Waddles the pig was in bliss. Should there have been a 'pig enjoyment-o-meter' used to determine the total levels of fun a swine could experience, it would be hitting its limits. The pink splotched animal was swaddling with Mabel and Arline, who had quickly taken a fond love of the friendly and trusting animal. Outside in the grass the two of the laughed and played with the happy farm animal as it oinked and snorted at the two of them.
"He's exactly how you described him," Arline told Mabel, stroking under Waddle's chin.
"Super awesome and totally chill," Mabel re-affirmed, leaning back to let her master give affections to him.
"Very cute," Arline grinned, patting his head and he oinked to her. "Yes, you are."
"So, you're really going to stay more than, like, a few days?" Mabel asked excitedly.
"I think so," Arline told her.
The yesterday events at the Talent Show were still fresh in the minds of the occupants of the Mystery Manor. Dipper sat on the outdoor couch, a pile of three worn journals at his side. In his lap, spilled open, was his own blue and silver journal, which he was currently deep into translating notes into. He would occasionally scan the woods around him. There was worry that perhaps worried a certain species of arachnid would come back for round two. Knowing it was all orchestrated made the possibility seem more real. Still, he was able to relax quickly. Arline had stayed the night in one of the motel rooms and spent most of her time speaking with Mabel.
Mabel, leaning on Waddles back, asked Arline, "But what about any of your other students?"
Arline held a crooked smile. "Mabel, you're the last one I have now," she announced, "So, I'm okay while I'm up here. Besides, sometimes you just need a vacation, right?" she added with a wink to Mabel.
Mabel nodded her head quickly in a blur. "Gravity Falls is a great place for a vacation!" Mabel declared with vigor, bounding off the pig and onto her feet. "Like, it's a super-secret stash of fun and adventure! Just a few days before you showed up, Dipper and I had to deal with a poltergeist that turned out to be a Tulpa!"
"A... tulpa?" Arline blinked, her smile fading slightly. "Aren't those, uh, shapeshifters things?"
Certainly, a smart young lady, but worse with the details of the supernatural, Mabel struggled to cover the differences of Tulpas and other shapeshifters. "I, uh, Dipper!" Mabel turned to her brother, who peeked up from his reading in the shade, "Tulpa?"
"A shape-shifting entity that is energy. It takes the form of what believed in the most in the area around it," Dipper told the two, never breaking eye-contact from his current notes.
"Yeah! That!" Mabel nodded and crossed her arms triumphantly. "Turns out some jerk wanted to get back at us for messing with his evil plans, and so he gave us a cursed coin!"
"Wow," Arline sat on her knees and shook her head, "Man can hold a heck of a grudge. Just imagine if someone had the weird idea to believe in a living, animated, ball of spikes?" The two of them shivered and groaned, but ended up laughing together. Arline calmed quicker than Mabel, and continued, "And speaking of this person, jerk-guy, you're not having any troubles with him, are you?" Arline asked.
"Pssh, no way," Mabel told her confidently, "This girl," she poked two thumbs at herself, "And her bro-bro," she bent sideways, pointing to her listening brother, "Got each other's backs."
"I can see," The master of Mabel nodded and stood up, indicating to the pig that he would have to find a source of scratches and loving attention some other time. "You two were very impressive yesterday."
"Awww, shucks," Mabel spun around.
Dipper laughed. "Thank you."
"The math idea was all him," Mabel ran over to the couch, leaning on one of the arms and performing a minor act of balancing herself in mid-air, "And he's only been learning for the past month or so."
That seemed to surprise Arline. "Really?" she asked.
Dipper, realizing there was something he had done that was impressive, went pink in the cheeks. "Mabel was pretty good and showing me the ropes," Dipper acknowledged, uncertain to how humble he should be around Arline.
Arline seemed pleased with his response. "I suppose so. Even though Mabel," Arline told them as she joined their side, sitting next to Dipper and looking intently at Mabel, "Knows she was not supposed to tell anyone about her training," Mabel's smile faltered and she gulped. Arline took a long breath, and shrugged, "But I can at least over-look this one. Especially since you've learned so much so far."
"Mabel's pretty good at the idea of the training, and I can pick some things up pretty fast," Dipper closed the journal and placed it aside, "You should have seen how fast a group of manotaurs taught me how to fight."
Arline did a double take. "A group of what?"
"Manoatuars," Dipper repeated, to the empty stares of uncertainty between the older woman and his sister, "Half man half 'tuar'? Uh... they're like minotaurs but... manlier?"
"You've met minotaurs in this town?" Arline asked, her mouth widened open in shock.
"Not exactly in town, but-"
"Giant spiders, tulpas, and minotaurs?" Arline stood, laughing, "This town is crazy!"
"That's pretty much right!" Mabel nodded and landed after her prolonged stance. "Isn't it cool sounding?"
"Dangerous? Yes," Arline started, "Mysterious? Absolutely. Cool? Heck yes."
"Well," Dipper pushed himself off the couch, "Maybe we should show you some of the stuff in the woods."
"Huh?" The master looked around.
Mabel instantly was down with the plan. "There's a whole lot of crazy stuff out there," Mabel bounded past her master, elaborating in the clear sun, "Like, you've got the multi-bear in the mountains, and he's a real sweet guy, and then there are the spiffy Goblins, but also the really mean and rude gnomes, and the-"
"Whoa, whoa, slow yourself super-girl," Arline put hand atop Mabel's head, and looked into the woods, "Goblins... just think," she said quietly to herself, "Goblins are in these woods."
"You want us to take you to see them?" Dipper asked, coming up behind the two of them. "Mabel and I have been in these woods so much that we've seen just about everything there is."
"Nuh uh! We never saw the truck-sized spiders before!" Mabel told him.
Dipper sighed and shook his head. "No, the largest we found were human sized. That one was really, really big," Dipper admitted fearfully, "Kind of makes me wonder where it's nesting... either way, do you want a special Mystery Twin tour of the Gravity Falls woods?" Dipper asked, a tiny amount of flare behind his words.
