Dipper Pines' journal, March 5th, it's nearly been a month since Hunter and Willow have arrived in Gravity Falls as a temporary home while we try and figure out a way to get them home and to stop a being known as the Collector. The two have started getting into Cosmic Frontier, a series of science fiction novels from the late 80's that became iconic in the 90's. I mainly think it's because Hunter feels close to Chief O'Bailey who is kind of similar to him in a way. Cloned and forced to be a weapon for some dark overlord and dictator. Speaking of Hunter, I've been keeping a close eye on him. Heck, he doesn't go anywhere without me accompanying him. Even if he's working at the Mystery Shack, having hot sauce, watching junk on the internet or going on adventures. Speaking of here are a few: We managed to stop a zombie apocalypse from happening after returning from the gnome adventure, my old friends the Manotaurs came about to warn me of the Big White Wolf while trying to give bad advice to Hunter on how he should ask Willow out and we also got abducted by aliens who only abducted us so they could present Soos with the Most Perfect Specimen In The Universe award. Today, we're going in the forest to check out what Grunkle Ford is working on as a thing to do while the Shack gets repaired.
Outside, Soos was busy talking to the construction foreman about the Shack. "So, what caused damage to this shack?" Mr Forman the foreman asked.
"Aliens." Soos replied.
"Uh huh." Mr Forman responded, not convinced. "What actually destroyed it?"
"Dude, I'm seriously telling you, aliens." Soos replied.
Then Stan appeared laughing as he awkwardly shoved Soos aside. "Oh forgive him! He has some wild imaginations up in there." Stan laughed again as he shoved Soos further away. "Go have a nice walk in the forest Soos."
"Well, I needed to get some food for Melody anyway." Soos said before walking away.
"Anyway, the thing that destroyed the Shack was a giant woodpecker." Stan said to the foreman.
Inside the Shack, Wendy was busy reading the Gravity Falls gossiper where the headline read 'Preston Northwest spotted in Gravesfield, Connecticut.' The lumberjack's daughter groaned in annoyance. "He should have been locked up for life. Least he's far away from Gravity Falls."
Dipper entered the gift shop with his sister following. "Okay Mabel, have we got plenty of snacks?"
Mabel opened up her sack to reveal an assortment of candy and chocolate. "Candy Central!"
Dipper sighed. "No! Only a few candy bars."
"Aww!" Mabel whined. "Come on Dipper."
"We don't want Hunter to develop diabetes." Dipper said.
Mabel groaned. "Alright fine! I'll get mostly fruit!" The TV presenter walked back into the kitchen to get some more healthier snacks for Hunter.
Wendy stared at Dipper with a concerned expression. "You okay Dipper? You forgot to mention Willow."
"Oh yeah, and Willow." Dipper coughed. "Can't forget her. By the way, did you bring your axe just in case anything tries to attack us, even Hunter?"
"Yeah." Wendy replied while looking at him with concern. "Dipper are you sure you're okay? You've been quite overprotective with Hunter."
Dipper laughed. "No I haven't. How overprotective?"
Hunter then walked into the Shack. "Hey Dipper, have you seen Flapjack?"
Then Dipper placed a hand on his chest, stopping him. "Oh, be careful. There's a hole in the floor."
Hunter looked down at the floor and noticed the foot sized hole that Dipper stopped him from stepping in. "Uh….Thanks." Hunter sighed.
"You know I want to keep you safe." Dipper reminded him.
Hunter narrowed his eyes at Dipper in annoyance. "Yeah, I know."
"Hey Hunter!" Willow yelled out from upstairs. "I think I found him!"
"Okay, I'll be there in a sec." Hunter began to head towards upstairs. As he did, he narrowed his eyes at Dipper, already getting annoyed at him.
The author turned to face his best friend who was giving him a concerned look. "Dude, he could have pulled his foot out."
"But what if there could have been a racoon?" Dipper asked. "Waiting to bite him!"
"I doubt any kind of animal would live in a hole like that." Wendy retorted before Waddles popped his head out. "Never mind. Look, you're being a little overprotective over Hunter. What for?"
Dipper sighed sadly. "Because Pacifica told Luz to tell me to protect him. Those were the last words she said before she died. And I'm gonna keep that promise." He walked away to prepare some stuff
Wendy looked at Dipper with sympathy, understanding the situation fully. The reason why Dipper wanted to protect Hunter this bad was because he felt like he'd be losing her again.
Upstairs in the attic, Willow was sitting on her bed, having just finished reading a chapter of the second Cosmic Frontier book and petting Flapjack and Clover.
Hunter entered the room grumbling to himself in annoyance, something that Willow took notice of. "Hey Hunter, what's wrong?"
Falpjack flew to his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek in an effort to calm him down. He took deep breaths as he sat down on his bed. "I'm annoyed with Dipper."
"What for?" Willow asked.
"He's trying to keep me safe." Hunter replied.
Willow appeared to not understand what her friend was complaining about so she just chuckled. "And….That's bad because?"
"Because he's treating me like I'm some vulnerable child!" Hunter exclaimed. "I'm not a child! I'm 16 years old!"
"Hunter, your nose is runny." Willow pointed out. She was right, some mucus was escaping from Hunter's nose. He was about to wipe his nose with his sleeve but Willow used some magic to control a napkin to wipe his nose.
"Thanks." Hunter said.
"I mean, this is the Human Realm after all." Willow pointed out. "He is looking out for us."
"I appreciate him for that, but there were somethings I didn't need protecting from." Hunter pointed out.
Hunter flash backed to when Dipper was being overprotective with him. This included when he tried petting Waddles but Dipper stopped him because he thought he was about to bite, then there was one incident where Hunter was about to add hot sauce to his fried chicken but Dipper stopped him because he thought it would burn his tongue and then one time when Hunter got a paper cut from reading Cosmic Frontier and he instantly ran in with band aids and threw the book away.
Willow remembered those moments. "Okay, I guess you're right. It does sound like overprotective behaviour."
"But what for?!" Hunter exclaimed. "He doesn't do anything overprotective with you!"
"That's true." Willow said. "Look, why don't you tell Dipper that you don't need to be protected?"
"Tell him? He's going to want proof." Hunter argued. "And I think I shall give him proof today!"
"Yes, because talking about it is too dumb." Willow remarked sarcastically.
"I mean, it isn't dumb when you have people that believe in you." Hunter said, not really understanding the sarcasm in her voice.
"You two!" Mabel cried out. "You coming?!"
And so, the witch, Grimwalker and their Palismans met Dipper, Mabel and Wendy downstairs in the gift shop before exiting together to go meet with Ford in the lab.
"Okay everyone, it's gonna be a trek so be careful." Dipper said. "Especially you Hunter."
Hunter rolled his eyes in annoyance over Dipper's overprotectiveness, still not getting used to it. "Yeah, I get it."
"Dipper, you sure it's a good idea to leave Melody with Stan?" Mabel asked.
"If Grunkle Stan can take care of us then he can take care of a pregnant woman." Dipper replied.
"Can he though?" Wendy asked with skepticism.
In the Shack, Melody was throwing up in the toilet while Stan was pulling her hair back so she could get every last ounce of throw up out of her.
"Uh! Why did I get stuck with pregnant woman duties?" Stan asked. "Soos should be doing this!"
"Well, he is out to get me some food!" Melody aggressively argued.
"I've never taken care of a pregnant lady before!" Stan said.
"Oh, that doesn't surprise me!" Melody retorted angrily.
"Do I look like the kind of guy that'd have kids?!" Stan asked.
Then, they heard a knock on the front door. Stan left Melody alone so he could answer it. When he opened the door, there was a young man who looked like him with blonde hair.
"Hi, Stanford Pines. My mom is Kerry Connor." The young man said.
Stan instantly panicked. "Uh….Wrong Stanford!" Stan slammed the door shut on the young man.
Back with the others, they were still walking towards the forest.
"You sure Stan can handle this?" Mabel asked. "He doesn't have any kids as far as we're aware of."
"Well…He'll learn." Dipper replied, though he was starting to regret leaving Stan in charge.
"Oh hey, they got the roof fixed." Wendy suddenly remarked.
They looked at the Shack and saw that the roof had been fully fixed, specifically the little roof platform where Dipper had fallen in love with Wendy and where the twins and Stan would have a rooftop firework party. Illegal fireworks specifically.
