Gravity Falls: Once More

by Absolute Rift

Four years after their faithful summer of weird, Dipper and Mabel finally return to the legendary town of Gravity Falls. Despite having new adventures and mysteries to take on, they are still tailed by the challenges that come with navigating teenage life. With friends and enemies, both new and old, the Pines must prepare themselves for whatever awaits them. (S1 done, S2 ongoing)

26. Stan-doff: Part 3

"Ford…"

Zzzzzz…

"Forrrrrd…"

Zzzzzz…

"FORD!"

"Wha-?!" Ford shouted as he finally jolted awake, frantically looking around. "What's happening?!"

"Easy, bro," Stan's voice told him calmly. "Nothing's happening."

"God, Stanley, then why'd you wake me like that?" Ford asked, greatly annoyed as he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Would ya just relax for a second?" Stan said. "Just look forward and tell me what you see."

Ford sighed while putting his glasses back on his face. "I tell you, Stan. Sometimes you can be so utterly ridicu-"

He cut himself off once he got a good look at what was ahead. In front of them was a set of railings in front of a cliffside But right through the windshield and beyond the railings, he found himself staring at the once familiar sight of a pair of hanging cliffs. As his vision continued to adjust, the cliffs became an apparent sight of what hung right over Gravity Falls itself. The valley the town resided within lay right underneath the cliffs; the town itself was illuminated slightly within the dark and starry night with the moon covered by a bunch of thick clouds that floated across the evening sky.

Gravity Falls, Oregon.

This was no dream. They had finally made it.

"We're... we're here..." Ford said, marveling at the sight. "After all these years. After all the delays, and all of our adventures. After four long years, we're finally back."

"We are."

"Wow…" Ford said as he continued to stare in disbelief. He then chuckled as he remembered what was said earlier. "Ya know, Stanley, waking up to the hanging cliffs isn't the same as waking up to the Shack as you promised. But still, after all this time, it's a sight just as marvelous."

"I agree," Stan said. "You're lucky to have a brother like me who cares about making your final moments memorable."

Ford chuckled. "Well, Stanley, I sure am lucky to have-"

He stopped himself as he repeated Stanley's words in his head, to which his smile quickly faded.

"Wait, what do you mean my final-"

SCREEEEEEEECH!

The tires started grinding fast against the asphalt as Stan suddenly stomped on the gas without warning. Ford's body flew back into his seat with the movement. His eyes went big as he glanced right around the car in a sudden panic. Looking down at himself, he quickly realized that he somehow wasn't even wearing his seatbelt anymore. His worried eyes looked right back ahead.

"WOAH! STANLEY?! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU-"

At that moment, Stan let go of the brakes, sending the car speeding forward. Ford tried to glance over at him, but before he could do anything, the car burst straight through the railing and began its descent down the cliff. Ford began screaming as his body began flying throughout the car as it flipped around mid-air. Meanwhile, Stan sat held in place with his seatbelt still strapped in.

In the backseat, the Snacken tried to use its tentacles to hold onto the seat as tight as it could. On the way down, however, it lost its grip and got sent flying directly under the front car seat. There, it snuck itself up into the seat space to save itself from imminent danger.

Soon enough, the car collided violently with the ground on its right side before bouncing and flipping around several more times through the forest it has landed within. Each window shattered as it made contact with the ground with every flip and bounce. The rest of the car was also damaged immensely with several large dents, scratches, and cracks on its metallic surface as every landing bashed the car further into itself. Being an older car as well, the roof even began to tear.

The car then bounced itself straight into a large tree, which put a violent stop to the flipping as it lay at an angle against the tree. At that point, Filbrick's car was decimated. Having just dropped from the height it did, its condition was left completely unsalvageable as even the engine began to smoke up.

After a brief moment of stillness, the passenger door was kicked off its hinge. Ford slowly emerged from it, crawling on his hands and knees to pull himself out of the car. He was bruised in just about every area of his body while marked with several open cuts that started to bleed. Crawling alone pained him in every muscle of his, but he was persistent. He wheezed breathlessly as he threw himself out of the car onto the forest grass, laying on his back as he took several deep gasps for air. He no room in his mind to even begin thinking about what had just happened to him.

After laying for a brief second, he pulled himself back onto his hands and knees. He coughed up some blood on the ground, holding onto his chest in pain while continuing to wheeze.

"What the hell was that?" he groaned to himself.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Ford's head turned upon hearing the sudden laugh. And an immediately familiar one at that. He saw his brother walking toward him, his clothes torn and his body just as bruised and bloodied as he was. However, he seemed to have no issue as he walked up to him without even a limp.

But as he scanned his body, what stood out most was the sight of his glowing yellow eyes, which were clear as ever within the night darkness. Paired with the familiar voice, Ford's heart dropped hard as he realized exactly what was happening.

"OH, THAT LOOKS BAD, BRO!" said the sinister voice of Bill Cipher as it came from Stan's mouth. "WE SHOULD PROBABLY GET THAT CHECKED OUT, DONTCHA THINK?"

Ford didn't speak a word. He stared on at his greatest enemy taking control of his brother in absolute disbelief and trembling fear. While his body was still processing the crash, his mind seemed to have almost completely forgotten it and substituted that mental room with the sight he saw before him.

"YOU ALRIGHT, SIXER?" Bill taunted as a sinister smile formed on Stan's face. "DON'T WORRY! I WAS SEARCHING THROUGH POP'S OLD CAR EARLIER AND I FOUND THIS IN HIS GLOVEBOX!"

At that moment, Bill suddenly pulled out an old revolver from the inside of Stan's jacket, which he pointed straight at Ford, much to his immediate surprise and accelerating concern.

"MAYBE WE CAN USE IT TO MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

---

At the Mystery Shack, the Summerween party had long since begun. Orange, purple, and green strobe lighting flashed around, while the smoke machine produced enough smoke to mimic a dark street alley. The effects combined to fit the Summerween mood as bass-boosted music blasted through the stereo.

The party had a good amount of townsfolk around, although it didn't quite compare to the usual parties around the Shack. Still, those who showed up were dancing and having a good time.

Soos stood at a DJ booth he kept in the back of the museum. He dressed as Lario from the hit 1985 video game, Super Plumber Brothers. The costume consisted of a red plumber outfit with black overalls and a matching red hat with an 'L' on it. He also wore an obnoxiously large, fake handlebar mustache. He bobbed his head to the thumping music as he DJ'd, occasionally looking up to see all the dancing folks with their many costumes.

"Hope all you dudes are having a good time!" Soos spoke into the microphone. "DJ Lario's gotta step aside from the booth for a sec! But not to worry. The rad Muwigi is here to take over in the meantime!"

He gestured to his right, where Abuelita sat in a recliner dressed in a green plumber costume reminiscent of Soos' Lario costume. However, she simply sat asleep in her chair, not even paying any mind to the loud, bass-heavy music and partying going on.

At the front of the gift shop entrance, Wendy sat out at a table collecting the entry fees from those who came in. Her costume was reminiscent of her old apocalypse outfit during Weirdmageddon, except a bit more stylized as a costume rather than a last-minute survivor outfit. She sat at the stand looking bored and somewhat sorrowful but did her job of taking the entry fees and placing them into a designated cash box.

Soos stood out right beside her. "How're things going over here, Wendy?"

"Oh, hey, Soos," Wendy said, working up a smile for him, but her eyes still showed slight dismay. "Great, I guess. Seems to be making more than the average day of tours."

"That's awesome!" Soos said excitedly. "Ya know, I'm kinda surprised, Wendy. Having worked with you for all these years, I'm used to how lazy you usually are and how little you actually like working. Slacking off and leaving work to do other things."

Wendy stared at him weirdly, not sure what his point in saying all of that to her was. "Umm... okay?"

"Yeah, I mean, I figured you'd just be slacking off and leaving work like you usually do on nights like this," Soos continued, not reading her vibe. "But recently, you've been doing a pretty great job around here! Heck, you haven't missed a day of work in weeks! I'm impressed, dawg! I mean, I'm a Soos, so that's pretty easy to do, but still!"

"Gee, thanks, Soos... I guess…" Wendy uncomfortably accepted, though not so willingly.

"Yup! Keep up the good work, dawg," Soos said before making his way back inside, not once clueing in on Wendy's attitude.

While walking through the Shack, he took many glances around at the crowds of people, examining all of the various costumes. He appreciated the amount of diversity he saw and how many characters he recognized. He even found himself somewhat surprised by how few other Larios he had seen, most of them being little kids.

However, what caught his eye was the sparkling pink Princess Plum dress worn by none other than Melody herself. He knew she was dressing up as her to go along with his Lario costume, but it was the first time he had seen her that night, and he was immediately awestruck by her beauty. They walked up to one another, smiles across their faces as they looked on at their couple's costumes.

"Wow... you look stunning, m'lady," Soos awed as he took her hand in his and held it in front of him.

Melody giggled, placing her other hand over her mouth blushingly. "Look, Soos, you're an adorable Lario, but that's like the cheesiest thing you could've said to me."

"Sorry dude, I can't help it," Soos shrugged. "With this hat on my head, my inner Lario has awoken. I must embrace the cheesiness."

"Maybe you're right. I was considering being just as cheesy but didn't want to play into the whole damsel in distress sorta deal that Princess Plum is known for in the Lario franchise," Melody said with a smile.

"Dude, we could totally be cheesy together. Like cheese buddies!" Soos suggested. "Not cheese bros, 'cause those two over there already got the costumes down," he told her as he pointed out a pair of guys walking by who were actually dressed as pieces of string cheese, oddly enough.

Elsewhere at the party, Mabel emerged from a crowd of people dancing. As planned, she had dressed up in the old Mr. Mystery costume with the intention of appearing as her Grunkle Stan, despite the character not exactly being his anymore. Still, the suit fit perfectly for her, and she wore the fez that went with the character, of course. However, she quickly realized that the suit wasn't really made for dancing, and as hard as she tried, she had a hard time enjoying herself at the party.

She felt odd being by herself during a big party. Normally she'd take such an event to go around meeting people and making friends. It's how she met Candy and Grenda after all. But she just wasn't in the mingling mood at that moment and simply kept to the sidelines. Between the earlier fight with Dipper and just missing Grunkle Stan more and more each time she looked at herself in the mirror, she was lost in a mix of different sorrows.

"Dressing up as Grunkle Stan… What was I thinking?" she had said to herself earlier in the night when she first looked at herself in the mirror.

But she still committed to it, hoping her mixed feelings would blow over once she got lost in the party fun, as well as the overconsumption of candy. However, the party wasn't doing enough to distract her mind, nor was her appetite for candy very strong at that moment. Which was a criminal considering Summerween was one of the only nights where such overindulgence would be valid.

"Wow, you're not looking so happy for once."

Mabel turned around to see the purple glow of a glow-in-the-dark skeleton hoodie, which had also concealed the wearer's face. However, the voice, appearance, and general mannerisms made it quite clear to her who it was.

"Yeah, and you're looking original," Mabel said with an eye roll. "A skeleton hoodie, Derrick? Really not beating the Robbie clone allegations, are ya?"

"Okay, first off- I have no idea who that is," Derrick said as he pulled his zipper down from his head to reveal his annoyed facial expression. "Second- this holiday didn't even exist to me until Dipper told me last night. This was the best I could do."

"And again, real original," Mabel repeated sarcastically.

"And what are you supposed to be?" Derrick asked, scanning her costume. "Isn't that the big guy's clothes?"

"That's not who I'm trying to…" Mabel began before remembering who she was talking to. "Forget it. There's no point in explaining anything to you."

"Yeesh," Derrick said, raising an eyebrow at her. "I thought you were a Halloween fanatic back home. You're always in such an unbearably happy mood around that time of year. Hell, you even act nice to me."

"Yeah, because the Halloween spirit makes me more tolerant of jerks like you," she said, folding her arms as she looked away from him.

Derrick rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, even though today is such a similar holiday, you're being way more uptight than usual."

"And why are you telling me this?"

Derrick stared to the side as he pondered this himself. "Good question," he admitted. "I'm gonna go get a drink. Later, Sparkles."

He excused himself from the conversation, walking off through the crowd without a care in the world. Mabel just watched him walk away, squinting at him with great annoyance as he drifted into the sea of partygoers.

"Jerk," she said with an eye roll as she tuned his words out of her head.

"Woah, hey, what did I do?" another voice suddenly entered.

Mabel's head turned, to which she suddenly caught sight of Ryland and his younger brother Evan standing right behind her. Her face lit back up as she grew immediately flustered.

"W-what? No, no, no! Not you! Absolutely not you!" Mabel clarified frantically as her face reddened slightly.

Ryland chuckled. "Chill. I'm just messing."

Mabel smiled slightly back while taking a moment to process the fact that Ryland and Evan were actually dressed up in costumes too. Ryland wore a familiar dark blue constable outfit with a matching hat, while Evan dressed up in completely white clothing, while also wearing a green detective hat on his head. The idea became pretty instantly clear to Mabel.

"Oh my gosh, Evan! Look at you! Duck-tective, ehhh?" she said with a grin while glancing up and down at his costume.

"And I'm the Constable!" Ryland added excitedly.

"This is amazing!" Mabel said excitedly. "My brain is just soaking in all of the cute right now! I didn't know Evan was a fan too!"

"Ryland actually just got me into Duck-tective recently," Evan finally spoke up.

"Yeah, and we figured doing this sorta matching costume thing for Summerween would be kinda cool," Ryland added. "I think it turned out pretty good, despite the fact he didn't put on the full costume we initially planned out."

"I'm not gonna glue feathers to my skin and tape a duckbill to my mouth when all you have to do is put on a pair of clothes..." Evan said, narrowing his eyes up at him.

"But you're supposed to be Duck-tective! The star! You should be embracing the entire costume!" Ryland said.