Mabel bounded behind him and presented her best jazz-hands out past his sides. At the sight of the twins, being exactly who they were, Arline burst out laughing. The twins beamed, always happy for amused responses to their antics. Before Arline could cease her laughing and give her answer, the door by the gift shop slammed open.
"Oi! Kids!"
The twins turned and spotted Grunkle Stan, who was leaning out of the door while holding the side of the interior wall.
"I need you two to go out and get more of the cheap food-stuff that we survive off of. Come get the money and go grab the noodles and cereal or whatever," Grunkle Stan called to them.
"Aww, but we were going to take my master on a walk through the woods, "Mabel whined.
Stan grumbled. "The woods aren't going anywhere. At least not yet, unless something forces them to uproot and walk away," Grunkle Stan glared at the closest trees to his right, "I'm watching you, oak-ey... So go make sure we don't starve."
With a wide smile, Arline suggested, "We can make it a short walk if it makes a difference." At Arline's bright grin, the man's expression became stony and he glared to her like a gargoyle. Her own grin faltered, and she quietly added, "Or... not?"
As someone might say to a poor tipper, Stan told her, "Don't you need to be paying me if you want to stick more than a day?".
Arline blinked, pulling her head a few inches away and tightened her lips. The attitude was something she had not been expecting. Her expression soured. "I'll be sure to tip you well," Arline commented bitterly.
"Yeah, you do that," Stan told her without a second thought, "You two! C'mon! Chop-chop!" The twins begrudgingly walked over and took the fifty dollars from Stan's hands, and before turning away, he added, "And get more of that quadruple sticky syrup! It works just as well as waterproof sealants if you let it dry!"
As Stan crashed the door shut behind the turned twins, Arline approached them."Is he always so, uh, loud?" she asked.
"Grunkle Stan? Yeah," Dipper nodded with an unconcerned grimace.
"He's probably just being a sourpuss because he thinks you stole the show yesterday," Mabel told her master with a kind air, patting her arm. "He had this whole speech ready and everything. I saw it this morning crumpled into a ball by the trash."
Arline pocketed her hands, fuming. "Not my fault there was a giant spider about to eat people, or at least the... potential to eat others," Arline pouted as she looked to the doors, "Next time he can jump on the stage and scare it off."
Dipper snorted. "All he'd have to do is rip off his shirt to do that," Dipper said, and got his sister to chuckle with him. "Well, let's get the food for the next month and-"
"Wait, wait, wait," Arline stepped up to them, "Fifty dollars... for the month?" she asked of them.
"Uh... yeah?" Dipper shrugged.
"But that's just barely ten dollars a week on food!" she re-stated firmly. Dipper and Mabel's exchange of glances was slow and steady. Maybe it had just dawned on the two of them her point. It could have also been that they had simply come to terms and accepted their task to supply the shack for food at minimal cost. Either way, their looks stirred Arline's wide eye stares further. "He does this often?" she inquired.
"We manage by," Dipper pocketed the money along with his hands, eying her worriedly, "If anything, it just makes us more, uh... monetarily responsible?" Dipper suggested. His attempted peaceful suggestion granted a shrug from Arline, announcing her pacification.
Mabel was much better at pacifying the worried look Arline carried. "Maybe you should come with us!" Mabel asked her lady-martial artist teacher. "Half the time we go into town something weird happens! Like when we found out that this one teenager was a robot, and then-"
"Sure, I'll come along," Arline nodded and her smile grew wide.
The three stepped into Dipper's car. Arline, having taken the bus trip up here the same way Dipper and Mabel had their first visit three years ago, was without immediate transport. While Mabel insisted that she could easily fit the three of them onto her bike, Dipper quickly grew nervous. He demanded they use his car. Though Mabel put up a small fuss, Dipper would be caught dead before he was found by anyone else holding onto Mabel for dear life while on that bike.
Mabel snickered, "Even Wendy?"
Arline later would comment that Dipper's jab was among the quickest she had seen, for amateurs. Mabel's shoulder, the lucky recipient, would also agree.
Into Gravity Falls downtown they went. As the day before, Mabel had made sure to promote what places she felt was worthy to her master. Equally, she would dismiss harshly those that had in the past done her wrong. This list was fairly small: there was not all that much to show to the martial artist. She was polite in receiving the re-explanations from Mabel, who was shaking with energy as she pointed back and forth in the car. Dipper would rub his head from time to time, as Mabel would accidentally elbow his face or the side of his head.
After the third time Dippers face had been smooshed, Arline noted, "You definitely are her brother."
"What do you mean?" Dipper asked as he parked by the bargain depot, and stepped outside. Mabel bounded past him, humming gladly to herself.
"Your patience is astoundingly high for someone your age," Arline told him as she followed them around the car. The beep of the opening doors competed with Dipper's laughs, and he rubbed the back of his head.
"Thanks," he nodded to her as Mabel raced away, grasped a shopping cart, and drove it to them.
She took long strides and let the wheels carry her far; a Mabel-directed bowling ball of wired metal bars. "Coming through! Important shopping to do!" Mabel roared as she nearly ran over a family of four.
"Sorry," Dipper apologized as he hurried past the flustered and angered parents.
"So, tell me Dipper," Arline asked as they followed Mabel at a distance, letting her fly into the snacks aisle unchallenged, "What more is there about this town?"
"Oh boy," Dipper turned to his left and found Mabel comparing cereal bags, "I'm not sure I know the easy answer to that. Is there anything in specific you want to know? Like... origin? The people? Monsters?"
"Start with... all the above," Arline told him.
Mabel popped out of nowhere next to Dipper. "Look! I found Deluxe Commander Crush Cereal!" Mabel told them, "I love finding old cereals! It's like I can remember the few times I almost broke a tooth trying to eat them."
"That's because they've expired. Five years ago expired," Dipper told her, examining the bag, "Put 'em back."
"Milk can bring these poor bundles of corn flakes and sugar back to life," Mabel pleaded. Her brother strengthened his stance, shaking his head. It forced her to resign on the matter. "Pff. Fine, okay," she lazily tossed the cereal back on the shelf, and threw in another, less exciting 'Morning Munch' into the cart.
