewhat surprised. "Do my monstrous forms not intimidate you?"

"They did at first," she admitted. "But then you started switching forms so much that now, I can hardly tell them apart from one another. Now I don't care what you turn into. They all look the same to me! So go ahead!" she dared as she entered a fighting stance with her ax. "Hit me with your scariest form!"

The Shifter switched back into its normal form and smirked at this request. "If you insist…"

At that moment, the Shifter swapped forms yet again. This time into an exact look-alike of Wendy in her current appearance. As the shifting process finished, the Shifter grinned at her, leaving Wendy with her mouth agape.

"Oh man...I had to open my mouth…" she said to herself, immediately regretting her decision.

"YAHHH!" the Shifter screamed with her voice as it jumped up into the air and tackled her to the ground, forcing her ax out of her hands.

Both of them took immediate notice of the unwielded ax on the ground, which caused them to start to fight one another in order to reach it. Being in essentially the same form, many of the same moves and fighting tactics that one person used was repeated by the other. Every punch that Wendy made, the Shifter repeated. And every kick the Shifter made, Wendy repeated.

Though, the moves were more harmful to Wendy than the Shifter, as she didn't have multiple other forms to switch out and into to keep the battle going. But despite how even the fight had been turning out, the Shifter remained persistent on copying her form, which actually seemed to work in his favor, as it came off as distracting for Wendy to have to fight herself. Meanwhile, the Shifter's perspective of Wendy stayed the same throughout their encounters, and so there was nothing to distract it.

Eventually, the Shifter got the better of Wendy and managed to get its hands on her ax before she did. It then kicked her in the face, sending her back down to the ground as it jumped on top of her with the ax in hand.

"Spare me your time-wasting shticks, human," the Shifter ordered as it grew annoyed. "The only person you're going to hurt in this fight is yourself. So make things easy for the both of us and hand over Ford's journal!"

"Oh, you mean this thing?" Wendy asked smugly as she pulled out the booklet resembling Ford's journal from her flannel shirt. However, a closer look verified that the booklet wasn't actually Ford's journal at all. "This isn't the journal, genius! It's just some old manual with a journal cover painted on the front that I found in the file cabinet. I just showed it to lure you away from my friends. Worked like a charm!"

"AH! You've tested my patience for the last time!" the Shifter shouted, reaching peak infuriation.

"What are you going to do? Keep threatening me?" Wendy asked insultingly.

"You must be stupid for thinking you could fight me alone!" the Shifter claimed as it held the ax closer to her face. "You may have beaten me last time, but it wasn't something you managed on your own! Now, all of your friends are trapped and can't do anything to save you! And once I'm done here with you, I'm going to finish them next!"

"Man, my voice does not suit the evil monologuing kind…" Wendy claimed, feeling weird hearing her own voice talking back to her with such an odd vocabulary that she'd never use the way the Shifter did.

"I've already run out of patience!" the Shifter claimed as it put a boot on her throat before lifting the ax above its head with both hands, preparing to strike. "Enjoy your NEW form!"

Wendy's eyes squinted fearfully as she prepared herself for the Shifter's final attack.

However, the Shifter was suddenly kicked from behind by an unnoticed figure. The kick was hard enough to send it flying right over her and through the open security room door. As its body touched the ground, it fell on top of multiple different trigger blocks, enabling the trap. Soon after, both doors to the room shut. The room itself shook for a moment before blocks began sticking outward from the floor, walls, and ceiling.

"What the?!" the Shifter questioned fearfully as it watched the security room begin to close in on it. "No, no, no!"

Aware of its own lack of knowledge on how to get past the room on its own, the Shifter began to panic. It then began quick-shifting through multiple forms in an attempt to stop the room itself.

It turned into its giant rock monster form and began aggressively punching a wall of blocks. It turned into a multi-legged creature with a head that resembled a hand, which it clenched into a fist and slammed down on the floor blocks. It lastly turned into the spider-like creature and began rapidly shooting webs everywhere, coating the walls, floor, and ceiling in attempt to stop the blocks from moving. But all of the attempts to save itself were to no avail.

"NOOOOO!" it cried out hopelessly as it banged on the wall with its fist in its normal form.

Wendy was left surprised by what had happened to the Shifter and stared at the closed security room door in shock. She then turned back around and glanced up at the person who had kicked it inside, her eyes bulging at the revelation.

"Derrick?!"

"Oh, hey!" Derrick greeted as he flicked his fingers at her. "You do know my name!"

"I don't understand," she said, scratching her head in slight confusion. "How'd you know which one of us was which?"

