Disclaimer: Did you know your pupils shut down last when you die? You could say they dilate.

-It was the middle of the night in Gravity Falls, Oregon. The woods outside of town buzzes alive with various supernatural creatures, most of which loud enough to get complaints from the local gnomes trying to get some shut eye.-

-Atop one of the trees, a small, long-beaked bird lands on the tip, staring into nothing.- "Uh oh, they're here!" -The strange bird spoke. Its voice seemed eerily similar to Wendy's brother, Gus, but as if it was trying to mock his voice. Howls tear through the air, prompting the strange bird to fly away.-

-The scene pans down to a strange cabin in the woods, and this time not the Shack. Inside the Corduroy cabin, a certain Manly Dan quickly awakes as the howls continued.- "What in bloody Mary is makin' that racket?" -It took him only a moment to wake up fully and process the howling.- "Wait... that pitch... the tone... DAMMIT!"

-Manly Dan quickly bursts up and grabs the nearest ax that was randomly stuck in the walls and ran towards the door.- "KIDS, GRAB YER AXES, THOSE SPERMATOPHYTA MUTTS ARE BACK FOR OUR HAUL!" -The sounds of hurried footsteps could be heard, and pretty soon, Wendy and her brothers all ran outside with Dan, axes in hand.-

"I still don't know what that means!" -Gus yells panickily as they ran towards a large, hollow barn next to the cabin. Inside, large piles of cut lumber were stacked haphazardly, though some were being stolen as they spoke by strange, wolf-like creatures. Their appearances were hidden by the darkness, though when they stared aggressively at the approaching Corduroy family, their eyes glowed red.-

"GET AWAY FROM OUR LUMBER, YOU DAMN DOGS!" -Manly Dan screamed at the top of his lungs as he swung his ax expertly into the side of one of the creatures. They yelped, but quickly scratched at Dan as he tore the ax away. The other creatures, noticing the backup, took what lumber they had and retreated, their eyes disappearing into the trees. After squirming away from Dan, the injured creature hissed at the Corduroys and fled along with the others.-

"NEXT TIME YOU TRY THAT I'LL RIP YOU LIMB FROM LIMB AND USE YOU AS FIREWOOD!" -Manly Dan yelled after the creatures as he brandished his ax. After their response was non-existent, he turned to the barn to check the damage.- "Great, those mutts took off with a quarter of our haul! WHO was it that forgot to close the barn doors?"

-After some awkward silence, Wendy sheepishly raised her hand.- "I did..." -She replied. Manly Dan did not look happy. He stepped up to her and poked her chest.- "You better get back that wood somehow by sundown tomorrow, or I'm gonna do worse to you than grounding this time!" "WHAT?! SUNDOWN? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET ALL THAT WOOD BY SUNDOWN?!" "Either cut it yourself or go find those mutts, either way you're getting that wood back!" -That seemed to be the end of the conversation, as Manly Dan stomped silently back towards the cabin. Wendy groaned loudly and closed the barn doors as her brothers went back inside.-

-Locking the doors, she fiddled with the keys as she went back to the cabin. She wasn't going to go out into the woods to get the lumber back, no way. But she can't get that much wood in one day on her own, and her father certainly won't allow her to rope her brothers into it. She's gonna need some help, and she might know who could help her.-

"-and one day, Dipper stayed up all night with his studying and research that he slept in late and we missed the bus. We had to ride our bikes to school, though they weren't happy we were late." -Mabel told Stan, Mason and the Ramirez's (with Melody) at the dinner table one Saturday morning, recounting the time they learned how to ride a bike after their last summer in Gravity Falls. Mason didn't seem bothered, though he was a bit embarrassed by how Mabel recounted the reason they were late.- "Hey, it wasn't THAT long." "Dipper, I had to dump cold water to get you to wake up." "*groan*"

-Stan laughed as he made his signature Stancakes, still 80% hairless guaranteed.- "That's about right for him. Always tries to overwork himself." "Hey, I just try to push my limits." -Mason replied.- "Sure, kid, over a cliff."

"You know, I admire that and all dude, but you do have to listen to your limits sometimes." -Soos said wisely. Melody agreed, while Abuelita seemed unphased.- "Yeah, I know."

"Cheer up, brobro!" -Mabel one-armed embraced him.- "I'm sure there'll be an awesome adventure waiting for us. And it'll be here riiiiighhhhttt... now!"

-The doorbell ringed.- "See? I'm a wizard!"

"Yeah, well you're not gonna be in this House." -Stan replied sarcastically.- "Kids, will you go get the door? I'm a bit busy here."

"Sure thing, Grunkle. Come on, Dipper!" -Mabel took Mason's hand and dragged him along towards the front door. Once they arrived, the doorbell ringed again.- "Here!" -Mabel yelled as she quickly opened the door to reveal Wendy Corduroy.-

"Oh, hey Wendy." -Mason waved awkwardly at Wendy, who returned it a bit less awkwardly.- "Wendy! What's up?" -Mabel asked, and Wendy tensed a bit.-

"Well, I actually came by to ask if I could use your help with something." -Wendy explained. Mabel perked up a bit. Any chance to help, she'd take.- "Oh, sure! Me and Dipper would love to-"

"Actually, I have something I have to do. Sorry."

