It was a particularly warm late morning in Gravity Falls, but a pleasant one. Without a cloud in the sky, the sun was able to illuminate the entire valley gloriously. Best of all, the summer wind was just breezy enough to invoke the feeling of bliss across town.

It was July 4th, which meant the American holiday otherwise known as Independence Day. As such, there was already a crispy and tender aroma flowing through the air as barbecues were lit around town. Pausing from his casual grass-eating session, Gompers caught onto one particular scent, trailing it back to a working grill right outside the Mystery Shack.

Stood on the edge of the Shack's perimeter, Gompers distantly eyeballed Soos as he stood by grilling burgers right outside the main entrance. Stan sat in a lawn chair set outside with an open Pitt Cola can in his hand. Above the two of them on the roof of the Shack itself, Dipper, Mabel, Ryland, and Waddles laid back relaxingly as they looked upward at the clear, crystal blue sky.

Just a few days into the new month, the Shack was still undergoing several major repairs that had resulted from the basement brawl with Bill Cipher. With his defeat came a giant beam of energy that had ripped a giant hole straight through the middle of the Shack. This was also accompanied by several walls he had decimated prior to that whole exchange. Though in the end, just about everybody managed to escape with their lives at the very least, and that was what was most important.

As far as repairs went, things were going relatively well after four days. Construction workers in Gravity Falls had a natural talent for working fast. The exterior, including the roof and walls, had already been mostly fixed up. Most of the work left to be done was indoors, including the floor damage and various other rooms affected by the blast. That didn't make them inherently inaccessible, but almost everyone spent their time outdoors anyway.

And besides, it was a perfect day for doing so.

On the roof, Dipper let out a comfortable sigh as he rested his head back. "Ah, the Fourth of July. A day not too sunny, but still so bright; almost entirely suited for firework spectacles, overindulgence in food, and rooftop relaxation."

"And barbecue chicken tacos!" Mabel added as she raised a messy taco in her hand up in the air before taking a crunchy chomp out of it. Waddles licked some of the sauce from her face, causing her to laugh.

"Well, I mean, I did say overindulgence in food, but yeah, you're right," Dipper nodded.

"I'm still mad to figure out that Soos actually closes the Shack on this day," Stan said from below. "I mean, I always used to capitalize on Fourth of July sales and attractions. This holiday used to be one of my biggest summer moneymakers!"

Soos flipped a patty on the grill. "Aw, c'mon, Mr. Pines. Even the dudes need a day off every now and then."

"Day off?" Stan repeated, seemingly disgusted. "Soos, what is this language you're speaking? It's making me shudder."

Dipper sat up on the roof. "What does a day off even mean anymore since Wendy left, Melody lives here, and Ryland still comes over to hang out with Mabel?"

Right beside him, both Mabel and Ryland had bunched together as they stared into each other's eyes adoringly.

"You have the dreamiest eyes in the world," Mabel flirted dreamily with the flutter of her own eyes.

"Well, you have the dreamiest smile in the world," Ryland returned.

"Well, you have the dreamiest hair in the world!"

"Well, YOU have the dreamiest… uh…" He blanked out. "Um… ears… in the world." He then stared at her awkwardly for a moment, realizing how dumb that sounded. "Sorry, I couldn't think of any other features."

Not bothered, Mabel just giggled as she affectionately wrapped her arms around him. "It's okay. My ears are dreamy after all."

"Yes, they are!" Ryland affirmed as he wrapped an arm around her. "Saved it!" he then whispered to himself with a subtle fist pump.

"Seriously, can you two PLEASE get a room?" Dipper begged as he shielded his view from their affection.

"Silly, Dipper! There are no rooms on the roof," Mabel said as she started to pet Waddles right beside her.

"Our room is literally right behind us!" Dipper physically pointed out. "There's still a hole in the ceiling right there! Just a few feet away!"

Regardless, Mabel didn't pay him or his request too much mind as she turned away. "So what's the rest of your family doing today, Ryland?"