Mabel smiled. "Yeah, so many memories were created there. Like, the rooftop is where I got my first broken tooth at 14. Shame that was when I also discovered the tooth fairy didn't exist."
"The tooth fairy isn't real here?!" Willow and Hunter exclaimed in shock.
Mabel gasped happily. "You two have the tooth fairy?! She's real in your world?!"
"Yeah! She's a monster!" Willow said with anger. "She breaks into people's home and steals their teeth."
Mabel seemed surprised and horrified at the same time. "Oooookay. You remember when you fell in love with Wendy on that small rooftop, Dipper?"
Dipper blushed and smiled as he reminisced. "Yeah. But I remember it for something else." When he looked at the small roof he saw a young Pacifica on the edge drinking a can of Pitt cola.
It was the second summer of Gravity Falls, the then fourteen year old Pacifica was sitting on the roof looking out in the distant. After the Connecticut incident, she was adopted by the Ramirez/Pines family and had been living with them ever since.
She wasn't really pondering her existence, but pondering how she would be able to ask Dipper out on a date ever since she screamed 'I love you' when she thought he was dying after being clawed by the beast of Connecticut.
She just didn't know if she'd be able to because they were so polar opposite. She was a former heiress to a former rich family while Dipper was the textbook definition of dork.
But her train of thought got interrupted when she felt like someone was approaching her. She turned around to see Dipper, the dork that she somehow grew feelings for approaching her.
"Hey, you on your own?" Dipper asked.
"No, I'm sitting with the air." Pacifica retorted.
Dipper laughed nervously as his cheeks turned red. "Right…right…." He then turned around and began to mumble. "Why did you say that? Why did you say that?"
He took a deep breath and managed to sit next to Pacifica. The two began to stare at each other with a sparkle in their eyes and their cheeks as red as tomatoes.
Ever since summer began, Dipper had been growing to have some intense feelings for Pacifica as well. Though, he didn't wish to admit it due to what happened last year with Wendy.
In that moment, Pacifica shuffled closer to Dipper in an effort to get a little closer or to just hand over a spare can of Pitt cola, which she did and took out of her hand.
"So, how was Mabel's romance?" Pacifica asked.
"Oh, Mabel's new summer romance turned out to be some kind of magical boy." Dipper replied.
"A what?"
"Like a magical girl….But boy." Dipper replied.
"I….Don't know what that means." Pacifica said.
"Just ask Soos, he's into Anime." Dipper said.
"Okay." She said. "So, I assume it didn't go well?"
"Well, it was like her…." Dipper tried to remember all of Mabel's summer romances. "….Okay, there was that one kid in the Shack, that turtle kid, that mattress prince, that other Mystery Shack customer, that zombie who turned out to be gnomes, Mermando, Boyz Crazy, crazy puppet kid, that blonde kid with that really cool cheek scar and now Akihiko the magic boy."
"Jeez, she has had too many." Pacifica remarked. "I'm surprised she hasn't given up."
"Me too." Dipper responded.
"And I assume you didn't have much summer romances?" She asked.
"Oh no, I didn't." Dipper replied. "I was crushing on Wendy, then I flirted with some girls and got their emails and Candy developed a crush on me but that didn't go anywhere."
Pacifica almost choked on her cola. "Wait?! Candy had a crush on you?!" Pacifica asked in shock.
"Well, yeah." Dipper replied. "Due to my Grunkle teaching me about some…Really awful life skills that made me look like a jerk. And I know what you're thinking, someone having a crush on me?" He laughed at the idea.
Pacifica was at first smirking over Dipper having no idea that she had a crush on him but then it vanished as she realised, he doesn't think he'd have a shot with anybody which kind of made her feel sorry for him.
"Why wouldn't anyone be attracted to you?" She asked.
"A: I have a blush on my nose. B: I'm a geek. C: I like to spend most of my weekends playing Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons." He replied. "Like, my geekiness kind of scares girls off, even the ones who fall in the same category as me are too terrified to be around me. It's like, all I do is scare girls off." She continued to stare at him with a saddened expression. "And you know what the craziest thing was?"
"What?" Pacifica asked.
"I saw something insanely unlikely!" Dipper said as his cheeks turned red. "You remember how I got…." He pointed to his back referring to his scratch marks.
"I never forget." Pacifica replied as she looked away from him to hide the fact she had just wiped away a tear.
"Well…I saw this strange hallucination as I bled out." He replied. "It was you. You were screaming, 'I love you.' He blushed while Pacifica looked at Dipper with sadness and heartbreak. "It was probably the strangest hallucination I ever had."
She sighed. "So, you don't think anyone is incapable of being attracted to you? Do you see so much self deprecation in yourself?"
"Well, I still think there's someone for me. She might come around when I'm older." Dipper replied. "I mean, could you imagine someone being attracted to me right…." But before Dipper could finish his question, Pacifica pulled him in and pressed her lips against his.
The male twin was shocked. He was having his first kiss (Mermando will never count.) and it was from Pacifica. And he was weirdly okay with that.
She eventually pulled out, looking embarrassed with what she had done while Dipper looked like he was trying to process things.
"Oh..Oh….Oh…no!" Pacifica said, like she was in disbelief herself.
"You….You…You…You kissed me!" Dipper reacted in shock.
"I…..I….I….I…" If she was like her original self, she would have argued saying that Dipper was the one but she couldn't escape that fact.
"You kissed me on the lips." Dipper said, still surprised.
Pacifica's whole face had turned red whilst Dipper's did the same. "I HAVE TO GO!" She tried to run away but Dipper grabbed her by the wrist before she got away.
"Pacifica, wait." Dipper said gently. "You don't need to tell me if you like until you're ready, but do you like me?"
Pacifica took a deep breath and turned to face Dipper. "Yes, I do! I know it sounds unlikely because you're you and I'm me! But, I do like you Dipper! I like you a lot! I like you more than I should have! But…." It was at this moment, Dipper was blushing and trying to act calm about it and it was something Pacifica saw as well. "What? What's with that look?"
Dipper looked at the girl who had just kissed him and rubbed the back of his head. "Well….You're gonna be shocked but….I like you as well."
Pacifica seemed surprised. "What?"
"I like you a lot as well!" Dipper exclaimed. "Though, I had it figured it would have had me telling you and then you rejected me but…." He laughed. "….I did not plan for this at all. My first kiss!"
Pacifica blushed. "Well, if it makes you feel better, it was my first kiss as well."
The two sat down on the roof with Dipper looking surprised. "Wait?! That was your first kiss?!"
"Yeah." Pacifica replied as she rubbed her arm awkwardly. "You'd think with looks like mine, I'd have kissed a lot of guys. But, I never did have my first. And yet, you were mine. How did it feel?"
"It was….Sweet and smooth." Dipper replied. "And me?"
"Salty and wet." Pacifica replied. "It's like you were sweating. But, I don't have regrets about kissing you."
"So, what now?" Dipper asked before he felt Pacifica take his hand.
"Well….I think you know what." Pacifica replied. "Well, I know what I want right now but….I don't know if you want it."
"Well, I want to be your boyfriend…." Dipper's cheeks turned red. "….And I'd like you to be my girlfriend. If that's what you want."
She gave her biggest smile and squealed. "YES!" She screamed before pulling Dipper in for a hug. He was shocked, but he returned it.
They pulled out and began to just stare at each other, feeling lost in each other's stares. This was both a surprise to the both of them, Dipper especially since he didn't think he'd get this far with any girl. He had to know if this wasn't a dream.
"Hey, if this isn't too forward, but…Can we kiss again?" Dipper asked.
"Very forward, Pines." Pacifica remarked. "But yeah." The two then began to share another kiss. Which was then interrupted by a camera flash, causing them to pull out.
They looked down on the ground and saw Mabel with her camera out, grinning like crazy. "Oooooh….my….gosh! You two are dating?!" Dipper and Pacifica turned red in the face with embarrassment. "Oh! This makes up for the heartbreak I had today! But now, I have physical proof of Dipper's second kiss!"
"Mermando doesn't count, Mabel!" Dipper exclaimed.
"And for your information, it was his third kiss." Pacifica retorted.
"Paz!" Dipper exclaimed in embarrassment.
"Okay! Okay! Second kiss." Pacifica said.
