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)

38. Ryland On Wheels: Part 3

Ryland On Wheels: Part 3

---

Up in a cave inside the right hanging cliff above Gravity Falls, Ford continued to guide Stan and Derrick into the scornet hive. As they walked through, Derrick was put off by a sudden change of scent.

"What's that smell?" he asked, processing the sweet bitterness of the air.

"Scornet honey," Ford answered. "Means we're just about there."

"I know these are like some unnatural type of hornet, but I thought only bees made honey," Derrick wondered.

"Well, hornets are just a type of wasp. Wasps generally don't produce honey as much or as frequently as bees do," Ford explained. "Scornets carry over that trait, and typically produce their major honey loads in the summer; lucky for us."

Stan looked up the hive walls as they walked, seeing very minimal amounts of a yellowish-brown substance dripping down the walls. "Is that stuff just as edible as normal honey?"

"I wouldn't say that. I actually brought home a sample for tasting many years ago, but the gnome I was studying at the time got a hold of it and ate it himself," Ford replied. "He's...uh...no longer with us..."

"Dammit, and I was beginning to think I was close to a meal," Derrick groaned, still not over his growing starvation.

"My guess is it's another way of expressing their scorn," Ford assumed.

He then stopped in place, eyes bulging as he noticed something ahead of them. Glancing to the side, he noticed a small bunker-like space in the wall that could be used as an easy cover from the main passage they had been walking through.

"Get down. Stay absolutely quiet," he urged, pushing the two into the bunker before sitting by on lookout in the hall.

At that moment, a scornet began passing slowly through the main passage, seemingly on guard. It was large, appearing over twice the size as an average adult human. Its visible stinger was particularly terrifying, as it looked like the size of a large blade. The buzzing from its wings filled the silence as it passed, but it also sounded like it was murmuring to itself.

"Man, I really want to BUZZ-ing kill someone right now," the scornet said as it passed, not noticing the three in the bunker.

As it passed them, Derrick stared at it with wide eyes due to its sheer size and apparent aggression. "Jesus…"

"Yep," Ford nodded. "If just one of them sees us, it'll alert the entire hive and they'll all come after us. Even without any bee allergies, we're all dead men based on the size of those stingers."

"So what's the plan then, Sixer?" Stan asked. "We get interdimensional bee suits and take them head on?"

"Or use your badass mech suit and just go on a scornet killing spree like with the crushrooms," Derrick suggested.

"No. Nothing as head-on and dangerous as that," Ford shook his head. "An entire hive of Scornets are not a force to be reckoned with. Not even my exoskeleton will allow me to last long when I have thousands of steel-piercing stingers coming at me."

"Why not? You said we were here for honey, didn't you?" Stan asked.

"Not just any honey. Queen scornet honey," Ford clarified. "It has a much higher potency level than average scornet honey, which will make the weapon we're using against Bill much stronger. I think it's stored in one of the back honeycomb cells."

"So how are we going to get back there then?" Derrick asked.

"Sneaking is our best and only option," Ford said as he looked at their surroundings. "We have a safe position where we are right now though, and I don't think it'd be wise for all five of us to sneak arou-wait, where are Dipper and Evan?"

Stan and Derrick turned their heads and looked around the bunker, only now coming to the realization that the two were absent.

"Clearly not here," Stan said casually.

"Did it seriously take us this long to notice?" Derrick asked, kind of awestruck by the lack of attention they had been paying.

"Did they even follow us inside?" Stan asked.

"I don't know," Ford said worriedly. "But that scornet that just passed us was heading right out where we came inside. I hope they have enough sense to hide. We can't have the whole hive waking."

"Do we go back for them then?"

"No. You two stay here," Ford ordered as he stood up. "I'll go sneak in and out with the honey myself. It's easier than trying to sneak us all in. You two sit here quietly, and don't move or bring any attention to yourselves."

At that moment, Ford pressed a button on Meridian and seemingly vanished.

"What the-?!" Stan asked in shock.

A second after, Ford reappeared in the same position. "Heheh. Don't worry. I forgot to mention that Evan fixing Meridian's errors seems to have also fixed the camo module I installed. Should make sneaking around much easier if I basically blend in with my surroundings. Anyways, as I said, stay out and stay quiet. I'll be back."

He then reactivated his camo module and proceeded to blend in perfectly with each of his surroundings. Stan and Derrick couldn't see a trace of him and simply sat in silence for a moment.

Assuming Ford had left, Derrick turned toward Stan. "So wait, let me get this straight- he has all those features on that watch, but he forgot to add a map?"

"I KNOW, RIGHT?!" Stan shouted, glad that someone agreed with him. However, he suddenly received an unknown slap on the back of the head. "OW!"

"Quiet," Ford's voice told him, remaining in his invisible form. "I haven't left yet."

---

Inside a setup tent by the bike course, Yuri was inside cleaning his bike with a damp rag. From behind him, Mabel's eye peeped into the tent, spying on him and his actions.

She then turned to Gideon, who stood beside her, along with the others. "Alright Gideon, you know what to do, right?"

"Of course, Mabel darling," Gideon smugly replied. "There ain't a better charmer on this planet than wittle ol' me."

"You're fourteen. Grow up already," Mabel said with an annoyed eye roll.

Gideon pouted at her bitterness. "Gosh, you've grown from a sweet peach into quite the sour apple, haven't you?"

"Just get the job done, Gideon…" Mabel urged, internally cringing from every name he gave her.

Gideon narrowed his eyes and sighed, still not content with her attitude. But he knew his side and sucked it up as he walked into the tent with a cheery smile.

"My, my! Yuri Wyatts!" Gideon greeted from behind, grabbing his attention. "Ain't this a pleasure!"

Yuri stared at Gideon for a moment, trying to recall who he was. "Powder Hair!"

"Erm...Gideon."

"Right, right," Yuri carelessly dismissed. "It's been a while, kid. What brings ya here?"

"Ah, you know. I was just watching the competition and figured I would just pop in and say hello to the best bike rider in Gravity Falls!"

"How kind of ya, Powder Hair," Yuri accepted his flattery.

"It's Gideon."

"Ya know, I should really thank ya again for the necklace," Yuri said as he held the amulet out to him, hanging from the thin string. "I initially liked it just for how it looked, but turns out it's done a lot more for me than I could've imagined."

"Is that so?" Gideon asked, pretending not to know what he was talking about. "Well, I'm real glad you're likin' it. I knew from the moment I saw you that only a man with taste as good as your's would appreciate such a divine accessory."

"Fine taste and great bike skills. What else does a man like me need?" Yuri bragged.

"A little humbleness to start…" Gideon replied under his breath. "I mean, nothing else, of course! Haha! You are the definition of the perfect man, Yuri!"

"It's a shame they don't have trophies for that."

"Ah, who needs one? The fact alone needs no physical title."

Yuri shrugged. "Eh, I don't know about that."

"Well, I don't have a trophy, but why don't I buy you something from the food cart outside? There's still time before the next round," Gideon offered.

Yuri thought for a brief moment. "Yeah, why not? I could go for a burger or somethin'."

"Sure thing! On me!" Gideon claimed. "Least I could do for a feller as great as you."

"You're real kind, Powder Hair," Yuri told him as he walked up to a drawer and placed his amulet inside. At that same moment, Mabel peeped inside to see him do it. "So kind that I might actually consider paying you back one day."

"No need," Gideon shook his head as he led Yuri out of the tent. "No inferior fool like me is worthy of any sort of gift from you."

"Yeah, that's why I said I might consider it," Yuri clarified. "Didn't say I'd actually do it."

"Hahaha! You're quite the character, Yuri!" he told him with a fake smile, before looking to the side and speaking under his breath annoyedly. "Quite the character…"

As soon as the coast was clear and the two had left, Mabel crept into the tent and up to Yuri's drawer. She slowly opened it, diving her hand inside, fishing for the amulet.

"Gotcha!" she whispered to herself as she pulled the amulet out successfully.

"Pretty little thing, huh?"

"AH!" Mabel yelped, startled. Turning around, she spotted Yuri standing right behind her with a smug look on his face. "What the…? I thought you went off with Gideon!"

"What're you doing going through my stuff?" he asked dismissively.

Mabel paused for a moment, trying to figure out what the best course of action was, before deciding to be upfront considering she already had his amulet. "I know what you've been up to, Yuri! You've been using magic to make your stunts impressive while messing up Ryland's. You're not a real biker! You're a fake!" she declared as she held the amulet in front of him. "And I have the magic amulet that Gideon sold you!"

Yuri chuckled. "Oh, do you now?" he asked before unclenching his fist and revealing what appeared to be the actual amulet, glowing on his palm.

"Huh?" Mabel questioned, confused for a moment before looking back at the amulet she held in her hand. With one glance, she learned that the 'amulet' was just an oddly shaped stone with string taped onto it.

"Yeah," Yuri said, except it wasn't the Yuri in front of her. At that moment, another Yuri walked into the tent and leaned against a pole to Mabel's left. "How wise of me to leave behind my one source of true power in an unlocked drawer for someone like you to come and steal?"

Mabel was bewildered by the sight of two Yuris in front of her. "W-What…?"

"Not so clever after all, huh, toots?" the first Yuri asked.

"Toots?" Mabel asked, immediately irritated by Yuri's slang name for her.

"Ya think I didn't know what you and your friends were up to?" the second Yuri asked before clapping his hands in a signaling manner.

