July twenty-eighth was a mildly warm summer day for Gravity Falls. The wind gently tossed around the tops of trees. The kids and families at the pool enjoyed their wild and wet adventure while applying copious amounts of sun block. The sun was peppered by the occasional white, fluffy cloud.
Had anyone told them 'You need to keep an eye out for suspicious activity and people- it's important', they would have scoffed. In fact, that's exactly what so many had done.
As the citizens and families of Gravity Falls went about their happy Tuesday, a gang of teens had been going around, supposedly trying to cause a mild panic. The related twins to the Mystery Manor proprietor had been rushing around town, talking about evacuation and other unsettling things. Fortunately for the town ease of mind, almost everyone had ignored them.
At least, that was what the town thought was best.
Dipper Pines stomped down the street, away from a now moving police cruiser. Clutched tightly in his hand was a radio walkie-talkie. As tightly held together as his teeth, Dipper lifted his balled-up fist to his face.
"Cops aren't going to take us seriously," he grumbled as he pushed his back against a wall next to one of the shops.
Quickly, a calm, authoritative female voice replied. "It was worth a shot, Dipper, "Arline commended him, "But they're not going to believe it until they see it."
"It will be too late then," Dipper said as a shadow from an alley next to him came closer. Mabel emerged, holding a small, handheld device to her side. Dipper said into the device, "The last time the Warlock tried something that was a plan, he hurt a lot of people. Imagine what something called 'search and destroy' would do."
Another voice poked its way into the conversation. "Yeah dude. Totally not a good thing. What if he, like, starts reversing Gravity again or something?" Soos asked.
Dipper nodded and bit his lip gently. "Okay. Well," he reached inside his pocket and retrieved his cellphone and checked the time- It read '11:59', "It's noon. Everyone, one last headcount, and then we wait."
"Sir Soos, of Mission Soos, reporting for duty at the rebuilding store," Soos called.
"Unit 'Girl-Power' at the library," Candy said, barely audible over the sounds of Grenda grunting in the background.
Arline called, "I'm with the pick-up crew by the scrap yard."
Wendy's voice also piped up, "Overlooking town."
Dipper listened for a second long. When no one else called in, he sighed. That was it. His head dropped slightly and he locked his eyelids tightly together. It was only them; seven versus whatever the Warlock had in store. A hand touched his shoulder. His eyes traveled the fastest, and Mabel was smiling at him in her best attempt at reassurance. Finally, he awarded her with a grin.
"Okay. Counter-Operation Divide and Conquer is a go. Play it safe, everyone. Good luck." Dipper lowered the device and pocketed it.
"Man, listen to you," Mabel said as she adjusted the tension on her handheld weapon, the grappling hook, "Giving orders and fun jazz."
"I suggested Arline take it," Dipper told Mabel as he pushed himself off the wall, and nodded for her to walk with him down the street. They were only a block away from the mall; their target for monitoring. They all were staying nearby suspected targets that Graupner, the Warlock, may strike against.
Mabel asked, "What? Why isn't she-"
"She said that if things go south, she can't be distracted by giving orders," Dipper explained with a shrug, "And I'd be lying if I didn't get that."
"Oh, well that makes sense," Mabel nodded.
"And she also said something about how she'd rather have me in charge anyway, you know," Dipper tacked on at the end of the sentence. Mabel scoffed and rolled her eyes. "What? She did."
"You're just happy she gave you a bit of recognition," Mabel stuck out her tongue first, and rounded the corner with her brother.
"And you wouldn't like that?" Dipper asked with a frown.
"Well duh," Mabel laughed. "I'd love more! But as my master says, 'only take a compliment at face value, or else you'll forget what you did to deserve it'."
"When did she say that?" he asked.
"Eh. I don't remember."
"Really?" Dipper chuckled. "You remember something that specific, but you can't remember-"
"Pfft, shuddup," Mabel poked the button of Dipper's nose and spun away, her tongue hanging out between her lips.
Dipper rubbed the insulted region, but couldn't help but smile. It was just like Mabel, even with what could happen at any moment, to act as herself. Her smile grew as she watched him after a moment, and they laughed.
Yet Dipper's mind played ever against his desire to remain upbeat. The Warlock was about to unleash something.
That wasn't even the worse thing to it all. Dipper had given the note some thinking, and come to several newer conclusions over the day. Pulling it out from his other pocket, he scanned the new sentences again. July 28th is the final date. The supplies are gathered, and subject Alpha is ready. We will undergo operation 'Search and Destroy' at noon that day. Have all operation members in their positions.
The Warlock, Graupner Kinley, had used the word 'we'. Not I, we. That meant there was definitely someone working with him. That Dipper had already known for an entire month or so. Who had been the question. Yet the note disturbed him more. If there had only been one person working with him, why write the note at all? This was meant for someone else. Then there was the absolute worst part of it all...
'Have all operation members in their positions'.
Did he, the magic casting maniac, have a small army of people at his disposal this entire time? Could it have been that there was always more than one helping Graupner get away again and again? He already knew, from Mabel's perspective, that there were a few bodyguards who had watched his sides when he went after the dragon.
Then Dipper scowled. Of course, there had been someone helping him.
"Dipper, you're thinking about Yuki again," Mabel said off-handedly.
"Am not," he lied.
"I can hear your teeth grinding, broseph," she told him, looking away, across the street as they stood on the corner. She leaned against the stoplight post; her arms crossed.
"Fine, whatever, yeah. I was thinking about it again," Dipper grumbled and leant against the corner.