"Then why couldn't I have been the Constable while you did Duck-tective with the full costume?" Evan asked.

"Well, duhhhh. Because the Constable isn't supposed to be shorter than the Duck himself. Amateur..." Ryland said, crossing his arms at Evan.

Evan turned to Mabel and pointed his thumb over at Ryland as if he wasn't standing right beside him. "I don't get him."

"Passionate fan energy isn't the easiest thing to understand," Mabel told him with a smirk. "Just look at online fandoms- where almost everyone is crazy!"

"Yeah, a lot of fans can get... pretty wild…" Ryland nodded in agreement as he stared forward uncomfortably just thinking about it. However, he quickly snapped himself out of it and looked back at Mabel and her costume. "Anyways, I'm really digging your costume too, Mabel. You don't look half-bad as Soos."

Mabel wanted to smile at his initial compliment but was only left frowning at how it ended. She sighed with a facepalm. "I'm not Soos. I'm supposed to be my Grunkle Stan."

"Really? But, the costume-"

"I know, it's Mr. Mystery," Mabel cut off as she rubbed her arm. "And Soos is Mr. Mystery. But before it was Soos, it was my Grunkle Stan and... that's who I was going for..."

"Oh… I'm sorry. I didn't know," Ryland said somewhat guiltily.

"It's fine," Mabel said with another sorrowful sigh. "The idea was that Dipper was supposed to dress up as our Grunkle Ford, Stan's twin brother. We'd be twins dressing up as twins, but he didn't want to do it. I thought it'd be cute, but even I'm starting to have second thoughts."

The three heads then turned to see Waddles on the ground, biting off what appeared to be a Ford costume made for him. He tore off the coat with his mouth before moving onto the gray wig on his head, shaking it around violently in aggravation.

"Even Waddles isn't a fan," Mabel said, staring down at the ground as she leaned against the wall. "I just wanted to pay some sort of family homage to them since they still aren't here yet. But it was probably a bad idea to think up the costume the night before Summerween."

Ryland looked on at her sympathetically. And seeing how upset she looked, even Evan shared some level of sympathy despite it only being their second meeting. Ryland then walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't be hard on yourself like that," Ryland told her with a comforting smile. "Sure, maybe it was planned a bit last minute. But that doesn't mean it was a bad idea. I mean, as you can see..." he said, gesturing toward himself and Evan. "...I think the idea of matching costumes with a sibling is pretty cool."

"Yeah. But at least your sibling actually matched with you," Mabel pointed out sadly.

"Ehem!"

The three looked to the side and noticed someone walking down the staircase toward them. The person wore a red turtleneck sweater with a tan coat on top. Over his torso, he wore a black belt across his chest. Combined with black pants, brown boots, and a pair of glasses without any actual lenses on them. The outfit was Ford's, but the face was Dipper's, who stood up straight with his chest out as he reached the bottom step, posing heroically as he reached the bottom.

Mabel and Ryland stared at him in surprise while Evan just looked on at him normally. Dipper stood staring at them with a straight face and a mighty pose for a moment. However, his eyes suddenly narrowed as he began to give a distressed look.

"This turtleneck is constricting my airflow..." he wheezed, his mannerisms signaling for help as his pose fell apart.

Mabel and Ryland realized his struggle to breathe and quickly ran over to assist. Mabel grabbed ahold of the neck of the sweater and tugged on it. Ryland quickly handed her a pair of scissors that were lying to the side, which she accepted. Without hesitation, she cut straight through the middle of the front of the neck. As she did this, Dipper promptly took in a big gasp of air as if his neck had been previously belted up.

"Thanks…" he said as he panted, taking in as much air as he could. He then stood up and looked down at the cut she had made. "That pretty much ruins the turtleneck... but thanks."

"Well, that turtleneck was about to ruin your life," Mabel justified as she patted around the front of his torso. "Why does it fit you so small? I thought I got the correct size. You're medium, right?"

"Medium adult. Not children's medium," Dipper clarified with a somewhat annoyed look on his face. "You must've accidentally picked the wrong type of sweater and didn't notice."

"Huh... I was wondering why the turtleneck was so much cheaper than the rest of the outfit," Mabel realized, tapping her chin at the memory. "But wait, I thought you didn't want to dress up as Ford because you were too busy caring about your morals?"

Dipper looked to the side as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Look, Mabel... I was being kind of stupid before. I'm not gonna say I don't know where those thoughts came from, but I should've known you were just trying to have fun, and I shouldn't have made it deeper than that. Whatever 'morals' I had come up with, I don't care about anymore. My one moral now is making sure your Summerween doesn't get ruined because of me."

"Awww, Dipper," Mabel said as she gave him a sisterly nudge in the arm. "This is our Summerween, not just mine. And I admit... maybe I overreacted earlier when you said you wouldn't do the costume. Honestly, now that I've thought it through, I probably planned this all way too last minute for it to be effective at all."

"Well, to be fair, we did just find out that today was Summerween last night."

"Exactly," Mabel nodded. "Still, I shouldn't have been so pushy about it. You had as much right to not wanna wear the costume as I had to want to wear it. I'm sorry."

"C'mon, let's not go back and forth with apologies now," Dipper blew off with a smile. "I'm already wearing the dang costume, and you already cut a V-neck into it. While the night is still young, let's just have a good time. It's our second Summerween, so let's make the most out of it."

"Agreed," Mabel nodded as she grinned. She narrowed her eyes confidently as she looked over across the room where Soos was back working at the DJ Booth. "SOOS! CRANK UP THE MUSIC! LET'S GET SOME RAISE ON THIS ROOF!"

Soos gave her a nod and a thumbs-up as he placed his hand on the volume slider, cranking up the music's volume and the bass at the same time. He raised it just as the beat dropped to the ongoing song, and everyone started cheering and dancing along.

Despite the struggle to dance in her costume, Mabel pushed herself to dance along as hard as she could. Dipper wasn't much of a dancer as she was and simply did an odd swaying-bobbing dance in his place. Ryland danced just as casually as most of the other party attendees but had his eyes fixated on how crazy Mabel was going. Evan simply stood back and watched, while lightly bobbing his head to the music. Big parties and loud music were never his thing but in the right frame of mind, he was willing to loosen up a bit for the fun of the evening.

Generally, everyone at the party seemed to be having a good time. Between those who were dancing and those who were just hanging out to the side, it seemed at that point that nothing could possibly go wrong.

---

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

In Stan's body, Bill continued to hold Ford at gunpoint a few meters from the crashed car. That distance was maintained even while Ford continued to back away slowly in fear, as Bill continued walking toward him at the same speed.

"WELL, WELL, WELL! STANFORD FILBRICK PINES!" Bill began with a sinister smile and voice. "IT'S BEEN A WHILE, HASN'T IT? HOW HAVE YOU BEEN? DID YOU MISS ME? C'MON, SURELY YOU HAD TO HAVE MISSED ME A LITTLE! WE WERE FRIENDS, DON'T YOU REMEMBER?"

Ford remained silent as Bill kept up his gimmick of using smooth and friendly talk despite being the obvious enemy. No amount of friendly small talk could take away from the fact that he was literally pointing a gun at him. His father's gun, to be precise.

Why he kept one stored in his car? He had no idea. Why Sherman never found out about it during all the years he's had the car in his possession? He also had no idea. Why he never bothered to check the glovebox for himself when he got the car? Perhaps he was just being stupid.

More than anything though, Ford's brain had yet to comprehend the fact that he was facing Bill once again. His heart had beat harder at that moment than it had ever beaten before from any near-death experience he had with Stanley during their various adventures over the last few years. The demon that had given him more trouble in the past than any other enemy he had ever faced was back. The one who had spent decades haunting his dreams, causing him extreme paranoia, and had spent numerous attempts trying to kill both him and his family.

He was back. Bill Cipher had returned.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER, SIXER? AREN'T YOU GLAD TO SEE ME AGAIN?" Bill taunted. "ACTUALLY... MORE LIKE HEAR ME AGAIN. YOU'VE ALREADY BEEN STARING AT THIS UGLY FACE FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS, HAVEN'T YA? GET IT? UGLY? BECAUSE YOU TWO ARE... TWINS?"

Ford made no response to the joke. However, Bill himself quickly realized that said joke may not have been as great as it sounded in his head.

"CUT ME SOME SLACK, WOULD YA? I'VE BEEN OUT OF THE GAME FOR A WHILE."

"W-w-why…? H-how…?" Ford stuttered.

Bill rolled his eyes with disinterest. "Ah, so you wanna know THOSE answers… THAT'S THE FORD I REMEMBER. A BRAIN SO BIG YET SO BORING!"

"I just don't understand... I erased you from Stanley's mind with the memory gun! I did so many tests... took so many precautions! And even after Stan's memories came back, there hasn't been a sign in the past four years of your presence!" His eyes widened a bit at a sudden thought. "Not until recently, that is..."

Bill didn't immediately reply or react to Ford's words as expected. Instead, he paid him a deadpan stare for a solid moment with the gun still in hand but held almost hesitantly. He then turned his head and looked down to the side.

"Four years... Only four years, huh?"

Ford raised an eyebrow curiously. "What are you on about?"

Bill continued to stare at the ground reflectively, narrowing his eyes. "Stanford... do you know what I've been through?"

Immediately, whatever curiosity Ford had in mind had vanished. "No, and I don't rightly care to know any longer."

A smile instantly regrew across Bill's face. "OF COURSE YOU DON'T! WHO DOES, AM I RIGHT? HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

His laughter continued and progressively grew to become hysterical as the moment went on. His laughter eventually became so delirious that he became cross-eyed, to which Ford grew more visibly uncomfortable than he already was. Of course, there was no doubt in his mind that Bill was insane, but to see him go from an apparent state of reflection to such a frantic and maniacal state for seemingly no discernable reason at all was something he couldn't even fully comprehend himself. If he had any guess, it would be that whatever past Bill appeared to be referring to at that moment seemed to have thrown his mind through one of the most violent wringers imaginable.

Bill eventually began to settle down, not even bothering to wipe the pained tears that streamed down the sides of Stan's face after such intense laughter.

"YOU SEE, STANFORD, IN THAT MOMENT WHEN I WAS BURNING AWAY WITH THE REST OF STAN'S MIND, I GENUINELY THOUGHT THAT YOU HAD BESTED ME. BUT THE THING YOU DIDN'T KNOW WAS THAT I STILL HAD ONE LAST TRICK LEFT UP MY SLEEVE AND DECIDED THERE WAS NO BETTER TIME TO TRY AND USE IT. SO I DID. I PLED MY CASE TO A BEING OF GREAT POWER AT THE MOMENT OF MY DEMISE, AND I WAS OFFERED THE CHANCE TO LIVE AGAIN. THAT WAS... AS LONG AS I COMPLETED A FEW TRIALS."

He frowned, beginning to look off to the side again contemplative.

"Little did I know what he actually had in store for me..."

Ford noticed Bill start to trail off yet again. The look on his face was nothing but a blank and disturbed stare ahead while standing stiffly in place.

Curiosity returned to his mind though as he spoke of another apparent powerful being, especially compared to a being of his type.

"Who?"

"That big, fake, frilly-faced SON OF A...!"

He stopped himself again before glancing back at Ford for a brief second.

"Never mind him," he dismissed. "IN FACT, NEVER MIND ALL OF IT! THOSE STUPID FORCED-SMILE ORBS ARE GONE! SEVERAL EONS OF WORTHLESS 'HEALING' SESSIONS ARE OVER! I FINALLY HAVE A BODY TO CLAIM AGAIN, AND IT JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE THE ONE OF THE VERY MAN WHO DID THIS TO ME IN THE FIRST PLACE- YOUR IDIOT BROTHER! I'D SAY I LUCKED OUT A GOOD DEAL WITH THAT ONE!"

"This is because of your Henchmaniacs, isn't it? The incident in the Arctic... back at the mountain!" Ford realized. "They were using the multiversal leak to somehow bring you back into Stan's mind! That's why Stan's been acting strange recently! His overly aggressive behavior, the short-term memory, the red eyes, the collapsing... It was all because you were back in his mind fighting to control it again!"

"IT HELPS TO KNOW PEOPLE, AM I RIGHT?" Bill confirmed with a demented grin. "HERE I AM, STANFORD! A DIFFERENT FORM! A DIFFERENT TIME! BUT THE SAME OLD LOVABLE GUY!"

Ford clenched his teeth together as he looked on at Bill angrily. "So what's your grand plan now? Revenge? Starting with killing me? Is that it?!"

"AHH, YOU KNOW ME SO WELL..."

Bill pointed the gun back at Ford, prompting him to get into a defensive stance again. Bill fiddled with the trigger for a bit without actually pulling it as he thought for a moment. He then put on a grin.

"...BUT NOT WELL ENOUGH!"

Ford raised an eyebrow.

"AS MUCH AS I WOULD LOVE TO PUT A NICE HOLE IN THAT BIG BRAIN OF YOURS RIGHT THIS SECOND, I CAN'T DO THAT JUST YET!" he admitted. "ACTUALLY, STANFORD, I'D BE LYING IF I SAID I DIDN'T NEED A LITTLE... FAVOR…"

"Well, you can go to hell!"

Without any prior indication, Ford speedily ducked down and dashed behind a tree, just as Bill pulled the trigger.

BANG!

Ford was quick enough to dodge out of the way of Bill's first shot. What had helped even more was the fact that Bill himself wasn't ready for the violent recoil of the revolver as he fired, and found Stan's upper body flying back after the first shot.

"GAH!" Bill screamed. "I FORGOT ABOUT THE RECOIL ON THESE THINGS!"

This quick delay allowed Ford to start running through the forest. Despite how messed up he was after the car crash, he pushed through whatever aching he felt in order to evade whatever worse pain Bill had planned for him. Bill quickly caught sight of his escape and narrowed his eyes as Ford got further away.