Following the claps, a few more Yuri duplicates entered the tent holding Grenda, Candy, and Ryland captive and restrained. The three tried to struggle out of their grasps but the duplicates were unfazed and had no trouble keeping the three restrained. Realizing Yuri had been onto them the whole time, Mabel began to panic.

"Guys!" she shouted worriedly.

"They jumped us as soon as you went in, Mabel," Ryland claimed as he tried to struggle free.

"I figured once Ryland got some other folks involved, it'd only be a matter of time before he'd start cracking down on me," Yuri claimed. "And I knew you had figured it all out once I saw ya go to Powder Hair."

Realizing they were basically cornered, Mabel was unsure how to go about things any further or what Yuri was ultimately planning in the end.

"What's your goal, Yuri?" she asked. "Why are you doing any of this? All the tormenting, all the cheating. What do you have to gain from any of it? This is a bike competition in a small town. What's the point?"

Yuri pondered the question for a moment before simply shrugging. "What's the point? There is none, other than for pure amusement," he carelessly admitted. "You see, I grew up in Jersey, a land made for pushing boundaries. A land where getting away with things is basically a sport. And that just so happens to be a sport that I enjoy. I've been doin' this for months and I've been gettin' away clean, all thanks to this magic-doohickey that your little friend provided me. I don't have some master take-over-the-world plan and I don't need one. I like playing dirty. And I'm gonna keep playing dirty for as long as I can. It's as simple as that, toots."

"Seriously? So all of this is just amusement for you?" Mabel asked, shocked by this mentality. "Are you that pathetic?"

"Maybe I am," Yuri shrugged again with a careless smile. "But quite frankly...I really don't care." He chuckled before turning to the duplicates. "Get rid of 'em. Dump them down a waterfall or somethin'. I don't care. Just make sure they can't come back. I gotta start prepping up for next round."

"Damn you, Yuri!" Ryland shouted angrily as he watched the real Yuri walk out of the tent.

As Yuri left, the first duplicate that Mabel saw quickly ran up to her and pinned her arms behind her back as he forced her outside, just as the duplicates did the same with Grenda, Candy, and Ryland.

"Let go!" Mabel commanded as she attempted to struggle free through kicking and jerking around, but was surprised to see it do absolutely nothing despite Yuri barely being any taller than her. "Grenda, help!"

"I'm trying!" she assured as she failed to free herself from the two duplicates restraining her. "But they're so impossibly strong! I've beaten up magic forest trolls, unicorns, and my high school PE teacher! A pair of scrawny teens should be nothing!"

"It has to be the magic!" Ryland assumed.

"I think the fact that they're clones kind of already confirms it's the magic!" Grenda replied somewhat sassily.

The duplicates continued to force the four through the forest, leading them farther and farther from the bike park. As they continued to go deeper into the woods, the four eventually began screaming for help, hoping there might be some assistance they might be able to obtain if they couldn't escape on their own. However, it was just looking progressively more desperate as they kept moving.

"FORQHNLOOHU!"

Suddenly, the duplicate Yuris completely vanished, dropping the four on the ground. They all looked around in confusion as to what had just happened, with Mabel looking behind her in shock.

"Gideon!"

Gideon then ran up to them, gesturing for them to keep moving along while cautiously looking over his shoulder. "C'mon, we're already far, but we need to get away from here."

"Gideon, what happened back there?" Mabel asked as she and the others began following him through the woods.

"Yuri didn't catch you too?" Ryland also wondered.

"He almost did," Gideon claimed. "Lucky that I already knew enough about these magic spells to figure out what was going on before he had the chance."

---

A Moment Ago

"We were in line for the food cart. Of course, at this point, I was still playing distraction, so I had no idea what was going on back with y'all fellers."

Gideon looked ahead of the line at the food cart menu. "So Yuri, what else are you trying to get? Certainly, a simple burger meal isn't enough to quench the hunger of a man like you."

"I think I'll just stick to the burger, thanks," Yuri replied, looking at his wristwatch. "I do have to get back to the competition soon anyway."

At that moment, Yuri's entire body fizzled blue for a quick second, similar to a glitch. Gideon was quick to notice this and 'Yuri' realized that he saw it.

Gideon gasped. "Forqhnloohu."

The fake Yuri quickly tried to snag Gideon with both his arms, but was too late, as he dissipated before managing to lay a finger on Gideon.

"Figured out pretty quickly that he sent magic illusions to handle me, just as he was doing with all of y'all. But of course, being a former owner of the amulet, I knew the reversal spell."

Gideon proceeded to run out of the line to head back to the tent and assist the others. He had failed to realize that the Yuri duplicate's dissipation occurred in the middle of the line, which had been clearly seen by a man behind him, who was drinking from a bottle of Hippie Tea. Shocked and confused by the sight, the man looked at the drink in his hand and proceeded to dump it out in the grass beside him before walking out of line, mind fazed.

---

"After that, I ran back and saw y'all were in trouble," Gideon continued explaining. "I could've interfered, but Yuri was at an advantage with the amulet and so I decided to go after you guys once he already sent you off."

Mabel thought for a moment, trying to process everything that Gideon had told them. The fact that Yuri knew they were coming for him from the start. If it hadn't been for Gideon's pre-existing knowledge of magic, their situation may have ended a lot differently.

"It's surprising honestly," Gideon went off as he thought about Yuri's magic usage. "I don't know how he learned to use that thing so effectively. I had the journal to help me, but he doesn't have anything as far as I'm aware."

"Well, after all this time, I just thought Yuri was a jerk," Ryland said as he recollected his past with Yuri. "But it turns out he's that and insane. Doing all of this just for the fun of it."

"Yeah. He's definitely got a major case of the crazies," Mabel nodded in agreement, sighing guiltily as she remembered how she had pushed Ryland to be kinder to him. "And as a side note, I take back my feelings about you punching him. I think after that encounter, I could stand to see him take a few more punches to the jaw."

"Does this mean we're fighting back with violence?" Grenda asked excitedly before ripping a large, sharp-edged branch from a tree with her bare hands. "Because I am SO ready if we are!"

"TO WAR!" Candy cheered, content with the violent approach.

"I like your enthusiasm, girls," Mabel nodded with a proud smile. "But if Yuri knows how to use that amulet as well as he does, I'm not sure it'll be easiest getting close to him."

"I mean, I could just throw this at him," Grenda suggested, gesturing to her branch.

"She could," Candy affirmed. "She has the range of four football players."

"Not that I don't believe it. My point is that as long as he has that amulet, it's going to be hard to do anything," Mabel explained.

"So what do you suggest?" Ryland asked.

Mabel thought for a second before her eyes darted to Gideon. "Maybe we can fight magic with magic!"

Gideon was caught off-guard by her suggesting his involvement. "W-What do you mean?"

"You said that you had a collection of magical things, didn't you?" Mabel reminded him. "That amulet you sold Yuri is just one of a bunch of other magic stuff you have. Maybe you can use another one against Yuri."

"You want me to use magic again?" Gideon asked hesitantly. "But...I'm not that kind of kid anymore!"

"What are you talking about?" Mabel asked.

"I mean, since my early childhood, I had been obsessed with gaining ultimate power and world domination with your great uncle's journal," Gideon explained. "Even after I gave up my evil ways, I was still tempted by all my magical items and all the supernatural power I had learned about. But I needed to give it all up to make a true change, which is why I tried to dispose of it all last year."

"Tried?" Ryland questioned.

"Tried as in I did, but it's all in a hidden spot that I still know about should I ever need to use any of them again," Gideon continued. "But I can't go back to it for this! All my progress! Being good! Gaining your trust! I'm telling you, that power changes ya. Especially a kid like me. You've seen how Yuri is. That ain't the same man I sold the amulet to in the first place. I can't let myself go that insane again!" Gideon turned away from the group fearfully as he thought to himself. "The things I could do while unrestrained. You would never give me another chance again."

Mabel thought for a moment. It was odd for her to see Gideon so set on trying to be good. Despite his self-proclaimed change, there was always a sense of disbelief that stuck with her and his old mannerisms continued to stick with him. And it wasn't exactly the easiest to look kindly on the person who tried to kill them several times over the course of a summer.

However, for the first time, she actually found herself feeling bad for Gideon in this instance. His face showed genuine fear of returning to his old ways. Despite her previous beliefs, it was hard to think Gideon could've been lying. He seemed to really want to change and he seemed to really believe that going back to his power would hinder that.

Mabel began to think differently though. The willpower Gideon has put into changing in the first place seemed to be an indicator of how much mental strength he has truly built himself. The fact that Gideon has already come to save her life twice that summer without asking for much in return seemed to imply more than what he thought. That he didn't believe in himself quite as much as he probably should. And so she kneeled down and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, something she didn't think she'd ever do genuinely.

"Look, Gideon, I may have been a bit snappy at you about the whole sellout thing before. In fact, since we first met again this summer, I didn't think you'd ever be anything more than a creepy, evil child again. But, I can see now that you really do want to change and that you're really trying. Even with a few loose screws, I don't think you're the same evil kid that tried to kill us four summers ago anymore," she confessed. "All that magic power you got your hands on as a kid may have made your crazy kid mind just a bit...uh...crazier. But now that you've grown up and learned to see why your past actions were bad, I think you have enough self-control to not let such power get the better of you again."

Gideon thought to himself for a moment before looking her in the eye hesitantly. "You think so?"

