Chapter 8: Rescuing 101

The Mystery Inc. gang sat tied up to a pillar along with Wendy and Robbie. The townsfolk left them in the dark room with only a few torches for light. Wendy let out an aggravated groan. "I can't believe this! The whole town has gone crazy!"

"This whole Weirdmageddon thing really affected them," Fred stated.

"Trust me, it was awful," Wendy said. "There were horrible creatures roaming the town; no place was safe. Well, except for the Mystery Shack.

"Why's that?" Velma asked.

"Well, Ford knew a way to protect the shack from Bill, but it involved getting unicorn hair. So Mabel took on this quest to find a unicorn and get some of its hair." She stopped as she noticed all the looks of disbelief from the gang. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"This is just not what we're used to," Fred said.

"I know it sounds messed up," she agreed.

"So, now what do we do?" Daphne wondered out loud.

Everyone remained silent for a moment. Wendy looked down at her jean pocket. She tried to move her fingers to her cell phone, but it was out of her grasp. Her eyes went to Shaggy next to her.

"Hey, can you reach my cell phone in my pocket?" she asked him. Shaggy looked at the bulge in her pocket. He wiggled his long fingers towards the phone. They reached into her pants pocket. Suddenly, Shaggy blushed and quickly pulled his hand away.

Wendy laughed. "It's okay, man. Just grab my phone." Shaggy quickly reached in her pocket and pull out the phone.

"Like, now what?"

"Search for Dipper's name."

Robbie raised an eyebrow to her request, but didn't say anything. Shaggy punched in the first three letters of the name; the phone number popped up on her contact list.

"Okay, send him a text. Tell him where we are and that we're being held by the townsfolk."

"Like, is he going to be able to do anything?" Shaggy asked. "Isn't he just a kid?"

A small smile crossed Wendy's lips. "He can do more than you think. He'll get Mabel, Stan and Ford, and possibly Soos to come help us."

"Like, what are they going to do to help us?" Shaggy asked.

"Just wait and see," Wendy said with vigor.

Shaggy didn't quite understand, but he sent the text anyway.

In the attic of the Mystery Shack, Dipper and Mabel slept soundly in their beds. Just then, Dipper's pillow began to vibrate. He woke up and stuck his hand under the pillow to grab his phone. His eyes popped wide open when he saw Wendy's name. He pushed the button to receive the text message. He quickly read it, and then hopped out of bed. He rushed over to Mabel and tried to shake her awake.

"Mabel! Wake up!"

Mabel slowly opened her eyes to see her brother. "What?" she asked in annoyance. Dipper shoved the phone in her face. Mabel read the message and sat up.

"Wait a minute, she just sent you that?" Mabel asked.

"Yeah," Dipper answered. "Wendy needs our help!"

Dipper ran to his dresser and grabbed some clothes, quickly tossing them on.

"They're at Gravity Falls Inn. It's kind of far to walk," Mabel said. After a moment of thought, "I know. We'll go get Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford. They'll take us," Mabel said.

"Whoa! Wait, I'm not waking Grunkle Stan up. Remember the last time we tried to wake him at an indecent hour? He duct tapped us to our beds."

"Well, this is different Dipper. The Mystery Inc. gang and Wendy are being held against their will by the townspeople. Oh, and Robbie too." Mabel finally got out of bed and rubbed her eyes. "Wow! First night in Gravity Falls and we're already doing rescue missions," she said. She walked over to her closet and threw on her rainbow sweater and a matching headband.

Dipper grabbed a flashlight. "We need to get to the basement. You still have the code in your scrapbook?" Dipper asked Mabel.

"Yep," she answered. She ran over to the scrapbook on her dresser. She flipped through the pages to where she remembered storing it. However, it wasn't there. "Okay, maybe not."

"Come on Mabel, stop fooling around. We need the code," Dipper said.

Mabel quickly paged through the book again, but didn't find it. Her eyes and mouth withdrew in a look of dismay

"It's not here," she whispered.

"Well, where is it?" Dipper asked impatiently.

Suddenly, Mabel remembered Daphne and Velma coming up to their room that night and accidently bumping the book onto the floor. "No, they wouldn't— Would they?" Mabel tried to come up with a reason why they would take the sheet of paper with the code.

"So, we have no way to getting downstairs," Dipper spoke hastily. "I wish I could call them, but neither of our uncles have adopted the twenty-first century technology of the cell phone!"

