Chapter 2
So here's a synopsis of Number Three's plan:
My job was to wait inside the photocopier room and wait until Number Four arrived. If I couldn't convince him to stop whatever he was planning to do, I was to give Soos a text without him noticing. Number Three and Soos would be waiting outside someplace they would be seen, and would flank behind Number Four if things got out of hand.
Of course, this meant I had to wait in the creepy photocopier room. By myself…
But hey, that's why I had my trusty axe. I've had it even since-
I heard the door creak from down the hallway. I was expected to hear footsteps, but none ever came. Just as I was getting up from sitting on the floor, a Dipper clone appeared in the doorway. A number four was written on his cap.
"W-Wendy? Is it really…? What are you doing here? Number three t-told me not to be near you without him… but I told him to be here… I-I don't understand! Where's Number Three?" Number Four looked desperate to stay away from me.
Number Three told me about this. Apparently, Number Four became more and more dependent on Number Three as his own judgement became clouded with…
Well, me, I suppose…
Number Three told me what to say in this situation.
"Ok, Number Four, calm down. Number Three is coming, but he sent me here to talk with you, okay?" I put on my best 'comforting' voice to try and sell the lie.
"O-okay, I guess I could-"He abruptly stopped talking.
I realised that he was just standing there, staring at me.
"Number Four, you okay? C'mon, dude, you're freaking me out…"
He continue to stand there, without saying a word.
"Alright", I thought, "this is getting weird." I reached into my pocket to get my phone.
It wasn't there.
I muttered under my breath, "W-wait, what? I swear-"
"Looking… for… this…?"
I looked up and say that Number Four had my phone in his hand. He started quietly giggling to himself.
"What's so funny?" I had started to realise he was putting up an act.s
"Isn't it sad how, in an attempt to stop me, Number Three made my job even easier…?" He crushed my phone with his bare hand, and he gave me a smile.
I tried to quickly bring out my axe, but Number Four was already halfway across the room.
"He's fast!" I thought in a panic.
The last thing I remember was getting hit on the side of my head. Hard.
Number Three
"Why hasn't she texted us yet, dude. It's been like, five minutes since Number Four went in…" Soos started to sweat nervously.
"I don't know, Soos…" Did something go wrong with my plan? I thought Number Four would take the bait for sure.
"Dude, do you here that?" Soos pointed his ear toward the shack.
There was silence until I could faintly hear…
"Laughter?" It dawned on me what had happened. "Soos! The plan is a bust, we have to get in there, fast!"
We both took off without a word. We burst into the mystery shack and ran down the hall as fast as we could. Number Four was standing in the way of the photocopier room.
"H-hey Number Three. I…um… I'm glad you could get here. I hope that letter didn't confuse you too much…"
"Number Four, I'm here now, it's okay. Now, Wendy was in this house, have you seen her?" I had to make sure Number Four was here alone.
"Um…no… I haven't-"
An artificial voice came from the room behind Number Four, "This machine has run out of paper, please load tray two to continue."
"Number Four, what-," Before I could finish my sentence, Number Four entered the room with superhuman speed and slammed the door. Soos reacted first by banging on the door, but to no avail.
"Uh, I don't want to alarm you dude, but he's barricaded the door."
I realised my mistake too late. This is what Number Four meant. This was his plan.
"We have to get this door open! Soos, give me a hand!" We both slammed the door at the same time. We hit the door again and again.
Suddenly, whatever was blocking the door must've broken, because we busted the door open with ease. The room was in shambles. The remains of a wooden chair laid on the ground in front of the door. To confirm my suspicions on what Number Four was planning, Wendy lay unconscious on the photocopier. Number Four was frantically inspecting the machine.
"No this can't be!" Number Four yelled in disbelief," It's out of paper? Oh jeez, W-We're running out of time, what are we going to do?"
"Heads up… we've got company…" A different voice came from Number Four's mouth, this one far more sinister.
