Chapter 5
Bust-a-bunker
A/N: Fiar warning, this chapter will contain light smutt.
Dipper POV
Michael was on a phone call with the President of the United States.
"Yes sir," he was saying. We were walking into the hotel where he was staying. He had just booked 2 rooms for Gunkle Stan and me and Mable. While the staff got the rooms ready for us to move into, he took the opportunity to call his boss. His bandmates took Jeremy up to their room for some rest.
"Yes, sir, it was like I said. Zombies. How did it happen?" He glanced at me. I suddenly felt a feeling of dread wash over me. Was he about to report me to the highest authority and throw me in some sort of deep military black sight? Michael smirked and winked at me. "It was some emo kid who got a hold of some real magic. He got torn apart by the zombies that he summoned. Yes, sir, he screamed like a little bitch."
Relief flooded my veins. I wasn't going to be put away for the rest of my life. That's good.
"I'll have a detailed report emailed to you by the end of the week. Yes sir. Enjoy your breakfast. Goodbye." He hung up the phone and sighed. He cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes.
Michael tapped away on his phone again and called another person. After a few seconds, he spoke. "Hey, Cheyanne. It's me. I need a favor." He paused as the other person replied. "Yes. I need you to send a detachment to my area. Hollows are gathering, and me and my team are drained. Too much Kido, yes. Jeremy passed out on the battlefield. Yes, it was that bad. Ok, thank you. No no!" He waved his free hand around, though no one was there to see it besides me. "You don't need to come here yourself. More than 1 captain class soul reaper would just attract more of them. Ok, thank you. I hope to see your men within the hour. Ok, I'll see you at the end of the month. Ok, goodbye."
He put his phone away and sighed. He must have sensed that I was staring at him because he opened one eye and glanced at me. "You got questions," he said.
"Yes, I do!" I walked over to him and got my journal out. Clicking my pen open, I flipped to an empty part of the book. I double-checked if there was any invisible ink, and I'm good. "What exactly is a soul reaper? How do your powers work? What's the difference between magic and kido? How are you working for the President of the United States?"
"Woah, woah, woah," he said putting up a hand to calm me down. "Slow down, kid! One question at a time."
"Ok," I said nodding. I sat down in a chair next to him. "What can you tell me?"
He sat down opposite me. "Well, for starters, I can tell you that I'm not working for the President. I'm working with him. Big difference."
"Ok," I said, drawing some circles in the margins of the book. I don't need to write that down. "Why do you work with him then?"
"Because I saved him, and he rewarded me by letting me set up my Soul Society here in the Living World. I'm returning the favor."
"What's a Soul Society? Is that some sort of cult?" I asked, skeptically. I wrote down Soul Society at the top of a new section and got ready to write down what he said. He eyed my book wearily. I said, "Oh, don't worry. No one is going to be getting their hands on this. I'll learn some magic to keep it hidden."
"Not unsupervised you won't," he said. Then he put a hand on his chin in thought. Some peach fuzz was starting to grow on his upper lip and the cleft of his chin. He also looked tired and drained. Fighting and casting spells all night might do that to a person, I guess.
Finally, he said, "Ok. I'll give you the abridged version." I clicked my pen a few times in excitement and got ready to write. "Basically, the Soul Society is a version of the afterlife. There are beings called Soul Reapers that run it. Their job is to take souls to and from this realm and that one. They do a version of reincarnation where you can live in the Soul Society like you would here. And when you die a second time there, and if you're lucky, you will be reincarnated back here on Earth. My version I do a bit differently." He paused to let me finish writing my notes.
"What does your version do?" I asked.
"My version is to take EVERY soul, not just the ones in the other Soul Society's jurisdiction, but every soul from all over the world, and send them onto their own afterlife. Cuz not everyone is a Buddhist, not everyone is Muslim, or a Christian, or Jewish, or a Pagen, and some people don't even believe in any afterlife altogether. My job, and the job of my reapers, will be to send them to where they need to go."
"So…" I paused in my writing. "There's an afterlife? Like… heaven, or hell?"
"If that's what you believe in," he shrugged. "Not everything is black and white in this world. Especially religion. Some people believe in a higher power, but not that there is one singular God, or even a deity in general. It all depends on your perspective, and if you are objectively good or evil. Obviously, if you believe in a heaven or a hell, you would believe in the notion of good and evil as well."
"Ok," I wrote that down and made a note, read up on world religions. "And what is a soul reaper? And this captain that you said?"
"A soul reaper is just that. A being who reaps souls. Like the grim reaper, but, more handsome." He gave what he probably thought was a charming smile, but with the bags under his eyes, and the dried gunk in his hair, it came off less than charming, to say the least.
"And a Captain is the leader within the Soul Society. I, myself, am a Captain. But not just any Captain, the Head Captain. I run the whole thing," he looked proud of himself.
"Ok, cool," I said, scribbling down more notes. "How do your powers work?"
"I utilized a force called Spirit Energy," he glances around, but no one is in the lobby. Grunkle Stan and Mable went to go and get groceries to put in our rooms. Making sure that we're alone, he holds out his hand. In his outstretched palm, an orb of blue light forms. "Normally regular people, such as yourself, can't see spirit energy at all. But I learned how to focus my power and manipulate the reishi density in the air so you can see it. I can also use that technique to make ghosts and hollows visible to the human eye too." He dropped his hand, the orb disappeared and then made his sword materialize out of thin air in his other hand. "I can also use it to make my weapon appear and disappear into the void as well."
"That is so cool!"
"Thank you," he flicked his wrist and his sword vanished. "I got that idea from Kingdom Hearts. It's so convenient to stash your weapons like that."
"I'll bet," writing more info down, I turn to a blank page. "What about your magic?"
"It's not technically magic," he said. "It's Kido (Key-doh). It's spirit-based magic that only soul reapers can use. It takes years to master a certain grade of it, and I'm mostly proficient in it."
"But I thought you were the Head Captain?" I asked confused. "How come you haven't mastered it yet?"
"I've only been a soul reaper for about 5 years," he said. "I had advanced training, courtesy of my master, but in order to gain a mastery over anything you have to keep at it for years and years. I'm getting there, it's just gonna take time."
"Hey, bro-bro!" Mabel and Grunkle Stan came back holding a bag of groceries in each hand. "We're baaaaack! Did you have fun asking your nerd questions?"
"Yes," I replied, clicking my pen closed. "Yes, I did. I got so much info, but I have more questions!"
"I'll answer them later," he said and got up. He reached into this pocket and got a business card out. He handed it to Grunkle Stan. "Here, call this construction company and say that Captain Michael sent you to them. They'll invoice me the bill when they get started."
"Thanks!" Grunkle Stan took the card with glee. "Free labor, and I can upgrade my house!"
"Don't break the bank," Michael sighed. "I'm gonna get some sleep. Tomorrow night is my gig, and I need to be well-rested. See you guys later," he waved goodbye and went to his room.
The manager of the hotel called us over and showed us to our rooms. Once we put the groceries away in the mini-fridge, we hit the hay and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow. Shower time can come later…. But first… *snore*
3rd Person POV
300 meters above Gravity Falls
About half a dozen soul reapers were flying around and cutting down hollows left and right. A hoard of a few dozen hollows kept appearing throughout the town, snacking on any ghosts that were out and about. A few of them latching onto the souls of the living inhabitance, draining their life force, trying to make the weak ones die.
About 10 minutes after the Head Captain ordered a small team to cleanse the town of the evil spirits, they appeared in a flash of light up above the town, unseen by anyone on the ground. As soon as they walked out of the portal they were on the move attacking hollows.
