Three Can Keep A Secret

by New Yorktown

AU where Dipper became Ford's apprentice and now lives in Gravity Falls. Now 16 years old, Mabel is finally traveling back to that town to reunite with her brother after so long and see what he's been up to, sparking off strange new adventures and the surfacing of buried secrets. Written before the post-series comic was published.

14. Down To Earth: Chapter 3

It had been several days since Mabel's adventure to the crystal mine, and she'd been in a funk for the entire time period. The days passed going about town to revisit familiar sights alongside some combination of Grunkle Stan, Candy or Grenda. Though she'd genuinely had fun during her times on the town, the newfound reality of her emotional distance from Dipper ate at her all the while.

It was now the beginning of afternoon on a day where Mabel had nothing really planned at the moment, and was just hanging about in her bedroom. She was roused from her careful examination of her recently raided knitting supplies by a knock at the door. "Come in!" She greeted cheerfully, and her mouth widened into genuine happiness when her twin brother opened the portal. Not even the fact that Pacifica Northwest was behind him could dampen her enthusiasm. "Hey bro-bro, what's up?"

"Hey Mabel." Dipper responded a little awkwardly. He shuffled into the room wearing one of his work outfits, a long multi-pocketed zipped closed vest over pocket laden cargo pants that were usually stuffed to the seams, the whole outfit inspired by Grunkle Ford. Pacifica was dressed with less carrying space but still practical, a women's polo shirt trucked into belt tightened, durable pants, both colored her usual mix of white and light purple.

Despite their argument with each other following the three's victorious return from the fight against Bill Cipher, the twins were still on speaking terms. They shared meals, made small talk, and Dipper had even joined Mabel in town a few times when he wasn't busy. There simply existed an emotional gap between the two that both were uncomfortable talking about. "I was wondering if you'd be willing to help us out with an expedition we're doing today?"

Mabel gasped with surprise, but was quickly on her feet, bouncing on her heels in front of the two. "Of course I'll help you Dipper! It'll be just like old times, solving mysteries together! So, what's the situation we're dealing with!?"

Dipper grew a weak, awkward smile at this while Pacifica simply maintained a flat expression. "Well, Grunkle Ford was going through his backlog of relaxing, non-threatening experiments and he found a geological survey of the town, which doesn't match the older surveys he collected before going into the portal. Based on the data he's collected, the town's rocky areas abruptly developed some kind of natural hot spring, even though none of the data he had collected indicated one was forming and thirty years is a blink of the eye in geological terms. He traced the flow of mineral rich water to an area covered in rock paintings we've always wanted to document." He explained at length, then smiled at Mabel while rubbing the back of his neck. "I figured you could help out by using those art skills to copy down the rock paintings while me and Pacifica investigate any water changes in the area."

"I'd be happy to! It sounds like a fun little trip!" Mabel exclaimed, before rushing towards the closet. "In fact, I've got the perfect thing for this!" She jumped all the way inside the wooden storage space, slamming the door behind her and rummaging about to the mystified looks of the two outside. Moments later, she fell out in a massive pile of clothes, most of them homemade.

Mabel soon burst out of the clothes pile, wearing her most ambitious creation yet, something she'd been working on since her disastrous adventure in the mine in an attempt to be more like Grunkle Ford. It was an imitation of his longcoat, but pieced together from Mabel's assorted knitting material and and few cannibalized sweaters she no longer fit into. From these disparate components and Mabel's own creative nature came a genuine Frankenstein's Monster of fashion: a knee length exploding rainbow of colors and designs, all roughly patched together in the shape of a coat with no regard for color coding or visual composition, whose inner linings were ripped out for more pocket space. "What do you guys think? It's my own Mabel style science suit!" She asked, while doing a little twirl that showed the patchwork nature extended in 360 degrees. Upon further inspection, she managed to add mustard colored striped pants and an undershirt that was decorated with long rows of Mystery Shack brand question marks underneath it.

Pacifica's mouth was wide open, gurning with a mix of shock, incomprehension, disgust and disbelief as the outfit offended every bit of fashion knowledge she'd accumulated over her high society life. A confused gurgle came out of her throat as she tried to voice a reply, but Dipper cut her off by speaking comprehensibly first. "It's very you, Mabel." He said with a sincere grin, getting a little warm hearted over his sister's old wackiness. "I don't think anyone else in the world could pull it off, but I like it." Dipper was silent for a moment longer than was comfortable. "Well, glad to have you along then. Get all your sketching supplies together and anything else you want to bring, me and Pacifica still have some preparing to do." He finished, before heading downstairs to finalize preparations.

Pacifica followed him a moment later, after she composed herself and shot Mabel a glare, which the Pine Twin responded to with a satisfied smile. "That's right you bleach blond stereotype, the Mystery Twins are back in action!" The Pines remarked, before traveling over to his piles of luggage she still hadn't fully unpacked. Unlocking a smaller, metal box lined with the sparkly black fluff padding, Mabel was grinning ear to ear as the old grappling hook came into view.

---

About twenty minutes later, Mabel exited the Shack's back door, heading towards a ramshackle garage assembled behind the building. As time had gone on and Dipper had grown up in Gravity Falls, Grunkle Ford had acquired a surprisingly spacious inconspicuous white panel van that was stored back here, with a sizable science lab put in back, accessible from two sideways doors on the flanks and a pair of back doors. Mabel had been told once or twice during their corresponding that Dipper had been learning to drive out in Gravity Falls, but never had a picture of the vehicle sent to her or described. As a result, she was floored when it rolled out of the garage and into sight.

"Ah, good timing Mabel, we just need to load the last couple of things in and we'll be ready to go." Dipper remarked, getting out of the van but frowning and standing still when he saw his sister rooted in place. "What's wrong Mabel?"

The female twin was standing their with a look of shock, personal offense and bursting laughter. "Dipper, you... you're..." She breathed out, slowly being consumed by laughter. "You're driving a freaking diddler van!"

Dipper frowned and got a little huffy over his twin's statement. "It's a practical vehicle Mabel. We need to be able to move a lot of supplies to the field and carry samples back here. It has a very roomy back compartment that meets those needs."

"You lure those samples into the van with a bag of candy?" Mabel asked teasingly, leaning forward on her heels while making the joke. After a moment though, her smile became a bit weak when Dipper wasn't laughing with her. Now more cautious, she began to step forward towards the passenger door. "Uh, well, never mind, let's get going on the ro... oh my god you even tinted the windows!"

Soon enough the three of them were on the road, Dipper and Pacifica riding up front while Mabel took one of the driver's cabin's back seats, an aftermarket modification forced in by the vehicle's owners in hopes that the entire Pines family could ride together one day. From her somewhat cramped seating, Mabel spoke up after they'd been driving a short distance. "So, what's so special about this find we're investigating?"

"It's nothing too big honestly, this is should be a simple little check out." Dipper replied. "It's entirely possible this is perfectly normal geothermal activity, but anything related to water is worth looking into, seeing how issues related to it are some of the most preeminent of the modern world." He stopped the van for a moment, as they were at a red light, and had a thought while they waited for it to change. "Hmm, maybe once Bill is dead, it will be possible to use the portal to acquire potable water from other dimensions..."

Mabel was a little unnerved at Dipper's new musing. "I thought you guys were going to, you know, dismantle that portal when we didn't need it anymore? Go back to that interdimensional viewing you'd rejiggered it for, you know, without the risk of falling through?"

"Believe me Mabel, numerous safety features were implemented before we restructured the viewer back into the portal." Dipper replied. "With how useful the device has been against Bill, and the extremely high and stable performance we're seeing from it, we're probably going to keep it around and find new applications for the technology when this threat has passed. In particular, I think it'd be interesting to find alternate dimensions that we can siphon fresh water out of to alleviate Earth's water needs!"

Mabel blanched a little at this. "You mean, you'd turn the portal into a pump!?" she asked, a wary tone to her voice.

"Of course not Mabel, the original portal is completely structurally unsuitable to do that kind of job, water pressure would be a problem and it'd spill water all over the floor." Dipper explained, a bit of snark in his voice. "We'd have to build new portal devices."

The girl in the backseat was simply taken aback by this declaration. She flashed back to all the negative feelings the underground machine had caused her: fear of the gravity anomalies, conflict as she ignored Dipper's trust, ever increasing regret after she gave the rift it spawned to Bill Cipher, sympathy she felt for Grunkle Stan and a low seed of resentment she felt for the man who came through it. She didn't know how to process the idea Dipper was enthusiastic about building more of them.