"Yeah! I mean, you've spent so long trying to be better that I know you have it in you to use that power for good this time," she told him. "If you help us with Yuri and manage to keep control of yourself this time, then I think we'll know then that you've really changed."

Gideon looked around at everyone's faces and watched them slowly grow smiles in agreement with Mabel's words as they turned to him.

"And honestly, it's between that and Grenda impaling Yuri with a tree branch," Mabel added as she gestured toward Grenda.

"Impaling? What am I, an animal?" Grenda asked, slightly offended by her presumption. "I was just gonna beat him over the head with it!"

Despite all the confidence being placed in him, Gideon still felt unsure. He knew himself better than they did and so he knew he still wasn't completely stable, no matter how much he's helped so far. Using power has always put him over the edge, making him feel like a god. It was an addicting feeling and one he had to put down to truly change. Picking it back up, even for good reason, had the potential to mess him up in the head yet again if he gave into the power too much.

Ryland glanced down at his watch. "Next round's going to start soon. We're running out of time."

Mabel looked over at Gideon, seeing him still appearing unsure. As Ryland said, time was running out to prepare a plan, and so they needed to move along. "Look, Gideon, if you really feel like the power will tempt you that much again, then we won't force you to do it. But, we do believe you can do it and keep it together."

Everyone began walking off, heading back toward the park through the woods, leaving Gideon behind. However, Mabel stopped and looked back at him once more. "I believe it."

She then left him on his own as she followed the others back, leaving Gideon on his own to ponder over what he should do. Her final words about believing in him rang through his head, yet despite his established attraction to her, they almost meant nothing, which went as a testament to show just how little faith he had in himself.

He looked down at his hands, clenching his fists so tightly they began to shake.

"Just how strong am I?"

---

"Anyway, that's how I got Ford and I banned from Ireland."

Derrick stared up at Stan in utter shock at the story he had just been told. "Wow."

"To be fair, it wasn't entirely my fault. You know that, right?" Stan tried to deflect the blame off his image.

"I mean, you were the one asking the dude for his pot of gold..."

"I told you, I thought he was a leprechaun!" Stan tried to defend. "A guy that short wearing as much green as he did. And can you blame me for thinking that with all the crazy stuff we see here? We have leprecorns for crying out loud!"

"Yeah, I get that, but…"

"I know, I know. Hitting him with a car was a bit much, but he was an asshole!" Stan continued to try and justify his actions. "C'mon! Tell me you agree!"

"I'm very uncomfortable right now."

"Ah, you'll probably understand when you're older," Stan settled as he laid back against a wall, rubbing his head. "Ugh, I'm getting a headache."

"Yeah, me too. I think I'm dehydrated from all the walking around and climbing. Lack of anything to eat doesn't help either," Derrick said as he sat beside the bunker entrance, looking out into the main passage. "Thanks, Dipper. Wherever you are."

"Yeah, probably what's going on with me," Stan agreed as he continued to rub the side of his head, which seemed to slowly ache more and more. "All that walking is taxing on an old man like me. I just hope Ford gets back with that honey soon so we can just get out of here already."

At that moment, Stan's self-control quickly began to slip away from him as the white in his eyes began to glow yellow and his pupils slit.

"Yeah, I've already had enough adventuring for one day," Derrick agreed, completely faced away from Stan, watching as another guard scornet began to pass by.

"God BUZZ-ing BUZZ-it!" it cussed angrily. "I'm so BUZZ-ing BUZZ-ed right now. We haven't killed anyone in so BUZZ-ing long for BUZZ sake."

"Man, I gotta say. All this Gravity Falls weirdness still amazes me to this day," Derrick admitted as he watched the scornet. "I give Dipper a lot of flak as a friend, but I used to think he was half-insane when he talked about this type of thing in Piedmont. But, wouldn't you know that it's all real? And most of the world doesn't have damn clue."

"YEAH!" Bill's voice briefly slipped in, before clearing his throat through Stan's voice. "Crazy stuff, huh?" he asked as he began to slowly creep up behind Derrick.

"Yep. It's given me something to fear if I'm being real for once," Derrick confessed. "There's not much in Piedmont other than the norm, so spending a summer in an area where you're vulnerable to a potential apocalypse...it makes you think. I guess that's what I've been doing more of lately. You probably got one of those old man sayings like 'I've been there before,' or something."

"Oh, I have," Stan replied, continuing to creep up on Derrick, who was still unbeknownst to his actions.

"Yeah. It's just weird. A town with so much weirdness, some that could kill you like these scornets. I know this might be a bit too deep and all coming from a kid you hardly know, but as I said- stuff like that makes you think. Knowing there are more weird things out there- much weirder things- that could sneak up and kill you at any second."

Stan stretched his arms out as he prepared to snatch Derrick by the neck. He grew a demented smile twitched as his eyes continued to glow yellow. "Oh, you don't know the half of it."

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

A sudden shock went straight up Stan's leg as his ankle bracelet went off. In the span of a second, Stan's eyes reverted back to normal and he regained control of himself, allowing him to immediately feel the pain upon having his senses again.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed in agony.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Derrick screamed, startled by Stan's sudden screaming.

---

Deeper in the scornet hive, Ford continued walking along while cloaked by Meridian's camo module, allowing him to have been completely unseen going through. Eventually, his eyes laid upon a honeycomb in the back of the hive filled with a dark red substance, which he immediately identified as the queen scornet honey.

"There it is!" he whispered to himself, digging into his coat and pulling out a glass jar. "Just gotta grab a jarful, and all should be well."

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ford heard and recognized the screams of his brother and Derrick come from the main passageway he had taken into the hive. His heart dropped as he realized that the screams were loud enough to reach him at the core of the hive. And as he looked up, he knew he had a right to be terrified.

The screams had awakened the core of the hive, causing hundreds of scornets to climb out of their massive honeycombs.

"People screaming? In the hive?" one scornet questioned.

"FINALLY! Something to BUZZ up!" another one said aggressively as it looked up. "HEY! WAKE UP! INTRUDERS IN THE HIVE! LET'S GO KILL THEM!"

"BUZZ YEAH!" a large mass of scornets above cheered excitedly as they began darting down the tunnel.

Ford stood back, taking cover in the queen scornet cell to avoid any of the other scornets accidentally flying into him while he was cloaked.

"Dammit, Stan! What have you done?!" Ford asked frustratedly.

His frustration at that moment was interrupted as he heard a beeping noise. Quickly realizing it was Meridian, he pulled up his sleeve and looked down at it, which disabled his camo module at the same time. As he looked down at the watch, he saw that the monitor for Stan's ankle bracelet had sent an alert that he was out of range of his watch. Upon seeing the alert, Ford quickly realized that Stan's scream was likely a result of the ankle bracelet going off.

"Oh," he simply said as his skin went cold.

He then heard the scornet buzzing suddenly increase in volume, which prompted him to turn around. There, in front of him, were a group of scornets that had spotted him. And it was at that point that he realized that his disabled camo module had exposed him.

"Uh oh."

---

"GAAAH!" Stan shouted as he held his leg in his hands, rolling around on the floor in agony.

"What happened?!" Derrick asked worriedly.

"THE GOD DAMN ANKLE BRACELET SHOCKED ME! GAH!" he screamed again before trying to pull himself back together. "Ford must'a gone too far into this thing and set it off! God, how can such a nerd also be such an idiot?!"

"SHH!" Derrick shushed as he heard a large amount of buzzing closing in on them. "You hear that?"

"KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!"

"Crap!" Derrick's heart sunk. "We got an army of those scornets coming for us!"

Stan's eyes widened at another realization. "Oh no! Stanford! He's going to be in the middle of those things!"

"And who the hell knows where Dipper and Evan are?" Derrick added. "We're stuck here!"

"THERE THEY ARE!" a voice shouted directly behind them.

At that moment, the two turned around to see an entire group of scornets having located them in their little bunker.

"KILL! KILL! KILL!" they shouted as they slowly closed in on them.

"Oh man…" Stan said fearfully. "Where are the nerds when you need them most?"

---

"Evan! Evan, where are you?"

Dipper walked through the forest at the bottom of the hanging cliffs. He went after Evan only a few minutes after he had walked off, and so he knew that he couldn't have gotten too far, especially with having to climb back down first. Still, he held concern for the things that could've happened to him.

He felt guilty for how he treated Evan, and generally how he had been treated all this time. Upon first meeting him, he was neglected by Mabel. At the time, Dipper was the one who was able to appeal to and reason with him. But now, for such a petty and ridiculous reason, he had scolded him. Now, here he was in yet another situation where he had to search him out. Compared to the library, the open woods wasn't much easier.

"Come on, man! Please!" Dipper pleaded as he walked through the woods. "We're a long walk away from town! I know you're not far."

He walked a bit further to no result.

He's a smart kid. He wouldn't get himself killed, he thought to himself. He knew his thoughts were true but he still couldn't help but feel concerned for Evan's safety considering he was still a kid in the end.

"Heheheh…"

Dipper then heard a faint chuckling that sounded nearby. His attention drawn, he began walking in the direction he thought he heard it come from. Soon enough, he peeked around a tree and actually found Evan kneeling in the grass, notebook in hand, studying a gnome.

"Interesting, interesting," Evan nodded as he scribbled something in his notebook. "You make an interesting case. I truly do feel sorry you're going through this."

"Shmebulock!" the gnome replied as it sat across from him.