"Jokes on you, I still have the picture to prove it." She pulled out the picture of Dipper giving reverse CPR to Mermando. Causing Dipper to look away in disgust while Pacifica was laughing.
"No! No!" He walked back into the Shack while Pacifica stayed on the roof to chuckle.
In the present, everyone was walking towards Ford's secret laboratory to see what he wanted their help with. Dipper was leading the walk since he knew where they were going.
Hunter was about to step on some poison ivy but Dipper stopped him with his foot. "Be careful, that's poison ivy."
"I'm wearing boots!" Hunter argued.
"Could be holes in them." Dipper argued as he continued leading the group.
Hunter grumbled in anger while Willow just patted his shoulder to comfort him. "It's okay Hunter. Just look around this place. Try and take everything in despite everything that has transpired." She began to admire everything the Human Realm forest had to offer. Which included the trees, the fauna and even a lot of the wildlife which included a deer. "I wish I had my scroll so I could take a picture and show everyone at home."
"You wanna take pictures?" Mabel asked.
"I wish I could but I don't have my scroll." Willow replied.
Mabel grinned and pulled out a camera from her backpack. "Ta-Da!" Mabel said, presenting the camera to Willow, whose eyes began to sparkle.
"Woah! What is that?" Willow asked as she took the device from her.
"That is a camera." Mabel replied while Willow examined the human device. "It's what we humans use to take pictures together. Now, in order to use it, just turn it on…."
Hunter turned to Willow. "Hey Willow, what was the name of the villain from the first Cosmic Frontiers book?" Then he saw a blinding flash coming from Willow's direction, causing him to panic and to start falling until Dipper caught him.
"Gotcha!" Dipper said though Hunter wasn't exactly grateful.
Willow smiled as the photo printed out of the camera. Mabel took it out and showed the photo to Willow. Which was an ugly picture of him reacting to the camera flash.
Willow smiled, however. She gushed at how cute it was before putting it in her pocket while placing the camera around her neck for later.
"Hey Dipper, you remember that blue gem shard you were meant to be taking care of?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah, why?" Dipper replied as he admired his false robotic hand.
"Where is it?" Wendy asked.
"It's close by, I assure you." Dipper replied.
Wendy grinned in disbelief. "You sure you didn't lose it?"
"You'll know when I lose it." Dipper assured her. "By the way, we're here."
They arrived at the tree to the bunker AKA Ford's secret lab away from his other secret lab where Willow and Hunter were staring at it with intrigue.
"Neat." Willow remarked before taking a picture of the tree.
"Wait, how do we get in?" Hunter asked.
"It used to be that poorly camouflaged branch." Dipper pointed to the branch shaped lever which was now losing its paint. "But Ford realised how dangerous it was once he realised he had a niece and nephew so…." He tapped on some bark to reveal a pad with a bunch of numbers. "…He made this." He tapped on the keys 3, 1, 0, 8, 9 and 9 before the tree and the ground it was on began to descend.
Then, some stairs shot out from the walls that formed into a spiral staircase. "Neat." Willow remarked before taking a picture with the camera.
The group walked down the staircase, passed the already solved security breach room with the pressure pads before entering the main control room where Ford was already present looking at some monitors along with Soos who appeared to be snacking on some chipackerz.
"Hey Grunkle Ford." Dipper said.
"Ah, kids good to see you here." Ford remarked. "Willow, Hunter, I was skeptical about you two coming in since you are unaware of the dangers that are in this lab."
"Eh, we faced worst." Willow said.
"Regardless, you still need to follow rules." Ford responded. "And try not touch anything. Plus, make sure your pets don't touch anything." Flapjack and Clover flew on top of their respective owners shoulders.
"Relax, they won't cause any trouble." Hunter assured him.
"Okay, before you tell us what the problem is, what is Soos doing here?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah, weren't you meant to be getting your wife, snacks?" Mabel asked.
"Oh I was." Soos replied. "But I forgot my wallet and I don't know where I left it. So I'm checking here."
"You do realise Dipper left your wife with Stan, right?" Wendy pointed out.
"Ah, I'm not worried." Soos said. "She also has Abuelita. Just as long as she doesn't show her that scary movie she showed me last night."
But at the Shack, Abuelita was sitting on her favourite spot in the couch, Stan and Melody were sitting next to each other while Chyro was standing behind them, analysing the movie she was showing them.
A movie that had a screaming woman, the sound of blood and disgusting squishing sounds. Whereas Abuelita looked calm, Stan and Melody were horrified while Chyro was analysing it frame-by-frame.
"What the hell are they doing?!" Stan exclaimed.
"Is this what I need to expect?!" Melody exclaimed.
"Human birthing analysis continuing." Chyro said.
"Melody my dear, I'm showing you the birth of Soos so you know how painful the process is." Abuelita said. "But it'll be worth it in the end."
"I'm gonna have to cancel all food plans." Stan said.
Back at the bunker, Soos continued to gorge on his chipackerz. "I was about to leave, but Ford wanted me here in case he needed me for something. Something about being live bait."
"Live bait?" Dipper reacted. "What's this all about?"
Ford turned on the monitor. "Observe the screens." The screens turned on to reveal the underground cave that Ford had to lock up some dangerous creatures in cryogenic cells. Including the shapeshifter.
But this time, there were an abundance of cryogenic chambers with a bunch of different kinds of dangerous creatures and miscellaneous people.
"Neat." Willow remarked before taking a picture.
Mabel took a judgemental glance at her. "This isn't worth taking pictures off."
"Did one of the creatures escape?" Dipper asked.
"Please don't let it be the shapeshifter." Wendy pleaded. "I still get nightmares about seeing me getting an axe to the gut."
"Don't worry." Ford assured her. "It's someone more powerful. Hunter, you might recognise her."
Hunter looked at the screen and saw none other than a familiar face rampaging around the lab. "Oh Ford! Hello?! I'm coming to get you! As soon as I open the door!" The person was none other than one of the former Golden Guards, specifically, Comet. She fired some of her sparkles at the wall, causing an explosion. "Ah ha!" She laughed before getting hit on the head by a rock. "Ow!"
"Who is that?" Willow asked.
"That would be one of my predecessors my previous clones work with." Hunter sighed. "That, is Comet of the sparkle Coven."
"Oooooh." Mabel beamed.
"Not a friendly." Hunter replied.
"Awww!" Mabel groaned.
Dipper began to analyse the deranged former Golden Guard with interest with Ford doing the same. "How did she escape?"
"She just did." Ford replied. "I don't know how. I woke up and got a notification saying that one of my specimens has escaped. I designed these to be inescapable but somehow she escaped."
"So, do we have a plan to take her down?" Wendy asked.
"Okay, here's what I suggest we do." Ford said. "Okay, I say we have Soos talk to her….."
While Ford explained the detailed plan he had in mind, Hunter turned to Willow and began to whisper. "This could be my chance to prove myself." He whispered to her.
"What do you mean?" Willow asked.
"Well, Dipper's obviously gonna want me to stay behind while he does all the work." Hunter replied.
"You want to deal with her yourself?" Willow asked.
"Not by myself." Hunter replied. "I could have you by my side in case things go wrong."
Willow sighed. "I don't know, Hunter….."
"Willow, we can do this, together!" Hunter took her hand in his. But when they did, their cheeks turned red and he let go of them once he realised how embarrassed he felt. "Let's go through that door."
"Okay, are we clear on the plan?" Ford asked.
"I really like this plan." Soos said.
"And remember, the kids stay in here." Dipper reminded his uncle.
"I understand." Ford assured his nephew.
"If you do, then why are the two of them going into the cave with their Palismen?" Wendy asked.
They looked at Hunter and Willow, who had just gone through the door to the cave. This made Dipper panic. "Hunter!" But before he could open it up, Hunter locked it with the door's locking wheel.
"It's locked, Pines." Hunter said.
Dipper began aggressively banging on the door. "What are you doing?!"
"Proving to you that I am not someone who needs protecting!" Hunter replied.
"Hunter, you don't know what you're doing!" Dipper argued. "Just unlock the door. Spin the wheel to 6-9-5-4-2-1…."
"I'm about to arrest this witch!" Hunter interjected. "I'm doing this so I can prove to you I don't need protecting."
"Hunter!" Dipper continued banging on the door. "You gotta understand why I'm protecting you!"