Mabel shifted in her stance, but said nothing.
The subject of the previous day's events was still a tense one. Dipper and Mabel had not spoken about it since the night before. Even in the day's morning, where they rose early enough to catch the birds still asleep, they had not uttered a real word about it since. Mabel had, to Dipper's attempt at listening in, tried calling Pacifica to tell her what had happened, but the girl hadn't responded to any calls.
Dipper wanted the help of their friend here, but he wanted the pain associated with the betrayal gone. Yuki was strong, and brilliant of mind, and Dipper couldn't reason in his own head why he would have turned to the Warlock. They had given him so much, cared for him so much.
Dipper breathed deeply, and sighed. There would be a time after they beat this jerk to demand answers from Yuki. Assuming he was still in town.
"I hope Wendy's friends left town today," Mabel suddenly said.
"Huh?"
"Wendy's gang," Mabel glanced to Dipper, and then stared at the mall, "Wendy said that she called them and left messages, warning them to leave town before noon. Just for the day."
"She... actually called people?" Dipper asked. It had been a challenge to convince her to help with this mission- as she wasn't keen on letting people see her still.
"Yeah. She said she tried making it sound ghost-like and stuff, so they'd take it more seriously," Mabel shrugged. "Spooky Wendy 'n stuff."
Dipper snorted. "I wonder if she sounded like that guy from 'Almost Entirely Unsee-able Guy'," he added with a grin, "Long vowel sounds and lots of 'oooos'."
"She did!" Mabel turned and laughed with her brother, "I just barely overheard her calling them. I thought she was prank calling at first!"
The two gave a good, hearty laugh for a bit. It was a nice break for the two of them. This entire past twenty four hours had been fairly devoid of laughter. True, Soos had been hopeful, and Wendy was optimistic, but actual laughter had been scarce. The approaching danger, whatever it is, was more than enough to make everyone slightly somber. Even Mabel admitted to feeling down just before they had come to town.
"You think Grunkle Stan will be okay at the shop by himself?" Mabel asked as she played with the Grappling hook, checking its scope- a new addition Grunkle Stan had added the prior night.
"Closed shop, got out his favorite shotgun, and has waddles on watch duty?" Dipper asked her, and shrugged. "He'll be fine. I'm more worried about us, and the town."
"Talk about stupid – they won't even listen to us?" Mabel whipped her head to her brother, an uncharacteristic frown about her face. "Stupid-heads."
"I guess we can't blame them. They still are trying to look through the rubble by the scrap yard, and then they're also after the Warlock. I guess having kids tell them that something is going to happen is too much."
"That's dumb," Mabel pouted.
"Yeah," Dipper chuckled darkly, shaking his head, "it is-"
The two looked at each other instantly. The ground was trembling very lightly. The glanced around, and then sighed as one of the logging trucks passed them by, honking once as it went through the green light.
"Ugh," Mabel grumbled, leaning next to her brother this time, "The suspense is going to kill me."
"Yeah. It would be one thing if we knew what we were waiting for, you know?" Dipper asked. "Instead of second guessing everything that'll happen for now on."
"Speaking of knowing stuff," Mabel scooted to the side and looked to Dipper, "Has Zander called back yet?" He lifted up his cell phone again and held the display for Mabel to read. No new messages or missed calls. Mabel huffed. "What gives?" she grumbled, "After yesterday, I thought he wanted to help out. Right?" She asked.
Dipper nodded. It was odd, certainly, that the only other person who had seen the things he and Mabel had seen was missing. Of all the days as well, a predicted day of an attack of some sort, or at least a dangerous operation, Zander would come to help out. What had happened to him? Where had he gone?
"If we get the chance, we should check up on him," Dipper suggested to Mabel. She nodded quickly, but her lips were pursed and her eyes were lowered. "Hey, I'm sure he's okay."
"I... I dunno," she admitted, "I have this feeling."
"What?" Dipper asked, looking around. "About him?"
"I can't tell. Just one of those 'Mabel is kinda psychic feelings', right?" Mabel attempted, a small, timid smile on about her.
Dipper shrugged. "Not sure." He glanced back.
Still nothing had happened. He checked the phone. It was now twelve sixteen. What the heck was going on? Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of crazy operation now? Something they had to be here for; to thwart, and then protect people?
Dipper felt the weight of the walkie-talkie in his pocket. Maybe it wouldn't be bad to stop and check with Zander. He could send himself and Mabel to go.
The ground rumbled again. Dipper glanced down the street, checking for a truck. He didn't see one way, and so he turned. As he craned his head, he spotted Mabel. Her eyes were wide. Yet he continued and looked the other way- towards town.
"Dipper," she muttered.
Dipper's face struck pale colors as his skin felt cold. The shaking was getting stronger and there wasn't a single large truck nearby.
Dipper barely had time to look to the ground and back up to Mabel before things got bad.
"Find cover!" Dipper screamed.
Grabbing each other's hands, the twins rocked away from the side of the wall. The shaking was horrible- now the ground itself seemed to occasionally ripple and the poles and street lights were swaying. Just as they ran away, the one Mabel had been resting against exploded with sparks. The wiring inside twisted and splintered, and it came crashing down, shattering its glass casings against the now splintering asphalt.
Screams of the fearful and panicked echoed above them. Dipper didn't know if it was natural or not, but an earthquake had come to Gravity Falls.