"Hey, what about Soos? He might know the code. I mean, he could probably just take the vending machine door right off," Mabel suggested.

The two went down the stairs to the room their great uncle once used, but now belonged to Soos. A faint glow came out from under the door. Dipper knocked lightly on the door. No one answered. He pushed the door open to see Soos at his computer with headphones on, engrossed in a medieval role-playing game.

"Dude! Behind you! He's behind you!" he practically shouted. He clicked several times on the mouse to make his character cut down one of the enemies. "Don't worry, I got him dude!" Dipper tapped Soos' shoulder. "Ah!" he cried out. He spun around. His eyes stared at the twins for a moment, then he blinked. "Oh, hey there." He paused the game and turned on his lamp. Both Dipper and Mabel screamed when they saw Soos' bloodshot eyes from sleep deprivation.

"What are you guys doing awake?" he asked. Dipper showed Soos the text. "We need to get to the basement to get Grunkle Stan and Ford. Can you remove the front of the vending machine?"

Soos blinked a few times. "Maybe."

In the gift shop, Soos studied the vending machine for a moment.

"I can definitely remove the door," he said. He took out his trusty drill screwdriver and went to work. It took him a few moments to get the door off to reveal the passageway behind it. "Hopefully Mr. Pines won't be too upset I did that. I can easily put it back on." The three went down to the elevator. Dipper pressed the number three button that took them all the way down.

Once on the basement floor, the trio moved into the open space where a portal and its operating machine once stood. Stan and Ford lay asleep in the far corner. Dipper first ran over to Stan and gently shook him. "Hey! Grunkle Stan," he tried. His uncle snored loudly and rolled over.

"You probably want to wake up Grunkle Ford first," Mabel said.

Dipper ran over to his other uncle. He put his hand lightly on Ford's shoulder.

"Hey, Great Uncle Ford,"

Suddenly Ford's eyes popped open. His hand shot out, grabbing Dipper's throat as he jolted up.

"Touch me again and I'll snap your neck!" he shouted. Dipper in a panic tried to get his uncle to release him.

"Grunkle Ford! What are you doing?" Mabel yelled.

Ford blinked and suddenly recognized Dipper. He realized what he was doing and pulled his hand away.

"Dipper?" He let out a sigh of relief. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" he uncle asked. Dipper rubbed his neck as he nodded and backed away. Suddenly Stan stirred awake.

"Huh?" He looked at the others in the room. "What are you guys doing down here?"

Dipper took a deep breath. "We have something to tell you two."

Back upstairs, everyone stood in the gift shop as Soos used a drill to nail the front of the vending machine back in place. Stan and Ford finally made it upstairs after getting ready. Stan wore a black shirt with black paints while Ford wore a similar black outfit with a matching black trench coat.

"Whoa, are we doing the whole black thing? If so, I'll go change," Mabel said.

"No, you're fine. This just happens to be the only thing I have that's clean right now," Ford answered.

"And I like wearing black on rescue missions, especially when I have to break into a building." said Stan. "Don't ask."

Stan put on his brass knuckles while Ford checked his gun he's had since being in the other dimension. He was really hesitant to shoot a person with it because the beams it shot caused three times more damage than regular bullets.

"So, the whole town is keeping anyone prisoner who discovers their cult?" Stan asked.

"I can't believe how people in this town behave," Ford said.

"Well, let's go over there and knock some sense into those people," Stan said. Soos walked over. "Don't worry, Mr. Pines, the vending machine is back to the original way it was. Now I can come help you guys."

"Soos, you need to get some sleep. You look like you've been smoking a bunch of crack." Stan paused for a moment. "You're not smoking crack are you?"

Soos shook his head. "No, Mr. Pines, I would never do such a thing."

"No, Grunkle Stan, he's just been up most of the night playing video games," Dipper assured his uncle.

Soos reluctantly went to sleep. Everyone else went to the car. Ford went to the driver's side.

"Hey what are you doing? I'm driving!" Stan yelled.

"The hell you are! Not with those cataracts of yours!" Ford yelled back.

"Hey, we don't have time!" Dipper yelled. "Grunkle Stan just let Ford drive, okay?" Stan squint his eyes warningly at Dipper.

"Please, Grunkle Stan," Mabel tried. Stan sighed.

"Fine," he said and walked to the passenger side.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the inn. Everyone sat in the car and stared at the dark, foreboding building.

"Okay, kids, you be careful. Stay behind us," Ford advised.