"SO YOU CAN STILL WORK THOSE OLD MAN LEGS, HUH? WELL, SO CAN I!" Bill called out as he began running after him.

Ford had no direct path, nor did he know where he was running exactly. But with every tree he passed, he moved behind to use as a potential defense as he ran.

He was caught at a mental crossroads in what he would be able to do. Bill was possessing his brother right now, so fighting back wasn't exactly a wise solution, as he didn't want to end up hurting or even killing Stan. At the same time, he couldn't let Bill get the best of him. His best option would be to somehow take him by surprise and overpower him.

Not that that would be easy, of course.

He continued to ponder other ideas as he ran, hoping he'd come up with something easier. He obviously needed to keep his bounds within the forest, as entering the town itself could lead to others getting involved or hurt. The police getting involved wouldn't end well for either case. This was a problem that only he knew how to handle best. And he didn't know what he'd do if someone innocent ended up getting hurt by Bill.

Or even the kids.

Dipper and Mabel...

He knew the twins were very curious about Gravity Falls anomalies and oddities. What if they were to hear the gunfire and possibly assume it to be something of that sort rather than an actual psychopathic demon?

Okay, perhaps they're not that curious, he thought to himself, mentally slapping himself in the face for assuming such an unintelligent move to be made by his more-than-smart-enough niece and nephew.

But he still needed to warn them of what was happening. If something happened to him, he knew Bill would go after the kids next. They needed to know what was going on and what was at stake. They couldn't be unaware of something as significant as Bill's return. Especially when he was in possession of Stan's body.

It was at that moment that he looked down at his watch as he ran.

Of course!

He had forgotten he had inserted temporary batteries earlier in the day to make a call, but it was too busy recalibrating. He pressed the side button and the screen lit up.

Yes! Ready to go...

Of course, the longer the screen illuminated, the more the batteries drained. He knew the batteries he had gotten for it weren't going to last long. They were for a temporary start up after all. So he had to make a quick move here.

He glanced back real quickly to see if Bill was still after him, which he still was, but he had a decent lead on him. He looked ahead again, ensuring he didn't bump into anything as he ran, and then tapped a variety of different touchscreen buttons before reaching a screen that read 'Call Mystery Shack'. He quickly pressed the button and called the number, awaiting a response as he continued to run for his life from a pursuing Bill.

---

While the bass of the music thumped through the blaring speakers of Soos' DJ booth, several people kept up the partying attitude, dancing away. While most danced, Dipper and Derrick had met up a few moments ago and were conversing to the side.

"So what do you think, huh?" Dipper asked. "Quite the Summerween, huh?"

He glanced around the room with noticeable disinterest. "A big costume party without any big attacks or anything else really interesting happening?"

"Look, even I was a bit worried about something strange happening tonight, but I mean... so far so normal, right?" Dipper said. "Besides, it's not like every day in Gravity Falls has to have something wild going on. Some days, even as weirdly celebrated as Summerween, are just to have some regular fun."

"I guess, but I don't know," Derrick said skeptically. "For a weird town's own weird version of Halloween, I kind of expected something actually weird to happen."

"Trust me. I get the feeling," Dipper nodded. "Earlier, I was thinking up hypothetical creatures that could've struck tonight. Doesn't seem like any of them turned up though. At the very least, no one has slammed the door in the face of a man-eating monster made of loser candy. I hope..."

"Eh. It would be a nice change of pace, honestly," Derrick shrugged. "Anyway, you got a bathroom?"

"Upstairs," Dipper gestured with a finger pointing upwards.

"Be right back," Derrick said before shuffling his way through the crowd of people right ahead of him.

As he left, Dipper heard a nearby ringing of a telephone. He glanced to his right as he turned around and saw the house telephone ringing on the table. Some party attendees stood closer to it than he did, but they paid no attention to it. It didn't appear any other Shack residents like Mabel or Soos were any closer to it than he was, so he made an effort to walk over to it.

As he reached it, he picked up the phone from its stand and held it up to his ear. He also put his other hand over his other ear so he could better concentrate and hear the caller.

"Hello?" he answered. "Dipper Pines of the Mystery Shack speaking."

"DIPPER?! OH THANK HEAVENS!" Ford's voice came in through the speaker.

Dipper was immediately put off by the familiar voice, squinting his eyes slightly as he tried to put a face to it. "Wha…? Who is this?"

"Dipper, it's me! Your Great Uncle Ford!"

"Wait... what?! Great Uncle Ford?!" Dipper questioned, skin going cold at the mention. The voice was certainly a match, but something still felt off.

"Yes!" Ford confirmed. "Dipper, my boy, I don't have a lot of time, so I need you to listen up! Bill is back!"

Dipper felt as though his heart was going to sink for a brief moment until he quickly caught himself. The call was giving him a major sense of deja vu. Or at least, this wasn't the first time a "Ford" had called to warn him of Bill Cipher returning.

"Oh... really?" he asked, narrowing his eyes with growing skepticism.

"Yes! And he's taken possession of your Great Uncle Stan!" Ford added.

"Grunkle Stan... possessed by Bill..." Dipper restated dryly. "You're kidding, right?"

'I'm afraid not, boy," Ford said. "But look- I'm currently in the forests of Gravity Falls under his pursuit!"

"The forests, huh…?" Dipper repeated dubiously. Whatever brief fear he held just a moment ago had been completely wiped from his face with each further thing Ford said.

"Now be aware! He is armed!" Fird warned. "Right now, I'd rather try to face him physically myself to not put you and the others at risk. So I'm sending this as a warning rather than a call for help. But while I have you on the line, I need you to-"

"Let me guess- you want me to go out into the forest and find you anyway?" Dipper cut off.

"What?! No! I just told you! Bill is armed and dangerous! I don't want you to-"

"Oh, so NOW you're actually telling me it's dangerous, huh, Mabel?" Dipper said irritatedly.

"Mabel?! What the...? What are you on about, boy?!" Ford asked, utterly confused.

"Oh, quit it, Mabel!" Dipper scolded. "You think I forgot about the first time you pulled this little prank on me? Well, I didn't! Your impression of Ford may have gotten better, but I'm not buying this cruel joke again!"

"Dipper, what on earth are you talking about?!" Ford asked, completely perplexed. "This isn't Mabel, and this isn't a joke! It's really me! Your Great Uncle Ford!"

"Yeah, I'm done with this call, Mabel," Dipper said, ready to hang up.

"NO! MASON, PLEASE-"

"AND STOP CALLING ME THAT DAMN NAME!" Dipper screamed into the phone before slamming it right back onto the stand.

---

On the other end of the line, Ford saw a notification pop up on Meridian that the call had ended. Barely a few seconds later, the entire device died again, with the screen going completely black.

He had so many feelings rushing through him at that moment, with the most prominent one just being confusion. Why Dipper would assume he was Mabel playing a sick joke on him- he had no clue. But clearly, he was distressed by the sudden call.

Regardless, Meridian was dead once again, and there was no way to call him back. Now he truly had to figure things out on his own.

"Alright, time for Plan B…"

---

Back at the party, Mabel caught sight of Dipper standing on his own by the telephone. From her perspective, he was looking genuinely fed up and more so than usual. She casually made her way over beside him through the party crowd.

"What's going on, bro?" she asked, tugging on his jacket sleeve to grab his attention.

"I'm not in the mood to talk to you right now," he said stubbornly, not even daring to make eye contact with her.

Mabel raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What did I do?"

"Seriously, Mabel? Still?" Dipper asked as his annoyance grew stronger. "C'mon, the joke is over, alright? You can quit it."

"What joke?" Mabel asked, still lost. "I came over here because I saw you being a hothead on the telephone. Did a telemarketer call? God, I hate those guys too..."

"You're not funny."

"What are you talking about?" Mabel asked, starting to get a little heated herself by her brother's sudden change in attitude toward her for no reason. "I literally haven't done anything to you all night."

"Right... you totally weren't just trying to make a fool out of me again on Summerween," Dipper said sarcastically.

"Are you STILL going on about the costume?" Mabel asked, getting a bit annoyed herself. "No one's forcing you to keep it on anymore. If you wanna change, go change! I don't care!"

"No, this is about you trying to fool me again into thinking Ford's out there running through the forest from Bill again! Well, I fell for it the first time, and it sure wasn't funny then! Did you really think it was gonna be any funnier a second time?"

"What?! I didn't do that again!" Mabel defended. "I know better than to repeat a prank! You know me! Everything I do is always original!"

"Right, so I guess the original idea here was that I embarrass myself in front of the entire party instead of just you and Ryland, huh?" He broke into a sarcastic slow clap. "WOOOO! REAL original, sis!"

Given how serious Dipper was about this apparent phone call, Mabel started to grow a little concerned as she thought further about it. "Dipper... I really didn't make any phone call pretending to be Grunkle Ford again…"

"Oh, really? So you're saying it wasn't you who called, claimed that Bill was back, claimed that Ford was on the run, and then used my real name as an attempt to convince me that it was really him?"

"I mean, that's what I did the first time..." Mabel admitted as she rubbed the back of her head. "But if that happened to you again just now, then I promise you that wasn't me."

"For God's sake, Mabel, the call was almost beat-for-beat the same as the first time. The main difference being you actually learned how to do a convincing impression of him instead of just using some weird... high-pitched drone voice. Which is impressive... I can't lie..."

"Okay, as good as I am at doing impressions, I've never once nailed down Grunkle Ford! I mean, does this sound like a good impression to you? 'Smarts and books and Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons!'"

An honest description of Mabel's Ford impression would be that it sounded like she was trying to mimic an old teacher with a messed-up accent that had no discernable origin. Her higher-pitched register really bled through her attempt to sound deeper. Overall, unlike her much more accurate Stan impression, it was safe to say that her Ford impression was a bust in comparison. And even Dipper knew as he stared at her blankly after hearing it.

"You're... you're just making it bad on purpose, right?" Dipper asked, still somewhat skeptical, though starting to grow a bit convinced that she may have been telling the truth.

"Dipper, if I was trying to prank you, do you really think I'd go through this much of a stretch to do it? Especially when the last time I did it, I unintentionally got you really hurt? Do you really think I'm the kind of person to wanna go and do that to you again?"

Dipper thought for a moment as he looked into her eyes. It became apparent at that point that she really wasn't hiding anything. If there's anything he knew, it's that Mabel was terrible at lying and even hated doing so. Her pranks could be bad, but she was right. She wouldn't go through this much of a stretch to pull one.

"Well if you weren't the one who made that phone call, then that means…"

As Dipper realized the horrible mistake he had made by accusing his sister, his eyes shot open widely. Soon his heart buried itself in his chest as the truth settled in with him.

Mabel knew what he was thinking, and she was feeling everything that he was at that same moment. "Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford really are in the forest right now…"

"And Bill really has come back…" Dipper added as another realization struck him. "AND HE REALLY IS CONTROLLING GRUNKLE STAN!"

"WHAT?! YOU DIDN'T SAY THAT!" Mabel screamed, beginning to freak out as well.

"WELL, GRUNKLE FORD SAID IT!"

Their sudden shouting was beginning to attract looks from the surrounding partygoers. But that didn't matter to either of them. Their family was in trouble and that took priority over anything.

"We have to go after them!" Mabel immediately suggested, turning around as if she was going to run for the door.

"Wait, no!" Dipper halted as he pulled her arm back. "Ford was saying not to go after him! He said it was too dangerous!"

"So you want us to just stay here and do nothing about it?!"

"No! But... maybe there's another way…" Dipper said, struggling to conceive another option.

"Screw another way, Dipper!" Mabel refused, pulling her arm out of his grasp. "Our Grunkles have risked their lives numerous times for our safety! Now, we need to be able to do the same for them! So c'mon!"

Dipper sighed, somewhat agreeing with what she said, but remained hesitant. Still, he followed her as she rushed through the crowd. "Well, we can't do this alone! This is Bill we're talking about!"

"We're not doing this alone!" Mabel said as she marched up to the DJ booth. "Soos!"

"Oh, heya dudes!" Soos greeted with a small hand wave. "Party's pretty lit, am I right? Is that what the young dudes are saying nowadays? Lit? It's an interesting description, though I gotta say that despite the strobe lighting, it's still pretty dark in here. I think I'll stick to saying dope. It rolls off the tongue bett-"

"Soos, we need to ditch the party!" Dipper cut off.

"Grunkle Ford is in the forest being chased down by Bill!" Mabel quickly filled in.

"Wait, what? Bill?" Soos questioned. "Bill as in... the world-ending triangle guy? He's BACK?!"

"Apparently!" Dipper nodded.

"We need your help to go out into the woods and find him before he hurts Grunkle Ford!" Mabel said.

"Gosh, dudes…" Soos processed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Alright, I can see that this is bad. But... I can't just abandon the party like that! All these people paid to be here and-"

"SOOS, IF WE DON'T GO NOW, WE'RE RISKING STAN AND FORD'S LIVES!" Dipper cut off with greater urgency.

"Wait, STAN'S OUT THERE TOO?!" Soos asked, his eyes bulging at the realization.

"YES!" Mabel nodded frantically. "GRUNKLE FORD SAID THAT HE'S BEING CONTROLLED BY BILL!"

That was enough to convince Soos. He quickly drew a megaphone from underneath his DJ booth and activated it, holding it up to his mouth, and pointing it out at the guests of the party.

"EVERYBODY OUT!" he demanded, his yelling amplified through the megaphone at an ear-grating volume. "WE NEED ALL THE DUDES AND DUDETTES OUT OF THE BUILDING, STAT! IF WE DON'T KNOW YOU, YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING HERE!"

Dipper and Mabel had quickly shielded their ears from the intense volume of Soos' yelling through the megaphone, and so did many other party guests as they began to quickly evacuate the party through the front door. Ironically enough, Abuelita continued to sleep peacefully despite Soos' loud megaphone wailing.