"Well, Ford told me that impatience was a weakness the Shapeshifter carries throughout its forms. So, when I caught up in time to catch you two fighting, I also caught an evil Wendy saying they ran out of patience. I paired two and two together and yeah!" he explained as he walked over to the sealed security room door and leaned his back against it victoriously. "Now, that thing's going to die by being slowly crushed. Talk about irony, huh?"

"Wow," she replied, still in utter disbelief that Derrick, of all people, had been the one to come to the rescue.

She didn't know him all that well and therefore never had much thought about him, but after what he had done, she had gained a whole new level of respect for him that she didn't have for him before.

She smiled. "That's good stuff, man. You get major credit for that one. Thanks."

Derrick smiled back at her earnestly. "Just happy to be useful for once."

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"LET ME OUT!" the Shifter cried out as it banged its fist on the blocks of the wall connected to the observation deck.

"Give it up, man!" Wendy demanded through the door as she stood back up on her feet, brushing her hands down on her clothes. "We beat you! This time, for good! It's over!"

The banging on the wall had stopped at that moment, only to soon be replaced with sinister laughter from the Shifter.

"Maybe for me...but not for you…"

"Dude, are you still trying to be scary?" Wendy asked. "The shtick died when you got outsmarted by a bunch of teens."

"Oh, you don't even know it, child," the Shifter claimed with a chuckle as the walls continued to close in on it. "But a grave future awaits you and your friends. Most specifically, you. Soon, you'll let your guard down, and before you know it, you'll make the greatest mistake of your life."

"I've already made the greatest mistake of my life a few months ago," Wendy replied as she guiltily referred to her expulsion from the local college. "Whatever I do next won't compare."

"Whatever you say, kid. But you're wrong," the Shifter claimed as the blocks started to tightly confine it within a corner, it's crushing imminent. "You think dealing with me may have been bad, but the very next threat you face will be even worse. You feel clever now, but in time, it'll be YOU who feels dumb for their mistake. And THIS will be the last thing anyone will ever remember you for..."

Just as the blocks started to close in against the Shifter, it quickly swapped into its form of Wendy, pressing itself against the wall as it began to get crushed.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"

SLAM!

The Shifter's final scream cut off as the blocks had finally crushed it, finishing it off once and for all.

Wendy and Derrick stood back on the observation deck, staring on at the locked security room door in utter shock at what they had just heard. Wendy was substantially more uncomfortable than he was. Not because of the Shifter's threats, but because of the sound of hearing herself getting crushed to death. The sound unnerved her more than the entire Shifter encounter itself, so much to the point that she weakly dropped to her knees. She placed her hands on the floor and faced the ground, shutting her eyes as she tried to process everything.

Derrick placed his hands in the pockets of his hoodie as he continued to stare uncomfortably at the door. "Now, I think I'm finally starting to see what Dipper was talking about…"

Wendy glanced over her shoulder and looked at him. "What?"

"...the beauty of this town."

---

A few hours passed as Derrick and Wendy went back through the bunker to go and free their friends from the Shapeshifter's webbing. It had also been explained that Derrick had killed the Shifter itself by pushing it into the security room. Neither Ford and McGucket had appeared to mind, both agreeing how dangerous the creature was and that it was for the best that it be eliminated for good than risking it destroying all of them.

After a long process of removing the webs, the entire bunker was inspected for damages. With all the Shifter had done to it while initially hunting down Dipper and Wendy, it was quickly deduced that a lot needed to be fixed and replaced. However, to everyone's surprise, Ford and McGucket still didn't seem to mind.

Eventually, it had been decided that it was time to just leave the bunker. It was a bit of a complicated process, as they had to get past the reopened security room, which still contained the crushed remains of the Shapeshifter. Despite turning into Wendy before it was crushed, the remains appeared as though it had reverted back to its normal form at the last moment. Even with that in mind, Wendy had refused to look at the remains and just insisted on getting back up to surface as quickly as possible.

Once everyone had exited, McGucket promptly closed up the bunker again. Nearly everyone stood outside with a look of exhaustion or dread on their face as they continued to go through the various emotions following the events that had just occurred.

"Well, I'd say that was a pretty satisfying sequel adventure!" Soos claimed as he suddenly put on a cheerful smile. "I'll admit though, I'm not too sure if that was better than the original or not. It was definitely a lot edgier. Guess I'll have to consider this when I write my video review…"

McGucket looked down at his hands, where he held the drained Quantum Destabilizer that they had retrieved from the bunker. "Well, Stanford, despite all that we've been through today, at least we managed to retrieve the Destabilizer."

"Yeah, that's a plus," Ford admitted as he examined the weapon. "Now, all we gotta do is start figuring out how to repurpose it as a dream demon mind destroyer for Stanley. That's a whole 'nother task of its own though. It'll probably take days to really piece together a viable schematic."