"Don't worry, I've still got that crossbow you gave me," Mabel said as she took it out from under her sweater.

"How long have you had that there?" Dipper asked.

"I'll never tell," she said.

"Wait, I don't have a weapon," Dipper said.

"Really Dipper? How long have you been in this family? You know how we work by now," Mabel said.

"It's fine. You two shouldn't fight anyway," Ford said. "Just let us handle everything, okay?"

Inside the hotel, Stan and Ford surveyed the area. The flickering light above them suddenly went out, leaving the family in total darkness. Dipper took out a flashlight.

"At least I have this," he said.

"Great, now we need to find the basement, right?" Ford asked.

Dipper reread the text from Wendy. "That's right," he said, pointing the flashlight towards the far wall. The beam of light illuminated a closed door. He walked over, opening the door to reveal a descending staircase.

"Hey! I found it!" Dipper yelled to the others.

Everyone looked down the dark stairwell. "Good work, Dipper," Ford complimented. Dipper started down the stairs.

"Just don't fall down the stairs," Stan warned him.

Dipper let out a tiny laugh. "Yeah, like I'd do that." Just as he said that, he missed one of the steps and began to stumble forward. Ford suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Be careful," he said sternly. Dipper turned away sheepishly and nodded.

At the bottom of the stairs, the family found the lit torches in the open room.

"I didn't expect this," Ford said. "Isn't this a fire hazard?"

"God, this town is full of idiots!" Stan exclaimed. "Idiots who always gave me their money, but idiots nonetheless."

They continued into the next hallway where they found a few doors. Dipper opened one, revealing a storage closet. Then another one was the boiler room. He shined the flashlight on the switchboard. Opening the tiny door, he discovered that the main power was switched off.

Ford looked at the panel curiously. "Okay," he said. "Why would the power get switched off after we got inside the building—unless—"

"They know we're here?" Dipper asked.

"They could be just waiting in the darkness for us," Stan said.

"Well, we're ready for them, right?" Mabel tried to be cheerful.

Everyone nodded. Continuing on, the Pines family walked down the hallway to one final door. Everyone paused. Ford nodded to Dipper to open to the door. As he did, Dipper felt a knot in his stomach.

On the other side of the door was a large open space. Dipper shined the light across the room where he saw more torches along with the captive tied to the pillar. The townspeople stood around them watching as Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland approached Wendy and Shaggy with their tazers.

"No!" Dipper cried out. He ran out into the room before fully thinking about the repercussion of his actions. Wendy turned towards Dipper's scream. Her lips curved up into a smile as she saw the Pines family running over.

"You guys are gonna get it now!" she yelled at townspeople.

They stopped as the townsfolk blocked their path.

"What the hell are all of you doing?" Ford demanded.

"Upholding the Act that our faithful mayor placed after that demonic Dorito chip turned this town into a living nightmare!" Bud shouted.

"Hey, wait a minute," Lazy Susan began. "Maybe our town heroes want a turn at shocking the lawbreakers."

Blubs walked over to Stan and held out the tazer. "Here you go, sir."

Stan's eyes brightened. He couldn't pass up an opportunity to taze someone. "Oh, don't mind if I do—"

"Stanley!" Ford shouted.

"Oh, right," Stan said, realizing why they came there in the first place. "Okay, look. I think everyone is still freaked out about the whole 'incident' last year. Why don't we all just relax and put away the tazers."

"Why are you all doing this? It's just messed up," Dipper said.

"This is all because of what happened last year?" Mabel asked.

"What we're we supposed to do?" Lazy Susan wondered. "That floating triangle just showed up and—" she couldn't finish her sentence.

"We lost all of our money," Mrs. Northwest said. The middle aged blonde woman sobbed.

"And what that monster did to my face!" Mr. Northwest shouted. He put his hand over his mouth and gagged as if he was about to throw up.

"I still have nightmares," another member of the town spoke.

"Me too," said another.

"I almost starved," Bud Gleeful said as he joined the others.

"As Mayor, I was powerless," Mayor Tyler said.

A normal looking man in a dress shirt and pants walked out from the crowd. "Tad Strange is still scarred from the horrific event," he said in a strange cheerful manner.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Okay, look, I'm sorry," Ford said. "Weirdmageddon was my fault. But we all survived it. You have to realize that you've become stronger because you're still alive."

"Yeah, now, how about we untie our friends," Dipper said. The townspeople looked at each other, unsure of how to respond.