"Indeed," Evan nodded in supposed agreement. "Well, I hope you get that opportunity in the next thousand years when you're able to again."

"Shmebulock!"

"Ah, well, you can't win them all. I believe in you though," Evan replied as he continued to scribble in his notebook. "But I think we're just about done here, my friend." He held his hand out and gladly shook Shmebulock's small hand. "It was an honor to study you, Mr. Shmebulock. And don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."

"Shmebulock!" Shmebulock nodded before scurrying off into the woods.

"Heheh. Gnome humor," Evan chuckled.

"Evan?" Dipper asked as he finally stepped in with a look of concern. "You feeling alright, man?"

"Of course!" Evan nodded excitedly as he got up from his knees. "I just studied and interviewed my first gnome! Why wouldn't I be alright?"

"Yeah, but that gnome isn't exactly the brightest of the bunch," Dipper said he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, none of them are really that bright at all, but Shmebulock is a whole different case."

"I can't say I agree with that statement, but I don't think that's something I can convince you about. So just keep doing you," Evan shrugged off, turning his back to Dipper.

"Well, nonetheless, that's cool you're studying anomalies on your own," Dipper told him. "Like, really. It's impressive."

"Yeah, I figured I had to take to solo work considering how I poorly I meshed in the group with you guys," Evan claimed kind of dejectedly. "So I figured to start my own ventures."

Dipper felt the guilt immediately rush back through him as he heard this. "Evan...you didn't mesh poorly with us. In fact, you fit right in."

"But you said…"

"Look, I said a lot of things," Dipper cut off. "And maybe I meant them...for a moment. But I quickly realized that I was wrong about pretty much everything."

"Why'd you say any of it then?" Evan asked, somewhat confused.

Dipper sighed, realizing there was no point in sugarcoating anything. "Because...I guess I was jealous."

Evan raised an eyebrow. "Jealous?"

Dipper leaned his back against a tree and sighed. "Look, when I was twelve, rather than doing all the research from my own computer, I did all my research hands-on through studying a mysterious journal I found in the woods one day. I was obsessed with this thing and I made it my summer goal to find its author. The author, I found was my great uncle Ford. And when I first met him, he was a lot thicker-skinned than he is now. Think the phrase 'Trust No One' as a philosophy."

"'Trust No One'," Evan repeated.

"That was it," Dipper nodded. "And so you could probably imagine that it took a bit of time before I was able to gain any sort of trust or even bond with him. It wasn't quite...immediate, I guess. But when you met Ford today, you impressed him really quickly. He opened up to you and put his trust in you really quickly. And the speed of how your relationship with him was developing...I don't know. It just got to me. Made me feel like he saw more in you than he did in me. I haven't had the most time to spend with him since he came back to Gravity Falls a few weeks ago, and so just seeing him address you more than he did me just rubbed me the wrong way, I guess."

"...oh…" Evan said, finally beginning to understand how Dipper thought.

"But, I see now that I was being ridiculous when I said all of those things to you. I was just venting," Dipper said as he kneeled down and placed a hand on Evan's shoulder. "The truth is Evan, you're probably the smartest kid I've ever met. Smarter than me in a lot of ways too. And I see now that that's perfectly alright. You know so much about this town and rather than being upset about how much more you might know than me, I should be learning from you. And so, I'm sorry for making you feel bad. For making you feel unwelcome. In fact, from now on, I promise you that you're always welcome to come along on any adventure, work with Ford as long as you want, and heck, even though he said he'd keep it in the family, if he ever does offer you some sort of apprenticeship or anything, I think that'd be awesome for you."

"Really?" Evan asked, eyes lit up gratefully.

"Really."

"Wow...I mean...okay!" Evan replied, just about speechless.

"So...what do you say?" Dipper asked as he held his fist out. "Are we cool now?

"Yeah, we're cool," Evan nodded as he bumped his fist back. "And I also want to just apologize for making you feel bad about getting close to your great uncle so fast."

"Nah, don't bother, man. It's not your fault for any of that."

"Well, still. I'll definitely be down for future adventures, but I'll try not to hang around Ford too often," Evan offered. "I mean, you guys are family in the end, and that relationship obviously comes first."

"Well, it honestly doesn't bother me anymore, but...I appreciate it, Evan," Dipper said with an appreciative smile.

The two stood in silence for a moment as they smiled at one another, letting their gratefulness set in. However, soon enough, another thought quickly interrupted Evan's thoughts.

"So, uh, I just realized...are the others still up in the hanging cliff?" he asked.

"Yeah," Dipper nodded.

"Doesn't that mean they're dealing with the Scornet hive right now?"

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Yeah…"

---

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we're about to get started with the third round here," the bike competition announcer spoke over the microphone. "Up first, we have Ghost-Eyes, who moved up from last place to second place with the disqualification of Ryland Reeds. Which, to be fair, is still last place, but I suppose the odds have still gone up for him nonetheless."

Mabel looked out at the ongoing competition as it began to enter the third round. She stood within the forest along with the others as to avoid the risk of being seen by Yuri or anyone else. Ryland looked out beside her while Candy sat looking back at her camera footage and Grenda finished sharpening her large tree branch.

"So, we never decided. Am I beating Yuri up with the branch or not?" Grenda asked, breaking the ongoing silence between the group.

"I feel like that risks killing him more than anything," Ryland replied honestly.

"I don't see the problem," Grenada shrugged.

"Just...leave the branch," Ryland calmly ordered her, gesturing for her to drop it.

"DANG IT!" Grenda shouted, dissatisfied with the decision as she threw the branch on the ground violently. "I expected you to be less of a softie after that punch you threw."

"Look, believe me, I hate Yuri with a passion, but even I don't want to go as far as killing him," Ryland admitted. "Should he get punished? Sure, but there are better ways than killing him and then going to prison for murder."

"Yeah, I agree," Mabel nodded. "For as much of a butt-kicking as Yuri needs, we shouldn't be trying to kill him."

"This is how we make our greatest enemies though!" Grenda began. "By letting them live, we give them the chance to come back even harder. Mabel knows that from Gideon! Right, Mabel?"

"Yeah, but Gideon's different now."

"Do we really expect someone like Yuri to change?" Grenda argued. "Mark my words, if we let him live, he'll come back in a month with a robot suit and a motorcycle gang. Grenda knows what she's talking about. Just you wait and see."

"I think we'll take our chances," Mabel challenged.

"This is some very passive discussion on the idea of murdering someone," Candy passively interjected.

"Alright, fine. So no tree branch then," Grenda accepted. "But are we using violence or not?"

"I don't even know what we're using," Mabel admitted.

"So we don't even have a plan? What are we doing here then?!"

"Coming up with a plan," Ryland replied.

"Uh, our crew can't seem to find Ghost-Eyes around, and so we're going to move on to Yuri and move Ghost-Eyes' turn to afterward if he returns," the announcer spoke out, grabbing the group's attention. "Otherwise, he forfeits his place in competition."

At that moment, Yuri walked out with his bike, getting himself into position to start.

"Crap...Yuri's about to go on!" Ryland panicked.

"We need a plan! Quick!" Grenda told them.

Mabel thought as hard as she could. "Maybe...we can just call him out for cheating? In front of everyone!"

"Um...how's that gonna work exactly?" Ryland asked, very skeptical and unsure about the idea.

"I have no idea but I have no better ideas, so I'm just gonna go for it!" Mabel claimed just before running out toward the course.

"Wait! Mabel!" Ryland tried to call back.

His call was unsuccessful, however, as Mabel ran right out into the middle of the course in front of everybody. "Everyone stop! Stop the competition! I need everyone's attention!"

Yuri's eyes bulged upon realizing it was Mabel. "What the…? How did she…?"

The announcer looked out at Mabel and spoke into his mic. "And it looks like we have a…"

"YOU!" Mabel pointed directly at the announcer. "Can you shut up for five minutes PLEASE?"

The announcer was shocked by her sudden call out and replied by simply making a mouth-zipping motion, ensuring his silence.

"I feel like it'll be in everyone's best interest to know that Yuri is a fake!" Mabel called out.

Yuri scoffed, trying to play it off. "What are you talkin' about?"

"You're a cheater, Yuri!"

"A cheater? Really?" Yuri questioned, amused. "How exactly do you cheat at BMXing? With magic?"

Mabel then ran up to Yuri and grabbed his amulet, which hung out by a string held in his fist.

"HEY!" he shouted, as he defensively tried to pull it back from her.

"I don't suppose you'll mind explaining what this is?" Mabel interrogated.

"My grandma's amulet that she handed down to me, obviously! Now get away from me!" he shouted before managing to push her away, holding onto his amulet. "Someone get this chick away from me! She's crazy!"

Mabel pointed directly at Yuri as she looked between the judges and the crowd. "He's using magic to pull of his tricks! He can't ride a bike for real! He's been cheating this whole time!"

Ryland, Grenda, and Candy simply watched awkwardly from the forest as the two publicly went back and forth with one another, seeing no progress being made with Mabel's plan. Seeing the blank reactions of those who watched them only added to the awkwardness of the whole scene.

"I should've just hit him with the tree branch," Grenda claimed.

"Yeah, that would've been a better plan," Ryland admitted. For as much as he typically liked Mabel's far-fetched ideas, he wasn't buying into this one as much.

"He's lying!" Mabel shouted.