Pacifica was the next to speak up, turning her head around the passenger seat to observe Mabel's expression while her own was very satisfied at the other girl's uncertainty. "Just imagine it Mabel. Your brother overseeing a massive facility where gallons of fresh water are pumped in from other worlds. It'll take a lot of time and a lot of work to make it happen, but I completely believe he can do it. I figured you'd be really happy about the idea, what with coming from California and all."

"But... but what about all the damage the portal can do? The gravity changes, the monsters from the other worlds?" Mabel asked, struggling with her own regret.

"No form of achievement comes without risk, but with careful research we can create safety systems which enables responsible use. You can't stop working on things simply because solvable problems arise." Dipper remarked back to her. "If everyone thought like that, we wouldn't have widespread satellite technology because of the Challenger disaster, we wouldn't have airplanes because of the death of Thomas Selfridge, we wouldn't have radioactive power because of the radiation poisoning the Curie family suffered and we wouldn't have boats because someone slipped off one and drowned." He was speaking passionately now, with a characteristic enthusiasm that Mabel had only rarely seen back when they were children.

Unsure what else to say in response, Mabel sank into her seat, folding up inside her long, colorful coat.

---

The rest of the drive passed in mostly silence, as Dipper quieted down with a smidgen of embarrassment after his statements about scientific achievement. Small attempts to break the ice had been bandied back and forth after that, but none succeeded. Eventually, the vehicle came to a stop at clearing before an elevating rocky foothill. The three stepped out, and Dipper began unloading supplies from the back of the van. "I presume you brought all the needed art supplies Mabel, so here's the rest of the stuff you'll need." He explained before handing off a steady stream of supplies that his sister's homemade coat managed to swallow completely. "Contact radio, emergency flare gun, dusk mask, first aid kit, trail mix, Grunkle Ford's emergency medical stick, inflatable raft, flashlight..." this continued for about half a minute, until Dipper reached deeper into the van and struggled with an obtuse case, but immediately thought better of handing it off to Mabel when he realized what he was holding "...Actually, let's keep this in the van."

"Whatcha got in there?" Mabel asked, leaning over her brother's shoulder to get a good look.

With a shrug, Dipper simply popped the case open to show her, revealing the container to be a lined transport case for a smooth, silver metal, two handed assembly with a nozzle on the end and a liquid tank receptacle on the top, with two matching containers also held in the box. The two glass cylinders held a soft, clear liquid inside them while being adorned with warning labels. "It's a stone cutting acid jet." Dipper explained, before closing the box up and putting it back in the van. "We could use it to cut the paintings out of the rock and haul the entire block back to the lab, but given that these things are likely cursed we're going to play it safe and just have you draw them."

Soon enough, the three had set off into the rocky hills, moving slowly but steadily through the height variable terrain. Dipper led Mabel and Pacifica through the series of rock paintings he needed copies of, stopping numerous times to scrape samples of stone and dust into small jars. Her eyes were wide as she took in the simple but beautiful works of art that adorned the stones, depicting patterns of the stars, human figures performing various actions in strange, primordial environments, and exaggerated, mythic figures of beasts. Eventually, they came to a cave mouth a few feet away from the latest find and Dipper began to set up equipment, as well as a collapsible table and a few folding chairs to use them on. "This will be our base of operations for the day. You can take breaks in-between drawings here, and I'll anchor our guiding rope to this spot." He explained, applying some of Grunkle Ford's nuclear attraction ultra glue to the ground before sticking a metal rod in it, firmly rooting in place, then tying off a rope to it.

"You got it bro-bro! I'll keep this place nice and secure, trust me! And I'll have your drawings ready for you as soon as you come back!" Mabel replied energetically, whipping out her craftsmen's pencils and paper pad and holding them up.

"Thank you Mabel, I'm sure you will." Dipper now had a long section of rope tied around his waist, other end connected to the metal rod, and Pacifica had done the same. His smile towards his sister was sincere, but awkward and a little cracked. He put a hand on the edge of his hat, seemingly wanting to say something, but couldn't find any words and simply descended into the cave, Pacifica right behind him, poignantly ignoring Mabel. Soon enough, the female twin was all alone in the basic base camp, and her smile withered. After only a moment of mopping however, she got a determined frown and took a deep, calming breath.

"Okay girl, this is your big chance to get Dipper back!" She spoke to herself. "I'm going to give him the best, most accurate traced artwork he's ever seen! Our twin bond will reestablish, Dipper will be back in my life, and maybe I can start protecting him from Pacifica..." Rather than sink into a trail of thought though, Mabel shook her head before spinning about to run towards a painting of stars, wool coat trailing behind her. "Time to get to work!" she declared, unaware she was soon going to being watched.

Deeper into the treeline, by the road the three had driven down to get to the site, time and space were briefly cut apart in a neat, straight vertical line, splitting into a stable pathway through which a figure could step. Heavy boots stomped on the grass underfoot, as the fairly short but stocky figure was covered from head to toe in over sized hunter's garments, pocket covered and baggy clothes in a mix of dark green and earth tones. The face of the figure was obscured with an equally camouflaging floppy hat and a black, mesh hood obscuring their face. After a brief examination of their surroundings, the figure hefted two objects, one to each hand: a pair of binoculars in the left hand, and a long, curved sword in the right. Then, they set off down the road.

---

Meanwhile, the two other explorers found the cave getting dark very quickly, resulting in Dipper activating a flashlight to maintain visibility. Even with the mechanical assistance however, the rock cavern seemed to be getting darker the deeper they went, the air thicker and the walls a little further away. Unknowingly, Dipper and Pacifica found themselves nudging closer to each other every time the drop of water or a crumbling underfoot rock mildly startled one of them. Neither of them commented on it, but very soon they were exploring the cave with free hands clasped together and bodies close to one another.

Despite this, neither of them were truly afraid of the place they were exploring, rather they were determined to uncover anything unusual. Pacifica was using an air sampler Grunkle Ford had built out of a handheld vacuum cleaner to sample the atmosphere for later study, while Dipper scraped up more stone samples as well bottling up drops of water pooling on the floor or dripping down the walls. The cave was becoming increasingly damp the deeper they dove into it, though nothing resembling a stream or water flow existed. Rather, the water simply seemed to be in the air.

Dipper and Pacifica worked meticulously, collecting samples of water, rock, and everything else from every surface. Each sample was bustled into an empty test tube, which were distinguished by strips of tape and extensive documentation from the end of a black sharpie. They worked quietly, for the most part, Dipper finding the silence sort of comfortable to conduct his investigation in. He didn't feel nervous or embarrassed or defensive about his exploring his interests when Pacifica was around, though he wasn't sure if she enjoyed the silence as much as he did and felt obligated to talk about something to lighten the mood in the dark cave.

Dipper struggled to find a topic of conversation to spit out of his compacted throat, when to his relief Pacifica spoke up while removing her hand from his grip, with a motion suggesting she hadn't even realized she'd been holding his. "Uh, sorry about that. No offense, but the air in this cave is making both our hands clammy." As the blond remarked this, she shook the hand about to send the moisture flying. Dipper, flustered, pulled his hat down with his other, equally sweaty hand, and turned his focus towards a rock wall.

"If there is an undiscovered water source around here, something must be turning into mist up here, since I don't see a flow source." He chattered somewhat nervously. "Either that, or atmospheric conditions are blowing air moisture into this cavern, which condenses it...''

"What are we going to do if we do find a water source down here?" Pacifica asked, also trying to not look directly at Dipper. "Pass it off to the infinite wisdom of the five people Mayor Cutebiker could trick into staffing his Water Resources Department branch?"

"Perhaps we'll have to. We'll need to examine them first, see if any kind of lifeforms down there are unique to this particular pool of underground water, provided there actually is one of course." Dipper replied. "Given how isolated this mountain range is, and how deep in a potential water source would need to be based on the fact we're only finding mist so far, the organisms down there could be completely unique, genetically incompatible with creatures from anywhere else in the world! And that's not even getting into the influence of an alien spaceship slamming through the mountain range might have had..."

"Completely unique lifeforms..." Pacifica chewed on the idea for a minute, really evaluating how she felt about the idea. "Well, if that's the case, we'd have to protect them, right? Make sure they're fully understood and discovered instead of being lost forever?"

