"In every loss, in every lie,
in every truth that you'd deny.
And each regret and each goodbye
was a mistake too great to hide.
And your voice was all I heard,
that I get what I deserve."
"New Divide," by Linkin Park
Chapter 7 – The Sacrifice
"On yer feet, maggot!"
Dipper felt himself being hoisted upwards, "Huh?"
"Get going!"
Still groggy, the confused boy looked around to see that he was completely shrouded in darkness. "Where – Where am I?"
He cried out in pain as something sharp poke him square in the small of his back. "Silence! Just keep yer little yap shut if you know what's good for ya!"
Despite his lack of sight, Dipper could tell by the numerous voices barking orders at him that he was hopelessly surrounded. Suddenly, his redden nose started to itch. He went to try to scratch it, only to feel that his hands were held down on each side.
Dipper marched on silently as he tried to remember how exactly he ended up in this situation. A moment later, the scenes started to play back in his mind's window, almost as it was his own private slideshow: the fight between him and his red-headed crush, the revelation of his digitally based murderous clone, watching helplessly as that purple guy's army dragged Wendy away as the duo reached out for one another…
"Wait – Wait…WENDY!" Dipper realized, looking around for a way to escape, "WENDY?! Where is she?! I have to – ACK!"
His concern was shortened by another jab in the back, "I said SHUT UP! Your fate will be determined soon enough..."
"My fate?" His imagination raced at whatever horrors that armored maniac had planned for him.
A spotlight turned on, providing Dipper with much-needed luminosity. He looked down to see that his regular outfit of an orange T-shirt, blue vest, and pine-tree marked trucker hat had been replaced with a bright orange jumpsuit, similar to that of which convicted criminals would be forced to wear. His hands had been manacled at the wrist; a chain connected each to a belt that had been placed around his waist.
He twisted around and gasped aloud upon seeing that he was surrounded by several hooded individuals. The captor behind him held a pointed spear firmly aimed at his backside. Oddly enough, the cloaked figures started to back away from the defenseless boy.
"Huh?" Dipper thought to himself, "What gives all the sudden?"
The floor started to glow, making Dipper turn his attention to the ground. A red ring encircled his tiny form. As he bent down to examine it, a flow of fire came bursting though. Luckily, Dipper lifted his head in the nick of time, resulting in having a few hairs on top his brown-covered head singed.
Trapped by the circle of flame, Dipper peered past to see that he was standing before what appeared to be a tribunal. A large black-wooden bench towered before him, each branching end holding another shadowy figure that watched the cautioned child without making a sound.
A larger-shaped shadow formed at the center panel; an object similar to a gavel appeared from its flowing sleeve. It banged the hammer repeatedly as a deep voice boomed from beneath its hood:
"Hear ye! Hear ye! This trial will come to session!"
"Trial?" Dipper asked the high-ranking form, "On what charge?!"
"Treason! Treason most foul!" The response caused a series of clamors amongst the anonymous crowd.
"Treason?!"
"Dipper Pines," the judge announced, "You have been accused of betraying the trust of one Gwendolyn "Wendy" Blerble Corduroy…"
From out of nowhere, Wendy appeared at the left hand side of the judge. Dressed up in black from head to toe, she wore a transparent veil over her freckled face as if she was attending a funeral. The ginger simply stared straight ahead into the distance, almost like she didn't even care that her former-best bud was standing before her.
"…how do you plead?"
"This is insane! What are you people talking about?! I didn't…wait – "Dipper stopped himself. "Your middle name is Blerble?!"
"ORDER!" The judge banged his gavel harder, "I will have order!" It raised its head towards Dipper, "Now, I ask you one last time…"
The fire surrounding him gulfed up higher in intimidation.
"…what is your plea?"
Left without any other option, Dipper lowered his head, sighed, and gave his answer:
"Not guilty…"
Once more, a huge outcry spread through the crowd. Wendy raised her gloved hands to her face and began to weep uncontrollably into them. Amiss the shouting and chaotic nature of the mock-courtroom, Dipper could only focus on the saddened condition of his crush.
"You're…crying? Why are you crying? What's wrong?"
The judge leaned over the edge of his seat and pointed at Dipper, his long sleeve hiding his arm, "Do you really have to ask "why?""
