Mabel was no stranger to headaches. Being the twin that was innately more actively inclined and prone to movement meant the chances for mishaps seemed stacked against her. Bumping into tree-branches, headbutting car doors, headbutting house doors, headbutting brothers- the list went on. Heck, every once in a while, it could just come down to staying up late and consuming what she considered to be a perfectly reasonable amount of candy at the time. Then she woke up with a headache and a stomachache.
Stirring to consciousness, she could tell that this was among the worst ones.
Her forehead was raw and throbbing along with the insides of her mind. The fluffy pink matter Mabel affectionately called her brain pulsed with a soreness that could only be explained with two words.
"Fire-Extinguisher," she mumbled.
Her eyes flicked open, and she realized her source of pain. Lying on her back, her eyes had been focused right underneath a long, fluorescent light bulb. The static undertones of the humming light drove her miserable status just one inch closer to intolerable.
"Ugh," she rolled to her shoulder, and found the cold tiles beneath her. "Huh?" she whispered, feeling the cold smooth texture, "Am I in a kitchen?" she looked up, and saw the tiles, white and grey, reaching up a nearby wall, "Or a bathhouse?" she rolled the other direction.
Her nose collided with a large, closely welded together collection of bars of steel. Mabel gasped, and stood up, holding tight to the cage that she realized enclosed her into a corner.
"A freaky bathhouse!" Mabel decided.
A new voice floated out into the air. "You're awake," someone said.
The someone stood and walked towards her, smaller heels to a hard shoe and a brisk pace bringing closer to Mabel a figure in a white, worn lab coat. Her hair was tied behind her in a middle-to-the-back length ponytail, with streaks of silver in an otherwise solid blond. Her face held wrinkles and a look that Mabel saw akin to her brother; deep bags under her eyes that spoke of little sleep.
"Madam Moriau!" Mabel called out, "I need you to he me outta here! I've been mistaken for an evil trespasser or something!"
"Moriau?" she repeated. "How did you know my name?"
Mabel pointed to the lab coat. "Nametag," she plainly stated.
"Oh, right," the woman rolled her eyes, and adjusted the position of her small name-plate, "Dut it's not Madam. It's doctor."
"Doctor! Huh," Mabel paused, looking away in thought, "Swear I've heard that before..."
As she focused on this 'Doctor Moriau', she was aware of her surroundings. The large space before her was some structure entirely paved in tile. White florescent light illuminated the air, giving a nauseatingly studious atmosphere. To Mabel, the only thing that was missing was a serious of beakers, a large computer, and various tables, desks, and bookshelves to complete the crazed scientist look. Then she looked to her left, and saw the three desks, fifteen bookshelves, and two massive computers and a laptop. Mabel puffed out a huff. This was Dipper's deal, not hers.
"Young lady," the woman approached in haste, withdrawing a ring of clattering keys from her pocket, "You're in grave danger!"
"Not the first time," Mabel shrugged, "Are you letting me out?"
"Yes, you need to flee," the Doctor told her as she found the correct key and began to unlock a thin door in the cage.
"Right," Mabel nodded, "I plan on it. I'm looking for my pig, Waddles-"
"I'm sorry, but your life is worth more than a pigs!" the Doctor snapped.
"You take that back!" Mabel pushed herself against the cage with a slam. "A moment with Waddles is worth a year of internet cute animal videos!"
The doctor stared at her. "R-regardless," she shook her head, "You need to leave! And quickly!" The cage door opened, and the woman ushered her out. "It will find me soon."
"Wait, it?" Mabel inquired.
"The monster," the doctor clarified.
"You mean old goat-nommer!" Mabel cried as she stepped out, "Chupacabra!"
"Goat what?" the doctor asked.
"How does it know where we are!?" Mabel demanded. She grasped the coat of the woman, pulling her forward with her considerable strength, and the older doctor gasped. Her eyes widened as she stared into Mabel's desperate ones. "Have you seen my pig!? Pink?! SPOTTED?!"
A loud growl caught Mabel by surprise. She whipped around, her stance back in action. Headache or not, she wouldn't be knocked out again.
A doorway showed a pair of double wooden doors, and one slowly slid open. Stepping out, with a loud snarl, was-
"No!" The woman grabbed Mabel, and spun her to face her, "You must run!" she said. Still holding Mabel, she then crab-walked so that she was facing the door, her eyes locked into Mabel's the entire time. "You must live, and save the lives of others! Complete this mission of yours! Find your... pig..." the doctor cringed, and shook her head, "Now! Fly!" she spun, grasped a baseball bat in on the wall.
By the time the doctor had spun again, the Chupacabra was there. No longer on all fours, it was content to stand on its hind legs. Mabel gasped and saw its imposing height. Lithe and muscular, it was easily the size of a Minotaur with the build of a werewolf. Patches of matted brown and black hair and glowing eyes created an imposing presence.
The woman screamed, and ran forward, loosely holding the baseball bat over her head. Mabel shouted as the Chupacabra grabbed her by the shoulder, and slowly lifted her into the air.
"You are denied, you foul beast!" The doctor roared, patting the Chupacabra weakly with the baseball bat. Being held easily in the air, the woman turned Mabel, "Now run away, and quickly! Especially don't tell anyone where you found my lab!"
Mabel gritted her teeth. "I'll- I'll help you!" she shouted, and rushed forward. Training activated, and her mind focused as it rarely did. Suddenly she was airborne, and both the Chupacabra and the doctor turned to see Mabel spun-jump-kick her heel across the beast's face. The grip of the doctor was instantly loosened as the monster flew ten feet back and rolled onto the ground, whimpering. "Ha! Yeah!" Mabel cheered.
"Wait, did... did you just-" the doctor gasped, her mouth fallen open and her eyes wide.
"Totally owned this monster with my crazy-cool Path's Moves? Heck yes!" Mabel cheered.
"No one's stood up to him before," The doctor gasped, "I-I mean, you need to run! Idiot! this is dangerous, see?" she lifted the baseball bat and pointed to it, "I have to defend myself with a blunt object. This means it's really bad. Violence and physical exertion."
"Don't worry about it, doctor," Mabel nodded, and pushed her hair from in front of her face to behind her ears. The Chupacabra was rising, and she would be ready to face it. "Mabel is on the case!" she planted a foot firmly on the tile, and lunged forward again. With a loud, long, bellowing war cry, Mabel raced forward to the monster, who whimpered and held up it's paws.
"Squeal!"
A flash of pink and spots of black trotted in front of Mabel, and her feet locked into breaks until she slid to a stop. Before the dreaded monster, of all things, was the greatest treasure Mabel had ever found at a fairgrounds.
"Waddles!" Mabel cried, and fell to her knees to scoop the pig into her arms. Waddles gently walked forward, planting his nose against hers. Lifting him up and checking his chubby cheeks, she said, "It didn't hurt you did he!?" she demanded, and then realized that the pig, aside from a patch of dirt, looked perfectly fine. "Wow... did you charm someone else?" she asked with a chuckle, and looked to the Chupacabra.
It was up again, and lunging forward.
"You evil-" Mabel bellowed, and ducked over Waddles. The thing could chew her up for days, but she would never allow her pig to be harmed. Closing her eyes and waiting for the impact, Mabel clenched her body tightly.