"Well, Evan's celebrating the same way he does every year- by trying to hack into the National Archives' private network to verify if there actually is a treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence," he explained.

"You mean like in that one movie?" Mabel asked.

"Just like in that one movie."

"Woah…"

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "And you mean he does this every year?"

"Yeah, and he never succeeds," Ryland said. "He says the Independence Day celebrations going on near the physical archives and all the other commotion make today the day when their network is most vulnerable. But federal security is just that tight, so he gets locked out every year. Probably won't be much different this year."

"Well, you tell him that if he finds a treasure map, we're all flying to Washington!" Mabel declared as she got to her feet and raised a triumphant fist in the air.

Dipper narrowed his eyes at her. "I hope you mean D.C. and not the state."

"Of course I don't mean the state," she told him with a somewhat snappy tone of voice, as though she didn't take kindly to her brother assuming her intelligence.

Back down below, Soos used his spatula to pick up the patty from the grill, placing it on a prepared bun with toppings already in place. He topped the burger with a bun before serving it on a plate to Stan. "Here ya go, Mr. Pines. Just how you like it."

Stan raised an eyebrow as he accepted the plate. "What's that supposed to mean? How do you know how I like my burgers?"

"Well, I remembered how you sometimes liked to talk about this place called The Juke Joint and how it had the best burgers, so in the time you've been gone, I totally haven't gone searching through the deepest, darkest depths of the internet just to find the same recipe to try and impress you. Heh."

Stan blankly stared at him for a moment. "You really creep me out sometimes, Soos." He glanced back down at the burger. "But hey, so as long as it's good."

Before he could even take a bite of the burger, Stan was snuck up on by Gompers, who made a quick hit-and-run, stealing the burger from the plate with his mouth before darting off.

"HEY!" Stan shouted. "Stupid goat! I didn't even get a chance to criticize that burger! Give it back!"

He started to chase after Gompers, who ran around with the burger clutched in his teeth. Catching up, Stan eventually caught hold of the burger with his hand before beginning to play tug-of-war for it, in which Gompers proved to be a viable opponent. Perhaps more so than he was.

While they had their dispute, Ford emerged from the front door of the Mystery Shack, carefully bringing out a sizable box in his hands. As he stepped out onto the grass, he glanced to the side to see Stan wrestling with Gompers.

"I see that my brother continues to entertain the local wildlife," he remarked, not even surprised.

"Hey, Great Uncle Ford, what do you got down there?" Dipper called from above on the roof, with Mabel and Ryland curiously looking down as well.

"Junk, as I suppose one would call it," Ford said as he set the box on the ground. "I've been doing a lot of cleaning down in the basement. Besides throwing out all of the destroyed lab equipment, I decided to clean out some of my old file cabinets and old drawers as well, getting rid of the things I don't quite need anymore." He sorted his hands through some of the things in the box. "Some of this stuff dates as far back as when I was in grade school. Ugh."

Interested in looking more closely, the three teens each slid down the slanted roof, hopping down below to join Ford and the others on the ground. Mabel brought Waddles down with her, letting him back down on the ground as each of them walked up to the box. Looking inside, they all saw a mix of many different items from files to old containers to what appeared like old experiments as well.

Dipper drew a hand into the box and pulled out what looked to be an old alarm of some sort. He then found a label on the side. "'Anti-cheat alert system- Detects test cheaters and exposes them.'"

Overhearing this amidst his fight with Gompers, Stan paused to give an amused chuckle. "Oh, you have NO idea how many times he got beat up because of that thing."

"I admit, I was a bit of a tattletale in the sixth grade," Ford said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly upon recalling those days. "At least my teachers were appreciative of my work…"

Soos approached the box to look for himself. "Woah!" He dove a hand in and pulled out a small handheld device with a screen and multiple buttons. "What's this? Is this like… one of the very first handheld video game consoles?"

"No, Soos, that is literally just an old calculator that I don't use anymore," Ford clarified.

Soos stared at it. "But does it still play games?"