At that moment, the winds started picking up as a helicopter began flying overhead to the group. McGucket waved at the pilot as it started to land on the open path ahead.

"If ya want, I can take ya back over to the mansion and we can go over all the old schematics for designs I never finished," he offered. "Might be able to find somethin' for us to work off of."

"Sure, I have time," Ford accepted before turning back to the bunker. "But, what's going to happen with the bunker? The Shapeshifter really tore the lab apart."

"I'll worry about cleaning up all the messes down there," he claimed as he started walking over to the landing helicopter. "Then, I say one of these days, we both come back and redesign my redesigns together. Ya know, make the place viable for the both of us this time."

Ford smiled at his partner's generous offer. "That sounds like a plan."

"Dudes, can I come with?" Soos suddenly asked as he walked up to the two. "The Avenging Heroes: Age of Ultra Robot Guy starts in an hour and I think it'd be pretty dope to watch it in all its 4k glory in the old Northwest screening room!"

"We have a screening room?" McGucket asked, scratching his head at this revelation. "Huh. Guess that's another room for the butlers to clean." He then gestured for Soos to hop on the chopper. "But, sure, fella! Hop aboard!"

"Yes!" Soos cheered as he fist pumped the air before climbing on board the helicopter ahead of Ford and McGucket. "This helicopter ride will finally give me a chance to eat the bean soup lunch that Melody packed me!"

Ford and McGucket's eyes bulged in fear as he Soos proceeded to pull out his brown lunch bag from his pocket.

"Bean soup lunch?" McGucket asked, growing regretful of his decision to bring Soos aboard.

Soos then ate a spoonful of the wrapped-up bean soup. He then glanced outside at the others who stood behind. "Oh, where are my manners? Any of you dudes want to come along too? We could share the soup while we're at it."

Dipper, Mabel, Derrick, and Ryland exchanged hesitant looks of disgust with one another.

"Uh...yeah, we're good, Soos!" Dipper replied with a wave.

"Yeah, we'll just see you and Grunkle Ford back at the Shack!" Mabel added as she waved as well. She then gave remorseful looks to Grunkle Ford and McGucket. "Good luck, you guys…"

"Right…" Ford replied as he and McGucket waved back regretfully just as the helicopter began to lift off. "See you kids later…"

"Avenging Heroes!" Soos shouted triumphantly as the helicopter gained speed and began to fly away.

Dipper, Mabel, Derrick, and Ryland continued to watch as the chopper flew off, each of them feeling a sense of remorse for what Ford and McGucket would likely endure soon.

"Poor old men," Ryland said as he shook his head.

"Drat! And I actually wanted to watch The Avenging Heroes on TV tonight!" Mabel claimed somewhat disappointed.

"Maybe we could go back to the Shack and watch it there," Ryland suggested. "End the night simple after such a crazy date."

"That'd be great!" Mabel agreed to do before remembering something. "Except, my Grunkle Stan is still at the Shack, and after earlier, I'm pretty sure he'd try to be a bit annoying toward us again…"

"My place then?" Ryland offered instead. "I mean, my folks can be annoying too, but they usually leave the living room TV free around this time."

"I like the way you think!" Mabel said with a smile, satisfied with the idea.

"Hey, uh, not to impede on your time together, but Derrick and I like the Avenging Heroes too," Dipper claimed as he and Derrick approached the two, both equally interested in watching the movie as well.

"Oh, sure! You two can join us!" she replied with a sly smile.

"Wait, seriously?" Dipper asked.

"Yeah! I mean, if you two can put up with us kissing during all the boring scenes," Mabel claimed as she placed her fingers between Ryland's. Her words had put him off-guard and prompted his eyes to suddenly bulge, having had no prior knowledge of these so-called plans of hers.

Dipper and Derrick's faces immediately put on looks of disgust as she brought this up. Derrick remained just a bit more curious though.

"What does she consider boring?" he asked Dipper.

"It's a superhero movie, so basically all the scenes where people aren't punching each other," Dipper explained.

"So, like two-thirds of the whole movie?" Derrick realized, eyes narrowing. "Yeah, no thanks. I'd rather projectile vomit everywhere."

"Suit yourselves!" Mabel said as she began walking off with Ryland. "More microwaved popcorn for us!"

"But...I kinda like the boring parts..." Ryland told her in a somewhat mopey tone as they walked off, not really finding any part of the movie boring enough to start a kissing session. That and he was just generally nerdier when it came to comic-book movies.

At that point, Dipper and Derrick were left behind as the new couple proceeded to go on their own way.