"Right, gotta put them in the Journal so the knowledge is never truly lost." Dipper affirmed. "Of course, we are in Gravity Falls. A unique pool of blind cave fish is so normal a discovery that it becomes improbable. Allopatric speciation is crazy enough before you factor in literal magic and spaceships."

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll be running from a hand obsessed spirit of revenge made out of melted cotton candy by the time today is over; That's how every trip you take me on ends." Pacifica remarked dryly, but smiled at Dipper nonetheless. "C'mon, let's get this place sampled."

After a half hour of thorough work, they came to the end of the linear cave and discovered its most peculiar feature: a rocky extension of the cave floor, rising up like a stalagmite, but without a tapering into a point at the end. Rather, the rock shape was roughly cylindrical in shape, like a pipe, and upon looking at it from above one realized it was even more like a pipe as it had a smooth cut opening at the top that ran down the rock into darkness. "That hardly seems natural." Dipper remarked, curiosity piqued, and he swiftly brought his tools to bear, scrapping off dust samples and collecting water droplets, while Pacifica picked up a nearby loose stone and dropped it into the black, listening for a moment until the sound of a rock hitting water could be heard.

"Well, there's definitely water down there." Pacifica observed, before somewhat sarcastically adding "That would explain where all this hair curling humidity is coming from." while making a futile attempt to straighten a strand of her blond hair, which had gotten a bit curly during the time she'd spent exploring the cave.

"Yes, but what's heating it enough for it to vaporize and rise up through here? Our geothermal activity perhaps?" Dipper mused, but as he looked back to Pacifica, his expression became one of abject terror as he threw a pointing hand up and yelled "PACIFICA, BEHIND YOU!"

---

Outside, Mabel had been hard at work copying the rock drawings, having just completed a pinpoint sketch of her second one. She was holding it rather intently in front of her face, tilting it about in an attempt to find meaning, even holding it upside down at one point. Unknown to her, Mabel was being watched from the woods just as intently as she was watching the rock painting her front of her, though instead of instruments of art, her observer was holding a long, metal instrument of war. While her watcher lay almost motionlessly in the forest grass, Mabel lowered her upside down drawing to compare it to the original.

It was then that she spotted it.

"Hey there little guy!" she crooned gently to an insect that had appeared on the stone, crawling around the colored lines. The bug came to a stop on a blue dot and fluttered its shimmering, gossamer, almost see through green wings as the front two legs rubbed together. "A fellow art lover I see!" Mabel added appreciatively. "I betcha Dipper would love to meet you!" she spoke wistfully while digging around in her many pockets before slyly adding "But uh, you didn't hear this from me, probably better you don't hang out with one Pacifica Northwest. Trust me, you'll thank me later."

In moments, she had the bug catching supplies Dipper had gifted her at the ready: the telescopic butterfly net in one hand, a glass jar in the other. Mabel went to set the jar down in preparation for the catch, but found herself staring at its contents, mystified. "Filter paper, plaster, saw dust, and... are those little sugar crystals on the bottom? Salt maybe? Where are all the bugs supposed to go!?" she spoke to herself.

The watcher saw Mabel begin pulling equipment from her pockets, and briefly considered moving closer to wet the appetite of their weapon, but ultimately held back. They'd been ordered to get all three of them.

Mabel's immediate first impulse was to open the jar up and toss all this junk out to make more room for all the awesome insects she was sure she'd catch today, but as her hand went to the lid, the thoughts caught on something. She paused for a moment, then breathed out "I... I should just trust Dipper on this. He'd have put it together like this for a reason." while removing her hand from the lid to grip the net with both hands. She held it up in the air while hovering over the still radiant insect.

"OK my pretty, come to mama!"

---

Pacifica spun around as soon as Dipper pointed, letting out a short scream of surprise at the sight before her. It was a menacing, human shaped thing that loomed over Pacifica while reaching out at her, supported by swollen but spindly limbs and topped with a hairless gray head, whose facial expressions seemed to have melted out of conventional human locations while being painfully swollen. The distorted flesh obscured the humanoid's eyes, but from what little the two could see they were dark and sunken, and the mouth of the thing hung limply open.

The arms were coming down in an attempt to seize Pacifica, but she acted to quickly, backing away on impulse and slamming the atmosphere sampling device into the face of her attacker. The soft, rubbery skin offered no resistance to the metal tool, and a gout of pus burst about as the skin broke, causing Pacifica to let out an involuntary yell of disgust. Nonetheless, the blow proved effective, and the creature stumbled sideways and collapsed, its weak legs giving out and liquid dripped off its face and onto the floor.

However, his form collapsing away revealed a sizable pack of the creatures had snuck up on them, blocking the cave pathway. One of them bore a rough stone knife that had been used to sever the safety ropes, and towards that one Dipper charged in to try to clear the way, the moderate muscles and fighting experience he'd built up over a few years of field work and adventures going into action. He gained control of the knife using limb, trying to wrestle the weapon away, but Dipper was soon grabbed from behind by arms coming around his neck and pulling him backwards, though the boy's hold lasted longer than expected, resulting in the back pull dragging the knife user off his feet, resulting in his lanky, puffy arms unintentionally swinging the knife down to a position where his knee would land right on top of it. The creature wailed out in pain as their kneecap exploded and they collapsed, resulting in a splattering of thick fluid, foul smelling and multicolored.

Pacifica similarly tried to fight back, swinging her atmosphere sampler into the skull of one of the creatures menacing Dipper, but was quickly piled upon and restrained by the mob as well. The creatures had strong, solid grips despite their misshapen forms, and quickly had the two explorers subdued. Even as Dipper and Pacifica struggled against the tall figures holding onto them, they were shuffled a small distance down the cave, to a sunken section of wall where a rock had been rolled aside to allow entrance to a slopping, downward tunnel. "I can't believe I missed that..." Dipper remarked dishearteningly as the two were shuffled down to the darkness.

The party downward was soon joined by most of the creatures that had been wounded in the fighting, having picked themselves up and stemmed the fluid leaks as well as possible. The exception was the one with the exploded kneecap, who could not stand up and was abandoned by the others. After only about a minute of shuffled, struggling walking, Dipper and Pacifica were pushed into an underground chamber by the party of creatures. It was an extremely damp, high ceiling chamber with a large pool of what in the center, faintly illuminated by scattered piles of burning wood, over which skewered, eyeless fish were hung up.

A few more of the creatures were scattered about the room, but it was clear the majority of them had gone up to capture the intruders. Save the four that held Dipper and Pacifica in place, the creatures fanned out around the pool. A high pitched clicking filled the chamber for a sharp moment, after which movement could be seen under the water, which upon close examination was clearly very warm, indicated by the steam rising off it. As the movement ripples neared the rock shore, a figure emerged from the depths; Another one of the creature, but clad in a gray, stained robe that gave it an uncanny resemblance to a manta ray when their arms were spread out.

It stepped upon the shore and looked down at the two captured humans. "You have intruded upon our domain." It abruptly spoke, in a voice that was high pitched but sounded like the speaker had water in their throat, along with a certain wheeze to it.

"We are scientists, who came here to explore the mysteries of Gravity Falls when you attacked us!" Dipper stated with a strong tone, asserting the statement as true. He'd encountered many anomalies during his time studying under Grunkle Ford, and the older scientist taught him it was important to establish qualifications and authority early into such encounters.

"We didn't know anyone was down here though, we wanted to find out what was!" Pacifica interjected, attempting to add a diplomatic slant to their arrival. "We didn't come here looking to hurt anyone."

The leader of this underground group looked down at the two, then began to orate. "We are the shadows beneath your feet, the civilization below which you have built your world upon. All your achievements sit upon our foundation, and at any moment we may open the earth to swallow your works whole, plummeting to darkness."

Dipper cocked an eyebrow with a skeptical look on his face at this, looking aside to Pacifica who shared that expression. "Gravity Falls was the subject of years of brilliant research, and not once was any hint of an underground civilization of such scale and power discovered." He stated, narrowing his eyes at the leader figure. "I think you guys are a motley collection that's taken up residence here recently, probably having caused the unusual environmental readings we just discovered. So, why not explain who you really are?"

The creature leader looked at Dipper, then ran their eyes over its assembled kin ringing the pool of water. "I told you that story wouldn't work." He remarked bitterly, before turning back to focus on the humans. "Very well, children of the clean. You may refer to us as the Futurekind, for that is what we are to you."