-Mabel and Wendy looked at Mason.- "Huh? You didn't tell me that before." "Well, you did kind of drag me to the door once the bell rang."

"Oh come on, man. I'm sure your girlfriend won't mind you being with other girls." -Wendy replied smugly. Mason's face grew red as he glanced away.- "H-hey, she's not my..." -He paused when he saw the looks on their faces.- "... well, yeah we've been dating for a while, but we haven't really made it official yet."

"Eh, I get it." -Wendy assured him. A small smile seemed to appear on Mason's face from this.- "Sorry, again."

"KIDS, THE STANCAKES ARE READY FOR YOUR CONSUMPTION!" -The voice of Stan yelled from the kitchen. Mason yelled back that they were coming, waved back at Wendy and walked towards the kitchen. Mabel turned to Wendy.- "Uh, you wanna come in and get Stancakes?" "Me? Heck no, I'm not touching something with his hair in them with a ten foot pole." -They both laughed.-

"Well, with Dipper busy, I can help out. What even is it?"

"Right, well-" "Oh, Wendy. I didn't expect you to be here." -Another voice called. They gazed towards the source, which happened to be the now one-armed Gideon Gleeful.- "Oh, Gideon! How are you?" -Mabel asked. Wendy waved to Gideon, seeming much more content with him around than before.-

"I'm doing fine, thanks." -Gideon replied, walking up to them.- "Hey, Gideon. I was just talking to Mabel about helping me with something." -Wendy explained.- "Oh, is Mason helping as well?" "Nah, he already has plans."

"What, are you thinking of helping?" -Wendy asked, glancing at his now missing arm. Considering the threat, she wasn't willing to throw him to the wolves again... this time literally.- "Well, I don't have much better to do." -Gideon replied.- "I got kicked out again, and I was thinking of-"

"Wait, wait. Kicked out?" -Mabel asked, dumbfounded. When has he been getting kicked out of the house?-

"Yeah, my dads got a bunch of weird meetings going on some days, and I can't know about them." -Gideon explained.- "Usually I just go on a short run or something."

-Wendy laughed, however this time it didn't sound condescending.- "Man, reminds me of my father. Some days he always makes excuses about going to meetings, then he just leaves."

"Man, that's weird. Wonder what meetings they're having." -Mabel pondered, looking thoughtful.- "I'm not sure we want to know if he's sending Gideon away." -Wendy replied.- "Anyways, if you guys want, I need help chopping wood for the winter."

-Mabel looked at Wendy weirdly.- "Winter? Why are you getting wood for the winter now of all times?"

"Tradition." -Wendy simply said.- "My father likes getting the wood early. Give's us time to get more if the lumberjackals get to them."

"Lumber-what now?"

"Oh, right." -Wendy rubbed her temples.- "They're big pains in the neck, large wolves made of lumber wood. We're not sure where they came from, but a few years ago, they suddenly appeared and started robbing lumberjacks of their lumber. I heard myths about them being made out of dead trees or something."

"Aren't wolves and jackals different?" "Yeah, but we didn't have any other lumberjack pun to call them."

"So, what did you need our help with?" -Gideon asked.- "Well, last night, some lumberjackals got a quarter of our lumber." -Wendy explained, looking away. She seemed a bit angry at this.- "My dad's making me gather more logs to replace them by sundown. My brothers won't be able to help me so I'm wondering if... you guys could help."

"Of course! I'll gladly help!" -Mabel replied excitedly. Gideon replied that he would as well, but wasn't quite as excited. He only had one hand, after all. Swinging an ax, let alone chopping wood, wasn't gonna be a fun experience.-

"Great! We can go after-" -Wendy started, but was interrupted by Stan, who appeared in the doorway.- "Gee, dear, your friends more important than family now?"

"OH! I'm sorry, I forgot about breakfast. I'll be out later!" -Mabel replied as she ran to the dining room, hoping her Stancakes were still warm. Stan watched her go and shook his head before turning to Wendy and Gideon.- "Uh, you two wanna come in and eat some Stancakes? We got a few left over."

"No thanks." "Hard pass."

[Mason's POV]

-Once breakfast was finished, Mabel waved goodbye to everyone and ran outside to join Wendy and Gideon in her car and they drove away towards the woods. Abuelita immediately grabs a vacuum to go sweep the attic.-

-In the gift shop, Mason stands near the vending machine. Stanley and Soos stand next to him, looking a bit confused.- "So, what did you need us for, dude?" "Yeah, I have lazing on my back at 10:30." -Stan seemed to be picking earwax out of his ear as he said this.-

"About that... I need your help on something." -Mason replied, inputting a five digit code into the vending machines number pad, and stepped back. With a mechanical whirr, the vending machine opened up like a door, revealing a staircase dropping lower into the earth, its end coated in a dark void. Mason began to walk down the stairs, with Soos following and Stan bringing up the rear.-

"Huh, didn't know they rebuilt the lab." -Soos remarked as they walked down the stairwell. Stan, however, didn't seem phased.- "Yeah, me and Ford used it as a hub for our adventures." "Cool! Does it have super high-tech monitors and technology?" "I wouldn't know if it was high-tech or tech in general."