"Ah, whatever. We can watch the Avenging Heroes at my place instead," Derrick offered. "My granddad's probably sleeping in the living room sofa chair though, so we'll have to move that out of the way first, but we should be good after."

"Yeah, that's fine, I guess," Dipper accepted. "And hey, man, I wanna apologize for being kind of a jerk earlier. I mean, sure, you're a bit rusty around the edges with how you steal and stuff, but at the end of the day, you're still just as much a friend to me as the rest of these guys. And after Wendy said you were the one who beat the Shapeshifter, I think I figured that you really are starting to get a grasp of things around here. All that said, I'm sorry if you've been feeling pushed to the side."

"We're cool, man," Derrick said with a forgiving shrug. "It's not like you were really wrong anyway. I do have to work on myself and my ways from back home, so I wouldn't say I have a grasp of anything just yet. As I said to Wendy, I'm just happy to be useful for once."

"Well, I can assure you that it won't be the last time," Dipper replied as he gave him a brotherly punch in the shoulder.

"Thanks, man," Derrick said with a smile. He then noticed a pay phone to the side and gestured over to it. "Anyway, I'm gonna go call my granddad real quick. Whether he answers or not will say if he's awake or asleep."

"Hey, would it be cool if I invited Wendy?" Dipper asked as she suddenly came back to mind. "She's usually one for movie night."

"Go for it," Derrick shrugged carelessly. "Though, she might be a little shaken up from you-know-what."

Realizing what he was talking about, Dipper turned his head back over to the bunker tree. There, he saw Wendy still standing next to it, staring right up at it.

"Right," he nodded, acknowledging how her state of mind might've been a bit messed up after what had happened back in the bunker. Nonetheless, he turned back and casually made his way over to her. "Hey, Wendy!"

Despite the call of her name, she continued to stare up at the tree. Her face displayed a variety of mixed emotions at that moment, between confusion, sorrow, guilt, and anger.

He couldn't see her face, but he knew that something was up based on her lack of response and general posture. "Wendy? You okay?"

She heard him previously and heard him again. However, the second time she acknowledged that she was still alive and that the adventure was over now. And so, she let out a grateful sigh before smiling as she turned back to him.

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Well, if you're up for it...Derrick and I were wondering if you wanted to head back to his place to watch Avenging Heroes," he offered as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Since, it'll probably be one of the last times we get to have a movie night for a while. But, you don't have to go if you don't want to…"

"Oh, don't start with that stuff, man!" she said with a chuckle as she shoved him in the arm. "Trust me, I'm down. Especially after an adventure like that, I think I could use a little superhero movie brain-frying."

"Well, I just called home and my granddad didn't pick up," Derrick claimed as he stepped back over to the two. "So that's pretty much a guaranteed sign that granddad's sleeping and we gotta move his chair first."

"That's fine by me," Wendy replied with a casual shrug. "I call not being the one who has to move his feet though."

"Me too," Dipper quickly jumped on before giving Derrick an apologetic look. "Sorry, Derrick."

"Wow, even after defeating the bad guy, I'm still the guy that my friends like to screw," Derrick said somewhat annoyedly as he crossed his arms, though giving off a slight smile to assure his words weren't all in bad taste.

"Nah, you're cool, man," Dipper reassured him.

"Yeah, I just don't wanna touch an old man's feet," Wendy cleared up.

"You think I want to either?" Derrick asked.

"Well, he is your granddad," Dipper pointed out.

"Yeah, but we're watching the movie at my house," Derrick argued.

"Your house where we have to move your gramp's chair first before we even sit down to watch it," Wendy argued back.

"How about we just rock, paper, scissors it on the way there?" Dipper suggested. "Loser has to move his feet."

"Alright, now that's an idea I can get down with," Derrick agreed on.

"This is so stupid," Wendy claimed with an amused chuckle.

"You're still going to miss this type of banter when you're gone, aren't you?" Dipper playfully asked her.

"Yeah," she nodded with a warm smile as she looked over at him. "I'm definitely gonna miss this."

Dipper's question was meant to come off more as humorous than sentimental. But looking back over at her, he couldn't help but give a warm smile back. The day was rough, but it was nice to see that by the end of it, they could still share the same old smiles and laughs they knew each other for.

Leaving the darkness behind in favor of embracing the light.

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(Updated as of June 13th, 2020)

And there we have it! Quite a bit of development for a number of characters, as well as the start of a new relationship. I'm generally happy with how this one turned out all around.

There isn't too much to discuss in regard to the episode itself, but there is something I'd like to address.

So that's about all for this chapter/episode. Tune in next episode, where we actually get a bit more serious. It'll probably be the next emotionally-driven episode since Those Old Jersey Shores.

Next Episode: Little Red Riding

Until then!

-Absolute Rift