"She's crazy!" Yuri struck back. "There's no such thing as magic!" He looked around for security. "Can someone get her outta here? PLEASE!"

At that moment, a pair of guards calmly picked up Mabel by her arms and dragged her away from the course.

"Watch his tricks!" Mabel tried to warn everybody as she was dragged off. "I'm telling you I'm not crazy! He's using magic!"

"Thank God," Yuri let out a sigh of relief as he turned to the audience. "What a lunatic, am I right?"

Mabel was soon let go by the guards, dropped off close to the edge of the forest. The guards silently left her alone, giving her a few warning flares before leaving. As they left, the other three met up with her where she sat.

"Well, I tried."

"Mabel, we're your friends," Candy began sweetly. "And you know we all love you because of that."

"But that plan stunk big time," Grenda told her bluntly.

"Yeah, I was kind of trying to ask how you planned on convincing a crowd of people that someone was using magic to be a good biker," Ryland added.

Mabel sighed. "I know. It wasn't good. What else can I say? I had nothing and still got nothing." She sat down by a tree, glumly putting her head on her knees. "I'm sorry, Ryland. Guess Yuri's just going to get away with everything for another competition."

Ryland noticed her expression and sat down beside her, brushing a few strands of hair away from her face, grabbing her attention. "Hey, don't worry about it," he told her with a smile. "We did what we could."

"But I thought you wanted to get revenge on Yuri?" Mabel asked.

"I thought I did too. But honestly, revenge is overrated," Ryland admitted. "Punching him earlier was only satisfying for like a minute. Now I don't feel all that proud about it. Sure, maybe he deserved it, but eh. The idea of getting back at him just doesn't phase me anymore. So, why keep putting in the effort?"

"Boo!" Grenda complained, not content with the idea of no revenge at all.

"Just don't worry about it, Mabel," Ryland concluded, ignoring Grenda's interjection. "I'm sure this will all catch up with him soon enough anyway."

Mabel was still unhappy about Yuri getting away with everything, but Ryland's words still put a smile on her face. As different as he can get while angry and throwing punches, his current attitude suited him much better and reminded her of why she liked him so much.

"You got a minute on the clock, Yuri," the announcer told him as he prepared to start his third round run.

As he readied his bike, he turned back to the crowd once more. "Magic, huh, everybody? How ridiculous. Everything you're about to see is the result of pure skill."

He rode onto the course, beginning his minute. He biked as fast as he could up to a ramp and launched himself upward. He began to execute a backflip as he descended back to the ground.

Then, all of the sudden, while his bike was completely upside-down, it froze in mid-air with him on it.

The entire crowd broke into one large, simultaneous gasp as they saw Yuri hanging onto his floating bike.

"W-What the…?" Yuri nervously asked himself. His bike may have been frozen, but he wasn't, and so the weight of gravity still pushed down on him. Therefore, he had no choice but to hang on as tight as he could to the bike to not fall to the ground.

"Uh…" the announcer said, confused greatly. A simple turn to the judges and he could tell they looked just as confused.

Mabel, Ryland, Grenda, and Candy continued to watch from the edge of the forest, each displaying looks of shock and confusion.

Mabel, however, couldn't help but give an amused smile. "Haha! Oh man…"

Yuri looked around, seeing the crowd and judges giving him weird looks. "Uh...heheh...this is kind of weird, huh? Must be some weird wind or something…" he tried to say as his bike continued to remain frozen. Quietly, he then looked at the amulet in his hand. "What the hell is going on with this stupid thing? WOAH!" he shouted as nearly lost his grip on his bike and fell.

"What's happening?" Grenda asked as they continued watching.

"Is he doing that to himself?" Candy asked.

Mabel wondered the same before looking over just to the right of them. There, she saw Gideon standing as he had an amulet in his hand.

"Gideon…"

Gideon was shaking and sweating as he held the amulet tightly. His expression was fierce and nearing sinister. He had hesitant thoughts ringing through his head, but still, he gave into his actions.

"I'm doing this for you, Mabel…" he whispered to himself, just as he tightened the grip on the amulet.

"Can someone get, like, a really high ladder or something? Please?" Yuri pleaded as he continued hanging from the frozen bike.

All of a sudden, the bike unfroze and began spinning rapidly in mid-air as Yuri held on, body flinging in the circles being spun.

"WOOOOOOOAH!" he screamed as he tried to hang on as tightly as he could.

The crowd gasped again as they watched him spin uncontrollably. There was still great confusion amongst everyone and no one had any idea what to make of anything that was happening.

"What is this witchcraft?" one of the judges asked.

Gideon's eyes narrowed as he put on a sinister smile. "You wanted to impress people, Yuri? Well, I'm sure they'll be mighty impressed when I'm done," he said to himself as he further tightened his grip on the amulet, which caused it to glow through his enclosed fist.

Yuri stopped spinning and instead began to start flying around through the air in undefined directions at a fast speed. At that point, he was only able to hold onto his handlebars while the rest of his body flung in the air.

"AHHHHH! SOMEONE! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

"You'll get your help when you let go of my amulet, boy," Gideon said to himself impatiently, tightening his grip on the amulet even more.

Soon enough, the flight speed of Yuri's bike increased even further. He was soon flying so fast that you could only see his speed lines.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed for his life.

Gideon stared at Yuri's increasing speed and grew a large smile, eye twitching.

All this power. I forgot how good it felt. It's addicting. How easy everything is. It's been so long. I missed it.

Eventually, after flying around for long enough, Yuri's amulet snapped off its string and fell downward. Despite his fast speed, Yuri was still able to notice this.

"NO!"

The amulet quickly smashed against the concrete ground and exploded, leaving behind a cloud of bright blue smoke, which startled the crowd and the judges, all unsure of what it was.

"There we go," Gideon said as he watched the amulet get destroyed, loosening his grip on the amulet.

Yuri's flying then began to slow down slightly before suddenly getting dropped back onto the course. However, his base speed was still fairly high as his bike continued rolling straight for a wall.

"OH NO!"

CRASH!

Ryland, Mabel, Candy cringed as they witnessed Yuri's violent crash, which looked too painful to not feel despite their hate for him. Grenda, on the other hand, broke out laughing.

"Haha! Now that's entertaining."

Yuri's bike was totaled as a result of the crash, with several parts scattered amongst the ground. He also received a fair amount of injuries, such as bruises and scratches, throughout various parts of his body. His legs appeared the most injured, as rather than standing back up, he attempted to crawl away from the scene, and very weakly at that.

"He's not walking," the announcer noted, before turning to some standby medics. "I think we're gonna need some medics on the field. So much for no magic, I suppose."

The medics then walked over to assist Yuri, leaving the announcer on his own. Soon after, one of the judges proceeded to walk up to him with a message in hand. Taking the message, the announcer took a moment to examine it before moving the microphone back up to his mouth.

"And it appears as though the judges have made the decision to disqualify Yuri from the competition for his use of apparent witchcraft to gain an advantage in the competition."

While being treated by medics, Yuri moved his head up weakly at this announcement. "W-What?"

Mabel gasped before grabbing onto Ryland's arm and shaking it excitedly while he stood shocked to see and hear what was happening.

"Advantage?" Yuri questioned further. "I just crashed! If I used magic, why would I do this to myself?"

"I don't know about you, kid, but when a girl comes in here claiming you use magic and then all of the sudden, everyone sees you use magic, I feel like that's not a good outlook on your part," the announcer replied bluntly.

"B-But, I didn't use magic! I never have!" Yuri continued to deny.

"Ain't my decision, pal. You're out. Just take your loss."

"But I'm a winner! Not a loser! I don't lose! I won't lose!" Yuri claimed before pushing the medics away and attempting to stand, only to immediately fall back down as pain shot up his legs. "GAH! My legs!"

"You know, I'm starting to think you're the crazy one instead of that girl that called you out," the announcer admitted before turning to the medics. "Get him out of here. Call his parents."

Excited by their indirect victory, Mabel ran over to Gideon excitedly. "Gideon! You did it! You really did it! Wow, I can't believe those are words I'd ever say happily."

Gideon didn't turn back to her, however. Instead, his mind was lost as he stared at the amulet in the palm of his hand.

Mabel began to grow slightly concerned by the look in Gideon's eyes. "Gideon?"

He then clenched the amulet in his hand, just as he turned to her and the others sinisterly.

"Oh boy. Here we go again, huh?" she questioned as she got into a standoff stance with him.

Ryland readied himself as well. "Is this what he was talking about? About the power getting to him?"

"I think so," she nodded before turning back to Gideon. "Gideon...think of what you just did. Remember whose side you're on!"

Without a word, Gideon held his evil look on them. His eyes were wide and his face was spiteful. At that moment, he looked just like the same Gideon that had repeatedly tried to kill her and her brother four summers prior.

"Gideon, please…"

For a moment, Gideon continued to stare at her until his eye suddenly twitched. He then clenched his teeth as he mentally fought himself. He then rose the amulet in his hand, looking as though he was about to use it.

"Grrr...RAH!" he screamed as he suddenly threw the amulet violently against a tree, smashing it and ridding himself of it.

Mabel let out a sigh of relief, glad to see him not turn evil again.

Gideon himself dropped to his knees, panting exhaustedly. "Never...again…"

He then felt a hand set upon his back, which prompted him to look up. Standing above him, he spotted Mabel looking down at him with an unexpected smile.

"You did good," she told him.

Gideon stared up at her briefly before smiling back gratefully. "I'm tryin'."