While guests began to leave through the front door, people like Melody, Ryland, and Evan stuck around in place as they looked around the living room in confusion as to what was happening. Waddles even ran over to Mabel's side as the house quickly began to clear out.

"SORRY TO DO THIS TO YA DUDES, BUT THIS IS A SERIOUS SITUATION!" Soos shouted through the megaphone as the guests continued to leave the Shack one by one through the front door. "HAPPY SUMMERWEEN, THOUGH! ALSO, T-SHIRTS WILL BE ON SALE NEXT MONDAY, SO BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT WHENEVER YOU DUDES HAVE A CHANCE!"

Soos then slammed the door shut. Following that was Derrick, who made his way down the steps to join the mix.

"The hell? I go to the bathroom for a few minutes and apparently, there's an evacuation?" he questioned as he walked up beside Dipper.

"Soos, what on earth is going on?" Melody asked as she ran over to him.

"Yeah, boss, is everything alright?" Ryland asked, raising an eyebrow in concern as he and Evan walked closer to the ordeal.

"Yo, Soos!" Wendy's voice called out as she suddenly barged in through the Shack's front door. "Everyone just bailed! What's going on?"

"Look, everyone, something big just came up!" Soos told them, putting his megaphone to the side.

"Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford are in the woods and they're in trouble!" Mabel told them as she lifted up Waddles in her hands.

"We need to go after them!" Dipper added.

"Woah, wait, the Stan bros are back?" Wendy asked, eyebrows raising in surprise.

"Yeah, and Bill too!" Mabel added for her.

"Woah, woah, woah... BILL is back?!" Wendy questioned further, eyes lighting up with newfound dread.

"Wait, is this the same Bill that you used to tell me about back in school?" Derrick asked while turning to Dipper.

"Uh... who's Bill?" Ryland intervened with a raised hand, not having the faintest idea of what anybody was talking about.

"GUYS!" Dipper shouted to grab everyone's attention. "Look, there's too much to explain, and there's just not enough time."

"We can talk about all of this later, but right now, we just need as much help as we can get in facing Bill if he's really out there right now!" Mabel said.

"Well, if you two and Soos are going, then I'm obviously going," Wendy said, stepping forward. "I'm like the only other one here who really knows the Stans. This matters to me too."

"I'll come too," Ryland pitched in. "I don't know who this Bill guy is, but if he's your fight, then he's my fight too."

"Mine too," Evan said, stepping up as well.

"No, no, no. You're staying here," Ryland shook his head while pushing Evan back.

"But I wanna help!" Evan said.

"Not with this. I brought you with me tonight to have fun, not to put you in danger," Ryland told him candidly.

"But-"

"No buts," Ryland cut off. "Trust me, bro. I'm already worried about what I'm getting myself into. I don't want to have to worry about you at the same."

"Same for you, Melody," Soos branched off of Ryland's statement as he placed his hand on Melody's shoulder. "I need you to stay here and watch after Abuelita."

"What? No, Soos, if this is so important, then I gotta come with y-"

"No! You can't!" Soos shouted, placing both his hands on her shoulders as he put his face up to hers. "Trust me, babe. Bill's no joke! If I let you come along and you got hurt or worse, I wouldn't be able to live with myself! The same goes for Abuelita. Please, Melody..."

Melody looked hesitant for a second but she could tell that Soos wasn't playing around this time. She nodded, giving him a look of assurance and staying put while he marched his way toward the front door and opened it. He stood aside, gesturing for the others to go ahead of him.

Mabel placed Waddles back on the ground. "Stay behind me, okay?" she told him as she pointed back and forth between him and herself. Waddles gave a normal oink in response as he followed her outside the door.

Dipper looked over at Derrick. "Look, man, you don't have to come along if you don't want to."

"Are you kidding? This is the kind of thing I've been waiting for all night!" Derrick said eagerly as he began walking toward the door. "I'll be damned if I miss an encounter with the big bad you were always on about."

Dipper knew Derrick was just in for the thrill of what seemed to be another adventure to him. He knew that he didn't know what he was getting himself into. But he also knew there was no pulling him out of it once he was locked in. Regardless of how he felt, he walked alongside him as they walked out the front door.

As the two walked outside, Wendy soon followed behind, cracking her knuckles in preparation for what was to come. It had been a while since she went out on a mission of any sort with the Pines. Even though this one was more impromptu than anything, this was the most action she was getting herself involved in since Weirdmageddon.

"God, I've been waiting for something to fight," Wendy said as she walked up beside Dipper. "And Bill, of all people? Man, I can't wait to bend his angles."

"Well, Ford said Bill was possessing Stan. So I'm not sure you'll wanna do that," Dipper clarified.

"Then I'll try not to hit too hard," Wendy assured him, prompting a small smirk from him despite the current stakes.

Ryland stood back inside the Shack beside Evan. He put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a look that clearly warned him to stay put. Evan paid him a slightly annoyed glare, but let out a sigh once he came to terms with staying behind. With that established, Ryland went ahead and walked out the door, following the others.

Soos prepared to follow as well but looked over at Melody, who just stared at him with great worry.

"Be careful, sweetie," she told him.

Soos grabbed a hold of the bill of his Lario hat and pulled it down as he gave her an assuring nod. He then stepped out of the house, closing the door right behind him, leaving her with Evan and Abuelita. He then looked out into the woods where everyone was already heading.

Being the oldest of the group, he felt he was the most responsible for everyone at that moment and therefore needed to live up to the role of being a good and reliable leader. However, the fact that he was already yards behind all of the others who had already gone on without him wasn't doing his role much justice.

"Wait up, you guys!" he called out to the others before running after them.

---

Back in the forest, Bill crept through the woods with his revolver held up readily. A wide, menacing grin maintained on Stan's face as he looked around every nearby tree. In his pursuit of Ford, he had eventually lost track of him. But he knew Ford, and he knew he wasn't just going to retreat and leave him out alone. He knew that Ford was somewhere near, plotting his next move to try and get the best of him.

So now, every time something moved or he heard a noise, he turned. But he wasn't really paranoid or even scared. If anything, he was excited to be clashing with his old puppet again after so long.

"WHERE ARE YA, FORDSY?" Bill called out in an intimidating sing-song voice as he passed by a tree, looking right behind it, but to find nothing. "I THOUGHT YOU'D LIKE REUNITING WITH YOUR OLD PAL?"

Of course, there was always the possibility that Ford really did just run away and wasn't anywhere near anymore. However, Bill knew that wasn't the case simply because it would've been the wise thing for him to do. Ford was a smart guy, but he knew him enough to know that not everything he did was particularly wise.

He knew he was still around. He felt it.

"AIN'T THAT WHY YOU CAME BACK TO GRAVITY FALLS? TO REUNITE WITH OLD FRIENDS?"

"AHHHHH!" Ford's scream cried out as he suddenly jumped down from a tree branch above.

Bill attempted to turn around, but wasn't fast enough, as he soon found Ford's arms wrapped around Stan's neck, holding him tight. Bill put his hands on Ford's arms, trying to resist his headlock, but found himself failing to struggle free.

However, this proved not to be much of an issue anyway, as his arms were still free. And in his right hand, he still held Filbrick's revolver. Thus, he quickly bashed the gun against the side of Ford's head as hard as he could. The angle of the hit was odd and nearly missed, but it still did what it needed to. Ford reacted to the hit with a wince of pain as he quickly dropped his hold around Stan's neck.

"WOW! THAT MUST'VE BEEN WORTH IT!" Bill said as he began to pick himself back up from the ground.

Ford rubbed the side of his head where he had been struck. Slightly disoriented, he looked up as Bill laughed and aimed the gun back at him. At the same time that he began to put pressure on the trigger, Ford swiftly reacted and grabbed onto Stan's equipped arm, violently pushing it back as hard as he could. The forceful push caused the gun in hand to tap against Stan's forehead just as he pulled the trigger.

BANG!

---

"GRUNKLE FORD?!" Mabel called out as she walked through the woods.

Due to the darkness of the night, she had a hard time getting a good sight of her surroundings. She frequently looked back at Waddles to ensure he was still behind her, which was easier since his lighter colors stood out in the dark.

"GREAT UNCLE FORD?!" Dipper called out into the woods even louder.

"MR. PINES?!" Soos shouted behind the two.

"ANYONE OUT THERE?!" Ryland called out as well.

"C'mon, is this seriously our only way of finding them? Just shouting their name?" Derrick asked with a shrug, walking casually alongside.

"You're not even trying to do anything!" Mabel said as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oh, my bad that I haven't been contributing to the world's most useless yelling contest," Derrick said sarcastically.

"You're sure one to talk about being useless," Mabel rebuked.

"Look, in a less douchey way, I kinda have to agree that this yelling hasn't been doing anything so far," Wendy pitched in.

"These woods are huge! If they're a mile out, then of course the screaming isn't gonna do anything! But we don't know how far they are!" Mabel defended.

"I get it, but we can't place all of our bets of finding the Stans on walking and screaming all night," Wendy told her. "We need options."

"Should we split up?" Ryland suggested.

"Hell no," Dipper immediately refused. "If this is Bill we're talking about, then the last thing any of us would wanna do is split up. Especially in the woods at night."

"Dipper's right," Wendy agreed. "Splitting up is a terrible idea."

"Alright, geez, it was just a suggestion..." Ryland whispered to himself innocently.

"There's gotta be something else we can use from that phone call, Dipper," Mabel said as she walked up beside him. "Is there anything that Grunkle Ford said that we might be able to use as a lead?"

"I don't think so..." Dipper said as he thought back to the phone call. "He just said that Stan was possessed, and it was dangerous." His eyes suddenly widened. "Wait... I think he also said that he was-"

BANG!

The sound of the distant gunshot had taken everyone by surprise. Even Waddles had immediately begun squealing in fear as he ran over to Mabel's side, quivering. Everyone turned their heads right, where the shot had seemingly sounded from.

"...armed..." Dipper finished with wide, fearful eyes as he stared off into the distant woods where the shot came from.

"ARMED?!" Mabel, Wendy, and Ryland said anxiously in unison.

"Relax, dudes!" Soos said calmly and heartily. "It's just a firework. You know how it is. Fourth of July celebrations and all."

"Soos, it's Summerween. NOT the Fourth of July..." Wendy reminded.

"Oh…" Soos realized, his heart dropping as he began to grow nervous as well.

Ryland pointed a finger in the direction of the gunshot. "How about we just call that our lead for now?"

"Agreed!" Dipper nodded as he began running in the direction of the shot. "Come on, let's go!"

---

The ringing was loud and painful. Ford struggled to process any further thoughts on Bill as his ears heard nothing but a single high-pitched note blaring away. Putting his head mere inches away from the barrel of a gun as it went off with absolutely no ear protection was probably one of his worst ideas. Even if it was to avoid taking the shot himself, he felt as though he was enduring something almost as bad

He cupped his ears with his hands as he dropped to his knees, groaning in agony. His eyes tightly closed as he tried to focus on ignoring the pain, but found it way too difficult. The painful ringing continued, and it was barely dying down.

"WHAT'S WRONG, SIXER? CAN'T HANDLE A LITTLE HEARING LOSS?" Bill asked while standing right over him. "AT YOUR AGE, I FIGURED YOU'D ALREADY BE USED TO IT!"

Ford couldn't hear a word he said but noticed that he seemed completely unfazed by the fact that a bullet had been fired inches from his ears. Then again, Bill lived for that type of pain. He probably couldn't hear anything either, but he didn't seem to mind that.

Suddenly, Bill whipped Ford on the side of the face with the revolver again. This time, the hit was much more direct and had enough force behind it to send him collapsing onto the ground. Bill just cackled as he watched Ford crawl and spit out a bit of blood from his mouth. The ringing in his ears was starting to go away slowly, but he knew that it was about to be the least of his problems.

"YEAH, YOU'RE NOT GETTING VERY FAR THIS TIME!"

He walked right up to Ford and kicked him hard in the side. Ford recoiled with the pain, flipping himself onto his back as he gripped his side with his hand. Having put a stop to his movement, Bill stepped down on his leg to keep him down before poking the revolver's barrel straight into his thigh.

"LET'S SEE YOU TRY AND CRAWL AWAY AFTER THIS!"

Click.

"Huh?"

Click. Click.

Bill continued to pull on the revolver's trigger numerous times while keeping the barrel pointed at Ford's thigh. With every pull, there was a click, but no gunshot. Confused, he took a step back and examined the gun closer.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS THING?" he asked as he resorted to just hitting it with his other hand.

"Hahaha," Ford laughed lightly as he began to pick himself up from the ground. "Not feeling so lucky now, huh, Cipher? Not when you've used your last shot..."

Bill glanced back and forth between him and the gun. Eventually, he returned to his wide grin as he looked back at Ford.

"AH, WHO CARES?" He chucked Filbrick's revolver to the side. "I DON'T NEED A GUN TO BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOU!"

At that moment, he lunged his fist directly at Ford's face, making direct contact, and knocking him back a bit. He didn't stop there and kept running after him as he continuously knocked him back with each subsequent punch that he threw. When Ford finally focused back on the fight, he managed to dodge a few punches.

However, Bill made up for missed punches with further retaliation, such as a knee to his stomach, which he would then top off with the return of the punch he had missed. Every punch and kick was hard enough to leave some sort of mark, whether it'd be a bruise or a cut against the skin.

But Ford was hardly even trying to fight back. Not because he couldn't, but because he didn't want to risk hurting Stan. He continuously reminded himself that Bill was still in his brother's body and that any physical damage that he could do wouldn't be done to Bill, but Stan himself.