"No, but it can help you solve math problems."

"I'm taking it anyway," Soos said before walking off, heading back inside the Shack with the calculator in hand. Ford didn't appear to take issue with it, but he did pay Soos a funny look as he walked away.

From the box, Mabel then pulled out an envelope from a stack of similar ones. Her eyebrows raised with great interest as she read the sticky note stuck to the stack. "'Love letters to Cathy Crenshaw'? Ooooh! Grunkle Ford! I had no idea you used to be a love letter guy!"

Ford's eyes bulged. "Wait! No! Hold on just a-"

Mabel cleared her throat as she held the open letter in her hands to read. "Dear Cathy…" she began aloud. "Your bright, luxuriant red hair shimmers from each of their shafts down to their follicles. I can only hope that on some faithful day, you'll perspire from the anxiety of seeing me in the same manner as I do when I lay my corneas on your very being…?"

As she read the letter, Mabel's invested smile slowly flipped as she quickly grew very uncomfortable. Part of her already expected it would be something embarrassing, but at least cute. However, based on that letter alone, it looked as though high school Ford might have had it worse with girls than even Dipper did.

"Now, I'm not a girl… but I'm pretty sure if I was and I got a message like this, I'd be sweating for all of the wrong reasons," Ryland said, wincing.

Ford quickly snatched the letter from Mabel's hands, crumpled it, and tossed it back into the box without hesitation. "Yes, yes. Quite embarrassing stuff. Which is why I've brought it all up here to incinerate it."

Seemingly out of nowhere, Ford suddenly pulled his flamethrower out from his coat, wielding it in his hands as he pointed it at the box. Everybody else around him took a cautious step back as he took it out.

"Woah, what?" Mabel questioned. "Grunkle Ford, you can't destroy this stuff! It's all precious history!"

"Not to me, it isn't. Anyways, time to burn," Ford carelessly dismissed as he put on a pair of safety goggles.

Before he could pull the trigger, Mabel put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "C'mon, Grunkle Ford. I know you probably find some of this stuff embarrassing, but one man's trash is another's treasure!"

He glanced at the box for a moment, trying to consider her words, but shook his head. "I don't know what there is to possibly treasure about any of this stuff."

"Well, yeah! You don't. But maybe there's something here that we might!" she insisted. "Pleeease, Grunkle Ford… "

Ford still couldn't fathom what Mabel saw in his old belongings that she considered worth saving. Regardless, he knew she wasn't one to let up, and perhaps, there was a point to be made about how his negative perception of the box's contents could greatly differ from his family's (though there were still things in there that he would objectively prefer them not seeing).

Still, he pointed his flamethrower downward acceptingly while giving a reluctant sigh. "Fine. As much as I detest a lot of what's in here, I suppose there's no harm to come out of looking through some of it." He scanned the box one last time with his eyes real quick. "And I don't believe there's anything in there that I would consider too dangerous either. Even if there was, I have no reason to believe you two wouldn't handle it responsibly, right?"

"Oh, totally!" Mabel nodded confidently. "We're, like, soooo responsible! Isn't that right, Dipper?"

"Some of us more than others," he remarked.

"I'm not hearing a no!"

"Very well. I'll leave you both to it then," Ford told the two. "Just… please don't give me too much flak for the letters, alright? I was only fifteen…"

Not wishing to delve into his embarrassing past much more again, he made his way back inside the Shack, leaving the others to the box's contents at their own estate.

Mabel then excitedly placed her hands on the edge of a box, glancing around at everything inside. "Oh boy! A box of old Ford secrets and gadgets!"

Stan rejoined the discussion after managing to snag his burger back from Gompers. He scratched his head curiously. "I don't get it. Why are you interested in sorting through this box so badly? I grew up with Ford, and if this is just full of his old stuff, you really ain't missing out on anything."

"Grunkle Stan, I'm a simple young woman," Mabel began. "To me, this isn't just a box of junk. This is a box of memories! Memories that deserve to be cherished for what they are, no matter how embarrassing they may be. Memories that deserve to be passed on from generation to generation! Don't you agree, Dipper?"

