Dana was visiting the Corduroy residence, watching a horror movie with William.
"What do we do, Chadley? I thought they were dead!"
"Far worse, Trixandra! They're... Nearly Almost Dead But Not Quite!"
Dana giggled. "These movies are a lot less scary when you actually fought real zombies," she said.
"They're slow!" William called out. "Just power-walk away from them!"
Dana nudged William with her elbow. "How much you want to bet that guy dies first?" she asked.
As if on cue, a loud crunching sound was heard from the TV.
"Aah! My face is being eaten a lot!"
William and Dana laughed. "Chadley ain't pretty no more," William commented.
William's phone buzzed. "One second." He grabbed his phone, then he groaned. "Great, another text from Becca!"
"Oh, yeah! Becca," Dana said "How's, uh, how's all that going?" She ate some popcorn.
"I'm over her," William said. "I just wish she was over me! Just look at these texts." He showed Dana his phone. "A picture of her with a black eye? What does that even mean?"
"And you're not seeing any other girls?" Dana asked.
"Of course I am," William said. "Meet my new girlfriend." He hugged his plush bear-panther, the same one Dana won at the Surprise Fair.
Dana giggled. "Right, right," she said. "So, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to maybe if, you know, you and me, whatever. I mean, if maybe you...wanted to join me and Marcus on this mystery hunt? Tomorrow? Conspiracy stuff and all that?"
"Yeah," William said. "I love doing all that junk with friends."
"Yeah, that's what we are," Dana said sadly. She looked at a note she had written about confessing her crush on William. "That's all we'll ever be." She crumpled up the note and laid back on William's bed. "Friends."
Over at the Surprise Hut, construction was going on. "Ms. Pines, what exactly caused all this damage?" a workman asked. "I need to write a report."
"Oh, just a crowd of angry, mindless people," Silvia said, using certain words without outright saying 'zombies'.
Meanwhile, Dana, Marcus, and Salls were standing around the tree that contained Journal 3. Dana tapped a pen on a lantern. "Thank you all for coming," she said. Then she noticed someone was absent. "Marcus, didn't you say Jennifer was coming with us?"
"She said she would like to come explore with us," Marcus explained. "But with her mother in jail for life, she has to work a lot more at the Castle of Telepathy."
"Moving on," Dana said. "We're here to solve the number one mystery in Gravity Falls: who wrote this journal? Thirty years ago, the author vanished without a trace. But according to this new clue..." She turned on portable black light. "We may have found her secret hiding place." The black light revealed hidden drawings on the selected page. "We find that author, we learn the answers to everything. We just need to figure out a way to get down there."
"Chop it down, dudes!" It was William, who came by bike.
"William!" Marcus happily said.
"Oh, hey! You came," Dana said.
"I'm stoked about this," William said, getting off his bike. "I've been wanting to go adventuring with you guys. Sure beats picking up after my dad at home. Thanks for the invite, Dana!"
Dana got flustered. "Of course, anytime you wanna... I, we're always... Us."
"Uh-oh!" Marcus said. He poked Dana. "Inviting William on our mission? I think there's romance afoot!"
"You're wrong," Dana said. "I've thought this through and I'm over William. I've looked at it from every angle, and that thing was going nowhere. I know what matters to me now, and it's finding the author of this journal."
"YOU'RE over William?!" Marcus asked. "Allow me to put on my 'skepticals'." He made circles around his eyes with his fingers.
"I've moved on, Marcus," Dana said. "You should too."
William inspected the tree. "Is it just me, or does that branch kinda look like a lever?"
Dana turned her back on the tree. "But how do we get there?" she asked.
As Dana rambled, William used some nearby rope to start climbing up the tree. When he reached the lever-branch, he pulled an ax out of his belt, swung it around, and hit the lever.
"Holy smokes!" Marcus exclaimed.
"My dad used to make me compete in these lumberjack games when I was a kid," William explained, climbing down the tree and getting back on the ground. "Guess I kinda ruled at it."
Suddenly, the tree began shaking. The ground near the tree sunk down, and a staircase to the middle of the tree appeared, and subsequently a door inside the tree opened.
"Alright guys, this is it," Dana said. "Remember, whatever happens down there, we tell no one." Marcus gave a thumbs up, Salls put on a brave face, and William zipped his lips.