"Number Four, this has to stop. You obviously didn't listen to Wendy. In that case, listen to your friend when I tell you," I stared right into Number Four's eyes, "You'll regret making a copy of Wendy. It will slowly turn into something you hate, and then where would you be?"
Number Four stopped for a second, and then stared right back. "He…he… You really care about this little pervert, don't you?"
I didn't recognise the voice at all. "I-I don't… Who are you?"
"Well, that's a harder question to answer than you would think. In your primitive language, I guess you would pronounce my name as 'Replik'. I was once a creature of the dreamscape, before I was trapped here in this photocopier. I was imprisoned in this dimension by random chance. It's funny, really. This weirdo found out about me before you did." He laughed like it was a joke only he understood.
"What have you done? Where's Number Four!?" I demanded him to tell me the truth.
"Number Three," This time it was Number Four's voice. "You always told what was right and wrong, but I d-don't want to be treated like a kid anymore. I'm going to make my own decision now, and what I'm going to do is get some paper. Your n-not hold me back from Wendy anymore!"
"You're not leaving this room on my watch, dude." Soos positioned himself in front of the door. "You hurt my friend, and that's not cool."
"Number Four, I really wished it didn't have to be this way, but I have no choice but to stand in your way." I took up position next to Soos.
"Number Four, I hate to interrupt your bromance, but we seem to be outmatched." Replik made Number Four turn towards the copier. "You're made out of paper, Number Four. We don't have any other option, switch to plan B." Number Four opened the paper compartment.
"Stop right now! I'm warning you!" I stepped towards the photocopier.
Number Four shoved his hand into the photocopier through the paper container.
There was a moment of silence.
"Paper loaded, proceeding with assigned task."
A green laser panned over Wendy as the copier dragged Number Four in. The only sound that come out of Number Four's mouth was Replik laughing as his body was flattened and twisted to fit into the machine.
"Dude, we got to help Number Four." Soos started to move towards his laughing, mangled body.
"It's too late for him… I have to get you and Wendy someplace safe." I quickly went over to Wendy. "Soos, going to need a hand here!"
Soos quickly cane over lifted Wendy off the copier, and dragged her by her shoulders to the doorway. I stood there for a moment, watching the photocopier filter the last bit of my friend into itself.
"I'll keep whatever comes out of the copier busy. Get you and Wendy someplace with a water source. I'll try to lure it there. Go!" I grabbed Wendy's axe from where it laid on the copier.
Soos hoisted Wendy higher, and slowly made his way down the hallway.
"Alright, no inter-dimensional printer demon tricks my friend and gets away with it, show me your worst!" The mechanical noises from the machine finally came to a halt.
A large piece of paper slowly came out of the machine. I stayed where I was, controlling my curiosity.
The paper quivered. One… no, two right arms connected at the elbow rose up from the image. Its freakishly long left arm soon followed, along with the rest of its grotesque self. It looked at me with its one functional eye.
"Finally…together," It managed to say between gasps of air. It pulled out its own axe and steadied itself on its malformed legs.
"I'll make this quick Number Four…"
I charged at it with everything I had.
Wendy
There was a loud ringing in my ears when I came round. Everything in the kitchen slowly came into focus as I saw Soos filling up containers with water.
"Soos... W-where…?" When Soos saw I was awake, he quickly splashed my face with a small cup of cold water. That certainly woke me up.
"You okay, dude? I was hoping you would come 'round sooner." Soos started dapping the side of my head with a towel dipped in cold water. I tried my best not move my head too much.
"What's going on?" I could hear sounds of fighting coming from down the hall.
"I don't know all the details dude, but Number Four totally flipped out and now Number Three is luring him here, so we can… um… finish the job."
"There no way to reason with him?" I didn't understand why we had to resort to such drastic measures…
"Dude, there's… a…. something I should tell you about the state Number Four is in."
Someone yelled in frustration from down the hall.
