In less than a second, the grappling hook's claw made contact with Book 2; it roughly dug into the cover of the book. The impact of the blow knocked Book 2 out of Gideon's hand and out of reach of the steadily burning flame. Seeing the book land with a thud on the ground, Stan hit the retract button on the grappling hook. The line immediately flew back into its original position with Book 2 intact. Quickly, Stan tore the book off the hook and began madly flipping through the pages.
It took Gideon a couple seconds to process what had just happened. Instead of the book being burned to ashes, it was now in possession of his mortal enemy. Gideon's face contorted into a mask of pure malice and hatred. The aura surrounding him grew larger, pulsing and swirling erratically.
"NO! I'M NOT GOING BACK UNTIL YOU'RE ALL DEAD! YOU'VE SQUANDERED ENOUGH OF MY TIME ALREADY, STANFORD! ALL THESE WASTED YEARS, JUST SITTING IN THIS PITIFUL MORTAL WORLD WILL BE REPAID IN THE BLOOD OF YOU AND EVERYONE YOU HOLD DEAR!" Gideon roared, his voice had returned to the demonic tone that the park crew recognized from the fateful day at the park.
Just as Gideon finished ranting, the front door of the Mystery Shack burst open. As the door exploded off its hinges, the group saw what they once thought were the normal townspeople of Gravity Falls flooding into the Shack. But they knew the truth now. Each and every person that the twins had come to know in this town was really one of Gideon's shadow puppets all along. They all came in, brandishing weapons and glowing with the sickly purple aura. They could see Blubs and Durland holding nightsticks, Lazy Susan holding a butcher's knife, and Old Man McGucket holding a crowbar. Even Toby Determined was there, holding a baseball bat.
"KILL THEM ALL! LEAVE NO ONE ALIVE!" Gideon commanded to his army of lesser demons.
"BENSON! I need you're guys to hold them off!" Stan yelled to the gumball machine standing a few feet away from him. "Keep them away from Dipper, Mabel, and myself!"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DEFEND OURSELVES WITH? THEY HAVE WEAPONS!" Benson shouted back, almost not believing that those words came out of the old man's mouth.
"Just pick up anything on the ground for Christ's sake! Pick up planks of wood and swing away, or throw books, broken glass, and Mystery Shack shit at them! Just hold them off!" Stan replied hurriedly.
"Alright guys, you heard him. Let's keep them back!" Benson commanded.
Like fiercely loyal soldiers to a masterful general, the park crew immediately began to follow Benson's command. Shards of glass, Mystery Shack novelty items, and random bits of shrapnel from the broken wood all around began to fly in the direction of the shadow creatures.
During the carnage, Stan returned to flipping madly through Book 2 to find the page he was looking for. Having gone through all three volumes many years ago, he knew exactly what page to look on.
Come on, come on...
It's gotta be here...
Aha! Exactly where I remembered it to be!
"Dipper, take out your book and go to page 618!" Stan called out to his nephew.
Dipper pulled Book 3 out of his vest pocket and thumbed hurriedly through the pages. Stan tossed Book 2 to Mabel an told her to stay on page 618. He then pulled out his own volume, Book 1, and found the right page.
"Okay kids, we have to say the incantation in order otherwise it won't work. I'll go first, then Mabel, and then Dipper will finish it off. Got it?" Stan explained as quickly as possible to his great niece and nephew.
They nodded in confirmation.
"AUGH! GUYS, WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING, DO IT FAST! WE CAN'T HOLD THEM OFF FOREVER!" Benson screamed out as he swung a broken lead pipe at Mr. Poolcheck.
"Right then!" Stan cleared his throat and then began chanting the words to the spell.
"Bound by these words, you cast the spell
To summon the demon that raises hell." Stan chanted. The golden hand on Book 1 began to glow.
"Through him, victory you hoped to gain
Though the rewards you receive are all in vain." Mabel followed. Book 2 also began to give off the shimmering light.
"Now undo the deal from demon to man
And ,to where it dwells, send back Gideon." Dipper finished the incantation, while Book 3 began to glow.
