Disclaimers: I do not own Gravity Falls
Author's Notes: Next chapter is up! This is easily one of my favorite chapters of SVTFOE and I am very happy with how this turned out.
Thanks for reading and please review!
(The Next Day…)
After the emotional day that was yesterday, Bill had decided it was time to check in on his friends at St. Hugo's Reform School for Wayward Youths.
"So, you actually get to talk to friends back home?" Mabel was asking as they gathered in front of Bill's mirror phone. She had a batch of cupcakes that she had made for the gang, red velvet with dark black frosting and sprinkles shaped as red stars and lightning bolts.
"Yeah, you make St. H sound like some kind of prison." Dipper agreed.
"It is a prison." Bill said grimly as he made the call.
Dipper shook his head, he never understood Bill's fear for the place, Dipper always liked order. He felt that it was needed in order to minimize the chaos around them. Then again, seeing how Bill's power was the raw chaos of his own imagination, Dipper could see why rules would bother him. But that's, all it was; a personal irrational phobia that had no realistic standings.
The mirror shows static for a moment and then Bill's friends are on the screen.
"Guys." Bill looks ecstatic, as if just seeing his friends after so long is enough to erase the downhill spiral that has currently become his life.
Dipper feels a pang of jealousy at the realization, like for some reason he is not enough, but then thinks twice. It wasn't like Bill wasn't allowed to have other friends. Besides, these guys grew up with him, of course there would be a different level of closeness. Still, it made him feel green with envy. He wasn't sure why he was acting like this when it came to Bill, but lately something about them had changed. Dipper wasn't sure if Bill felt it too or if it was just his imagination, but he felt it all the same.
"Hey Boss." Teeth smiles brightly at him.
"Looking good Shooting Star!" Kelly praises, "And are those cupcakes I see?"
"Yep!" Mabel does a little gig. "I made them to put a smile on your face!"
"What flavor?" Hector asked.
Keyhole suddenly clears his throat as if to warn him.
"Oh, they're red velvet, Bill said it was the one flavor you all agreed on." Mabel answered suddenly picking up on the changed vibe. "Is something wrong?"
"You're the best Shooting Star really." Paci-Fire praised. "Thank you so much. Would you mind donating them to the less fortunate on our behalf?"
"Uh... " Bill looks confused. "You don't want cupcakes? What's gotten into you guys?"
Kelly started whispering and looking around. "Bill, we can't just receive packages here at St. H's"
"What! That's criminal!" Mabel threw the cupcakes into the air and stomps her foot in rage.
"So, your families can't send you things either?" Dipper looks skeptical.
"Only if it's on the approved items list." Kelly rolled her eyes.
"Oh well that sounds reasonable then." Dipper admitted, and instantly regrets it.
"Of course, you'd be the one to agree with Mr. Hugo." Paci-fire groans. "Order is your main squeeze."
"There's nothing wrong with a little bit of order." Dipper retorted.
"This is beyond little Pine Tree." Bill argued.
"Pine Tree?" Paci-fire asked.
"Yep, That's his nickname!" Mabel exclaimed proudly. "He's officially in!"
"Bout time." Kelly teased.
"So, is it because his last name is Pines or because of the new hat?" Teeth asked.
"A little bit of both." Bill explained, he just now remembered that Dipper only started wearing the hat after the adventure with Bill's friends.
"I like it." Hector admitted.
Paci-fire looks unsure. "It suits him, still think he's more of a kill joy." He admitted.
"I'm sorry who got tied up and interrogated for whom again?" Dipper challenged.
"Now that was cool." Paci-fire admitted. "You should be like that all the time."
Dipper rolls his eyes, he liked being Bill's friend and all, but he was not changing just to please Bill's other friends.
"I just wish you guys weren't in that stuffy old place." Mabel said, changing the subject.
"I know, if you guys weren't there, we could totally hit it at the bounce lounge." Bill agreed.
"And get our party on!" Hector exclaims.
The others all cringe around him.
"Oh no!" Teeth hissed.
There's the sound of a door opening loudly, and hands can be seen grabbing the teens.