Overseeing this, about a hundred yards above the carnage, was Captain Cheyanne Rose. She was crouching down on an invisible platform of reishi as she watched with rapt interest. She was overweight for her age, 16, about 225 pounds. Her hair was brown and cut shoulder length, pale blue eyes set behind purple deva-styled glasses, and freckles splashed across her chubby cheeks. Her uniform was a version of the Marine Corps officer's uniform, with blue highlights instead of red, and her zanpaktou was a European-styled short sword, and she had on the white overcoat that showed her rank as Captain, with the kanji 13 (十三) In a diamond pattern square in the middle of her back
A reaper came up behind her.
"Captain Rose," he said giving her the salute of the Reapers in the World of the Living. He took his right fist and placed it over his heart as he stood straight at attention, his other hand resting open palm on his leg. "The extermination is going well. No sign of menos class hollows detected yet."
"That's good," she said and stood up. Her full height was about 5"5. She lifted up her arms over her head and stretched as far as she could. Her shoulder popped. "Normally I wouldn't need to be here, but the Head Captain used up most of his spirit energy using kido last night. Though he told me not to come, it would be foolish for him to not have backup. Are there any injuries?"
"Just a few scrapes and bruises," the reaper replied. "Nothing too serious. And from the looks of it, no more hollows are coming through right now. There might just be a few dozen hiding throughout the town."
"Ok. I'm gonna head back to the Soul Society then. Call me immediately if anything happens," as she says this she unsheaths her short sword and pierces the air in front of her. A flash of light and a tall double door appear in front of her and opens inwards. The void beckoned to her. "Can I leave the rest to you, 3rd seat Mica?"
She turned to look at the reaper. He was taller than her, about 5"8, around 14 years old, with sandy blond hair, and wearing black-styled military BDUs with combat boots. His sword was strapped to his side. He saluted again. "You can count on me, sir!"
"Good," Cheyanne replied. She walked through the doors. "Then I'll see you all back in time for dinner."
The doors closed behind her and faded to nothing. Mica dropped his salute. "With any luck," he said to himself. Looking down, he can see the reapers surrounding a particularly big hollow, about the size of a bus, with the body of a caterpillar, and a clown-like mask. He drew his sword. "With any luck." He dove down and sliced open a segment of its body.
The hollow roared.
Down on the ground, the small team of soul reapers rested uneasily in their rooms. Michael came and assured them that he ordered a team of reapers to take care of the hollows in the town. Though they trusted his judgment, they couldn't help but feel antsy at the situation. But as time moved on throughout the day, and the reiatsu of the hollows disappeared one by one, they fell asleep. Not one reaper died that day.
Dipper POV
We woke up sometime in the afternoon. Mabel woke me up as she got into the shower, the sound of the spray working its way into my dreams. Getting up, I couldn't help but take a sniff at my armpits. Ugh. Not only sweat from running on adrenaline all night but also gunk and guts from the undead too. Why were there so many of them? Were we on some sort of ancient Indian burial ground? I'll have to double-check that later.
But I was also hungry, so broke into that stash of ramen cup noodles that Mable and Grunkle Stan bought. 1 microwave later I'm slurping down noods as Mable comes into the room. She has her nightgown on and was setting up a towel turban for her hair.
"Hey, bro-bro!" She chirped happily. "Man, they have some fancy soaps in there! Oooh, did you make me any noodles?"
"Nope," I tossed her a cup, and she went to go fill it with water. "You sleep good?"
"Yeah!" She said. "Best night ever!"
"It's 4 in the afternoon," I said.
"I meant last night," she put the noddles in the microwave. "I can now definitively say that I survived a zombie apocalypse!"
"I mean, they didn't spread to the rest of the world. And no one died. Well, except for those two government agents."
"Yeah, why did you go and meet them anyway?" She got her noodles and sat opposite me in the breakfast nook. "Were you trying to get molested or something?"
"Why does everyone keep saying that? What, can I not trust a complete stranger in this day and age anymore?"
"Nope, that's stupid," she slurped some noods.
"This coming from the girl who asks every boy she meets to marry her," I roll my eyes and continue to eat.
"Not true! I didn't ask Gideon to marry me," she jabbed her fork in my face. I pushed it back with mine. "And that Michael guy. His powers were awesome! And did you see the way he could fly? It was almost like he was standing in mid-air."
"I forgot to ask him how he did that," I said. I opened the journal, I was going to go over some notes while I was eating. "His powers are spirit-based he said. So he works with ghosts. He said his job was to 'reap' souls and take out these creatures called 'hollows'. I forgot to ask about them too. I asked a lot of stuff already."
"Wow, he's a ghostbuster!" She then shoved all of the noddles in her mouth at once. "Hothothot!"
I laughed at her pain. And slurped a measured amount of noodles after blowing on mine.
"He said I can ask more questions later, and I'm going to take him up on that!"
"You might want to take a shower first," she rubbed her tongue as she spoke. "You smell like death, and look like you walked through a horror movie."
"We basically did," I slurped up the rest of my noodles. "But yeah, I need a shower. How's the water pressure?"
"Pretty good!" I gathered my clothes. "And you can take your time for any… private stuff you want to do." I didn't like what she was implying, or the giddy look on her face.
Deciding to ignore the innuendo she was implying, I asked her, "What do you mean by that?"
"Oh nothing, just that you were holding Wendy's hand almost the entire night!"
"I was?"
"Come on, I thought you would be over the moon at that?" She raised an eyebrow at me.
"I mean… I had other stuff on my mind at the time. We nearly died dozens of times over last night. All of it was my fault too," I hung my head.
Mable said, "Bro, Dipper, look." I glanced up at her. "You made a mistake, sure, but you also helped resolve that mistake and kept us alive."
"I'd say the soul reapers did more than me," I said.
"Sure, but it was your paranoidness and that smart brain in that big head of yours-"
"Hey!"
"But if you didn't swallow your pride and sing with me and Grunkle Stan, we would all be dead." I hummed in response. Mable continued, "And like I said, you were holding Wendy's hand almost all of the night." She grinned. "One step out of the friend zone, bro-bro!"
"You… you really think so?" I asked, my voice cracking a bit.
"I know so," she said confidently. She sniffed the air. "Ugh, but you smell like a corpse. Go take a shower!"
"Yes, ma'am," I saluted her and got up to get clean clothes.
Once in the bathroom I stripped, and turned on the water. While waiting for it to warm up I glanced at myself in the mirror.
Could she like me? I thought. I gave myself a once over. Pale skin, slight tan from running around all summer. No muscle mass to speak of. And Little Dipper… little. No way she would want a kid like me, not even a hair to be seen. Robbie had hair on his chin and armpits. He also had a bunch of gross zits, but so did every teenager.
The window fogged up, and I got into the water.
Working my fingers through my hair to get rid of the putrid gunk, I thought, Why would she even like me? I almost got her killed!
Mable was right though, the soaps they have smelled really good. Lathering up a washcloth I got to work scrubbing the scent of death off of me.
It is true though, she did hold my hand all night. Thinking back on it, her hands were smooth. Slightly calloused, but soft in their own way. And when she saved me from that zombie…
"Oh," I said out loud. Little Dipper decided to wake up.
Trying to ignore it, I scrubbed my lower half, getting my legs and back side. Though, Mabel did tell me to take my time….
Lathering up more soap in my hand, I grab my shaft and stroke up and down. "Ngh," I said softly under my breath. Though the water spray is loud, I don't want to have Mable hear me on the other side of the wall. She could have been joking about me having 'private time' but I wouldn't put it past her to make fun of me for playing with 'little itty bittie dipper!' as she puts it. It happened before.
I stroked my shaft with the soap, using it as lubricant to get some friction going. It's not big, just under 5 inches when hard, yes I measured. Every boy does it.