"Well, with Yuri's disqualification from the competition, we only have one person left, and so I suppose we have a winner!" the announcer spoke over the microphone, grabbing everyone's attention once again. "Ladies and gentlemen, against all odds, we welcome a new first-time Gravity Falls Local Bike Champion! Give it up for Makanui...I-I mean...give it up for Ghost-Eyes!"

The crowd, or whoever was still around after all that ensued, glanced at one another with unsure faces before breaking into an awkward applause full of confused claps.

"Wait...Ghost-Eyes won?!" Gideon asked as he rose from his knees, eyes suddenly lighting up. "GHOST-EYES WON!"

"Yeah, but...where is he?" Ryland asked, noticing he was nowhere in sight.

The announcer looked around, also unable to find him anywhere. "Uh...Ghost-Eyes?"

"I'M HERE!" a voice shouted.

Suddenly, Ghost-Eyes came running onto the course carrying a brand new motorcycle over his head.

"I'M HERE! DON'T DISQUALIFY ME! I'M HERE! IT'S ALL GOOD!" he assured before putting his bike down. "Got a new bike! Well, it's not a bicycle, but it's still a bike. And I didn't steal it!" He paused briefly. "Haha, I'm just kidding. I totally stole it. But I didn't beat up the cashier, which is an improvement from my normal robbing strategies!"

"Um...that's great, but...you already won," the announcer told him.

"Wait, what?"

"Yuri's been disqualified, and so that makes you the winner by default."

Ghost-Eyes' white eyes lit up. "I won?! I WON!"

"By default."

"BY DEFAULT!"

"Uh-huh," the announcer nodded carelessly as he held out a trophy and a card to him. "Well, uh, here's your trophy. And your prize: a fifty dollar gift card to Samba Smooth-"

WACK!

Ghost-Eyes shamelessly punched the announcer in the face, swiping the trophy and card from his hands.

"HELL YEAH! FREE STUFF!" he shouted cheerfully as held both rewards in the air, looking over at Gideon across the park. "I WON, LIL' GIDEON! LOOK AT ME! I WON!"

"GO GHOST-EYES! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!" Gideon cheered on proudly.

"Well, it's a huge step up from Yuri winning again, that's for sure," Mabel said as she looked back at Ryland.

"You're not wrong. Not one bit," Ryland agreed with a chuckle.

Ghost-Eyes then approached the group, holding his rewards in one arm, while carrying his motorcycle under the other. "Look Lil' Gideon! Look at all the free stuff they gave me! I love getting things I don't have to rob!"

"Enjoy them, Ghost-Eyes," Gideon nodded happily before glancing back at the others. "In fact, why don't we go put that Samba Smoothie card to use right now for all of us to celebrate! Besides, I think you owe a part of your victory to these good folk right here."

"Whatever you say, Lil' Gideon!" Ghost-Eyes nodded.

"Gideon!" Mabel said in surprise. "That's so sweet! You don't need to do that for us."

"Nonsense! It's the least I can do for y'all after everything," he insisted.

"As far as I'm aware, I think you've already done more than enough for us with how you saved us and beat Yuri," Ryland claimed, unsure how they deserve anything else in comparison.

"Yeah, if you and Ghost-Eyes wanna celebrate on your own, that's cool with us," Mabel nodded.

"Please. I insist y'all come along. It would be more of a crime if you didn't. I mean, we're all friends, aren't we?" Gideon asked, eyes then darting toward Mabel. "Right?"

Mabel thought for a moment, somehow finding herself still hesitant in that regard. But the more she thought about everything that had been done for them that day, she couldn't help but feel as though he had actually changed enough to where it was finally deserved.

"Ah, what the heck? Sure," she nodded with a smile, which Gideon returned.

"WOO! SAMBA SMOOTHIE!" Grenda cheered, throwing her fists in the air.

"C'mon, let's take my new ride!" Ghost-Eyes offered as he hopped on his motorcycle. "Just look out for cops. I did steal this thing."

"Uh...will we all fit?" Ryland asked, put off by the fact that Ghost-Eyes took most of the space on the bike with his muscular mass.

"Of course!"

---

A Brief Hassle Later

"Alright! Everybody comfy?"

Ghost-Eyes continued to take up a majority of the seat, leaving Candy, Grenda, Mabel, and Ryland smushed together on the rest of the seat behind him, with Grenda in the very back.

"Yep…"

"Sure…"

"Wonderfully…"

"Peachy…"

Meanwhile, Gideon sat most comfortably on top of Ghost-Eyes' neck.

"Mhm!" he cheerily nodded.

"THEN LET'S RIDE!" he shouted as he revved up his motorcycle before speeding off out of the bike park and onto the street, everybody else trying to hold on as tight as they could. "LOOK AT ME, MOMMA! I'M A WINNER!"

---

Back inside the scornet hive, a large number of scornets traveled down the main passage to the core of the hive. Derrick and Stan had been caught and were being carried up by their legs in the mouths of two scornets. Hanging upside down, they were escorted by the rest of the hive.

"You know, as far as adventures I've been on go, it feels like I've been captured, webbed, or pinned more times than not," Derrick casually realized as he hung upside-down.

"Welcome to my life," Stan annoyedly replied.

"Where are these things even taking us?" Derrick asked, looking around. "I thought they just kill to satisfy their bloodlust and then go back to being angry."

"Usually we do," an escorting scornet answered. "But another one of you pieces of scum went further into the hive and disrupted our queen. And when the queen's mad, then she wants first dibs on the kills."

"The queen calls dibs. Now I've heard it all," Derrick remarked as he looked to the side. "Hey buddy, you good? You look like you're having a seizure."

To Derrick's right, a scornet was spazzing out. "I HAVEN'T KILLED IN FIVE MONTHS! FIVE BUZZ-ING MONTHS! NO, I'M NOT OKAY!"

"Alright, I feel like there's an innuendo in there somewhere," Derrick casually replied. "How're ya doing back there, Mr. Pines?"

"I'm too old for this crap."

"I was about to say- that when all this Bill stuff is done and over with, you should consider taking a vacation," Derrick told him. "Not in Ireland though."

"I'll take that into consideration when my head isn't throbbing from the blood rush," Stan claimed, feeling his head pulsing more and more with each passing second.

Reaching the core of the hive, the scornets flew the two up toward the very center. They eventually came to a stop where the scornets simply hovered, as if waiting for something. Soon enough, another scornet flew beside them with Ford held in its mouth.

"Well, well. Regretting the ankle bracelet now, aren't ya, Sixer?" Stan questioned spitefully.

"Hello, Stanley. Derrick," he sarcastically greeted, aware of the scolding he's about to receive.

"What's your issue?" Stan asked. "You can still use your arms. What's stopping you from going Mech-Man and getting us out of here again?"

"I would try, but…" he began before sighing with an awaiting look. "...the batteries are dead."

Stan turned his head toward Derrick. "And that, Derrick, is the sound of defeat coming from the world's most incompetent nerd. Notice how he isn't cracking back at me...because he knows he has no excuses!"

"People make mistakes, Stanley," Ford attempted to justify.

"And those mistakes are only okay when you make them," Stan argued. "But when it's my fault, then I get the usual scolding. 'I told you not to do that, Stanley.' 'You never listen to me, Stanley.' 'You always put us in danger, Stanley.' WELL, LOOK WHO PUT US IN DANGER THIS TIME!"

The two then broke out into an argument with one another, shouting over each other without one side to be clearly heard. As they went off at one another, Derrick simply hung out between the two silently, though continuing to lament his partaking in the entire adventure as it's gone.

"If this is what Dipper has to put up with regularly, maybe I do give him too much crap," he said to himself.

"SILENCE!" another voice suddenly boomed.

The Stan twins immediately went silent as a much larger scornet suddenly flew up in front of the three. Given the feminine tone of the booming voice, it was easy to figure out that she was the queen.

"Are these the intruders?" she asked as it examined the three.

"Yes, my queen," a scornet nodded.

"And which one invaded my cell?"

The scornet that held Ford in its mouth rose up to her.

"Ah, nuts," Ford simply said.

"YOU!" the queen scolded. "YOU'RE IN DEEP BUZZ!"

"Indeed he is," Stan agreed.

"EXPLAIN YOUR BUSINESS TOUCHING MY HONEY BEFORE I POKE A HOLE THROUGH YOUR HEAD WITH MY STINGER!" it threatened as it gestured toward its large protruding stinger, which looked capable enough of doing what she threatened to do.

"Look. I understand you're angered by our presence. But understand that I didn't mean you or your kind any harm," Ford defended. "My brother here…he's dangerously ill and your honey is needed to save him. The goal was to come in and out without disturbance. You wouldn't have noticed we were here."

"But my brother kept this ankle bracelet on me to keep me from going too far out of his range," Stan explained. "And as you can see, it worked against us. Of course, I told him to take it off beforehand, but he insisted."

"I'm just here for the ride," Derrick shrugged.

"QUIET! ALL OF YOU!" the queen demanded yet again before turning back to Ford. "NO MATTER YOUR INTENTION, YOU INTRUDED THE HIVE! AND WE HAVE ALL GONE A LONG WHILE WITHOUT A GOOD KILLING! THEREFORE, I'LL TAKE GREAT PLEASURE IN KILLING ALL OF YOU!"

Not having any other ideas, Ford accepted his fate. "Welp. I guess this is the end."