Dipper raised an eyebrow to its claim, "What's that supposed to mean?"
His honor sat back in his seat, "You tell me, . You are said to be this girl's self-proclaimed hero, are you not?"
He shrugged his shoulders as a wave of embarrassment overcame him. "Well, I don't know about that…"
"Then, tell us what you do know, Mr. Pines!" It threw its arm outwards to highlight to the sobbing redhead. "Does this look like someone who had been rescued?! Does Miss Corduroy appear to be calmed or soothed in any possible way?!"
Dipper looked up to see that Wendy continued to shed tears. She was left completely unaware that her admirer centered his sights solely on her, unable to look away from her saddened state.
"Uh, no…err, sir," he answered truthfully, "She looks like how…" Dipper shortly trailed off; his inner thoughts finished the sentence:
"She looks like how I left her that night…"
Despite an inner turmoil growing within his gut, Dipper started to appeal to his condemners, "I know I upset Wendy, but I did save her! I made sure that that creep Robbie could never hurt her ever again!" He glanced around the room for signs of support, "Doesn't that count for anything? What else was I supposed to do?!"
A succession of "BOOs" and hisses exploded from the caucus, forcing Dipper to go on the defensive, "Oh, "BOO" yourselves!" His attitude instantly changed as he watched Wendy cry even harder at his words, leaving him again in his own private world of regret.
"We have heard enough!" The judge turned to its left and right, "Fellow members of this tribunal, how do you find the defendant?"
The leftmost speculator pulled back its hood, revealing a greenish demon, complete with curled horns on each side of its head. It narrowed its putrid yellow eyes at the frightened adolescent, hissing its decision through a thin, forked tongue:
"Guilty!"
One by one, its counterparts pulled back their disguises, each being another monster of similar nature but of different hues; they all followed suit in presenting their choice:
"Guilty!"
"Guilty!"
"Guilty!"
"Guilty!"
The judge threw the gavel against the table as hard as he could, "Dipper Pines, this court finds you guilty by unanimous decision…"
"Hey, wait a second here!" Dipper argued back, "This is crazy! Don't I get a chance to defend myself or even someone to represent me?"
Despite the interruption, the judge, now seen to be a blue-tinted imp, went on with his verdict, "…as the case of all traitorous swine before you, you are sentenced to damnation in eternal hellfire!"
"WHAT?!"
Dipper spun around to see that Wendy was looking down at him; her shining emerald eyes were a teary-red shade. Upon having their sights meet, her lower lip began to quiver as she collapsed into her folded arms as another wail escaped from her insides, "Oh…Dipper…"
"Wait, WENDY!" Dipper tried to call out to the hysterical high-schooler as the flames surrounding him rose up, completely blocking any or all outside sight. As the hellfire came closer, he ducked down into a tiny ball on the floor. His chained hands left him unable to properly shield himself.
"WENDY, PLEASE!" he beseeched as the pillars of fire were seconds away from consuming him whole. "MAKE THEM STOP! TELL THEM I WOULD NEVER HURT YOU! TELL THEM THAT I LOVE YOU! PLEASE, WENDY! DON'T LET 'EM DO THIS TO ME! PLEASE!"
"Ugh!"
Dipper opened his eyes, and let out a sigh of relief; the whole awful experience had been nothing but a dream. As he started to regain his focus, Dipper gazed forward and upon seeing what was right in front of him, he instantaneously had the wind knocked out of him.
He was still inside of the ring of fire!
The distraught boy tried to flee from the peril, only to discover that his arms were bound at his side. Looking around for any chance of escape, Dipper saw that someone or something had tied him to a huge wooden stake amidst the flaming pit. He kicked his dangling legs in an effort to gain some leeway towards freedom, merely for it to have no effect at all!
Trapped high among the blaze, Dipper could feel the rising fire starting to lapse across the bottoms of his sneakered feet. A succession of hushed murmurs and low-keyed chuckles prompted him to raise his head. His brown eyes widened at the incredible sights before him.