Feeling the feeling of tightening in my gut that's becoming more and more familiar, my eyes scrunch on their own, but I manage to keep one eye open. I wanted to see if… ooh! My orgasm hit, my dick twitched violently in my hand and I had to let go as it got overly sensitive. I groaned, half in pleasure, half in disappointment. Nothing came out of it at the moment of orgasm, still dry. Still not a man. It still felt good though.
Leaning back against the fall I caught my breath.
Little Dipper twitched a few more times and then began to go soft. When my breathing got under control I rinsed off, quickly ran shampoo through my hair, and shut off the water.
When I got out, freshly clothed and freshly cleaned, Mable was watching tv.
I barely got situated on my own bed when someone knocked on the door. Getting up in annoyance I opened it to find Grunkle Stan.
"Oh, hey Grunkle Stan!" I said, letting him in. "You sleep ok?"
"Yeah, like a baby," he said. "Look, we have to talk about that journal kid."
"Oh," I said. "I guess this is the part where you ground me and take it away, right?"
"Honestly, yeah, I should." He sits on my bed. "Is what I should say!"
"Um, you lost me," I said. I took a seat at the nook.
"Look, I called the construction company that Michael kid recommended, and they said they'll invoice him directly. I won't have to pay a penny!" He smiled triumphantly. "So I'm in a good mood. It also means that you won't have to work off the damages you caused." I nodded, feeling ashamed, but he kept talking.
"However, I will be setting some ground rules if you want to keep that book of yours," he said seriously.
"Yes, anything!" I agreed right away.
"Great! First off, no going into the forest alone, and not without telling me first, got it?" I nod. "If you come across anything dangerous, leave immediately and tell me. I don't want you getting hurt." I agreed to that too. "And no more magic. At all. Not without someone who already knows magic to supervise you. No exceptions," he narrowed his eyes at me. "Not only because you have no idea what you're doing, but because you have no idea what you're doing you might blow yourself up."
"That seems fair," I said.
"Good. That's all."
I rushed up and gave him a hug. "Thanks, Grunkle Stan," I said. "I won't let you down again."
"Aw, shucks kid. Get off of me," he shoves me off and playfully ruffles my hair. It seems like we're good!
Another knock at the door. When I answered it Wendy was standing on the other side. "Sup dude," she said. "Can I come in?"
"Sure!" I quickly let her in, trying to hide the blush on my face. "Just in time too, got out of the shower so I'm fresh and not smelling like death."
"Sweet," she walked in. "Sup Mabel, Stan. Feeling better?"
"Batteries recharged for the next apocalypse!" Mabel shouted.
"My back hurts," Grunkle Stan said.
"Cool, cool," Wendy said. "So my dad said it was alright if you guys wanted to spend the night. We can do monster movies, and laugh at how ridiculous they are compared to what we went through last night!"
"I'm down for that," I said. "Mable, you want to join in?"
"Mmmm… Nah," she said.
"'Nah'?" I repeated. "Why not?"
"You two can hang out, and I can have a sleepover here with Candy and Grenda! Grenda has this new trashy rom-com she wanted to show us."
"Eeeh, I dunno," Stan said, rubbing his chin. "A boy and a girl alone all night? Sounds like a recipe for HPV."
"What kind of girl do you take me for Stan?" Wendy rolled her eyes.
"Well, if you have any other type of protection, I might consider it," he challenged back.
"Protection?" I asked. "What kind of protection? Are we under attack again!?"
Stan, Wendy, and Mabel stared at me. Mabel burst out laughing and Stan shook his head.
"You know what, never mind. I don't have to worry about a damn thing," he got up and walked out of the room. "Have fun you two. Stop by the Shack tomorrow morning, I'll give you an update on the repairs." He slammed the door behind him.
I turned to Wendy. "What did he mean by 'not having to worry' about anything?"
Mable continued to laugh. Wendy sighed, "I'll tell you later. Pack a bag, let's go."
As we left the hotel we caught Michael loading some instruments and other equipment into his car. His car was a black Camero with four doors. He turned and saw us.
"Hey guys," he waved. "Going camping or something?" He noticed my overnight bag.
"Nah," Wendy said. "Movie night. Dad cleared it so we can have a sleepover."
"Oh, cool… need any protection?" Red came up and swatted his arm. Hard.
"Don't be rude!" she said.
"Ow, damn it woman," he rubbed his arm. "Can nobody take a joke?"
"Why does everyone keep talking about protection?" I asked.
Michael said, "You know what, never mind. I don't have to worry about that. You don't either. Enjoy your movie night. We have practice. Can you two still make it to our gig tomorrow night?"
"Yeah, what time is it?" Wendy asked.
"We set up at 5:30, mic check is at 6, show time at 7."
"Alright, we'll be there," Wendy nodded at him. She held up devil horns. "Rock on, dudes."
He smiled, flashed his own horns, and winked at us. "That was always the plan. Have fun you two." He helped load up the rest of their equipment.
Wendy and I got in her truck and took off.
On the way, I asked, "Ok, be real with me. Why does everyone keep talking about protection? Did I miss something?"
Wendy sighed. "They were talking about condoms dude. They think I might try something tonight, which I'm not."
My face burned crimson. Oh. "Um… what makes you think I might not try something?"
She looked at me. At the same time, we burst out laughing. "Like… like that will ever happen!" She laughed.
"Y-yeah!" I laughed with her, while silently dying inside. "I wouldn't even know where to start with something like that!"
"You'll learn when you're older," she assured me. "Much older."
Not an outright rejection, but I'll take it. After all, the future is boundless.
Soon we reached her house situated in the middle of the woods. When we walked in, Manly Dan eyed me with suspicion.
"I thought the girl was coming over too," he growled out, his fists clenching his can of beer and crushing it, spilling foam everywhere.
"Dad," Wendy said in a warning tone.
I walked forward and held my hand out. "Hi, I'm Dipper."
He eyed me up and down, then turned back to the tv. "I ain't got nuttin' to worry about." He ignored me completely, engrossed with his show.
My face fell. Wendy ushered me to her room.
Hours later, the sun went down, and everyone in the house turned in for the night. Everyone except me and Wendy that is. We watched some terrible B movies and told funny stories about our families.
"If you think the 'lamby lamby dance' was cringe-worthy, wait until you hear about Mabels 'poo poo pee pee' dance," I was telling her.
"No. Way," Wendy said, absolutely tickled silly at the notion.
"It's true," I said. "She was super afraid to use the toilet so we had to come up with a dance number to get her to go poop in the toilet and finally get out of diapers."
"How old were you guys?"
"4," I said. "I was out of diapers by 2. Maybe 3 years old. I have excellent bladder control," I said proudly.
"Good for you man," she said. "How are things going along with that book, by the way?"
"Oh, the journal?" I reached for it and opened it up to a page about a fake tree. I shone the black light over it. "I found a hint at a secret bunker out in the forest. I might go there tomorrow before the show."
"Think you might have time?" She asked.
"I'll only be down there for a few hours," I said. "That's if we even find the place to begin with. I might have an idea where it could be."
"Really? Cool. Do you mind if I tag along?"
"Y-you want to come along? Really?" I asked, smiling at her. "Sure. You guys are fun to hang out with. And we can do a monster hunt! Monster hunt! Monster hunt!" She began to chant. I chanted along with her. Then I yawned loudly.
"Wow, what time is it?" I checked my phone. "It's 11:59. Should we get some sleep?"
"Hmm, yeah. We have a big day tomorrow," she got up and shut the tv off. I went to my corner of the room and began to unroll my sleeping bag. I sent a quick text to Mable and Soos, telling them of the bunker I wanted to find. Mable immediately replied an affirmative. And then texted a long string of eggplant emojis and donuts and fire. You don't have to be a teenager to decipher that. Soos texted back as well.
'Sure thing dude!' he said. 'And you were right about that potion. I was purging from both ends! My butt hurts now.'