"It was easy to understand everything." -Mason told them as they got to the bottom, flicking a light switch nearby to illuminate the entire lab. ("Shut it, brainiac." -Stan said.-)-

-What used to be the portal room and the control room was instead transformed into a large array of machinery, with monitors and servers symmetrically filling the former portal room, and a large monitor filled the back wall where the portal used to be. Mason went across the lab, turning everything on. Monitors burst to life, their screens showing many locations across the world, red dots pulsing at varied speeds at varied sizes. The large monitor shown a flat map of the entire Earth, the same red dots flashing at different locations across the world, including in the ocean. Lights flickered to life on the servers and machinery.-

"I told Soos this already-" -Mason said as he went towards a monitor which showed the western part of the United States.- "but I noticed a concerning energy reading in Gravity Falls. And unlike most anomalous readings, this one was constant." -He zoomed into Oregon, and a map of the state is shown. Unsurprisingly, there are many energy readings across the state, however two area's are unique. One area seemed to harbor multiple energy readings all close together, while an area right next to it had a very strange lack of anomalies. They were called "Gravity Falls" and "Boring" respectively. Mason zoomed in on Gravity Falls.-

"Anomaly readings aren't new for Gravity Falls, as you two especially know." -He explained as they watched a bird's eye view of the entire town. Many energy readings dart around the area, but most are very weak, indicated by their small sizes and low rate of pulsing. However, in the woods where a trail cuts through, a large energy readings remains consistent. Mason points to this area.- "I think you already know where I'm going with this."

"I think I'm picking up what you're putting down, dude." "I don't see what you're talking about."

"I'm talking about his statue."

-Soos seemed uncomfortable. Stan, however, didn't get the idea.-

"Who's statue?"

"Bill's statue."

-Just saying the dream demon's name brought both Mason and Soos some pretty bad memories. Especially worse than even the Shape Shifter. It's been the topic of his nightmares ever since he left Gravity Falls, and he embarrassingly hasn't gotten over them yet. What's almost as concerning was the fact that Stan still had no clue what Mason was talking about, nor why they are so uncomfortable about this Bill character.-

"Who's this Bill guy? Is he a local hero or something? Must be popular to get a statue like Nathaniel Northwest." -Stan asked. Mason shook his head, not really saying a word. Stan seems like, somehow, any memory regarding Bill Cipher in some way was permanently erased from his mind. What even happened during his memory erasure back then?-

"Huh, weird. Then again, it's in the middle of the forest. Must've been horrible to get a statue just to have it tossed in the woods." -Neither Mason or Soos replied. Mason seemed preoccupied with the energy reading the statue was emanating. He heard Mabel tell him back from her 'Girls Night Out' that Pacifica told her it seemed to have a very disturbing effect on the plant life and wildlife in a certain radius. He wonders if this energy reading is being caused by this.- "Anyways, I want to study it to see what is going on with it. I was told it had a... weird radius effect on the flora and fauna ("There he goes with the sciencey junk.") around it. I don't know what it does, so" -He looked at Stan and Soos.- "I wanted you guys to come along with me, and help me if something goes wrong."

"Man, I dunno dude. I don't think we should mess with the past. That might hurt us in the future." -Soos replied, looking worried. He probably saw too many anime with tragic endings because of some seemingly inconspicuous choice.-

"Please, never once in history has a bad decision hurt me in the fu- ow!" -Stan held his head for a moment as he bent over in pain. His head was throbbing heavily, as if it was being crushed under something. It seemed to go away pretty quickly, however it took something along with it.-

-When Stan opened his eyes again, he found himself in a strange room with glaring lights with two people next to him, looking concerned as they watched over him.- "Huh? Where is this place? Why are we down here?" -Stan appears to have had a memory relapse.-

"What are you talking about, Grunkle Stan? We just walked down here." -Mason replied. Strangely, this was the first time Mason has seen a memory relapse happen right in front of him. Soos leaned over to whisper "He gets those headaches when he has a memory relapse. I think he completely forgot about what they did down here".-

-Stan looked around at the humming machinery, which coupled with the glaring lights didn't exactly help.- "Did we? I don't... huh?" -Stan suddenly looked somewhere next to him, and began talking to himself.- "Wait, really? Oh, oh- I think I remember now." -After a while, he looked back at Mason and Soos.- "Sorry, you two. Memory relapse. What were we talking about?"

"I, uh... we were talking about going to find Bill's statue to study it."

"Oh... who's Bill?"

-Soos was quick to butt in.- "We should probably go now since the days still fresh, dudes." -Mason nodded.- "Soos' right, lets get moving."

"Oh, sure. Oh, lemme get something quick." -Stan said as he went upstairs to the Shack. Mason and Soos look at each other, a bit worried for Stan.-

[Mabel's POV]

-During the drive towards the Corduroy cabin, Wendy, Mabel and Gideon were conversing about the Lumberjackals and getting the wood.-

"So, what exactly ARE these Lumberjackal things?" -Mabel inquired. Wendy shrugged.- "Already told you most of what I know. Large, wolf-like beasts, made of wood. No one knows what they are or when and how they came to be. But they've been a massive pain for lumberjacks in the area."