It wasn't just the signs and poles that were falling. Glass shattered in windows, raining a deadly-razor sharp hail that Dipper and Mabel danced their way around. Cars still being driven spun out of control; slamming into fire-hydrants or other cars. When the metal of the fire hydrant exploded, the jets of water were mild and passive; the town for the past day had water pressure problems since the cave-in.
Dipper barely missed a shard of glass the size of his torso cutting into his scalp; thanks to Mabel pulling him back and away. They continued to race towards a clearing by the edge of town.
Before them, the side of one of the offices shattered. Old bricks, piping, insulation, and metal beams avalanched out into the street. Dipper shoved himself and his sister immediately to the right, avoiding most of the spillage. Several large bricks skimmed his arm, scraping and bruising him. If he could have felt the pain, he would have cared to cry out, but the situation called for more than that.
Mabel stood up with him and they ran the only direction they could, down an alleyway. Trashcans and dumpsters rattled and jostled in their way. Mabel was strong enough to give a solid metal dumpster a kick back, but as more brick and wall crumbled around them.
It was becoming an elaborate dance of survival. Each of their awareness had doubled or tripled with the falling bricks. They couldn't fall behind: they had to keep moving. Nowhere was safe.
Barely missing a large slab of wall which collapsed next to Dipper, the twins flew out of the billowing dust of the alleyway. They stood in a small park clearing, where the tree jostled back and forth.
"Dipper!"
Mabel was pointing to a hill above town. Dipper's eyes trained on the hill, their feet barely able to support them against the ground. Eyes shaking in his socket, he could barely make out what she was pointing to at first. Then he noticed the hill was growing.
The shaking, all at once stopped.
Arline's voice quickly called, on the walkie-talkie, "Everyone okay?!"
"We are okay," Candy was quickly to reply.
"I'm good. Just a little shaken up- uh, bad pun, sorry guys," Soos said.
"We're good," Dipper stated, "dusty. Wendy? you okay?"
A moment later, the redhead replied. "I'm good. You guys saw it, right?"
"Huh? Saw what?" Mabel asked as Dipper held the Walkie-Talkie.
"The hill, north of town, near the mountains," Wendy explained.
"We saw something happen," Dipper admitted, "Not sure what. We'll go check it out. In the meantime, go help people."
Several replies of recognition came for Dipper, as he and his sister found another nearby alleyway and rushed out of it.
The streets of Gravity Falls were horrible. Just as bad as three years ago, the town had been reduced to crumbling buildings and panicked folks running in the streets. Several police cruises had been flipped over entirely. The twins spotted the Sheriff and Deputy climbing out of one of the cars, shaking, but otherwise okay.
Several buildings, including the old church, had been split down the middle. The town center had been cracked severely. The Candy shop had been semi-caved in, and the library had lost all of the glass in its windows. In fact, as Dipper scanned around quickly, almost all the windows in town had shattered.
"C'mon!" Mabel pulled him along.
"I'm coming-"
With a resounding explosion equal to a hundred sticks of dynamite, the bulging hill outside of town ruptured like a volcano. The twins skidded to a halt, their mouths agape as they watched a shower of fresh earth and torn trees fly into the air. Dust and rock flew skyward, and began to rain down. Mabel started to look for cover, but Dipper couldn't look away.
Something was in the explosion, tossing off dirt and loose roots. Something enormous.
"Dipper! Move!" Mabel saw it too and gasped.
It was roughly fifty feet tall, and standing on two large digitigrades feet. It had large, sweeping shoulders and two large bulky arms. Completing the form of the beast was a huge, Lupin head. As Dipper and Mabel stared at it, letting the dirt in the air settle, they realized that it wasn't covered in fur- or skin at all. It was entirely made of vines, roots, and bark.
"A... golem?!" Dipper shouted.
His outcry caught the attention of many fleeing residents and families. They slowed, and turned. An entire town of two thousand and so souls stared up on the hill at the monster, standing amidst the trees with near equal height.
"It's shaped like a werewolf," Mabel pointed out after a gulp.
As if the beast heard her, it clenched its clawed hands and then shot it's head into the sky, unleashing a blood-curdling howl that rocked the air itself. Anyone who had been watching screamed and began to flee. Dipper and Mabel stood alone, amidst a fleeing crowd as the mutation of a golem and a werewolf started to march towards town.
"Out of the way!"
The twins spun around. Arline was shoving past the crowd as hard as she could, sometimes knocking people aside in her desperation to get to the twins. Sweat poured down her face as she continued to glance up at the coming monster.
"Master, what do we-" Mabel started to call.
Arline wasn't one to sit around though. She darted past the twins, now unhindered by fleeing crowds. The massive monster had only just reached the edge of town, a wicked grin on its face. The twins gasped as Arline flashed her arms against one another, and fire erupted by her arms. She was going to fight this thing.
"No way!" Mabel shouted, and she raced forward. Dipper shouted, seeing his sister approach the monster was the last thing he needed. Yet he followed her, racing after his charging sister.
Ahead, Arline's arms blazed as burning logs would- letting off ash and smoke as she raced down the street. The twins saw her mesh her arms together, and in an instant, compress all the fire into one tiny ball, and throw it forward. The softball sized fire struck the leg of the monster and exploded like a grenade.
She hadn't needed to catch the attention of the monster. It was already looking towards them, and with Arline's first attack, it made up its mind to retaliate. With uncanny speed to its size, it punched downwards. Arline barely had the time to stop and jump aside. The cracking and crumbling asphalt shattered at the punch, sending an entire wave of broken street towards the twin.