"So," Dipper turned back to Arline as they trailed behind Mable like ants on a trail, "The town was founded by a lost president to history."
Arline's interest in the town never seemed to wane as Dipper, and occasionally Mabel, leveled out the details and strangeness of the exotic history of this region. She always brought up a new question, usually involving some sort of magic, or she would ask if groups of people had taken power from this land. Aside from the Society of the Blind Eye, Arline questions were not impressed with solid answers. Dipper saw in her, perhaps, a kindred spirit; someone who wanted to know more.
"Honestly," Dipper told her after they had rounded up enough supplies to last another month or so, give or take a week, "Most of the people who've let this stuff get to their heads have been crazy kids or, well, a demon."
"A demon?" Arline checked with Mabel, who nodded as she laid things onto the conveyor belt to the cash register, operated by a bored looking blond man with hair that fell just to his shoulders. His face was somewhat horse-like, in that it was much longer than it was wide.
Mabel affirmed her brother. "Mmhmm. His name was Bill," Mabel told her as the man soullessly lifted item after item and scanned them with a loud stinging beep.
"Dream demon," Dipper clarified, "We've, for the most, part dealt with him once and for all," Dipper told her, "A portal into the nothingness between universes is a pretty good way of dealing with a demon it seems."
Arline, for not the first time since talking to Dipper, was lost. "You... what?" she asked.
The register attendant cut their conversation short. "That'll be forty-nine dollars and sixteen cents, dude," the man at the cash register clamored.
"Sure one... second," Dipper looked to the cash registered. "Do I know you?" he asked. The man, whose name tag read 'Lee'.
"Dunno dude," Lee shrugged. He eyed Dipper and Mabel. If there was some recognition, the drag of commercial career life drained him of any desire to ask about it. He merely asked them, "Cash or credit?"
"Cash," Dipper handed him the money.
Lee the cashier returned the stipend cents to Dipper. "Have a nice day and stuff."
"Thanks Lee!" Mabel proclaimed, shoving all the contents into the cart.
Clearly eager for first-hand experience, Arline told them, "You guys need to show me some of this stuff," as she and Dipper followed Mabel out the doors.
"I don't see why not," Dipper commented, clicking open the back door to his car, "We're pretty sure where the good stuff is from the bad stuff."
"Maybe we should take her to the goblins?" Mabel suggested, "You'd probably like them."
"They'll like anyone who doesn't try killing their families and who doesn't poke fun at their height," Dipper collaborated the idea, and looked to the martial arts teacher with his sister. "How's that sound?"
"It sounds awesome," she told the two of them. They celebrated with a commemorative high-five.
Back into the car they stepped, and as Dipper twisted the keys and the engines roared to life, a plan was made. To avoid Grunkle Stan dragging them into more chores before they had a chance to explore the woods again, their new target was the old Gleeful house, now a house that was for sale since the last family's departure three years ago. The driveway would serve as a momentary parking location. Close enough in the woods and towards the mountains, the three left the car and stared across the street.
Arline stared at the vast woodlands before her. "I haven't been in woods like this in... uh... a long time? I think? Yeah," Arline told them with a nod, "A long time."
"As far as I can tell," Dipper told her, "There isn't another set of woods like this one in the world. So-
"Are you ready?" Mabel tacked on at the end.
A twinkle in her eye, the martial artist told them, "Born ready," Arline grinned, and the three crossed the street, and passed up the small moat dividing wilderness from the street, and they passed into the woods. "Okay," Arline stayed just a foot behind them, as she was busy looking at the massive pine trees and occasional redwoods, "This is already really cool."
"Those are just trees though!" Mabel told her, "The cool stuff is when the trees turn out to be giants, or tree-people! Or the trees grow fruit that makes you fly as long as you are chewing it!"
"And we're going to see a Goblin?" she asked them. Her head craned up as the stunning canopy of the forest pulled her focus.
"Not exactly a Goblin," Dipper said.
"More like a city of Goblins!" Mabel said cackled energetically. "We know their mayor!"
"And to think I thought it was cool that I almost met the singers for Duskhope once," Arline sighed and carried on with them.
Their footsteps were always announced, as the earthy ground was covered in wayward drying and dead twigs and branches. While Arline constantly was busy staring around at the woods in amazement, she would point out the growing darkness, something that the twins were more than used to.
"It's less of dark and more of 'the cool stuff won't come out in the sunlight usually'," Mabel explained it while they passed over a fallen tree. The twins were confident in their way, as they should be. They had been back to see the Goblins more than once since their debacle with the Shapeshifter, and the twin's presence was always a welcome one.
Yet pushing forward into the darkening woods, Dipper started to wonder if they had taken the wrong direction, or slightly miss-calculated. Their echoing steps were no longer the only sounds in the cold, deep woods of Gravity Falls. They were under the shadow of the mountains, and strange cries and noises fluttered around them. The wonder in Arline's eyes had flipped off. Her eyes combed the dark shadows at full alert, sharp and piercing as a dagger to a throat.
Mabel, as quietly as she could, walked over to her brother. "Dipper," Mabel whispered to her brother, and the three jumped at a loud shriek somewhere in the distance. "You know, maybe we should head back," she suggested.
Heart a little faster than normal, Dipper let out a small, nervous chuckle. "We're okay," Dipper assured her, "C'mon. We've dealt with these woods before. We've done this when it was raining! Now its all-" Dipper felt the ground underneath him, and his thoughts of dry earth were not valid, "Mostly... not... wet..."
"Yeah," Mabel eyed her brother, "And last time we dealt with this stuff so well, didn't we?"
He granted his sister a small nod. "Hey Arline," Dipper turned to the woman, who was busy staring off into the distance, "I hate to say it, but we're not sure if we got lost in translation or what, but we should have made it there already." Arline said nothing, her eyes focused. Dipper cleared his throat expectantly. She didn't blink, or turn, or make any indication that she noticed.
Mabel tensed up, watching Arline. "Master?" Mabel worriedly asked
"Quiet," she told them in a hushed tone, lowering herself towards the ground, crouching. Mabel instantly followed Arline's pose, and Dipper bent down as well. The golden-haired woman held herself at the base of the trunk of a tree next to her. Had the two not had her in eyesight, they may have never noticed her. She suddenly had become silent. Her feet avoided each twig perfectly as she leaned down the tree and stared out into the woods.