"I'd be getting emotional but I'm honestly too annoyed for this right now," Stan admitted, finding it hard to care for anything that is happening at that moment.

"On the other hand, I'm a seventh of a way into starving to death so I guess this speeds up that process," Derrick accepted. "But if you're gonna poke a hole in my head, please make sure it kills me on first go. I'd rather not feel anything if the part of my brain that feels pain remains intact."

"The parietal lobe," Ford answered.

"Yeah, that."

"I'LL KILL YOU ANYWAY I WANT!" the queen dismissed.

"Alright, alright, I got that. I was just asking for it to be painless. Yeesh."

"I've had enough BUZZ-ing talk," the queen said impatiently. "I'LL ENJOY MY KILLING NOW!"

"Oh, surely there is a better way of going about that, isn't there?"

Down below, emerging from the main passage, Evan and Dipper bravely walked inside beside one another, though, appearing unarmed.

"Dipper! Evan! You're alive!" Ford exclaimed gladly as he looked down at them.

"Great! You two brought something to fight back against these things, right?" Stan asked.

"No," Dipper replied.

"What?!" Ford exclaimed.

"Well, I guess all our stuff's going to Mabel," Stan quickly accepted their fates.

"More intruders?" the queen questioned as the two boys entered. "Even better! More to kill."

"MORE TO KILL!" the rest of the hive echoed excitedly.

"Who? Us?" Evan asked.

"Now why would you want to do that?" Dipper asked curiously.

"Because you invaded our hive! Now we will use our sheer hunger for death to kill each and every one of you," the queen justified.

"But there are only five of us," Evan reminded them. "Is that really going to satisfy your bloodlust?"

"We'll take what we can get."

"In that case, why not get each other?" Dipper suggested. "If the sole purpose in your lives is to kill, then couldn't you just kill each other? There are thousands of you inside this giant hive of yours."

"What?! We're not going to kill each other! We're a colony! The same species!" the scornet claimed, shocked by the suggestion alone.

"I don't see why not," Evan shrugged. "You could reproduce, kill, reproduce, kill… You could repeat that cycle for so long and never run out of things to kill and never have to go on long runs without venting all that built-up murderous tension."

"Plus, I mean, we're so small compared to you guys," Dipper added. "Surely it isn't that satisfying to kill such small targets. But killing each other, there's a reasonable matchup, which makes the kills all the more satisfying."

"And I've even done the research and it's already proven that going too long without killing will kill you guys anyway, so...once again, not seeing the issue," Evan added further.

"Sounds perfect to me," Dipper nodded in agreement.

As they explained themselves, multiple scornets throughout the hive turned to one another hesitantly, while slowly becoming more convinced by the boys' points. Every scornet except the queen, however.

"Well it doesn't to me!" the queen objected. "We are a colony! A family that will not unleash our murderous desires on one another! We are better than that! Our temptation isn't that strong! We can-"

"BUZZ YOU! I'M GONNA BUZZ-ING KILL ALL OF YOU!" a scornet shouted, giving into its death craving.

"THE KID'S RIGHT!" another scornet agreed. "KILL EACH OTHER!

"STARTING WITH THE QUEEN!"

The queen froze. "Wait, what-"

Without warning, the queen was suddenly tackled by several scornets throughout the hive. Others, instead, began to attack each other.

In the process, Stan, Ford, and Derrick were dropped as the scornets carrying them proceeded to go for one another too. Evan and Dipper quickly rushed to them, regrouping once more. As everyone stood up, they looked above and around to see the scornets soon enough making a bloodbath out of each other, as they kept killing each other at fast rates.

Derrick was astounded at the solution, watching the bloodbath with a mixed look of disgust and disbelief. "Are you freakin' kidding me?"

"Well, that's one way to get freed," Stan claimed, also somewhat shocked by the boys' method of rescue.

"Well, uh, thank you, boys, for saving us, but I...uh...I can't say that this was the best way to solve our problem," Ford said, very mixed on the idea of convincing the anomalies to target and kill one another instead.

"Trust me. Neither of us is proud of it," Dipper assured him.

"Honestly, it was either that or make a long trip back to my house to get a supply of knockout gas to put the scornets to sleep," Evan admitted.

"But had we done that, then I don't think any of you would be looking too good by now," Dipper pointed out.

"And to be fair, this is the type of thing they live off of," Evan attempted to justify. "If it's really been long enough since they've last killed anything, they would be dead soon either way. So there is a fair amount of truth in our words despite...uh...the resulting reality."

They all turned back above to continue staring on at the ongoing slaughter. They were all disgusted, of course, but they continued to stare on in disbelief that this is what ultimately saved themselves from their own deaths.

"Can we please get the honey and get the hell out of here already?" Stan asked impatiently.

---

After obtaining the queen scornet honey from the hive, the group made their way out from the cavern and ventured back down from the hanging cliff. Upon reaching the bottom, the group settled down a bit, while Stan found himself out of breath once again.

"Hold up a moment. I need a break," he said as he parked himself at the bottom of a tree, panting. "Ford...please tell me we're done. I can't do much of this anymore."

"You can rest your worries now, Stanley," Ford nodded. "The scornet hive was our final stop. I believe we have just about everything we need."

"So that's it? We're done?" Derrick questioned. "Alright, cool. If you don't mind-"

Thump!

Without warning or any signs, Derrick collapsed face-first onto the grass, where he lay motionless. Everyone stared at him for a moment, watching as he appeared to be completely out cold.

"I'm gonna get so much crap from him later," Dipper already began predicting.

"So we're really done with this adventure, huh?" Evan asked.

"Indeed. And other than convincing a hive of giant angry hornet anomalies to kill one another, I'd say it all worked out fine," Ford claimed as he sorted through his coat. "At least we've acquired all the necessary components for me to craft a proper source of ammunition for the repurposed Quantum Destabilizer. I'll get to work on it right away and once that's finished, I'll await Fiddleford's completed weapon model. We'll put the two together and then we can finally exterminate Bill from Stanley's mind...and our lives...once and for all."

"Thank god for that," Dipper said with a relieved sigh.

"Does this also mean you'll take this ankle bracelet off me since there's no more adventuring left to do?" Stan asked, looking down at his bracelet.

"I'd normally say no, but I think today's events have demonstrated that it has been more detrimental than beneficial, so…I suppose I'll remove it once we return to the Shack," Ford settled on with slight hesitation.

"Yeah, nothing about that bracelet shocking me helped anything."

"I'm just glad this whole Bill situation is another step closer to being over with," Dipper said, looking forward to finally being rid of Bill permanently.

"As am I. The whole thing has been enormously stressful for me and making any progress certainly relieves it," Ford admitted. "And I'm sure Stan will eventually express his gratitude for all my efforts once I've stopped Bill from plaguing his mind."

Dipper and Evan glanced over at Stan, who looked to be hardly paying attention to the conversation at that moment.

"Grunkle Stan?" Dipper prompted.

Stan looked up at them, seeing the look on his face. "What? I'm resting."

Dipper glared at him, which he failed to understand for a moment. That was until he gestured over to Ford by glancing at him with his eyes for a moment.

"Alright…" he said with a sigh as he stood back up. "Ford, as your brother, giving you as much flack as I do comes naturally. It's not my fault that Bill just so happens to make that even worse."

"EHEM!" Dipper cleared his throat disapprovingly at Stan's initial words.

"...BUT...whether it's Bill's influence or not, I'm sorry for all the ungrateful words I've said," Stan continued while glaring at Dipper in the corner of his eye. "This whole adventure and everything you, McGucket, and the kids have done and continue to do for me…I want you to know that I appreciate every bit of it. From all of you. And again, I'm sorry for how I acted before."

Ford looked at Stan for a moment, thinking. Then, he smiled and cheerily patted Stan on the back. "Haha. What did I say? Knew he'd eventually express his gratefulness."

"Yeah, yeah," Stan brushed off, pushing Ford away. "So, am I good now? All of us?"

Dipper chuckled. "Yeah, you're good, Grunkle Stan."

"Of course," Ford nodded. "You're family, Stanley. Even with Bill getting to your head, your attitude is something to get accustomed to anyway."

"Quite a lot of whining for something you're accustomed to," Stan claimed.

"Oh, well. Every now and then, it does get tedious," Ford admitted.

"Yeah, and don't forget whose ankle bracelet almost got us all killed."

As the two went off on their own tangent, Dipper glanced over at Evan, who had remained silent since coming down the mountain.

"You good, man?" Dipper prompted him. "Kind of quiet."

"Yeah. It's just, you know, you guys are family and all. Little for me to contribute," he replied.

"Come on. Don't be like that," Dipper told him. "You've contributed more to this adventure than the rest of us. In a way, that makes you more family than we are."

"I don't quite see how that correlates," Evan admitted. "But thanks, Dipper. It just feels nice enough being accepted."

"Of course. And I know we already cleared everything up earlier, but you know…"

"You're alright, Dipper. Trust me," Evan assured. "I understand how you felt. No hard feelings- given nor received."

Dipper was happy to hear that they were cool with one another in that regard. The last thing he would've wanted was to part ways knowing that his prior words still put them on thin ice.

"So, Evan, have you given my earlier offer any thought?" Ford suddenly interjected as he walked up to the two. "About working together with me more regularly?"

Evan's eyes flashed as he recalled the offer. "I, uh...I have."