"You're underestimating me!" Hunter replied. "What for?! You saw what I can do?! I protected Wartwood, I took down a bunch of Coven Scouts invading Hexside and let's not forget I stopped a robot judge from killing you all!"
"Hunter….." Dipper had a look of worry on his face since he was scared he could lose him the same way he lost Pacifica, unable to do anything. "….Please."
"I got this." Hunter assured him on the other side.
Everyone in the monitor room stared at the door with worry and fear on their faces. "Ford, open the door." Dipper commanded.
Ford began thinking, instead. "Honestly, kind of a design flaw to put the new lock on the other side instead of this side."
"That's your biggest concern, right now?!" Wendy asked angrily.
"Well, the kid made good arguments." Ford retorted.
Inside the small corridor that led into the cave, Willow and Hunter were figuring out how they get in since there was no door handle.
"Okay, maybe I didn't plan this out as well as I did." Hunter said.
"Where's the door handle?" Willow asked.
"I don't know." Hunter said.
"Pull the switch!" Soos replied on the other side.
"Thanks Soos!" Willow said before pulling the switch that was in the closet.
"Oh, I should warn you about the decontamination first." Soos said.
"The what?!" Hunter responded.
But before Soos could reply, he and Willow were hit with a large spray of water, causing them to get wet. Then, they were hit by a powerful gust of air causing them to crash into each other.
"Ow!" Hunter cried as he held on to his nose.
"Hunter, are you okay?!" Dipper asked.
Hunter looked to his hand and noticed some blood, leading him to realise that he had a nosebleed. "Yeah!" Hunter lied while Willow tried to clean the blood coming out. "Do not need your help whatsoever! No need of protecting!"
The door to the cave opened up which made Hunter and Willow prepare their Palismen, ready to take on whatever threat might come their way.
"Ready?" Willow asked as she gripped on to Clover.
Hunter grinned as he gripped on to Flapjack. "Let's go." He and Willow jumped out, ready to face the witch. "Alright Comet, whatever should happen to you will be relatively painless, if you do as we say."
The two began to survey the cave to look out for any sign of Comet but so far, all they could hear her shooting sparkles while laughing maniacally.
"She's coming from over there!" Willow said. "Let's go!"
The two began running towards the left and ran into a tunnel, deeper into the cave. But suddenly, Comet popped out of nowhere blasted the two with some sparkles which Hunter deflected by spinning his staff.
Willow and Hunter got into a defensive position while Comet grinned. "Hello, Hunter."
"Hi Comet." Hunter responded.
"And…." She gasped. "….Wait! Is that a friend from our realm? Aww, I'm so happy for you!"
Hunter and Willow were both confused. "Uh….Thanks?" Hunter said, unsure of the compliment.
"Shame I'll have to kill her!" She fired some more sparkles which Hunter dodged by teleporting and appearing behind her by hitting her in the back of the head.
She tumbled forward, causing Willow to summon some vines to trap her limbs. But the former Golden Guard managed to free herself by making the vines light up into flames that caused it to disintegrate.
Hunter tried hitting her again, but the former Golden Guard quickly grabbed the handle while Willow wrapped a vine around her foot. She flicked the vine, causing her to do a backflip then Hunter slammed her down to the ground by using Flapjack.
The former Golden Guard once again, shot some sparkles at Willow, causing her to stumble backwards. Hunter was about to attack but Comet flipped back up, kicking Hunter right in his chest.
She tossed some sparkles at Hunter but he deflected it back at her, causing her to stumble before suddenly being picked up by Willow with her strength.
"All pain, all gain!" Willow remarked before smashing her down to the ground.
Hunter's cheeks had turned red at the sight of Willow showing off her guns. "Wow…."
Inside the control room, Ford, Wendy, Mabel and Soos were cheering them on. "Oh yeah! Well done dude!" Soos exclaimed.
"Kick her ass, you two!" Wendy yelled out.
"Woo!" Mabel yelled as she held a glass cylinder high in the air. "Go Hunter!"
"Dipper, can't you see how well the kid is handling himself?" Ford asked.
But Dipper was busy searching through his pockets to find any tool to help him break into the cave. "Come on! Come on!" Dipper exclaimed.
"Dipper, look how well he is handling himself." Mabel said. "Can't you admit you're overreacting?"
"Dipper, you don't know what this witch is like." Ford pointed out. "I mean, she was easy to defeat."
"Yeah, dude. He froze her like it was nothing." Soos said. "I mean, you can knock her out with this champagne bottle."
"Soos, be careful, I'm saving that." Ford said.
Dipper continued to struggle looking through his pockets until he found something that could work. "Ah ha! Sonic tool! Mark II!" He ran towards the door to and used his tool to scan the door.
"Dipper, them two have got it." Wendy assured him.
"Well, wouldn't hurt to help them!" Dipper retorted just as the door opened. "Ah, bingo!"
"Okay." Mabel sighed.
"Guess you make a good point." Wendy said.
"Dude, now I'm going to lose a bet I had with Ford." Soos said.
"We never had a bet, Soos." Ford pointed out.
"In my head, we did."
Back in the cave, Comet fired some more sparkles towards the duo which Hunter and Willow deflected by spinning their respective Palismen.
Hunter teleported in front of her and uppercut her in the chin. Willow then used her vine magic to grab her by the waist and smashing her on the ground.
The Golden Guard wiped some blood from her lip. "Wow! Being beaten by a bunch of children! Ha!" She stood up. "What's next? Me getting knocked out by a strange rodent man?"
"No, by me!" Willow began charging at her with her Palisman at the ready. But then, she fired some sparkles at her, causing her to fly backwards straight into a wall.
"Willow!" Hunter charged towards her with his Palisman out. He tried to hit her in the face, but she grabbed the staff and kicked him backwards, causing him to stumble and to be disarmed of Flapjack.
"Looks like you're disarmed." She said before Flapjack began pecking her in the face. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Get off me you stupid cardinal!" Hunter then punched her in the face, causing her to stumble backwards.
He was about to punch her again, but she quickly fired some more of her sparkles right into Hunter's eyes, causing him to be blinded.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Comet had her hands on Flapjack, intending to crush him. "Don't move!" She demanded. "Or your pet gets it!"
Hunter aggressively narrowed his eyes at the witch. "Let him go!"
"Or what?!" Comet asked. "Will you….I don't know, have Willow attack me with a vine? Oh trust me Hunter, she won't help not in the current state she's in."
"How did you escape?" Hunter asked.
She laughed sinisterly. "That is a twist you'll have to wait for."
Hunter looked over her shoulder with a confused eyebrow. But then, she got hit on the head with a champagne bottle.
She froze, let go of Flapjack and stood with confusion. "More painful than I thought this would be." She said before collapsing on her front, revealing none other than a surprised Soos with a disappointed Dipper and a surprised Wendy.
He looked over their shoulders to see Ford and Mabel tending to Willow and a terrified Clover. "Hey Willow, are you okay?" Mabel asked as she sat up and rubbed her head.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Willow replied. "I've been through worse."
"Woah dude, can't believe you just did that." Wendy remarked to Soos.
"Dude, I swear I didn't know I had that in me." Soos said. "I had it in my hand and I was like 'Dude, I'm gonna knock out a witch.' And I did."
Dipper narrowed his eyes aggressively at Hunter whom was now looking nervous.
Later in the monitor room, while Mabel and Ford went to investigate how Comet escaped, Dipper, Wendy, Hunter, Willow and Soos were sitting in while an unconscious Comet was with them, tied up in a chair. Whereas Clover and Flapjack were shuddering near Willow, whom looked confused.
"Hey guys, what's the matter?" She asked the Palismen.
Dipper was pacing around the room while a terrified Hunter was waiting for the scolding of a lifetime. It had been like this for the last few minutes.
"Dude, you should probably stop pacing so much." Soos said as he feasted on some chipackerz. "You're probably gonna get dizzy."
"I can't believe you, Hunter!" Dipper chided.
"I was handling her!" Hunter argued.
"Then why did Soos save you?!" Dipper asked.
"Because she had me stumble!" Dipper yelled. "What were you trying to prove?!"
"That I don't need protecting!" Hunter said. "I mean, come on! Belos is dead! I can handle what any threat comes my way!"
"Well look where your hubris got you!" Dipper argued. "It got Willow hurt!"