"What are you doing!?" the Doctor's voice came out as something heavy collided with something equally heavy, but softer.
Mabel blinked, and looked directly up.
The Chupacabra was standing above Waddles and Mabel, holding out a hand to block the baseball bat that, in accordance to Mabel's perception of movement, would have just been swung down onto her head.
"Okay... what the heck is going on here?!" Mabel cried out.
The doctor ignored her. "They're witnesses. The girl and... even the pig knows of this location now. Because you got seen, they followed you here!" Doctor Moriau whined. "You must let me-"
"No."
Mabel and Waddles both squealed, and whipped their gazes to the Chupacabra, who filly stepped over and past them. Without trying, he gently removed the woman's baseball bat from her grip, and let it fall. It had spoken. A fair, smooth voice; one that harbored no evil or hate or violence. It was... human like.
"No one."
The doctor growled. "We've tried that before. We have to move!" she pointed to the computers, "All the data! All the research! I can't start from zero again! We don't have the luxury of time!"
The canine head shook back and forth. "No one." It then lifted a paw, and extended a pinky.
The doctor stared at the paw, the small, nubby digit, her eyes shimmering. "If... if you insist. Maybe... Oh very well," she sniffled, "But what are we to do with them then?"
"Do what with us?!" Mabel said, standing up. "And, uh, since when did the Chupacabra talk!?" Mabel gasped. "Oh my god, I get it," she pointed to the doctor, "You captured it and you're training it to be more like a human!"
Both the doctor and the monster spun to Mabel, their eyes wide and an eyebrow raised in the same way. Mabel smirked at the Chupacabra and chuckled. Aside from a large, black collar wrapped around its neck, she noticed a strange, silly resemblance.
"Hehe, your eyebrows look like hers," she pointed from the Chupacabra to the doctor.
"Young lady," the Doctor strode past the animal, holding the baseball bat in her hands, at the ready, "You need to understand two things. One – that I am a woman who is willing to do whatever is necessary to accomplish my goals."
"Sounds like people I've met," Mabel shrugged, "And it's also strangely ambiguous! Neat!"
"Two – why this poor thing needs my help," the doctor turned, and placed a hand on the tall creature's shoulders.
"Huh? Poor creature?" Mabel barked, "It tried to eat Waddles! It eats goats! Cute, little, hippity-hoppity goaties," Mabel frowned, glaring at the rare being with a distaste. It recoiled from her gaze very visibly.
"We all eat animals," the doctor argued, "And that pig was brought here unharmed. I was the one to suggest he eat it," the doctor shrugged.
"What?!" Mabel gasped. "How– how could you!?" she dropped to Waddles, clutching him and squeezing tightly. "He's too cute to be eaten!"
"To protect... him," she looked to the Chupacabra, "Anything must be done. He was the one to demand your swing be left alive, and even healthy."
"Wait... really?" Mabel gasped, looking to the creature. It nodded, still hesitant to move closer to Mabel. "But... but you eat things like Waddles," she said, "You're a monster."
The doctor sighed. "He wasn't always a monster," she said distantly.
"It... wasn't?" Mabel asked quietly. The woman's head fell forward in a long sigh. The hair fell past her face, dramatically flipping forward. Mabel squealed, and patted Waddles rapidly as excitement coursed through her body. "She's going to monologue!" Mabel declared quietly.
True to Mabel's words, the woman raised her head, her eyes peering out from behind the blond and silver hair. She spoke, her voice low yet very clear.
"Long ago, in the year nineteen eighty-seven," the doctor described mystically.
"That is a long time ago," Mabel mused.
"In the horrible setting of a top-secret underground base run by evil German scientists, a young boy was subjected to many hideous experiments that would change his body and mind forever," the doctor said, her arms held out for flair, "That boy... is him," she turned, and looked to the Chupacabra.
Mabel gasped, "No!"
"Yes," the doctor nodded.
"But how is that possible?! People thought the Chupacabra was an alien and stuff," Mabel mentioned.
"The doctors, mad with power and a lust to create things of destruction," the doctor continued, "Did the impossible. They combined the cells of werewolves with... the curse of the vampire!" she declared.
Mabel's mouth fell open. "Oh, my Sev'ral Times."
"Oh, your what?" The doctor blurted.
"That's why I thought I smelled werewolves earlier!" Mabel gasped.
"You did not," the doctor rolled her eyes.
"Yes I did," Mabel pouted.
"Only other supernatural creatures with a high sense of smell can do such a feat," the doctor explained.
"Well, I was a werewolf once," Mabel shrugged.
The doctor glared at Mabel. "Cute. But this is not joke," she scolded the teenager. "This former boy has been subjected to terrible things! And pining for attention by pretending to 'formerly' being a werewolf is a great way to lose your credibility, with what little you currently have!" Doctor Moriau hissed.
"But it's not a joke!" Mabel insisted. "I was a werewolf! I got bit, and before I could become a full fledged moon-yapper, I was able to have a Were-man bite me!" she explained.
"A what?!" the doctor trembled, her fists clenched. "What is this ridiculous story?"
"A were-man is like, the opposite of a were-animal. Instead of us becoming an animal thingy, animals become human. It's craaa-zaaay."
"Stop!" the doctor clenched the baseball bat and held it above her head. Yet the hand of the Chupacabra grasped the end. Doctor Moriau turned, glaring at the 'supposed' boy. "What?!" she demanded.
"She's not lying," the Chupcabra said.
"...No," the doctor blinked, her baseball bat falling to the floor with a wooden clatter.
"Yes," the creature nodded.
"Yup!" Mabel chirped.
"But... that means..." the doctor leaned closer, her wide, curious gaze peering along Mabel as a scanner across a bar-code. Mabel allowed the inspection to go without interruption, as the attention, while weird, was still attention. She'd welcome it. She even did a few flexes with her arms, showing off what little muscle mass she had.
"See?" Mabel asked as the Doctor stepped away, biting on her finger as she furrowed her brow. Mabel grinned, "Certified badass."
"Your body could have developed a certain... immune response to Werewolf biology," the doctor murmured over her bite, "That means... if a response similar could be manufactured out of samplings of your tissues or fluids-"
"Okay, okay," Mabel said, backing up next to her pig, her arms up, "Sampling comes with permission, got it?" The doctor glared at it. "What? I don't like needles!"
"No one likes needles," the woman sighed, "But you could prove to... well... be invaluable to me."
Mabel blinked. "R-Really?"
"Yes," the doctor nodded, "You see, the reason I've spent so long chasing a cure for this, uh, poor man," she again indicated the tall Chupacabra, who looked to her with a disapproving stare, "Is because each time the full moon comes, Edward here becomes harder and harder to control. Even for himself!"
"Dude," Mabel thumbed her chest with a fist, looking to the Chupacabra, "I feel you."
"It's made finding a stable environment hard. After all, the moment he goes out and eats his fill, investigations come and look for him. Too many close calls," she explained, "Too many near-discovers. We needed a larger land, and Texas is making well. Until... recently," she glared at the beast behind her named Edward. "This time, I will find a cure before we leave."
"Right," Mabel nodded, "I think I follow. You're going to cure him with my blood or something."
"Uh, in the simplest terms," the doctor shrugged, "Sort of."
"Well shoot," Mabel sighed and rolled up her sweater, "Go for it, doc."