---

Outside, Mabel was returning to the bare bones base camp to set down her recent drawings so as to not have to carry them around. She was moving around the camp doing so with her usual frantic energy, but after a thoughtless glance one direction she froze in place, a chill going down her spine, before she looked back again in hopes she had imagined it.

Sadly, she hadn't: Both safety ropes were loose against the floor, indicating they'd been cut. Mabel right away brought out the handheld radio she'd been given and activated it. "Dipper, Dipper are you okay bro bro!? The rope is cut out here!" she spoke into the device, having tugged the rope a few times to confirm it had no weight on the end. All that came over the line was static. With a worried expression on her face, Mabel charge right into the cave, following the loose rope down the tunnel and bringing her flashlight up and on to illuminate the way.

Outside, the hunter smiled.

Mabel had rushed down the cave in minutes, proceeding without any of the scientific caution that had slowed down Dipper and Pacifica. Midway through, she heard a distorted, gargling groan of pain coming from deeper down the tunnel. "DIPPER!" She yelled, overcome by panic while rushing down even faster, stumbling over stones in a few places. The girl came to a cold halt however, almost shrinking in place as she cast her flashlight over the lumpy shaped, human like mound on the floor, doubled over and unable to stand due to its stabbed kneecap.

Mabel was still and cautious for just a moment, until a pitiful groan of pain came out of the creature and spurred Mabel into action, rushing forward and kneeling down besides the creature. "What... are you? Are you hurt?" she asked, and in a well meaning but somewhat clumsy move, flipped the wounded figure over to try and get a better look, bringing the stabbed kneecap into view but drawing another pained groan out of the creature. "SORRY! Sorry!"

Even without all of Dipper and Ford's fancy pants science knowledge, Mabel could figure out what had happened, what with the still damp knife sitting nearby, stained with the same foul smelling liquid that leaked out of the flesh wound. A thought crossed her mind, wondering how responsible for this injury her brother might have been, but she quickly forced it out of her brain. "Pacifica probably stabbed this guy." She snorted dismissively.

Another groan of pain came from the creature, knocking Mabel out of her spiteful contemplation. She stumbled for a moment, not sure what to do, but then an idea bulb went off over her head (or at least, she imagined one doing so) and she reached into her many pockets for one of the many tools Dipper had passed his sister when the day began: Grunkle Ford's Emergency Medical Stick!

"Now, how does this work again?" she pondered to herself. When it became clear a greater threat had arrived to Gravity Falls, Grunkle Ford had run Mabel down the list of inventions he had that she might find herself needing to use during the crisis. The laser guns and explosives had been interesting enough, but Mabel had started to lose focus by the end, and she could barely remember the long list of functions the medical instrument could perform using... cute icicle binders, Stan cells, quick work aesthetic and pixie dust?

"Still, I might not know how it works, but I know how to make it work!" Mabel said loudly while pointing the instrument towards the wound. "...That sounded better in my head."

The medical instrument is basically a wand, a black cylinder with an orange cap on one end and a sliding orange switch positioned near the similarly colored cap, so by comfortably fitting the instrument in your hand the thumb naturally falls upon the switch. "Here goes nothing." Mabel remarked with equal parts uncertainty and anticipation, before using her thumb to slide back the switch. A spurt of thick, light blue but opaque gel launched out of the end of the wand and pasted itself onto the dripping wound in front of it. Despite the graveness of the situation, Mabel was taken by surprise by the Freudian nature of the device and couldn't manage to stifle her dirty giggle.

On the wound however, the gel quickly molded into place, slipping across to cover the break in the skin and hardening into a cap while underneath... well, even if the conditions had better lighting it'd be difficult to tell what was happening on a microscopic level, but the patient wasn't screaming in agony, so Mabel was counting it as a success. "HA! Chalk one up for Doctor Mabel, PHD!" she cheered, jumping up to her feet and pumping her fists in the air in the process. "PHD stands for 'Pretty Hot Dame', by the way!" she added, directing it towards her impromptu patient, who was showing noticeable improvement right away: their body was less shaky, and they'd stopped groaning in pain. In about a minute, the creature was trying to climb to its feet, to which Mabel extended a helping hand. "Feeling better big guy?" she asked, once the anomaly had climbed back to full height.

After a moment of wobbly standing, the creature leaned forward and embraced Mabel, almost bowling her over with its heavy, angled hug. "WOAH WOAH WOAH! Slow down there buddy, ever hear of personal space!?" She yelled out, trying to push the slimy, slick creature off of her. "You can't just go around shoving your affection onto other people and expect them to recip..." Mabel trailed off as the creature fumbled back from her, realizing it was favoring the healthy leg. "Oooooh, you still have trouble standing!" she said, comprehension dawning. "Well, uh, sorry about that." After a moment of awkwardness, the Pines twin began digging around in her pockets, and quickly pulled out the telescopic butterfly net. "Here, use this a crutch!" she offered, extending it to max length and doing a little pantomime crutch walk to demonstrate. The lumbering creature took it, and despite how much smaller the device looked next to it, managed to stabilize using the impromptu walking aid. Its face shifted, as if it was trying to smile through all the melt and deformity.

Mabel smiled back, a little grossed out by the full sight of the creature but genuinely happy she had made a friend. "...Can you, uh, speak? Can you tell me your name?" In response, the creature opened its mouth, and a noise that was simultaneously a hoarse whisper that danced on the edge of comprehension and a crashing, bubbling gurgle that brought to mind a polluted, sludge filled waterfall came out, echoing slightly in the cave walls. Mabel got that closed eyes, fake smile look on her face that came from watching someone try something and not succeed, one hand rubbing the back of her hair. "Well, that's alright, people tell me I have enough chatter for FOUR people!" she exclaimed, sounding confident and reassuring.

"Now, I'm looking for two other people who are... well, like me." Mabel asked, voice a little more serious now. "You know, shorter, lighter skin, hair, that kind of stuff?" The creature did seem to understand her, as its body language shifted into a withdrawn, more solemn state, but after a moment it nodded in confirmation. "Can you take me to them!?" She asked, suddenly more excited and desperate to find answers. After a moment's hesitation, her new friend nodded again, and began walking towards the still open passage in the wall, leading Mabel into the depths with its slow, hobbling gait.

---

"Pacifica, get ready for your first interaction with time travel, it's probably going to be confusing and ridiculous." Dipper whispered sideways to the blond girl in something of a weary tone, and Pacifica simply rolled her eyes and nodded.

"We come from a great distance forward away from this point in time." The Futurekind leader began to explain. "The world we come from is a harsh, brutal wasteland. We are the children of hot, corrosive seas which slowly wither our bodies away and are shared with monstrous, lurking predators."

Dipper was looking very closely at the Futurekind around him and nodded in comprehension. "Hairless sleek skin, bloated bodies that benefit from the support of water, and the wide collection of deformities... Yes, that makes sense, you come from warm, polluted oceans. I bet that loud clicking noise was echolocation, wasn't it?"

The speaker did not respond to Dipper's hypothesizing. "Records indicate the distant past possessed much more habitable conditions, and the means to travel the time vortex, via technology or sorcery, are potent and numerous in the world that spawned us." For the first time, the Futurekind speaker's voice intoned an emotion: rage. "But, the Time Baby and his cruel agents and lords control access to the vortex. The inhabitants of the squalid time are caged, forbidden from seeking better lives in the past or future zones. But that has changed!"

Dipper and Pacifica looked at each other, nervous understanding coming over both of their faces as they knew exactly what the Futurekind leader was speaking. "The Time Baby abruptly vanished one day in the future, its tyrannical society thrown to disarray. Our sorcery detected a great ripple traveling the vortex, indicating it had been killed in this time period. My people formed a great circle of magic to follow the ripple and arrive in a time location free of its oppression. Here, we will survive."

"What was so terrible about the future you needed to flee from it so badly?" Pacifica asked, genuine concern in her voice.

"The realm we have fled was scourged, toxic." The speaker described, though a notable stutter to his voice indicated he had context to contrast his time period with this one. "Poison leeches into the skin from water and air, and we must stifle our children to keep everyone fed. The light of the Red Orb scalds us, but it keeps away the withering death."