"You don't think... he... had something to do with it?" -Gideon asked. Mabel and Wendy seemed to understand what he was talking about.- "I wouldn't be surprised if that scalene train-wreck's statue had something to do about it. We've had dimensional rifts pop in everywhere, they probably either came from those or were born from whatever energy is radiating from it."

"Wasn't he isosceles?"

"Eh, I don't respect him enough to care."

-Eventually, they reached an unpaved road jutting out from the road, leading into the woods. Wendy turned into the road and they drove it all the way to the Corduroy cabin. Once there, Wendy parked the car near the entrance and everyone jumped out.- "Alright, I put the axes over here. Father and my brothers are away fishing all day, so we'll need to be quick with gathering wood."

-Mabel and Gideon grabbed an ax each. Gideon seemed to have a bit of trouble with it due to the fact he was currently down an arm. Mabel offered to carry his ax for him, which he hesitantly accepted. Once they reached the chopping stump, Wendy brandished a chainsaw, of which were one of three that were laying in the grass.- "I thought you guys used the large two man saw." -Gideon remarked.- "We got a bit of an upgrade. We only use that saw if the tree's too wide."

-Mabel looked at the chainsaw in thought.- "If you got that, how come you need us?" -Wendy lowered the chainsaw.- "Cause even if I use this, I still couldn't get enough lumber. Now come on, get a chainsaw. We're losing time." -Mabel grabbed one from the ground as Gideon grabbed the other. Unfortunately, he couldn't even operate it.-

"Uh, guys? I don't think I can even use this." "Oh, right. Just wait there, Gideon, we can get the tree's."

-As Gideon stayed near the stump, fiddling with a chainsaw he couldn't quite lift with just one arm, Wendy and Mabel went out to chop down a few tree's. Mabel, having never actually used a chainsaw before, needed Wendy to quickly train her on using it. After nearly sawing Wendy in half, Mabel clumsily managed to cut through a tree and get out of the way in time for it to slam down next to her.-

"Huh, that was fun!" -Mabel said excitedly. Wendy just chuckled.- "Don't go deforesting us, now." -She said as she quickly pushed the down tree towards the stump. Using her chainsaw, she cut the tree into large pieces, and took off any branches that were stuck to it. She stacked the pieces next to the stump and grabbed her ax.-

"Wouldn't it be easier with the chainsaw?" "Come on, Gideon, where's the fun in that?" -Wendy replied as she swung the ax and cut the log directly in half. She took the halves and set them aside.- "Gideon, you can take some wood to another stump and cut them, since that's probably easier for you. Mabel, you can get some more tree's down." "YAY! DEFORESTATION!"

-Wendy groaned while Gideon and Mabel laughed with each other. Unbeknownst to them, a pair of red eyes stared at them through the trees.-

[Mason's POV]

-The screen begins to pan across the trees, and eventually it opens up to a trail. Mason, Soos and Stan are walking down it, with all three in deep conversation about whether or not the ocean should be considered a soup.-

"Come on, the ocean's not a soup."

"But dude, it has veggies and meat in a salty broth. It's textbook soup."

"Soos, salt water isn't the same thing as broth. And I highly doubt anyone wants salt water soup with fish and coral."

"It totally is. You agree with me, right Mr. Pines?"

"The ocean is as much as a soup as a hot dog is considered a sandwich."

"But its meat in between bread!"

"Soos, a hot dog has one bun. Sandwiches have two."

"Still, they're basically the same thing."

-This went on for a while before they tapered off into silence, with only the noise of Stan humming the notes of "In The Pines" along with the general ambience of the woods to accompany them. It wasn't long before the telltale signs of them being close to Bill started to show. The air seemed to chill, and a strange, clenching feeling over took them which would've gotten worse the further they approached the statue. They stopped once the symptoms appeared, with Mason in thought, trying not to focus on the feeling of his very life essence wilting.-

"So this must be how it feels to be near it." -Mason remarked.- "Anyone know how we could even get close to it?"

"Here, take this." -Stan replied, digging through a small bag he had hanging off his shoulder and taking out a small, green chewing gum box. After taking a strip from the box (which was mostly shades of green with the icon of a mystical tree), Stan handed the gum to Mason, who took it, confused.- "What's this? Something of Fords?"

"Yeah, apparently he got the blueprints from one of those alternate realities he was visiting." -Stan's tone seemed derisive, as if he didn't really take whoever gave Ford the blueprints very seriously. He took two more gum out and handed one to Soos, who accepted it and began to examine it.- "Some cultish world where people worship plants. It's very weird, but apparently they use life force for everything."