"I didn't force her to come along, I encouraged her!" Hunter corrected him.
"Listen Hunter, when this is over, you're going to be staying in the Shack for over a month!" Dipper declared. "That will be your punishment! No adventures, no television, no internet, nothing! You'll only work in the Shack but when you're done, straight back to your room."
Hunter and Dipper both narrowed their eyes at each other in anger while the others watched on with disappointed looks.
"Dipper, don't you think you're being harsh?" Wendy asked.
"It's the only way I'll know he's safe." Dipper said.
Hunter just crossed his arms. "It's like I'm living with Belos again."
Dipper then smashed his robot hand against the wall, causing the wall to dint a bit, surprising everyone except for Willow, who had an eyebrow raised.
The author then stomped towards Hunter in anger and narrowed his eyes angrily at him. "You're going over a lot of lines! Do not compare me to him! Do you understand?!"
Hunter seemed terrified with Dipper's outburst of anger. He has seen Dipper angry before, but never to this strong extent. It even terrified Soos and Wendy.
"Dude, I've never seen Dipper this angry before." Wendy remarked.
"Yeah, it's surreal and scary." Soos remarked before he tried to combine the two words. "Surry? Scurreal?"
Back in the cave, Ford was busy looking at the cryo pod Comet escaped from trying to figure out how she could have gotten out. He analysed nook and cranny but the only thing he could find was the controls looking damaged.
"Huh, I wonder what happened?" Ford asked.
"Hey Grunkle Ford!" He turned around to see his niece drawing on one of the cryogenic pods via the condensation. She had drawn a happy face on one of the cryogenics. "Someone's happy this time."
"Sweetie leave that alone." Ford requested. "Go look around for me."
"You got it!" Mabel saluted her Grunkle before going to explore the cave.
Ford continued to analyse the cryogenic pod with concern. He scanned the pod with his scanner but there was no DNA besides her's to go by. "How in the name of sanity did you escape?" He turned around to see the happy face Mabel drew on the pod. Through the window, he could see that it looked like Toby Determined, the Gravity Falls Gossiper. "I still don't know if this is Toby or one of the mole people."
He then heard his niece scream in terror and instantly began to run towards her. When he got to where she was, she was staring at a row of cryogenic pods with one of them being open.
"Oh, that explains how she got out, someone else got out and helped her." Ford said. "But who?" He looked at his niece and saw that her expression was terrified and scared as she stared at the unclosed door. "Mabel, who was it?" He looked on the floor and saw a camera. But it wasn't just any old camera, it was Willow's camera. "Huh." He then noticed a photograph on the floor and got a good look at it.
In that moment, Ford began to panic and realise something horrible. "Mabel, we have to….."
"Come on!" Mabel exclaimed, already running with her Grunkle soon following.
Back in the monitor room, Clover and Flapjack were staring at Willow with fear, something baffled Wendy yet the Plant Coven student seemed rather chill.
"Hey Dipper, do you want me to take Hunter back to the Shack?" Willow asked.
"No, I'm taking him back myself." Dipper replied. "He is my responsibility. You just need to stay here to get yourself checked out."
"Yeah girl dude, who knows what could have happened." Soos said. "I mean, you did fly into a wall."
"By the way, what happened to your camera?" Wendy asked.
"I lost it." Willow replied before noticing her Palisman getting terrified of her, causing the witch to be annoyed. "Will you stop that?! Honestly bee, you don't know what you're panicking about."
Hunter looked at his crush with surprise. "Willow isn't usually this impatient with her Palisman." He whispered to himself.
"Oh, don't worry about it, hot stuff." Willow said before feeling his arm. "Man, have you been working out?"
Instead of being enamoured, Hunter was confused by the affection. "For some reason, I don't feel comfortable with this."
Dipper as well was looking on with suspicion. Even though he didn't know Willow for long, he knew she wasn't like this whatsoever.
"Huh, she must have hit her head harder than we thought." Soos remarked.
Then Flapjack landed on Hunter's shoulder and began tweeting in his ear. "What's the matter, boy?" He listened to his Palisman and began to stare at Willow with worry. "What's wrong with her?"
Then, Ford and Mabel ran in with their lasers out. "Get away from them!" Ford demanded.
"What did I do?!" Soos asked with his hands up.
"Not you, Soos!" Mabel assured him.
"Everyone but Willow, stand with us." Ford commanded.
Everyone except for Willow stood with Ford and Mabel without hesitation. "Woah! What's wrong?" Willow asked, confused.
"You know full well!" Ford said.
"Guys, what's going on?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah, shouldn't you be pointing at our unconscious prisoner?" Soos asked, pointing to Comet. "Because she might wake up any moment."
"No, we're pointing our weapons at the right person." Ford said.
"Or in this case, the right person who happens to be the wrong person." Mabel said.
"What?" Wendy asked.
"There's something up with Willow." Dipper said. "Maybe them two know."
"W-what are you talking about?!" Willow asked in confusion.
Ford pulled out the camera. "Look familiar to you?"
"Uh…It's a camera." Willow said. "It takes pictures. What is this?"
"You tell me, Willow." Mabel said as she pulled out the photograph. "Or, should I say old friend?"
Willow looked at the photo in confusion. "You mean some black haired girl with messy glasses?"
Mabel was confused before she looked at the photo and laughed. "Sorry, that's a blackmail photo for Candy. I meant this photo!" She showed Willow a strange creature with sinister red eyes and a long stout.
Willow was scared for a second before she grinned sinisterly and began laughing. But then, her laughter got deeper as it turned into a sinister voice. She then shot out her tongue and grabbed Dipper's false hand and ate it.
This made Dipper panic as he held on to his stump and narrowed his eyes at Willow who turned her body 360 degrees except for her head and jumped on the ceiling.
She then shape changed into a terrifying creature with sinister red eyes, see-through skin, a long stout and one buff arm. A creature that was all too familiar to them.
"Hello Pines." The shapeshifter ran out of the room as fast as it could while Ford tried to shoot him down but it only entered the cave.
"Crud!" Mabel exclaimed.
"What in the name of Titan was that?!" Hunter exclaimed with worry. "Is Willow okay?"
"I hope Willow's okay." Soos said. "I mean, who knows what that shapeshifter could do."
"I never gave it a proper title due to being outvoted." Ford said.
"Grunkle Ford, Specimen Z-1-G-0-N was too complicated." Mabel said.
"Shapeshifter was a lot easier to remember." Wendy argued.
"Anyway, the name is shapeshifter. I trapped him down here after he kidnapped most of the townsfolk in order to convert them into eggs so he could create more." Ford explained.
Hunter gasped in horror. "Willow's gonna turn into an egg?!" He summoned both Flapjack and Clover who both turned into staff mode so he could dual wiled them.
Dipper however looked scared and skeptical. "Hunter…"
"Dipper, I don't want arguments." Ford said. "We need all the help we can get to capture this creature before it can take any more of us. But before we go…." He ran to the control and smashed the glass that held the lockdown keypad. He typed in a few keys which made the doorway that lead to the exit slam shut with a very tight lock.
Soos sighed. "Well, looks like we're stuck down here dudes. Hope Melody can handle Stan for a few more hours."
Back at the Shack, Stan was looking through the fridge but saw that it was empty. "Uh, where's my leftover Chinese food?"
He turned around and saw Melody consuming it due to her pregnancy cravings. He looked at her with a deadpan look while she narrowed her eyes at him.
"What?!"
"I'm gonna let you off because you're pregnant." Stan said. "But just so you know, I'll steal your food just to make this fair."
"Okay, that's fair." Melody said.
Meanwhile back underground, the group had decided to split up to make hunting the shapeshifter a faster and easier job.
Soos was with Mabel, the both of them looked cool even though they were kind of scared. Mabel had a laser gun in her hand while Soos held what appeared to be an inflatable bat.
"Soos, do you have a plan to know if one of us has been taken?" Mabel asked.
"Mabel, observe my shape." Mabel analysed the current Mr Mystery with an intrigued look. "Soos, did you lose weight?"
"Apparently running around for your pregnant wife will do that." Soos replied. "I lost eleven pounds. So, I weigh 288 pounds."
"Good for you Soos!" Mabel remarked. "And I weigh 102 pounds. If one of us has the wrong weight then we know that it's the shapeshifter."
"Cool, did you bring weighing scales?" Soos asked.