Curiosity peeked, Dipper looked around the room for any signs of a red orb. He finally noticed something when his eyes traveled across the body of water, as now that they had adjusted to the low light setting, he could see a spherical red light glowing from the bottom center of the underground pond.

"From what you've described, it sounds like the future has suffered a complete environmental collapse." Pacifica spoke up while Dipper was looking about. "But now that you're back in time, you can work to change that! We can work together to proliferate technologies that create a different future!" This was a particularly hitting concern for Pacifica, as one of her objectives in cleaning up the Northwest name was replacing the short sighted, wasteful industrial infrastructure they had used to squeeze out a few extra dollars with more sustainable technology.

"No." The speaker hissed. "The Futurekind are well versed in the duplicity and barbarity of outsiders, we will not become entangled in your kelp forest." He remarked, voice now much more threatening. "You will reveal to us how you came here, what is the nature of the "readings" which allowed you to discover us. You will show us how we may hide from the other inhabitants of this time location."

"And what happens when we tell you everything? You going to make us spill our guts figuratively and literally!?" Pacifica asked with an angry tone and expression, trying to cove up the wave of fear she just felt.

"It doesn't have to go down this way!" Dipper implored. "This time is different than where you've come from! Not only do you have a chance to do great things here, you have a responsibility to do them! Even a sliver of scientific knowledge from that far in the future could let us steer history onto a better course! You can't just hide down here in your own little bubble while the rest of the world burns around you!" The last sentence was spat out with a sudden burst of contempt. Dipper was rapidly becoming unsympathetic to the community of time travelers.

"The poaching of fish unsettles the school." The speaker responded while looking directly at Pacifica, having ignored Dipper's platitudes. "When you have told us everything, you will inhale our arcane mists, and our magic will remove your memory of this encounter. You will be returned to the surface world, unaware of what you have seen. There will be no search swarms or future investigations."

Dipper's eyes narrowed and his lips pursed at the threat of memory erasure, his entire demeanor becoming cold in response. "Fine." He unexpectedly spat out, drawing a surprised look from Pacifica. "Let's get this over with as quickly as possible. I'll need papers and writing utensils to give you everything you want, like a map. You'd like a map of the surrounding area, right? Help you avoid the outside world?"

"Yes... that would be ideal." The speaker answered, voice hissing with reservation.

"Then, like I said, I'll needs paper and writing utensils to make it happen, some way to record all the information down, you won't be able to hold onto it all by word of mouth." Dipper repeated, speaking with a calculating edge. "And I want one more thing. Tell me about the Red Orb."

"Why do you bother asking? Soon your memory of all that is in the caverns will be lost to you!" The speaker asked, an accusing tone to their voice.

"I'm curious." Dipper replied with a light, flippant tone. "I'm so curious I got myself in trouble, after all. It's my nature as a scientist. Even if I'm going to be mind wiped, the me that exists in this brief location of time will have known, and the thought of that satisfies me." He explained, leaning into the unique time related lexicon he had heard the speaker of the Futurekind employ. "Besides, I won't draw the maps for you if you don't tell me. You have nothing to lose since you're going to mind wipe me, and something to gain. So why not tell me?"

The speaker was silent for a long moment, mulling over Dipper's request. As silence reigned in the cavern, Mabel and the Futurekind she had befriended stumbled into the room down the tunnel. Mabel's first instinct was to yell out to her brother, but sensing her sucking in oxygen for a shout, her friend clamped one of their large, webbed hands over Mabel's mouth, silencing her for the moment. Though momentarily upset at this to the point she considered biting the Futurekind, she quickly managed to take in the tense atmosphere of the confrontation and remained quiet, observing the whole thing from a dark little corner of the room.

"The Red Orb is what sustains us." The Futurekind leader finally spoke up, implicitly meeting Dipper's demands. "When it is given the proper ritual its become hot, extremely hot, hot enough to burn away the withering death and turn the toxic sea into pure mist. We bring it here as our greatest treasure, and it preserves us still: These waters of the past chilled us to the death when we first arrived, but with the Red Orb they come warm again, as hot as the present seas but without the toxin and the death."

"As long as you're not an indigenous fish." Pacifica remarked sarcastically under her breath, looking sideways at a cooked cave fish on a stick.

"What does it use for fuel though, how do you keep it powered? What are its operating limitations?" Dipper asked, slowly becoming curious and excited as the instrument was described to them.

"The holy orb requires no fuel, and can sustain itself indefinitely. We keep to the rituals on a cycle so that the water does not become too hot for even us to handle." The speaker explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It has done so for the entirety of the Futurekind's existence, since the first speaker united us around it in our past but this time location's future."

Dipper was genuinely amazed a taken aback now. "Potentially infinite heat generation, using either magic or, or some kind of advanced power system they think is magic... Please, you must allow us to study it!" This statement caused the crowd to grow a little more hostile, in a way that was obvious to everyone but Dipper, resulting in Pacifica tugging on his sleeve in an ignored gesture to calm down. "That kind of capacity for power generation, if reverse engineered, could avert the energy hunger of the human race that no doubt help create the future you fled from! Let us help you save your own future!"

"Outsiders will NEVER defile the Red Orb!" The Futurekind speaker spat back, true anger shining through their voice now. "We have safeguarded it against the kraken, the mutos and the time agents, and we will safeguard it from you as well!"

"What about the future!?" Dipper yelled back in exasperation. "I'm not asking you to sacrifice yourself and die down here! Bring the Red Orb to the surface, Grunkle Ford will find you a better home to live in while work out how your Orb works and how it can improve the world! You have an obligation to the world, to science, and the future! You can't just run away from tomorrow and hide in the dark, shortsightedly using something that could change the world for your petty personal benefit! That makes you no better than the people who destroyed the world you're feeling from!"

"TAKE THEM AWAY!" The speaker shouted, exploding into an open display of rage while wildly gesturing one arm towards a dark tunnel on the other side of the chamber, towards which Dipper and Pacifica's guards began shuffling them. "You are either very fortunate or very clever to have mentioned this... Grunkleford. If you have accomplices who would come looking for you, I have no choice but to employ the memory mist, no matter how much I would enjoy gutting you for your heresy. Of course, it is possible you are attempting to deceive me, but I cannot take the risk. You will uphold your end of the bargain, and then you will forget." As soon as the two known humans had been shuffled out of the room, the speaker turned to its followers. "Come, we must begin conjuring the energy for the memory ritual. We will retrieve the information implement needed by the outsiders when this is complete." At this command, the Futurekind began stepping into the pool of water and submerging themselves.

All except one, that is.

In the darkest, furthest corner of the cave room, the injured Futurekind and Mabel had watched the tense scene, Mabel in particular being prepared to leap into action against the mutants the moment they decided to hurt Dipper. However, with memory erasure remaining the strategy of choice for the Futurekind and the two humans being shuffled off unharmed for the moment, she calmed down slightly and was willing to indulge a more careful course of action. As the chamber filled with the splashing noises of the Futurekind submerging, Mabel looked up to her friend and spoke to him in a hushed tone. "I need you to take me to them." She whispered very softly. Though the Futurekind's alien, melted face was difficult to discern in the dark, Mabel could feel the reservation flowing off him. "Look, if you take me to them, I'll make sure they leave and never come back here, no fuss! That's what you all want, right?" After a moment of her giant friend remaining stock still, Mabel opened her eyes as wide as possible and put on her most adorable, pleading tone of voice. "Please?" she asked, using the magic word.

After a long moment, the Futurekind began to move, guiding her along the far walls of the cavern to avoid as much attention as possible. It would be slow, quiet going, and they'd probably have to wait for the four guards to double out and return to the pool, but Mabel was on her way to the rescue!

---

A ways down the tunnel, Dipper and Pacifica were shoved into an isolated rock chamber, barely big enough for the two of them, and then the guards shoved a large rock to block the entrance. They found themselves standing under a faint trickle of light, coming from above.

"They just... shoved a rock in front of the exit!" Dipper mused to himself in disbelief that something so simple had trapped him while pushing on the stone in a futile manner. It wasn't even a stone door, it was just a big rock that had been shoved into place by one of the guards! "I can even reach around this thing, there's just no door handle or keys to grab on the other side." The twin added while wiggling one of his arms through a gap in the stone walls. After a moment, he gave up and withdrew back to his prison, accidentally backing into Pacifica. "Sorry!" he squealed on reflex.