"Oh no I expressed my emotions; this is my third infraction!" Hector screamed.
"Remember me as I was!" Kelly screamed.
"Guys what's going on?" Bill yelled.
"Our times up!" Keyhole was screaming nonsense. "We couldn't conform on our own! Now they're taking us to the-" The call ended.
Bill stares at the blank screen stunned.
"That was-" Mabel began.
"Theatrical." Dipper finished for her.
"Dipper!" Mabel exclaimed.
"Oh, come on, you know these guys are just being dramatic because they have to follow a few rules." Dipper reasoned. "Come on Bill, back me up."
"NO…" Bill said firmly. "Whatever that was it was serious, I know them…this wasn't theatrics."
"We have to do something." Mabel insisted.
"Do what?" Dipper asked. "It's not like we can sneak into St. H's and break them out." Dipper yelled.
"That's exactly what we're going to do." Bill said, looking serious as he reached for the dimensional scissors.
"Bill, we can't break them out of reform school, besides we promised to be more careful." Dipper reminded him. Hannibal had told them it would take some time to program a new All-Seeing Eye for Bill. In the meantime, the teens promised to be careful until it was ready.
"Look I'm going Pine Tree." Bill said. "With or without you."
He and Dipper stared each other down for a moment, finally Dipper sighed.
"No, you're not going without me." He said. "It's my job to protect you, and as your friend I have to back you up. Even if I think you're wrong."
"So, we're going?" Mabel asked.
"We have to." Bill said. "I don't know how this is gonna work though." He admitted. "No one has ever escaped from there before!"
"Oh, Dipper can help with that." Mabel said, as Dipper started gathering things. "You will not believe how many times he has had to rescue me from creeps."
"Exactly how many times have you been kidnapped?" Bill asked with concern.
"We'll there was the Gnomes." Mabel said. "And then there was those cute boys who turned out to be vampires, and there were these lizard people-"
"Okay sorry I asked." Bill cut her off.
"Okay here's the plan." Dipper grabbed their attention. "We use the dimensional scissors, open a portal right outside their rooms, and bust them out."
"Seems easy enough." Mabel said as Bill cut open a portal.
The three stepped in and find themselves not inside the school, but outside!
"What the?" Bill asks.
"Of course, it's not that easy." Dipper groaned. "The school must have a way to redirect portals made by dimensional scissors."
"Now what?" Mabel asked.
Dipper was about to suggest they just go home, when a warnicorn carriage came running down the path. Dipper pulls them out of the way, taking refuge behind some bushes as it rushes down the road with ease. The teens poke their heads out to see where the carriage went. A small purple man with a red glowing eye stepped out.
"Ah! The newbies have finally arrived. Welcome to St. Hugo's Reform School for Wayward Youths!"
Bill looks up at the school and feels the usual unsettledness he has always felt about it. "I'm telling you, somethings off about this place."
"It's just a boarding school." Dipper reasoned.
"Dip it looks like a haunted castle." Mabel pointed out.
"Haunted or not I'm going in and saving my friends." Bill declared.
"But how?" Mabel asked.
"I have an idea." Dipper revealed. "New arrivals mean we can blend in perhaps with a transformation spell." Dipper looked to Bill knowingly.
" SHADOW TRANSFORMATION!" Bill whispered transforming himself into a red horned demon completed with a tail.
Mabel whispered a spell and was soon dressed like some sort of Viking princess with longer horns, spiky boots, and an eye patch. "Yes! I did it."
"Not bad Mabes." Dipper praised his sister.
"Your turn." Bill told him.
Dipper shrugs and with a low whisper says "Transformatio!"
Like Mabel, Dipper's features don't change, just his looks, he trades his plain red t-shirt and jeans for a navy-blue suit and tie. His usually shaggy hair is pushed back, showing off his birthmark.
"Whoa Pine Tree-" Bill wasn't sure what to say, Dipper looked good…like really good. Bill wasn't sure why, but he could feel the heat rising to his cheeks.
"Figures you would wear something stuffy." Mabel said.
"It is a reform school." Dipper reasoned. "You guys ready? Bill?"