"Life force?" -Mason asked, curious now. He never really thought about going to other realities or even trying to access the Nightmare Realm to get to them after Weirdmageddon, but he was starting to think about it. Only problem was trying not to cause yet another Weirdmageddon.-

"Yeah, supposedly all life has it there. And here, I guess, if Ford could make them." -Stan fiddled with the wrapper of his, revealing the pale green stick of gum. After sliding it out of the wrapper, he stuffed the wrapper into his pocket and popped the gum into his mouth.- "Just keep chewing on it and it should keep giving you life force for about... how long did he say? Twenty minutes?"

"Should be plenty of time, then." -Mason opened the gum he was given and pocketed the wrapper. After starting to chew on the gum (which had a sweet, minty taste that didn't seem to fade), he could immediately feel a surge of life, and the symptoms vanished completely.- "Wow, it does work." -Soos practically took the words out of Mason's mouth.-

"Right, well, lets get moving. We should be safe with these... hopefully." -Mason wasn't sure if Bill's life-draining effects could overpower the life essence of the chewing gum, but it was their only hope of not immediately wilting into a lifeless husk or just straight up dying. They continued down the trail, with Mason questioning Stan about everything he knew about life force from Ford. Disappointingly, Stan just bit back with "I dunno, I'm not a nerd like you and Ford".-

-It wouldn't take very long for them to arrive at some police tape.- "Huh? What's the tape for?" "Sheriff Blunder and his cohort blocked off the trail." -Stan explained, not exactly hiding his disdain for any law enforcement.- "Guess they got reports or complaints about it."

"Uh, should we be doing that?" -Soos asked as Stan just lifted the tape and walked under it.- "The law is overrated, and they aren't here to enforce it anyways."

"And here I thought old age would've wisened you." -Mason replied sarcastically as he rolled his eyes and followed Stan and Soos past the police tape.- "I guess it just wizened you instead."

"And you're a saint?"

"I-... point taken."

-If the aura of the statue had affected the plant life once the symptoms had first started, it hasn't really shown until now. The forest seemed to become more hazy and dark the further they walked, as if the sun was being drowned out through static and fog. Without the sun, the plants seemed to slowly wither away, getting worse the further they went in. Some of the smaller creatures, anomalous or otherwise, were dead across the trail. Soos became spooked when a large, furry creature popped out the woods in front of them, halting them in their tracks.-

"Dudes is that... Bigfoot?"

-The creature certainly resembled Bigfoot, except for the cargo shorts and baseball cap on its head. Mason seemed to vaguely remember seeing this thing before in a book. Probably in one of Stanford's Journals.-

-However, despite its "obnoxious hiker" look, it seemed anything but cheerful. Or sad. Or... anything. It trudged across the trail, not bothering to acknowledge the three in any way. It accidentally smacked into a tree on the other side, groaning lifelessly and dropping its half-empty Pitt soda can, and instead of turning to pick it up, it ignored it and slowly trotted into the woods. Mason noted that its eyes and... well, everything looked pale and colorless. Perhaps bigger creatures become a soulless husk, while smaller creatures can't handle it and straight up die.-

"D-did you guys see that? It looked like the soul of EVERYTHING was taken out from that guy.." -Mason asked, very much concerned as he stared at the spot that the creature left into.-

"I didn't even know obnoxious hiker clothing HAD souls." -Stan replied casually, though his expression betrayed his tone.-

-Soos picked up the can that was dropped, noting how the can seemed lighter than normal. Gripping the can, it seemed to bend and crush much more easily than a normal can.- "Man, am I glad for this gum. I do NOT want to be like this can." -He gave a nervous laugh and chewed his gum, lightly tossing the can into the woods, the soda spilling out into the ground and evaporating almost instantaneously on contact. Weird how it didn't do that in the can.-

"Come on, lets get to the statue itself and finish this. I don't want to stay in here any longer than I have too." -Mason replied, continuing down the trail.- "Hey, you're the genius who wanted to do this." -Stan reminded him as he and Soos followed behind him. Lifeless groans filled the woods, from many sources, which didn't help the overall aesthetic of the woods.-

[Mabel's POV]

-After what felt like many hours (and could've been, no one really checked the time and the sun didn't give a very accurate estimate), Mabel, Wendy and Gideon stopped to look at the amount of wood they've gathered so far. It appeared to have been a very large pile, which made Gideon and Mabel think they were nearly done. After all, how many pieces of lumber could a few tree dogs get?-

"We gotta be finished soon, right?" -Mabel turned to ask Wendy, sweat dripping from her face. It just had to be a hot day today, huh? Then again, it's summer, and certainly not the hottest day she's been through. However, she certainly wasn't ready to see the serious look on Wendy's face, which told her they weren't quite finished yet.-

"Unfortunately, those lumberjackals took more than we thought." -Wendy replied, looking back at them before picking up her ax.- "Those mutts work in packs, and you'd be surprised how quickly they take lumber. It's a miracle Dad was able to scare them off before they took half or even all of our haul."