"You guys ready yet? I'm losing ground here!" Number Three sounded distressed.
"We're ready dude!" Soos turned to me, "Can you stand?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Soos handed me a bucket of water. I balanced myself on the chair and looked out the door.
Nothing could've prepared me for what happened next.
Something made a noise so weird that it was hard to pin down what it was exactly. It sounded like someone screaming in agony until it broke down into sheer maniacal laughter, and it sounded exactly like me.
Number Three burst into the room. He had several cuts all over his body. "Here it comes!"
A large tendril-like hand grasped the frame, and it crawled its way into view.
I could recall every detail of that thing. It had my shirt, but Dipper's jacket on. It had my hair, but Dipper's hair pigment. It had my left leg, but Dipper's right leg stretched out to be the same length. Its left arm was twice as thick as the right arm, and it was loosely grasping an axe that looked like mine. It had only one functioning eye, due to the other one being sealed shut. Its mouth never deviated from a smile.
"I'm…so…thirsty…" It grabbed Number Three by his leg.
Soos gave me a quick glance, "Now!"
It was doused in water before it could even get past the door. Number Three managed to crawl away in time. It didn't scream, it didn't laugh, and it just stood there and watched its own body melt. It looked me in the eye and said this:
"Thank…you…s…i…s…"
Nothing was left of it except a puddle of wet paper.
Number Three hobbled over to what remained of Number Four and kneeled before it. "This was for the best, I hope you can forgive me, Number Four."
Suddenly, a hand shoot out from the gunk and grabbed Number Three by the throat. A being quickly rose up from the pulp that only be described as nightmarish.
"Ah yes, the boy whose been a pain in my backside ever since you were created."
Soos yelled out, "Get your hands off my friend!"
"Or what, you're going to pour water on me till I drown?" and then he laughed.
I didn't care who this thing was or why it was there. I wasn't going to stand and be useless. I grabbed my axe and ran towards him at full pelt.
My axe went right through him.
"Wendy, stop embarrassing yourself. Now, as I was saying Number Three, you know far too much for your own good. So you'll be coming with me." He turned to look at me. "As for you two, thanks for releasing me from my confinement. However, to increase the length your pathetic lifespans, I would suggest keeping your nose out of where it doesn't belong from now on." Replik snapped his fingers and a circular portal that looked strangely familiar opened behind.
"Sweet dreams." The portal closed behind him, and they were gone.
We stood there for moment, unsure about how we were supposed to react. I dug for ideas in my head. "Soos, you knew Stanford Pines better than I did, would he have any clue what that thing was?"
"Ford probably would know something about this, dude. I think I still have Stanley's number, I'll let them know what went down in the shack." He was already pulling out his phone.
"Good, I'll search around her for-"A piece of paper caught my eye. "Wait, what's this?"
I picked it up from where it laid right around where Number Three fell down. It was a note, and all that was written on it was this:
'Wendy, if anything should happen to me, I want you to know that I found this code during my studies:
13-15-20-8-5-18 9-19 20-8-5 11-5-25
Don't tell anyone what it says except the ones you trust.
P.S. I don't blame you or Dipper for Number Four's suffering. It wasn't your fault.
Number Three'
"Soos, I'm going to call Dipper." I stood up from the floor.
"So you can tell him what happened?" Soos asked.
"Not really, what I need is a friend I can trust."
To be continued…
A note from the Author:
So, yeah, hoped you enjoyed what I've gotten done so far. I just thought I would put in a few words of my own because I realised someone might actually read this:
A few pointers,
Exams are going on at the moment, I'll try to get these up as soon as possible, but I'll only be able to write when I have a good chunk of free time. After exams though, I'll upload more frequently
I'm planning on this being a large project I upload in chunks.
I'll be making my own covers for the story, the current one is just a placeholder I thought looked cool
Other than that, I hoped you enjoyed it. MysticalSpaceRock, out.