Bill shakes off his initial shock and nods. "Ready."
The three quietly sneak behind the carriage and easily blended in with the other teens in line. The small man from before was speaking again.
"Alright, single file. Mr. Hugo is eager to start the reformation process." He had a slight smirk on his face before turning the opposite direction and leading the teens forward.
Bill couldn't help but start regretting his decision as they started moving holding on to Dipper for comfort once they went through the huge, gated entrance.
"Try not to blow our cover," he whispered.
"Don't allow noble lineage to be thrown away! Here at St. Hugo's, we have a plethora of full proof security measures! No dimensional scissors or magic allowed! And etiquette of the main focus for your troubled wayward youth! We turn undisciplined behavior into perfection! That free thinking one in a million brat will be turned into one of a million rubber stamp that your bloodline can count on!"
The ad on the big screen cut off.
And Dipper grimaced, when put that way St. Hugo's sounded like a place that suck the life out of you.
The teens around them didn't seem to share an interest in it at all. Some seemed anxious and some seemed like they wanted to destroy this place. Dipper had no doubt Bill would gladly help them; he knew it was up to him to ensure that this rescue op didn't get out of hand.
Mr. Hugo a man about Mabel's height stepped forward. He, like Dipper was smartly dressed, and looked surprisingly human.
"Every one of you are here for a reason." He began walking down the line of teens giving each and every one of them a description of themselves in one word based off of what he sees. "Too wild, too rebellious, too opinionated, too hype, too jolly and too BUBBLY!" roared the headmaster as he popped a teen's pink bubble gum bubbles with a finger. "As the future generation, you don't have the luxury of being an individual. So, by the time I'm done with you all, you'll be fixed."
He stops in front of Bill, the headmaster of St. Hugo's school, was standing right in front of the kid that probably hated him the most. Mr. Hugo smirked and continued his sentence. "Every last one of you, whether you're from Pixtopia or the Nightmare Realm." Mr. Hugo touched Bill's cheek marks.
'Don't scream. Don't scream. Don't scream. Don't scream.' Bill screamed internally.
The triangle on the touched cheek became frozen like ice, then Mr. Hugo walked towards Dipper.
Bill touched his cheek mark softly, feeling the coldness of the ice. Before watching Mr. Hugo pull away from him to snatch a pair of dimensional scissors out of a two headed teen's hand. His eyes never leaving Dipper's "And don't even think about escaping! We have a tramophidian crystal in tower three. No rift can sustain itself within our walls."
Dipper holds the glare, and despite what he told Bill, Dipper can see it. Deep in the Headmaster's eye, that look of ill intent. Dipper would like to think he was a good judge of character, he knew a poser when he saw one. And Mr. Hugo was not as ordinary as he seemed, there was just something about him, something not right…
Seeming to find nothing negative to say to Dipper, Mr. Hugo looks around. "Oh, come on, did you really think you could escape here that easily. Ha! You can drop your useless dimensional scissors now."
All the teens dropped their scissors in defeat. Bill was just about to drop his as well until Mabel stopped him.
"Once we get past that crystal, those are our ticket out of here." She assured him.
Dipper gives Bill a firm nod, and the prince hides the scissors once more.
"And that concludes our orientation, I am confident that you all will become perfect children, one way, or another." Mr. Hugo walked away. The small man from before walked back over the second Mr. Hugo left. He cleared his throat. "Now, let's get everyone checked in so we can start sucking the individuality out of you."
Okay, the way he said that was very unsettling. Bill and Dipper both look to Mabel who seemed to be thinking hard. Her eyes lit up and it looked like she had an idea.
"I HEARD THE FIRST PERSON TO GET CHECKED IN GETS THEIR OWN ROOM!" She called out. The teens around them wasted no time running ahead to snag their own room, making the guards have to catch up with them.
"Children order!" They yelled.
Mabel grabbed the boys and rushed them away. "This place isn't exactly what I thought it would be-" She admitted as they ran.
"Me either." Bill agreed. "It's worse, a lot worse."
Dipper nodded, even he had to admit this school was looking more and more like a prison.