"You... mean it?" Doctor Moriau gasped.
"Heh. I don't see why not," Mabel shrugged, "If this stops the helpless goats and piggies and chickens from being eaten, heck-a-doodle yes I'm doing this. Besides," Mabel laughed, "I've probably lost like a hundred times more blood than whatever you're going to take."
The doctor paused, staring at Mabel with concern. "I hope not."
"It happens when you're trying to save the world. And he's also a part of-" Mabel gasped, her eyes looking to the Chupacabra. They focused onto the collar around his neck. There, a small, black rock hummed nebulous, starry light from a metal fasten. Nearly the size of a pearl, it was no wonder Mabel hadn't seen it before.
"Young lady?" the doctor blurted out after Mabel had frozen for a few moments.
"Uh-" Mabel shook her head, and rolled the sleeve back down. "On second thought, I want a trade."
"What?!" Doctor Moriau gasped. "You were just willing to relinquish your blood without trade!"
"I'll relinquish more than blood if you don't hear me out," Mabel threatened as she shook a fist at them. The Chupacabra stepped close to the doctor, and the two held each other tightly. "Right," Mabel sighed, lowering her hand, "I'm on a mission to save the world, got it?"
"Okay, you're officially insane," the doctor nodded, "But please, continue."
"In order to save the world from a magical explosion that should happen in... I dunno, like three weeks now, I think," Mabel pondered, "Yeah, sounds about right. Three weeks! I can stop it, alongside with my friends. But in order to do that, I need to collect those stones," she pointed ahead to the collar, "That iddy-biddy-widdle-" Mabel gasped, and then slapped her mouth, and began to pat her tongue "Ach! No! Bad tongue! Never use that word!"
A bit terrified of Mabel by this point, the Doctor worriedly asked, "Which word?"
"Anyway," Mabel crossed her arms and stuck her tongue back in her mouth, "I want that stone. Gimme, and I'll trade you my blood to help cure him."
The doctor stared at Mabel. The teenager was used to that kind of stare. Mabel was eccentric, but not dumb. It was the look of someone who saw another human being as lower than them. Superiority of themselves or Mabel being lower, it didn't matter. The woman thought poorly of Mabel for one reason or another. That glare deterred Mabel. She was tired now, still sore in the stomach and the head. Given another moment of two with that look, she might just grab the collar, tear it off, and run off with Waddles in her arms.
Then the doctor spoke. "If you agree that while I work with your blood, you are not to leave my compound, I will accept your terms."
"What?!" Mabel grumbled, "I can't leave?!"
"Yes."
"Why not?" Mabel growled.
"Because if one sample is not enough," Doctor Moriau coldly explained, "Another will be required. Perhaps skin tissue, or a hair sample, or a throat swab."
Mabel blew a raspberry. "No deal."
"Then you will not get a stone, and trust me," the doctor slowly pulled out from her pocket a device with a large button, "You won't get far."
"What's that?" Mabel groaned, rolling her eyes. "A button that activates a huge-robot that will try attacking me? Or maybe poisonous gas that will flood the area, and knock me out? Or will you sick highly trained rats on me?" Mabel hypothesized.
"No," Doctor Moriau grinned, "This turns off all the lights."
Mabel gasped. "One of my weaknesses! You knew I couldn't see in the dark!?" The doctor rolled her eyes. Mabel yelled out, "Curses!"
"But my- I mean-" Doctor Moriau cleared her throat, "Edward here will have no trouble seeing in the dark."
Mabel gritted her teeth and clenched her hands. "You play dirty, doctor."
"I'm running low on time and options," she scowled at Mabel. "Whether you or I like it or not, you are one of the last hopes for him, "she pointed to the Chupacabra. "I don't trust you. You're probably a crazy mystery and conspiracy-nut type that I've seen prowling around recently."
"My brother's job, actually," Mabel snorted.
"But I'm willing to surrender the collar that monitors my... friend here," she nodded to Edward the Chupacabra, "If you will allow me to render it obsolete and cure him."
Mabel pursed her lips as she considered the deal once again. The woman was slightly stuck up with her self-importance, or at least the importance of her work. The old lady reminded her of Grunkle Ford in a weird way; dedicated to a cause, even if that opposed Mabel's. Then her eyes drifted to the Chupacabra, his glowing red eyes staring at Mabel. If they hadn't been naturally intimidating, Mabel could have sworn his eyes were swimming in tears.
"How about you, buddy-boy?" Mabel asked, crossing her arms.
The creature swallowed audibly. "I... I think you should help, please," he said.
"Oh, okay," Mabel sighed.
"Excellent," the doctor sighed, and put away the device. She then extended her hand. "Do we have a deal, miss...?"
Mabel stepped out, checking the hand. That phrasing had been used once or twice in the past, and it usually came back to haunt her, or her family. But the eyes of the woman were not slits, nor were blue flames licking the skin of the doctors hands. Bill Cipher was out there, but Mabel knew the signs. This was just a formal agreement between two humans.
She could handle humans.
The teenager grabbed the hand, and shook it. "I'm Mabel."
The doctor nodded. "Very well, Mabel. Stand still for a moment. I will retrieve the required materials to retrieve a sample. Stand still," she ordered, and then turned, walking away towards one of her desks.
Mabel puffed out yet another blast of breath. Being ordered around by this doctor wasn't thrilling, but at least the threats had stopped. Waddles oinked happily next to her, and Mabel finally smiled, looking to her pink companion. "You feeling okay, buddy?" she asked.
Waddles snorted.
"Yeah," Mabel nodded, "I know."
"He was very brave," the Chupacabra suddenly spoke up.
"Huh?" Mabel spun, facing the being named Edward as he sat down on all fours.
"The pig, Waddles," Edward the Chupcabra mumbled, "He was very brave. For a pig, I mean. But also, for... a human..." he slowly turned his head away, looking towards the ground.
"Oh," Mabel scratched her scalp, "Thanks. I guess."
"So are you," the Chupacabra added.
"Eh. Training in the paths aughta do that," she admitted.
"No one's ever stayed behind when I pretended to attack her," Edward said quietly, looking to Mabel with wide eyes.
"So, you were pretending?" Mabel gasped. "Wow! I thought you were going to eat her. Like, big-bad wolf style!"
"No," Edward let out a small, nervous chuckle, "We do that routine when someone finally finds our base."
"Ohhh," Mabel laughed.
"No one's ever stuck by her before. They all go running away the moment I lift her with one arm," Edward noted. "Why?"
Mabel shrugged. "Well, 'cus."
"Because?"
"I last saw you with my pig," Mabel explained. "And no one takes my pig. No one. Except me, my pig, and his girlfriend, "Mabel giggled.
Edward joined Mabel in a small laugh. Even on all fours, he was nearly at her shoulder in height. A massive creature laughing alongside her, Mabel blinked in shock. Nostalgia and resemblance washed over her. This felt... just like Gravity Falls. The danger, the discovery, and the creatures that ended up just being like people only weird: Mabel felt like the world was becoming infected with weirdness.
"You're funny," Edward stated.
"And you're socially awkward," Mabel smiled, "So we can totally be friends you know!" she explained in a rush. Edward blinked, and looked past Mabel. She followed his gaze, and found across the room the source: the doctor currently sterilizing a needle with a heated rod. "Pfft. Ignore what she says," Mabel said to him as she turned around, "You have your own opinions you know."