"What is it?" Dipper asked.
"Shh!" Mabel hushed him.
Dipper growled, and Arline faced them. Without opening her mouth, she pointed to the region of trees that she had been staring at. The twins followed suit, and let the darkness become adjusted in their sight.
What started as merely shadows swirling in the cold dusty air evolved into a figure. Hairy, hunched over, and looking around the forest, it looked vaguely humanoid. It was approaching their general area, bobbing its head through the air like a net, swaying back and forth. After another step towards them, the three could discern loud sniffing and growling.
Dipper gulped. The figure had large claws at the end of its hands. The sniffing was constant. Two pointed ears stood proudly from its head. Though it had broad shoulders, the arms were long and meaty. Dipper had run into one of these just two weeks ago, fleeing with a young harpy girl with a crush on him.
He, quietly, said, "It's a-"
Arline spun and slapped a hand against his mouth. Mabel pulled her head out of her master's way just in time, her eyes bugging out of their sockets as she witnessed the speed of the older woman. The three of them glanced over to the shadowy creature, which seemed to back off and retreat deeper into the darkness. Dipper's shock flooded over any sense of indignity for her action against him, and he worriedly looked to her.
Arline mouthed to him and Mabel, 'We need to leave. Dangerous.'
Dipper and Mabel nodded without hesitation. Arline checked back to the darkness before them, gazing deep into it with a conviction of apprehension. When nothing came to affirm her fears, she slowly turned and made a long step over a large, dry branch on the ground. The twins gulped quietly and followed suit. Mabel was more successful than her brother at remaining quiet, but their efforts were in vain compared to the stealth skills Arline had.
They barely made it ten feet when something snagged on Dipper's soles. He resisted a swear under his breath, and turned to remove the root snagged on his shoes. Yet he realized only Mabel had realized his strife. He clicked his fingers once, trying to catch Arlines attention.
The echoing click might as well have been a gunshot. The world itself froze in realization that something would dare make such a prominent, daring sound in this world. Dipper gulped, as the three listened around. Aside from the deafening quiet, nothing came of his snapping of fingers. Dipper sighed with his sister, and Arline turned to them.
With a snicker to, Mabel reached down and roughly yanked the roots off his feet. What she hadn't anticipated was the root being alive and well attached to their tree. It hadn't broken free. She frowned, and put both hands to the task. Her strength was enough to pull earth out with the top-soil roots. It all made a horrible series of crunching noises as the rest of the root twisted, crackled, and finally snapped loudly. The twins were showered with wet, dark, fertile soil.
No longer did silence reign supreme of these woods. Coming through the imposing dark was snarling and loud patter of feet.
"Run!" Dipper quietly urged.
Back on their feet, the three dashed past the trees. All pre-existing ideas of stealth were lost as the creature following them was hot on their tail. Barking and howling in their wake, the three had no chance to look over their shoulder as it chased their heels, snapping loudly and clawing at trees as it made to lunge forward.
"Crud-baskets!" Mabel shouted as the earth below their feet pounded like drums with the coming danger behind them. "Faster!"
Dipper dared look back at the creature once. He wanted to know how close he was to this thing, and what he could do to slow it down if there was time. His glance showed the closing proximity of the creature as it followed them from the shadowy region of the woods into the more standard, less gothic forest. He almost got a look at it, but his running ahead in the woods while not looking ahead had consequences.
Dipper slammed half of his body against an old, thick tree. With a cry of pain, he stumbled aside and fell past a log. Mabel's cries kept him aware of the distance the other two were gaining on him, but he heard something worse coming towards him. With a bit of fast thinking that may have saved his life, he shoved himself against the tripping log, and pulled himself in all the way.
A foot, clawed and canine, slammed on the top, buckling the thick, drying wood as the creature pushed past it and stepped up and over Dipper. To say it had tufts of hair was an understatement. The creature wore the torn remains of camouflage hunting jacket and trousers. The tufts of hair simply erupted out from the tearing fabric. Shoulders wide like a bear, long arms with thick, course, dirty hair, the werewolf stepped before Dipper, sniffing the air.
The teenage boy stared at the creature, wondering what his next best bet would be. He couldn't exactly move, as the beast had come to a stop, and was sniffing around as it snarled and checked the surrounding trees. This was a time-limit to escape, as it would only be a matter of time before the half-wolf creature on its hind legs turned to smell and either saw him or caught up on his scent.
"Where... are you?"
Dipper shivered. The deep voice of the creature brought to mind the sense of a scratching shovel against rocks in the dirt. It sounded course and scratchy.
"Come out, boy," the werewolf said again. "I have unfinished business with you," he growled, clawing at a tree as his wolfish head peered around one tree. With the head turned away, Dipper took a chance and pushed himself out and leapt over the log. "Not so fast!" The werewolf took to chase. Before Dipper could get to full speed, the wolf passed him and held itself between two trees, a grisly blockade of fur and muscle. Dipper screamed and stepped backwards, just barely keeping his footing.
"Wait, wait," Dipper eyed the werewolf before him. He had seen those same patterns before. They had been cleaner and intact, belonging to a mad, deranged hunter hell-bent on capturing a harpy for his own. No gun was present on the hunter, but certain Dipper saw the resemblance still in the face of the werewolf. "You're Folbrow; the Hunter."
"I was Folbrow," the werewolf stepped closer, pushing past the trees and looking around. "Yes, was. Thanks to you and that little girl, I lost my myself, my humanity weeks ago. Now look at me!" he snarled loudly, the rattling breath sucking in the dusty air without qualms.
"Uh... yeah," Dipper found confidence in defiance, "Hate to break it to you, you lost your humanity way before being bitten. Now you're just matching up a bit bett-" Dipper had his face slapped by the back of the hand of the seven-foot werewolf. He was tossed over and fell aside, his world spinning. His jaw ached along with his head, as he was certain he had struck a tree while in flight. His eyes struggled to focus, but they recognized the coming dark figure.