Dana held up the lantern. "Now who wants to go first?" she asked.
And so, the four headed down the staircase and they entered a room. They were amazed with what they saw.
"It's like a fallout shelter or something," Dana said "it must have belonged to the author."
William looked at the Fallout Shelter poster on the wall and dusted it off, while Marcus put his face in a barrel and came out with caterpillars on his face.
"This is incredible!" Dana exclaimed. "It's like she was preparing for a disaster." She looked up a shelf with dated boxes, the highest labeled 2070. "But what kinda disaster would need supplies for over sixty years?"
Salls opened a weapons locker. "Oh my gosh!" She pulled out a small toy. "A Smez dispenser! I remember these things. What's that, yes I will have some of your old-timey face food." She ate a piece candy from the dispenser. "Ew, dusty!" She ate a second piece of candy.
Dana held up a dripping bean can.. "Wait guys, I think this can was opened recently," she said.
"The author might still be alive down here!" Salls realized.
"Wait a minute..." William said. He pulled down a map of Gravity Falls from 1982, revealing an open hatch cover. "I think I know where she might have gone..."
After crawling through a tunnel, the group arrived at a room made of metal cubes. "Oh man!" William said. "Was this place built in the past or the future?"
"Yeah, this room is pretty weird," Salls said.
"Not as weird as Dana's internet book club!" Marcus said. "Heyo!" He shoved Dana, and she stepped on the square with the design and it depressed, causing the hatch to slam and lock. The symbols on the other wall squares glowed red, a buzzer sounded, and the room started to shake. Some squares started to poke into the room.
"What's goin' on?" Salls asked.
The four pressed up against wall, beginning to panic. "Wall things!" Marcus exclaimed. "Crazy wall things happening right now!"
William tried to push the blocks back in. "It won't stop!" he exclaimed.
"Dana! What do we do?!" Marcus asked.
Dana frantically flipped through the journal and stopped at a page labeled 'Security Room'. She shined the blacklight on it and showed her brother and friends the page with symbol on it. "Find these four symbols!" she instructed. "Quick! Everybody step on one!"
Salls pushed on a symbol, William punched the second symbol, and Marcus summersaulted over to the third symbol and slapped it. Dana saw the final symbol, so she climbed up the blocks and tapped it. A door opened on the other side of the room.
"Run for it!" Marcus exclaimed.
The group ran out. But Dana's hoodie got caught in the block, so she slipped out.
In what appeared to be an old surveillance room, William was smiling wide. "That was nuts!" He gently punched Dana on the arm. "You ruled back there!"
Dana giggled. "Thanks," she said.
William and Salls looked around the room. "Get a load of this crazy surveillance room," William said.
"Hey sis, you forgot your hoodie," Marcus said. He walked over to the hoodie and pulled it out, causing the note from earlier fall to the floor. "What the..?" He read the note, then gasped.
"Hey Dana!" Marcus said. "Look what I found..." He held up the note.
Dana tied the hoodie around her waist. Upon seeing the note, she gasped. "What did you...? Give me that!" She snatched the note, ripped it up, and dropped the pieces onto the ground.
"I kew it! I knew it! I knew it!" Marcus happily said. "You're not over William at all!" The 12-year-old boy gasped. "And you were gonna tell him today?"
"No, I changed my mind," Dana said. "It's a bad idea. I'd embarrass myself and then I'd be another girl he hates, like Becca."
"Dana, you should just tell him already," Marcus said. "One way or another, you'll feel better afterwards."
"I can't tell him no matter how much I want to," Dana said. "So just drop it, okay?"
"Dana, you gotta check out this weird metal closet!" William called out. He stepped into a closet.
"Coming!" Dana called back. She briefly glared at Marcus before she walked over to William.
"She wants to tell him, but she's scared," Marcus thought, a serious look on his face. "Maybe she needs a little push."
Marcus ran over to Dana and hugged her. "Stargirl, whatever happens, I just you need to know something," he said. "This is for your own good." He shoved Dana into the closet with William and looked it shut.
In the closet, Dana looked at William, gasped, and pounded on the door. "MARCUS!" she exclaimed. "Let us out!"