He stared at the doctor for a moment longer, and then sighed. To Mabel, he explained, "She's just stressed. The last forty-nine times we've tried to settle down to cure me, we've run into people finding us, and now she expects others mean trouble."
"She's mean," Mabel summarized.
"No, no," the Chupacabra insisted, "She's not!"
"If you say so, fuzzy-wumples," Mabel sighed.
"Now," Doctor Moraiu approached again, holding a large needle and syringe in her hands, "This will just take a moment."
"Ugggh," Mabel groaned, tensing instantly at the size of the device, "Can't you just start with, you know, a skin sample? Or a breath sample? Painless thingies?"
The doctor scowled at Mabel. "Blood is the greater common denominator between vampires and werewolves. If your body is to have a response against Edward's condition, it will be greatest in your blood. Now," she approached, "Roll up your sleeve."
Mabel, with a curl in her lip of the greatest disgust and resentment, slowly folded up her sweaters sleeve, revealing her toned arm. She turned her eyes to the floor, and Waddles nervously stared up to her as the doctor swabbed her skin. "Don't look buddy," she insisted, "This is what science has wrought. Madness and-" A sharp pain jabbed into her arm, and she squealed.
"Done," the doctor sighed, and turned away, a sample of blood in the device.
"Really?!" Mabel barked, rubbing her arm angrily. "No warning is stupid amounts of rude!"
"And it was over before you knew it," the doctor grumbled at her, walking towards the desk. Gritting her teeth, Mabel spun and marched towards the door. "You made a deal!" Doctor Moriau snapped.
"I'm not leaving," Mabel insisted, "I'm going outside for air."
"What guarantee is there that you'll-"
Mabel cut off the doctor with a loud snap. "Fine!" she spun, and turned to Waddles, who had been following her. "Pal, play with Edward, okay?" she asked the pig. Waddles nodded with a low snort, and approached the Chupacabra. "I'm not leaving without my piggy," Mabel assured them with a strong, warning look.
This assuaged the doctor, who rolled her eyes, and continued to behind her desk; gathering supplies and various equipment. The doctor turned and moved towards another doorway, which automatically slid opened, and the woman stormed away into a darker space.
"I will remain with your ovine friend," Edward said.
"Okay. Play nice with him," Mabel pointed to the monster, who nodded hastily.
The hallway that led away from the main space was just as bland, but dirtier. Specks of dust and stone scattered the ground up until the point where Mabel turned a corner and saw the door itself. The moment she turned, now feet from it, it opened automatically. Interior light flooded the side of a hill, and Mabel saw the vast Texas wilderness before her. Stars above and dry trees around her, she sighed and sat down in the doorway.
Looking to her fist, which she held to her eyes, she noticed a few rough patches of skin. "Oops," she giggled, and plucked off the loose, but un-bloodied, skin from her arm. "So, that's what Arline meant," Mabel sighed, tossing the skin aside. "Tougher without ever knowing it. Weird."
The image of her master flooded into her mind again. The last time she saw her, along with another important person in her life: Stanley Pines. The doors of that secret science lab beneath the shack close shut to the elevators, leaving Mabel and her friends and brother to ascend to the shack, or Manor. She had... smiled.
Mabel curled her legs up, placing them under her sweater as she gripped them tightly. She was alone now. Her brother, Wendy, and Soos were away, presumably looking for her and Waddles. In the past week, she had come close to having a time like this, alone to her thoughts. She could clear her head. She could let out.
It was just too much. The pain, anger, fear: the clouded emotions that mixed together and festered in her mind ate at her confidence. They were up against the end of the world now, just like they had been with Stanford and Bill those years ago. There was no more Stanley to help them. The town was gone forever. Their parents were running for their lives, and Mabel and Dipper had no permanent home to go to.
Pulling the large material over her head, Mabel slipped herself into her aptly-named 'sweatertown'.
Under the soft, maybe a little-to-warm-for-summer fabric, Mabel let her mind fly away into the forbidden realms of her mind. She thought sadly, wallowing in the finality of the fates for those who had been in Gravity Falls. They never died because they never existed now. If there was a heaven or hell, they couldn't even go there. Afterlife required you to have ever been alive. There was, as far as she could see, no possible way to ever change what had happened.
"It's not fair," she whimpered, her lip trembling as she grabbed her knees, thinking on the town itself, "The people just wanted to be left alone. They didn't care about all that crazy stuff."
A warm voice floated into her head, and a friendly smile spoke to her.
'The people chose to fight rather than flee,' the imaginary voice of Zander Maximillion reminded her in her head, 'when presented with the choice, they would rather risk the end than lose their home.'
Mabel blew a raspberry. "Sorry imaginary voice of Zander. I'm kind of not feeling like a pep-talk."
'Mabel,' the softening tone said, 'had the roles been flipped, you been the cute hick townsfolk, and they the rescuer, would you have done any differently?'
She bit her lip, and rolled her eyes. "...No, I guess not. Darn you for being not only stupidly attractive, but also reasonable."
'It makes these internal sessions of yours very easy to flirt with,' the voice explained, 'After all, I couldn't reasonably say no to someone as cute as you?'
She giggled. "Oh, you flirt. I wish you were traveling with us. You always know what to do."
"Say what, hambone?"
Mabel's head popped out of her sweater. The doorway had a visitor directly above her. Head poking out, and looking exhausted, was none other than the handyman of the Mystery Manor.
"Soos!" Mabel gasped, quickly standing up from her seat. With a struggle and near collapse to the ground, Soos slowly lowered himself into the doorway, landing before her. His breathing was shallow and his eyes glistened with tears. "Are you okay?" she asked. Then her ribs and arms bent inward as he reached over, grabbing her tightly and clenching her with one of the hardest hugs she had ever received. "Ack! Soos! Owie!" she crowed out with a highly constricted voice.
"I thought it had eaten you!" Soos whimpered as he loosened his grip, but not letting up. "I couldn't keep up with you Mabel! Everyone was looking for you but I couldn't let you down! I have to protect you, and I've failed that again dawg! And poor Waddles could be-"
"Soos," Mabel pushed herself out, her hands on Soos's arms, "I'm fine. Waddles is fine. Everything is chill now."
Sniffling, Soos looked to her with a growing smile. "It is, dawg?"
"Yes," Mabel nodded. Then she shrugged. "Kinda." She hummed. "Mostly fine."
"I still heard fine at the end there," Soos pointed out. The two laughed, tension in the air dissipating with each chuckle.
"How did you find me?" Mabel asked. "I thought I was eaten by the earth itself or some crazy mojo." Soos turned and looked to the outside meadow. Mabel tilted her head as well, and there she saw the flooded light and the long, deep shadows they cast. "Ah. Yeah. That'd do it I bet."
"I thought the Chupacabra was about to sneak onto his secret space-ship," Soos explained, "And so I was thinking, you know, maybe if I jumped onto him, I could get him down and keep him down while I waited for the others to show up."
"Not a bad idea," Mabel nodded.
"But you're okay?" Soos asked with excitement.
"Yeah," Mabel nodded. She then rocked her head side to side, "Ehhh, just okay." She cringed when she remembered the Doctor inside, "Bleh. More complicated.
"Complicated?"