Gideon screamed out as the last words of the spell were spoken. He tried to speak, but he instead found himself dropping to the ground. His shadow puppets all acted the same way. They convulsed and twitched on the ground as the group of humans looked on. Out of thin air, a portal filled with nothing but darkness opened up inside the Mystery Shack. Gideon and his minions, unable to even stand up started to be sucked into the portal. The shadow puppets, being the weaker demons were thrown into the void first, but Gideon was putting up an immense fight. He was barely able to stand the pull coming from the void, but with his last bit of willpower, he addressed Stan.
"YOU'VE CHEATED ME, YOU MISERABLE OLD FOOL! I WILL FIND A WAY TO RETURN SOMEDAY! AND I WILL KILL YOU AND YOUR PRECIOUS FAMILY!"
With the empty threats taking up Gideon's last bit of strength, he was tossed into the portal. With Gideon gone, the portal started to close up. When it seemed like the portal was completely closed, it suddenly shot back open.
"What? Why did it open back up? What's going on?" Mordecai cried out in confusion.
"Remember how I told you Gideon created the town to imprison me here? Well, this thing is probably gonna swallow up the town." Stan explained. "We should probably start running now."
With that, the humans made a mad dash for the exit. The park crew made their way over to their golf cart while Stan, Mable, and Soos hopped into the Mystery Cart.
"Wait a minute, where's Dipper?" Mabel cried out, she searched frantically for her brother.
"Did he follow us out?" Mordecai asked, he too was searching for the young boy.
They could see movement inside of the Shack. Although they couldn't exactly see what it was, they could see the figure of a small boy struggling to drag something across the floor.
"Someone, help me! Please, the portal is growing too fast! I CAN'T OUTRUN IT!" the panicked voice of Dipper called out from within the Mystery Shack.
Before the last words were even uttered, Skips shot out of the golf cart and into the Mystery Shack with incredible speed.
Skips hopped through the door and looked around. He stopped dead and stared straight ahead at the scene in front of him. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Coming slowly at him, was Dipper. Dipper was dragging along the body of his red-headed crush, Wendy, frantically trying to move faster than the portal could grow.
With tearful eyes, Dipper acknowledged the great yeti. " I couldn't leave her behind, not like this..."
With one bound, Skips scooped up Dipper and Wendy's body and sprinted for the door. He narrowly avoided the edge of the void as he did so.
Skips hopped in the Mystery Cart with Dipper and Wendy's lifeless body and yelled out hoarsely for the two carts to get the hell out of there.
They sped off into the surrounding forest. It felt like forever, but they finally reached the border between Gravity Falls and the rest of East Pines. They passed the sign that read: NOW LEAVING GRAVITY FALLS – VISIT US AGAIN REAL SOON!
Once they were clear of the sign, and officially out of Gravity Falls, they turned the carts around and stopped to watch what would happen to the town. The darkness enveloped the town and the surrounding forest for a few seconds. It was total blackness, nothing was able to be seen. Then as if nothing had even happened, the darkness disappeared. The only things left were the trees and the docile sounds of the forest.
The town that the twins had come to know during this fateful summer, had completely vanished off the face of the Earth. The only thing left was the dilapidated old building that was the Mystery Shack.
"I don't believe it... It's finally over." Stan breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's get back to the East Pines Ranger Station, we can rest there."
The group grunted in agreement and once again took off in their respective golf carts. In a few minutes, they pulled up to the Ranger Station. The park crew instantly recognized this building as the one where they conversed with Gene just the day before. Surely enough, as they walked single-file into the building, they could see Gene's broken corpse lying there untouched.
Stan had to suppress the urge to break down and cry. His best employee, lying there broken and dead.
It's all my fault...
Wendy first, and now Gene...
Two of my employees dead...
All because of me...
A choked-up "Jesus Christ..." passed hoarsely, almost inaudibly from Stan's lips as he took in the sight of Gene.
The survivors of the encounter with Gideon all sat in Gene's office in complete silence. Nobody knew what to say, they were all in shock at the hell they had been put through.
As they sat there, with only the buzzing of the fluorescent lights overhead making any noise, flames once again shot out of a sudden opening in the ground. Death sprang out of the hole at once and turned to face the group.
He advanced towards them with an angry grimace plastered on his skeletal face.
Death was pissed.