"Mabel, it's worse than I imagined!" Bill yelled, pointing over to a boy being forced by a teacher into singing with the animals. It was the same guy who tried to steal Bill's face!
"Just smile and wave Bill." Dipper urged as he pulled him along.
Finally, they peaked into the nearest room. from the small rectangular caged window on the top of the door. "Gee, these rooms are pretty luxurious." Mabel said.
"Yeah." Dipper admitted. Okay so the headmaster may be a nut, but the living conditions were better than what he was used to.
"Are you kidding?" Bill asked. "What teen has a room this neat?" He reasoned. "I'm telling you Dip, something is wrong with this place."
Dipper knew Bill had a point, not even his room was this clean.
They moved on until they eventually found one of the friends they were looking for.
It was Kelly, her rainbow hair was braided back in a ponytail, and she was glancing out her window.
Bill goes to break the door down with magic, but Dipper stops him.
"No magic here, remember?" He said.
Luckily Mabel pulls out a bobby pin. "I got this." She said and used it to open the door with ease!
The door creaks open eerily…
"Amorphous Shape…?" Bill asked in a low hopeful whisper.
Kelly doesn't respond but continues to gaze outward.
"Kelly?" Dipper asked walking in slowly, he reaches out for her. "Kelly?"
Kelly turns and despite himself Dipper yelps, Kelly's face is twisted into an uneasy and chilling smile. It was so horrifyingly perfect it looked unnatural and fake. "Can I help you?" She asked.
"Amorphous Shape, we're here to take you home." Bill said, almost pleading. "Come on, we'll get the others and blow this place."
"My deepest apologizes, but I must decline as leaving unannounced is for the unrefined." Kelly responded.
Bill almost lost it right then and there. "What has that monster done to you?"
Even Dipper was seeing red flags. "It's like she's been brain washed." He said.
"Let me try." Mabel said. "Hey Kelly, I like your new hair style, it's so different from the one you got from Rainbow falls. Do you remember that?"
"Endangering ones self's by going near blackholes is irresponsible, one should stick to harmless endeavors like knitting." Kelly told her.
And Bill lost it! He ran over to Kelly and shook her. "Snap out of it! Snap out of it!"
"If this is what they do to people here…" Mabel shook her head. "It's awful and certainly not legal. Dipper we have to get them all out of here."
Dipper does his best to stay in control, panicking would not help the situation. "Relax, once we disable that crystal and get out of here, we can get her back to normal."
"Escaping is inappropriate! Guards! Guar-" Kelly starts to scream. Bill covers her mouth. Unfortunately, one guard hears the commotion and gives chase.
The friends run with Kelly in tow until they reach a dining hall were teens were seated at a fancy table with unhappy faces and holding teacups with their pinkies sticking out. They then started saying two certain lines over and over again.
"More tea please. Keep your pinkies at ninety degrees. More tea please. Keep your pinkies at ninety degrees."
Bill shutters as they dive under a table to hide. "This is worse than my worst nightmare..."
Mabel nods her agreement as Kelly joined along with the chant.
"Keep your pinkies at ninety degrees."
Dipper pokes his head out to see several guards entering. "They're right on us."
"We have to blast out of here." Bill urged.
"No dice, without magic their numbers will overpower us." Mabel pointed out the obvious.
We need some sort of distraction... " Dipper thought for a moment.
"Well, they are not getting my individuality," Mabel vowed.
Suddenly Dipper gets an idea and to Bill's horror he stands up, revealing himself. He took one of the teens teacups, putting it in the air and starts shouting, "IT'S NOT CRIMINAL TO BE AN INDIVIDUAL!" He threw the teacup at the guard and started encouraging the other teens to chant with him. "Come on! It's not criminal to be an individual!" A small fairy flew into the air and held up her teacup as well.
"It's not criminal to be an individual!" She squeaked in her high-pitched voice, throwing the teacup at the guard too. That's when everyone followed along and did the same movements.
Bill poked his head out as the teens started rioting, throwing chairs, and screaming their chant. "Whoa…did Pine Tree just start a revolution?"
"I think he did." Mabel said as she and Kelly joined them.
