Bonnie was excited for her day to start. She was going to be spending her day with a new friend, her first friend. Hopefully Atlas wouldn't ditch her when he finds out about her outlook on the Town Darlings, the Telepathy Twins.

The adults in that family might be her main suspects, but there was something off with the younger set as well. She refused to trust someone that wound up with a different girl every date, from what she has caught in the Fall's Gossiper. She had at first figured the boy got rid of the girl in between his dates, or ended them after the dinner. But she had thrown that theory out after seeing the girls in town afterward, though she would see them crying and miserable, meaning he just dumped them.

Or at least she hopes that's all he did to them, she wouldn't put it past someone from that family, though at least the boy was seen interacting with the townsfolk, the girl had no public image at all, just the boy. That's why she knew the boy was named Mason, and not what the girl's name was, even though the girl could be seen mumbling incohesive gibberish at some weird orb in the Pine's memorial that replaced the founder memorial when they exposed the first founder as a fraud.

Bonnie had been walking out of her room, dressed mostly in her usual outfit, having swapped her pants with a long skirt. She had been waiting in anticipation, excited about being able to talk with someone who would respond with something other than insults. Bonnie had a good first impression of Atlas, the boy had stood in the way of something that wanted to eat them in order to protect her, without even knowing her and even believed her when she called the thing a werewolf.

As Bonnie reached the gift shop, a small shop that sells random trinkets, real or not, to tourists and locals alike. Unlike with the Pine's family, her father's Car Shack wasn't something super popular, although they were still able to turn a profit, Bud was actually doubling down on two businesses.

A used car salesman, and a tourist gift shop. The gift shop was opened not long after her mother's passing, and Bud had even sold some Mystery Twins merchandise for a little bit, until they were sold out and he never restocked them. Now, Bud sold anything and everything he could think of in here, and there were countless people willing to waste their money on the useless junk. She mostly cleaned up the place when she chooses to work for some spending money, and several people that knew her, would make fun of her when they came in.

Several people that were locals could be found on occasion, insulting her because she wasn't shy about believing that the richest, and most influential family in Gravity Falls, the family with a set of twins that pretty much run the town, and their two kids, were villains. She had tried to explain and warn people about her theories before, but if she got the right person, they would ask her about the "Sneople" running the country, before walking off, laughing at her. Though that had nothing on when she tried to tell the right kind of girls about her worries.

One kind acted like the others, while a good chunk of them picked on her for being jealous of the girl's good looks and that the boy would just reject her due to her physique, while a larger chunk would accuse her of just wanting the boy for herself and insult her and break down why and how she was too ugly to date Mason.

She didn't want to date the boy, not even meet him, but that last one still hurt.

Bonnie stepped down into the gift shop, and found her new potential friend standing there being pestered by Tyler Cutebiker, sometimes she wondered if the guy even went home. Poor Atlas, he was getting annoyed with the guy, before he pointed towards the cashier, suggesting he ask for her opinion. The girl glared at him, before she rang up both shirts and asked for the money, he wound up paying eighty bucks for a couple of crappy shirts, out of confusion, before walking out and back home.

Bonnie admits the two teaming up on the poor guy was kind of uncalled for, but the guy would leave without buying anything before coming back to look and contemplate the exact same two shirts. It was a never ending cycle that had to stop at some point, in some way.

Bonnie stepped over in between the two remaining people there, as she decided to introduce them. "Hey, Atlas, this is Rebecca, or Becky for short. Becky, this is my new friend Atlas."

The girl was a brunette, and gave a look that just screamed how bored she was of just standing there. She was wearing a simple black hoodie with a stitched heart on the front, regular blue jeans. She just looked like a teen that wasn't comfortable in her own skin, and it showed as she started to look uncomfortable with attention being focused on her.

Rebecca scoffed at the two. "Well, your boyfriend there possibly got that creep to stop coming, so I won't completely hold him shoving the guy onto me against him."

Bonnie grew so red, you would think she was sunburnt, while Atlas scoffed back. "Sounds like there is a level of jealousy there. Maybe you're just getting a little too worked up over Bonnie having more 'game' than you?"

Bonnie was blushing a bit more, now hiding her face in her hands, as Rebecca spluttered over being called out like that. Atlas pulled Bonnie along with him as he turned to leave, as the cashier sputtered over the accusation.