Dipper had been placed before a motley crew of various monsters. Giant bulldog-esque fiends clutched their metal javelins tightly as they watched him struggle in vain. Rat-faced beasts leered at him, twitching their white-mustached lips as they twirled what appeared to be razor-tipped boomerangs in their clutches. Miniature octopi bounced up and down excitedly, shooting tiny rocks out of their nozzle-shaped noses.
Even though this was the first time he had seen such things up close, Dipper could easily recognize these creatures anywhere – they were all villains from his favorite action/RPG game, Legends & Fables!
"What is this?!" Dipper asked, trying to wiggle loose from his bindings, "What's going on?!"
One of the dog-like beasts, blue skinned with worn-out green armor, stepped out in front of the crowd and tried to grumble out an answer, "Boy needed…boy needed to bring back master…"
"Bring back master?"
Dipper watched in confusion as the gathering began to shift together. From a distance, it looked like the group was bringing something towards the front. The goblin-being turned around, grasped the object, and presented it to him.
A shiny crystal ball was shoved in Dipper's face. A black mist swirled around freely inside of the sphere. After a few moments, the smog began to shift as it started to take to an almost human-like form. Bright yellow eyes abruptly appeared, making Dipper cry out loud in surprise. Pointed-red hair started to form on top of its head. A long-tipped nose extracted itself from its face. A devilish smile stretched out across the dark-tinted facade as its flowing mane poured outwards.
"Oh, no!" the young detective shouted, shaking his head in dismay, "Not you again!"
Dipper was staring that the sneering visage of the wicked King of Thieves! He remembered how the last time he was in the gaming universe, the powerful wizard tossed aside the mighty world warrior, Rumble McSkirmish, without breaking a sweat, and whisked Wendy away for his own sinister purposes. It was through the combined efforts of both teenagers that they were able to defeat the treacherous foe and return home to reality by the skin of their teeth.
However, Wendy was nowhere to be found, and Dipper was left vulnerable amongst the ever-growing army before him.
"But…But how…?"
"Little hero had destroyed master's body, but his spirit is everlasting…" the servant explained further. "Sacrifice is needed to bring master back!"
Through his constant squirming, Dipper was able to get some slack by his right hand. He dug into his nearby short pocket, taking hold of his trusty multi-tool. Without the monsters seeing, he opened the device and started to saw through the ropes holding him to the stake. He knew that his escape attempt would take several minutes, so he attempted to buy some time.
"Sacrifice?" Dipper questioned as he worked on his break-out, "What do you mean?"
The indigo brute laughed at the child's faked sincerity, showing off rows of crooked, jagged teeth, "From moment boy deal final blow to master, boy's bloodline became cursed! Only way master can come back is if we sacrifice boy! Spread his blood over master's remains! Then, master will live again!"
A roar of cheers rose from the crowd as a chill was sent up Dipper's spine. In spite of the horrid fate plotted for him, the teen knew he had to try to remain calm. If he were to freak out and accidentally drop his knife, then there would no way out of this mess.
"Live again! Live again! Live again!"
Dipper could feel the fires grow hotter beneath him. The ties were starting to give. He lifted his feet as high as he could and pressed off against the wooden beam in an effort to pry himself loose. Luckily for him, all of the brutes were distracted by their arousing celebration.
"Just…a…little…more…" he strained through grit teeth.
The familiar snickered at the thrashing lad, "Don't worry, after you, "red-hair princess" will be next!"
With one last push, Dipper burst through the remainders of the ropes and landed upon of the taunting blue dog soldier. As if by second nature, he raised his blade and drew it into the wrongdoer's shoulder. It howled in pain before evaporating from a blur of pixels into nothingness.
Dipper landed on one knee and slowly stood up as something fell into his open arms. He looked down to see that he had accidentally caught the crystal ball containing the essence of the evil video game rogue. The young adult glanced down at the orb as once more, the shape began to change.
The raging sorcerer's skin turned a light blue. His long nose retracted, becoming a shorten crimson snout. His orange-red hair faded away, revealing a set of floppy blue and pink ears. His beard was replaced with an oversized jowl, complete with two sharpen tusks. The ghastly yellow eyes were now a demonic blood red.
The King of Thieves had somehow become a creature that resembled a giant boar!
"What the - ?" Dipper didn't know what was happening, "Is this like, his true form?"