Although, the more punches and kicks he took, the harder it was to resist the urge to fight back. And eventually, with a few more whacks and bruises, Ford couldn't take it anymore. He wasn't going to let himself get beaten to death because he didn't bother to defend himself. He didn't want to bring harm to Stan's body, but he was already enduring way too much harm to his own body to not do something about it.

When Bill threw his next punch, rather than dodging it, Ford caught it and held it tight.

Bill's eyes widened. "HUH?"

He wasn't going to let this move stop him, though, as he threw a punch with his other hand instead. But Ford caught this one too, much to his surprise.

With a tight grasp on both of Bill's fists, he stretched them outwards and upwards, which seemed to surprise Bill. He seemed to be trying to fight against Ford's hold, but couldn't.

Ford then pulled Stan's force closer to his and looked directly into Bill's eyes.

"Let go of my brother…"

He then pushed both of Stan's fists against his face, sending Bill backward a bit. However, while still within his reach, Ford topped it off with two violent punches to the face.

Bill appeared slightly disoriented and caught off guard by Ford's sudden willingness to fight back. He clenched Stan's fist and began charging at Ford, aiming for another face punch. However, Ford caught it yet again and instead, used his own force to push Bill back against a tree with his outstretched hand.

Back pinned to the tree, Bill found himself somewhat stuck and without much opportunity to get away. He looked up at Ford and narrowed his eyes as Ford angrily stared him back down.

He raised a fist before preparing another lunge.

"LET!"

POW!

"GO!"

POW!

"OF!"

POW!

"MY!"

POW!

"BROTHER!"

POW!

He kept continuously punching Stan's face against the tree for another moment until he let go of Stan's fist, to which he soon dropped to the ground. Stan fell to his knees and stared downward as he spat out blood and began breathing heavily.

But Ford wasn't finished, as he pulled his fist back in preparation to keep the pain up on Bill.

"STANFORD, STOP!" Stan's voice suddenly cried out as he held his arm out helplessly. "STANFORD, IT'S ME!"

"S-Stan?" Ford stuttered, his once rageful eyes suddenly widening at the sound of his brother's voice again.

"Why, Stanford…?" he said weakly as he crawled on the ground. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"What…?"

Tears soon began to stream and drip from Stan's face. "We were just on the road together a second ago, weren't we? Heading back to Gravity Falls? Next thing I know... you're wailing on my face for no good reason! How could you do this to me?!"

"Stanley, I can explain!" Ford tried to tell him, reaching a hand out to him. But Stan quickly pushed it back.

"Explain what?!" Stan asked. "How disappointed Ma would be? Seeing one of her sons beating on her little free spirit for no reason?"

The mention of Ma sent a wave of different emotions washing over Ford. The sadness of her memory, confusion over her mention, and frustration over his actions.

"...or is there a reason?" Stan continued as he stared at the ground, refusing to look up at Ford. "Because you're still mad at me for ruining your project when we were in high school? You still haven't forgiven me for that, have you? And now, you're trying to empty out all of that anger built up inside after all these years?"

Ford was now completely overwhelmed by emotion. The mention of the science project and Stan's sobbing only peaked his feelings of absolute guilt. He was beginning to tear up just listening to him.

"IS THAT IT, FORD?!" Stan screamed achingly. "YOU COULDN'T JUST LEARN TO FORGIVE AND FORGET?! IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?!"

Ford shut his eyes tight as he weakly dropped to his knees. He buried his face in his hands as he began to weep remorsefully as the past resumed haunting him.

"I'm sorry, Stanley!" he cried out between his sobbing. "I have forgiven everything! I didn't mean to hurt you again! l'm so, so sorry!"

"HAHA! WHAT A SAP!"

Ford's weeping suddenly halted as he slowly took his hands off his face to look up. "W-what…?"

WHACK!

THUD!

Ford had taken a violent punch to the side of his jaw, forcing him back to the ground. The punch had directly hit a pressure point, which made him all the more dazed as he barely maintained consciousness.

"HAHAHA!" Bill's voice re-emerged from Stan's body with his grin. "YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO A GOOD IMPRESSION OF YOUR BROTHER, SIXER! BET YA FORGOT ABOUT THAT, HUH?"

Ford groaned weakly as he continued to lay mostly motionless on his side. Bill then walked over to him and grabbed onto the back of his coat before beginning to drag him through the woods.

"I GOTTA HAND IT TO YA, FORD! YOU ACTUALLY GOT PRETTY FAR INTO THESE WOODS HERE WHEN YOU WERE RUNNING FROM ME! SO FAR, IN FACT…"

After a brief walk, Bill came to a stop and tossed Ford's body a few feet forward into an open field of land that lay in the middle of the forest.

"... THAT YOU BROUGHT ME RIGHT WHERE I WANTED US TO GO!"

Ford pulled his face out of the grass, groaning as he weakly lifted his head. However, a chill shot down his spine as he looked up ahead and caught sight of where Bill had taken him.

Sunken a few inches into the dirt in front of him was a stone petrification of Bill's original triangular form. It was covered in moss and vines and other overgrown plants and weeds. A long vine had even wrapped itself completely around his outstretched hand, which was raised as though he was making a deal. That deal being the final one he had made before getting wiped from Stan's mind.

Or so they thought.

"Your physical form…" Ford weakly noted as he stared at it in horror.

"A MIRACLE IT'S SURVIVED OUT HERE FOR SO LONG, HUH?"

Bill walked back up to Ford and put a foot down on his head, forcefully driving his chin back into the ground as he stood proudly.

"YOU SEE, STANFORD, HERE'S MY REAL ISSUE. WHILE I'M IN CONTROL OF STANLEY NOW, IT TURNS OUT THAT I DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE THE SAME CONTROL OVER THE MINDSCAPE AS I USED TO!" He looked down at his hands, narrowing his eyes. "THE TRUTH IS - STAN AND I SHARE THIS BODY NOW."

Ford's eyes widened. "Wait... what?"

"YOU HEARD ME! I CAN'T KICK HIM OUT, NOR CAN I FREE MYSELF! AND BELIEVE ME, I'VE TRIED! I'M FORCED TO SHARE THIS HIDEOUS, WEAK, AGING BODY WITH AN ELDERLY IMBECILE!" Bill ranted, clutching his fists frustratedly as he stared at them. "I CAN HEAR ALL OF HIS THOUGHTS; FEEL ALL OF HIS EMOTIONS; SEE ALL OF HIS MEMORIES!"

He paused for a moment.

"AND THOSE MEMORIES... REMIND ME OF SOMETHING... EVERY NOW AND THEN FOR THE PAST FEW THOUSAND MILLENNIA, I'D RANDOMLY GET A VISION. AND THEY WERE ALL FROM STANLEY'S PERSPECTIVE. I'D SEE HIS FACE IN THE MIRROR. I'D SEE HIM TRAVELING...ADVENTURING IN VARIOUS PLACES AROUND THE WORLD. AND MANY TIMES, I'D SEE YOU THERE WITH HIM. AND ALL THIS TIME, I JUST THOUGHT I WAS GOING INSANE, AND BELIEVE ME, I ALREADY WAS! BUT NOW THAT I SHARE A BODY WITH HIM AGAIN AND SEE EVERYTHING THAT HE'S EVER BEEN THROUGH, I REALIZE NOW THAT THOSE VISIONS WERE REAL. EACH. AND EVERY. ONE OF THEM..."

"How unfortunate for you. I can only hope that visions of him in the shower or scratching himself inappropriately are permanently seared your broken mind."

Unappreciative of Ford's humor, Bill gave a swift stomp down on the back of Ford's head, digging his chin deeper into the dirt. Ford let out a muffled, yet pained wail, groaning as his head slowly rose under Stan's possessed foot.

"WHEN I DIED, I WAS BROKEN INTO MANY PIECES. BUT WHEN I WAS CAST OUT OF STAN'S MIND, I THOUGHT I HAD TAKEN EVERY PIECE OF MYSELF ALONG WITH ME. I WAS WRONG THOUGH. THE TINIEST, UNSEEKABLE FRAGMENTS WERE LEFT TO LINGER IN THE CON MAN'S MIND. AND WHEN MY HENCHMANIACS LIT THOSE FRAGMENTS UP, THE WHOLE OF ME WAS BEAMED BACK TOGETHER IN YOUR BROTHER'S HEAD. AND THE BEST PART? THE THERAPRISM CAN'T EVEN TAKE ME BACK BECAUSE I DID FIND MY BETTER SELF. I DID LEARN A LESSON. THAT LESSON BEING- SOMETIMES, ALL YOU NEED IS A LITTLE HELP FROM A FRIEND... OR IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, SOME FRIENDS."

"I haven't the faintest clue what you are talking about right now, Cipher, but if you think I believe the idea of you learning a lesson about anything, let alone friendship, then you truly are gone in the head."

"OH, BELIEVE ME, SIXER. I'VE LEARNED MY LESSON, ALRIGHT!" Bill insisted. "I'VE HAD TO SWALLOW THE HARD PILL AND ACCEPT THE FACT THAT THERE ARE JUST SOME THINGS I CAN'T DO ON MY OWN. JUST LOOK AT ME! I'M STUCK HERE SHARING A BODY WITH YOUR BROTHER AND THERE'S NOTHING THAT I CAN DO ABOUT IT!"

He held an annoyed look for a second as he recalled his circumstances. But soon, that look of annoyance reverted to an ominous smile as he turned to look back down at Ford.

"BUT THERE'S SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN DO..."

"What are you getting at-"

Bill cut him off with a violent kick to his gut, which sent him rolling over closer to the statue. He groaned in pain as he wrapped his arms around his stomach. Bill then walked back over to him and grabbed the neck of his coat, pulling him up to his knees so he would come face to face with his petrified form and outstretched hand.

"I NEED YOU TO SHAKE MY HAND, STANFORD!" Bill ordered. "I CAN'T MAKE DEALS WHILE I'M TRAPPED WITHIN A BODY I DON'T HAVE COMPLETE CONTROL OVER! BUT YOU SHAKING THE HAND OF MY PHYSICAL FORM MIGHT JUST BRING ME MY FREEDOM FROM THIS BODY AND MAKE ME WHOLE AGAIN!"

"Might?" Ford questioned with a pained wince. "You mean you're not even certain of the effects of such interaction?"

"WHAT CAN I SAY? THESE CIRCUMSTANCES ARE NEW TO ME TOO!" Bill admitted with a shrug. "I'VE NEVER BEEN TRAPPED WITH ANOTHER SOUL IN A BODY LIKE THIS BEFORE. MAYBE YOU'LL GET LUCKY AND SHAKING THE HAND WILL JUST KILL ME! OR MAYBE IT'LL JUST KILL YOUR BROTHER INSTEAD! OR MAYBE ALL THREE OF US COMBINED! WHO KNOWS? I'M JUST TAKING SHOTS IN THE DARK HERE. ALL I KNOW IS NO RISK, NO REWARD! SO LET'S ROLL THE DICE AND SEE WHAT WE GET, SHALL WE?"

"Please. You think I'm just gonna risk letting you back out into our world to cause as must chaos as you can? After all you've done to me? After all that you've done to my family? Do you really think that I'M going to set you free? Just like that?!"

"OH, YES, I DO…" Bill said as he grabbed a sharp-edged branch growing from a tree beside the statue. He then held it up to his own neck. "BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T, YOUR BROTHER AIN'T GONNA HAVE MUCH OF A HEAD ANYMORE! HAHAHA!"

"You won't," Ford said confidently.

"TRY ME, STANFORD!"

"I don't have to!" Ford said, narrowing his eyes daringly at him. "I know you won't do it... because you sharing a mind with Stan and not having complete possession over it means you're just as much a part of that body as he is. If you kill Stan, you'll just kill yourself."

"YOU THINK SO, HUH?" Bill asked skeptically. "WELL, NEARLY GETTING HIT BY A CAR BACK IN WYOMING SEEMED TO GET A SPOOK OUT OF YA!"

"You didn't do that to try and kill Stan. You did that to get my attention," Ford told him. "You heard me calling after Stan and kept walking. It was part of your plan to get us back on the road to Gravity Falls. If you were that desperate to get Stan killed, you would've done it long ago when we were stuck at sea or back in Jersey. You had plenty of other chances. You knew what you were doing."

Ford could see Bill's smile fade while holding the branch to his neck more hesitantly, which further supported him. In Bill's current form, there was no way he could kill Stan without taking himself out with him.

"Admit it, Bill. We both know that you didn't wait four years to come back just to die..."

Bill brought the sharp-edged branch down and away from his neck as he gave Ford a daring glare.

"LOOKS LIKE THAT BRAIN OF YOURS FINALLY DECIDED TO KICK IN..." He sighed. "YOU'RE RIGHT. I DIDN'T COME THIS FAR JUST TO THROW IT ALL AWAY. UNFORTUNATELY, I CAN'T KILL STAN. NOT YET, ANYWAY..."

Thinking for a moment, his smile soon returned as he clenched the branch in his hands.

"...BUT I CAN STILL KILL YOU!"

He suddenly turned back around and lept at Ford, tackling him straight into the dirt while trying to force the sharp end of the branch at his neck. But Ford put all of his remaining strength into pushing him and the branch back while he was being pinned down.

"IT DOESN'T NEED TO END THIS WAY, STANFORD!" Bill shouted as he kept pushing the branch. "ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SHAKE... THAT... HAND!"

After all he had been through, Ford's strength was very limited and started to give under Bill's constant force. Still, he held on with everything he had as he looked on at him valiantly.

"Never! I'll die before I EVER help you again, Cipher!"

Bill narrowed his eyes. "SUIT YOURSELF!"

"GREAT UNCLE FORD!"

"GRUNKLE STAN!"

Ford and Bill's heads both immediately turned toward the familiar voices suddenly called out to them through the woods. As they looked up, they immediately caught sight of Dipper, Mabel, Soos, Wendy, Ryland, Derrick, and Waddles running into the open field, stopping a good distance away as their eyes laid upon what was happening.