When they got out, Bonnie pouted at the boy. "Why would you go and say that? Now she is going to think things, and say things, and I will have to deal with people just…"

Atlas placed his hand upon her shoulder. "Calm down Bonnie, it doesn't matter what people say about us, as long as we know what is happening. People will talk no matter what we do or say, the best we can do is ignore what comes our way."

Bonnie looked up at Atlas as she calmed down, getting her blush under control. "I wish I had that level of confidence, but I don't. I will always feel nervous about those things, so please. Keep the comments about us being more than friends to yourself."

Atlas smiled, "alright. Enough of that now, what plans do we have for an adventure? We did say something about having one today."

Bonnie was about to speak up and mention the creature she wanted to see when the car lot handyman stepped around the corner. "Hey Bonnie, who's your new friend?"

The guy was on the pudgy side, light brown hair in a short ponytail. He was wearing a green T-shirt with a large question mark in the middle of it, khaki shorts that covered to just below his knees, with a pair of gray shoes. Bonnie smiled as she introduced the two, "this is Atlas, my new friend that I just met yesterday, and we have plans to go on an adventure together. Atlas, this is Milo, he is the number one man for repairing anything. He also has deep wisdom beyond our comprehension. Milo, Atlas saved me from a werewolf yesterday."

Atlas chuckled over the girl's enthusiasm, as Milo reached out for a handshake. "That is totally cool bro, thanks for helping her out."

Atlas nodded as he shook the man's hand. "Well, someone shouted for help, I couldn't just ignore her."

Milo smiled as he nodded. "The actions we take speak louder of our character than our words ever could. Standing up for a stranger, against any danger, no matter how scary, shows your strength of heart, as much as it does your strength of might."

Atlas smiled as Milo walked off into the shack, shouting back for them to have fun on their adventure. Atlas turned to Bonnie as he asked, "so, where to?"

Bonnie smiled "well, have you explored much of the town?"

Atlas smiled. Of course Bonnie wouldn't want to go off to some big adventure alone with him into the woods, especially after what happened yesterday. Well, he was hoping to finish exploring the town at some point, and with this, he'll have a guide. "I explored a little under half, yesterday before meeting you, I had been checking out the half towards your car lot. It was rather fortunate that I had, given the situation you were in at the time."

Bonnie chuckled as she started to lead the way into town. "Well, I can't argue with you there. I had just about given up hope before I saw you rushing at me, before I grew scared and thought I was going to get another person killed. Then you went all samurai Jack on that guy. It was amazing."

Atlas continued to chuckle over the girl's enthusiasm, as she guided him throughout town and explained several locations to him. She pointed out the location of several of the fancier restaurants, as well as the arcade. There wasn't as much as Atlas had thought there would be on this side as well, though knowing where the mall was is useful.

While pointing out several other small stores that were on this side, Bonnie looked nervous as she pointed out what she called the Tent of Telepathy. Atlas was baffled, "why do you sound and look so nervous Bonnie, did the owners of the tent do something?"

Bonnie fidgeted under his concerned gaze. "Can we stop by the mall and grab a snack as I explain?"

Atlas nodded as he followed her lead. As the two got a couple sandwiches from the food court, they chose to eat at a picnic table outside. Which Atlas decided to regret, when a couple girls stepped over to talk with them.

The brunette chuckled as she started. "Wow, looks like someone finally has a date, new guy from the looks of it."

The girl with black hair decided to lean really close, not close enough to come off as intrusive, but she was leaning close and batting her eyes. "I wonder if he would enjoy a tour by someone his own age, hmm?"

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Tiffany, real it in girl, if he's interested in choco-shortcake there, you might be out of his league. Unless crazy is how he dictates who he dates, then the little conspiracy pug would have you beat there."

Bonnie looked between the two girls and Atlas. Normally she would be able to just huff and walk away from the two girls, but this time, it was different. She would have told Atlas about her theories talking about the Pines family, about her thoughts on what they have done, to the town, to her family. But these two girls were basically just shoving Atlas into the deep end. Bonnie had hoped to have at least another day or two of having a normal friend before she ruins it herself with all her weirdness.

So, as the two girls laughed at her, she couldn't take it this time, so she ran off. As Bonnie ran through a broken section of the fence, Atlas turned to glare at the two girls. Neither girl looked particularly happy about the girl running off, more nervous. Tiffany pointed after her, "dude, you might want to go after her. We would just make things worse if we did, but it can be rather dangerous in those woods alone."