"Nope!"
"Okay, just pray that the shapeshifter incorrectly guesses our weight." Soos said before he and Mabel continued walking.
"Hey, do you think this weight would be good on me?" Soos asked as he looked at his weight. "I mean, this is dad bod energy right?"
"Soos, I think that bod screams perfect dad bod!" Mabel exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Ford and Wendy were walking together in a hallway of cryogenic pods. Wendy was looking at some of the prisoners which included Mr-Whats-His-Face, the sinister sascrotch and a strange robot with a plunger looking weapon on the right side of their chest and a strange laser beam on the left side of their chest.
"Hey Ford, what's this one?" Wendy asked.
"Some robot made by a British broadcasting company that came here to eradicate everything in its path after being fired off some low budget science fiction show from the 1960's." Ford replied.
"Looks like something Old Man McGucket would make." Wendy remarked.
"Well, it was made by his British cousin." Ford said.
"Wow. You know, if these things weren't so dangerous than they'd make great Mystery Shack attractions." Wendy said.
"You know the sascrotch?" Ford asked.
"Yeah, what about it?" Wendy asked.
"Stanley brought to life to bring in more customers." Ford replied. "But turns out they're very savage compared to their quatchy counterparts."
"Ah." Wendy said.
"But they're more dangerous than a Sasssquatch." Ford said. "And no not Sasquatch, I mean Sasssquatch. A sassy Sasquatch."
"Do you ever get the feeling the universe has very punny names for everything?" Wendy asked.
Meanwhile, Dipper and Hunter were both walking down a tunnel together to investigate the location where Ford and Willow found out that Willow had vanished.
Hunter held on to the Palisman while looking around the cave for any sign of anything. While Dipper was getting used to the fact that his hand was missing. He tapped on his stump and groaned since he had to carry his tech with his left hand.
"Not left handed?" Hunter remarked.
"Oh, I'm ambidextrous." Dipper said. "I just use my right more often than my left."
"If you're ambidextrous, why don't you just build yourself a spare hand?" Hunter asked.
"That hand is very important." Dipper replied. "Trust me." Then, he stopped Hunter from walking by abruptly putting his hand in front of his chest. "Oh, be careful of that pipe."
Hunter groaned in anger and annoyance. "Okay! Enough is enough with the overprotection!"
"Just looking out for you."
"You're being overprotective!" Hunter exclaimed. "I don't need it!"
"Yes you do Hunter!" Dipper argued. "Do we need to go over this again?!"
"What do you think is gonna happen to me?!" Hunter asked angrily. "Belos is dead!"
"I know! I know!" Dipper said. "I know he's dead!"
"I survived Amphibia without Anne being overprotective and I've been to the Human Realm without Pacifica being overprotective!" Hunter argued. "What is your obsession with keep me safe?!"
Dipper was about to respond until he found the cryo pod that he froze the shapeshifter in many years ago. "We're here."
Hunter was very annoyed with how Dipper didn't respond to his question and narrowed his eyes at the author. All he wanted was a simple answer as to why Dipper was being overprotective but he didn't get one.
Flapjack and Clover flew on to his shoulders to give him some form of comfort which he smiled at. "Least you two have my back." Flapjack then heard something and flew off Hunter's shoulder to investigate. He tweeted something at his owner who just nodded his head. "Get back as soon as you can!"
Hunter approached Dipper, whom was investigating the Chryo pod which appeared to have broken the same way as Comet's, broken controls.
"How did he break them?" Dipper queried. "He was frozen rock solid." He then saw a moderately sized vine looked to have been caused by Willow.
"She must have tried to fight back." Hunter theorised.
"Possibly." Dipper agreed.
"But, this wasn't where she was taken." Hunter said. "I was near the….Weird, moving picture room."
"She was probably captured there but she tried to escape." Dipper theorised. "She happened to have ended up here along with the shapeshifter. She probably took the picture of the creature on accident. But where she is right now is another big mystery."
Hunter began to look at the cryogenic pod. "What do you think caused this?" Hunter asked.
"There could be someone else down here." Dipper theorised. "But who?"
Flapjack returned and landed on his owner's shoulder. "Oh, hey Flap? What's up?" Flapjack tweeted, causing Hunter to be confused. "Huh, what?" Flapjack tweeted again. "Flapjack, I don't understand you."
"What's Flapjack saying?" Dipper asked.
"I don't know!" Hunter replied. "I understand him fine, but now I can't for some strange reason." He then noted that Clover was shaking with terror. Similar to how she reacted to Willow before she turned out to be the shapeshifter. "Clover, what's wrong? You're reacting the same way to Flap like you did with Willow before she….Turned….Out to be the shapeshifter." He turned to his Palisman, who,looked confused.
Dipper pulled out his laser pistol. "Hunter, you did say an owner understands their Palisman due to the strong bond they share, right?"
"Yeah." Hunter replied before he tried to grab Flapjack but then he flew off his shoulder and did a scary roar.
"You had to ruin the fun?!" Flapjack with a now deep voice asked. Then, he transformed into a horrifying bird-like creature with sharp claws, razor sharp feathered wings, sinister red eyes, a huge jaw and a terrifying look that had a mixture of a raven and a robin.
It roared before flying towards Clover and snatching her in their claws. "Clover!" Hunter tried running after them while Dipper tried shooting him, but he missed due to either bad aim or the fact he was using his left hand, as the weird bird flew into one of the holes.
Hunter and Dipper looked horrified by what had happened. Not only did the shapeshifter take Clover, but by the looks of things Flapjack as well.
"We'll get that bee back." Dipper promised Hunter.
Hunter however looked horrified and shocked with realisation. "Flapjack. Not him as well." Tears began to fall from his eyes as the thought of losing his best friend horrified him.
"And we'll get Flapjack back." Dipper assured him. "I need to contact the others. Just wait until I say we can go." Dipper pulled out a walkie talkie from his pocket. "Dipper to Ford."
"What is it?" Ford asked.
"The shapeshifter got Flapjack and Clover." Dipper explained.
"Anything else?"
"We think there might have been a struggle between Willow and the shapeshifter." Dipper replied.
"Definitely looked like it when me and Mabel were here earlier."
"How are things on your end?" Dipper asked.
"Wendy and I found nothing so far. Just some old prisoners. Hey, I just saw that seedy apple that tried to scam the entire world of all its money. I mean, the economic crisis would have been bad."
"Mabel, how are things on your end?" Dipper asked.
"Me and Soos are on to something." Mabel replied.
"You better not be seeing how many gummy worms Soos can fit up his nose." Dipper said with an annoyed expression.
On the other end, Mabel blew a raspberry. "No! That's ridiculous. We're about to investigate. Mabel, over and out." Once Mabel hangs up, she turned to face Soos. "How many now?"
Soos was busy pushing some gummy worms up his nose while walking. "I have about 13 worms. I think some are in my brain."
"You have to beat ten more to beat my record!" Mabel chided.
"Challenge accepted dude." Soos said before taking another handful of gummy worms.
Meanwhile, Hunter was busy trying to climb the hole he saw the bird fly in to, but it was too high up. "Dipper, help me up!"
"No!" Dipper said. "You're not going in there!"
"We have to rescue Willow, Clover and Flapjack!" Hunter protested as he managed to climb the wall before falling on to his back.
"Hunter!" Dipper tried to help Hunter up, but the Grimwalker refused.
"No!" He stood up. "I don't need your help! So stop!"
"Hunter, quit acting like a baby!" Dipper argued.
"Well, I don't exactly know how a baby acts since I was never a proper baby!"
"What the heck was that for a comeback?!" Dipper asked angrily.
"A fact!" Hunter retorted. "So, can you now tell me why you're so overprotective of me?"
"Look, it's stupid." Dipper replied. "You probably wouldn't understand. Right now, I need to focus on getting my hand back."
Dipper turned to continue the investigation but Hunter ran in front of him before he could get any further. "Come on, Dipper! Spill the can of beans as you humans say! What's the problem?! Why are you so overprotective of me?! You've seen what I can do without most of your unnecessary assistance! Why Dipper, why?!"
"Because I made a promise!" Dipper yelled. "A promise to Pacifica! To protect you!"
Hunter looked surprised. "What?"
Then, they heard the sound of Mabel screaming, causing them to flinch.