I texted back, "Too much information dude," I said out loud.
"What is?" Wendy asked.
I tossed my phone onto my sleeping bag. "Nothing. Something Soos texted me…" I trailed off as I turned around. Wendy was in the process of taking off her undershirt, and her bra on full display. When she saw me, she noticed the wide staring eyes I had and then looked down on herself. She quickly covered up, a red blush on her face.
I said, "I'm gonna go to the bathroom. You can change in peace."
I left, leaving her on her own.
3rd person POV
When Dipper left, Wendy let out a shaky laugh. She had completely forgotten that he was there and started to do her nightly routine normally. He definitely had eyes for her, that's for sure. The thought made her smile. And then she felt guilty for some odd reason.
Outside, high up in the sky, Michael was in his Soul Reaper uniform, invisible to the naked eye by the living mortals.
Red flash-stepped next to him. "Here to relieve you, boss," she said.
Michael nodded, and he began to walk away. The two seemed safe below. Red followed him.
"So… you good?" She asked. "By the way, the other reapers finished up and went back to the Soul Society. They said you'll have a full report in your email tomorrow morning."
"Good, good," Michael said. "I'm fine. I just have… a bad feeling."
"Do you sense anything?" She asked. Her hand twitched next to her sword hilt.
"No," Michael replied. "It's just, that kid has a pretty powerful tome. I feel like I should have confiscated it, but…"
"But?" Red prodded.
"But I can't help but feel like he was meant to have it. And that I am meant to walk behind him, ready to catch him if he falls. He… he kind of reminds me of me."
"How?" Red asked.
"Making decisions that could have gotten him killed, and then going back for me. It shouts me," Michael replied. Red nodded as if this made sense. "I dunno. Maybe I'm biased. I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?"
Red nodded again. They said their goodbyes, and he flash-stepped away, leaving Red to finish her patrol.
Down in the house below Dipper was in the bathroom, furiously masturbating into the toilet.
The sight of Wendy's pale stomach and perky breasts in a beige bra was etched into his brain. Soon he felt his gut tighten and his orgasm hit.
"Ngh!" He stuffed his fist into his mouth to stifle the sound. He was quiet, but still, might as well make sure.
When he was done, he slowly opened his eyes. They widened in shock. On the toilet rim, and dripping down his hand was clear fluid. He smiled to himself. One more step forward, he thought to himself.
The next day
Dipper POV
After getting the go-ahead from Grunkle Stan, Mabel, Soos and I made our way to the area where I found the journal at the beginning of the summer.
Taking out my black light, I showed off the schematics of the fake tree. "According to the journal, there's a hidden lever somewhere around here that will open a secret hatch. Everyone spread out and look for clues."
"Oh, somebody doing blues clues?" Wendy came out of the brush on her bike. "Sup guys. Sorry I'm late, I had to get my little brothers situated. My dad can't cook for shit."
Mabel laughed at the swear. "Hey, Wendy!" I said. "Glad you could make it!"
"No problem dude. And did you say hidden lever? Cuz I think that's it up there." she pointed up the fake tree and we see it. About 40 or 50 feet off the ground. The metal tree branch was distinct from the other metal tree branches around it as it was on its own, and it was the only branch to have hinges on it.
"Wow, good eye!" Soos said.
"Yeah, wow!" I said. "Now… how are we gonna get up there?"
"I got this," Wendy said. She turned back to look at me. "Mind not telling my dad that I climbed a tree without a spotter?" I mimed zipping my lips and throwing away the key. She did the same. Turning back to the tree, she took off her belt and wrapped it around the base of the trunk. Then pulling a Mulan, she used the belt to anchor herself as she climbed up. When she reached the fake branch, she took her hand ax out of her back pocket and slammed the flat end into it. It moved like a lever with a click.
"Boosh!" She said. The tree rumbled and started to rise higher into the air. "Uh oh," she said. She glanced backward and dropped, aiming for a bush. "Oof!" She said. "I'm ok!"
The tree rose higher and higher until an archway rose from the ground. Once it was fully revealed the tree stopped moving.
"Woah," Soos said. "Talk about some James Bond stuff! This is a whole hidden layer!"
"Yeah," I said. Then I glanced back at Wendy, who was dusting herself off. Going up to her, I ask, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, not even a scratch on me!" She said.
"Cool… um…"
"What?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but, how are your pants not falling down?" I asked.
She laughed. "Why? Trying to sneak another peak? Who knew you had such a naughty streak," she walked away laughing, refastening her belt. My cheeks turned crimson.
The opening of the tree had led to a spiral staircase that lead down. After 4 or 5 turns down, it opened up to an earthen hallway that was carved out of the rock itself.
Soos and Wendy naturally walked ahead of us, while Mabel and I lagged behind.
She tapped my shoulder. "So… you got an eyeful last night, huh?" she wiggled her eyebrows at me.
"Yeah," I replied in a sarcastic tone. "The same eyeful I get whenever you decide to spontaneously change sweaters."
"So… you didn't see anything?"
I was silent for a second, then leaned in and whispered in her ear. "I saw her bra."
"Oooh!" She exclaimed. I shushed her before Wendy could hear.
"Seriously, though, nothing happened!"
"Mhmm," Mabel said skeptically.
"I'm serious. I don't think anything is going to happen between us."
"Mhmmmmm."
"And if it does, then I'm just gonna wait for things to happen naturally."
"MHMMMMMMMM."
"... Whatever, Mabel," I walked ahead and left her there.
"MHMMMMMMMM!" She made that sound after me.
Soon we came up to a weird rectangular room with no door on the other side. The walls were made out of some sort of square paneling. Each and every single one of them had strange symbols on them. There must be hundreds of them.
"So… dead end?" Wendy said.
"Maybe not, dudes. This seems like a Scooby-doo type of scenario," Soos said.
"Huh," I said. "There was a page similar to this room's design. But," I took out the journal and flashed the black light on it. Only a few of the symbols lit up, but no instruction as to what they are. "I have no idea what they mean. This is kind of weird."
"Not as weird as Dipper's internet history! Hey-oh!" My sister pushed me, and I stumbled over a bit. My foot hit a panel on the floor, and it pushed in. Uh-oh.
The door we came from shut on its own and locked. Then several of the panels started to rise in every direction. Some of the squares on the floor rose up, some on the wall, and ceiling. The panels rose to form pillars, and they were starting to close in.
Everyone scrambled at once and tried to push on them in a futile attempt to stop or even slow their progress.
"This isn't working!" Mabel shouted.
"What do we do?" Wendy asked.
Suddenly I had an idea. I reached for the journal and shined the black light on the 'security room' page. "Everyone!" I shouted to them. "Look for these four symbols!" I turned the journal towards them and showed the highlighted symbols. It didn't say there was a specific sequence, but we just had to hit all of them and hopped for the best.
They nodded, and we all ran around the room to push in the panel with buttons on the pillars with the correct symbols. Soos, Mabel, and Wendy all got one, all that was left was…
"There, on the roof!" Soos said, pointing to one. A pillar was about to cover it. Thinking fast, well, not really thinking, my body just jumped into action. I ran, using some of the rising pillars to hop up and make my way to the button I needed. Just as a pillar was about to cover it, I managed to push it in with my forefinger. "Got it!" I said.
The pillars stopped moving, and then everything started to reverse. The room went back to normal, and a door opposite the way we came in revealed itself and opened up.
Catching our breaths, we go into the newly opened room. Inside was a living area. In one corner there was a cot with the blankets made, a nook with a kitchenette right across from it. A shower stall with fogged glass in the far corner with a sink and toilet right next to that.
Past that was a storage room, the shelves filled with food and other supplies, some of them were labeled in 5-year increments. 2025, 2030, and so on and so forth for over 60 years.
"Wow," Wendy said. "This guy was one hell of a prepper."
