Family

Chapter 428 Dead Coal

By: Major144

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is just a story for fun.

In Subcon Forest, Dipper and his group had just about finished up resting and were preparing for another job, when Dipper had to use the restroom. He found a sign that lead him to a public restroom that resembled one you would find in a park and went inside. Dipper did his business and was in the process of washing his hands, when he looked in the mirror and saw that he was not alone.

Behind Dipper was a strange creature that was roughly his height. The stranger looked like a bed sheet ghost with a jack-o'-lantern smile and black eyes with red irises. The creature had red shoed feet, and wore a blue bowtie and a pointy blue party with red stars on it.

"You look like you have an interesting identity just begging to be stolen." Said the creature.

"What the?! Who are you?!" Said Dipper as he whirled around to confront the creature.

"Just a guy whose going to steal your very being." Said the creature.

"You mean my soul? Sorry to break this to you pal, but Snatcher already took it." Said Dipper.

"Seriously?" Asked the creature.

"Seriously." Said Dipper.

"Well sorry to hear that." Said the creature.

"Thanks. Does that mean you're going to leave me alone?" Said Dipper.

"No. You may not have a soul, but you have something almost as valuable." Said the creature as it's eyes glowed red.

The room filled with red smoke and Dipper felt like something was scanning every fiber of his being. The next thing Dipper knew the smoke and the creature was gone. A shadow in the shape of Dipper rose up from the ground to face him. Dipper's hands sparked with magic as the shadow rushed at him and he yelled.

Pacifica and the others heard the yelling and rushed to the restroom expecting to find trouble. Once they arrived Dipper exited the restroom looking unharmed and un phased.

"Dipper what happened?" Asked Mabel.

"Some weird shadow guy tried to jump me, but I beat him up with my magic." Said Dipper.

"For reals?" Asked Rain.

"For reals now come on we have stuff to do don't we." Said Dipper.

"You're right we have some jobs to do to get your soul back from Snather. We decided to do Clean Out the Subcon Well job next." Said Mabel.

"Sounds good to me." Said Dipper.

"I'll lead you to the well." Said Dolly as she began to walk away and the others followed her.

"So how you feeling now Dipper?" Asked Pacifica.

"Oh I'm feeling much better. Haven't felt this good in a while." Said Dipper with a chuckle and a little smile.

Back in the restroom the shadow creature Dipper laid on the ground. It let out a groan and stumbled to it's feet looking at the mirror with it's featureless face and reeled back.

"What the heck?! What happened to me?!" Cried the creature in a echoey version of Dipper's voice.

The creature looked at it's reflection again studying it's features and form.

"Ok let's retrace our steps. I am Mason though I go by the nickname Dipper because of the birthmark on my head. I was washing my hands when I was attacked by that strange creature and it turned into a shadowy version of me. We fought and I blacked out. Next thing I know I wake up looking like this. So the next big question to ask is what happened to me and where is my attacker?"

Dipper began to run through some possibilities. He could be unconscious and simply dreaming, but he disproved that theory by pinching himself and confirmed that he was awake. The attacker could have cast a spell on him to make him look like a shadow creature, but that made little sense. The monster could have switched minds with Dipper, but for some reason Dipper still felt like he was still in his own body and it made little sense for the monster to take on Dipper's form. Then Dipper began to think about what the creature said about taking his identity and it hit him. The creature had used some kind of strange magic to stripe Dipper of his physical appearance and identity leaving as a literal shadow of his former self. Dipper realized with horror that the creature was with his friends and sister most likely using his new appearance to get close to them and was perhaps planning to steal their identities as well! Dipper had to go save them and reclaim his identity and appearance. He stumbled out of the restroom and began to look for the others.

Back in Snowdin, Cinder was in a coal mine preparing to launch her attack on the village. Towering before Cinder was Old King Coal. He was a massive golem made out of coal and he was the spirit of the coal mine. Old King Coal had once been a merry old soul who let monsters mine his place for coal, but little by little Old King Coal had grown tired of monsters mining his coal and giving him little thanks for it. He eventually stopped being a merry old soul and later Cinder came and offered him a chance to get back at all the monsters in Snowdin and Old King Coal took her up on it and used his powers to form a body made of coal. Old King Coal's body was black with bits of red heated coal scattered about, he had a big mouth with white teeth, and red eyes.