Jenna, the brunette, nodded. "Yeah, there is a reason that fence was there, before whatever broke that section broke it. I don't know what did it, but as far as we know, there are things out there."

Atlas ran off to find Bonnie, a little baffled over the girls' swap in attitude. Worry about them later, insure Bonnie's safety first.

Speaking of our little pudgy cupcake, she was sitting on a tree stump, crying. Bonnie had been having fun, being happy she had a friend, and was hoping to slowly edge him into her weirdness, so as to not scare him away. She could have been like Sherlock, and he as her Watson.

But then those two had to come by and start talking as if she was a crazy conspiracy theorist. They probably said more as she was running away, speaking up about how she is constantly talking about how evil the Pines family is, and now Atlas was probably creeped out about her.

Bonnie knew everything people said behind her back, they weren't very quiet when they did. Just about every person complained about her spreading rumors, claiming the best and most celebrated family was evil, is the most common conspiracy there is. People teased her, she was too scared to do what research she needed to do, and no one believed her when she said they were evil.

No one would listen to her for more than a single sentence, because she could only talk about theories and couldn't claim to have proof, because if she looked, they might just kill her to silence her. She didn't want to die, she had no friends, she had no backup in case they did silence her. She was alone, the only person that would try to find out about their ugly truth. It was rather disheartening.

As Bonnie was sitting there, she was caught off guard by a couple growls from the treeline to her little clearing. Before two older teens stepped out.

The one on her left spoke up. "So, you're the bitch that killed Jerry?"

The other spoke up, obviously on edge. "Chase, take this seriously, we smelt the silver on his neck. She may still have the weapon on her."

Bonnie got a good look at the two, and began to internally panic. These two looked exactly like the boy that turned into a werewolf yesterday, so they travel in packs… Should've figured they would have that in common with regular wolves. They were a good five and a half feet tall, short earthly brown curly hair, one wearing a red plaid, the other green plaid, both in blue jeans. Jerry, if that was the werewolf from yesterday, had a blue plaid shirt. They were barefoot, and no undershirt, the buttons on their shirts were snapper buttons, making them easy to toss off before they transformed, while the pants unsnapped and dropped down as their legs stretched upward.

Which these two displayed as they took their own transformations. Right before the unnamed one was beheaded from behind. "You killed Kenny!? You bastard!"

Atlas stared at the fallen corpse, before looking at the still living werewolf. "Was that really his name?"

Atlas and Bonnie both looked disbelieving, as Chase looked between the two slightly confused. "What is wrong with the name Kenny? It was our great grandfather's name. First you murder my brothers, and now you insult our family? What the actual hell, you little bastards!"

Chase jumped forward, bringing his right claw down at Atlas. The boy, while nervous over facing a faster opponent, managed to bring his sword up in time to stop the claw. The silver within the blade doing its job of repelling the creature, giving him a chance in this fight.

Bonnie had fallen off the stump as the fight began, and as she stood to watch, she couldn't help but stare in wonder. Atlas was proving to be really skilled, as he swiped at the clawed hands as they came at him, using the momentum from the parry of one claw to bounce the sword around and parry the next. His umbrella sheath must also have silver capping the tip, because he was also able to use that to stab and repel Chase's advances, wielding both as if he has done so for years.

And once again, he was saving her. She was just a damsel in distress at this point.

As Atlas was getting pushed back by Chase's superior strength and speed, Bonnie shouted at the werewolf, drawing his attention. Bonnie had thrown a rock, it wasn't even a big rock, and smacked him in the head.

Chase slammed his claw into the ground, causing clumps of dirt and rocks to splash at Atlas, who quickly popped open the umbrella to protect himself. This did, however, give Chase a chance to turn his attention to Bonnie, rushing over to take a swipe at her.

Bonnie shouted, "pocket glitter!" before throwing her hands out of her pockets and tossing a bunch of glitter into the werewolf's face, getting it on his tongue, as well as in his eyes. "What the fuck is this!? It tastes terrible and hurts, and I just can't get it off!"

As Atlas jumped at the werewolf from behind, Chase managed to step aside. "Don't think I am out just yet, I can still hear and smell you."

Atlas smirked. "Where were those senses when I got the drop on you the first time?"