"Oh, I'll let you out, Dana," Marcus said. "As soon as you tell William that thing you've been wanting to tell him! You'll thank me for this later!"
"What is he talking about?" William asked.
"Nothing!" Dana lied. "Marcus has just been eating raw sugar packets again."
"That's besides the point!" Marcus said.
"Let us out RIGHT NOW!" Dana said, pounding her fists on the door.
"Where are the lights?" William asked. He pulled on a cord.
Suddenly, water gushed down, followed by a blast of hot air that pushed Dana and William together. They gasped for breath, Dana's eyes briefly glancing at William's chest. A red light flashed and a tone sounded. A sign reading 'Decontamination Complete' flashed and second door opened on a wrecked underground room.
"Whoa!" Dana said. "A hidden lab! Maybe the author did experiments down here."
"What do you think dug all these tunnels?" William asked.
"Let's hope we don't find out," Dana answered.
The two heard a growling sound. They screamed and started banging their fists on the closed door as a dark figure approached.
"Marcus, open up, for real!" Dana exclaimed. "There's a monster in here!"
"Nice try!" Marcus said. "The only monsters are your own inner demons, Dana!"
"Dana, just say whatever Marcus wants you to say, so he'll let us out of here!" William said.
"Come on, Dana!" Marcus said. "Now's the time, sis!"
Dana hesitated. "William, I— I— I'm gonna find another way out!" She grabbed William's hand and pulled him in the other direction.
"Wait, what?" William asked as she and Dana ran down a tunnel. "Dude, where are we going?"
Eventually the unknown creature cornered them. "What do we do?!" William asked.
"I don't know!" Dana admitted. But then...
"Back, back you heinous beast!"
After much fighting, a woman approached Dana and William. She was blonde with purple eyes, and she wore a blue dress that had several rips and patches on it. "Well, I just ripped out a monster's tongue," she said. She threw the tongue down on the ground.
Dana started to get excited. "It's you!" she squealed.
"Hurry now," the woman said. "I scared it off, but it'll regenerate." She led Dana and William down the tunnel. "I wasn't expecting guests. I've been down here for a very long time. Years! Weeks, maybe!" She sighed. "I do miss orange juice."
"You don't understand," Dana said. "You're the woman I've been looking for! The author of the journals! I've got a billion questions to ask you! Why did you write the journals? Who was after you? Why did you build this bunker?"
"I'd love to discuss this in time," the author said. "We have more pressing matters. It's one of my experiments: a shape-shifter. Able to take the form of anyone or anything it sees. It broke free from a cage of solid steel! I've gone half crazy trying to catch the creature alone. But now you're here! Will you help me catch it?"
Dana gasped in excitement.
Back in the surveillance room, Marcus and Salls were looking around.
"Sure are taking their time in there," Salls said. She slipped on a lab coat, and picked up what appeared to be a briefcase. "Do I look smarter with this coat and brief case? I feel like I look smarter."
Marcus gasped. "Holy smokes!" he exclaimed. "Look at this tube-y thing!" He pressed a button on the dashboard. "Ice! No ice! Ice! No ice!" He saw a clipboard. "What's this? 'Experiment Number 210: the shape-shifter'."
"The shape-shifter?" Salls asked. "Didn't Dana say there was a monster in there with them?"
"I thought she was just joking!" Marcus said.
"YOU KNOW DANA'S JOKES ARE TERRIBLE!" Salls pointed out.
Marcus and Salls looked at the door. "DANA!" Marcus cried out.
Dana, William, and the author were still in the lab. "I apologize for the state of things," the author said. "I don't get many non-mole people visitors. Now the beast must have some weakness we can exploit. I just wish I had my research on me. But alas, I lost my journals so many years ago."
"Did you say journals?" William asked.
"I found one of them!" Dana said. "That's how I tracked you down here." She pulled out the journal.
"Could it be?" the author asked. She took journal from Dana. "I can't express my gratitude!" The author flipped through pages of the journal. "Oh yes, after all these years..."
Marcus and Salls ran into the lab, panting. "William!" Salls called out. "Oh, it's so dark! How will we ever find them?"
"Leave that to Marcus!" Marcus said. He pressed a button on his light-up Rarity medallion.
"Whoa, rad!" Salls complimented. "Although, isn't having electrical jewelry near clothing kinda like a fire hazard?"