"KIDS!" Ford shouted, suddenly overwhelmed with joy at seeing his great niece and nephew again. Though, he found it jarring to see them dressed just like he and Stan four years ago.

Dipper and Mabel's eyes soon glanced straight into Stan's, which they quickly realized to be Bill's once they caught sight of the yellow glow.

"BILL!" the two shouted in unison.

"KIDS!" Bill shouted back with great amusement.

"Soos?" Soos suddenly joined, grabbing odd looks from everyone else.

"SOOS!" Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, and Ryland shouted in slight annoyance.

"Sorry, dudes! I'm just really confused about why we're all shouting each other's names!" Soos admitted, raising his arms defensively.

"AH, LOOK WHAT WE HAVE HERE!" Bill got off of Ford and instead wrapped an arm around his neck while using his other hand to hold the sharp branch up to his neck threateningly. "IT'S A GOOD OL' PINES FAMILY REUNION! PINE TREE AND SHOOTING STAR! ALL GROWN UP! AND HOW COULD ANYONE FORGET ABOUT ICE BAG AND QUESTION MARK? OH WAIT... I DID! HAHAHA!"

"C'mon dude! I might be wearing my Lario costume right now, but I'm not that forgettable!" Soos said with a hint of disappointment.

"Not the time, Soos!" Wendy told him sternly.

"Kids... what are you doing here?" Ford said as he tried struggling his way out of Bill's grasp. "Dipper, I thought I told you-"

"Forget that, Great Uncle Ford!" Dipper shook his head.

"We're here to help!" Mabel added, taking a few steps forward.

"WELL, IF YOU TAKE ANY STEP FURTHER, THERE WON'T BE ANYTHING LEFT OF HIM TO HELP!" Bill warned as he took the same few steps backward, gesturing toward the fact that he was still holding Ford hostage with a sharp branch to his neck.

"Mabel!" Dipper called out to her as he stuck his arm out and quickly pulled her back.

"B-but…" Mabel said hesitantly, glancing back and forth between Dipper and Ford in hopes of a solution. "Grunkle Ford, what do we do?"

"I don't know, kids," Ford admitted. "But it's not too late to go back to the Shack."

"We're not going back to the Shack!" Dipper assured him.

"THEN I KNOW WHAT YOU CAN DO INSTEAD!" Bill said before pointing out the stone petrification. "YOU SEE THAT STONE STATUE OVER THERE THAT LOOKS LIKE A YOUNGER, HANDSOMER VERSION OF ME? HOW ABOUT ONE OF YOU GIVE THAT HUNK A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED HANDSHAKE?"

"KIDS, DON'T!" Ford cried out. "If you do, then you'll be setting Bill fr-!"

Bill quickly shut Ford up by kicking the back of his leg joint to the ground, bending it, and locking him in place, while also causing a sharp wince of pain from him.

"DO IT, OR YOUR OLD MAN GETS IT!" Bill shouted, growing impatient.

"Dipper, what are we supposed to do now?" Mabel asked, turning to him with her growing distress.

"I-I don't know!" Dipper stuttered, trying to quickly think of a plan. "He wants us to shake the statue's hand, but that clearly does something bad. But if we don't, he kills Ford…"

"There's gotta be another way around this!" Mabel said as she turned to the others for any type of reassurance.

But she received nothing back. Soos, Wendy, and Ryland all just exchanged looks of uncertainty with one another. However, Dipper looked around and quickly noticed that Derrick wasn't present anymore.

"Wait a minute... guys, where's Derrick?" he asked, prompting the others to look at their surroundings for him. "He was just with us a minute ago, wasn't he? Where'd he go?"

"I think I saw him run off a second ago," Soos said, pointing off into the woods behind them.

Dipper's eyes widened. "He ran away?!"

"Ah, forget him, Dipper! He's useless!" Mabel said, turning his attention back to the situation at hand. "We have bigger things to worry about than that jerk!"

"YOU'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME HERE!" Bill shouted at the group impatiently, grabbing their attention again.

With their attention turned back to Bill, there was another figure lurking within the forest darkness. The figure slowly and silently crept up behind him while he was distracted by the others.

"MAYBE I NEED TO DRAW A LITTLE BLOOD TO SPEED YOU UP!"

Bill lightly pressed the sharp branch against the skin of Ford's neck, slowly sawing against it. Ford immediately let out another painful wince as the branch edges gave him a light cut.

"NOOOO!" Mabel cried out, beginning to tear up as she noticed Ford's reaction.

"PLEASE! IT WAS ONLY A KNICK!" Bill said, pulling the branch away to prove it. "BUT IT'LL GET WAY DEEPER IF YOU KEEP PUTTING OFF THAT HANDSHAKE!"

"GAAAHHHHH!" a voice suddenly yelled as the figure behind Bill suddenly jumped up to ambush him.

However, the yell alerted Bill much too soon. He swiftly tossed Ford to the ground and turned around to catch the ambusher by the throat in his open hand. In a clean swap, he went ahead and wrapped his arm around the ambusher's neck instead. As the ambusher's face became more visible in the moonlight, the others quickly identified him as Derrick, who was now being held hostage instead of Ford.

"ALRIGHT! THAT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE!" he shouted from within Bill's grasp.

"Derrick?!" Dipper and Mabel shouted in surprise.

"Welp, I tried, guys," Derrick said, immediately feeling guilty for his failed ambush attempt. "Didn't work out as well as I had hoped."

Bill tightened his grip on his neck and began backing up further away from Ford and the others. "NOW I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BUT LET ME BE THE FIRST TO TELL YOU, KID... DON'T BE A HERO."

"I'd rather be a hero than whatever you are," Derrick said as he narrowed his eyes up at him.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I AM."

Freed from Bill's grasp, Ford stood himself up from the ground, wiping the blood drawn from the cut on his neck. He then turned to look back at Bill and how he was holding onto a boy he had never seen before.

"Bill, let him go!" Ford demanded.

"WOW, YOU SEEM TO CARE A LOT ABOUT A KID THAT YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW!" Bill said with a light chuckle.

"This is between you and me, Bill!" Ford reminded him. "This doesn't need outside involvement!"

"WELL, THIS OUTSIDE INVOLVEMENT SEEMS TO THINK OTHERWISE!" Bill argued, gesturing to Derrick.

"The name's Derrick, man…" Derrick clarified for him. "...or woman... or whatever the hell you are..."

"SHUT UP!"

"Bill, please…" Ford attempted to reason.

"SHAKE THE STATUE'S HAND, FORD!" Bill ordered aggressively as he used the branch to point toward it. "OR I PROMISE YOU... WHETHER IT'S ONE OF YOURS OR NOT... A KID IS GOING TO DIE TONIGHT!"

Ford began to consider giving in to Bill's request, despite how much he didn't want to. He was running out of options though, and with Bill threatening another life, he wasn't sure how to move forward. The last thing he wanted was to have anyone else get hurt.

However, he made a quick glance upwards at the tree above him. Up there, something crawled its way along a tree branch. At that moment, he had made note of something he had completely forgotten about until that moment. His eyes then glanced back down at Bill, raising an eyebrow questionably at him.

"Will one now?" Ford asked, tilting his head.

"YES, ONE WILL!" Bill assured him, getting frustrated. "I WILL SWALLOW ONE WHOLE IF I HAVE TO!"

"You're not the only one then…" Ford said, crossing his arms while smirking at him.

"WHAT?"

SQUISH!

"MMMMMMMMMM!"

Bill began screaming as he suddenly found Stan's head completely wrapped around and trapped within the mouth of the baby Snacken, which had jumped down and ambushed him from the tree above. At the same time, he dropped both the sharp branch, as well as his hold on Derrick. He tripped away a few inches as he tried to pull the Snacken off his head. Each pull that he made only prompted it to further tighten its hold.

At that moment, he was left vulnerable. And everyone took this as their chance.

"GET HIM!" Dipper called out to the others.

They had quickly begun running at Bill, where he, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy quickly jumped on each of Stan's open limbs. Dipper and Mabel had each taken hold of an arm, while Wendy and Soos both took his legs. The four had quickly pinned him down to the ground, using their combined weights and strength to prevent Bill from moving a muscle. Ryland walked alongside Waddles to the four, examining the situation.

"Well, it looks like you've got him," Ryland said as he put a hand on his waist.

Ford casually walked over toward Bill, kneeling and placing his hand on the Snacken. He very easily pulled the creature from his face and held it back in his hand, to which it had quickly crawled over onto his shoulder.

"Good one," he said to it as he gently stroked it with the back of his hand, to which it responded pleasantly.

"We did it! We got him!" Dipper said while holding down Stan's arm.

"HAHAHA!" Bill cackled as he lay pinned down to the ground. "WHAT IS THIS? IS THAT IT? AM I SUPPOSED TO BE DEFEATED NOW? PLEASE!"

"Maybe we haven't beaten you quite yet, Bill," Ford admitted as he stood over him. "But we've surely put you in a position in which we now have the upper hand."

"MAYBE SO! BUT I'M STILL HERE! I STILL HAVE CONTROL OF YOUR BROTHER'S BODY! AND YOU CAN'T KEEP ME PINNED FOREVER! SOONER OR LATER, ONE OF YOU WILL SLIP UP! TRY TO CATCH ME THEN!"

"Well, we'll keep you pinned all night if we have to!" Soos said confidently while hugging Stan's leg.

"Look, I'm not saying I wouldn't, but I'd rather not…" Wendy admitted while holding Stan's other leg.

"Great Uncle Ford, what are we supposed to do with Bill now?" Dipper asked as he looked up at Ford, who stood stroking his chin.

"How do we get Stan back?" Mabel asked. Looking into Bill's glowing yellow eyes, she was hoping they would revert back to Stan's normal eyes at some point.

"I'm unsure. Bill isn't taking normal possession of Stan. More so, he's taking priority in a shared mind with him," Ford explained. "We can't drive him out, but perhaps, we can somehow weaken him enough so that Stan can take mental priority again and regain control."

"HA! YEAH, 'WEAKEN ME'," Bill repeated with a chuckle. "GOOD LUCK WITH THAT! I MAY NOT HAVE FULL POSSESSION, BUT I LIVE FOR PAIN! DO WHAT YOU WANT TO THIS BODY, BUT YOU CAN'T HURT ME!"

At that moment, Mabel's eyes lit up.

"Mabel's got an idea!" she declared as her head turned over to Ryland, who was just standing to the side looking over the entire ordeal. "Ryland, you have your phone and headphones on you?"

He nodded as he took out his cell phone and set of wired earbuds from the inside of his Constable jacket.

"You got that playlist I sent you the other day?" she asked.

"Yeah, Bippity Boppin' Bops, right?" Ryland said as he scrolled through the music playlists on his phone.

"That's the one!" Mabel nodded. "Hook Bill up. I have a good feeling he might be in the Bippity Boppin' mood."

Ryland wasn't sure where she was going with this, but he did as she told him. He kneeled over beside Stan's head and inserted both earbuds into his giant ears.

"Mabel, what are you doing?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow at her apparent plan.

"Just trust me on this," she told him.

"WHAT IS THIS?" Bill questioned as the earbuds were placed on Stan. "ARE YOU GONNA PLAY ME A BUNCH OF LULLABIES? HOPING TO TIRE ME OUT OF MY CURRENT CONTROL? NEWS FLASH, SHOOTING STAR - I DON'T SLEEP! I CAN KEEP MY EYES OPEN FOREVER IF I WANT TO!"

"Lullabies? Bro, lullabies ain't no bippity bops!" Mabel told him as she crossed her arms. She then looked up at Ryland and gave him a nod. On command, Ryland pressed play on the playlist, starting it.

At that moment, music started beating through Ryland's earbuds within Stan's ears. As it played, one of Bill's eyes began to twitch as he began to process the hard, crunching synthesizers of retro electronic dance beats.

"AGGHHHHHHH! NOT SYNTHESIZED MUSIC!" Bill screamed in agony, shaking his head around as he tried to free himself from the earbuds.

"YES, SYNTHESIZED MUSIC! LET HIM FEEL IT! LET HIM BECOME ONE WITH THE BIPPITY BOPS OF OLD 80s SYNTH-POP!" Mabel shouted as she raised her fists in the air.

"Of course!" Ford realized as he stood beside Mabel. "I had forgotten that the electrical sound signals made by synthesized rhythms could produce virtual electromagnetic pulses that are damaging enough to stun dream demon neural cycles! Brilliant thinking, Mabel!"

"Uhh... yeah! That's exactly what I was thinking! Duuuh!" Mabel said, pretending to have understood anything Ford had just said. Really, the inspiration for the idea was the fact that she had remembered that synths hurt Bill when they had first fought inside Stan's mind. "That also means we should make it louder, right?"

"An increase in amplitude should make the pulses even more effective, so... sure!" Ford nodded.

"LOUDER, RYLAND! LOUDER!" Mabel cried out, throwing her fists into the air again.

"NO, NO! PLEASE DON'T-" Bill pleaded until Ryland suddenly put the volume at max. "AAAHHHHHHHHHHH! NOOO! MAKE IT STOP!"

"That's harsh, man. I actually like this song," Ryland said.

"Everybody's a critic," Mabel shrugged.

"NO-oooo-OOOO-oooo-O-oo-OOOO-o-OOOO!" Bill's voice suddenly began to phase as if he was suffering from a computer virus or a loading error. "I C-c-CAN'T TAKE AN-nnnn-NY MORE OF TH-i-I-i-SS!"

"Hey... I think it's working!" Dipper said as they all witnessed Bill phasing out.

"Told ya!" Mabel gloated.