Chase growled as he answered. "You were downwind, and we were talking, that doesn't count."

Atlas smirked as he took note of their new positions, dropping his sword, and giving the end a kick to send it flying at the werewolf. As Chase raised his left claw to rub a bit more at his eye as he argued, he felt something pierce his chest. "What?"

Atlas was frowning as he spoke. "I am sorry our paths have come to this. You merely desired to feed, we desired to live. In the wild, things are just predator and prey, hunting one another to survive, and not all prey is defenseless. You just happened to be hunting another predator. I hope wherever you end up from this world, you find peace you couldn't in this one."

Chase growled as he felt himself die. "Fuck you, you little piece of shit. I don't need you to make my defeat poetic or anything like that. We wanted to eat you, and you defended yourselves, that is the nature of the world we live in. Some can see the poetic side, some don't care. Just shut up and let me die without all that lovey dovey crap you're doing for your mate."

Bonnie blushed as she heard that. "I told you Beckky was going to talk. Now everyone, including the denizens of the woods, think we're an item."

Chase glared as he tried to take a final swipe at Atlas, who merely used his umbrella to perry the swipe, pulling his sword from the creature's chest as he spun and removed his head. Bonnie shivered as she watched it happen. "I am gonna be traumatized after this all settles."

Atlas sighed in relief as the threat passed. "Let's just get you home."

As Atlas and Bonnie made their way through the woods, leaving the way they came so as to avoid more of the wood's residents, Neither took notice of a pair of bright red eyes watching them from the shadows.

As the two young teens were walking, Bonnie shifted her focus to Atlas. "Thank you for saving me again."

Atlas chuckled, "well, I would have been possibly killed if you hadn't distracted him and used that glitter on him."

Bonnie looked baffled at that. "But you were doing so well, why do you think you would have lost?"

Atlas shook his head. "He was pushing me back, he was too strong, and no matter how skilled I was, he also had skill. He was stopping my sword with the tips of his claws, like he had faced against sword wielders before. I was also surprised to see that his claws had some type of covering to prevent the silver in my blade from cutting through them. I don't know what it was, but it looked like a type of metal. Hopefully we don't have to deal with many more like that."

As the two broke the treeline, Tiffany and Jenna were still there, Jenna being the one to speak up. "If you guys had taken any longer to get back, we would have called the authorities. You two okay?"

Bonnie looked honestly confused. "Why would you care?"

Tiffany rolled her eyes, "because we do. Just because we tease and bully you doesn't mean we want you dead. We tease and bully everyone, including each other."

Jenna shrugged, "we just love bullying."

Tiffany stepped over and placed a hand on Bonnie's shoulder. "Listen girl, normally you hold your head high when we do it, and just walk away. We didn't think about how you would react to us doing it with your new friend being here. And we are sorry for that."

Bonnie started to smile. "Well, thanks for apologizing. Though I still don't like being bullied, I can accept that you don't do it maliciously, I guess."

Jenna smiled as she stepped over. "Well, maybe we can make it up a little bit? We did ruin your date after all."

Bonnie looked between the two, before looking at Atlas. "If you two really mean that, then you can meet up with me at my house tomorrow to talk about my theories. Atlas had asked why I was nervous about the Telepathy Twins, and since you two dated Mason, maybe you have some info from the experiences."

Both girls looked to the other and shared a short shiver, before nodding. Tiffany smiled, "we can do that, and maybe insure your boyfriend knows how to treat a lady properly."

Bonnie frowned at the two. "Atlas is just my friend, he has saved me twice now, but I don't have romantic feelings towards him at all."

Both nodded, as Tiffany's widened. "So that means he's available?"

Atlas rolled his eyes, smirking. "Yes, but not interested."

Tiffany pouted as the other three chuckled at her.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=Chapter end=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

This chapter feels like a part two to chapter one to me, so hopefully I will pick up the pace from here on out, so I am kind of counting this as chapter 1 1/2 I guess. Sorry for not posting anything lately, I was distracted working with something with a friend, Isebel, a crossover between our stories that she posted on her story Carpe Diem. I don't know how to make words links in these notes, but here is a link.

archive of our own works/41610822/chapters/118804594

I am saying something here, because I am posting this chapter, and Shadow has been a little unresponsive concerning our Many Pinetree story. I hope you all still enjoyed this chapter.