Fulbrow the werewolf loomed over the fallen teen. "I'll share with you my pain," the werewolf hunter snarled at him, closing the distance, "For what you did to me-"
"Grappling hook!"
Something metal slammed into the face of the beast. Dippers eyes spotted the lightning-fast, colorful entry of what sounded like his sister. Blood pumped faster and faster through his head and body. Himself in danger was one thing; his sister? An entirely different topic. His head screamed in pain but he finally found himself able to act normally again. Mabel was giving her best against the wolf-human hybrid, kicking up and spinning with vicious strikes against the werewolf's side and neck.
"Mabel! Back up!" Dipper cried, pushing himself to his feet and rushing forward. He could hear footsteps racing behind him, but all Dipper could see was the evasion of the former hunter as Mabel punched out to his neck, missed, and the werewolf took his opportunity. He snapped open his jaw and bit down on Mabel's shoulder.
Dipper roared with his entire being. He jumped up and charged with little regard for his own pain, now so distant it was a nightmarish dream. His entire forward weight was centralized as he kicked into the neck of the monster just in time for it to release Mabel, who cried out and pulled away. His attack sent the werewolf sprawling backwards. Dipper fell to the floor of the forest, and found himself looking up to the exceptionally angry werewolf as he climbed back upwards.
Fulbrow snarled. "I'll feast on you both–"
If Dipper had though his jump-kick had been impressive, he hadn't seen Arline's. The woman was an absolute blur of violent intention as she flew forward. Her heel dug into the snout of the werewolf. Fulbrow was not just toppled backwards, but knocked several feet back. Arline had landing on her other foot, her attacking leg still held aloft in the air.
She turned to Dipper, pale in the face. "Help you sister!" she demanded as the werewolf slowly stood up, growling further.
"Mabel!" Dipper shouted, and clawed at the dirt to pull himself up. The brunette had pushed herself on a tree, groaning as she held her arm. Her teeth bared out in loud groans and hisses, she looked at her brother.
"Is it bad?" she asked. Dipper's quick observation of the wound calmed him down. The bite itself hadn't gone that deep. She was bleeding enough for red to trickle down her arm, but she wouldn't need to head to the hospital. He sighed and looked into her eyes. She nodded and swallowed, calming her quick breaths. "It stings like stupid! Ow!"
Wham.
Just behind Dipper, the werewolf flew past them and slammed into a tree. It had landed against the bark easily ten feet off the ground. As the nearly limp body of the werewolf fell to the ground, it was caught. Arline Hirsh had zoomed up, kicked up with her foot, and pinned the wolf to the side of the tree by the neck. Whimpers and cries of panic emanated from the suffocating throat.
Arline held a burning wrath in her eyes, and she leaned in harder with her heel. "Why were you hunting us!?" Arline demanded, nonplussed with holding the large creature up against a tree with one leg. The werewolf whimpered. "Answer. Me." she warned him with another push.
Gagging for air, Arline leaned back with her heel. Finally, Fulbrow let out a raspy answer. "N-no one," the former hunter gargled, "I just was looking for food-"
"Liar," she hissed.
"Master," Mabel gasped, looking at the sight of her martial arts teacher holding a creature up with one foot, easily weighing at over two hundred and fifty pounds.
"Mabel, stay still," Arline's voice was soft when speaking about Mabel. Firm, still, but there was a wounded tenderness when speaking to Mabel. That same tone called out to Dipper. "Dipper, can you stop the bleeding?" she asked.
"Yeah," he nodded in a daze, and quickly looked around. There was not much he could take from the forest to help. He quickly removed his jacket and then shirt. He paid little attention to his journal as it fell aside. He bit at his shirt, tearing it down the middle.
"Dipper?" Mabel asked him sadly, seeing him rip open his own shirt and tie it around her arm.
"Just stop bleeding. Then I can get a new shirt later," he told her, fastening the fabric under her shoulder. He tugged it a few more times, ensuring its tightness, trying to ignore Mabel's small groans.
With a loud hiss, she scolded him, "It's tight enough. Goober," she poked his face. Dipper reached out to her, checking her face, her eyes. She just smiled back, sweating a little, but otherwise nonplussed. Nodding, Dipper bent down and collected his journal.
Still pinning the creature of the night, Arline growled loudly. "Try again, wolfy," Arline demanded, catching the twin's attention.
"I don't know-"
"Wolves move in packs, idiot!" She reminded him angrily, "You were outside a pack when we found you! Sniffing the air, looking around, and in the same neck of the woods. Sounds awfully coincidental!" she added with another push of her heel.
Dipper wanted to remind Arline that in any other area of the world, she may have been right to assume the strange coincidence as something more factual. This was Gravity Falls, after all, where half the time a strange creature in a photograph as actually a strange creature instead of a hoax. Then the werewolf spoke.
"Fine, yes! The man in the cloak! He promised a cure if I could bring him the kids!" the wolf yelped.
"Describe him," Arline demanded dangerously.
"Thin kid, blue eyes, stick up his-"
"Warlock!" Dipper shouted. Arline cast a glance to the twins, her eyes wide with a sudden fear.
Mabel asked, "He's gunning for us this badly?"
Arline seemed to process this information poorly. She looked upset. "I guess a giant spider wasn't enough," Arline told them. Slowly, she turned back to the werewolf, who gulped harshly as she glared to him. She had gone from perturbed to the delightful appearance of murderous. "Now, you," she snarled at the werewolf. "If I ever see you again. I will not hold back. This? This is nothing." Arline lifted her arm, opened her palm and shouted.
A ball of flame burst to life, floating in her palm a few inches in the air. The twins gasped, taking in the sight of a woman who just willed a ball of flame to appear before her. She clenched at the fire, and it dissipated.
Arline finalized her threat. "Come back, and I'll make sure you look favorably on a sunburn for the rest of your life." The wolf never had a chance to reply; Arline dropped her foot and then spun. Her supporting leg whipped up. With it, she kicked the beast hard enough to lift it back a few feet into the air and have it land further away, with a heavy thud.