"It's alright Dipper, I know it was an accident." The blond responded rather kindly, though she was a little flustered at how small the cell they'd been shoved into was.

"No, I meant I'm sorry for getting you stuck here!" Dipper responded, but caught himself after a moment and tried to look away from Pacifica. "I mean, I am sorry I bumped into you like that, but I'm really sorry I got you stuck down here." he explained.

"Dipper, what have I said before about you blaming everything on yourself?" Pacifica responded. Before he could answer her, she continued on. "I know going on these adventures with you isn't always going to be pleasant, but I wouldn't trade them for anything. You've shown me amazing things, helped me do amazing things... good things that help people and will one day help the world, instead of just taking from it like every other Northwest. To think we had owned this town for generations and never even knew what was underneath it... and even worse, wouldn't have appreciated the true value of what's underneath it. You changed that when you entered my life, and you don't have to apologize to me for that."

They were very close now, not that they had much choice in the cramped cell, but Dipper was looking back at Pacifica now, who had put her hands on Dipper's shoulders to help reassure him. He looked back at her and smiled a very warm smile at her. "Thanks Pacifica." Dipper spoke, sounding genuinely relieved. "I might not be great at expressing it, but that means a lot to me... you, mean a lot to me." He was getting kind of nervous now, but also had an air of certainty to him, like he wanted to say these words despite the trepidation they caused him. "You're... you're one of the most supportive people I know in this town, in this world, right next to Great Uncle Ford. You never scoff or deride my ideas and I like sharing them because of that. You always hear me out and you trust me when I think something needs doing. There's... there's not a lot of people in the world like you, Pacifica."

"Mmmm, that's because the world is full of idiots." Pacifica remarked, leaning her head into Dipper's chest, causing him to unconsciously slide put his hand on the back of her head. "You made such a strong impression on me that night at the mansion, when you fought the ghost haunting the place... and the ghosts of the past, haunting me." Her face was getting warmer now, and her blond head turned to look up at Dipper's face. "And you've lived up to that impression ever since. You're brave, you're brilliant, and most of all, I think you're just." Pacifica explained, breathing admiration with every word. "And, well, you know what makes me laugh." she added a little hesitantly.

The two were getting even closer at this point. Dipper wasn't sure what was about to happen, but he felt calm and at ease despite the fact he was in a stone prison beneath the earth. He closed his eyes, felt his body move without any intentional commands from his mind... then jarred back to reality with lightning speed, whipping around to stand between Pacifica and the door when he heard the stone begin to grind against the cave floor. His eyes confirmed his ears' suspicion: the door was moving.

Acting on instinct, Dipper grabbed a nearby loose rock, gripping it tight and preparing to strike in defense of the other human in the cell with him. The stone had ground a quarter of the way open, suddenly caught on the floor, then heaved the rest of the way, clattering to the floor with a loud thud. With the portal to the wider cavern now open, the two prisoners stared straight ahead... and saw Mabel waiting for them on the other side, doing a sort of goofy "ta-da!" pose in that brightly colored homespun coat of hers.

The tension in the cavern deflated right, as both Dipper and Pacifica exhaled in relief as the tension relaxed out of their bodies. Mabel meanwhile yelled out "Dipper!" in excitement and jumped forward to hug him, making the improvised prison cell even tighter and squishing Pacifica between Dipper and the rock wall. The male twin took a moment to reciprocate the hug with his sibling, but did push her away sooner than she would have liked. "Mabel, excellent timing on the save! How did you know we were in trouble?"

"I went back to base camp and noticed both your safety ropes had been cut loose! That's when my patented Mab-danger senses knew something was up, so I went in looking for you guys and found this lovable lug!" Mabel explained, stepping back to let the healed Futurekind step into sight as she held her arms up in introduction and it waved awkwardly at the two humans it had been stabbed trying to capture earlier. Dipper grew a little apprehensive at the sight, while Pacifica was straight up scowling at Mabel by now, trying to adjust her clothes and catch her breath after being pressed against the rough rock wall.

"Mabel... why exactly is this Futurekind helping you?" Dipper asked cautiously.

Mabel tilted her head at a sharp angle in confusion over the name 'Futurekind' but figured Dipper couldn't be talking about anyone else, so she explained how she made her new friend. "Oh, I found him wounded at the end of the tunnel you two went down, and patched up his knee with Grunkle Ford's handy goo shooting gadget!" Near the end of the sentence, she whipped out the medical instrument in question to demonstrate.

Dipper had his eyes narrowed in analysis, tapping his chin while looking over the creature. It seemed a little bit nervous looking at him and Pacifica, but not nearly as nervous as you'd expect from someone who'd been stabbed in the kneecap and left to die by the same boy earlier that day. "Mabel... can your new friend talk at all?" Dipper asked after a little silent thinking.

Mabel looked back and forth between the two of them, pondering that herself. "I don't... really know actually. Hey big guy, can you talk?" she asked, casting, an anticipatory look towards the Futurekind. It seemed a little confused for a moment, so Mabel made a really exaggerated motion of moving her jaw open and closed with a blocky, slow movement while pointing to her tongue and saying "Talk, like this!" After a moment, the Futurekind opened its mouth and let out a loud clicking noise that hurt the ears of all three present humans.

"Dipper, this guy clearly isn't on the same level as the cult leader looking mutant speaking to us earlier." Pacifica spoke up, and Dipper nodded in response.

"Maybe they have some kind caste system, work by schooling behavior..." Dipper hypothesized a little wildly for a few moments, before composing himself. "Whatever. All that matters for the moment is escaping out of here." He looked over a Mabel's new friend, and in an affected tone of kindness stated "Hey, uh, thank your for all your help... big guy, but it's probably best you get back to your group now, so you aren't missed or anything."

The Futurekind didn't respond, but a moment later Mabel added on "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Get back to your people friend, and make sure to go easy on the leg while it heals!" and the large mutant turned about and began to trudge down the tunnel, which seemed to fascinate Dipper. "It obeyed her right away... Either way, we need to figure out an escape."

"Way ahead of you bro-bro." Mabel remarked with a grin while pulling the tried and true grappling hook out of her coat, eliciting a look of pleasant surprise from Dipper.

"You kept that old thing!? More to the point, you brought it with you again on this summer's trip!?" He asked, more surprised rhetorical questions than actual inquiries.

"You kept that hat, didn't you?" Mabel snarked back. "And of course I brought it back to Gravity Falls with me! It wasn't seeing much use in Piedmont... well, there was one time I used it to climb the school roof, but then they called the cops. Had to steal it back from evidence and everything." She stepped into the cell while pushing the other two out of the way, her brother gently, Pacifica a little more roughly. "Aaaaand, unless that healing goo Grunkle Ford made emits hallucinatory fumes, I can see a beam of light in this cell!" As she stepped in the cell and looked up to confirm what she'd been taking in since the rock slid back, the girl added "Thank goodness there is actually a gap letting in light up there, otherwise these would be the most boring hallucinations I've ever seen."

"Based on their choice of habitat and their sound based communication, I think the Futurekind might find light unpleasant, which explains why they made this their cell. It's impossible as an unassisted climb anyway." Dipper observed. "'But, with the grappling hook, we can run a rope to the surface and make our escape!"

"Yep! Ain't that just amazing!?" Mabel asked, grinning at the two other humans. Her grin became slightly smug and she wiggled her eyebrows a little before asking Pacifica "Of course, that assumes Miss Priss here is able to rock climb?"

Dipper seemed embarrassed that Mabel would make such a statement at a time like this and was ready to speak up and chide her, but Pacifica spoke first, a bit of a growl to her voice as she said "Trust me Mabel, I've spent these last few years having all kinds of educational adventures all over this town, I've learned a bit about climbing by now. Learned it from the best!" That last line was delivered while looking back at Dipper, but seeing how uncomfortable he'd become at their arguing, forcefully swallowed her tone and added "And... thank you Mabel. For coming down here and saving us." with a voice full of forced calm.

Before further arguments could consume the group, Dipper took control of the conversation. "Alright. Mabel, you're the grappling gun expert, shot a line to the surface and climb up it when you think it's secure. After that, you follow her up Pacifica. By then, I should be back and good to go." As he was giving orders, Dipper was sliding a very thick pair of safety gloves onto his hands.

"Be back, what are you talking about Dipper?" Mabel remarked, confused and worried.