"Yeah. Imagine Dipper found something," she spoke using her best Dipper impression, "And 'it's too hard to explain now so just follow me and I'll explain along the way' sort of complicated."
"Whoa," Soos gasped, a hand on his chest, "Do you mean to say that the Chupacabra is actually a homeless divine saint who is thwarting the efforts of a rising regime of evil goat overlords who are intending to destroy world government and-"
"Okay, not that complicated," Mabel shook her head. "Although, that does sound like Dipper's problems. Goat overlords, I mean."
"Well, it can't be that bad," Soos said.
"Well, yeah. Waddles is safe. I'm..." she glance to her arm where the shot was used, "In pain, but okay. So, it's like..." her words trailed off, a long, drawn-out breath that found no syllables. For once, she actually understood why Dipper couldn't explain there and then. "Maybe it's easier if I just show you. C'mon," she waved him inside.
"Uh," Soos stepped back, his hands up, "Not to, uh, be nervous or anything, but aren't we walking into the spaceship of the Chupacabra? He could zap us with lasers and plasmas."
"Nah," Mabel shook her head, "He's harmless."
"I dunno. I think a few goats resting in peace kind thing differently," Soos argued quietly.
"Soos," Mabel smiled, "Trust me?"
With a heavy sigh and long look, Soos took several forward shuffles. The doors closed behind him, and Mabel turned, leading him down the hallway.
Soos gasped the moment he was in the room. "Wow! For an Alien, he sure uses a lot of similar technology to us. I wonder if this is proof that all we've discovered has actually been re-versed engineered from aliens in the past."
"Soos, the Chupacabra isn't an alien," Mabel said.
"Of course, he is," Soos assured her.
"I'm not," Edward the Chupacabra said from the shadows, where Waddles leaned against one of his legs.
"See?" Mabel pointed.
Soos spun about. the Moment his vision locked onto the Chupacabra, he yelled, and ran to the desk, where a stool rest. Lifting it above his head, he bellowed. "Revenge for Waddles! For goats everywhere!"
"Soos!" Mabel stepped in front of him as Edward cringed, leaning away from Soos against the wall. "He's not going to hurt us!"
Soos, still holding the chair above his head, proclaimed, "But he'll drink your pig's blood!"
"Only if I go feral," Edward replied.
"The Chupacabra is actually a person who got experimented on by crazed German scientists to make a fusion between vampire and werewolf," Mabel explained.
Soos, holding the chair above his head, slowly blinked. After a moment, he nodded. "You may continue."
"With the help of this jerky doctor lady, who really hasn't said why she wants to help him," Mabel added with a frown, "They've been trying to find a cure. Except with the crazed werewolf stuff, the Chupacabra goes and eats animals every once in a while. Each time someone finds them, they up and move."
"I see," Soos said, still holding up the chair.
"So now they're here, and since I was a werewolf," Mabel pointed to her arm, where a tiny pin-point sized blot of red blossomed, "They're going to use my blood to save him. Hopefully turn him back into a boy or whatever."
"Actually," Edward spoke up, "I'm twenty-eight years old."
"Eh," Mabel cringed, "not helping."
Soos lowered the stool, and placed it behind him, and took a seat. "So, he's actually a human with two paranormal things to deal with at the same time, and we're going to help him."
"We're trading my blood for that," Mabel pointed to the collar, and then the stone in specific. "The doctor who's helping him uses that stone to see where he is!"
"A starkissed stone," Soos gasped.
"You both know what this is?" Edward asked.
Soos smirked, looking impressed with himself. "It's mostly because we kind of have to save the world," the handyman humbled himself.
Edward the Chupacabra blinked. Slowly looking to Mabel, he chuckled. "You were telling the truth about that the entire time, or you have friends as crazy as you."
Mabel winked. "The answer is both!"
"Well, I'm convinced," Soos sighed.
"Really?" Mabel cheered.
Soos smiled and nodded, "Mabel, you have the best character judgment of all of us, and if you think that this is going to help us, and this dude here," he grinned to the Chupacabra, "Then I say we do it, dawg."
"Yes!" Mabel hooted, "And just in case, Waddles is okay with him too!" she said, as Waddles gave a small oink.
Edward chuckled, shaking his head. "I enjoy the company of-" his words faltered, and he whipped his head towards the hallway leading outside. He stood up on all fours as his lips curled back and he began to snarl.
"Uh, what is it?" Mabel asked.
A thunder of footsteps echoed from the hallway, and emerging through in a rush was seven people. Dipper, Wendy, and the cast of the NPPP slid inside, and quickly saw those present.
"Mabel!" Dipper gasped, slapping his journal shut and pocketing it hastily.
"Nice one, Dipper," Adam clapped his back, "Didn't think that'd actually work."
"There it is!" Wendy gasped, pointing to Edward the Chupacabra as it barked at them. Wendy darted forward, preparing a heavy swing against the tall beast. "Get away from that pig!" she yelled. Edward side-stepped her, and slashing at her back, tearing at the leather jacket. As Wendy slid to a stop, feeling her back, she cried out. "Really!? Again!?"
"Get him!" Marcus shouted, and he, Adam, Geoffrey, and Luke rushed forward with Dipper, while Ben tripped on his own feet.
"Dudes, it's all cool!" Soos tried calling out, but the struggle had already begun.
"Guys! Wait!" Mabel shouted, and she intercepted her brother, catching his arm and pulling him to her.
"Mabel, whatever you thought you saw-" Dipper started.
"Dipper," she cut in, "The Chupacabra isn't a bad guy!" Mabel declared.
"Not the time for being easy on the monster," Dipper scolded her.
"He's a werewolf-vampire hybrid who's-"
Luke flew over their heads, landing against the wall with a thud. Aside from the clear impact with the wall, he was otherwise fine, and stumbled up, and shouted as he charged back into the fray.
"Mabel," Dipper growled, "Later!"
Mabel tried grabbing him again, but she was bumped aside as Ben ran into her and fell aside as well. "Ouch!" he gasped as he fell onto the ground, his glasses falling aside. "No! No! Prescription! Come back!"
Mabel stood up quickly as Ben crawled after his glasses. She looked to Soos, who had taken the chair, and held it out as a shield. She could have sworn that he was holding it in the same way that Soos had when he was a paladin briefly while playing Strongholds and Serpents. Regardless of his cool-factor, she turned from Soos and stared at the combat. Dipper and Wendy made a tag-team effort with the N.P.P.P, slowly withering the strength of the huge creature, as Waddles ran around them in panic. It was an absolute mess.
Then the door to the hallway opened, and Mabel and Soos saw Doctor Moriau step out, holding out a device in her hands. She wore a pair of military grade night-vision goggles across her face, and with a snarl she shouted aloud.
"Leave him alone!" she cried, and clicked the button in her palm.
Mabel had no chance to rush her or react. Every light in the compound shut off, and all that was heard were the cries of panic and fear.
"Crud! Dipper, do you see it?!" Wendy's voice cried out. Whack. "Gah!"
"I thought he was right here!" Dipper called. Wham. "Ow!"
"Anyone seen Ben!?" Geoffrey of the N.P.P.P. shouted. Slam. "Oof!"
"Guys! I can see even less than normal! Anyone seen my," Ben's voice paused, "... Oh, thank you, whoever that was. I was afraid I'd loose them." Bam. "Uggh..."