The twins stared at the beast for a moment. Arline quickly raced over to them, unconcerned with the werewolf. Her worried questions were fast and rapidly bouncing off the twins. They were lost in a trail of thoughts.
They had dealt with horrible people before. Monsters had tried to kill them over, and over again. This person, this warlock, had tried now four times to kill or hurt them. For a single person, that was a record. Even Bill Cipher, a demon of dreams and nightmare horror only had the record of three times attempting to do anything against them. This guy was no longer just someone they needed to get revenge on, and beat him up for trying to hurt people. This was a new level of bad-guy.
Arline, recognizing their shock, took a deep breath. "We need to get you two back, now," she told them.
Those words finally settled on the twins, and they nodded and followed her through the woods. Dipper held onto Mabel the entire time, supporting her as she climbed over fallen logs and complained about their rudeness to not remain upright. Despite insisting she get shotgun, Mabel finally resigned her position and agreed to sit in the back along with Arline, to better have a watch on her. The blood had certainly come to slow, but still she bled.
Dipper drove faster than he had ever before on that road. Racing with Mabel had been a joking speed compared to this. Gravel soared at sonic speeds under the wheels of his car as he bounded up the drive way towards the Mystery Manor. The groceries would have to wait; as soon as Dipper stopped the car before the wooden plank building, he ran over to help his injured sister out with Arline. The two of them half carried Mabel to the doors, where Dipper ran ahead, opening the gift shop doors for them.
"Sup dude," Soos quickly said as Dipper stepped aside. "Man, you guys must have had some hard time find the right cereal-" Soos lost his voice as Mabel came walking in next to Arline. "Whoa! Hey, what happened!" he cried out, dropping his dust broom to the floor.
"Huh?" Wendy peeked over her magazine and looked over. "Holy – Mabel! What the heck happened?"
"I decided to let life take it's best shot at me!" Mabel chuckled, "So a werewolf bit me."
Wendy froze. "Wait, a legit werewolf, or a-"
"Wendy!" Dipper called to her. The redhead spun her attention to him. "You have any of the gauze still?" he pointedly asked.
"Wha – yeah, one second," she bounded back behind the counter, and rummaged through boxes.
"Oh man, Mabel," Soos was too timid to touch the blood-splotched shirt, and instead looked to Arline, "Is she okay?"
"For now, yes Soos," Arline the master martial artist sighed and nodded, "Can you grab some anti-bacterial please?"
"I have some here," Wendy piped up as she brought over a roll of gauze and a small tube. "Mabel, this will sting, but it keeps nasty stuff from growing," she warned the brunette.
"Oh please," Mabel said as the shirt was slowly pulled away, drenched in her blood, "I can deal with pain way," Wendy sighed and approached the wound, and with the help of Arline, identified the bite-marks, "Way more than Dipper."
"Mabel, it's going to really sting," Dipper warned her worriedly.
Mabel was unafraid. "Nah, I totally got-" she would have finished, but Wendy padded her bite mark with a small section of cotton pad. Mabel's eyes instantly watered and she groaned, "Sweet weeping piggies, that stings!" On cue, a loud squeal from deep inside the building announced the running swine. "Waddles, buddy," Mabel swooned and reached with her uninjured arm down to let the pig lick her fingers. Waddles gave a concerned oink, but Mabel shrugged. "I'm okay. Mostly okay."
Stan followed the pig into the room. "If the pig is eating all my post cards again, I swear I'm going to... Mabel?" Stan had also come walking to the room, holding a collection of bitten and chewed on post cards. His eyes fell onto the injured girl's shoulder. The cards fell from his hands and he rushed forward. "The heck happened?"
"Werewolf," Dipper said.
He spilled the story out in a rush. Stan continued to look between him and Mabel, a strained and pained look across his face. Wendy was busy cleaning the wound, with help from Arline. Soos looked terrified with the events. Dipper finished with, "And we just got back, just a minute ago."
Grunkle Stan rounded on Arline. "You!" Grunkle Stan prodded her shoulder, "You care to explain how you let this happen?"
She flinched, leaning away from the elder. "E-excuse me!?" she demanded.
"You're supposed to be some sort of Bruce Lee or whatever, right?!" Grunkle Stan angrily told her, "What, forgot to drink your karate juice today, or do you just let young girls fight werewolves in the woods alone!?"
Arline had, shown some patience with their Grunkle before. Clearly, she was at her limit. She glared back at him. "Tough talk coming from the guy who lives in the woods with werewolves and lets his younger relatives stay over summer here anyway!" she cried back. "How many times has something dangerous found its way inside this building?!" she barked back. The two glared at one another, a fierce power pulsing between the two stares.
"Not to say it wasn't a bad idea," Mabel piped in as Wendy bandaged her arm with the help of Soos and Dipper, "But I decided to jump in the way. Arline tried to hold me back, but I needed to help Dipper."
Dipper's stomach churned and tightened. "You got bit because of me," Dipper groaned, leaning against the counter with his head hanging off his shoulders roughly. "This was my fault."
"Perchance," a new voice called in from the deeper area of the building, and Yuki stepped in, wearing a worn overalls covered in white paint, "It would be wiser to not assign blame and guilt while there is still a dilemma at hand. I have had a chance, while assisting with Dipper's notation, to research on this creature. Mabel was, in fact, bitten by an infectious species."
"Yeah, thank you Yuki," Wendy nodded and Soos gave him the thumbs up. Wendy looked to the adults. "We've got enough problems, with Mabel being bitten."
"Yeah dudes," Soos added, "Besides, it could have been worse had it not gone the way it did, right?" Soos asked to Dipper, who shrugged. "So, let's figure this out together."
Grunkle Stan eyed Arline. They shared a flame in the eyes that would not surrender. Still, they both clearly cared for Mabel. Stan gave in first. "Yuck," he grunted, and looked to the ceiling, "As much as I despise and find teamwork gross, and for weak-willed idiots," Grunkle Stan turned and looked to Mabel, "I can swallow the flavor this one time."
"Okay," Arline walked around her student and spoke to Dipper, "What do we need to do?"