"I'm going back to steal the Red Orb." Dipper replied with determination in his eyes and voice.

Mabel was aghast at the suggestion and quickly tried to talk him out of it. "Dipper, c'mon bro, surely it's not worth it going back to that monster den, what are you talking about?"

"I'm afraid it is." He remarked in a self-assured tone. "If the power generation capabilities of that thing are anywhere near what the Futurekind's, albeit folklorish and superstition tinted story, suggest it is, we have to acquire it and find a way to apply it to large scale power production."

"But... but, don't the Futurekind need it? And why are they called the Futurekind!?" Mabel questioned back in exasperation.

"They're time travelers." Pacifica remarked flatly in response to Mabel's second question while Dipper answered her first.

"The world needs it more, we can't let such a discovery go to waste in an isolated cavern like this, held in the covetous hands of a small group of selfish religious fanatics!" he explained, becoming slightly vexed at the idea of being denied such a discovery.

"Dipper, I... we can't just..." Mabel was fumbling over her words. Every fiber of her being wanted the three of them to just escape this damp, dark cave and never think about this coven of weird mutants again, but Dipper wanted to charge right back into the lion's den. Pacifica spoke up a moment later, causing Mabel to turn her head and glare straight at her, disgust and contempt boiling inside at the blond's word choice.

"Dipper, if you think it has to be done... let's do it." Pacifica said, encouraging Dipper to continue this crusade of his. What hurt Mabel most however, was Dipper's reaction to this: The argumentative posture he held against his sister faded in response to Pacifica's words, becoming a sort of happily self-confident at her encouragement. The female twin's shoulder sagged in defeat, and with an exhaled sigh conceded to Dipper's wishes.

"Just, be safe back there, okay bro-bro?" Mabel asked of her brother, who in response shot her the most confident smile she'd ever seen from her twin in her entire life.

"Hey, if Bill couldn't kill me, I don't think these pinniped mutants stand a chance." He said simply, before turning about a disappearing down the tunnel, leaving the girls to begin the escape.

Dipper moved slowly down the stone tunnel, stepping lightly both to avoid alerting anyone and give Mabel and Pacifica more time to escape. He had inferred the Futurekind probably couldn't see very well but he had to be wary of their hearing, though he wasn't sure how well it functioned above water. When he finally reached the pool room, it was empty at first glance, but after creeping closer to the water body, Dipper could see they were all submerged, standing rock still on the bottom of the cave pool. As he got closer, he began to hear it: a high pitched crackling, radiating weakly from the water's edge. It would actually be a short swim out to the orb, Dipper calculated, and so he removed his upper layers and stepped into the water.

The sound was so much louder in the water. Ritual chanting to prepare the memory mist, it had to be. The Futurekind continued to still rock still in their positions, mouths open in a perfectly circular shape as the clicking filled the water. They looked so much more natural submerged, Dipper thought to himself. He swam forward through the water, keeping the glowing red orb in the center of his vision, refusing to let his goal be compromised. Still, the clicking was so loud down here...

Dipper nearly screamed out as something floated past his vision, which would have cost him all his saved up breath. What was it? A floating corpse? No matter, don't stop, must complete the goal! The waters continued to darken, the clicking overwhelms, dark shapes swimming in the depths and crawling across the sea floor, which seemed so deep, lost in darkness...

Dipper caught himself gazing into the abyss, and endless darkness as the sea floor shrank out of sight. When he looked up again, the Red Orb was so close, just out of reach. Suddenly, the water blinked. The Red Orb was the iris of a great, singular eye glaring with hatred as the sea became awash with bright yellow light. Dipper refused to give in to fear. He stretched one arm out and ripped the eye apart, plundering his objective as the yellow light burned red in fury as the butchered eye leaked and bled across the ocean, soiling the depths and poisoning the riotous assembly of life that inhabited them. The ever-present clicking took a new, horrible sound sounding like a distorted scream of pain and rage.

Dipper swam from the corrupted depths as quickly as possible, life shifting into strange, toxic, wonderful and horrific shapes around him as he swam, the clicking being all he could hear now. He finally broke the water and it all went away, the silence of the bare, bleak cavern ringing in his ears. Dipper spent a moment catching his breath on the edge of the water before reaching for his discarded clothes, clutching the Red Orb (smaller than he expected) in one gloved hand. This proved a mistake, for by the time he went for the vest, a slimy hand reached from the water to grab his ankle.

The young man yelped in surprise, but his instincts took over. Pulling the vest closer to himself, the free hand went straight for the pocket he always kept his survival knife in. The hand from the depths was trying to drag him back in, having yanked him a few inches, but without hesitation Dipper plunged the survival knife into the hand. The blade sunk deep, spewing more foul smelling vital liquids across the cold stone, and the hand withdrew into the depths without a sound that Dipper could hear. Though he lost the knife, the boy didn't care; when he looked back to aim the blade, he could see the pool bubbling riotously, which could only mean one thing with the Red Orb in his hand, on dry land.

Hastily throwing the vest on, Dipper took off running down the tunnel.

Back at the cell, Mabel had completed her ascension and was watching Pacifica make her way up the rope, the two trading barbs all the while. As the blond reached about the halfway point, a horrible, unwanted thought entered Mabel's head: What if I cut her down, right here?

Mabel was immediately disgusted with herself, wondering how she could possibly think such a thing, but the suggestion proved upsettingly difficult to banish from her mind. The survival knife she'd been given felt heavier and heavier in her pocket. Mental images of her rival turned friend turned rival plunging down and cracking her neck on the harsh stone played over and over, to the point Mabel lost track of her ongoing banter and simply shut her eyes to try and clear her head. "Then..." her subconscious seemed to be saying to her "You'll have Dipper all to yourself again..."

"Dipper!" Mabel screamed in her head. "If I cut the rope Dipper wouldn't be able to escape!" she thought to herself, repeating the idea of losing her twin over and over again to drive back the thoughts, successfully this time. By the time she opened her eyes, clear of the ruthless suggestion, Pacifica had reached the top of the rope and was extending a hand to be let up, which Mabel hastily grabbed with a forced smile. "Okay, so now we just wait for..."

The rope tugged and a grunt of effort came from down below, and when the two girls looked down Dipper was climbing straight up, in a display of physical skill that baffled Mabel. "Pull the rope up, they're right behind me!" He yelled up the rope, and after trading expressions, Pacifica and Mabel did so, speeding Dipper's ascent, but not fast enough to prevent a rough weight from catching on to the end. None of the three could see what the source of the weight was (the girls couldn't see past Dipper's body, and Dipper didn't have time to look down) but there was no doubt it was one of the creatures.

As Dipper climbed as fast as his arms could take him, Mabel had an idea. "Pacifica, get ready to grab him!" Mabel ordered, pulling one hand away from the rope to search her pockets. Pacifica looked like she wanted to scream at Mabel but stayed focused on the rope, transferring her angry strength into saving Dipper. When the male twin finally reached the top of the rope after what seemed like forever, Pacifica used both hands to pull him out of the hole into the sunlight while Mabel swiped the rope with the survival knife. Dipper climbed to safety while the rope fell into darkness. Moments later, a heavy, wet splatting noise of impact and crushing rose from the hole and sickened the ears of all three.

The final climber collapsed onto the hill, completely uncaring it was harsh rocks. "Ahhhhh, my arms burn so much..." he moaned, out of breath. "Pacifica, front left pocket, middle section please." In response to his request, the blond girl approached the downed boy and reached for his chest. "WAIT!" he suddenly yelled out, having forgot something. "Use the gloves." he added apologetically, and after transferring them from his hands to hers, Pacifica removed the Red Orb from his vest pocket. "Thank you Pacifica. Even with all the padding around that pocket, that thing was burning a hole in my nipple." He responded, somewhat deliriously.

Despite the dire situation they'd all just escaped from, the two girls broke into laughter at that statement after a few moments of being unable to process it, and Dipper joined them soon after. Somehow, after the absurdity of the whole day, that was the weirdest thing about all this, and that just cracked them up.

The three rested for some time on the hill, not even able to worry about the Futurekind coming after them, though in the back of his mind Dipper was pretty sure they wouldn't come out into such strong sunlight. After some laughing, resting, and canteen passing, the group set off for the van. The Red Orb had to be stored at the Shack right away, the rest of the base camp could be cleaned up on a later trip. However, after some conversation, the twins decided to visit base camp one last time to collect Mabel's drawings while Pacifica, still wearing the protective gloves, stored the Red Orb in the van. The group had split a short distance ago, and the twins were making small talk as they walked.