"No," Marcus said. "It's a fun hazard. Now let me light the way!" He ran off with Salls following behind.
The author was still skimming through the pages of the journal, happy with what she saw.
"Isn't it amazing we're actually meeting the real author?" Dana whispered to William
William picked up and an old VHS and gasped. "Dana!" he whispered. "Look!" He held out the VHS to Dana, showing her the movie Sleeping Beauty. Sure enough, the 'author' did resemble Princess Aurora.
"Uhh, you know what?" Dana told the woman. "We should probably get going. Can I have my journal back?"
The woman blinked her eyes sideways and turned her head all the way around. "You're not going anywhere," she said, her voice deepening. She crawled up the wall and turns into her true form, which was a while blobby monster with pink eyes. It was the shape-shifter!
"How do you like my true form?" the shape-shifter said, speaking in a masculine voice. "Go on, admit it. You like it!"
"What did you do to the real author?!" Dana asked.
"You'll likely never find out," the shape-shifter responded. "That glasses-wearing nerd hasn't been herself in thirty years! But I thank you for bringing me her journal. She used to write it while I was in my cage. So many wonderful forms to take!" He flipped through the journal, transforming into different creatures.
"Hey body-snatcher!" William called out, picking up the VHS tape. "Snatch this!" He threw the VHS tape.
The shape-shifter dodged the VHS tape, turned into a giant frog monster, and lashed its tongue out at William. He held up a piece of metal to block the tongue, making it drop the journal. Dana quickly picked up the journal and she and William began to run through the tunnels.
The shape-shifter chased Dana and William while taking several forms, then he turned into a giant rolly polly monster and chased them to a fork in the tunnels. Dana threw her flashlight down one end and ran with William down the other end. They ended up crashing into Salls and Marcus.
"Wait!" Dana told William. "How do we know they're not the shape-shifter?"
Salls gasped. "Maybe I am!" she said. "Marcus, inspect my shape!"
"Poke!" Marcus said, poking Salls' stomach.
Salls laughed. "Do that again!"
"Poke!" Marcus said, poking Salls' stomach again.
Salls laughed once more. "Even better the second time!"
"It's definitely them," Dana said. She looked at William's knee and gasped. "Oh my gosh, William, you're bleeding!"
"It's cool, it's cool," William said. "It's just blood. Don't freak out."
"What happened?" Marcus asked.
"We got attacked by the shape-shifter," William said, ripping off a piece of his flannel shirt to cover the injury. "He broke out of his cage, pretended to be the author, and wants Dana's journal."
"Imagine if he escapes to the town!" Dana said. "He can transform into anything! We could never trust anyone ever again!"
"What do we do?!" Marcus asked.
"Well, he took us into his home, tricked us, and tried to destroy us," William said. "I say we return the favor."
In a different tunnel, the shape-shifter returned to his Princess Aurora form. "Dana!" 'she' called out. "Come out! I must speak with you!"
The shape-shifter turned into a creature with six legs, claws, and a one-eyed head resembling a hand. "REVEAL YOURSELF, YOU SINGLE-FORMED HUMAN WEAKLING!" He slammed his head into the ground.
"Oh boy, Dana," Marcus said, entering the room with Dana. "That book sure is full of some great monsters!"
"There you are!" the shape-shifter said. "Ooh, and a new one." He turned into Marcus. "Should I be one..." He turned into Dana. "...or the other? How about something else?!" He turned into a six-legged spider creature.
Dana and Marcus screamed and ran away as the shape-shifter chased them. They entered a room with William and Salls holding onto the valve of a pipe.
"Guys, he's coming!" Dana called out.
William and Salls started turning the valve. "It's not working!" Salls said, panicking.
The shape-shifter caught up to the group and tried to grab Dana journal with his tongue. "HEY, LET GO!" Dana said.
"You leave her alone!" William said, helping Dana.
William was pulled away with the journal. He jumped onto the shape-shifter and prepares to attack him with his ax. But with 'perfect' timing, Salls successfully turned the valve and a strong stream of water burst from the pipe. William and the shape-shifter were knocked back by the water. Dana, Marcus and Salls were caught in the flow as well. William hit a rock under the water, then the water subsided and drained out.