"THIS ISN'T THE EN-nnnn-NN-n-ND! YOU'LL SEE ME AG-A-aaa-AA-aaaa-AIN!" Bill shouted as his voice began to phase out even harder, shaking his head around violently. "HLNV HFMMB WZB! AAAAAAAAA-aaaa-AA-aaaaaaaa-AAAAAAAAAAAAA-aahh-HHHHHHHHHH!"

His screaming then came to a stop and his head fell limp. Eyes closed and mouth hung open, Stan's body was now completely unconscious. The only sound heard at that moment was the faint music coming from Ryland's headphones within Stan's ears.

"Uhh... did it work?" Ryland asked, as he just stood holding his phone in his hands.

"GAH!" Stan shouted as his eyes came flying back open, startled.

The first thing his eyes caught was Ryland standing right above him with the earbud wires coming directly from his phone. Ryland simply stared back down at him curiously.

"Kid, who are you and why are you blasting my eardrums with that synthesized garbage?" Stan asked him, giving him a curious look back. "Seriously, I wasn't sure anybody else but my great-niece could be into that kinda thing. And why does it feel like the blood flow to my arms and legs are-"

He had lifted his head to look at the rest of his surroundings, quickly spotting Soos and Wendy right ahead of him on his legs. A quick turn to the left and right allowed him to catch sight of Dipper, Mabel, and Waddles too, as well as Ford and Derrick, both of whom stood on the sideline.

"Wendy?! Soos?! KIDS?!"

"Mr. Pines?!" Wendy and Soos said together, growing excited.

"GRUNKLE STAN?!" Dipper and Mabel exclaimed, smiles forming on their faces as they looked into his eyes, which no longer glowed yellow.

"IT IS YOU!" Stan happily realized, prompting everyone to leap off of his arms and legs, allowing him to sit up straight before grouping together for one big hug.

"Grunkle Stan, we can't believe it's really you!" Dipper said happily as he hugged Stan.

"We've missed you so much!" Mabel said tearfully as she hugged him even tighter.

"I've missed you a lot too, Mr. Pines!" Soos said tearfully as well, hugging him on his other side.

"All of us missed you, you old nag!" Wendy said as she also hugged along.

"I don't even know you, but I want in on this love!" Ryland shouted as he suddenly jumped in on the hugs.

"I don't know you either, but I think I'll pass on the love," Derrick said as he just casually stood aside, placing his hands in his pockets.

"I've missed all of you kids too!" Stan said through the smothering of hugs. "Except those two whom I've never seen before in my life. But as much as I appreciate the love, I still have no blood flowing to any of my arms or legs. And if these hugs continue, I may lose the blood flow to my brain too."

"Worth it!" Mabel exclaimed, only tightening her embrace.

"Agreed!" Soos said as he did so as well.

"Alright kids, come on now," Ford said as he walked up to the group hug, gesturing for everyone to back away. They soon did, leaving Stan sitting on the ground with limp arms and legs.

"Woo! This feels weird!" Stan said as he slowly began regaining feeling in his arms and legs again, shaking them. "Any of you ever wake up before with your arm over your head and you can't move it? Imagine that feeling in all of your limbs. That's what this feels like right now." He then looked up at Ford as he offered his hand to him. He grabbed ahold of it and was lifted back to his feet. "Thanks, Sixer."

As Stan stood back on his feet again, he found himself immediately hugged again by Mabel.

"Alright. Now it's time for hugs again," she said as she shut her eyes with her arms wrapped around him.

"Yeah, okay. One more," Stan accepted, smiling brightly while placing his arms around her.

On the other hand, Ford found himself suddenly hugged by Dipper.

"It's, uh, good to finally see you again, Great Uncle Ford," Dipper told him somewhat awkwardly.

Ford looked down at him and smiled as he placed an arm around him, patting him on the back. "My boy, it's good to see you too."

They had their own personal hugs, all of them finally happy to share a moment together again after so many years. As they pulled away, both Stan and Ford started to look over their appearances.

"God, you two have gotten big..." Stan acknowledged, scanning both of their heights. "I know it's been a few years and all, but still. Wasn't prepared for that."

"Yeah, try making fun of my height this time, old man," Dipper told him with a smirk.

"Meh, I'll find something else to make fun of," Stan remarked casually. "Like your outfit. Like... what's wrong with you? You started taking fashion advice from my brother?"

"Well, it's not like your sense of 'style' hasn't rubbed off on Mabel either," Ford shot back.

Mabel sighed, slightly embarrassed. "Actually... today was Summerween, and I thought it'd be cute if Dipper and I dressed up as you two. You know... like the young twins dressing up as the old twins..." She frowned as she looked down at the ground. "Yeah, it's not one of my best ideas..."

"What? Are you kidding?" Stan questioned with a smile. "That's a great idea! You pull off Mr. Mystery like a natural! In fact, I can't believe I never thought of selling Mr. Mystery costumes when I was still the owner! You know how much money those could've made?" He then turned his head over to Soos and pointed at him. "Soos, you better be writing this down."

"Way ahead of you, Mr. Pines," Soos said as he already had a notepad and pencil in hand, scribbling away.

"And Dipper, I must say that at your age, that turtleneck looks better on you than it ever has on me," Ford told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Even though, it was never exactly a fashion choice of mine..."

"Hah, well, uh, it's kinda got a cut in it," Dipper said, revealing the spot in the neck that Mabel snipped with the scissors earlier. "It was kinda small."

"I see," Ford acknowledged with a nod. "Well, you could always get a replacement better suited for you, and I'd say you'd still be able to pull it off just fine."

"I'm more of a hoodie guy nowadays," Dipper told him. "But thanks, Great Uncle Ford."

Ford responded with nothing more than a smile. After all those years, the two great-uncles were just happy to see their great-niece and nephew again, regardless of how they dressed.

At that moment, Mabel turned to Ford and quickly looked over at the Snacken on his shoulder. Being the animal lover that she is, it immediately piqued her curiosity with its bright and beautiful colors.

"You know, we have to show respect to the real hero today! This little guy!" she said as she pointed at it.

Ford picked up the baby Snacken in his hands and held it out in front of her. "This 'little guy' is actually a little girl. She's a Snacken- a sugar-loving Kraken-like species from the Colorful Creature dimension. We came across a few that happened to leak into our world during our time in the Arctic, and Stan and I came across this friendly little one on the shores of New Jersey."

"Not too long after meeting its not-so-friendly mother," Stan added bitterly as he recalled the encounter.

"A Snacken?" Mabel repeated, her interest growing as she got a closer look at it. "Colorful? Sugar-loving? I'm in love!"

At that moment, the Snacken leaped onto her head, which triggered startled looks from both Stan and Ford for a brief second. However, the Snacken found itself content as it sat on her head. Mabel began giggling as she felt it squish around. It hadn't even been a minute yet, but she already knew that she loved it.

"She's so adorable! Grunkle Ford, I love her so much! Can I keep it?" Mabel asked him as the Snacken crawled from her head to her shoulder. "Pleeeease!"

"Well, I mean, I did bring it back to study… but…" Ford said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"You can still study it!" Mabel told him with a nod as she let the Snacken crawl into her hands. "But like, can I have her after you're done? She's so beautiful! Just look at her!" she said as she raised the Snacken up to his face.

"I suppose that's a compromise I'm willing to accept," Ford told her with a smile.

"YES!" Mabel joyfully exclaimed as she spun around, hugging the Snacken in her arms. "And I think I'll call her... Berry! Because her colors make her look like a berry!" The Snacken gave Mabel a cheerful expression as if she approved of the name, wiggling its tentacles around joyfully.

"Alright, that's... a name, I guess…" Dipper said, not entirely satisfied with the choice, but knew at the same time that it wasn't his pet. Then again, it wasn't Mabel's either ten seconds ago.

"Hold up, kid. Don't you have a pet already?" Stan asked.

"Of course I do!" she said before inserting two fingers in her mouth and letting out a whistle. "Hey, Waddles! Look who's back!"

"Wait, no, no! That's not what I- OOF!" Stan cried out right as he was tackled by Waddles, who began chewing on his sleeve. "Hey! HEY!"

"He missed you, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel told him happily. "Didn't you miss him?"

"Oh yeah, I sure missed this…" Stan said sarcastically as Waddles continued to gnaw and slobber all over his coat sleeve.

However, he soon let go and began smelling his face, giving off little oinks as he did. As Stan looked at him, he raised an eyebrow and simply acknowledged how innocent he looked. Eventually, he couldn't help but just crack a smile at him as he began petting his head.

"Man, I'm gonna hate having to deal with you again..." Stan said. "But fine. I admit I would be lying if I said I didn't miss having you around."

Waddles gave out an oink in response as he just began rubbing up against him, causing Mabel to laugh in amusement as the Snacken also crawled around her body. Even Dipper and Ford couldn't help but give off a few chuckles as they watched. And with the exception of Derrick, everyone else seemed to be amused by the sight as well.

As Stan lay on the ground with Waddles rubbing against him, he turned his head back up at Ford and began to wonder.

"So Ford, now that the love has settled down a bit, I've been meaning to ask: what happened?" he asked. "Where's the car? How'd we get here? And why'd I wake up with everyone hugging my arms and legs? Also, what happened to you? Did you sleepwalk your way into a speeding car or something? HA!" His expression quickly reverted to a genuine look of confusion. "Seriously though, I feel like I've missed a lot here. What's going on?"

Despite the sea of questions being directed at Ford, everyone overheard them and looked over at him. All of the formerly amused looks had quickly faded and were replaced with genuine concern and hesitation as if they didn't know how to break things down to Stan.

Suddenly, Ford walked up and kneeled in front of him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder while giving him a serious look.

"We need to talk."

Stan gave him a raised eyebrow, growing slightly concerned. Mabel then took a step up to Ford, tugging gently on his coat.

"Can we order a pizza, at least?" she asked him.

Ford thought about the question for a few seconds before shrugging. "Eh, why not?"

---

Upon returning to the Shack, those who had dressed for Summerween had stripped back down to normal clothing and otherwise more comfortable nightwear now that the festivities were essentially over. Now, everyone including Melody, Evan, and Abuelita sat around in the living room as a few half-empty pizza boxes sat scattered about.

Everyone sat with a paper plate in hand, looking up at Ford who, over the last hour, had explained the entire events of the incident regarding Bill's return within the forest, the car crash, and other relevant preceding events to Stan and everybody else. While he explained, everyone ate slices of pizza, which Mabel also fed to Waddles and attempted to feed to the Snacken before realizing that it didn't particularly enjoy the pizza's sodium count, which she had substituted it with Gummy Koalas instead.

Throughout his retelling, Stan's expression had shifted and changed in minor ways as if he was processing and breaking down every new revelation carefully. He sat quietly for the majority of the explanation, not saying much aside from asking an occasional question about the situation.

"So yeah…" Ford finished, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at Stan. "That's about where we're at right now."

Despite being relatively quiet throughout Ford's explanation, Stan gripped the armrests of the chair tightly as his face began to shift angrily.

"God... dammit..." he said frustratedly as he slammed his fists down on the armrests. He then placed his hands on his face, rubbing it for a brief moment as he continued to process things. "So I never killed that freakin' demon then? A piece of him has really been lurking around up in there all this time?" he asked as he pointed up to his head.

"Yes, but it wasn't until after the encounter with the Henchmaniacs in the Arctic that he actually started to have any real effect on you," Ford clarified. "Before then, it seemed as though most of his mindscape form must have been somewhere else all of this time. Now though... it seems he's become whole enough to take over full control of your mind."

"So is Bill still inside Stan's mind then?" Dipper asked as he put his cleaned paper plate to the side. "Or did Mabel's terrible music taste drive him off?"

"Hey, you can call it what you want, but I don't recall your 'BABBA's Greatest Hits' playlist ever saving the day before," Mabel sputtered as she chewed on a pizza slice.

"Well, based on the eyes, we know that at the very least he's not in control of your uncle now," Ford said as he stepped toward the stone wall of the living room. To everyone's surprise, he pressed a random rock on the wall like a button, which triggered some sort of secret compartment to extrude from the wall.

"Woah, woah! I never knew about that!" Stan pointed out as he saw the compartment.

"Alright, how many other secret compartments does this place even have that we haven't discovered?" Melody asked, glancing over at Ford.

"Considering that I had this place constructed and designed for my needs... let's just say a lot, and they're all way less obvious than this," Ford answered as he pulled out a gold-colored device from the compartment before closing it.

The device looked almost like a handheld metal detector of some sort, except it had a trigger similar to one of a shotgun. He briefly presented it to everyone in the room in his hand for a quick moment.

"I once developed this device out of paranoia of Bill lurking within my own mind. A quick scan of the head will detect any anomalous activity within the mind," Ford explained as he held the device up to Stan's head, pulling the trigger, which gave off a blinking yellow light.

"What qualifies as anomalous activity?" Dipper asked.

"In simplest terms, if it detects anything paranormal or weird, the light will turn red," Ford explained. "Otherwise, if everything is completely normal, then it'll just turn green."

There was a beeping noise that soon emerged from the device as Ford hovered it over Stan's head. The blinking yellow light stopped and instead showed a constant red light in its place.

Ford frowned. "Unfortunately, it looks as though that's not the case..."

"Oh no…" Mabel said, placing her hands over her mouth in horror. She admittedly didn't expect the music to have completely defeated Bill, but she had still remained hopeful up to that point.

"Damn, Mr. Pines..." Wendy said sympathetically.

"So, Bill's still sharing a mind with Stan?" Soos asked in slight horror.

"It appears so," Ford said with a sigh as he turned off the device. Stan looked down with a mixed look of anger and distress.

"But, it's fine, right? Now that you guys are here?" Dipper asked, trying to maintain a hopeful outlook. "Being back at the Shack with access to your lab and everything, you can work on effectively clearing Bill from Stan's mind?"

Stan smiled. "Yeah, the kid's right, Sixer. Now that we're home, we can clear this sucker from my head once and for all, can't we? You've gotta have the tools for it."