"You're saying we have to do more?!" -Gideon asked, really not looking forward to it. Having to cut wood in half with one hand and keep guard of the wood was hard enough, even with Mabel helping. Both with the fact he was still a bit pudgy AND wearing a full suit on on a hot summers day, he wasn't exactly having a great time. He almost wished he could go back to the simpler days when he had people to do his work for him, but he supposed it was partly why he ended up the way he did in the first place. Having a magical amulet that whitened his hair and corrupted his soul didn't help him much, either.-

"Well, if you don't want me potentially getting thrown into the Deep Woods to survive and build a thousand generation legacy to prove myself to my father, then yes." -Gideon groaned.-

"Come on, Wendy, lets take a break. It can't be that late, can it?" -Mabel complained, bent over to catch her breath from the work they had to do. Wendy contemplates this for a moment, checking the time on her phone. They still had a few hours before her dad and siblings return home.- "Fine, but only for a few minutes. We only have a few hours to do this."

"YES!" -Mabel cheered and Gideon sighed with relief. Wendy rolled her eyes at their childishness with a grin and went inside. She brought out a cooler with cans of Pitt Soda in them, and offered some to Mabel and Gideon. Mabel helped Gideon open his, as opening them with only one arm was quite a bit difficult. And he didn't want to ruin his teeth.-

-As they rested, a single lumberjackal began to creep up from within the woods, staring at the trio as it got closer to the pile of lumber. However, it was quickly caught by Wendy, who put her soda onto the ground and ran towards it with her ax, scaring it back into the woods. Looking at the pile, she didn't notice anything was missing.- "Good thing I saw it before it could steal any. We'll have to protect the pile from them." -Wendy, Mabel and Gideon each surrounded the pile of lumber with an ax in hand (half of the time for Gideon, who switched from his ax to his soda at random intervals) and kept lookout for any lumberjackals who tried to gang up on them and steal their hard-earned lumber. It ended up not being much of a break as a temporary change in roles.-

-After a long time of nothing happening, with no further moves from the lumberjackal, the three began their work again. The sodas helped cool them down, though the sun was relentless with its metaphorical, theoretical beatdown. After a certain amount of wood was gathered, Wendy would observe the pile for any missing wood or to see how much they had left. After a while, to save time and energy, they began moving the pile towards the lumber storage building, cutting down more trees and gathering more wood. By the time sundown was on the horizon, the three observed their work, with Wendy finally happy with the amount they ended on.-

"Alright, that should be a whole quarter done. Perhaps there is even a few more than before." -Wendy said with exhaustion and relief, downing probably the thirtieth can of soda.- "I hope my fathers happy with this, cause I'm certainly not very happy I had to work so hard to do this."

"Well hey, we had fun doing it at least!" -Mabel, always the optimist (sometimes), replied.- "Right, Gideon?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Kinda."

"That's good enough for me." -Wendy replied, ruffling Mabel and Gideon's hair (much to their complaining).- "My dad should be home soon with my brothers, so we'll show them this to prove we've gotten the wood ourselves."

"Great! I'll tell him how awesome you were!" "I wasn't that great." -Wendy replied, laughing and re-ruffling Mabel's hair, prompting her to pout for a while.- "You really haven't changed very much, huh?" "Nah, my brobro always gets confused by it."

-As they conversed amongst each other while waiting for the other Corduroy's to arrive, a pair of red eyes stares at them through the trees. And it wasn't alone.-

[Mason's POV]

-It seemed like the further they went through the woods, the further back in time they were going, cause everything seemed to be less colorful and more hazy. Not that that was what it was like back then, but you'd never know based on the videos.-

-More small creatures laid dead on the trail and in the woods, which themselves looked about as dead as you could get. They haven't seen any bigger creatures very often, though those they did find in the woods behaved similarly to the Bigfootesque creature. Soos referred to the guy as an "Abominable Bro-man", because he insisted that it looked like it would be called an "abominable bro-man". Mason seemed to vaguely remember that in one of Fords journals, but it's been years since he last saw them. But something like that would probably fit right in.-

"This place is really creepy, dudes. I swear I saw a deer stare right at me."

"Soos, they've lost so much of themselves, I doubt they have any of their senses left."

"Yeah, plus they always say eyes are the windows to the soul." -Stan commented.- "I think at this point the windows don't even exist anymore."

"Wow that's disturbing." -Soos remarked as he stared into the woods.-

-They weren't exactly sure how long it's been since they started walking down the trail. The sun had disappeared a long time ago under a cloud of haze and fog (which Mason realized he hadn't even seen until after they started having the symptoms), and he didn't remember this trail being so long. Was the statue bending reality as well?-

"Anyone know how much time as passed?" -Mason asked, looking back at the two.- "I want to make sure we don't run out of life force in our gum and end up as one of those lifeless husks."