Dipper narrowed his eyes. "You're just looking for scrapbook samples, aren't you?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

He wanted to roll his eyes at that, but it wasn't like he was disinterested in the box himself. "Well, I mean, Ford's early days have always been a point of interest for me. Maybe there's actually some cool stuff to find here."

"Ha!" Stan laughed. "Trust me, kid, if you're looking for cool, Ford's early days are the last place you wanna search."

"Oh, let me guess- because your early years were just that much cooler?" Dipper sarcastically remarked.

"Well, not to brag, but Stanley Pines actually used to be quite the name back in the day," Stan said, cheekily rubbing his knuckles against his shirt. "Nobody, and I mean nobody, would ever dare think about messing with me!"

Immediately after saying so, Gompers ran up on Stan once again, snatching his burger from his hand while he was caught off guard before bolting off.

"AH!" he screamed before clutching his fists frustratedly. "Dammit, goat! Get back here! I ain't doing this with you again!"

Crack.

"OW!" Stan cried out after just taking a mere few steps forward before stopping to clutch his back. "Okay, I guess I'm really not doing this again." Holding his back, he turned around and slowly walked back toward the Shack. "Soos! I need another burger! And a back massage!"

Dipper gave an amused smirk as he watched Stan head back indoors. "Hmph. Guess Stanley Pines isn't the name it used to be."

"Well, I'm not in the mood for a massage from Soos, but I am kind of in a burger mood too if I'm being honest," Ryland said as he rubbed his stomach hungrily.

"Don't let your flavor dreams be flavor dreams," Mabel told him, placing an encouraging hand on his shoulder.

"I shalln't!" he declared with a wide grin. "Flavortown, here I come!"

As he ran inside the Shack, the twins were both left to the box on their own. Dipper dove his hands back inside of it, sorting through its contents for something interesting. "So what else is in this thing?"

"Hmm…" Mabel said as she began sorting through as well. "Hey! Check this out! Focus Gum!" She took out a pack of gum with a note attached to it, which she examined. "Apparently, Ford made this gum in college to help study for his exams." Without hesitating, she popped a piece of gum in her mouth and began chewing. "Oh, yeah. Tastes like 1960-something, alright."

Dipper took out a bottle from the box with a label on it. "'Experiment 16- Acne Cleanser'. Huh, wonder if this stuff actually worked?" He turned the bottle around, reading the label on the back. "'Warning: Clears acne, but gives you hives.' Welp, rules that out, I guess."

Mabel's eye then caught something particular in the box. Pulling it out, she realized it was a magazine. "Ooooh! Sirens Weekly. Never heard of this magazine before!"

She curiously flipped to a middle page, to which she immediately felt her life force drain out from her eyes as they looked upon the magazine's raunchy paranormal content. Quickly closing it, she stared forward, eye twitching with great regret.

"Well, there goes what's left of my innocence."

Dipper continued to scavenge the box for himself, suddenly hit with a wave of undesirable memories as he came upon Ford's cologne bottle. "Oh, boy… and here's the love cologne. Yeah… definitely not an event I wanna relive." He cautiously placed the bottle back inside, to which his previous interest in looking through everything seemed to have suddenly vanished as he simply looked on at the box. "You know, I'm starting to see why Ford was gonna burn all of this stuff. Maybe there really isn't anything all that great here."

"Yeah… I'm actually kind of scared to look any deeper into this box now," Mabel agreed.

At the corner of his eye, however, Dipper noticed a loose piece of paper stuck to the corner of the box. "Hey, what about this?" He grabbed it and looked over it, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Zombie Resurrection Spell?"

"Zombies?" Mabel questioned before blowing a raspberry disinterestedly. "Been there, done that."

However, Dipper's eyes lit up as he kept reading. "Wait a sec… This doesn't sound like just any zombies. This sounds almost like… actual resurrection. With intelligence, personality, and memories intact."