"Huh?" Dipper asked. The entire room was staring at him expectantly, awaiting orders regarding the werewolf bite. His mind was rattled, mostly from the backhand he suffered, but all of them awaited information. Still, he had a source of all things werewolves. He sighed, and lifted his journal. Walking around to the other side of the counter, he pulled it open and flipped pages. "Okay, let's see: werewolves... were-man? No, werewolves... Ah!"
He found the pages on lycanthropy. "Werewolves," Dipper read aloud, "are large hybrid shapeshifters, who turn into a half human, half wolf form during the full moon. They are infected by a bite, and are given lycanthropy, hence the alternative name to werewolves, Lycans. A werewolf bite is not a guarantee infection," Dipper leaned into the notes in his journal, reading closer and word by word, "Success varies, but there is a sixty percent infection rate, depending on the bite. Those who transform at first, under the growing moon, retain most of their human traits, but night after night, they will lose themselves more to the wolfish curse."
"That's great and all," Stan added, pulling Dipper from the words below him, "What about a cure? Assuming we need one," he added as the others looked worriedly at Mabel.
"Uh, right," Dipper flipped a page, and nodded, "Sorry, Ford's notes in Journal one were extensive. Had to shorthand a lot – Oh! Here we go. Silver… bullets… kill them almost instantly," Dipper gulped and continued, "Not that one. Wolfsbane can be cooked into a tea-like drink and will fight away the infection, but it will take a week to cure, and then there's... oh god," Dipper groaned.
"What?!" Mabel demanded, stepping past Arline and Grunkle Stan.
"... Or you eat the heart of the werewolf who bit you," Dipper told her grimly, "And you are cured."
"Well, start looking for Wolfsbane," Mabel sighed and turned around, "In the meantime, maybe we should, uh... you know, lock me up somewhere."
"What!?" Dipper demanded, "C'mon Mabel, that's ridiculous. There's a forty percent chance you're not even infected."
Soos gulped. "Yeah dawg, but it's going to be full moon in three days."
"Growing moon, remember?" Mabel added in a resigned manner.
Wendy groaned. "I swear, every story about a werewolf happens during a full moon," Wendy commented quietly, yet caught the attention of the others. "What? It does!"
"Dipper, what if I suddenly become a mean, nasty, giant wolfgirl, and then try eating everyone?" Mabel told Dipper fearfully, "I won't let that happen dude."
"Neither will I," Dipper assured her, leaning closer to her.
"Then lock me up somewhere man," she demanded.
Dipper shook his head. "I'm not chaining you up like some angry dog," he warned her.
"Then don't," Yuki suddenly piqued up. The group turned to him. "As I heard your description of werewolves, they maintain most human traits during their initial transformation. Perhaps we should maintain a watch onto her, but not restrain her."
Wendy was quick to give the idea a think over. "So, what, we all just sort of take turns watching her?" Wendy suggested.
"You don't have to," Dipper told her," I think I can just, you know, chill with her in our room. I'll keep an eye on her the entire time," Yuki and Arline made to speak, but Dipper raised his voice, "And if anyone wants to help out, we can have people stationed in other places in the shack."
"That... ugh," Stan sighed, "It could be worse."
"Maybe just have some rope around, in case I get a little, you know, wild?" Mabel snickered, and Dipper sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I'll take the front door," Wendy quickly stated, "I can stay the night to help out."
"I'll stick around too," Soos said, "Can't have my hambone alone in this problem."
"Aw, thanks you guys," Mabel allowed a watery grin to spread and grow, and she tried hugging the two of them but only succeeded with Soos, as raising her injured arm was less doable than she anticipated.
So, Stan, for the first time in a while, was solely responsible for the happenings of the shop and any customers staying in the motels. He was resting behind the counter as Wendy sat outside on the couch, watching the sun set. Soos was by the stairs, looking up towards the high end, where the twins room would rest. None of them, even Stan, seemed able to relax.
Yuki walked down the hallway, exiting from the kitchen. "Night comes," Yuki passed Soos nervously, rubbing his watered hands together, holding a dish-cloth between them.
"Yeah dude," Soos nodded, "Hopefully this doesn't get crazy."
"I used to consider myself an optimist. In my short experience here, my friend," Yuki told Soos with a pat on his arm, "There is no avoiding 'the crazy'."
Up the stairs, to the left and then to the right and inside the Twins Room, Mabel was bouncing up and down on her bed. She giggled and laughed as Dipper sat on her bed, tracing her with his eyes endlessly. Waddles was sitting at the edge of the bed, also watching Mabel. Dipper barely blinked every thirty seconds, looking even more tired than he usually did with his darkened eyelids. Arline sat in the chair by the desk, watching the girl bounce and the sky darken.
Dipper finally admitted, "Mabel, I don't know what you're doing–"
"I'm trying to tire myself out!" Mabel told them. "Maybe if I'm so tired that I can't even move, when I become a wolfwoman I won't be able to do anything!"
"If you do," Dipper reminded her, "It's not happening until it happens."
"Maybe luck can be on our side, huh?" Arline asked them, picking up a pen from the desk and spinning it around in her fingers expertly. Dipper turned away from Mabel for a moment, watching the writing utensil spin and flip.
"How... Arline, how did you get started as a martial artist?" Dipper asked.
Arline gave him a look, and despite her clear anxiety, smiled. "A long time ago, I was going to die," Arline quickly answered. Dipper's eyes widened, and Mabel stopped hopping. They both listened to the story. "Then he came. He saved my life. He taught me, and a few others, how to fight back against bad people with these kinds of skills," she lazily tossed the pen behind her, which landed in the 'pencil mug' on the desk. She held out her hand. With a snap of her fingers, Arline summoned a small fire. It was about as big as a match's flame, emanating from her fingertip.
Dipper stared at the fire. That was magic. It had to be. "What kind of person can teach you to create fire from nothing?" Dipper continued his questioning.