The vicious ripple of destruction forced Dipper to dive aside with his sister, their vision blurred with dirt and crumble asphalt. Their ears were deafened by the impact of the fist on the street. There was no time to remain on the ground though. The two quickly stood up, and turned their attention to the massive beast.
Mabel looked back to her brother. "What the heck do we do against this?!" Mabel shouted at Dipper.
"Find a weakness!" he suggested in a furious shout. Mabel gasped and glanced up. Pebbles were falling over their head, and a shadow cascaded over them. "MABEL!" Dipper screamed as he dived with her again.
The foot stomped down right where they had been. Wind and debris were tossed around them, scraping at their arms and legs like sheer blades. Dipper was able to spy past the attacking limb to the other side of the street, where a woman was running around to the back of the monster. Arline was still rushing at her fastest.
Arline shouted, "We need to get it out of town!", conjuring more fire with a flick of each of her arms.
"Yeah!" Dipper nodded. "Mabel?" he turned to his sister, checking with her. Her own gaze confirmed her strength was willing.
"Let's do it – Mystery twin style," she dared a grinned.
"Right, I got an idea," Dipper said, and turned back towards the fleeing crowds, "Keep fighting it with Arline!" he told her, and spun off towards an abandoned logging truck.
"Sure! That's..." Mable turned to the beast, towering above her and gulped, "Easy."
It was lifting its foot for another stomp on her. Then another one of Arline's fireballs struck its shoulder with a shuddering boom. The beast, now with two mildly crispy patches on it's body, turned furiously to her.
"That's right, big 'n ugly," Arline shouted as she started walking backwards, clutching the condensed ball of fire in her other hand, "This way."
Mabel took her chance the moment it turned from her. Her action swift and precise, she lifted her hand to the opposite side of the street and pulled the trigger of her gun. "Grappling hook!" she roared. Only a split second passed between her pulling that trigger and her lurching forward and upwards, towards the small water tankard she had shot at. Dodging the edge of the roof of the building, Mabel slid to a stop on the rooftops, and raced to the edge. With another jump off the side of the building, she then lifted herself into the air, and flew towards the beast's shoulder.
Dipper ran after the fleeing crowds. The townsfolk all became desperate in finding a place they all deemed worthy to hide, or scamper towards. Dipper pitied them. Aside from a few well-hidden bunkers, there wasn't much left in the means of this level of protection in town. But he had to think for the battle at the moment, and not for the fears of those fleeing.
A voice called out nearby, "Dipper!"
Candy and Grenda skidded to a halt when they rushed past him.
"Hey! Dummy! Fight's that way?!" Grenda pointed to the monstrous wolf-like golem.
"I know," he told her, "I'm bringing back up!" Arriving to the side of the cockpit of the eighteen-wheeler, Dipper wrenched himself upwards, towards the driver seat. As he had expected with the low rumble next to him, the engine was still on and the key was still in.
"You're going to ram in?" Candy asked with a gasp, watching Dipper check the vehicles condition.
"Yeah," Dipper nodded, and looked to her, "Help me out you two."
"Ohh, do I get to steer it?" Grenda rubbed her hands together excitedly as she and her friend approached.
"No one is," Dipper glanced over his shoulder, "This is going to auto-pilot. I want this to be a solid payload of logs into that things face."
"Just as cool, so I'm still in!" Grenda cheered.
Candy walked herself over to be just below Dipper. "I can rig the wheel to be remote controlled from a distance of seven miles," Candy said as she adjusted her glasses. Dipper stalled and looked at her, blinking. "What?" she reached into her backpack, and withdrew a remote control. "I like robots."
Dipper nodded. "Sweet. Just do what you can to make sure it can be steered from a safe distance," Dipper told her, "Grenda, help her out."
"You got it!" Grenda saluted as Candy struggled to get up the side of the tall cockpit. "Up!" Grenda shouted, and nearly threw the small girl up.
"Thanks!" Candy gasped, her hair mildly frazzled from the unexpected movement.
Dipper had little time to monitor them. He needed to make sure there was some form of counterweight to this procedure. He wasn't going to ram it; he was going to send the entire load of logs into the golem. Every single one of the thirty foot long, meter thick logs would be a weapon against his enemy.
"Dipper!"
Wendy and Soos had also arrived. Wendy was wearing her hat tightly around her head, and, as Dipper had expected, wasn't breaking a sweat. Soos, on the other hand, was sweating and looked paler than he usually did. His eyes peered ahead, staring up at the monstrous creature.
"Aww dude, this doesn't look too good," he shakily said, biting at his nails with his longer two front teeth.
"Maybe not now," Dipper told them with a confident smile, "But we're going to give it a heck of a welcome basket."
"What's the plan?" Wendy asked.
"This," Dipper padded the side of the purring truck, "We're going to crash this thing and use these logs like spears."
"Wait, what?" Wendy and Soos gasped.
Dipper faced them, using his hands to act as a diagram. "We need to loosen the back couplings by a margin, and then the front ones by a lot. That way they still have direction to go when all their kinetic energy is directed forward," Dipper explained as he pointed to the truck, "Then they crash through the cockpit, and hopefully do some damage to its leg, or maybe knee."
"So... a heck of a payload," Soos thought to himself. "I got the front load!" He said and rushed forward.
"I'll help you here," Wendy said, moving with Dipper to the closest set of large clamps.
"Thanks Wendy," Dipper said as he made for the side of the truck, and Wendy hoisted herself up above him on the logs with an agile leap.