Mabel stood, petrified in the darkness, waiting for her turn to come. She couldn't see a thing, yet the auditory evidence was more than enough: Edward was proving to be a terrible foe in pitch darkness. Three more solid hits leveled the crowd, and Mabel tensed up, her arms up before her, ready to block whatever my come her way.
Yet nothing came.
An eternity of sorrowful groans, gasps, and cries of panic fluttered through the darkness until Mabel blinked as the bright lights returned. She was exactly as she had been previously, along with Soos. All the others, including Wendy and Dipper, had been tossed into the same cage that Mabel had woken up inside.
"What?!" Mabel gasped, "Just them?"
"You and... whoever this person is," the doctor glared at Soos. Those in the cage slowly began to stand up, having been physically tossed inside by Edward.
"Name's Soos," the handyman nodded, "Rhymes with goose."
The doctor blinked. "Right," And she turned to Mabel, "You and Soos were the only ones who remained neutral. I must keep Edward safe, and if that means locking them here until the cure is discovered-"
"But how long could that take?" Mabel butted in.
"I don't know. It could take a moment. Hours. Days? Years?"
"I don't even have hours to spare!" Mabel cried out, "I need those guys to save the world-" she glanced to the cage, "Well, mostly just the guy who looks like me and the red-head. Less so on the others."
Pressed up against the bars, Luke grumbled, "Thanks, Mabel."
"I will not risk those fool's freedoms for his safety!" Doctor Moriau.
"Lady," Geoffrey said, standing closest to the gates with Dipper and Wendy, "That creature, the Chupacabra, I don't know if you have been brainwashed, but the alien is dangerous!"
"Edward is not an alien!" she shrieked at them. "Seriously," she turned about, asking the room at large, "Who started that rumor!? There's no basis in the evidence that Edward left behind to assume it could have ever been extraterrestrials!"
"Maybe real aliens," Soos suggested. "They pointed the blame at him so the real one's didn't get noticed."
"It doesn't matter," Geoffrey rolled his eyes, "You need to stop whatever you think you're doing for it's safety, and help us turn it in."
"So, we can get a camera crew to follow us again," Marcus added.
Soos asked, "Dawgs, why don't we all just talk for a second, right?"
"Yeah!" Mabel exclaimed, "Doctor Moriau," Mabel said, stepping between the doctor and her friends and brother with Soos, "I'll represent my side of this debacle."
"We're doomed already," Dipper mumbled.
"Shut it," Mabel smacked his fingers on the bars. "My friends, the North Pacific Paranormal People, want the evidence of the Chupacabra. That way they can get funded by the television channel 'Watch People Go To Places' or maybe just enough money to go home."
"We'd rather be celebrities again," Luke pointed out.
"My friends, brother, and I," Mabel pointed to herself, "Are looking for that stone. With it, we can do something to stop the world from drowning in magic."
"Yes, I recall our little chat," Moriau sniffed.
"We don't want anyone else to be hurt," Soos added. The Chupacabra snorted. "Not really," he assured Edward.
"And you can't keep everyone locked up forever," Mabel reminded her.
Doctor Moriau gave a bark of a laugh. "I wouldn't. While I work on the cure with your blood sample, they would serve as food for-"
"No!" Edward yelled.
"I-I was kidding," she promised.
"Maybe," Mabel stepped closer to the doctor, "It could help my friends and brother understand if you explained to them what you explained to me."
"Huh?" The doctor blinked.
"The story of Edward. Why you're doing this," Mabel stated.
"Ah," the Doctor cleared her throat, looking to Edward behind her. "Um, I suppose I could... re-tell it... again," she bumbled through her words.
"Well? No shame in explaining what's really going on," Mabel encouraged.
The doctor stepped forward, and het wringing hands slowed to a stop. Finally, she locked them behind her back and stood at attention before the crowd. Mabel leaned to Soos and nudged his ribs. "This is crazy stuff she's telling." He nodded, and they both listened.
"Long ago, in the year nineteen eighty-seven," the doctor began to describe mystically.
"Man, that's ancient history," Adam murmured.
"In the horrible setting of a top-secret underground base run by evil Russian scientists, a young boy was subjected to many hideous experi-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Mabel stepped in, her hands in the air, and she put them together to make a 'T' shape. "Time-out."
Dipper had taken out his own journal, and had started taking notes. At the pause, he hissed at his sister, "Mabel, you asked her to tell a story. Stop interrupting."
"And I wouldn't be, except that's not what she said before," Mabel said, looking at the woman.
"I- uh- yes it is," Doctor Moriau shakily argued.
"Oh yeah?" Mabel said, crossing her arms, "Mad German scientists weren't the culprits? Fine. How about the reason the 'Russian' scientists were doing this to begin with?"
Doctor Moraiu rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yes, okay, I remember now. It was actually German scientists who were bent on creating the ultimate vaccine to cure all ailments and change-"
"You changed that part too!" Mabel barked, thrusting an accusatory finger at the doctor.
"Shoot," Doctor Moriau grumbled, looking to Edward, "I've never had to keep a consistent story. What did I say again?"
Edward sighed. "Why not the truth this time, mom?"
Mabel's mouth dropped open as the gang behind her gasped. Soos chuckled.
"Wow, now that's a story I'd pay money to figure out," he said, "But seriously, let's hear this one. I want popcorn for this."
"No," Doctor Moriau shakily said to the Chupacabra, "The truth is only for us. Others can use it against us."
"I'm tired of running," Edward whined. "All I want is a chance for people to... get it finally."
The doctor turned back to Mabel, her eyes shimmering with doubt and fear. No less than a dozen worrying thoughts crossed her mind before she spoke. When she did, the vast confidence in behind her voice had left her.
"Edward and I are related. I am his mother," Doctor Moriau decidedly said, holding her hands and squeezing them nervously, "Long ago...nearly twenty five years ago, Edward was playing in the woods nearby our home. We lived in Canada, you see."
"Oh!" Mabel gasped. "It was evil Canadian scientists! The most-politest of evil science experimenters!"
"Would you-" Doctor Moriau hissed and outstretched her arms threateningly.
As Mabel nodded and fell silent, Edward stepped out. The large being said, "It was my fault. I wandered into the woods. They were always scary. People though monsters lived in there. Bird-people, giant bears, were-moose... instead, there was a vampire in the early afternoon moping around."
Moriau looked to the beast next to her, placing her hand on his shoulder. She told them, "It chased Edward out of the woods, and tried to drain him of blood. I was able to save him before it ran off, but I saw he had been bitten. I had to do something. I couldn't allow my son to succumb to the powers of one, stupid, supernatural creature."
"So, as the disease took hold of my boy, I toiled over everything. Every known cure and responder to what samples of his blood I could find. In the end, I found a source – the stone in his neck," she pointed to the collar.
"A starkissed," Dipper gasped.
"That thing you guys were talking about," Marcus mentioned.
"It... fell from the sky," she said, "Right when I was giving up hope. I'm not much of a believer in coincidences, so I tried to look at it. When I touched it, I saw visions of what could save him, or so I thought. Werewolf antibodies: stronger and more resilient than human ones."
"That's what actually happened?" Mabel gasped, "You injected your own son with werewolf DNA stuff to stop a vampire curse!?"