"It's not necessary for anyone to untie me. I'm almost free," Fred said. He continued maneuvering his hands. Stan walked over to him. Grabbing a pocketknife, he started cutting the ropes.

"Actually, it looks like you tangled yourself up even more," he told Fred. Stan freed him, then moved over to free Daphne. "There you go, honey. And feel free to give me a kiss. I won't mind." Daphne narrowed her eyes in disgust. Ford smacked Stan in the back of the head. "Stay focused!"

"Hey, watch it!" Stan yelled back. He moved onto Velma, Shaggy and Scooby. "Yesh! I have to save your dog too Hippie?" he questioned Shaggy. "How come he just didn't bite all of them?"

"Like Scoob only bites hamburgers and other delicious food," Shaggy said.

"Reah, relicious rood!" Scooby repeated.

Finally, Stan cut Robbie free. "Geez! Finally! Taking forever old man."

Stan shoved the knife in Robbie's face. "You want me to tie you back up?" he threatened. Robbie sheepishly shook his head.

"Okay, everyone is safe," Ford said. "Let's get out of here."

Suddenly, Tad grabbed Ford and shoved him onto the ground.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Ford yelled.

"You don't get it!" Tad suddenly yelled angrily. Everyone stared at him. "I was always the happy guy in town. Now, I can't give genuine smiles anymore. I don't even know what my purpose is!"

"Get the hell off me!" Ford yelled. Stan grabbed Tad and threw him into the wall. Tad sat still for a moment, struggling to breathe.

"Listen, our family was tormented by Bill all last summer," Dipper said to Tad. "I was pulled out of my body by him!"

"Don't mention his name!" Tad screamed. Suddenly he drew a pistol from his jacket, aiming it at the other townsfolk. "No one mentions that name anymore!"

"Are you crazy!" Fred shouted.

"This is just silly," Daphne added. Tad switched his aim to them.

"Oh, I'm the one that's crazy and silly? I'm the only one in this town that's normal!"

"Not right now, you aren't," Stan said. "You're messed up in the head."

Tad changed his aim to Stan. "Oh really? Coming from the man who tricks everyone to pay to see his shame of an attraction site. I otta shoot you just for being a con artist."

Ford drew his gun from its holster and aimed at Tad. "Drop the gun now!"

"Shut up!" Tad yelled. He took a shot. However, his aim was way off and the bullet missed Stan by a few feet. It still made him jump.

"You son of a bitch!" Stan yelled. He ran at Tad, tackling him to the ground. "You want a piece of me?" he punched the skinny man. Tad kept fighting with blood dripping from his nose. Stan was actually struggling to take to gun away from Tad. Ford moved in on the two; he pointed the gun at Tad. "Stop this, or I will shoot!"

"Just forget it Ford, he's lost his mind! Just shoot him!" Stan yelled. Ford hesitated. "Will you just shoot this bastard?" Stan kept yelling. Ford was about to pull the trigger when the Sheriff and Deputy pushed him to the ground. Blubs slapped handcuffs on him.

"Why are you two helping this madman?" Ford questioned.

The Sheriff kept his weight on Ford, holding him to the ground. "We're trying to keep some order here! Don't need two crazy guys with guns shootin' everyone!" Blubs answered.

Shaggy and Scooby watched in horror, afraid to move from their spot by the wall. Wendy ran over to them.

"I'm going to try to get the gun away from him," she said.

"Like, I don't think that's a good idea," Shaggy said.

"Well, someone's gotta do something! This is insane!" she yelled. Shaggy looked at her, then at Tad. He now had the gun pointed at Stan's face and he was about to pulled the trigger.

Suddenly, Mabel fired her cross bow sending an arrow into Tad's arm. He cried out. His aim faltered. Shaggy ran at him. He grabbed the barrel of the gun and ripped it out of Tad's hands.

"You stupid kid!" Tad yelled. He somehow pushed Stan off of him and got to his feet. Holding his wounded arm, he ran at Shaggy, pushing him against the wall. "Like, someone help!" Scooby, seeing his pal in trouble tackled the man to the ground. Stan rushed over and punched Tad across the face, knocking him out.

Everyone in the room stared wide-eyed as Stan got off Tad. He sat there, breathing heavily.

"Well, I would say, 'this wraps up the mystery,'" Fred began. "But I have no idea what all of 'this' was."

"Well, I guess we'll take it from here," Blubs responded.

Ford still lay on his stomach. "Hey, how about taking these things off me," he said.