"Prepper?" I asked.
"It's what my dad is. People who prepare for the apocalypse. They build underground bunkers like this and hoard enough supplies that could feed a small country. I've never seen one that looks this complicated though. That security room was intense! I'm still feeling the rush! I love hanging out with you guys!"
"R-really?" I asked, my cheeks feeling warm.
"Yeah man," she replied. "You both are awesome!"
"Hey dudes, check this out!" Soos called us over to a cabinet with science equipment. He held up two flasks up to his eyes and made a funny face. We all burst out laughing.
Past the supply area was some sort of control room. One wall was lined with monitors, and on them showed grainy footage of some underground tunnels dug out from the dirt. The wall opposite it was a red thread board connecting a bunch of papers labeled 'experiments'. Some of them were numbered, and some were not. I wonder what they could mean.
Before I could get a chance to snap some pictures, Mabel pulled me aside and shoved me back into the supply room.
"Bro," she said, with a smile that spelled trouble for me. "Missing something?" She held up a crumpled-up piece of paper. Why does it look famil-Oh no.
"Mabel! Give that back!" I snatched it from her before she had a chance to hold it out of my reach.
"Hey!"
"Mabel, where did you get this?"
"It was lying on the floor over there for everyone to see," she said, pointing to the living area. It must have fallen out of my pocket. "'Dear Wendy,'" she recited. "'I don't know how to tell you this, but this entire summer I've been having feelings for you, and I think I might be in love with you. Will you be my girlfriend?'" She raised an eyebrow at me and smirked. My face reddened. "You were going to confess today, weren't you? Why not do it now? We're literally underground and miles away from any distractions!"
"Mabel, no," I said. "I wrote this, yes, but I wasn't going to confess anything today." I ripped the paper in half, and then in half again. "I told you. Just because I might or might not have seen something last night doesn't mean that I'm ready to act on anything. I like where things are right now, and I don't want to mess up my friendship with her. I actually have a friend, and even though I'm crushing, I want to keep her as a friend. Just… let it go for now. Ok?" I tossed the ripped-up page over my shoulder and went back into the control room.
"Hey, Dipper!" Wendy called out to me. She was standing in a closet doing the robot. "Check out this weird room." She made a monotone robot voice. "I am a robot. Please input orders in me. Exterminate! Exterminate!"
I burst out laughing. "I didn't know that you watched Doctor-"
"Dipper," Mabel came up behind me just as I reached Wendy. "Just know that I'm doing this for your own good because I love you." She kissed me on the cheek.
"Wha-"
She shoved me into the closet, the very small closet, with Wendy and locked the door behind us.
"Um… what's wrong with your sister dude?" Wendy asked.
I sprang up to my feet and pounded on the door. "Mabel! Open this door, right now! This isn't funny!"
Her muffled reply came through the reinforced steel. "Oh, I will… as soon as you tell Wendy that thing you wanted to tell her!"
"Uh, what did she say?" Wendy asked.
"Oh… nothing. She's just been eating raw sugar packets again."
There was a pause. "That's beside the point!"
"Mabel!" I punched the door. Ow.
"Ugh, I can't see a thing in here," Wendy said. "I'm gonna turn on this light."
She pulled a chain hanging just above us. But instead of a light turning on, we got doused in ice-cold water that smelled faintly of antiseptic. We yelled out in shock. But before we could process what happened a jet of hot air knocked us into each other. The air was hot enough to instantly dry us, without somehow giving us 2nd-degree burns. A door opened up.
"What is this place?" I asked. Going into the new room we were in the earthen tunnels from the monitors. The place stank of rich earth and mildew.
"Some of these tunnels look… not man-made," Wendy noted. As we walked forwards, her foot kicked a can. We crouched down to get a better look at it. "Huh… this was recently opened."
She turned the can upside down and some liquid dripped from the opening. "Someone is still down here," I said. All of a sudden an inhuman screech sounded from deeper inside a tunnel. "Or something!"
We ran back to the decontamination closet and we both pounded on the door.
"Mabel! Open the door, there's a monster in here with us!" I shouted as I desperately tried to pry open the hatch, but it was locked tight.
"Nice try, little brother!" She said through the door. "But the only monsters in there are your own inner demons!"
"That is so deep, dude," we heard Soos say.
"I'll let you out once you confess!"
"Dipper," Wendy said, grabbing my shoulder. "Just tell me whatever it is Mabel wants you to say." She looked me directly in the eyes. Her brow was scrunched in worry, her eyes wide with fear.
"I…I…. I'm gonna look for another way out!" I said. I grabbed her hand and ran deeper inside the tunnels, avoiding the one that had a large shadow at the end of it.
"Dipper! Is this a good idea?" She asked me.
It wasn't. We came up on a dead end.
"Oh no," I said. The screech came again, from directly behind us. We turned to see the shadow of the beasts looming just around the corner. It opened its mouth to scream again, causing the tunnel to shake, and make dirt fall from the ceiling. It started to advance….
But before it could go much further, another shadow leaped onto the back of it. It was the shadow of a man!
"Back!" he said. "Back you foul beast! Go get your sustenance somewhere else!" The beast roared. The stranger took the opening to reach into its mouth and literally rip out its tongue!
The monster was cowed for now. With a whimper, it slunk back deeper into the tunnels and was gone. The stranger walked to where we could see him. He was tall, taller than Wendy, with silver grey hair, a thick handlebar mustache, and welding goggles covering his eyes.
"Well…" he said. "I just ripped out a monster's tongue… ew," he tossed it to the side.
"Woah," I said. "Wendy… this is the guy!"
"The guy?" She asked.
"What guy?" The guy asked.
"He's the guy, Wendy! He's the guy! You're the Author of the journal!" I took out the journal to show him. His eyes widened. But he looked over his shoulder.
"Come along, the creature will regenerate soon. Then we can speak about how you came to possess my tome."
Mabel POV
I know that what I did to Dipper and Wendy was wrong, but all this beating around the bush was making me go insane! Seeing him pine, haha pun! Seeing him pine after her hurt to watch. And hearing him gripe and groan about it was even more painful!
I love my brother, really, I do. But sometimes I wonder if we really are brother and sister because of how different we are. I'm outgoing and make friends easily, but he's timid and introverted. He doesn't make friends easily. And the last time he had a crush, he sat on it for over 2 years, just watching her from afar.
At first, I thought it was really cute like he was the main character in a romance novel 'pining from afar'. But then Emily Witticur got together with Jason Macnamara right before school let out this summer. Dipper was devastated. Which I didn't understand because he hadn't even said 5 words to her the entire time we were in middle school.
Our parents said that we're 'two halves of the same coin' which I didn't get. Both Dipper and I are worth waaaaaaay more than a quarter!
Dipper explained that it's a saying that just because we're twins it doesn't mean we both are the exact same. 'We are two halves of a whole,' he said. 'It means that even though we're twins we're not the same person. We have different personalities, different wants, and stuff. It also means that just because we have different personalities, that we're not similar. You get it?'
I didn't. But I just nodded along, and then made a sweater with the president side of a quarter on the front, and the eagle side on the back.
But still. He needed this push. But I can't help but feel like I might have messed up in some way. Ah well! He'll get over, and thank me later!
"Hey Soos, come check this out!" I said. Over by the monitors, there was a button that says 'cold', and right above it was footage of a tank of some kind.
"What is it, dude?" He asked.
"Check it, frozen," I pushed the button, and the tank came to life. Frost started to form on the edge of the glass. "Not frozen. Frozen, not frozen!"
"Haha, cool!" Soos says. He noticed a paper taped to the control panel. "What's this? 'Experiment 212, the shapeshifter'," He read. "Um… wait. Didn't Dipper say that there was a monster in there with them?" Uh oh.