"Not DNA, no," Moriau murmured.
"That's mad!" Ben gasped.
Mabel demanded, "How was that a good idea?!"
"I was desperate!" the doctor screamed. Mabel flinched, taking a step back into Soos, who held his ground despite loudly swallowing. Doctor Moriau continued, her fury and exhaustion playing a role in her speech. "I watched my son fret the sunlight! He couldn't go to school and slowly was overcome with cabin-fever. He would attack animals and then cry about what he had done. He was tortured with what he was becoming!"
"Mom, please," Edward quietly said, extending his pawed hands to her now.
"I stopped his photo-sensitivity. He no longer changed in-between forms of human and animal. Instead, I made my son into a half-man, half-dog, blood sucker," Moriau moaned, and put her forearm to her eyes. Her voice becoming raspy, she added, "I've just wanted, more than anything, to help my son so he can be happy again."
"You don't need to explain," Edward sighed.
"I thought science would be the key," she explained, dropping her forearm to expose her red eyes.
"Well, maybe you should try Magic?" Dipper suggested with a chuckle. Mabel spun around and poked him in the eye. "Ow!"
"Not helpful," she warned him as she turned back. Facing the doctor, she grumbled. "But I don't understand. Why all this effort to cure him?"
"W-what do you mean?" the doctor asked.
"Well," Mabel shrugged, "Is he sick?"
"He's a hybrid between werewolves and vampires!" Moriau barked, "I'd call that sick!"
"Is in danger of being hurt or dying because of what he is!?" Mabel refined. The doctor paused, and shook her head. "So... then... why try so hard to cure him?"
"Because he's not comfortable with what he is," she said.
"Really? Twenty-five years of being himself, fuzzy and glowing red eyes," Mabel walked over to the two, a hand on Edward's long arm, "And he's still uncomfortable?"
"Well, certainly," Moriau declared. Yet, as Mabel studied the two of them, she saw Edward shift noisily. The mom noticed, and she turned, looking to her altered son. "Eddy?" he said nothing, instead looking at her with his wide, red eyes. "What is it? You're not telling me something."
"Mom, I'm... I've been like this longer than I've been a normal human," Edward the Chupacabra snorted. "I've been used to this for a while."
His mother gasped, holding her hands to her mouth. "You... never said," she whispered.
The glowing red eyes closed. In that beast was a sensitive soul. "Between trying to handle the times when we were running between South America and the USA, and trying to control my urges, I couldn't find the time to sit down with you... and you've always tried so hard," Edward pleaded.
"Doctor," Mabel stepped between the two of them, "You've been trying to cure him, but... even though you've been with him for so long, so many years of this crazy hide and seek game, you've forgotten about being his mom."
"No!" she gasped, pushing past her, and pulling her son's elongated chin to her shoulder, patting his head, "No. I've never forgotten. Everything I've ever done with this was for him."
With his considerable size and strength, Edward pulled back, looking her in the eyes. "I just wanted my mom with me, not Doctor Moriau, and her super-experiments."
Sniffling, Doctor Moriau nodded. "I may... I may have been a poor parent, but I've never stopped loving you. Even if you've changed from human, you've always been my son."
"Mom," Edward quietly said, and wrapped his arms around her, leaning in for a large, fuzzy hug with his mother. Mabel stepped back, smiling with a wide, more than pleased smile.
"And that, Soos," Mabel said, "Is how you get it done."
"You're telling me," Soos nodded. "But theory time – do you think Doctor Moriau is the crazy Canadian scientist?"
While shaken, and not entirely certain to how it was Mabel had secured their release, the N.P.P.P. along with Dipper and Wendy were eventually escorted out of the facility. While Dipper had made several attempts to bargain for evidence of Edward's existence, Mabel was quick to shoot him down- ready to fulfill the contract she made with the Doctor. Soos lead them out, and finally it was just the four- Waddles, Edward, Mabel, and the doctor.
"You were honest. Strange and weird, but honest," Moriau admitted as she removed the stone from the collar, only to lay it in Mabel's outstretched hand. "For that, you more than deserve a fair treatment in this exchange."
"Aww, thanks Doctor mom," Mabel smiled, pocketing the mystical stone. "You know, I think having a werewolf-vampire hybrid for a son can't be that bad. Imagine all the things he can lift for you!"
"Imagine the vacuuming during summer," Doctor Moriau leaned in and joked with Mabel. The two ladies guffawed in a quick chuckle.
"Well, I hope you find that cure, Edward," Mabel sighed. "I know how fuzzy it is to be a wolf-thing. Can't say much about being a vampire, but I imagine it has it's perks."
"And downsides," Edward nodded, "But I'm adapted. Even if your blood didn't give us the cure, it... well... you coming around gave me my mom back." Moriau rubbed his neck affectionately and he smiled.
"Well, I think it's time we left you guys to your own. And trust us," Mabel said as she started walking backwards, "When we say we know how to keep a secret, trust me: our family is the ultimate secret keepers! We sometimes know secrets we don't even know are secrets, and we still don't tell people them!" she promised, and the family laughed. "C'mon buddy," she asked the pig, who squealed and trotted after her.
Turning away while waving, Mabel and Waddles followed out of the hallway. Exiting the doorway into the night, she was met by the group.
"That stuff really hit him, though," Adam sighed as he sat on the hill.
"Tell me about it," Marcus said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Aww, you guys getting all emotional because we saved a family today?" Mabel cooed.
"It just made us kind of think," Geoffrey quietly said, "Why it was we really wanted to become paranormal investigators. You know," he said, looking up to the stars, "The five of us always loved that kind of adventure. Looking for ghosts, evidence of the afterlife, aliens from other worlds, alternate dimensions. Just... somewhere along the way, we got the idea that we could be 'cooler than cool' about it."
"Hence those horrible ankle-length jackets and sunglasses you guys used to wear," Wendy reminded them. "By the way, do you still have one or two on you? My new on got shredded with that fight."
As Luke nodded, Geoffrey continued. "We used to just want to have fun. Explore. Really do what it was we liked. Instead, we chose to do what we thought people expected from us," Geoffrey grumbled, looking to his friends, who stared back.
"Then, I don't know," Ben adjusted his glasses nervously, "We should call it quits on being celebrities?"
"Aww, I was still hoping I could get a kiss from a famous chick," Luke whined.
"If you had to pick one over the other," Soos asked him, "Kiss or chasing the paranormal-"
"Easy. Chasing, any day," Luke shrugged.
"I propose," Marcus looked to his companions, "We're done. Let's just go home now. Be us again. Not the stupid 'North Pacific Paranormal People', just us."
"Aww, the NPPP was starting to grow on me," Wendy chuckled. When the five stared at her, she rolled her eyes, and added, "Being sarcastic, here."
"You guys always wanted to have people acknowledge you as being cool," Mabel explained, "But in the end, maybe you just needed to acknowledge it yourself."
At that point, Geoffrey gave a hacking cough. "Ugh! That's waaay too much for me. No more of this 'after-school special' crud. I'm okay figuring out that we were wrong trying to make what we like cool rather than just doing what we like, but throwing a moral like that just makes me really want to be a jerk again."
"Well, if you ever do decide to be a jerk again," Mabel added, "Just know that once I punched a fireball out of the sky with my bare fists. You have been warned."