Durland took the cuffs off of Ford. "Sorry about that. Things were just getting too crazy."

"Yeah, sure," Ford responded hastily.

The townsfolk exited the building after the whole event. The Sheriff and Deputy had Tad in custody.

"I would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for those meddling kids and the Pine's family!" Tad shouted. He looked at all of them. "And that dog too!"

"Alright, just keep it movin," Blubs said, pushing Tad into the police car.

"Great, someone else who made us their sworn enemies," Stan said. "How many is that now?"

"I think I lost count," Mabel responded.

As everyone stood outside the hotel, Wendy walked over to Shaggy.

"Wow! That was awesome, man," she said. "See, I knew you could be brave."

"Like, yeah, I actually feel pretty good," Shaggy said.

That's what being a hero is all about," Wendy responded.

"Like, me? A hero?" He thought about it.

The rest of Mystery Inc. walked over. "Well, I guess that's it," Fred said. "This was the strangest mystery we've ever encountered."

"Maybe now we can stay here in the hotel," Daphne said.

"What? Hotel?" Stan questioned as he walked over. "You kids are staying at the Mystery Shack. I will even let you stay for free tonight."

"Really?" Fred asked. "What's the catch?"

"The catch is that you might have to sleep with Soos in his room because I seriously don't have any more rooms to rent."

The kids all laughed.

"What? I'm being serious here."

Later, everyone stood in the gift shop at the Mystery Shack.

"Boy, I'm tired," Fred stated.

"Me too," Daphne agreed. "That was quite an adventure."

Dipper and Mabel walked up to the group. "So, uh, I wondered if any of you had a tiny piece of paper with some numbers and letters on it?" she asked.

Daphne and Velma exchanged glances. Velma took the piece of paper with the code for the vending machine and gave it to Mabel.

"Sorry," Velma said. "We were just desperate for some answers."

"If it had been anyone else, I would have been pissed," Dipper said. "But, I understand what you guys do."

Ford stood away from everyone, studying the Mystery Inc. gang for a moment. Finally he walked over. "Listen, I—well, the whole reason I wanted you guys to leave was because—" he let out a long sigh. "That recording you have. I know who the whispering voice belongs to. Can you come with me?" Ford walked over to the vending machine and input the code. He took the gang to the elevator and down to the second floor. Inside his lab, he turned on the lights. In the far corner was a tarp covering a wall. "When you played the recording backwards, I recognized it as an ancient chant where a creature like Bill can reincarnate himself," Ford explained. He put his hands on the tarp. "Prepare yourself. I'm about to show you Bill." He pulled off the tarp revealing the triangular being with top hat and bow tie. The members of Mystery Inc. took one look at Bill and started to laugh. Ford raised an eyebrow at their response.

"Uh, this really isn't something you laugh at," he said, confused and somewhat annoyed.

"Sorry, it's just that, how are we supposed to take that seriously?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, it's a triangle with one eye, top hat and a tie? How is that not hilarious?" Velma asked.

"I suppose at first glance he doesn't look like much, but I can assure you that Bill is the most deadliest creature I've ever encountered. He's also very cunning. When he gained his physical form in our world, he could do anything."

"So, you're afraid he can come back?" Daphne asked.

Ford pulled out a book similar to the journals he had written. On the front was a sideways eight, a sign that meant infinity.

"After the old journals were destroyed, I wrote down everything I remembered from them in this. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember a lot of stuff." He looked down at Scooby as if deeply studying him. "Was your dog born with the ability to talk?" Fred and the girls turned to Shaggy.

"Like I—I remember Scooby started talking when I did. I think he was mimicking me."

"Interesting." Ford opened up the new journal and grabbed a pen from his pocket. "Stanley and I have been hunting various anomalies since last September. There was an anomaly that we tracked all the way back to Gravity Falls." He looked down and smiled at Scooby. "I believe this anomaly is you, Scooby."

"Roo? Rme?" Scooby pointed at himself.

"Scooby?" Shaggy asked. "Like I thought these weird anomal-whatevers were all monsters."

"An anomaly is anything strange or unnatural. You have a talking dog." Ford showed his hands with six fingers. "I'm an anomaly too, because of my genetic mutation," he explained. "With your permission, I'd like to study Scooby and find out why he's different than other dogs."

"You want to study Scooby?" Fred questioned.

"It's honestly up to Scooby himself," Velma said.

"Like what do you think, Scoob?" Shaggy asked.

"Reah, Ri ress ro," he answered.