"Wait, what?" she questioned, coming to Dipper's side to read over his shoulder.

"Listen to this- 'Amidst my exploration of the pyramids with Stan, we happened to run into an elderly Egyptian psychic who, upon reading my palm, provided me with this spell to raise the dead… properly. Using it, I'm apparently able to bring back any old soul who has passed within the past century. Rather than coming back as any brainless zombie, their intelligence, personality, and memories will return along with their working body, theoretically giving them a second chance at life, but still within a zombified state.'" Dipper paused for a moment to think amidst his great shock. "This is insane! Mabel, this is basically, like, resurrection!"

"Oh, man… Bringing back anybody or anything that died within the last century…" Mabel restated, just as shocked as he was. She thought for a good moment, considering a variety of possibilities before letting out a sudden gasp. "You know what this means?!"

"Alexander Hamilton died over a century ago, Mabel."

"What? No! I wasn't even thinking about him!" She paused. "Well, I wasn't before," she admitted. "Look, no, I meant Berry!"

"Berry?" Dipper restated. "You mean that pet Snacken of yours that only ever hung out in the basement?"

"Okay, that's not my fault. You know Ford was still doing his tests!" Mabel defended. "Either way, that's not the point. She died trying to buy us time from Bill. She deserves another chance at life too!"

Dipper glanced to the side. "Well, I don't disagree."

He didn't have much personal attachment to Berry himself, but he knew that it was twisted that she was the only life that Bill managed to take away throughout their entire battle in the basement. Mabel felt the most guilty for sending her to that fate by throwing her at Bill in the first place. It was meant to be a simple distraction so they could organize the zodiac, but of course, they took too long, and Bill managed to catch up to them after dealing with Berry. She held on for so long so that they would have the chance to stop him. Even though they defeated Bill in the end, Berry's death still went in vain.

So despite his lack of major emotional attachment to Berry, Dipper could get on board with the idea of bringing her back for Mabel. But thinking more about it, however, he started to realize they might've been jumping the gun a bit too quickly.

"Hang on. We're getting ahead of ourselves here," he told her. "First of all, why would Ford throw this away? If this spell really works as he says, then wouldn't this seem a bit too valuable to want to destroy?"

"Well, maybe he didn't mean to destroy it," Mabel suggested. "Maybe it just slipped into this box accidentally. It is just a piece of paper after all. Those things can get around."

"If that's the case, then we should do the responsible thing and give it back to him."

For a brief moment, Mabel wanted to object, but suppressing her emotional desires, she knew that he wasn't wrong. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she nodded. "We gotta be responsible here. We're sixteen years old. Which means no more making irresponsible twelve-year-old decisions like eating raw cookie dough after midnight! Or just eating raw cookie dough…"

"You still eat raw cookie dough."

"But not as often."

Dipper chuckled, knowing he couldn't argue with her there. "Well, anyway, let's just get this spell back to Ford."

"Ughhhhhhh…"

A deep, bemoaning voice suddenly came out of nowhere from within the twins' apparent surroundings. The two froze just as they were about to head back inside the Shack. They glanced around nervously.

"What was that?" Mabel asked.

"UghHhHhhhh…"

Dipper anxiously looked at the spell in his hands, reading over it in his head. "Please tell me we didn't spawn a zombie by accident."

"UghHhHhhhHHhhHhhhh…"

"Hang on… that doesn't sound like a zombie," Mabel realized. "That sounds more like… anxiety and sadness… with about a gallon of sweat."

"So… Thompson?"

"UGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" cried out what now much more sounded to be Thompson's sobbing moans coming from somewhere within the woods surrounding the Shack.

"Definitely Thompson," Mabel concurred

The twins walked out in the direction of the forest from which they heard the moaning. Taking just a few steps inside, they eventually stumbled upon Thompson slumped on the ground with his head lying against the bottom of a tree. In his hand, he held a giant turkey leg which he was eating at that moment. His slumped body sprawling out amongst the dirt ground signaled an obvious state of sorrow with his half-opened eyes and his lips pursed in a way that looked like he had given up making any effort to move that wasn't chewing.