The azure beast snorted at him, releasing an ear-piercing squeal afterwards. Shaken by the sudden outburst, Dipper let out a scared yelp as he accidentally let the crystal ball slip through his fingertips. The shiny globe shattered into a thousand pieces across the stone floor. A thin blue vapor floated out of the remains, disappearing into the atmosphere.
The room grew deathly silent as every eye focused solely on Dipper. He let out a nervous twitter as he twitched his fingers together nervously.
"Heh – Heh…butterfingers?"
One of the bulldog-beings raised its weapons above its head and let out a battle growl:
"GET HIM!"
Dipper started to backpedal in the opposite direction of the swarm approaching him. He looked over his shoulder to see an opening leading into another passageway. Not thinking twice, Dipper sprinted into the newly-found tunnel, his flight from danger aided by tiny torches hanging overhead.
As he explored the tunnel, a sense of familiarity quickly overcame Dipper. It was almost as if he had been in this cavern before.
"But how?"
His thoughts quickly changed to that of Wendy. "Those minions said that they were coming after her as soon as they were finished with me. That must mean that she's okay…right?" Dipper's emotions turned negative as his imagination raced at the kinds of torture that armored freak could be putting his crush though.
He shook away the doubts, "I shouldn't think like that. This is Wendy I'm talking about after all! She's tougher than all of these things put together!" However, his stomach ached in regret of what happened earlier; of all the awfulness between the two before the ambush from the digital world.
"If I don't make it outta here, I won't get another chance to make things right; I can't think about that stuff right now! I gotta focus!"
Dipper skid to a halt as he narrowly collided into a sealed wall. He had run into a dead end! While lost in his thoughts, the diminutive explorer had taken a countless numbers of random twists and turns in order to evade his pursuers. He had no choice but to turn back and try another path.
Arriving back at the last forked road he had taken, Dipper could see a faint glowing in the distance. The sounds of growling and shouting reminded him that his enemies were close – too close.
He went to take the other path…
*KWANG!*
A flying object came out from the darkness and threw Dipper against the wall. He tried to move, only to notice that his left shoulder was pinned down! Dipper felt around with his free hand, searching about until he located the source of the obstruction.
One of the vermin thing's boomerangs had gone through his navy blue vest and pinned him tightly against the wall! As he tried to slip free, he saw the horde coming from around the corner. Very carefully, he started to wiggle out of his jacket, trying his best not to knick himself on the weapon's spiky edges.
Just as the monsters were almost upon him, Dipper was able to pull himself out of the ruined vest. Part of him felt bad for leaving his trademark behind, but he figured it better than being torn limb from limb by the furious horde.
Turning into the next room, Dipper noticed a long rope leading downwards a few yards away. He raced towards it and learned that it was belonged to a form of pulley-styled elevator. The boy hopped onto the platform, making it wobble wildly. He gripped the rope forcefully in order to gain some balance.
Hearing the voices of the monsters growing close, Dipper started to pull on the cables, lowering himself onto the next floor. He saw that the elevator could go even further, but he chose to see if this level had anything worth seeking out.
The thirteen-year-old stepped off of the stand, landing hard on his feet. On bent knees, he looked up to see that he had dropped down in front of something covered in orange scales and chain mail. Dipper huffed at the sight before him. A giant alligator, standing on its hind legs, welded a two-sided axe menacingly towards the startled teen.
With a mighty bellow, the cold-blooded soldier swung its weapon towards the defenseless boy, forcing Dipper to tuck and roll out of danger's way. He stopped, bumping into another lizard warrior; the green behemoth sported a long lance with one slithery arm and an iron shield in the other. Before Dipper could break out into a full-pledged panic, he placed his feet beneath him and sprang himself back towards the elevator,
As the monsters went to reach him, Dipper was already descending further down the elevator shaft. All of a sudden, the platform started to flying downwards at an alarming rate. The ropes burnt Dipper's hands, forcing him to relinquish any remaining control over his decent.
"AAAHHH!"
*CRASH!*
Dipper stumbled out from beneath the collapsed pieces of lumber with a groan. He gripped his head as he made it back to a standing position. As the teenager pushed on, his sneaker brushed up against a coil of rope; the edges of it looked as if it has been severed. He bent down and examined the new evidence.
