Wendy stared wide-eyed at the impossible beast she was looking at.
The Walking Inferno. A living, breathing embodiment of fire. Flames whipped off of its body dangerously, the light from its body mixing with the backdrop of dusk, as the creature stared right back at her with intense malice. Right now, the only thing standing between her, and a fiery grave, was Bigby.
Welp, she had a good run.
Bigby, with his eyes yellow, was hunched over defensively, waiting for a fight. "Why are you trying to hurt the Corduroys?" He asked, still trying to piece the story together.
The monster looked at the werewolf, locking his white slits with Bigby's yellow eyes, refusing to show weakness. "You would not understand..." The Walking Inferno replied, his voice distorting the words ever so slightly.
Bigby hated hearing this thing speak. Its voice was sandpaper to his ears, but Bigby wanted to see if he can talk it down. "Try me."
Wendy's eyes shifted back and forth between the two freaks. The apparent werewolf is having a conversation with a 13 foot tall, talking campfire. This is so weird.
The Walking Inferno seemed to be interested in Bigby's request. "You are no mere mortal, are you?"
Bigby tried not to bare his teeth, as his temper was slowly getting the best of him.
"Many decades ago, I was just a human lumberjack. My name was Bernard Williams. I was the greatest lumberjack in all of Gravity Falls. The people would be amazed at my feats of strength, at how fast I could cut down a tree, and of course, my fire chopping technique. It's when you set the tree slightly on fire, and then cut it down."
"So why do you hate the Corduroys?" Bigby impatiently asked.
"I was getting to that!" The Inferno complained. With a sigh, it continued. "Then one day, Toddsworth Corduroy came to town. He immediately put all other lumberjacks on notice, as he began cutting more trees than anyone in town history. But he went too far..."
The Inferno shook his head in annoyance. "He stole my fire chopping technique! Everyone went to him for fire chopping, when I was the one who invented it! So, I tweaked it. Everyday I used more fire, and more fire, and more fire, until the forest just couldn't withstand the flames. I was burnt alive in a forest fire, all because of that blasted Corduroy!"
Bigby furrowed his brow, as he started to piece things together. "So you're an apparition? That manifests itself with fire?"
"Correct."
Bigby quickly solved the rest of the puzzle. "You destroyed City Hall. You destroyed Manly Dan's cutting yard, took his axe, and tried to frame him to ruin his name."
The monster was taken a back, but regained its menacing posture. "You're smarter than you look."
"I get that a lot," Bigby growled.
"But I know you found that axe first. Which means that I cannot disgrace their family name." The Inferno looked at Wendy, standing a few feet behind the fable. "But I can end their bloodline."
"No!" Bigby yelled, as the Walking Inferno ran towards the red head in attack. Bigby pounced at the monster, tackling it near the chest. However, the monster's body quickly turned to just flames, wrapping around Bigby as he rolled on the ground.
Bigby screamed in pain, the scolding fire burning his skin. The fires then flowed smoothly off of him, reforming its body and leaving Bigby with holes and burn marks in his shirt as he laid motionless on the ground.
The creature stalked the teenage girl, making her back up in fear. It was getting ready to strike, and kill the girl.
"Hey Bernie!" A gruff voice growled.
The Walking Inferno, hearing his living name, looked behind him, only to be hit with a large tree trunk in the stomach. Being used as a baseball bat of sorts, the former lumberjack was sent flying away from Wendy.
She looked to see what saved her, only to find something she wasn't expecting.
Bigby was holding the tree trunk, with what looked like relative ease. But that's not the thing that surprised the young Corduroy girl.
Bigby's body hair had gotten thicker, covering most of his face and arms. He had claws on his hands, and fangs protruding out of his mouth. His yellow eyes appeared vibrant, as he looked absolutely feral.
Bigby snarled, as he saw the Walking Inferno get his bearings back. Bigby swung the trunk again, making contact with the unnatural creature again, and knocking it away. With a strained grunt, Bigby lifted the trunk over his head, and threw it at his grounded enemy with a wild cry.
The trunk soared through the air for a few seconds, before landing right on the Walking Inferno, pinning it to the ground.