"Thompson?" Mabel prompted.

Startled, he quickly sat up, kicking himself against the tree as he nearly dropped his turkey leg. "Wha...?!" he sputtered through his chewing before looking up at the two and realizing who they were. "Oh, hey guys…"

"What're you doing out here, man?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow.

Thompson glanced at the turkey leg in his hand. "Eating a turkey leg."

"Ooookaaaayyy…" Mabel said, still perplexed. "But why were you moaning like you hate life more than usual?"

Thompson sighed glumly. "Maybe because there's just about nothing left to live for at this point."

"Aww… is this about Wendy?" Mabel presumed before walking up to him and patting him on the shoulder comfortingly. "It's okay, buddy. We miss her too."

"No, that's not it," he shook his head. "In fact, I wish it was just about Wendy."

"Then what's this about?" Dipper asked, before looking around. "And where are the others? Like Nate and Robbie and... you know."

Thompson closed his eyes as he hung his head sadly. "That's the problem… We're all basically done."

Dipper's eyes went wide. "Wait, what?"

"What do you mean?" Mabel asked.

"What? Do you not get it? Do you not understand?!" Thompson suddenly snapped. "The old gang is done! Finished! Over! Is that clear enough for you now?!"

Dipper and Mabel had no anticipation for Thompson's sudden outburst at them. They both stared at him in shock as they had no idea how to follow up without offending him. Thompson looked back between them and quickly realized his mistake.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry!" he quickly told them, clutching his head guiltily. "That wasn't right. I shouldn't have- I didn't mean to lash out like that. God, I'm such a mess…"

"Hey, hey! Easy there…" Mabel calmed, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. We're your friends. We're here for you."

He glanced between the two again. "R-Really?"

"Why don't you tell us what happened?" Dipper suggested just as he folded the zombie spell paper in his hands and pocketed it in his hoodie. "What happened to the old gang? Why is it over?"

Still emotionally shaken up from his outburst, he took in a deep breath and exhaled lightly to ease himself further. "Look, I won't lie to you... Things haven't been the best between all of us for a while now. But we all managed to stick together through everything… all because of Wendy. As long as it didn't involve her, she used to stop the fights. She was good at keeping everyone cool and collected and just keeping the peace. But, well… you guys know what happened at the party."

"Unfortunately," Dipper said as Mabel nodded.

"Then you know where we were at. Everybody is mad at Robbie after everything that came out that night, so we all distanced ourselves from him. I thought that meant things would get better, but they only got worse when Nate started going out with Tambry."

Mabel's eyes lit up at that revelation. "Hold up… Tambry's going out with Nate now? Already?!"

"I KNOW, RIGHT?!" Thompson shouted, feeling just as confounded as she was. "But Nate's had a thing for her for ages now! When she split with Robbie, he started spending a lot of time with her to try to make her feel better."

"Okay, I'm the farthest from an expert on girls, but… even I think that sounds kind of emotionally manipulative…" Dipper said.

"Maybe, but I guess it ended up working out anyway because they've been a thing for three days now according to Tambry's relationship status," Thompson said as he pulled out his phone and showed the two Tambry's social media page, confirming his words to them. "And they seem genuinely happy together."

Dipper wasn't too sure about that last part. From the few pictures he could see, they seemed to comprise of Nate smiling happily while Tambry just stood by on her phone, looking more bored or dreary than anything else. Coming out of a near-four-year relationship with Robbie, it can't have been expected that she'd move on so quickly, but her status did confirm that she and Nate were a thing.

"Well, I mean, at least this isn't romantic drama that I caused for once. Heh…" Mabel chuckled awkwardly.

"Okay, manipulative undertones aside, what's the problem with Nate and Tambry going out now?" Dipper asked.