"I can't believe it," he reflected. "Those things cut the rope…"
His eyes soon caught interest of a sign that was mounted across the reddish-brown rocky cavern wall. Dipper squint his eyes in order to read it; it was a sort of directory to the various areas of the dwelling:
"Gym…Darts…Foosball…Hot Tub…Throne Room…?"
A smile spread across his face. Dipper finally knew why this layout seemed so familiar to him. He had been here before!
"This…this is the Man-Cave!"
It was about a month before when Dipper had sought council with the resident creatures of the cave, the Manotaurs, in an effort to toughen up and become more of a "man." He had embarrassed himself in front of half the town (his family and Wendy included) and left in a sobbing mess, vowing to do whatever it took not to be in such a situation ever again.
When everything was said and done, the overly-masculine minotaurs had presented Dipper with an impossible choice, making him realize that the manliest thing he could have done was stand up to his newly-made friends and do what he believed to be right.
"That means I'm not in the video game universe; I'm still in Gravity Falls!"
However, the unusual silence (omitting the unpleasant gurgles of the fantasy-based monsters) left Dipper somewhat unnerved.
"So, why aren't the guys here? There's no way those things could have taken out all of the manotaurs. I wonder what happened to them?"
As Dipper went to head down the only available path, a brief memory from that day flashed before his eyes; one that made him beam even harder about his gingered friend:
"Even though Wendy was cheering her dad on, she never once laughed at me while everyone else did…"
Entering the new area, Dipper forced the thought from his head; getting himself tangled in nostalgia at the moment was going to get killed himself.
"Besides," he lamented, "I'll have to cross that bridge when I get to it…"
Dipper stopped in place as he found himself at a tapered bridge tethering over a boiling lake of molten lava.
He raised his sights to the heavens and cursed his awful luck, "This isn't what I meant!"
Griping the thinning handrail tightly, Dipper placed a steady foot onto the first unsteady lath in front of him. With a bit more courage, he continued onwards step after step. The bridge began to rattle violently, making Dipper cling on for dear life.
The river of magma let out a series of bubbling bursts. From within the depths, small forms rose from the pit, landing behind of the bumbling lad teetering over certain doom. The molten rock fell from the new arrivals, revealing them to be creepy-looking hallowed skulls.
Before Dipper could react, red beams started to glow from within the blackened eyes of the unearthly craniums. Their sharpened teeth began to gnaw almost mechanically. Balls of fire formed in every mandible.
"As if things weren't bad enough….how can they get any worse?"
A split second later, all of the demonic skulls took to the sky in pursuit of the sarcastic sleuth.
"Me and my big mouth!"
Biting his tongue, Dipper waddled faster and faster until he finally received the other side. He thought about severing the bridge to prevent further passage for his captors, but decided against it at the last second, "Those things are already flying around, so it isn't like they need this thing…"
Instead, Dipper took off into the open area, only to be faced with another room with branching paths. The nerve-wrecked boy jogged in place as he attempted to pick a new course. The rising shining reflecting off of the cave wall served as a constant reminder that the flying flaming skulls were moments away.
"I don't understand this!" Dipper wondered. "There are all of these new roads! Plus, not to mention the lava pool! These things weren't here before, unless the manotaurs added some serious home security enhancements!"
A breeze entered the room, awakening Dipper from his panic, and instantly made goose flesh spread all over his skin. It was almost like being hit with a bolt of lightning.
"That's it!" he theorized, "The wind – it must be coming from outside! I bet if I follow it, I can find a way out of here!"
Dipper charged into the middle pathway in hopes of reaching an exit to the labyrinth. Instead, he found himself in front of what appeared to be a makeshift shrine. In the center of the memorial, a thin, white and red hammer was left highlighted by a simple light stemming from a crack in the ceiling. Baffled by the importance of something so simple, Dipper picked up the item, tucked it into the back of his pants, and looked past the shrine.
"What?! There's nothing there!"