Bigby bared his sharp teeth, as he looked back at where the teenager was at. He gave a quiet sigh of relief when he saw that she was taking cover behind a rock. Even though she hates him, there's no way he was letting her get hurt.
The tree trunk that was on top of the monster suddenly burnt entirely into ash, earning Bigby's attention. The monster fluidly shifted back to its feet, and gave a roar at Bigby.
Bigby frantically scanned his surroundings, trying to find something he can use against the flame ghost. He barely had time to react when the Walking Inferno shot its arm out, grabbing the half-wolf by the throat.
Bigby gagged from the pressure. The monster's solid grip surprised the fable, as the heat started to scorch and bubble his skin.
Bigby was in panic mode. He didn't know what to do, or what could possibly stop this creature. It was living fire! How the hell do you stop living fire!?
Out of pure instinct, Bigby started clawing at the fiery beast, slashing it with his sharp claws. The monster howled, as Bigby's claws went right through its arm, cutting that part off and dropping Bigby in the process.
The werewolf landed on his knees, gasping for air as the Walking Inferno screeched in pain. Bigby looked at it, realizing that it was having a hard time reattaching the flame hand to the rest of its body.
Bigby looked at the mechanical saw a few feet away, and quickly formed a plan in his head. He got back to his feet, as the monster pulled itself back together.
"Hey, you big ugly freak!" He taunted. "You suck at everything!"
Bigby kicked himself for not thinking of something more clever, but it seemed to do the trick. The monster charged at him, making Bigby roll out of the way at the last possible second, as he ran towards the mechanical saw. He looked back to see the Walking Inferno chasing him.
"You could barely kill a tree! What makes you think you can kill me?" The half-wolf sneered.
"I WILL DESTROY YOU!" It roared, lunging at Bigby.
Bigby jumped at the last possible second, to get right next to the blade of the machine. Bigby looked at the fire ghost, and dodged away right when the evil creature jumped at him.
The Walking Inferno's head hits the saw, making it stuck on the blade. The creature squeals in rage, as it struggles to get off. Bigby immediately headed towards the saw's controls, and flipped the five multicolored switches on.
The saw came alive, giving a rusty growl as the caught monster roared in agony, the saw effectively shredding it apart. Bits and pieces of flame flew everywhere, making Bigby cover his face in protection.
When he looked back, he saw tiny fires everywhere, hopping around like jumping beans. Bigby growled in rage, knowing that the creature wasn't quite dead yet.
The miniscule flames started to jump further into the woods, trying to escape.
With adrenaline still running through him, and anger flooding his mind, Bigby looked back at the tomboy he was protecting in the first place.
Wendy slowly came out from behind her rock, and quietly observed Bigby. He looked like a wild animal. He was breathing heavily, with burn marks all over him, his clothes covered in burn holes and ash. To her amazement, his injuries appeared to slowly fade away, already healing. His lips curled back to show his teeth, his eyes was flooding with malice. She tried hard not to get a little freaked out.
With a light growl, Bigby turned away from the teen, and jumped into the thick brush of the forest, chasing down what was left of the Walking Inferno.
Wendy blinked a couple of times, not sure what to make of anything that just happened. "Seriously, I have to rethink the rules of reality like, every other day now," she complained.
The screeching of tires interrupted her pity party, as Dipper showed up in the Mystery Cart. He had a worried expression on his face, as he saw his older friend. He stopped the cart next to Wendy, happy to see her.
"Wendy! Are you alright?"
"Don't worry dork, I'm fine," She told him with a smile.
"Where's Bigby?"
Wendy pointed in the direction Bigby went. "He went that way, but-"
"Thanks!" Dipper said, as he sped away after the werewolf.
"But he actually saved my life and is chasing a bunch of killer fire," she said, slightly annoyed. "Yep, that was totally what I was going to say."
Suddenly, she heard the sound of heavy footsteps and even heavier breathing. She looked back to see Mabel riding on Soos' back, while she held a silver dagger.
"Wendy!" Mabel exclaimed, happily.
"Hey dude," Wendy greeted, "what're you doing?"
"It's super crazy!" Mabel started, as she proceed to talk lightning fast. "So Dipper said that Bigby was a werewolf, and we scared Grunkle Stan to get silver, which we made into a dagger, and then you called, and Dipper was like 'Oh, I need to save Wendy!', and he left, and then Soos-"
"Hi," Soos interrupted.