"Mabel!" Dipper yelled out before he and Hunter ran to help her.
During the run, they suddenly heard Soos' scream as well which made their fear and worry more intense.
While running to their location, they suddenly ran into Ford and Wendy whom appeared to be running towards the same location.
"Heard them too?" Dipper asked.
"Yup." Wendy replied as she readied her axe.
When they got to the location, they saw Soos standing in terror while eating some gummy worms as a way to calm his nerves.
"Soos, what happened to Mabel?!" Dipper asked with concern.
"Oh dude, everything happened so fast!" Soos replied as he chewed on his gummy worms. "I mean, I was bush shoving gummy worms up my nose to see how many I could fit in which included trying to beat Mabel's record, but then the shapeshifter came out of nowhere and took me!"
"Where did she take her?" Dipper asked.
"That tunnel down there!" Soos replied. "Follow me!" He then noticed his pals were looking over his shoulder with disturbed expressions. "What's up, dudes? Is there a giant scary monster behind me?" When he turned around, he saw another version of himself.
"Oh, hey dudes, sorry I didn't get to Mabel on time." The other Soos said. "I saw this pretty cool cryogenic creature that I wanna use as a Mystery Shack attraction. I know we can't technically have them, but is it alright if we use their features. Or would we need to talk to their lawyers? Can monsters even have lawyers? Are their lawyers more or equally as monstrous as human lawyers?" Then the other Soos noticed the Soos whom was talking to the team. "Uh oh."
The Soos the group were talking to sighed in annoyance before his belly shape changed into a fist that hit Soos on the head, causing him to be knocked out.
Everyone back in fear as his gut turned back to the size it was. It was at this point they realised, this was not Soos at all.
"What have you done with Mabel?!" Wendy asked angrily.
"Sorry dude, classified information." The shapeshifter replied still in Soos form. "Hey, wanna see something scary?" He took off his Mr Mystery jacket and shirt to reveal that his whole gut had a big mouth with sharp teeth.
Then, the shapeshifter Soos got on all fours in a laying down position and his limbs turned into sharp legs. Then, the mouth on his stomach opened to reveal some weird gummy worm like creatures flaying around like crazy along with a bald headed humanoid like creature with a very long neck and sharp teeth. While the face of Soos turned into a scary face.
This caused everyone to stare at the monster in fear, including the usually chilled Wendy. "Guys, this is the first time I'm saying this, but I'm scared of Soos!"
"What do we do?" Hunter asked.
"You guys run, I'll hold him off!" Wendy said as she gripped on to her axe.
"Wendy!" Dipper exclaimed. "You sure you can handle this?"
She looked back at the author with a grin. "Trust me." She began charging towards monster Soos while the others began to run for their lives.
Wendy and the Soos monster began to simultaneously charge at each other, both giving powerful monstrous roars. She jumped high in the air while the monster shot its gummy worm tongues at her.
Back with the group, they ran around the cave while trying to think of a plan. But then, all of a sudden, they heard the sound of Wendy screaming, meaning that the shapeshifter had got her too.
But during the run, Ford had one thing on his mind besides a plan. "Wait hang on, when the shapeshifter took off the Mr Mystery suit, did it shed off its skin?"
"Is that important Grunkle Ford?!" Dipper asked.
"Right! Right!" Ford said. "Okay, you tried drowning it and it didn't exactly work. Though, it did make you confess a crush on that Wendy girl."
"Grunkle Ford!" Dipper exclaimed.
"Wait, you had a crush on Wendy?!" Hunter asked with a grin to his face.
"Sorry, sorry, off topic." Ford said. "Now, what I suggest is, I launch a gas grenade and while the creature is distracted by trying to find his way out then someone will freeze the creature. Hunter, how good are you with a handheld weapon?"
"I shot myself in the knee with a paintball gun." Hunter replied.
"Okay, not a good sign." Ford said. "How about you Dipper?"
"Well, I'm ambidextrous but I don't use my left a lot so….I'm pretty much a lousy shot." Dipper replied.
"Okay, I'll try and shoot!" Ford said before he got caught in one of the gummy worm tongues by the scary Soos creature.
"You can't run, dudes!" The Soos monster exclaimed loudly. "No matter how hard you try!"
"I'm not afraid of you!" Hunter yelled at the creature.
The Soos monster grinned sinisterly. "Believe me dude, you will be."
Ford then reached into his pocket and pulled out a smoke bomb. "Hey, Soos creature, ready to go up in smoke?" Ford asked before throwing the smoke bomb, causing everyone to be blinded by it.
While running, Hunter suddenly tripped on a rock and tripped into a random tunnel and hit his head on one of the rocky wall, causing his head to be cut.
"Uh…" Hunter groaned as he stood up.
"Hunter!" Dipper's voice suddenly went.
"Dipper!" Hunter responded. "Are you okay?!"
"Where are you?!"
"Somewhere. I don't know!" Hunter replied.
"Okay, don't move, I'll find you!" Dipper requested. "Or, am I going to assume you're going to try and prove me wrong that you don't need protecting?"
"Not right now." Hunter checked his head and saw the blood on his hand. "I'm a little lost and I cut my head. I'll allow you to help as long as you don't overreact! Okay?!"
Dipper sighed. "Okay! Don't stop talking! I'm coming to you!"
"What about Ford? Is he okay?" Hunter asked.
"I can't find him. I think he got taken." Dipper replied. "It's just us, now."
Hunter sighed before he realised something important he should have asked. "Dipper, what was the promise you made? Could you tell me?"
Dipper knew he couldn't avoid the question. He knew that it would hurt him to talk about it, but he knew he needed to for Hunter's sake.
"Hunter….." Said a voice Hunter thought he'd never hear again. He couldn't be here. He couldn't be, he was dead. He turned around to see none other than Belos in his mask, approaching him.
Hunter was terrified and began to back away in terror. "U-u-u-uncle?!"
"Oh Hunter! Hunter, why are you afraid?" Belos asked as he approached him. "We're family. I only wanted to save our world from these creatures."
Hunter narrowed his eyes at his uncle. "You killed Pacifica!"
"I'm sorry?"
"You killed Pacifica!" Hunter screamed before charging towards Belos then shape changed into zombified Pacifica. This sight made Hunter freeze and back away in fear and terror. "P…P…P…Pacifica?"
"What took you so long, Hunter?" The zombie Pacifica asked. "Why didn't you save me? Why didn't you get there in time?"
Hunter fell on his rear and shuffled his back against the wall. "P-P-Pacifica! No! I tried to but…."
"You didn't save me." The zombie Pacifica said as she approached Hunter. "You never saved me and look what it did." She lifted up her shirt to reveal where she had been stabbed and the blood that was coming out.
Then all of a sudden, she was shot in the shoulder causing her to stumble. She snarled at the person who shot at her who happened to be Dipper.
"Impersonating my dead girlfriend?! Low blow, dude!" Dipper remarked.
"Dipper, why didn't you save me?" The zombie Pacifica asked. "Why didn't you…"
"Shut the heck up!" Dipper then shot her in the leg and chest, causing the shapeshifter to reveal their true form.
It roared sinisterly at Dipper while its blood dripped out of its body. "Find me, Pines. If you want to save your friends and family."
Dipper, despite having one hand did manage to reload his blaster. "Okay Hunter, we should be able to follow the trail to wherever he's holding them." He then noticed that Hunter appeared to be panting and clenching to his heart. This immediately made Dipper panic as he realised that Hunter was having a panic attack.
Luckily, the author knew how to deal with panic attacks and calmed down so he could help Hunter. "Hunter…." He said gently. "…Focus on me. Okay? Focus. Slow your breathing." He took gentle breaths along with Hunter whom was counting to four with his fingers as he breathed in and out.
Four seconds breathing in and four seconds exhaling, that's what he was doing. Hunter calmed down after a few seconds and pressed his hand on Dipper's shoulder.
"Thank you." Hunter said.
"You okay?" Dipper asked as he sat down next to him.
"I just had a bit of an attack after seeing Belos and then Pacifica zombie." Hunter replied.
"Must have hurt you to see her like this." Dipper said. "Sure did hurt me. But I knew it wasn't her."
"I'm sorry Dipper." Hunter said.
"Don't blame yourself for not saving her, there was nothing you could have done." Dipper said.