"So, uh," Wendy asked, as she held the rope steady while Dipper fiddled with the clamps, "Chances of survival?"
Dipper gave her question a moment of thought. "I'd give us two out of five," Dipper shrugged as he slowly adjusted the metal bindings.
"That high?" Wendy grinned down at him. Dipper dared a glance to her, and instantly felt his cheeks warm as her green eyes met his brown. "Uh, dude, you can stare at my face another time," she said with a shrug towards the crashing threat down the street.
"Right," Dipper sighed and shook his head.
"You know, not that I'm, uh, complaining," Wendy shrugged, lowering her face to a level Dipper couldn't see.
He looked back up, and stared at her. "You... don't?" he weakly asked.
"Well, uh," Wendy shrugged, still not looking to him, "I mean, you try living a life where people don't know you exist anymore, and not appreciate a little attention then and again."
"Oh," Dipper sighed and nodded, mildly crestfallen, "I, uh getcha. And," he tugged at the large lever with a tug, "there!" he pulled and the rope stretched gently. "You... you could have sent me mail or something, you know," Dipper told Wendy. She looked down to him, confused. "You know, if you wanted. When you were feeling alone."
"Dude, the official records are that I'm dead," Wendy told Dipper, "You'd think that someone may have seen my name and wondered what was up."
"...R-right," Dipper stuttered, and shrugged. "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Wendy waved a hand to him, and then jumped.
The two stood before one another. A moment passed as they did so, unflinchingly looking into each other's faces as the screams of terror far behind Dipper drifted into the air, and the loud shattering crunches of a golem's footsteps shook the earth. It was a strange, dream-like state the two shared, looking at one another.
After staring into each other's eyes for a few long moments, they both made to speak at the same time.
"Wendy-"
"Dipper-"
"Incase- well- I just wanted to let you know-" they both said.
"I'm just really happy with where-" Dipper started.
"I can't tell you how much I'm thankful for-" Wendy said.
"Hey dudes," Soos called to them both, shaking them from their babble of words. "Truck's ready up ahead!"
"Okay," Dipper shook his head. Giving Wendy once last look, he rushed past her. The two trailed behind him as he made it to Candy and Grenda. "How does she look?" Dipper asked as he called up to the cockpit.
"Ready to go in a second," Candy muttered just loud enough to be heard over the chaos. The wires exposed with the computer chip of the steering mechanics, Candy turned, and dropped down from the chair. "We can move it now."
"Everyone, get back!" Dipper shouted. He and his cluster of allies all started to step back, and he checked the status of his target. It was stable, and still in the middle of the road. He then turned and gave the nod to Candy. "Go!" She in turn nodded, and lifted up her remote-control device; a makeshift old cellphone with a small joystick inserted into the number pad.
"Engine revving up," Candy told Dipper, and the large, thick wheels of the truck began to spin.
Dipper grinned and looked back to the monster. He watched it flail as Arline threw fireball after fireball at the chest, where the blast of fire and smoke caused minor sonic booms. Then, as he watched the thing flail, he saw her. Mabel. She was still on the monster; the one he intended crashing an eighteen-wheeler into. She hadn't seen the truck coming her way.
"Wait!" Dipper held a hand to Candy, but the wheels continued to spin, "Slow it down!"
"Huh?" she whipped her head to him. "I- you wanted a break control?"
"What do you mean?!" Dipper shouted at her, "You can't slow it!"
"You said you were just going to crash it," Candy said quietly.
Dipper cursed loudly, spun away from his friends, and began to dash do the street. He didn't have time to let fatigue or wear from the day slow him down. His sister's life could depend on him warning her. She was busy, punching and kicking the base of the large golem's neck as hard as she could. Sadly, effort to effect, she wasn't accomplishing much.
The loud screech of wheels behind Dipper told him the breaks had been broken away. The truck rushed forward.
"Mabel!" Dipper screamed.
She still fought, using her grappling hook to swing from one side to the other.
He was running towards an airborn Mabel, just like that one night. Just like that night she had fallen, where Dipper hadn't been able to save her. This wasn't a cursed game, as far as Dipper could tell. Though he saw the flashes of the past haunt him before his very eyes, the threat was all-too-real. Mabel was high into the air, just like she had been before. Danger approached her.
His throat tore and his lungs screamed for release as he clenched down on his diaphragm as hard as he could and screamed as the truck raced past him, slamming aside one of the abandoned cars to the side of the road.
"MAAABLEE!"
She heard him, and spun.
"Oh, gummy koalas," she muttered as the truck made its mark, and struck true.
The truck did exactly as Dipper had hoped. The front engine crumpled against the sheer thickness of the golem's huge leg. Thick, coarse gasoline ignited with heat and fumes. The front of the truck exploded. The golem howled, and began to fall backwards. Before it could topple entirely back, the package on the back thrust forward as planned. Soaring forward, seven of the logs struck true- the rest flew past the wrecked truck as flaming spears.
Arline barely ducked past their wrath, and rolled aside as embers and flame soared above her.
Dipper still hadn't stopped running. He had to make sure she could land; no matter what that meant for him. She was falling now; falling with the golem. He could see her eyes dart around, desperate for a way out. It was only with the quick thinking that Mabel Pines could do that allowed her to spot something, point her grappling hook at it, and fired.
It wouldn't save her completely. Dipper saw the grappling hook shoot out in that split second like an uncoiling viper strike out. It would only make Mabel fall at an angle now. He had to go even faster.