"Wait, when did that happen?" Wendy asked.
"Don't worry, Mabel," Geoffrey smirked, and extended a hand, "We'll call you guys the moment we start getting ideas that we need to have fame in order to be happy. You can take us out on another one of these insane adventures again, okay?"
Mabel nodded, and shook the hand. "Only if you're up to it. Got to keep up with us younger, spryer folk," Mabel winked.
"In the mean time, we'll just, I dunno," he turned to the others, "Steal enough gas to get back to Portland? Maybe smuggle ourselves onto a plane? We'll manage."
The doors behind them slid open, and Edward the Chupacabra stepped out. As the nine plus pig stared at the monster, Ed ripped off a cluster of hair from his shoulder, and then handed it to the closest of the former NPPP "As a souvenir, Chupacabra hair. Just don't lead them back to my mom." He departed back inside, and they were shrouded once again in darkness.
An hour later, the gang had finally said their goodbyes to the North Pacific Paranormal People. Deciding to gain as much reward money for discovering samples of hair belonging to a rare cryptic species, they would be soon turning their eyes back to Oregon, and to the cooler airs of the north. Meanwhile, the gang was already packing back into their rooms. Wendy took to patrolling around the motel and the block it was on.
"Watching you guys sleep? Not really my thing," she had said before calmly pacing off.
As Mabel and Waddles took to the bed and Dipper to the Floor, Soos emerged from the bathroom, a robe around his freshly cleaned body.
"Man. These days get crazy fast, don't they?" he asked them.
"Sure do!" Mabel grinned as Waddles lied down next to her.
"It's still weird to think that this isn't Gravity Falls," Dipper sighed. "I feel like had we come to this city before all this happened, the most we would have seen about the Chupacabra would have been stories. Instead, we met, solved, and answered the mystery all in one night."
"Heck yeah you guys did," Soos chuckled, "Man, thank goodness you guys are around."
"Huh?" Mabel laughed, "Why's that?"
"Well, I really wasn't all that helpful, was I?" Soos asked with a chuckle.
"Soos, don't be like that," Mabel blew a raspberry.
"Yeah," Dipper smiled, "Everyone's got their helpful ways."
"Like Dipper!" Mabel cheered, and his eyes grew wide. "He may still be learning, but he's getting better and better at the paths each day! Who needs magic when you can just punch people down into submission until they become your friends?"
"Uh... right," Dipper chuckled in a high-pitch.
"Well, anyway," Soos said, tucking himself into his bed sheets, "See you dudes tomorrow."
"Night Soos."
"Night buddy!"
"Oink!"
As he pulled the light switch off, Soos pleasant smile was wiped away from his mouth in an instant. He felt much more than just slightly useless. Mabel had been magnificent this night, and he had merely chased after her, unable to keep in pace, or even help once he had caught up.
It wasn't fair. He could remember the times when he knew he was needed. When people wanted and felt that they needed him around. He never felt so obsolete as he did without the Mystery Manor. He was constantly patching up the falling apart building with expert choice and money-saving ways. When Yuki came in the picture, even though the Alien had grand methods to improving electrical appliances, Soos was the best teacher to explaining human tendencies. He was the one slowly educating him on how to acclimate to their societies.
He could see the shack now, drifting off into sleep. Just as it always had been. Sunny, or rainy, or cloudy... his best home. In that vision, he was there, walking towards the front doors. His hand reached out for the handle, so he could step inside, something he could only do in his dreams and memories.
"Adorable," a cool, soft, yet deep, sophisticate voice echoed out.
Soos yelped and turned about. He rubbed his eyes. Yet as he lowered his hands, he saw it. A shape floating down from the sky towards him. An outline of silver. The soft blue of a sea. A single eye. Wide blue hat with three flowers colored of gold, iron, and cobalt sat atop a flat top to a triangular figure. Held above the top of the flat top, a noodle-like arm suspended a wide, lacy Victorian umbrella that matched style with the worn hat.
The figure, landed before Soos, and recalled the arms of the umbrella. Laying it atop one of the top corners of the upside-down triangle, the being before Soos cleared her throat.
"Hello Soos. I have been called Kelly," the cool, deep voice spoke kindly to him, "I understand that you're looking into your memories. Good thing, or else I may not have been able to speak with you," she said. "But enough about this past," she shook her body as one would shake her head, "Lets talk about a better past for you now."
Soos gasped and bolted up in his bed.
It was in the dead of night.
The twins were fast asleep. Only Waddles turned his head to look towards him.
Soos slowly reclined back into his bed. It had all been a dream. He was just having a weird dream about Bill Cipher as a crazy old-school Victorian triangle. It was just a weird hunger induced dream.
At least, that's what he lied himself to sleep with.
Let's all take a moment, and give a respectful bow to the end of the real love.
Farewell, Gravity Falls. You were the best ride a kids cartoon has ever given me in my long years on Planet Earth, and you will be missed sorely. Thank you.
AAAHHHH who am I kidding, they totally left that ending up for a new season. C'mon. But at least for me, I got to see how far off I was on some things, and how correct I was on others. (for example, spoiler alert, what happens in THIS version between Ford and Stan is different. But don't worry. Time will tell you many secrets.) So here's hoping that one day Gravity Falls will have a second series. Until then, start getting those soundtracks together. (well, at least I'm trying to. :p)
So in these weeks ahead, where we can no longer look forward to the updates on Disney, which will provide us much love and laughs, we must rely on each other.
Another farewell. This time, to the nutty N.P.P.P. They were among my first real considered OC's that wouldn't be a perma-villain (COUGH COUGH Graupner), and now I wash my hands clean of them. The representation of youthful paranormal investigators is now beyond my control. Unless I say so otherwise in the future.
Lastly... say hi, Kelly. ;)
(A huge Bill Cipher stone statue crushes EZB, and his computer and desk, into the ground, which just so happens to be in the middle of the woods.)
Graupner Kinley watched the progress continue up the hill, even in the dead of the night. It was not a freezing midnight, but the cooler air would make it harder for those still out in the cliffs and suspensions. Yet their construction was not what made him impatient.
He was awaiting the smallest of things. A simple update. All he had to do was wait here. Alvis would return.
His eye and red stone shone deep into the reflective window before him. As he stared, the unfettered thoughts he held close to him began to compile, one over another. None of his words in his mind stuttered, or stammered, or jumbled up. It was perfect clarity. If only he could find the way to remove the enchantment Steindorf had placed onto him those many years ago. He could remove the curse, and use his words to his advantage again. He, Graupner Kinley, could be the one cursing. At least at his fullest.
No, instead, he stared at his sullen, dark shadowed eye and the black pit that was his eye with a single red crystal. Watching it spin in place, function even better than a human eye ever could, he pondered it's look.
Accidentally speaking, he said, "Maybe g-green rocks will look better."
The doors behind him opened, and he spun around.
Stepping inside and looking worn and tired, but excited and proud, was Alvis Leuthar.
"Well?" Graupner asked.
Alvis swallowed hard, and nodded. "She found them. Texas. Her bet is they'll be moving eastward. I already have a calculated path to where next we may cut them off. If you'd like, I can set up a new detachment. Would you be ready in-"
The light behind the red stone flashed, and Alvis stalled his words. Graupner sneered as his lips parted wide with sadistic glee. "I'm ready now."
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