"No! All this!" Hunter exclaimed. "If I only listened to you and stayed in the monitor room so there would be a plan for us to defeat Comet then Willow wouldn't have been caught and this mess wouldn't have happened."
"Hunter, no, it was my fault." Dipper said. "I shouldn't have been overprotective with you."
"Why were you though? What was the promise?"
Dipper sighed sadly. "Luz told me, the last thing Pacifica said to her before she died was to protect you. I was overprotective of you because I was scared if I lost you, then I'd have broken Pacifica's promise and lose her all over again."
Hunter looked at Dipper finally understanding what his overprotectiveness meant. He wasn't really over her death and was forcing some kind of pressure on his shoulder that wasn't exactly needed. "Dipper, you didn't need to put so much pressure on yourself. I don't mind you looking out for me, I just don't want it to be little things or stuff I can handle. I mean, I've been living here for nearly a month if that isn't a sign you're doing a good job than I don't know what is. I mean, you should also give some credit to your sister, your Grunkles and whatever Wendy and Soos are to you, they also kept me alive."
Dipper shrugged his shoulders. "I guess you're right."
"But I am very grateful of you helping me out." Hunter said. "Though, Willow's advice also helped."
"Speaking of…." He stood up and pulled his gun out. "…..we have friends and a hand that needs saving. So, we need to be hands on about."
Hunter grinned as he stood up. "Is that…"
"Not deliberate!" Dipper interjected. "Let's follow the trail."
Later, the two followed the trail of slime/blood to another tunnel right behind the cryogenic pod that held the shapeshifter.
"Shame that Ford didn't notice this." Dipper remarked.
They began walking through the tunnel, following the blood/slime to an area of the cave where they saw a horrifying sight.
They saw that everyone they knew were on stuck on ceiling, groaning and covered in some kind slime and shell.
Whereas it was up to Ford and Wendy's legs, the substance was up Mabel and Soos' torso while it almost covered the Palismen and Willow, almost covering their faces.
"They're turning into eggs!" Hunter exclaimed. "Willow! Can you hear me?!"
Willow just groaned in response. "H-Hunter."
"How about you Flapjack?!" Flapjack gave a weak tweet.
"Soos!" Dipper yelled.
"I feel like I'm turning into a breakfast dude." Soos replied. "If I become an egg, I would like to be scrambled."
"I'd like to be poached." Mabel said weakly.
Then, the shapeshifter appeared from the top of the ceiling and landed in front of the two. Dipper was about to shoot, but the shapeshifter was quick and shot his tongue out, disarming him.
Hunter was about to attack but the shapeshifter stopped his fist and shoved him backwards. "Stop!" The shapeshifter replied. "You want your hand and your friends to be freed, right?"
"Yes." Dipper replied. "Let them go!"
"I would, but that would have to be up to the person that freed me." The Shapeshifter pointed to a nearby speaker which appeared to be making noise.
"Hello?" Said a voice that made Dipper and Hunter freeze. "Testing! Testing! Hi! This is Comet! And what you are seeing are your friends about to become the Clyde's family."
"Comet!" The Shapeshifter exclaimed. "You promised you wouldn't tell them my name."
Dipper and Hunter began laughing as well as their friends that were turning into eggs. "His name's Clyde?" Wendy asked as she laughed. "Dude, I had nightmares about you."
Clyde turned red in the face and covered his embarrassed face in his hands. "Please stop laughing!"
"Silence!" Comet demanded over the speaker. "Now, this is the part where I tell you everything? Okay, I'll just keep this short because I have been in that freezer for a month and I still have a few ice cubes in my butt that need letting out. Okay, I was freed but I'm not telling you because I'd ruin the surprise, person who freed me gave me simple instructions that worked perfectly by the way, destroyed security camera watching Clyde, freed Clyde, caused a rampage to get your attention, purposely get myself captured, Clyde causes commotion that gets you distracted, I get full control of the monitor room and you tell us the code so me and Clyde can escape. So, you have to make a decision, because I don't think Willow has long before her whole body becomes one of Clyde." She laughed.
Dipper and Hunter were now in a hard place. Save everyone although it would mean releasing two dangerous criminals. Or try and fight them which in turn would turn everyone into eggs.
"Dipper, we'll be fine." Ford assured them.
"I won't be, I'm becoming a dad!" Soos exclaimed. "Although, keeping them in here would keep the world safe and we'd be turned into creatures like Clyde….So…It would be a lose/lose situation."
"Uh….Dad….Papa." Willow groaned as she called out for her dads.
"Willow!" Hunter cried. "Let them go!"
"Not until Comet gets the code!" Clyde demanded. "You just need to let us go and they'll be free. So…What should you do, Dipper? Save them? Or leave them?"
Dipper knew that he'd lose regardless of which choice, but he wanted his sister and his Grunkle and his friends r to live so he has no choice. "Alright." Ford sighed in disappointment at his nephew. "The code is 3-4-2-5-1." They heard the sound of someone typing the keys and the door opening.
"Hey it worked!" Comet exclaimed. "Alright, Clyde! We're free!"
Clyde groaned in disappointment. "I hate this name." He said before he shape changed into a brown dog. "Oh and Dipper….." He gagged and spat out Dipper's false hand. "….Believe me, I didn't eat the good stuff." He said before running away to the exit.
As he ran away, Dipper tossed a small tracking device on Clyde's back, without him knowing. "See you soon, Clyde." Dipper said as he put his hand back on.
Once Clyde was gone, everyone whom was trapped on the ceiling smoothly fell out of their would-be-cocoon.
Ford landed on his feet while Mabel just landed on her face. "Ow!" She exclaimed.
Flapjack and Clover luckily used their wings to hover down to the ground. The red cardinal Palisman flew towards Hunter and the two began to nuzzle each other.
"It's okay, Flap, I'm here."
The next to fall was Wendy who got caught by Dipper in his arms. She looked at the author and began to feel something strange when he held her.
"You alright?" Dipper asked.
Wendy's cheeks turned red. "Yeah, I'm fine."
While they awkwardly stared at each other, Soos landed with a loud thud. "Don't worry about me dudes, my belly broke my fall."
The last to fall was obviously Willow, who landed on her Palisman who turned to staff mode in time so she can safely hover back down.
She landed in front of Hunter, who instantly began to hug her, surprising the witch. "You okay?" Hunter asked her.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Willow replied. "Scared I was gonna become an egg but thankfully, I didn't."
Ford narrowed his eyes at his nephew for his recklessness but gave a grateful sigh. "Well, least you saved me from being a monster."
"Ford, I did place a tracking device on him." Dipper informed him. "We'll go out looking for them later tonight."
"Anyone else wanna join?" Ford asked.
"No." Everyone instantly replied.
"All in favour of a long shower and doing nothing for the rest of the night?" Mabel said with a raised hand.
"Ay!" Everyone but Dipper and Ford responded.
Later that night at the Shack, while Dipper and Ford went out to track down Comet and Clyde, Hunter and Willow were in their respective beds after a nice long shower, ready to get some much needed shut eye.
"So, everything's cool with me and Dipper now." Hunter said.
"I'm glad." Willow said. "So he isn't gonna be overprotective with you?"
"He'll still protect me." Dipper replied. "Just not, going over the top with it."
"That's good." Willow remarked.
"Because I'm still haunted by Pacifica's death." Hunter's response made Willow freeze and to stare at him with concern. "Or, at least I think I am. Clyde shape changed into her as a zombie and it scared me, caused a panic attack."
Willow sighed sadly and stared at him sympathetically. "Oh Hunter. I'm so sorry."
"Don't be." Hunter said. "We couldn't have stopped it, no matter how fast we could go."
"Least you're not blaming yourself." Willow remarked.
"Yeah. Except for what I did today."
"Hey, you tried to stop Comet but…..Things happened." Willow said.
"Speaking of Comet, who even freed her?" Hunter asked. "She said someone freed her, but she didn't wish to say who."
Willow shrugged her shoulders. "We'll find that out someday. But until then, I think we should sleep."
"Agreed." Hunter said before turning off his lamp. "Goodnight, Willow."
"Goodnight Hunter." Willow said. "Whoever that person is, probably has no affect on us."
But outside the shack, someone was watching it from afar. It turned out to be none other than Belos, whom was in his monster form snarling at the Shack.
"We'll see each other again, Hunter. We'll see each other again."