-Soos tried to look at his phone, but oddly enough, the time seemed to be ticking backwards at random intervals at random times.- "I think my phones busted." -Soos replied as he lightly smacked his phone as if it would somehow get its crap together. Unfortunately, Bob the Builder wasn't around this time to bless him.-

"I guess it's messing with electronics as well, then." -Mason replied, taking another stick of gum from the bag and popping a fresh one, spitting the old gum out. Stan and Soos did the same and what little life force the gum had seemed to temporarily spill into the environment, before dissipating into oblivion. They walked forwards, feeling as if they've been walking for hours.-

-Ironically, it wouldn't be too long until they reached a small clearing, where a certain triangular stone statue laid, covered in moss with its hand extended outwards, as if eternally waiting for its chance to shake someone's hand. Mason and Soos tensed up at the sight, immediately remembering the trauma the isosceles demon had enacted on them. Stan, meanwhile seemed like he was trying to remember something, but he quickly stopped trying as his head hurt too much to continue. Whoever this Bill guy is, it seems he physically cannot remember him. But something told him he need not worry about it.-

"There he is." -Mason said, as if it was shocking news to everyone. He stepped closer to the statues, noticing the coldness of its aura penetrating the life force that the gum provided. It wasn't enough to start draining his soul, but it seemed strong enough to effect him and the others despite their gum.-

-Kneeling beside it, Mason wiped off the moss that covered it, revealing the cold stone of the statue. Whether it had always been cold or not, Mason couldn't remember. He never really bothered to touch it after Weirdmageddon. What he did notice, however, was that the statue itself was cracked, and it didn't seem to be due to erosion or decay. In fact, it was probably a miracle it even remained this intact for this long, but knowing Bill, it may just be normal.-

"I wonder what cracked it." -Mason remarked as Soos and Stan went to take a closer look. Stan feels like he was here before, but he couldn't seem to remember it. Soos, meanwhile, seemed worried about what it being cracked could implicate.- "You don't think... that Bill is free, right?"

"I doubt it." -Mason replied, though his expression indicated otherwise.- "He should've been completely erased. At least, that's what Grunkle Ford assured us."

"You guy's met this person?" -Stan asked, still staring at the statue. He no longer seemed to be confused by it, though.-

"Yeah." -Mason replied simply. He didn't bother explaining why, as Stan might react badly to it. Mason's memories did involve Stan, after all.-

-After a while of examination, Mason stood up. He didn't bother taking a sample, as he didn't know if its effects would follow him, nor did he do any experiments. He wanted to come and observe it, and he may come up with some experiments later. Plus, finally seeing what the effects truly were, he didn't really feel like sticking around.- "Come on, lets get going." -He replied, walking away.-

"Just like that, dude?" "Yeah, what was the point of coming here, anyways?"

"Examination. I'll think of experiments later, but I don't want to bring it home in case it'll start affecting everyone." -Mason replied as he walked away, with Soos following after him. Stan watched them leave before staring at the statue for a moment in silence. After a moment, he nodded, said something too soft to hear, and turned to follow Mason and Soos.-

[Mabel's POV]

-The screen panned through the dead trees once again, and they seemed to traverse through life before exiting out back near the Corduroy cabin. Wendy, Mabel and Gideon were close together, their axes raised as they glared into the woods. A howl rips through the air as a hoard of lumberjackals approaches, ready to fight for the wood.-

"That's a lot of them!" -Mabel noticed as they seemed to increase in number each second.- "Guess that last one was a scout." -Wendy responded as she got ready to strike.- "Quick, fend them off from the pile, and make sure none of them get past you!"

-With this, the lumberjackals began their assault, and the trio begins to strike them back. Most of them seemed more focused on attacking than actually taking the wood, making Wendy believe that they must be trying to distract them if they can't kill them. Luckily with an ax, they weren't very hard to take down. They couldn't get the chainsaws, though, as it'd leave an opening.-

-Try as they may, many lumberjackals were quick to take wood from the pile as they were distracted with defending themselves from the beasts. In an attempt to follow one into the woods that had heisted a large piece of wood, Gideon was blindsided by a pair of lumberjackals, who forced him into the ground and tore the ax from his hand.- "GIDEON!" -Mabel called out, nearly taken out herself if Wendy hadn't chopped the jackal's head clean off midair.-

-However, she wasn't feeling focused anymore. Seeing Gideon on the floor, now bleeding from the lumberjackals' assault, made her mad. No, livid.-

-She didn't have any more control, and after somehow making it to Gideon in what seemed like a blink of an eye, with several swings of her ax and a livid scream of "STAY AWAY!", she obliterated the attacking lumberjackals without so much as an ounce of mercy. Gideon and Wendy both were left speechless at the hostility Mabel had at that moment, and the lumberjackals seemed to notice as they all ceased their movements and stared at the mutilated corpses of their kin with a furious Mabel standing above them. It wouldn't be long before the fight continued, however, as Mabel immediately rounded on another one and the other lumberjackals immediately went into attack mode.-

-With all of them abandoning their previous mission of getting the lumber, Wendy and Mabel, who was busy trying to protect Gideon, were beginning to become overwhelmed. Wendy was quickly disarmed and retreated towards Mabel, who's ax accidentally snapped in half due to how harshly she was swinging. Still, she seemed too angry to care as she was quick to try and use her hands. Wendy (and Gideon) kept her from doing this, though, as it'd practically be a suicide mission. Now surrounded, it didn't look too good for them. Without weapons, they couldn't fight back, and the lumberjackals knew this. They prowled around, as if to tease them about their situation.-