"Well, we certainly will get to work…" Ford began, rubbing the back of his head. "...on finding out how to get rid of Bill effectively."

"You mean... you don't know how to get rid of Bill?" Mabel asked.

Ford sighed. "Look, the way Bill is currently within Stan's mind is different than a normal possession of his, as said before. He's involuntarily sharing a mind with Stan, and he's trapped inside. My normal tactics against him will be completely ineffective, as they rely on his dream demon form. But the way it is right now, Bill hasn't retained a dream demon form again. His new form is within Stan."

"And that statue in the woods is his true form…" Dipper realized aloud. "It's the only other piece that's left of him. His other half. Now he's trying to get back to it and become whole again."

"Precisely," Ford nodded.

"Well, why don't we just play Mabel's synth-y music all the time around Stan to keep Bill from coming back out? Keep him suppressed?" Ryland suggested.

"Now that's an idea I can get down with!" Mabel said, pointing over at Ryland. "Not that I don't already listen to my music whenever I get the chance..."

"It might be a good idea in theory, but Bill has demonstrated that he's highly adaptive," he explained. "He may lack his true form, but he still has a presence within Stan's mindscape. If we play synth music constantly, he'll learn to get used to it. The synths can't destroy him, but they can distort and weaken him. We would be removing that weakness by overexposing him to it. And so for now, it's only a good idea to use such weakness to our advantage sparingly. Besides, based on what he's already received today, it'll take some time for him to completely come back from this."

"Also, I'd rather not have my ears suffocated by the worst genre the 80s ever offered," Stan said, covering his ear instinctively at the mere thought of 24/7 synthpop.

"Anyway, I suppose the next objective will be finding another way to destroy Bill in Stan's mind…" Ford said as he looked over at Stan. "I have a feeling as Dipper brought up, there must be a strong correlation between him and the statue in the woods. We'll definitely have to look back into it. And soon. If we're going by what Bill had implied, then all it takes is one handshake from any one individual to reawaken his madness."

"So with all I've learned from this, you're saying that thing has sat out in the middle of the woods for all these years since you guys fought him and there hasn't been one person; not one kid; not one idiot, that has come out and shook that thing's hand?" Derrick asked, finally involving himself in the discussion.

"The kid's kinda got a point," Stan agreed as he turned to Ford. "What if Bill's bluffing about this handshake thing?"

"Well, from what it sounded like, Bill himself doesn't even have complete certainty what shaking his hand actually does while he's in this state," Ford remembered. "Though, if that's any desire of his at all, then that's not a risk any of us should be willing to take, even if the result has the potential to work in our favor. We'll get to the bottom of that statue in due time though."

"Well, whatever happens, we're just glad to finally have our two Grunkles back!" Mabel said as she walked up behind Stan and Ford and wrapped an arm around both of their necks, pulling them in close.

"Yeah, it feels good to finally be together again," Dipper nodded with a smile.

"It absolutely does," Ford nodded, hugging Mabel back.

"Already feels just like old times," Stan agreed as he looked back and forth between the two. "Except you both aren't the kids I remember you two being. All grown up now. Hell, I still remember the time I gave Dipper the ol' talk about the birds and the bees."

"Uhh... what?" Dipper asked, not recalling this incident.

"Just be thankful that you had your innocence for as long as you did," Mabel told him quietly, staring forward with a scarred look in her eyes as she recalled the event that he couldn't.

"Anyway, I think we're ready to turn in for the night," Stan said as he rose from his chair and yawned.

"Agreed," Ford nodded. "Come morning, we have a lot of work to do."

"But where are you two gonna sleep?" Mabel asked.

"They can sleep in the room with me and Melody! They can have the bed, and we'll take the floor!" Soos suggested as he immediately stood up from the floor.

"Uh... Soos, while I'm more than happy to provide for Stan and Ford, we didn't talk this decision over…" Melody politely and calmly brought up despite Soos' sudden insistence.

"It's alright, Soos," Stan dismissed with a simple hand wave. "The bro and I will just hang out in the basement."

The two walked into the gift shop from the living room, to which everyone began to follow them. Ryland, however, stood behind everyone else, still processing the final detail mentioned.

"Wait a second. We have a basement?" Ryland asked, shocked by this revelation happening now after being an employee for several months.

"Yes, I've had it closed off and locked down since Stan and I left on our voyage. I wanted to have all my old projects and experiments kept down there for safekeeping. Having been four years, I'm sure it'll be in desperate need of a clean-up and dust-off," Ford said as he walked up to the vending machine.

"Oh great. Just what I wanted to come home to... Cleaning," Stan groaned sarcastically.

"Anyway, there shouldn't be much issue hearing the machinery up here as we reactivate everything again," Ford told everyone while ignoring Stan's sarcasm. "With us being underground and mostly out of the way, it should also offer the least amount of trouble for everybody."

"It's not like you two are much trouble any other way," Mabel told them as she walked over toward the two and gave them yet another hug.

"What's with you and the hugs, kid? That's like the twentieth one today." Stan asked with a light chuckle. Despite how much he had missed her back, he was also getting a tad tired of the constant embraces since they reunited.

"It's been four years. Can't a girl catch up on her need for family hugging?" Mabel asked as she only tightened her hug. "I've missed you two."

Stan smiled as he placed a gentle hand on her back, patting it. "We've missed you too, pumpkin. But we gotta get some shut-eye now. It's good to be back though."

Mabel didn't want to, but she let go of her hug with the two and backed up. "It's good to have you back."

The brothers smiled as Ford pressed a button on the side of Meridian, which sent a signal triggering the vending machine door to open; one of the few other things he still managed to be able to do with it in its offline mode aside from toast-making. The vending machine door flew open with a puff of smoke, unveiling the secret doorway leading down into the lab.

Ryland stared in awe at the secret doorway as it was revealed to him for the first time. "Alright, that's pretty cool."

The two brothers walked through the doorway, with Stan sticking back behind Ford waving goodnight to everyone before walking down the stairs.

Ford prepared Meridian so he could close the vending machine again. "Good night, everyone."

"Wait!" Dipper quickly spoke up before Ford closed the machine. He then took out his blue journal, holding it out in front of Ford to see. "Great Uncle Ford, I don't know if it's too soon, but I was hoping that maybe you could read through the progress I've made on my journal? I've been working hard on it and cataloging the things we've come across since summer began. I know you said you wanted to see it when you got the chance."

Ford took his hand away from his watch and smiled warmly as he crouched down in front of Dipper, placing his hand on his shoulder. "I did say that. And I do want to see it. But understand, Dipper, that at this point in time, with such a vital threat as Bill coming back into our lives and plaguing the mind of your uncle, I need to devote most, if not, all of my focus on defeating him once and for all. I know you've been working hard, and I know you wish to show me your progress. And I most certainly will look over it eventually. But for now, I ask that you just hold onto that journal."

"Oh, alright..." Dipper accepted understandingly, though still feeling a bit dejected. "I figured it was too soon."

"It was a fine and honest question to ask," Ford told him with a smile. "And trust me. There are exciting discoveries I've made myself over the past four years and other things that I'm thrilled to share with you and Mabel. It's just that... well, this situation with your uncle takes priority first. But I promise you, my boy. When Bill has been handled and all is well, the rest of the summer is ours. Adventures and other exhilarating projects all around the Falls. Nothing like we've ever done before. That I can promise you, Dipper. I know you've waited four years for this, but all I ask is for a little more time to sort out the current stakes in place."

Dipper smiled, thrilled by the ideas that Ford had put forth for the inevitable future of the summer. "Okay. No worries. I can't wait, but I will."

"And so will I," Ford nodded in agreement as he stood back up and walked back through the vendor doorway. "Keep that journal updated, boy. Don't miss a thing."

He then pressed the button on Meridian again, which triggered the vending machine to close right behind him as he began making his way down the stairs. Everyone else was left outside, staring at the closed vendor in awe.

"Wow," Soos said as he just stared at the vendor.

"You can say that again," Mabel replied.

"Wow," Soos repeated.

"I go vacuum the party now," Abuelita suddenly spoke out, separating herself from the group and making her way back into the living room while everyone else continued to stare at the vendor.

---

At the bottom of the stairway, Stan stood in front of a large metal door. The door was very shiny but also slightly rusted near the seam between the cobweb-covered wooden planks stationed around the walls. In the middle of the door, there was a large keypad. Stan stared at it while tapping his foot impatiently as he heard his brother's footsteps from the stairs.

"It ain't a lot of stairs, Poindexter. How does it take ya so long to walk down them?" Stan said as he turned around to see Ford finally reach the bottom.

Ford paid him a glare. "With the number you did on me earlier, Stanley, I'm lucky to still be walking around at all."

Stan looked him up and down again only to remember how messed up he had gotten between the car crash and fighting Bill. Even though he had taken his share of injuries from both as well, he wasn't feeling quite as bad. Though, it would've been in better taste to not ridicule Ford's movement despite him taking the worst of it.

"Yeesh. That bad, huh?" he asked, looking at him with a bit of guilt.

"Well, it certainly doesn't feel good," Ford said with a wince as he approached the metal door. "Anyway, let's see what we have here…"

"What we have here is the giant metal door that you built in front of the elevator and that only you know how to open because you insisted it would be best designed exclusively for your hand," Stan said in a passive-aggressive tone.

"My hand…" Ford repeated, eyes soon widening as he came to a realization. "Ah! I remember now."

Ford leaned forward and simply tapped his finger on the side of the keypad and popped it open. Underneath it, there was an interface panel with a grid layout. Ford pressed his whole hand against it, to which there was soon a green light that scanned the entire surface of his six fingers and palm. Soon enough, the scanning stopped and there was a small beep. At that moment, the entire keypad and panel retracted itself, and the metal door slowly began to open; the heaviness and weight shaking up the entire underground as it did.

"Oh good. Nice to know that if we ever go on another trip where we need to put this up and you can't come back, all I gotta do is slice off your hand to get this thing open again," Stan said as he examined how Ford opened the door.

"I thought I had made this door more complicated…" Ford said as he tried to remember his initial setup of the metal door four years ago. He then pressed the panel for the elevator itself as it was unveiled. "It might've been one of the other ones."

"Other ones?"

"We'll worry about those later," Ford brushed off as he placed his hand on Stan's back, leading him into the elevator itself as the doors to it opened.

"So let's worry about what's happening now, then," Stan said as the elevator doors closed. "What do I do now? I got a living demon from a literal nightmare dimension in my head who can supposedly take control of me whenever he wants. How the hell am I supposed to... I don't know... not let that happen?"

"Well, luckily I still have plenty of other precautionary devices made from my own paranoias of Bill," Ford told him as he recalled his previous inventions. "One of them includes a night-guard device that stabilizes your mind in your sleep. It should make it more challenging for Bill to take over while you sleep, which I can guarantee is the most likely time he'll attempt to strike. However, that's all it really does. Lessens the chance of another supposed sleepwalking incident like back in Cheyenne, but doesn't completely eliminate it. Still, it's better than nothing. I'll fish around for it and have you put it on before bed."

Stan took a brief moment to process everything Ford had just said while thinking about other possibilities. "And what about when I'm awake? Like back when I was driving you back here to the Falls... I never fell asleep, Stanford. The last thing I remember was looking out the window during the sunset, and the next thing I know, I'm being pinned to the ground by everyone." He turned to Ford and looked him in the eye, giving him a grave look of concern. "If Bill can take over at any moment when I'm awake... maybe when I'm with the kids, or with Soos, or maybe even on this elevator with you... what next?"

Ford thought for a moment, trying his hardest to look for the best response he could give Stan. He wanted to give him a good answer. One that both of them could be genuinely sure of if any of the potential troubles he mentioned came to be. But he was struggling to think of anything that would be satisfactory. And despite how much he wished he had the answer he wanted, he didn't.

"I don't know," Ford told him candidly. "I really don't. I'm sorry, Stan."

Stan stared back at Ford for a minute without much reaction. While his facial expression didn't change, one could tell by the look in his eyes that he was disappointed.

Disappointment. That, along with dread and anger.

"But I do know one thing…" Ford continued, grabbing Stan's attention again. "I will not rest until Bill is destroyed. There is no other project I'll put ahead of your well-being, Stanley. You're my brother. I've spent the last few years of my life adventuring with you around the world, during which I've saved your life several times already. But in the end, none of those times could compare to when you saved me. While I may not have been at the time, I am forever grateful that you brought me home, Stanley. And now, it's my turn to bring you home. That I owe you."

Stan gave a light chuckle. "You owe me nothing, Sixer. You've already given me my childhood dreams- sailing around the world, finding treasures, getting babes... There ain't any more repayment that I need from you."

"Regardless, we still have more to do," Ford told him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "And just like everything else these past few years, we'll do it together."

Stan looked back over at him and stared at him for a brief second. Then he smiled gratefully at Ford, to which he smiled back.

At that moment, the elevator finally stopped. The doors opened to the third level. At first glance into the dark, they saw that all the electronics and machines were completely off. There was not a single light or noise coming from anything. And lastly, it was very warm. With all the power disabled to the floor, all the interior underground heat had been building up for several years and created a very muggy feeling.

Ford took a few steps inside before turning left. Despite the intense darkness and how long it had been, he still knew and remembered the lab like the back of his hand. He found a large lever and pulled it up.

There was a large flashing noise as every single ceiling light lit up. Then the sounds of about a hundred different types of machinery beginning to turn on sounded and echoed throughout the room. The room was still warm, but Ford felt heavy chills as he watched his lab light up and begin to function again. He smiled proudly as he remembered the sight and how it looked almost exactly as it did before they left, except a lot dustier.

He then turned to his brother, who still stood in the elevator, watching everything light up and function again.

"Welcome home, Stanley."

Stan looked back at him and smiled readily as he walked out.

"Good to be home, Stanford."

---

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