He hopped off of the raised floor as he faced another blind alley, "I don't understand it; the cold air was coming from this room! I felt it!" Dipper took a few more steps towards the wall, "Maybe there's some sort of trick –"
As soon as Dipper reached the wall's edge, the floor gave way beneath his feet. He shrieked as green strobe lighting flashed repeatedly in front of his face. The teen closed his eyes to prevent them from being damaged any further.
When he opened them, Dipper found himself knelt down on one knee safe and soundly. In a rush, he jumped around and examined himself, finding that he was left completely uninjured. Dipper raised his head to see that the passage that he fell through was sealed off.
"That was…crazy!" the relieved explorer let out a heave, "It was like I was falling forever, but…I'm okay." He double-checked his body for any form of damage, "Was it some sort of warp or something like that?"
Dipper turned around that at long last, he had finally reached the exit of the Man Cave! With a renewed sense of hope, he darted towards the way out. However, Dipper halted in his tracks upon seeing what awaited him outside.
A thick layer of gorgeous white snow covered the entire mountainside of Gravity Falls! Strong gusts of wind spread the never-ending flurry as far as the eye could see. The refreshing breeze that led Dipper to freedom was now a relentless blizzard that nearly froze him to the bone.
"Brrr…" Dipper mumbled, rubbing his now vest-less chest for warmth, his teeth chattering all the while, "N-N-Now, I know something's up! It was 85 degrees out when we were attacked in the center of town! I'll bet that metal-head guy has something to do with this!"
Left with any other choice, Dipper ventured out into the unforgiving blizzard, only to trip over a huge budge hidden by the snow. He landed face first in the frigid fleet, jumping up in shock due to the sudden change in body temperature. Annoyed by his clumsiness, Dipper kicked the bump, making all of the snow fall off of it.
The object was a worn out duffel bag. Dipper bent down and unzipped the pack, hoping that its contents would contain something that would help him warm up quickly. Inside, a fluffy blue parka aligned with white fur and matching mittens laid abandoned. Without a second's delay, Dipper threw on the coat, sealing it around him tightly and throwing up the hood over his head. As he finished bundling up for the cruel weather, Dipper spotted that a second jacket, covered in pink remained behind in the knapsack. The twin parka reminded him of his sister Mabel; it was bad enough that he and Wendy were up to their necks in trouble. The last thing he needed was for something to happen to the rest of his family.
Having proper shielding against the elements, Dipper went to begin the long journey down the mountainside. He stopped mystified as the trail downwards had completely vanished all in thanks to the devious snowfall. Left without any other choice, Dipper double-backed past the cave, and started toward the higher cliffs.
"The only other path off of the mountain is around the other side; it stinks, but there really isn't another way…"
Wading his way through the thick frost, Dipper found himself with another dilemma: the passage forward had been barricaded by giant chunks of ice.
"Great…" he grumbled to himself, "What do I do now?"
As Dipper leaned back, he felt something rigid poke him in his backside. The teen reached around and retrieved the hammer he had stashed away for safe-keeping earlier. Holding the weapon with both hands, Dipper closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and swung away at the obstacles before him.
*KRAK!* *KRAK!* *KRAK!*
Within moments, Dipper reopened his eyes to see that the icy barrier had been reduced to mere shavings!
"Wow!" he stood amazed of what had just happened, "I can't believe that actually worked! Maybe things are finally starting to go my way!"
In the distance, Dipper could make out a tiny grey object bobbing up and down excitedly. Somehow, a baby seal had gotten lost in the middle of the storm. The vigilant boy slowly approached the seemingly happy otter with an open glove, "Hey, there, little fella. Did you get lost up here, too?"
Without warning, a white sparkle started to form on the seal's black nose. Dipper backed away with his guard up as the tiny mammal clapped and barked with glee. Seconds later, an ice block, similar to the ones that previously blocked Dipper's path, came flying at him with incredible speed.
"WHOA!" Dipper jumped upright, dodging the projectile at the last possible second. The seal persisted in its own personal celebration. "That's not funny, guy!"
Yet again, the gleaming glitter started again on the fuzzy nostril. Dipper leaned to the side to avoid the second high-speed cube.
"I have to stop that thing," he planned out, "But it's not like I could go ahead and club a baby seal; what would people say?!"