"HA! He just got served!" Kelly giggles slightly.
Bill smiled big. Could it be? Was the Kelly he knew still in there!
The group take their moment to escape down the hall.
"There!" Mabel pointed at a door up ahead, they rushed in and blocked the door. Dipper pushed against the door as the guards tried to get in. "Hurry you guys hide." He whispered.
"But Dip!" Mabel cried.
"Pine Tree-" Bill also began to argue.
"It's my job to protect both of you." Dipper reminded them. "Now take Kelly and hide."
Mabel pointed to the first thing she saw... a laundry chute! Mabel opened up the square door on the wall. "I'm supposing that's where the laundry falls? "
"Hop in, I'll meet you guys there." Dipper grunted from the struggle to keep the door closed.
Mabel and Bill reluctantly obeyed, taking Kelly along with them.
Dipper goes to run for the chute to follow them but was stopped by a firm arm. "Got you!"
Dipper yelps as Mr. Hugo's nails stab into his arm.
"I knew you were trouble." Mr. Hugo said as he dragged him out of the room. "Find the others." He ordered his men.
"They got Dipper." Mabel cried as they landed on a huge dirty pile of laundry. "Now they're gonna do to him what they did to Kelly!" She stomps her feet in frustration. Tears ran down her face as she sees a poster that reads
"Embrace an empowered mentality, wash away your individuality?!"
Bill marched over to the poster and started hitting it with some random wooden stool he found beside it. "EMBRACE THIS!" He kept hitting it to point to where he was nearly in tears himself. Finally, the chair breaks and he starts pacing the room. "We have to do something! Who knows what they're doing to Dipper right now."
"I don't know what to do." Mabel said. "Dipper's always the one saving me!" She stops as they hear sounds of paper ripping and yelling in the background. They both turn around to see Kelly ripping up the poster and laughing.
"Kelly?" Mabel asked.
" Amorphous Shape! YOU'RE BACK!" Bill, tackled her with a hug.
"You know it! Now let's go destroy something else! I don't even care what it is!"
Suddenly she freezes as Dipper's scream is heard.
"Is that Pine Tree?" She asked.
"Yup, Hugo got him... " Bill told her.
"Come on!" Kelly ran over to a vent and screwed it open. "I know where he is!" She crawls in and Bill and Mabel follow her.
"Keep screaming Dip!" Mabel shouts.
And Dipper does, finally they found him! He's hooked up to a chair with wires attached to him. Robotic hands keep his eyes open as he is forced to watch a video. It's a clip on manners and being refined. Nearby, a machine nearby seems to suck something out of him.
"Mr. Hugo drains kids of their life energy, he steals what makes you feel youthful." Kelly whispered an explanation.
"That's why you were acting so emotionless and perfect." Bill realized.
"What does he do with it?" Mabel asked.
"I don't know." Kelly says, "But you're never the same once he does it."
"I see the others." Bill points to a cell where their friends are being held, no doubt waiting to receive the same treatment as Dipper.
"You leave him alone!" Teeth yelled.
"Yeah, only I can make his life miserable!" Paci-fire added.
"Hang in their Pines." Keyhole says as they try to break out. "We'll save you!"
Meanwhile, the rioting teens else were have taken over the school, overpowering the guards and are now bursting through the door of the room the crystal is being held. Together several teens haul the crystal out the window breaking the glass with a crash.
Back with Dipper Mr. Hugo is strapping himself up to a helmet that's connected to the machine that's draining Dipper. Slowly, the older man becomes more and more youthful.
"Oh, my gods, he's stealing our youth for himself!" Bill exclaims.
"That is so wrong, in so many ways." Kelly yelled.
Mabel becomes more desperate. "What do we do."
Bill feels his power returning. "I got this one." He says and yells. "Raw Chaos!" Bill's power shots out of his cane in its rawest form. Breaking them out of the vents and exploding into the room. Mr. Hugo and his personal servant are thrown back in a heap as Bill goes for Dipper.
He blasts him out of his binds as Kelly and Mabel free the others.
"Your powers are back." Dipper muttered. He felt so weak.