Arline chuckled, letting the flame go about. This time she snapped and the flame was the size of a lamps fire. "The kind of person… good question. The kind who is old, wise, and powerful," she told him, "And it isn't from nothing. I have to expend energy to do this. The idea, Dipper," she turned to look at him. She took in a long breath, and exhaled. As she did, five small flames at the tips of her fingers ignited. She continued, "Is that we all have a kind of energy inside us. That energy can allow us to do everything we do all our lives. If you find a way to grow that energy and then harness it, well," she closed her fingers into a fist, and the fire spread along her fingers to her knuckles, and then exploded into embers and faded, "You can do some really neat things."
"Like being an awesome fire-shooter!" Mabel told Dipper as she continued to hop, going to flip in the air.
"Then... I could control fire?" Dipper asked Arline.
She shrugged. "Maybe. Depends if you're the kind of person who the element works with."
"There's fire," Mabel repeated for Dipper, "earth, water, and air, and that's it!"
"Not quite," Arline added.
Mabel landed, refraining from jumping. "There are more?" Mabel asked.
"Two more, technically three," Arline said with a grin. "They're dangerous though. The kinds of elements people really shouldn't be messing around with, and that's coming from me, on the path of fire."
"So, seven elements," Dipper scratched his head. "I wonder what I am," Dipper chuckled aloud.
Arline eyed him and smiled. "That will be something you can discover in time," she said, "Because making rash decisions about your alignment can really hold you back."
"Well, that's good-"
"Guys?"
Dipper and Arline looked back to Mabel. She was looking at the sky. It was now dark blue, and single bright splotch of white pierced the darkness. The two straightened up and focused on Mabel. Night had come, and along with it the moon; it was now or never.
"Mabel, look at me," Dipper asked his sister as she sat on the edge of her bed with a 'flump'. "Do you feel weird?"
"My shoulder is still itchy?" she answered truthfully.
"That's just the bandages," Arline told her, "How about the rest of you?"
"I... actually... I do feel kinda..."
Mabel looked between the both of them. Her eyes grew wider as the moon rose. Dipper could feel sweat growing on his hands and face, and he looked once to Arline, who was too busy fixated on her student to look back. As Dipper looked back again. Mabel made a bellowing cry. Dipper shrieked and leaned back, but before Arline could get to her, Mabel spun and let off a brutally loud fart.
"Ah – Mabel!" Dipper shouted at her angrily, holding a hand to his chest. Arline spun right around in her tracks, snickering to herself. Dipper scolded his sister, "That's not funny- Ack! And that was nasty!"
"You should have seen your face!" Mabel roared with laughter as she rolled back onto her bed, holding her side with her uninjured arm. "I needed that laugh so badly-" Mabel huffed, and huffed again, and let out a room-shaking sneeze.
Dipper blinked. He couldn't believe it. Mabel was still before him, but... she certainly was not the same she was a split second ago. Her ears had instantly risen to rest atop her head, her nose was darker in color and wet looking. Hair had covered most of her body, and as Dipper eyed her up and down, he spotted a shaggy, brown-haired tail by the bottom of her back. She still wore her shoes and none of her clothing had been torn or even misplaced. In fact, it just looked like someone placed a lot of make up on her nose and her ears, now in pointed canine form, had been repositioned.
"A-A-Arline?" Dipper slowly called.
The woman had just turned to sit down when she saw Mabel. "Holy crud!" Arline gasped and stood up again. She raced over to Mabel, who eyed her with brig, brown, wide eyes. "Mabel?" Arline asked. Waddles squealed at his longtime friend, and Mabel the werewolf let her now long tongue loll out and she began to pant, her tail wagging.
"She's... a dog? A dog-person?" Dipper asked to Arline, who had stood up fully, rubbing her head.
"I guess that's what it's like during the first transformation?" Arline asked. Mabel sniffed her, leaning closer and then snorting onto Arline's hand. "Ew," she wiped off the werewolf snot onto her clothing, and turned for the door. "Dipper, I'm going to let the others know we need that cure. Stay here and watch her for a second."
"S-sure," Dipper nodded nervously as he sat across from his afflicted sister, who stared at him with a happy gaze, panting loudly. As Arline left the room, Mabel lifted her leg and scratched the back of her ear. "Mabel?" Dipper asked, leaning forward, to which Waddles mimed action, "Can you understand me?"
Mabel seemed more interested in the pillows on her bed. She bit down on one and began to twist and tear at it until clumps of feathers flew out.
"Okay, maybe not?" Dipper asked to Waddles, who oinked back at him. Mabel sneezed and looked up from her destroyed pillow. She stared at Dipper, and then looked outside. "Mabel, you should be able to understand me, that guy did," Dipper told her. Mabel looked quickly back to him, and then stood up. She was half a foot taller than she used to be, as her feet had been-reformed to resemble canine hind legs. She pressed herself against the window and then barked. It wasn't a dogs' more hoars tone, it was just Mabel's normal voice. Her voice, Mabel's voice, barking against a window was too much for Dipper. He fell aside and started laughing.
"Seriously, Mabel," he snickered as she stepped back, staring at the moon, "knock it off. We should take you downstairs and start figuring out what to do with-"
Dipper shouted as Mabel lunged through the glass window, shattering it around her as she plummeted out and down. Dipper screamed and Waddles squealed as they both approached the broken window and looked down. She landed and panted further. Dipper couldn't believe his eyes as he and Waddles watched down into the grass as Mabel found her tail, spun around a few times to try and catch it, and then let off a loud, night-rattling howl.
He didn't even have a moment to say word as Mabel leapt ahead, on her hands and feet, and ran off into the woods.
Oh noes! One rabid Mabel-werewolf on the loose! Someone call animal control! Or maybe a circus! BOTH!
An update a little late on Sunday, so I hope you guys see it before I have part two updated and fresh. So sorry about that! Life gets busier and busier! Hehehe... heh.
Predictions so far? What will come of our new fur-covered friend? What can the gang to do pacify her? Can a cure be found in time? Or will Mabel be the new werewolf queen of the universe? Hm. Probably not that last one, but you never know.
Welp, I'm off for now! See you guys next Sunday! (EZB pulls around him a cloak, and vanishes- the cloak falling to the floor. From outside the window, EZB can be seen falling from the sky, screaming about how the cloak wasn't supposed to place him that high into the air.)