Dana saw William's ax and she picked it up. "WILLIAM!" she called out.
Dana followed the tunnel and found William laying on the ground. "William!" she said. "No, no, no-no-no! Can you hear me? Oh, please be okay, please be okay!"
Dana shook William, but he didn't respond. "Oh no, oh no!" Dana panicked, feeling sad. "This is all my fault! If I had told you when we were in the closet, we wouldn't be in this mess." She moved a lock of his chin-length hair away from his closed eyes. "But I was too scared and now you could be hurt or worse, and I never even got to tell you I'm— in love with you, William!" She teared up and buried her face in his chest.
"Uh, Dana?"
Dana looked up. "Huh—wha—William?!" she asked. "W-Wait, then who's...?"
The shape-shifter got up, growled, and attacked William. The two Williams fought while Dana watched. It was unclear which was the shape-shifter. Dana picked up the ax and approached them.
"Hit him with the ax!"
"Don't listen to him, Dana!"
"He's the shape-shifter!"
Dana hesitated. "I don't know who's who!" she admitted. "Give me a sign!"
One William smiled and winked, while the other William zipped his lips. Recognizing the real William, Dana stabbed the shape-shifter with the ax, causing him to roar and return to his true form.
The tube that Marcus froze and unfroze earlier flashed 'READY' as the shape-shifter ripped the ax out of his body. Dana and William pushed the shape-shifter into the tube. The door closed and the tube began freezing the shape-shifter.
Panicking, the shape-shifter turned into a rock monster, then a flame monster, then the Aurora impersonator from earlier. Then it returned to its true form and roared before it froze up.
Marcus and Salls entered the room. "Let's get out of here," Salls said.
With the group back outside, the tree returned to its default position "I think I'm kind of adventured out for a little while," Salls said. "My face hurts from screaming all day."
"Yeah, but you gotta admit we're all total heroes," Marcus said.
"Hey, who wants to get some heroes' breakfast, huh?" Salls asked.
"Syrup on cereal!" Marcus cheered as he and Salls left.
Dana sighed. "Look, William, about earlier. In the heat of the moment, I might have said said some dumb things. Can we pretend none of that ever happened? Please?"
"It's okay," William said. "I kinda feel the same way about you."
Dana was surprised. "Wait, you do?"
"Yeah," William said. "For a while I thought I was losing my mind regarding being in love with a younger girl."
Embarrassed, Dana sat down on a log. "Listen Dana," William said, sitting next to her. "You're so much smarter than like everyone else." He chuckled. "It's kinda funny. Aside from the three-year age difference, you're my dream girl."
"Marcus said confessing would make me feel better," Dana said.
"Well, how do you feel?" William asked.
Dana thought about it for a while. "Anxious. Scared. Kinda itchy."
"Dude, don't be itchy," William confessed. "Let me tell you something. You're practically the cutest girl I ever saw. I honestly have more fun with you than practically any other girl."
"So things won't be awkward?" Dana asked.
"Probably not," William said.
"So... Are we still friends?" Dana asked.
"You don't get it, do you?" William asked. Then he gave her a brief kiss on the lips. "I kind of want more than a friendship."
Dana was stunned as William stood up and got back on his bike. "And Dana?" he asked. "See you for movie night tomorrow. Your place this time, okay?" With that, he rode off on his bike.
As Dana watched William leave, a huge smile slowly appeared on her face. But then Marcus popped out of the bushes. "How did it go?" he asked.
Dana was surprised. "Wha—What did you hear?" she asked.
"Everything!" Marcus said. "All the time!"
Salls emerged from in the bushes. "I'm not here," she lied.
Dana thought about her conversation with William. "So I guess...me and William are officially dating," she realized.
"Looks like it," Marcus said. "Maybe I can ask Abigail if she's okay with double dates near Gravity Falls Lake."
Salls sat down on the log. "I'm still bummed we're no closer to finding the author," she said. "At least I got her science-y coat and briefcase." She held up the briefcase, which flopped open. "Whoa! What the?"
"Salls, that's not a briefcase," Dana said. "It's a laptop!"
"And a really busted-up one," Marcus remarked.
"I bet I could get this thing fixed up in a few days," Salls said. "It's gonna take a lotta duct tape."
"This could be our next clue!" Dana said.