"I thought he was just making a joke…."
"You know that Dippers jokes are terrible! Remember the one about the woodpecker in the pants!?"
"I know, that one was awful!" I said, beginning to panic. "We need to go and rescue them!"
"Well, isn't this a fine mess," a voice said suddenly. Soos and I looked around the room and there was no one else in here with us. "Up here," it says again.
We look up at the ceiling and see the see-through form of Michael descending through the solid rock as if he was a ghost. Then I remember that Dipper said that he was basically a ghost himself, and a ghostbuster. He wasn't wearing his normal clothes. He was dressed in a black military dress uniform, the one where the coat goes over his hips and is tied with a white belt like a skirt. He also has a white overcoat and his glasses aren't on his face. His sword was strapped through his belt.
He floats down to the floor in front of us and his form becomes solid.
"So… what did you do?" He asks. I was about to answer him, but he continued to speak. He didn't sound mad, but I got the feeling that he was mad. "Because I went to the Shack to check up on everyone and imagine my surprise when I hear your Grunkle say that you all went on a monster hunt. And after all you guys have been through last night too? The situation seems serious. So, what happened?"
"Hey, you got the Grunkle Stan part right!" Soos said.
"Thank you, Soos," Michael nods at him. "I've been practicing. So, I'll ask again; what's the situation?"
We tell him. And then Michael blasts open the door that Wendy and Dipper were trapped in. We follow in after him, he draws his sword as we descend through the cave system. Don't worry Dipper and Wendy, we're coming to save you!
Dipper POV
The Author of the journal leads us to his base camp. "Sorry about the mess," he said. "I don't get any non-mole people visiting anymore."
"How long have you been down here?" Wendy asked.
"I'm not sure, time passes in a blur for me," he said. "I could have been down here for weeks. Maybe even days. Years? I dunno. I miss orange juice."
"Orange juice?" She asked.
"It prevents scurvy," both the Author and I said.
"Now," he came up to me. "I would very much know how you came into the possession of my book."
"Oh," I said and handed it to him. "I found it in a fake tree stump. I was hammering signs for my Grunkle Stan's attractions and stumbled upon it."
"Wow," he said leafing through his book. "After all this time…" he turned around, slowly turning the pages, most likely going down memory lane.
I heard Wendy suck in a sharp breath right next to me. "Psst, Dipper!" She whispered into my ear. Normally this would have sent shivers down my spine, but the urgency in her voice made me turn to her. Her face was one of terror. She showed me an open can of beans. On the label was the picture of a prospector with a dog… the same prospector who is standing before us. The same prospector who I just gave the journal to. Uh oh.
Thinking quickly, I slowly approach the Fake Author and ask, "So, it seems like it's getting late. My Grunkle is gonna be wondering where we are. Think I can get my journal back and we can pick this up tomorrow?"
The Fake Author doesn't say anything. But then his back goes ridged. His freaking head starts to turn 180 degrees to look at me, his eyes were oval slits like a goats, only vertical instead of horizontal. In a deep distorted voice, he says, "You aren't going anywhere!"
He roars that screech that we heard earlier and begins to crawl up the wall backward like a crab.
It shifts into its true form, and honestly, it looks like the stuff I shot into the toilet yesterday.
"Aaaah!" I shouted.
"Holy shit!" Wendy shouted at the same time.
"Now, witness my true form! How do you like it? Go on, admit it. You like it!"
"You are so gross," Wendy said.
"Give me back my journal!"
"Haha! You're journal?" The creature laughed maniacally. "This isn't your journal. It belongs to my father. And that 6 fingered nerd hasn't been himself in over 30 years!"
"Wait, father?" I asked.
"And now that you've opened the way for me to get out of here," it ignored my question and then shifted into a version of me. And then into a version of Wendy. "I can finally go out into the world and live my life! And to wreak havoc!" Using Wendy's form, it flipped through the journal and shifted into what it saw. It did this with a gnome, the Hidebehind, and a rock monster. It laughed to itself the whole time.
There was a boom from somewhere deep in the tunnel, and it shook the earth around us. The monster lost its footing for a second but managed to stick to the roof. Wendy took the opportunity to grab a stone that fell from the ceiling and threw it at the monster.
"Who gave you permission to use my body, you creep!" She threw the stone at the monster and nailed it in the head!
It growled, shifted into a frog-like creature the size of a mini Cooper, and shot its massive tongue at her. Wendy, thinking quickly, grab another piece of debris, some sheet metal, and used it as a shield. She held on as the tongue stuck to it, then let it go before she lost her footing. The piece of metal smacked into the creature, causing it to drop the journal.
Rushing forward, I snatched it up. "Let's get out of here!" I said and me and Wendy ran for it.
The creature dropped behind us, roared, and shifted into something that made the ground rumble as it came after us. I chanced a glance behind me and saw some sort of boulder monster rolling down the tunnel after us!
Wendy grabbed my hand and pulled me to the left. We ducked into another tunnel as the one we were on dead-ended in a split. Emphasis on dead! But the creature's momentum carried it through, causing it to crash into the wall. The ceiling collapsed as that part of the tunnel caved in.
The falling debris stopped just short of us and then was still.
"Holy shit," Wendy said again. "I take back what I said. This isn't as awesome."
"I'm gonna agree with you," I said and helped myself up. I stuck out my hand and got Wendy up too. "What do you think he meant when he said 'my father'? How is the Author of the journals his father? I don't even what to know what he procreated with to make that."
"Yeah, let's not think about it. Come on, let's get out of here before it finds a way through this."
Luckily enough we ducked into the tunnel that lead towards the exit, and we soon ran into Soos, Mable and Michael!
"Woah, what happened to you, dudes?" Soos asked when he saw us.
But before Wendy would answer, I put my arm out in front of her. "Wait," I said. "What if they're that shapeshifter?"
"Oh no, we could be! Quick, Mabel inspect my shape!" Soos lifted his shirt, and Mable poked his belly.
"Boop."
"Haha, do that again!" Mabel booped him a second time. "Haha! Even better the second time!"
"It's them," I deadpanned.
"Here's my proof," Michael said and made an orb of blue light in his hand. "No other creature other than soul reapers, or people with spirit powers can do this. So, any idea what we're dealing with?"
Before we could say anything, there was a rumbling, and then a screech. "Oh no, it's coming back!" Wendy said.
"Quick, everybody get next to me!" Michael said. We all did. He held out his hand, and his glowing orb became blue fire. "Bakudo no. 10. Kagami!" 5 strands of fire shot out from his hand, and landed on our heads. The fire raced up and down our bodies and then went out. The shapeshifter, in the form of a spider creature the size of a great dane with scorpion claws scuttled past us, and out of sight around the corner.
"That was the freakiest thing I have ever seen in my entire fucking life," Michael said. "And I've seen the den of a serial killer who likes to eat little girls. In more ways than one." Michael shuddered. "God, I hate spiders!"
Deciding to not comment on the implications of that, I sat down and tried to catch my breath. I looked over and noticed that Wendy has a skinned knee. It was bleeding somewhat.
"Oh my gosh, Wendy you're bleeding!"
She dropped to one knee and inspected it. "It's cool dude. Just a little bit of blood."
She took off her shirt, leaving her with just her white tank top on, ripped apart the sleeve, and tied it around her ankle.
"I can heal that when we get out of here," Michael said. "But first we need to deal with that thing. So, what do we know?"
"We know that it's an experiment of some kind," Mabel said. "We found some papers on it."
"It can turn into anything it sees, even a photo of it," Soos said.
"It also said that the Author was its father," I said. "I don't know how, but if you guys found a paper that calls it an 'experiment' then the Author must have created it… somehow."
"So we know it's a shapeshifter," Wendy said. "It has daddy issues, and by extension, anger issues." She tied what was left of her shirt around her waist. "We also know that it pissed me off majorly by trying to kill us. We can't let it escape."