Her hook made its mark, and so she fell towards the wall. Dipper angled himself, jumping towards the corner of the building just in time. Without his catch and shove, Mabel's back and spin would have met, full-force, with the strong marble edge of the building. His brave actions weren't without consequence though. Dipper stumbled with his sister and the two tumbled and landed against the hard sidewalk, crumpling into a pile atop one another.
"Oww..." Mabel groaned.
"Yeah, I'll say," Dipper grumbled. He looked up to his sister, still lying on his chest. "You okay?"
"Uh... yeah. I don't feel much, but that might be thankfulness for not dying, you know?" she shrugged. Dipper chuckled and leaned back.
Casual Mabel, as usual.
She lifted herself up in an instant then, and turned to offer a hand to him. He took it with a clap of the hands, and stood. The two of them grinned at each other, alive and pleased.
At least until the shadow of a large golem began rising again.
"What?!" Dipper shouted, turning to the monster. The legs, having been bashed and burned horribly, seemed to be recovering at an astonishing rate. Dipper watched as vines grew over and replaced injured ones, and broken layers of deeper tissue fell away, replaced by new ones. "It's... healing!?"
"Yeah, we kind of realized that fire seemed to be the best at dealing with it," Mabel chuckled sadly, "I was going to tell you, but..."
"Damn it!" Dipper ran out.
He needed a new plan, something else to throw at this monster. If fire was the weakness, he needed more fire. Across the now standing beast, Arline had quickly gained her footing, looking between the beast and the twins across from it.
"That didn't work as well as I'd hope," Arline admitted loudly as the wolf-golem turned to her.
"Arline, if we start burning it up, could you control the fire as a weapon?" Dipper called to her. She blinked, but nodded. "Good!" he turned, and grabbed Mabel's shoulder, and with her, ran back to their friends, who had already begun to rush after the twins.
"So, explosion, check. Dead monster, not check," Soos worriedly admitted, "The heck we do, dudes?"
Wendy eagerly suggested, "Anyone got a rocket launcher with its name on it?"
"I'm thinking a bit more old-school," Dipper admitted. "Anyone like cocktails?"
"You drink?" Mabel asked Dipper with an overly-shocked gasp, "Mom spoils you!"
Candy suggested, "Molotov?"
"Exactly," Dipper said, and checked around him. There was a liquor store next to them. "I'm not a fan of looting, but we need some strong drinks."
"Now you're speaking my language," Wendy grinned and winked. She patted Grenda's thick shoulder, "C'mon hulk. We'll grab them, and some towels to light them with."
"I call one or two to actually drink!" Grenda demanded as she and Wendy rushed into the store.
"So," Dipper turned back to the monster, which had fully stood up. "What's the attack strategy here?"
"Easy," Mabel said, "I take Candy up with me along the side of the building. Wendy counters there," Mabel pointed to the other side of the building, "And with the cocktails, we toss 'em in it's face. While we blind it, the rest of you guys light it's body up."
"So just hit it from all angles, and let Arline go all animal on it?" Dipper said, watching the monster get hit again and again from Arline's fireballs.
"I like the idea," Soos shrugged, "Less chance for us to get squashed."
"Special delivery!" Grenda called as she and Wendy rushed over, each pushing over a rattling metal shopping cart filled to their brim with strong drinks and torn rags from the store.
"I'm going to need some ID," Wendy said in a falsely serious tone.
"I didn't bring a wallet," Mabel winked.
"Start loading up!" Dipper ordered, grabbing the wraps of cloth and sticking them into the opened ends of bottles.
They quickly assembled a large pile of these fire-based thrown weapons, and were just about to start loading them up. Dipper had everyone grab a minimum of three, and then ordered positions. Wendy, Mabel, and Candy would take to the buildings and hit its sides at a height, just as planned. Soos and Grenda would stay behind, tossing the unused bottles at its feet, as to create a massive pool of flame. Dipper, before the alcohol was lit, would run towards Arline, and toss as many as he could at the legs of the beast.
With one quick look among them all, Dipper called high into the air with a resounding marshaling cry, "Split!"
Mabel and Candy were off quickly enough. With the impressive grappling hook in action, the soared into the air with limited resistance. Wendy, her body already athletic before becoming a member of the undead, was able to scale the side of a building with scaffolding at a scary pace.
Dipper raced ahead, cradling three drinks in one arm as best he could. Behind him, Soos and Grenda took positions, and prepared to hurl their glasses as best they could. One of the logs Dipper passed already burned and sizzled with fire from the gasoline explosion.
"Thanks," Dipper told the log, using the fire to light one of the torn rags in the bottles. Lit, ready and willing, Dipper threw the first of many bottles.
It shattered along the knee of the golem. Fire spread along the lower leg, burning and boiling the wooden limb. As he threw the glass bottle, four more explosions along the body followed, igniting the body of the golem into flame. Screeching in agony and fury, the Golem swatted at its sides, trying to put out the fire.
"Nice!" Arline said, stepping up to Dipper as he threw another one. She also threw her own fireballs, which were much more dramatic, but less over-all effective than the constant burning effects of scorching spirits.
Dipper had only gotten to throw his second bottle when the Golem retaliated. It spied Arline and Dipper, and once again punched down. Dipper hadn't been ready- retaliated wasn't part of his plan. Arline however was quick to reply for him. She shoved him back with her. The fist slammed into the earth, blowing a wall of sheer wind around. Part of the arm which had been part of the pyre went out. As Dipper stumbled back and fell, his last bottle fell aside, cracking and splashing its unlit liquid aside.