"Good to hear, because I do think there's a lot of potential in combining our knowledge of Gravity Falls to unlock greater secrets of the town together," Ford suggested. "You, Dipper, and I could make a great team by the time we're done with Bill. Perhaps I could get Fiddleford in on the mix whenever he isn't busy. Four brilliant minds. We could also have Stan, Mabel, or Derrick for heavy duty missions. I can only imagine what we could do, where we could go, or what we could accomplish."

Evan gave serious thought into how great the offer sounded. Even Dipper appeared interested, especially in the idea of a team effort that seemed unmentioned before.

"That sounds...amazing…" Evan admitted before turning to Dipper.

"Don't look at me. The choice is yours, man," Dipper told him with a smile.

Evan nodded as he turned back to Ford. "...And I'm absolutely down. But...not too regularly," he specified. "There are still projects and endeavors I'd like to take on personally and I wouldn't want to take too much time from that. And I think Dipper should be front seat for these opportunities. But, give me a call at any time and I'd be ecstatic to contribute."

"That's absolutely fine," Ford accepted with a smile. "You're young and having your own endeavors is great. I certainly won't distract too often from that if that's what you request."

"It is," Evan nodded before holding out his hand. "Thank you, Mr. Pines."

"Was a pleasure meeting you today, Evan," Ford said as he shook his hand. He then began walking back through the forest, looking over his shoulder one last time to address Dipper. "We'll see you back at the Shack, Dipper."

Evan waved as Ford left, but Dipper stood somewhat puzzled. Evan's decision put him off and he felt as though it wasn't the answer he wanted to give, but instead did it to appease him.

"You didn't have to do that," Dipper reminded him. "I told you I was cool with you hanging around as much as you want."

"I know, but truthfully, the more I think about it, there really is a certain comfort I get from doing my own thing in my own room," Evan confessed. "And don't get me wrong, I loved going hands-on today, but technology has always been my greatest aspiration and I don't want to put such a gap between that. So I'll definitely love joining you guys in the future, but there are things I'd love doing on my own too."

Dipper was impressed. "Quite an independent one for your age, huh?"

"I prefer to use the word 'capable'," Evan corrected with a chuckle.

"Well, after what I've seen you do today, you're certainly not wrong."

"But as I've said before, this has been the most fun I've ever had outside my house. So once again, thank you for inviting me, Dipper," Evan said gratefully.

"Anytime," Dipper said as he proceeded to pat Evan on the back, causing him to flinch in pain. "Oh...right. Sorry about that."

"...I'll be fine…" Evan said through his slight agony. "Is he going to be though?"

The two looked down at Derrick, who still laid on the ground motionless after all this time. Just realizing how he was again, even Dipper began to grow concerned.

"I have no idea."

"Should we...uh...call an ambulance or something?" Evan asked. "I mean, is he in shock? Traumatized? Dying?"

"Ughhh…" Derrick weakly groaned all of the sudden.

Dipper let out a sigh of annoyance. "No, I know that groan. He's just really hungry."

"...damn you, Dipper..."

---

At a table outside Samba Smoothie, Mabel, Candy, Grenda, Ryland, Gideon, and Ghost-Eyes drank smoothies to celebrate Ghost-Eyes' default victory of the bike competition. Despite Ryland not getting his chance to shine on his own, Mabel knew this was their next best outcome. She glanced over at him, and all of the bruises and scratches he had received that day looked a bit more apparent after enough of the day had passed by.

"How're your scratches?" Mabel asked.

Ryland looked down at his arms and legs, checking the marks for himself. "Alright, I guess," he shrugged. "They'll fix themselves up eventually and some of the bigger ones will probably become scars. Nothing I'm not already used to. The one on my face is definitely going to scar though. Hope it isn't too bad."

"Aw, don't sweat it," Mabel said as she swung an arm around his neck. "Face scars are the coolest scars anyway! People will see you and immediately want to know your story."

"Right. That great story being some jerk who used magic to mess me up while biking, causing me to slide my face against pure concrete."

Mabel processed his sarcasm for a moment. "I mean...no shame in making something up, right?"

He chuckled. "It's whatever. I don't care that much honestly. Most of my scars all pretty much have the same story. The count in the future might reduce a bit now that Yuri's been dealt with though."

"For now, at least," Mabel claimed as she turned to Gideon. "What's the deal with the rest of your other amulets and magic thingies?"

"Oh, not to worry. I plan on getting rid of most of them once and for all," Gideon assured her as he pulled his straw away from his mouth.

"Most?"

"I mean, yeah. I gotta hold onto some," Gideon replied. "As you can see from our little problem today and when you consider all the other possibilities for potential threats in this town, you never know when you're going to need them."

"How'd you even get a hold of so much magic stuff anyway?" Mabel wondered. "Didn't you only have the one amulet when we first fought you?"

"Yeah, uh, you know, I have my connections with folk," Gideon nervously answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Folk from the 'Space. That sorta thing."

Grenda stopped slurping her smoothie and narrowed her eyes. "Sounds suspicious."

"It ain't! I haven't been in touch in a while, I swear!" Gideon frantically promised. "It's just...look, maybe I'm still trying to gain some trust, but you know there are things you don't even tell friends."

"Well, just make sure wherever you're keeping that stuff, it's where no one else knows," Mabel told him.

"I will. Swear on my life. That one amulet I sold to Yuri was all I ever sold. He isn't someone you'll have to worry about again."

"I wouldn't go that far," Ryland denied. "Maybe he has no more magic but I'm sure he'll come back and find some way to torment me. Dude's crazy enough to try."

"Yeah, I didn't know it was possible for someone to be that crazy and full of himself," Mabel claimed. "At least Gideon is somewhat redeemable, as we saw today."

"Well, you know how it is," Ryland began with a smirk. "It's just one of those rare helpless cases."

Mabel smiles as she immediately understood his reference. "Ahhh...this guy!" she said before pulling him over and pressing her head against his neck affectionately. "He knows."

Across from the two, Candy continued looking through her recorded camera footage from the day. Discontent with most of their unusability for her film, she found herself deleting most of them.

"So what's going to happen with your film now?" Grenda asked, looking over her shoulder.

Candy sighed. "I suppose I'll need a new topic."

"Well, you still have time to figure that out at least."

"True, but I'm not sure what exactly I want to make it on," Candy said, slumping over somewhat dejectedly as she tried to come up with something. "I don't have any ideas."

"Surely there's something," Grenda said as she thought. "Something truly cinematic! Something adventurous! Something mythical! Something romantic! Something...something!"

Candy's eyes bulged with the previous suggestion. Looking across the table, her eyes fixated upon Mabel and Ryland, both who were too fixated with one another to notice her stare.

"Romantic…huh?" Candy questioned with a smile just as she held her camera back up and pointed it at the two, hitting record. "I think I got it."

"Erm, what are you doing?" Grenda asked curiously.

"Film-making," Candy simply answered, which left Grenda somewhat confused and unsure what to expect from her actions.

SCREEEEEE!

A police cruiser suddenly skid up to the curb where the group sat. Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland quickly bust out of the car with furious looks, drawing their police batons.

"There he is!" Blubs shouted as he pointed directly at Ghost-Eyes. "There's the man who stole that motorcycle and beat up the cashier at the mall!"

"Uh oh," Ghost-Eyes said, dropping his smoothie.

"Ghost-Eyes! You said you didn't beat the cashier!" Gideon brought up, giving him a look of disapproval for lying. "How could you?"

"I'M TRYING, LIL' GIDEON! I'M TRYING!" Ghost-Eyes cried out guiltily.

"Well, now you gotta try to escape the cops!" Gideon told Ghost-Eyes.

"Get him!" Durland shouted.

"Oh, that'll be no problem," Ghost-Eyes replied confidently before running over to his motorcycle and starting it up. "COME GET ME, CHUMPS! YOU'RE DEALING WITH A BIKING CHAMPION!"

With a few revs, Ghost-Eyes quickly sped off at max speed down the road, going out of sight as he turned a corner. Blubs and Durland made a quick attempt to run after him but were far too late.

"GOSH DANG IT!" Blubs yelled frustratedly. "We can't let him beat us like that, Durland!"

"You're right!" Durland agreed. "Come on! Let's put him in his place!"

The two then threw off their hats and proceeded to run over to a conveniently located two-seater bicycle, each taking a seat. They then strapped on bicycle helmets, appropriately fitting them to their head sizes before pedaling down the street after Ghost-Eyes.

"GET BACK HERE!" Blubs called out as he rang the bicycle's front bell.

"WE'RE BETTER BIKERS THAN YOU!" Durland shouted.

Back at the Samba Smoothie table, the girls, Ryland, and Gideon simply stared at the events that transpired. No one had any idea what to think of anything anymore.

"Not gonna lie, this has been a weirder day than usual," Mabel calmly remarked, breaking the silence. No one else said anything, but after everything they had already been through that day, it was hard not to agree.

---

8-5'12-12 8-1-22-5 20-8-5 15-16-20-9-15-14 20-15 12-5-1-22-5 15-18 19-20-1-25

2-21-20 9-6 8-5 12-5-1-22-5-19, 23-9-12-12 19-8-5 2-5 15-11-1-25

---

(Updated as of June 13th, 2020)

Not much to say about this one. I hope you all are excited now because the next episode is one I've been looking forward to writing for a long time. And it's one that I think many of you all have also been anticipating.

Next Episode: Of Love and War

-Absolute Rift