"Soon we will burn the village to the ground and dance on their ashes." Said Cinder.

"I shall take great pleasure in burning the village with my coals." Said Old King Coal.

Cinder pulled out a crystal ball that allowed her to contact Crump, Beldam, Marilyn, Necromancer, Ruxxtin, and NecroDancer and told them the attack on the village was on. She then shot flames out of her pigtails and flew out of the coal mine. Old King Coal stomped after her.

In the village Luminous and the Legion of Light were resting and tending to the wounds they got from Crump and his forces. Luminous was angry about the venture since he and his forces failed to eliminate Crump or any high ranking members of Spirit's forces, but once his team recovered a little he planned to hunt Crump and his forces down and end them. The light being had put a call to one of his strongest members to help aid in the endeavor and he should be arriving very soon. Luminous looked at the village monsters and thought about recruiting them to the cause, when he spotted Endol and Merak hanging outside a coffee shop. Normally most of the Doctor's forces stayed in Hotland and they usually sent Misery, Balrog, and the Mants to do jobs outside of Hotland, so it was a surprise to see the two minions in Snowdin.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And I can use all the help I can get." Thought Luminous as he headed towards Endol and Merak.

The Legion of Light had formed an alliance with the Doctor and his forces some time ago. Both parties agreed to mainly help each other against Spirit and her army and to not to interfere in each other's business. Endol and Merak saw Luminous coming and looked up at him.

"Endol. Merak. Surprise to see you two in Snowdin." Said Luminous.

"We're on a mission for our master. Just fetching some special test subjects for a special experiment." Said Endol.

"It's a lot of hard work, so we're taking a break." Said Merak sipping some hot chocolate.

"I'm guessing you need some help with something." Said Endol.

"I do. We had a little battle with Crump and his goons, but they escaped before we could finish them off. I could really use your help in tracking them down and ending them. I'm willing to pay you or aid you in finding these special test subjects your master wants." Said Luminous.

"We're interested. Besides our master wouldn't mind if we killed some of his enemies." Said Endol.

"Oh I just got a message from Lunar. Looks like he caught a test subject, so we're free to help you." Said Merak looking at his phone.

"Excellent." Said Luminous.

"Hey boss, got your message and I'm here to help." Said a voice from behind.

Luminous turned to see a teenage human with shoulder length, messy green hair, red eyes, and extremely pale skin. He wore a tattered white shirt, a black jacket tied around his waist, black trousers, and brown boots. His forearms and palms were heavily wrapped in bandages.

"Hello Stratos. Glad to see you. With your aid we should finally end Crump and deliver a major blow to Spirit's forces." Said Luminous.

"I'm just going to grab a bite to eat first and then I'll be ready to go." Said Stratos before he headed to a nearby food stand.

(Author's Note: Sratos is from Azure Striker Gunvolt.)

Luminous went to gather his troops.

"You know it just occurred to me that you're a human Merak. Why doesn't the Doctor use you for his experiments with the flowers?" Said Endol.

"Because I'm more useful as a underline then a test subject. Plus my powers could lead to a disastrous test result." Said Merak.

"I see." Said Endol.

The two of them finished their drinks and went to go join Luminous.

At the edge of the village, Sans had arrived with the Gravity Falls expedition. They were cutting through the village to reach the Subcon Forest and Sans had used his phone to contact a couple members of the Royal Guard for help to storm the evil forest and rescue Dipper and the others. Those members happened to be Loke and Viper. The two of them made sure Winter Windster was secured before they headed out to Grillby's to meet Sans.

"Thanks for taking my call and for agreeing to help us." Said Sans.

"No problem. Helping people is what we do." Said Loke.

"So you have no problem with some of us being human?" Asked Finn.

"Not at all. I know there are some people who hate humans and desperately want a human soul to break the barrier, but I'm not one of them and neither is Viper. Our main job is to protect the people and help those in need, which happens to be you folks right now." Said Loke.

"We are very thankful for your assistance." Said Phoebe with a bow as she gave both Loke and Viper a smile.