"Damn!" Dipper shouted, and looked ahead. Arline still stood, and the two watched in horror as the golem made a revelation. It turned its gaze, somewhat clouded by smoke from its own smoldering body, towards the burning log. A sneer grew along its writhing, vine face as it reached over and grasped the log.
"... Uh-oh," Arline gulped as the Golem lifted the log up with it. The shadow of the log and the arm hovered over the two. "Run!" she shouted, and pulled Dipper with her. The log smashed and splintered into the ground with a mighty crash.
Dipper rolled aside as two-foot sized splinters and shrapnel of wood and mulch flew past him and Arline. They had dived over a car and watched as the Golem reached down with the other hand and lifted a second log.
"We armed it," Dipper sighed and clapped a hand to his face, "Freakin' great. Whose genius idea was that?!"
"Move on from it," Arline told him, and peered over to the wall. The golem turned its gaze for Wendy. "Oh no! Wendy! Jump!" Arline shouted.
Wendy, if she had heard or not, did so just in time. The weaponized log smashed downwards into the building, splitting it into two with a shattering clash. She had leapt from her perch among the scaffolding, and flew some thirty feet down. Brick, glass, metal and piping all fell with her as the entire region she had been standing amidst crumbled to the earth. She landed with a loud thud, an injury that could have killed anyone. But the girl merely scrambled to her feet, dodging a large clump of building just in time.
The log cracked at the middle from the attack. The wolf-golem snarled and tossed it far behind it, and a large section of wood- nearly four feet long- spiraled deeper into town. It fell from sight and crashed into more buildings, followed by resounding screams.
Dipper watched the Golem with terror now. This thing was built to destroy. It was large enough and strong enough to lift even solid logs and fling them around as weapons. What the heck did they do!?
His eyes squinted as something glistened out from the center of the beast's chest. Dipper stared as he stood up fully, wanting as much clout as possible when staring at this object.
"There!" Dipper pointed to the chest. "There's something there!"
"Great," Arline turned to him, desperation in her eyes, "I'm glad you spotted something. What does that give us?!"
"I don't know!" Dipper shouted back at her, "Can you give that area one, I dunno, super-blast?"
Arline laughed, leapt over the car, and clasped her hands together. Rather than pulling them away though, she held them together, the fire from her bracers continuing to spiral into her cupped palms. The air vibrated with a deep, bass hum. Like a star being born, fire grew and shrunk in her hands, radiating a stark orange light from her finger tips. "Try this!" She shouted, and with a toss that would make a pro-baseball pitcher proud, she tossed the condensed fireball.
Her attack was effectively the same as a tank-shot. The creature had screamed, a different sound than previously. Not deep and resonant, but a high-pitched squeal indicating serious pain. The chest smoked and billowed a dark cloud. As the golem reeled forward and caught itself in mid-fall by scraping at the building Mabel and Candy stood atop, Dipper could see the shimmering object.
It was a huge, ten-foot-tall crystal. A dodecahedron in shape, the pale-green crystal grew out the roots and vines from the top and bottom points. It shimmered and, as Dipper studied it in the short moments it was revealed, seemed to reverberate. He had more than one guess that the heart of the monster was in that crystal.
"We need another one of those!" Dipper turned to Arline, who Dipper noticed for the first time seeing her, noticed she was sweating.
"Sure, gimme a second," she shook her head, swiping away her droplets along the sides of her face, "I'll just charge another one of those in an instant and-"
A shadow passed over them again. Dipper and Arline stepped back naturally, readying to dodge again if necessary. Yet they blinked. The golem had only just started to stand back up- it's wound barely healed.
Roaring above them all, and diving from the clouds, a huge winged animal dived down and swooped down the street, eliciting more screams from the terrified residents of Gravity Falls.
With a trumping roar, the purple-scaled dragon opened it's maw as it flew overhead and spat down a huge fireball. A sickening squeal of pain followed as the fire met with the magical roots and vines. The golem, for the first time since the explosion, fully collapsed down, narrowly missing Arline and Dipper, who stepped quickly aside.
Above them, Mabel stepped to the side of the building and pointed up. "It's Magenta!" she screamed.
The dragon made its return to the street, coming to a land some thirty feet before Dipper. To his shock, a girl clad in purple and wearing old-fashioned biker-goggles leapt down. "Oh sure, let's ignore the rider who organized all of that, thanks Mabel," The blond girl said as she hurried closer, being followed by the dragon.
"Pacifica!" Mabel shouted from the building, waving her arm above her head in a greeting.
"What are you doing here, Pacifica?" Dipper demanded. She glared up at him, her height still slightly lower than his. Nonetheless, she glared up at him, her cold eyes digging into him. Dipper felt himself wither. "What? I asked-"
Without warning, she jabbed him in the stomach. Dipper gasped and recoiled, stepping away from her.
"Wh-what the heck!?" he demanded. Arline more stunned than worried, stepped between them.
Pacifica yelled, "You ever think that the things he did weren't for him!?" she shouted at Dipper. Dipper blinked and stood up fully, his own cold feelings creeping into his veins. "Maybe you'd remember that he's probably the most selfless person you've ever met?"
Dipper scowled. "If he was so selfless, he wouldn't have-"
"Children, we can argue about Yuki another day!" Arline shouted between them. "Right now, we still have," she turned and pointed to the stirring golem.
"Right," Pacifica puffed a bang of her hair out from her face and looked at Arline, "It's a fusion-golem. Yuki says that he's been monitoring it with my dad's radio dish."