"-found a pack of cigarettes that Bigby had, and I was like, 'he looks like a teenager, how did he get cigerettes?' but look!" She then pulled the carton out of her pocket, and showed it Wendy.
"Huff N Puffs?" Wendy asked.
"Huff N Puffs!" Mabel exclaimed, emphasizing the importance of the name. "Think about it! Huff N Puff? Bigby Wolf? He's the Big Bad Wolf!"
"Like, the one from that children's story?" Wendy questioned.
"Yes! Bigby? Big Bad?"
"It all checks out with me, dude," Soos added.
Wendy thought about it for a second. "Maybe..."
Soos looked around at the cutting yard. "Whoa, what happened here?" The handyman asked, making the little girl on his back look around as well.
"It looks like that time you lost your yo-yo and tore the place apart looking for it," Mabel observed.
Soos hung his head low. "Those were dark times,"
Wendy then remembered the current predicament. "Guys, there's this fire monster that has it out against my family, and Bigby turned into this weird half wolf thing and fought him off. He's actually not a jerk!"
"Really?" Mabel was surprised.
"Yeah! And he shredded it up and chased the rest of it into the forest! And now Dipper's after him! We have to get him before something happens!"
Soos looked at Wendy with a dead serious face. "Get on my back," he told her.
Not needing another invitation, Wendy jumped on behind Mabel. Mabel then kicked Soos in the side. "Giddy up, my loyal steed!"
"Neigh!" Soos whinnied, as he ran straight into the forest.
The sun had completely disappeared, as the full moon was prominent in the sky. The moonlight was the only thing illuminating the dense woods, as Dipper searched around.
He had ditched the Mystery Cart a while back, after the path became too cluttered with twigs and plant life to move through safely.
He was holding a flashlight, as he carefully made his way through the flora of the area. In his other hand was the wolf's bane. He needed to be careful, Bigby would be in his full form by now, and he would be extremely dangerous. He really hoped Mabel would show up soon with that knife.
Dipper searched with the flashlight, trying to find any sign of the werewolf. He had a light sense of dread, as he was alone in a dark forest with a possibly murderous creature around.
"Where are you?" He asked himself, as he passed by slightly burnt leaves and twigs. He swung his light around, scanning the area. Eventually, his light fell on the form of a man, heavily panting.
Dipper gave a small yell of terror, and jumping and dropping the toxic flowers in his hand when he saw Bigby, completely normal with the exception of the damage to his clothes. He was hunched over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. He looked up at the young paranormal hunter.
"Seriously kid?" He growled. "You had to show up now?"
Dipper had no idea how to react. It was nighttime, why was Bigby completely normal? Was he wrong about him being a werewolf?
"Well, I uh, was kinda hunting you down, because I thought you were a werewolf."
Bigby went quiet for a second, as he looked at the young boy. He took Wendy's words from earlier into consideration. Maybe he was kind of acting like a jerk to him.
"Listen, Dipper," He said, as he finally was breathing normally. "I'm going to be honest, because you seem like you have a good head on your shoulders. You weren't really wrong."
Dipper looked at him with large, surprised eyes. "Wait, so you are a werewolf?"
"Well, uh, it's a little more complicated than that. Look, I'll answer any questions you got later, but right now we have a situation."
"What kind of situation?" Dipper asked.
"A ghost of a living forest fire."
"What!?"
In that moment, a disorienting roar rang out, making the two struggle to keep their balance as the ground shook. They looked to the source of the scream, to see the Walking Inferno, completely back together, and taller than before. Its bright body clashed against the darkness, as Bigby and Dipper stared with their jaws agape.
"Time to run?" Bigby asked.
"Time to run," Dipper confirmed, as they dashed away from the monstrosity.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" The Walking Inferno screeched, as it transformed into a pillar of flame and chased after them.
Bigby and Dipper were running side by side, trying as hard as possible to outpace a fiery death. Bigby looked back, to see what appeared to be a tidal wave of fire coming up to them.
"Time to speed up, kid!" Bigby exclaimed, as he grabbed Dipper and picked him up over his shoulder, sprinting as fast as possible. Dipper stared at the wave in horror, as a maniacal face appeared in the front, laughing at the prospect of killing them.