Viper couldn't help, but smile back as he felt a slight blush to his cheeks. He had never seen a girl like Phoebe before and felt attracted to her. Loke looked over at Viper and took notice of his young partner's gaze towards Phoebe and smiled. It looked like Viper had just fallen in love with Phoebe. Loke wished Viper luck and hope he could conduct himself appropriately and win Phoebe's love.

The group continued on through the village and got the attention of Luminous, Endol, and Merak. Luminous saw Phoebe and was amazed by her appearance and glow. He could tell that Phoebe was powerful by simply looking at her and knew he had to recruit her to the Legion of Light. He stepped in front of the group's path.

"Greetings strangers. I am Luminous the leader of the Legion of Light. Our goal is to exterminate all darkness and evil from the Underground and I can see some righteous and bright souls among you, who desire the same thing." Said Luminous.

"Step aside Luminous, we're on an important rescue mission to Subcon Forest." Said Loke looking annoyed.

"You don't say. Well why don't me and my men accompany you. You can use all the help you can get." Said Luminous.

"Fine. Gather your troops and will head out." Said Loke.

As Luminous gathered his troops Sratos was eating some food, when he was approached by Six who looked up at him. There was a loud growl and Six put a hand to her stomach. Sratos looked down at the small child and felt sorry for her. He knew very well what kind of pains hunger caused to a person. Sratos reached into his pocket and pulled out a little golden yellow bar of yellow food wrapped in plastic. It was a light honey-like substance that had been created by the Radiance scattered around all the caves of the Underground. The substance was good and filling. Sratos handed the bar to Six, who nodded in thanks as she took the bar, unwrapped it, and began to eat it. Unaware what the light substance would do to her body since she had one of the Beast's turtles in it. A element of darkness and a element of light usually didn't mix very well.

Merak and Endol observed the expedition group.

"I see a couple of humans among that group. I say we just grab a couple of them and head back to the base." Said Merak.

Endol's whiskers began to suddenly twitch and a serious look appeared on his face.

"We got trouble." Said Endol.

One of the nearby buildings burst into flames causing monster to scatter and run. Cinder then appeared hovering in the air and began to blast fire from her mouth setting another building on fire as Old King Coal stomped onto the scene.

"People of Snowdin, one of my beloved sisters has been killed recently in your part of the Underground! A crime like that cannot go unpunished, so I've decided to burn your little village to the ground and kill every last one of you!" Said Cinder.

"And I'm going to make you pay for taking all my coal over the years!" Bellowed Old King Coal.

"The Day of the Dead is here!" Called Ruxxtin as he appeared at the other end of the village riding the reanimated corpse of the Pugalisk.

The Necromancer and NecroDancer appeared besides him with hundreds of undead warriors and monsters.

The assembled heroes, Royal Guard, Legion of Light forces, and minions of the Doctor realized a big fight was going to start and took up fighting poses ready to fight the invaders.

Sratos pulled out a strange glowing sword and held it up. There was a flash of light and Sratos changed. Sratos's body now appeared to be made of bright yellow flames, he wore black and white armor on his hands, chest, feet, thighs and groin. His hands were overly large with three digits and a thumb on both. Above him floated a black and grey shell comprised of three parts that vaguely resembled an insect head, with the two parts on the side each having one massive yellow "eye".

Merak pulled out a strange glowing sword of his own and held it up. There was a flash of light and Merk changed. Merak gained black eyes with blue irises, and his hair turned a bright blue, with dark blue horn-like appendages attached to his head. He wore dark blue armor with glowing light blue highlights, and white gloves. Merak sat in matching hovering throne that vaguely resembled a bears jaws with large mechanical arms.

The undead army charged forward and chaos broke out.

Back in Subcon Forest, Dipper had stumbled across a large manor with several large spikes sticking around parts of it. The manor was haughty looking and the area around it seemed colder then any other area of Snowdin or Subcon Forest. Dipper realized that this must be the manor Snatcher wanted a object from. Dipper was fixing to turn around and walk away, when he heard a loud screech and he looked up at the roof to see a horrible monster perched up there. It was Screeching Owl.

Screeching Owl was about six times Dipper's height, had a cone shaped helmet and looked like a giant samurai-like owl wearing a white kimono. His hands and feet were black, with talons, and a large pair of black wings on his back.

Dipper's body trembled as Screeching Owl looked down at him let out another loud of screech and flew down to attack him.

To be continued.