"The other teens must have broken the crystal, we can portal home straight from here!" Bill yelled pulling out his scissors.
"I got him." Paci-fire takes Dipper and throws him over his shoulder. "About time we returned the favor."
"Thanks for saving our butts again." Teeth said to Dipper as Bill opened the portal.
"No…problem…" Dipper could barely form his words.
"Let's get out of here!" Mabel yelled and took the lead, jumping into the portal, her friends follow and the portal closes.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hugo groans as he comes too.
His assistant stirs as well, He looks to his boss and gasps. "Sir your cheeks!"
Mr. Hugo put both hands on his cheeks, the once plain skin now had two marks shaped like a burning fire. "That boy…" He whispered. "He…his energy…it changed me."
"Come Master." His servant gestured to the chair Dipper was just in. "Let us correct the imperfection."
"No!" Mt. Hugo said. "I don't want to correct it…"
"No?" His servant looks stunned.
"I want more!" Mr. Hugo said. "I've never felt so empowered. Whatever this boy has, whatever this is, I like it." He smiled wickedly. "And I want rest until it's all mine!"
Just then, at that very moment Bill, Mabel and the others appeared outside the school. They hadn't gone far because they wanted to help the other kids. However, they could now see that they didn't need their help at all.
"It's not criminal, to be an individual!" They screamed as they started to tear the place down.
"Wow, you really started something here." Paci-fire praised while he was still holding Dipper.
"Dipper's the one who got them going." Mabel admitted.
"Nice, to bad you're just going to go right back to being stuffy." The big monster teen joked.
"Glad to have you back," Dipper said to him weakly.
"Me too!" Paci-fire agreed. "Now I can make fun of how horrible you look in that suit!"
"If you must." Dipper said but cracked a smile.
"Oh, I must." Paci-fire began.
Suddenly the teens notice them and stop.
"You big fellow!" An elf teen yells. "Who be the boy you hold?"
"Oh, this is Pine Tree!" Paci-fire says putting Dipper down so the teens can see their savior.
Dipper leans on the big monsters as the elf says.
"Let's hear it for Pine Tree our liberator!"
The teens cheer.
"You know if you guys want to leave, we have some scissors." Bill held them out.
"Leave?" The elf teen shook his head. "With Mr. Hugo gone this place can become a teen sanctuary."
"Please stay with us Pine Tree." The fairy teen from earlier pleaded.
"It's a kind offer." Dipper said. "But I'm afraid this place is gonna haunt my nightmares for a while."
"Dido." Bill agreed.
"Very well." The elf said. "I am Tulare and you and your friends are always welcome to return."
"Thanks." Dipper said as fireworks began to fly and the teens started partying.
Bill for once however didn't look interested, he just wanted to get out of this horrible, wicked place. "Welp, time's wasting!" he said. "If we hurry, we can't still party at the Bounce Lounge!"
"And miss this?" Kelly shakes her head. "Not a chance."
"Yeah, let's get those weird masks on the guard's faces and wear them!" Keyhole yells.
"Bet!" Teeth yells and they take off back into the crowd of teens.
"Get one for me!" Mabel called.
"You coming boss?" Paci-fire asked.
Bill opened up a portal with his scissors and tugged on Mabel's arm.
"Yea, this was fun and all yada, yada, yada, but you're forgetting this is the place I fear of the most!" He forces Dipper to lean on him so he can help him through. "So, we're getting out of here and never coming back!"
"Suit yourselves." Paci-fire says and looks to Dipper. "Later loser."
"See you around fatso." Dipper retorted.
Kelly snickered. "OOO Burn!" As she pulled him away.
"So, are you guys like friends now?" Mabel asked Dipper as they stepped through.
"I have no clue." Dipper said as they appeared back in Bill's room. "Keeping up with Bill's friends is exhausting."
"You gonna be, okay?" Mabel asked him.
"I think so…" Dipper yawned as he fell onto Bill's bed. "I just need some sleep."
Bill and Mabel didn't stop him, and soon Dipper was fast asleep without a care in the world.
It would be his last restful slumber for weeks to come…
-To Be Continued