Dipper then got an idea. "Bigby! Head to the left!"
"Why?!"
"That's where the lake is!"
Considering what the 12-year old said, Bigby ran full steam ahead to his left. As he ran, he eventually saw a small figure in his way.
It was Mabel, who was apparently searching for her brother. When she noticed the two, she perked up with a smile. "Ah! I found you guys!" Her smile then disappeared when she noticed the giant orange wave of ash and destruction. "What the-?"
She didn't complete her thought, as Bigby picked her up with his free hand, and threw her over his other shoulder.
"Mabel!" Dipper exclaimed.
"Dipper!" Mabel exclaimed. The Walking Inferno roared again, making the two yell simultaneously in panic.
The trio eventually got to the shore of the lake, as Bigby let the twins go and land on the ground. All three looked around, to see the dock, and a small shack. "Now what?" Mabel asked.
With another distorted roar, The Walking Inferno transformed back into its regular form, as the three looked in shock.
"We have to figure out a way to get it into the water!" Dipper said.
Bigby looked around, before noticing a small, fallen tree. "I got an idea!" He exclaimed, as he ran over to the tree, and picked it up with impressive strength. He then charged at the monster, roaring with confidence, before he jumped and took a swing.
The much larger Walking Inferno caught the tree with one hand, making Bigby look at the creature with wide eyes. The fable began to chuckle nervously.
The Walking Inferno then slammed Bigby down to the ground using the tree multiple times, making Bigby grunt in pain every time he made contact. The monster then swung the tree wildly over his head, making Bigby yell in terror. He then flew off the tree, flying through the air and crashing through the roof of the shack.
"Bigby!" Dipper exclaimed for the teenager, as he looked back at the fire monster. It had burned the tree to a crisp, laughing evilly at what he was about to do to the twins.
The twins rolled out of the way as the monster extended its arms to attack. They started running around, doing whatever they can to miss the attacks.
The monster could barely care though. He was having too much fun just toying with his victims. He laughed darkly, loving how the children squirmed.
Mabel, after running away from another swipe of the creature's arm, noticed something near the bank of the water. Two, large water guns.
She gasped in recognition, and quickly ran over to them, picking them up. "Dipper!" She called, earning the attention of her brother. She threw one of the guns at him, before he caught it. He looked at the toy and got a smile of hope on his face.
The two then pointed their guns at the Walking Inferno. "Hey fireball!" Mable yelled. "Say hello to my little friend!"
With that declaration, the two fired, shooting streams of water at the creature. It shrieked in pain, recoiling and constantly shifting to keep itself together. The monster started to become furious at their attack, throwing fiery punches at the twins.
The two kids avoided the attacks, running and gunning the beast.
Meanwhile, Bigby was inside the shack of the lake, lying on pieces of roof and other stored objects. "Wow, I'm dizzy," he mumbled, trying to regain his bearings. He then notices a barbeque grill next to him, with the lid on top and wheels on the bottom. He looked on his other side, to see empty balloons.
He got a wolfish grin, as he figured out a better plan.
Outside, the twins kept shooting at the flame ghost, keeping him at bay. Eventually, the Walking Inferno screeched, as extend his arms to grab the two weapons. He got a hold of them, making the twins let go, and watch in horror as the plastic toys melted, being completely unusable.
The monster laughed. "Now it's time to end this," it declared, walking up to the kids.
A water balloon hit it in the back of its head, making it stop dead in its tracks. It turned around, only to get hit in the face with another.
"Hi there!" Bigby taunted, with a box of water balloons next to him. He picked up another one and threw it, laughing as it hit the torso of the monster. "Wow, you couldn't even handle these kids? What kind of vengeful spirit are you?"
"You've been a thorn in my side for too long now..." it stated menacingly. Bigby threw another balloon at him.
"No wonder Corduroy beat you!" Bigby sneered, making the malicious light widened the white slits it had for eyes. It then narrowed them in anger, as it screamed in pure hate. It rose up into the air, transformed into its flying pillar form, and launched itself at Bigby.