"I place a barrier at the entrance," Michael said. "But if there's anything in that journal that can drill through solid bedrock, it's gonna be trapped in here indefinitely. Along with us. So, we need to contain it somehow."
"The freezer!" Mabel said. "In the control room, there was a button connected to a pod. When you push it the pod turns on and frost starts to form. We can trap it in there!"
"Great… any idea how?"
"We saw some fire hoses on our way in!" Soos said. "If we can lure it to that area we can blast it with the hoses and trap it in deep freeze!"
"Ok, that's a good plan," Michael said. "Because I can't use my full powers down here without burying us alive."
"Not getting caved in will be a good thing," I said. "Now… how are we gonna lure it down there?"
Everyone looked at me. Looked at the journal. Oh, I see now.
"Ok Mabel," I said. "Stick to the plan. As long as it follows us everyone else can do their part."
"I know bro-bro," she said. "And… I'm sorry for trapping you down here. I thought you just needed an extra push."
"It's fine," I said, even though I was still mad. We just had bigger problems right now. "And we also have Michael following us in ghost form. We'll have backup just in case."
I couldn't see or even sense in any way shape or form his spirit, but he assured us that he would be right behind us, before disappearing into thin air.
Soon we came across the Shapeshifter raging in an open chamber. He was shifting between big creatures and smacking the ground with giant meaty fists, before shifting into something else and screeching at the top of its lungs.
"Come on out you single-formed weaklings!" It shouted and then rammed its head into a wall. It was angry.
"Ok, here we go," I said to Mabel. We walked forward.
"Oh gee Dipper," Mable said in terrible faux acting. "This book sure has a lot of mythical creatures. I wonder what else it's hiding!"
"Yeah," I said in just a bad of acting skill. "Sure would be a shame if we just left it out in the open."
"Ah," The Shapeshifter turned to us. "Finally giving yourselves up? And look! A new plaything. I wonder if I should turn into her," it shifted into Mabel. "Or maybe you!" It turned into me. "How about both!" It turned into a horrifying mash-up of me and Mabel conjoined at the hips with spider legs coming out of the bottom half of its body. "Now, give me that book!" It shouted and scuttled after us.
We ran.
We managed to map out the route to the cryo chambers so we ran on the path that was already laid out for us. We got there, with the Shapeshifter hot on our tails, and just as we managed to get into the room, Soos and Wendy were waiting with a fire hose primed and ready.
"Duck!" She shouted and pulled open the nozzle.
We ducked down as a jet of high-pressure water shot over our heads and into the Shapeshifter. The plan was actually working as the water was moving the creature toward an open pod. "No!" It shouted. "No, not again!"
The plan was actually working! That is until the water pressure started to die down. The creature stopped struggling and got to its feet. It shifted back into its true form and began laughing.
"A nice attempt, but ultimately futile. Now, give me that book!"
Before it could start moving, Michael reappeared and shouted, "Hey, cum face!"
We turned to look at him, he drew his sword and opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. "Um… wow. I had a one-liner all ready to go, but, man you are ugly. Anyway, fall from heaven and pierce my enemy!" He turned the sword over hand in hand in a clockwise motion. The sword crackled with electricity and shifted into his blue spear. "Gungnir!" His whole body coated in lightning, he plunges the tip of the spear into the ground with a trail of water leading to the Shapeshifter.
Immediately it got shocked with thousands, probably 10's thousands of volts of electricity. It roared out in pain for a few seconds while the stream of electricity flowed into it. After about 10 seconds it stopped, and it flopped onto the floor.
"Is it dead?" I asked, slowly creeping forward.
"We're gonna go get ready with the switch!" Soos said. He and Mabel began to run out of the room. "You guys get it into the pod!"
They left, and Wendy, Michael, and I crept forward to get the shifter.
Suddenly, while still on the ground, it shifted into an armored caterpillar-like creature and rolled up. It rolled itself all over the room. We all just barely managed to dodge it. Michael tried readying a spell. "Bakudo number-!" But then the shifter hit the water main and a flood of water burst forth and swept us all out of the room.
The water drained out of the room, and I was left gasping in the tunnel just outside of the cryo room.
I got up shakily to my feet, coughing up water that got into my throat and tried to blow some out of my sinuses. Slowly I shuffled back into the room and looked around. "Michael?" I called out. "Wendy? Are you two ok?"
Then I saw her. Wendy was sprawled out on the ground unconscious. I have no idea if she's dead or not.
"Oh no, Wendy!" I ran forward and crouched down next to her. I cradled her head in my hands and tried to shake her awake. She didn't. "No, no, no!" I said, beginning to panic. Tears sprang into my eyes. "I'm so sorry! If only I had told you earlier, then we wouldn't be in this mess! All this summer I've been catching feelings for you, and Mabel found a letter that I wrote. She tried to get me to tell you that… that…. I'm in love with you! And now…" I trailed off and put my face in my hands.
Before I could start to sob, I heard behind me. "Um… Dipper?"
I turned my head around so fast it almost cracked. "Wait? Wendy! Then who's… oh no!"
The fake Wendy opened its eyes and growled. It shoved me out of the way and ran at the real Wendy. It tackled her to the ground and began to wrestle with each other. It was only then that I noticed that Wendy had the journal and they were trying to grab it from each other's hands.
"Give me that journal!" One shouted. "No, you first!" One punched the other in the chest. "Ow! You bitch, you punched me in the boob!" The other kicked at the crotch of the first, and they both fell to the ground again.
The ax that the real Wendy brought fell to the floor and slid at my feet. Picking it up, I was about to attack when I found a cliche on my hands. They were both identical and I lost track of the real one.
"Oh come on!" I said. "Which one of you is the real one!?" One of the Wendy's looked at me, and winked, giving me a sultry smile that in normal circumstances would have made 'little Dipper' stand up. The other mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key.
I swung the ax at the Wendy who winked at me.
It shouted, green ooze seeping from the wound as it contorted and shifted back into its true form. The pod behind it lit up.
"Push it in!" I shouted. Wendy and I ran and tackled the creature just as it managed to wrench the ax from its chest. We managed to wrestle it into the pod and closed it.
"No!" It shouted. The pod began to hum and spray it with some sort of liquid that steamed. But there was no heat, only cold coming from the machine. "No! Not again!" It shifted into something big to break through, but the machine held. It shifted into a literal piece of fire, but the machine doused it. It turned back into a rock monster and punched at the glass, not even a crack. This is one sturdy invention!
"Nooooooo!" It shouted as the window fogged up.
"Is everyone ok?" We turn to see Michael running in from the tunnel, a line of blood coming from under his hairline by his temple. Mabel and Soos ran in a second after him.
"What happened to you?" Wendy asked.
"The wave swept me further down the tunnel. I hit my head and passed out for a moment. I'm fine though." He walked up to the chamber. "You got him in?"
"Yeah," I said. "Let's get out of here."
We began to walk, but the creature started to laugh inside the chamber. We turned to see it standing there inside the pod. "You think you've won," he said. "But you have no idea what's coming for you. My father kept talking about it, day and night. And it's coming and coming soon."
"What's coming?" Michael asked. "If there is something that will endanger lives, you have to tell me."
"Hahahaha," he laughed again. "Just wait and see. No spoilers, right? And you," he looked at me. "When it happens, this is the last form you will ever take!"
He shifted into me, and gave a horrified yell as he tried to defend himself from something only he was seeing. The Shapeshifter froze in my form, leaving a perfect statue of me frozen in terror.
We stood there in silence. "Haha," Soos said. "Good luck sleeping tonight!"