As Dipper watched a third gleam form, he clutched his hammer with both gloved hands. His eyes centered on the upcoming sliding pellet. Counting down in his head, the young adult waited for his moment and swung at the upcoming snowy piece, forcing it back at its creator…
*ARF!*
The diminutive otter disappeared into a wave of melting blue pixels. Dipper walked ahead to examine the collateral damage. Part of him even felt bad for the barely-threatening video game critter. "Man, why did it have to be so cute? Couldn't it have been like a yeti or something like that?"
Dipper went to turn around back towards the main path, only to run face-first into something incredibly white and wooly. He looked upwards at the towering obstacle to see it was in truth, a giant polar bear standing fully upright. The strangest part of its appearance was the fact that it donned a bright pink Speedo suit along with a pair of slick, black wrap-around sunglasses. It reminded Dipper of the friendly mascot that was plastered on all of the slushie cups back home.
Without making a single sound, the stylish behemoth used its tremendous weight to push the insignificant fighter backwards without any serious effort. Dipper looked behind himself to see that he was now inches away from the cliffside.
"Hey, wait a sec -" Dipper tried to reason with the bear as he shoved back in vain, "Let's not be too hasty here…" Biting his lip in dismay, he found himself left with no other choice but to fight back. Dipper raised the hammer over his head and struck the colossus as hard as he could. It left no obvious effect as the creature went forth, showing no signs of slowing down in the least.
"What gives with this thing? It's probably peeved over its seal friend…"
Again and again, Dipper took strikes at the near-invincible polar bear as he felt his heels doddering over the mountain's edge. He met the silent antagonist eye to eye, and gave an earnest grin, "Can't we talk this though?"
With one last thrust, Dipper was sent flying over the edge of the precipice. He covered his face with his arms, belting out an echoing screech as he prepared himself for the end…
As the seconds passed, the sense of plummeting had faded away. Dipper stole a look from within his self-imposed cocoon to see that he hadn't fallen at all. He stood up, amazed that he was still breathing. He let out a lighten laugh as the bear had thrown him onto a platform floating in mid-air alongside the mountain. Dipper glanced overhead to see that a whole series of levitating podiums provided a safe passage straight to the summit.
Dipper made sure to time his jumps as he traveled from step to step. The experience reminded him of his last video-game themed adventure when he was forced to leap and bound his way through the heightening green pipes of "Super Linguini World."
At long last, Dipper took a final running jump onto the top of the peak. Worn out, he dropped to his hands and knees, and struggled to regain his breath; the thinning air certainly didn't help matters.
*HUFF-PUFF!* "W-W-What's that over there…?"
A small, purple object stuck out from the whiteout. Dipper made his way onward and bent down to pick up the item. It was a form of stretched eggplant. Inspecting it closely, he noticed that the vegetable had thin black eyes and an endearing line smile that stretched from end to end.
Dipper raised an eyebrow at the strange find, "What kind of –"
*SQUAWK!*
A high-pitched howl reverberated throughout the empty plateau. Dipper looked around for the source of the noise, "Where is it coming from?" A huge shadow was promptly casted over the bewildered teenager. Dipper's eyes followed the source, only to see an enormous mauve blur lunge down at him.
"AAARRRGGGHHH!"
Dipper soon found himself soaring hundreds of feet into the air. Despite being shaken, he twisted his neck around to make out that he had been snatched up by what appeared to be a purple, scale-covered pterodactyl. The beast's yellow and black eyes focused solely on its helpless prey. It belted out another roar, almost as if to celebrate its easy victory.
"I can't believe it!" Dipper exclaimed while trying to wiggle free from the dinosaur's claws. "Where are these things coming from?" He remembered the grey variant that previously stole his twin sister's pet pig, "There's no way another one could have escaped, right?"
As Dipper continued to fight from freedom, he shouted up at the flying monster, "Hey, ugly! Put me down! Right now!" The pterodactyl paid him no heed. Growing angry at the situation, Dipper grasped his hammer and started to pound on its hind legs, "Did you hear me? I SAID LET ME GO NOW!"
After being hit several times, the creature squealed in agony, letting the boy slip from between its clutches. Realizing that he may have spoken too soon, Dipper found himself crashing back towards the earth, making him instantly regret his rash request.
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!"