"Yuki's been living with you?" Dipper demanded.
Pacifica threw a deadly glance at Dipper, but continued talking. "He says that it's a construct that takes the best of werewolf resilience, and golem mindless task-given orders. It'll keep attacking the town forever. But, in order for it to keep working, it-"
"The crystal in its chest has to be broken," Dipper cut her off, "I guessed that part on my own."
Arline turned to him. "What crystal?"
"Or," Pacifica shouted, "Or... you cut off the source of orders."
"Huh?" Dipper and Arline turned to her. Behind them, the pitter-patter of feet approaching heralded Mabel's arrival.
"Hi!" she said to Pacifica, "What I miss?"
The blond, tired of explaining, rapidly said, "Yuki says that this thing is being controlled by a radio source. He says that it originates under town, by a large vertical shaft in the mines. He was able to triangulate it with my dads-"
"Radio, we got it," Dipper answered for her.
"Aww, you had Yuki stay with you?" Mabel swooned.
Pacifica went pink in the cheeks, but she made no comment to Mabel's words. "Anyway, it's underground. He says a machine that can emit strong enough signals like this would be hard to miss. I think you guys can do that a bit better than taking mother nature's angry second cousin here on."
Dipper turned and glanced back to the slowly recovering beast. Certainly, he and his crew had done some damage, but nothing had seemed permanent. Now, with the dragon fire eating away at the vine faster than it could heal, maybe... maybe Pacifica had a chance.
"How did-" he started to ask her.
"I was watching this from the manor. That thing takes a hit and keeps going. You guys need to find the source and mess it up!" she shouted, and spun around, nearly whipping the three with her long blond hair, "Let me take care of big and angry."
Dipper raised his eyebrows. "You sure you can take it? If you were watching, you'd know that it's pretty resistant to damage."
After jumping onto a newly-made saddle on the dragon, Pacifica scoffed and adjusted her hair. "And if you'd pay attention, you'd realize that I'm riding the scariest of all scary monsters: A dragon."
"Fair point," the twins muttered in unison.
"Pacifica," Arline pointed to her, "You remember what I told you before? This is life and death. Don't get into this unless you think you can handle this, okay?" Arline asked her. Pacifica studied the woman, and then gave her a decisive nod. Arline then added, "Okay. Don't think for a second we're not counting on you then. Lead this thing to the edge of town if you can, but no heroism. No one needs to get any more hurt today, got it?!"
"Please," Pacifica snorted, "As if I do anything really heroic, anyway," Pacifica muttered before kicking off with her dragon into the sky. Leaving the three to cover their eyes as they stared skyward, Pacifica and Magenta the Dragon hurtled into the skyline, and prepared to bomb the monster again.
"Guys!"
Lead by Soos, the others finally arrived. They had made a nice, wide circle around the fallen golem, and only arrived as Pacifica left. Breathing heavily, he held his knees in his hands and begged them, "What's next?"
"I..." Dipper turned away, looking at the hill which the golem had emerged. It was deep and cavernous. It led somewhere, which meant it came from somewhere else. Dipper closed his eyes, knowing what he would have to do. He turned back to the four. "Start helping people stay out of danger while Pacifica deals with the golem."
"What!?" the four gasped.
"Hold on guys," Dipper started, but Mabel stepped up to the plate.
"If this guy, the warlock nut-job, is really downstairs waiting for us, we'll need you guys to come rescue us. We can't send the whole army down there, or else if we lose once, we lose for all time. Just wait for a bit, and then come down." The four stared at her, eyes wide with shock. She had just reasoned with them. With a shrug and grin, she added, "You could go help people escape to cover!" she suggested with a grin.
Candy and Grenda quickly nodded. "You got it Mabel!" they saluted and ran off, using one of the near-by alleys to escape for cover.
"I'm going to grab Mister Pines!" Soos said to them, "He'll come help you guys out!" Soos shouted.
"Fly, you fool!" Dipper told him. Soos nodded, turned, and fled down the street, dodging a step from the rising golem.
"I'll... yeah, I'll go help people," Wendy shrugged, and turned.
"But, what if they-" Dipper started. Wendy spun around, looking to him.
"Hey, people say in times of crisis, spirits come to help out. Maybe I can scare them from ways I don't want them to go?" She shrugged. Dipper chuckled, and then gave her a two-fingered salute. Wendy saluted in kind. She added, less playfully, "Just... don't get hurt down there, okay?" she told him, "Don't go anywhere I can't find a way to follow you."
"Roger that," Dipper nodded.
Then, with a silent agreement to the three, Dipper, Mabel, and Arline spun away from the blazing Wolf-Golem and charged towards the hill. In only half a minute, Magenta the Dragon had soared twice overhead, breathing down the golem. A minute after that, the three dropped down into the darkness and what would await them.
What awaits in the darkness? Answers coupled with riddles, flushed with danger, and swooped with a hint of betrayal. The perfect recipe for a second half of a chapter this dramatic, no?
And that's right! I'm back on the normal schedule!
I'd like to apologize to you all, first of all: you all have a TON of reviews you've submitted since my computer pooped out on me. I'm going to try my best to get to them all, but I'll be at it for a while. If I see you've done more than one, I'm probably just going to go right to your most recent updated review. Other than that, I'll be responding in hurried fashion late Sunday to you all!
Remember, next week- same time, same place.
-EZB
PS: Mvcg vkrhlwv, hlnvlmv wrvh.