Michael walked forward. He put his palms out towards the machine, his index fingers and thumbs touching each other. "Bakudo number 73. Tozansho!" A pyramid of blue energy formed around the pod, and then faded from existence. "If the machine fails, it's still never gonna get out of there," he said.
When we got to the surface Michael floated up and hit the lever to close the tree entrance. When he came down, his actual body stepped out from some bushes. "Hello," his body said. "I'm Alpha, a mod soul in service to the Head Captain. Pleased to meet you all."
"Thanks, Alpha," Michael said. He dug into his coat pocket and brought out a red fingerless glove with a skull in blue flame. "That will be all for now."
"Your welcome sir!" Alpha said. Michael reached into his own stomach with the gloved hand and brought it back out. His body crumpled and fell down, his eyes wide and staring but clearly no one was home anymore. In Michaels's hand was a small green pill.
"Substitute soul pill," Michael said, answering our unasked questions. "Soul reapers use them to eject their souls into the void and this thing can inhabit their body and get it to safety. I made this one myself. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back into my body and get to my concert. Are you guys still coming tonight?" We nod at him, and he drags himself behind some trees to do… god knows what to it actually.
"Welp, I'm all adventured out," Soos said and began to walk away. "My face hurts from making scared faces all day."
"I'm gonna make breakfast! Syrup on cereal!" Mabel shouted. Soos seemed to agree to it.
Wendy began to walk away. Knowing that this will be a painful conversation, I ran up and caught up to her.
"Hey," I began. "Um… look, so, in the heat of the moment I might have said something that… look, can we just forget about what I said, please?"
Wendy sighed and sat on a log. "Dipper, I kind of already knew."
"You… what?"
"Yeah man, you think that I don't hear what you whisper to yourself all the time? I have ears you know!"
"Uuuugh," I groaned and sat down on the log next to her. "This is so embarrassing."
"Look, I'm flattered, really I am. Especially about the reaction you gave me last night when I accidentally flashed you."
"You were still wearing a bra," I blushed.
"Still. Also, I know what you were doing in the bathroom too."
"What!" I said, almost falling off the log. "How?"
"You just told me," she chuckled. "Only someone weed-whacking would give that kind of reaction."
"Oh… I'm sorry."
"Don't be," she said. "It's natural, and honestly, it's a better reaction than I've gotten to some of my other boyfriends."
"You… you've shown other people?" I don't know why I'm surprised. Wendy is absolutely gorgeous.
"Eh. One guy took one look at my stomach and passed out, and Robbie tried but never got that far. Look, I'm flattered but you do know that I'm too old for you right?"
"Uuuugh," I groaned again. "I know."
"Well… now that we got it all out in the open, how do you feel?"
"Um… Anxious. Confused. Scared. Kind of itchy."
She laughed. "Don't be itching dude. It's a good thing. You confessed, and the worst a girl can say is no. And I'm still your friend, right?"
"Yes," I said with no hesitation. "But… do you still want to be friends? Won't it be awkward that I'm crushing on you?"
"Dude, I just wrestled myself! Now that was awkward!"
We sat in silence for a few seconds.
"Is…" I began.
"Is what?" She asked.
"Is the age difference really all that bad?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… Mabel and my birthday is just next month. I'll be 13 then. And you said your birthday is in the winter, right?"
"November 7th," she confirmed.
"So that's only a 2 year and 3 month difference. Is it really that bad?"
"Well… no. Not really. But still, what would people say?"
"Do you honestly care what people think about you?" I asked, looking up at her.
"Your parents? Wouldn't they think I'm like, a cradle robber or something?" She rubbed her shoulder.
"Honestly, I think they'd just be happy that I talked to a girl, period," I shrugged. "I… I don't have a lot of friends back home. None actually. And no girl would be caught dead talking to 'little dipstick' back home either. You… everyone here brought out the best of me this summer."
"Hmmm…." She was silent. "Tell you what dude," She looked at me. "How about if by the end of the summer, if you don't find a girl, and no guy sweeps me off my feet, we do a date. Dinner in town, picnic in the woods, whatever. But it doesn't have to be a promise or any pressure. It will just be us. How does that sound?"
"You… you mean you'll give me a shot?"
"Of course man!" She stood up. "But there is no pressure behind this. It's a complete 'what if' scenario. And until then, we'll still be friends, right?"
"You… you mean it?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"Yeah man, I'll like, die if you don't want to be friends with me anymore! Both you and your sister are awesome! So, what do you say?" She held out her knuckles to me. "Friends?"
I smiled. "Friends," I said and knocked her knuckles with mine. Then she shoved me off the log.
When I got up, she was putting on her bike helmet and riding off. "Later dude! See you and Mabel for the concert tonight!"
She rode off, leaving me alone with the fireflies that woke up in the low light.
"Well, that was something!" Mabel popped up from behind me.
I fell off the log again. "Mable, how long were you here?"
"I'm always here, everywhere, all the time!" Soos popped out from behind a tree. "I'm not here!"
"Ugh," I sighed and laid down on my back. Mabel lay down next to me.
"Are you ok?" She asked me.
"Mabel, I had the biggest crush of my life just reject me, but then gave me a chance for later. I don't know what to feel."
"Feel glad!" She said. "Even though you didn't want to do it, you talked to your crush and she gave you a chance!"
"She said 'if'. Not a yes. She would have no trouble finding a guy to take her out by the end of the summer. Me? Not a chance."
"It also wasn't a no either," Mable said. "And who knows? She might surprise you and take you out."
I looked at her. "Do you really think so?"
"Call it women's intuition." She sat up and brought out a piece of paper from her sweater. "And when she does ask you out, you can give this to her properly."
She handed me the paper I tore up. It was haphazardly taped back together. It made me smile. "Thanks, Mabel," I said folding it up and putting it in my pocket.
3rd person POV
As Wendy was biking back to her place, she couldn't help but think, did I make a mistake by saying that? He is still just a kid after all.
She slowed to a stop when she saw Michael on the path ahead of her. He was dressed back in his usual clothes and seemed to be himself this time.
"Hey man," she said. "You heading my way?"
He glanced at her. "Hey, Wendy. You live this way?"
"I get the feeling that you already know that I do," she said cooly. "What's up?"
Michael held up his hands in surrender. "You caught me. I just wanted to make sure you got home ok. This forest is dangerous."
"I can handle myself," she said.
Michael held up her ax. "Without this? You forgot it underground."
Wendy sighed. "You got me there. Wanna walk me home?"
"Sure," he fell in step beside her as she walked her bike the rest of the way home. "That was a nice thing you did for him. Dipper I mean," He said after a few minutes of silence.
"Oh, you heard all that?" She asked, not really surprised.
"So did his sister, and Soos," Michael confirmed. "Still, it was a nice gesture. Even if you don't really mean it."
Her head snapped to him. "I did mean it," she said simply.
He turned and looked her in the eye. They came to a stop as they reached her house.
"Ok, I believe you," he said simply. "I… didn't mean it like you think. Dipper… he reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger."
"You're my age," she reminded him.
"Still," he went on. Then he turned to her and did a theatrical bow. "Still, on behalf of all nerds everywhere, thank you for not outright rejecting him." He stood up. "The world needs more people like you. Not shallow bitches."
Wendy couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, man. I hate stuck-up people like that. I like to keep things real."
Michael nodded. "Well, this is where I leave you. I'll see you all later tonight. Drinks are on me. He turned around and walked back the way they came. When he walked a few feet, his form flickered and he was gone, a rush of wind following him.
As Wendy was showering to get all the grime off, she found herself feeling better. She didn't say no to him, and though she is apprehensive, she finds herself strangely looking forward to her maybe date with Dipper at the end of the summer. Is 2 years really all that big a difference?
A/N: This chapter the OC soul reapers will begin to take a back seat. But next chapter will mostly center on them. Don't worry. The power of plot will see you through.