Bigby quickly turned around, picked up the grill, took off the lid, and had the monster shoot itself straight inside. He quickly shut the lid on it, keeping a hold of it, trapping the ghost once known as Bernard effectively.
The lid shook violently, as Bigby motioned for the kids to come over to him. After a moment to register the gesture, they ran over, and helped push down on the lid.
"Get it in the water!" Mabel shouted, as all three of them started pushing the grill towards the lake as fast as possible. They pushed the grill over the dock and inside the water, having it enter with a huge splash.
The Walking Inferno shrieked terribly, as it struggled to get out of the water. The water around it was bubbling from the extreme heat, as it desperately tired to escape. It couldn't no matter what it did, as its body eventually evaporated into steam, disappearing forever.
The trio panted slightly, as relief washed over them.
"We...we did it," Dipper said excitedly, as he tried to find his composure. He was just happy Wendy or Stan wasn't here to see him like this. He'd never hear the end of it.
"That was intense," Mabel stated.
"Yeah," Bigby agreed, as he looked at the two kids. "You guys did real good."
The twins looked at the apparent teenager, and stood right next to each other. "So, can you tell me who you really are now?" Dipper asked.
Bigby stared at him for a moment, before sighing. "Fine, I'm a man of my word. But you're probably not going to believe me."
"Are you the Big Bad Wolf?" Mabel asked.
The fable froze. He looked at the perky girl with surprise. "How...how did you...?"
"Soos found these," she stated, as she handed him his smokes. "After I saw that, I kinda pieced it together."
Bigby smacked the carton, and stuck a cigarette in between his teeth. "It was the name, wasn't it?"
"It's a really weird name," she said. Dipper seemed lost.
Bigby grabbed his lighter, and lit his smoke. He missed these so much. He then looked at the twins. "Never smoke," he told them. "It's a dirty habit."
Dipper had no clue what was going on. "So wait, you're..."
"I'm the Big Bad Wolf," he stated. "I'm what you call a fable."
"Wait, the Big Bad Wolf?" Dipper exclaimed. "Like, from the 'Three Little Pigs'?"
"I also was the wolf in Red Riding Hood. Back in my wild days." He took a drag of his smoke.
Dipper had a mix of surprise, confusion, and excitement on his face. "W-w-wait, but how can you...I mean...and the thing and...huh?"
Before Bigby could go on any further, Wendy and Soos appeared from the bushes, looking relived when they saw the three adventurers. "Sup dudes?" Soos asked, happy to see them. He was holding the silver dagger in his hand.
"Oh good, you didn't kill the werewolf," Wendy stated, looking at Dipper.
"Now you like me?" Bigby asked, skeptically.
She smirked. "Well, it's kinda hard to hate a guy when they save your life from a fire guy. Speaking of which, where is he?"
"We threw him in a grill and drowned him in the lake!" Mabel cheerily explained.
"That's so cool!" Soos exclaimed, high fiving the little girl. He then looked at Dipper, who looked like he was about to explode. "Hey, you ok bro?"
Dipper looked at Bigby. "YOU'RE THE BIG BAD WOLF!?" He screamed, still not being able to process or accept this information.
Wendy and Soos looked a bit surprised that Mabel's theory was correct. "Whoa, that's like, really awesome," Soos stated, as he pointed at Bigby with the knife.
Bigby looked hard at the object the handyman was holding. "What's that?" He asked, uncomfortable. Dipper rubbed the back of his head.
"It's a...Silver knife," Dipper admitted. Bigby did not look amused.
"That could really of done some damage on me," Bigby told them, a bit happy that everyone figured everything out before they used the weapon.
Mabel was confused. "But wait, I thought you weren't a werewolf?"
Bigby pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, I'll explain everything. But we need to get you two home first," he said, pointing at the kids. "It's late, I haven't slept in three days, and I have multiple third-degree burns that I really should take care of."
Mabel pouted. "Fine, but you're coming with us!"
Bigby was perplexed. "Why?"
"Because I need to ask you so many questions!" Mabel exclaimed. "Like how was that dress you wore when you were in the grandma's house? Was it comfy? Did it have polka dots, did it have-?"
Bigby groaned as the young girl rambled, as the group went back to the Mystery Shack. The Big Bag Wolf had a feeling that it was going to be a long night.