-Before they could do the final assault, however, a car horn blared in the air.-

"TAKE THIS, YOU FILTHY MUTTS!" -The sound of Manly Dan yelled as a red pickup truck rammed directly into multiple lumberjackals, causing the rest of them to immediately put up their guard. Without time to waste, Manly Dan and Wendy's brothers got out of the truck with axes in hand, charging towards the jackals. Not having anticipated backup, the lumberjackals quickly retreated, not wishing to be turned into firewood.- "YOU BETTER RUN! STAY AWAY FROM MY FAMILY!" -Manly Dan yelled into the night with a shaking fist. With the threat of the lumberjackals now gone, Wendy, Mabel and Gideon were finally able to catch their breaths.-

-The scene changes to the trio inside Wendy's car, now driving back to the Mystery Shack. The reddish orangish yellowish colors of the falling sun streak above the horizon, shining the landscape in its reddish orangish yellowish glow. As the suns light scatters through the trees, Mabel watches as a few squirrels dart across the forest floor, with a gnome covering himself with a squirrel chasing after them irritably.-

"Man, that was a day, huh?" -Wendy asked to alleviate the silence. Gideon simply nodded, gazing at the bandages that coiled around him. He had the Corduroys to thank for helping him, though he wasn't sure how grateful he was of himself. Between the girls night out and the lumberjackal attack, he hasn't exactly been much of a help.- "Yeah, that was crazy." -Mabel responded as she cradled the ax in her hands and reminisces on what happened after the Corduroy family saved them on the way back to the Shack.-

-Once the lumberjackals fled, Manly Dan observed the pile and noticed it was slightly less than a quarter of what they lost. Wendy was distraught, expecting a severe punishment, but was surprised when Manly Dan instead hugged her and praised her on her bravery that day, fighting to the end to protect their lumber. Manly Dan and Wendy's brothers put the lumber into the storage as Wendy got ready to take Mabel and Gideon home.- "Come on, you two. I gotta get you home." -She said, her ax on her shoulder as she walked to the car. Mabel followed, holding onto Gideon to help him walk. She seemed to be much less excitable than usual, likely due to her unexpected outburst during the fighting.-

"Hey, what's up?" -Wendy asked Mabel, who had simply hummed emotionlessly as a response. Mabel looked away.- "I just... I dunno. I sort of feel bad about my... uh, outburst. I didn't think I had it in me."

-Wendy watched her for a moment before putting a hand on her shoulder.- "Hey now, I didn't either, but honestly, it wasn't something you could control. You can't blame yourself for that, and in the end you didn't hurt anyone, so that's a win in my book." -At this, Mabel smiled a bit. It wasn't much, but at least she was feeling a little bit better.-

"You know, I think you deserve this." -Wendy took the ax off her shoulder and handed it to Mabel, who hesitantly accepted it.- "Oh, uh, thank you, Wendy."

"Hey now, why can't I get one?" -Gideon asked, pouting.-

"Because knowing you, you'd probably use it to cut off the head of the next guy who looked at you funny."

"I- I'm not that bad anymore!"

-The scene fades with the laughter of Wendy and Mabel at Gideons (slight) expense, and changes back to the car. Gideon was now asleep, probably due to his injuries and having just been through a hot day of work along with the battle of a lifetime. Wendy, obviously, couldn't sleep as she was driving. Mabel wasn't really tired, believe it or not, so she simply leaned against the door and stared out the window. The screen pulls out of the car as it drives off, the Shack visible far in the background. On a nearby tree, a small, long-beaked bird lands and stares at the screen.-

"Take this, you filthy mutts!" -The bird spoke, in the mock voice of Manly Dan.-

THE END

[End Credits Scene]

-Out in the backyard of the Shack, Mabel and Mason are conversing. Mason is relaying the results of his, Stan's and Soos' expedition to Bills statue while Mabel was showing him her new ax.-

-On the balcony, Stan sits on the bench, watching the two of them. He would be humming to himself with an open Pitt Soda gripped in his hand and resting on the armrest. He couldn't really hear anything they were talking about, but he didn't exactly care too much. Hearing about weird, tree dogs was a bit interesting, though.-

-As he watched the kids (totally not adults), he saw something moving by his arm. Noticing a large mosquito buzzing near his arm, he quickly swatted it away, grumbling as he checked his arm. The bite marks seemed to spell something: Brx duh klp.- "Huh? Brx duh klp? W-what does that even mean?" -Stan complains, wondering what sort of prank those darn soothsquito's are playing on him. Electing to ignore it, he goes back to watching the kids, absentmindedly scratching the itchy bite marks occasionally.-

-In the woods, an injured lumberjackal crawls along the floor, looking around aimlessly. It was probably evicted from its pack due to being injured, and it didn't have any lumber to regenerate. As it tried to call for help, a large winged creature flies down and snatches it, and flies off towards the cliffs. The screech of a pterodactyl pierces the air.-

Authors Notes: Well, I'm now officially graduated! That means no more school! Until college. Great.

Anyways, now all I have left as an excuse is motivation, which I seem to always be running out of. Someone needs to call the United States of America to go find me some motivation hotspots.

Anyways anyways, it's yet another episode of No More Falls! Hope you enjoyed!

[Next Episode - Arcade Mania]