"So, this is a pretty normal day in the life of the new Dipper Pines?" Mabel was asking, a little awkwardly, but with a projected air of cheer and interest.

"This case was a little unusual." Dipper admitted. "I haven't seen time travel since... well, since the first summer here."

"Well, good thing you had your sister back for your battle against the time traveling mole people, eh Dippen-Dot?" Mabel asked, spinning the grappling hook (would need to be supplied with more rope, but was otherwise still functional) about and putting on her best radio announcer voice. "I'm surprised you don't get in trouble like this more often!"

"First off Mabel, they're not mole like in the slightest. More like some kind of humanoid pinniped..." Dipper responded, raising a finger in correction. "And secondly... yes, you did help me out quite a lot back there. The grappling hook made for a very effective escape rope out of there."

Mabel was feeling giddy at Dipper's praise. They were Mystery Twins again, but more importantly, Dipper needed her just as much as she needed him! "Yeah, maybe we should make a habit of..."

Whatever Mabel was going to suggest next was literally cut short as the two arrived back at the base camp, and the fully dressed tracker jumped out from behind a rock, slashing madly at the two with their sword, but cutting only the air between them, the bundle of nerves built up over hours of staking out having harmed their coordination. Mabel let out a surprised yelp while jumping away from the sword, while Dipper, despite being equally surprised, walked backwards at a slower pace, eyes scanning and hands feeling for a weapon.

"As if we haven't dealt with enough freaks today..." Dipper muttered under his breath.

"YOU ARE INTERRUPTING MYSTERY TWINS TIME!" Mabel screamed out in anger.

The assassin honed in on Dipper, driving him backwards towards a rock ledge, the blade getting closer all the time. Dipper attempted to jump sideways to escape being penned in but the flash of the sword followed him. His dodge fumbled as a slick of blood burst on his right leg and the young scientist hit the ground clumsily. The assassin drew closer, raising the blade for a killing plunge, but was rocked off balance as one of the fold up chairs slammed into their skull at damn near maximum force.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY BROTHER YOU BASTARD!" Mabel screamed, drawing back for another chair shot and landing it. She went for a third, but this time the sword was in action, slicing clean through the sword and destroying it, leaving Mabel holding to metal nubs.

"Okay that is NOT NORMAL!" Dipper yelled in surprise, mental state being worn down by the day. Without fear however, Mabel seamlessly continued her attack charging straight at the assassin and tackling them off the rocky edge it had tried to trap Dipper against, going down with him in the process. "MABEL!" Dipper screamed in shock, trying to climb to his feet but finding his fresh wound made the effort clumsy. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the bug catching kit while trying to hastily stabilize his legs.

Mabel and the assassin rolled down the rocky hill in a tumble of violence and punches, the metal blade fortunately dropped in the initial tackle. When they hit solid, grassy ground, Mabel was on top, and slammed a fist directly into the covered head below her, generating a satisfying crunch before she stood up and ran for the woods. The assassin, body language conveying anger, snatched up their sword, which had tumbled downhill shortly after the two fighters, and ran off after her.

Up at base camp, Dipper had moved to the bug catching jar and unscrewed the lid, and was slowly taking it apart. He stuffed the jar's filter paper into the upturned, unscrewed lid to create a little nest, and was carefully pouring the remaining contents on the ground, until all that was left was the crystals. The plaster, sawdust, and Mabel's lone insect catch, now long dead, crunched underfoot as Dipper worked his science at the table. Once the crystals were carefully dumped into the paper nest, he brought up his water canteen up and gently sprinkled the remaining water on the white below him, causing a small burst of fumes, which was careful not to breathe, to rise up. Satisfied with his improvised weapon, Dipper set off, recklessly climbing down the slope on his wounded leg.

Meanwhile, the case had taken Mabel and the assassin into the forest. The girl had led the hunter on a merry chase, but even Mabel was starting to run out of energy after the long day she'd had, currently hiding behind a wide tree and trying to breathe as quietly as possible despite how much she needed more air. Then, a voice rang out through the forest. Having never hear him before, Mabel was slightly confused, until she realized it could only be the human.

"Your blood is warm, human, rich with salt! You cannot escape my blade, as it thirsts for the satisfying taste of someone so... established, so secure... so fattened!" They called out, voice getting closer with every moment.

Mabel bit her tongue to avoid yelling a rebuttal to the fattened comment, but with growing distress realized she was bleeding. Her heavy coat covered most of it up, but a small but steady trickle of blood was dripping down her left pant leg. "Knicks and scratches on that stupid rock hill." she thought to herself. "I just have to hope Dipper got back to the van okay." With a deep, calming breath, she pulled her survival knife from the pocket she'd stuck it in, gripped it with both hands, and breathed very deep. The footsteps were very close now, the menacing crunch of boots on foliage.

Having nothing else to depend on but sound, Mabel sprung to her feet and spun around the corner at what she hoped was the best possible moment, knife held up high in one hand and stabbing down. It sunk into flesh and elicited a high pitched scream ("Score one for me!" Mabel cheered in her head) but it was undercut somewhat by the fact she'd only managed to find purchase in her attacker's shoulder, though it did seem to be his right shoulder. It was hard for Mabel to tell, she was only able to see the results of her work for a moment before a gloved hand slammed into her face, punching her dead on and sending the human crashing to the floor as her eyes went unfocused and her teeth bit down on the sides of her mouth.

Even with her dazed senses, Mabel could tell the assassin was looming over her fallen form, sword raised to cleave her in two by all indications, but the most familiar scream of protective rage in the world soon filled her ears. Dipper came tearing up behind the would be killer, attacking from behind and using one hand to shove the metal lid of the insect jar under the hunter's cowl and into their face, while the other hand clamped down on their dominant hand, trying to hard to restrict the sword movements that his sinking nails drew small amounts of blood.

Dipper held an expression of absolute fury as he wrestled with the attacker, determined to hold the metal lid in place while the assassin tried to regain his sword arm and stab the boy to death. However, with every moment of the fight, the assassin seemed to be losing strength at a rapid pace, attempts to break free becoming clumsy, knees sagging and posture slipping. In what seemed like an incredibly short amount of time, the hunter seemed to lose all muscle strength whatsoever and collapsed to the forest floor. One the assassin was flat on his back, Dipper pulled his hand out from the mask and brought both hands to the top of the black cover, pressing down on the metal lid through the material. After another shockingly short amount of time, Dipper's breathing slowed and his expression relaxed from pure rage to intense worry, and he grabbed the hunter's wrist, holding a thumb in place to check for a pulse and finding none.

The two twins stared at each other, silently contemplating the act, taking longer than the actual killing did.

"This is becoming absurd." Mabel thought to herself, coming down from the adrenaline rush. "You make ONE deal with the devil and all of sudden death stalks you at every turn! ...No, though. I can't blame myself for this one. He wanted to kill Dipper and me, this is the most reasonable death I'm partially responsible for. You hear that conscience, this one doesn't count!"

Dipper, meanwhile, had gone into full analytic mode rather than muse on the nature and responsibility of death. He was quickly feeling and checking all of the hunter's pockets, finding numerous trail provisions and survival equipment, but remained puzzled by the lack of a gun. Once every pocket was exhausted, Dipper moved to the still concealed face, preparing for the release of built up potassium cyanide fumes peeling back the mask would cause by stepping back and blocking his nose and mouth with a dusk mask he had prepared for the expedition. When the mask rolled back, he gaped with surprise, having entertained a number of possibilities but none like what was before him.

The creature that had hunted the Mystery Twins was a strange, bald skinned being with a lumpy but perfectly rounded head, making it strongly resemble a potato. Its skin, despite the lumpy shape caused but sub-dermal deformities, had the smooth texture of a human baby, and its mouth was without teeth. Of course, Dipper noticed those later, since its most obvious feature was the three eyes that adorned its face, the top most of which had the image of gold bricks tattooed into the skin around it, creating a crude depiction of Bill Cipher.

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Author's Notes: Hello, I wanted to thank everyone who still followed this story despite the extremely long wait for this chapter. I increased the length of content here as an apology for the delay, but unfortunately can't promise that the next one will be out any faster. I hope you all enjoyed this enough to make it down this far.