"Well, since they became a thing, Robbie thinks he's a backstabber for dating his ex. Which is understandable, I guess," he admitted. "But the worst part is... Nate's completely stopped hanging out with Lee! Or ANY of us for that matter! He even unfollowed all of us on social media! YOU KNOW IT'S BAD WHEN THEY PULL OUT THE UNFOLLOW!"

"OH NO! NOT THE UNFOLLOW!" Mabel screamed in horror.

"Alright, I can't relate to any of this, but geez… How could so much drama happen between all of you in less than a week?" Dipper asked.

"I don't know, man! It all just sucks so much. Now, not only is Wendy not here, but everybody hates each other!" Thompson summed up. "And what sucks the most is that today's supposed to be the Fourth of July Festival at the Gravity Falls Pier."

"Fourth of July Festival?" Dipper questioned.

"At the pier?" Mabel repeated, smiling interestedly.

"It's what it sounds like," Thompson said as he took out a crumpled-up flier from his pocket, uncrumpling it and handing it out to them. "There's a Fourth of July festival at that new pier that opened just last month. We were all so excited about going to it together. Now it looks like we won't be going at all. At least… not together."

Mabel reviewed the flier's listed offerings. "Oh, boy! Gravity Falls Fourth of July festivities! There's food, fireworks, a watermelon eating contest, a Lincoln log cabin build-off, a bonfire of the Confederate Flag…"

"...and a throwback concert featuring headlining rock acts," Dipper finished.

"Aw, man! I was so looking forward to that!" Thompson suddenly remembered. "One of our first activities together as friends was our very first concert. I'll never forget that night…"

[Seven Years Earlier]

"It was the sixth grade. One night, we all snuck into a venue to see this old 70s rock band playing at the time called 2 Def I. Usually, the others make fun of anything considered old-school, but these guys were really cool. They were playing their hit single, Charge Up My Heart..."

"Aww! Sounds like a cute love ballad!" Mabel interjected.

"Trust me, it isn't."

At a local concert venue, the band, 2 Def I, was performing a hard rock song on a small stage right in front of a sizable crowd with little distance in between. The band consisted of a bassist, a lead guitarist, a drummer, and a frontman. All four members were middle-aged men with long hair and extravagantly dark and edgy stage clothing that couldn't possibly scream "We are a rock and roll band" any louder than it already did. Black leather jackets and chaps and a bunch of tattoos, as well as spikey bracelets and necklaces, seemed to be the band's style. It was like they came from a 70s goth club.

The frontman, Rodney Rox, took off his leather jacket and grey undershirt, revealing his thin, sweaty, and tattooed bare chest as a roadie handed him an electric guitar on stage. With exhilarated eyes and an eccentric smile, he pulled the guitar strap over his head as he put his mouth up to the microphone.

"ALRIGHT, PEOPLE! I'M ABOUT TO PLAY THIS GUITAR SOLO WITHOUT A SHIRT!" he shouted before shredding into an ear-piercing guitar solo over the rest of the band's loud, racing instrumentation.

As he played, the crowd of teenagers and other adults got louder and crazier as the energy levels began to heighten. In the very back of the venue, a fourteen-year-old Thompson stood alongside Lee, Nate, Tambry, Robbie, and Wendy as they watched the band go nuts. Thompson looked the most into it, whereas the others were either partially enjoying it or not all that interested, like Tambry.

"Man, there is absolutely nothing impressive about the shirtlessness, but hey, I'm feeling his energy," Wendy admitted as she bobbed her head along to the beat. "This solo is also pretty wicked."

Robbie tried not to look quite as into it. "Yeah, you know… I've been getting into guitar myself recently, and I can tell you that what he's playing is actually pretty amateur stuff. I could probably play this with my eyes closed."

Wendy raised an eyebrow. "Huh, really?"

"Yeah, I'm totally not just saying that to come off as more impressive to you or anything..." he played off.

"Hmph. I guess it still sounds cool regardless," Wendy shrugged.

Dammit! Robbie thought to himself.

Nate glanced over at Tambry, who just typed away on her phone, not even paying attention to the concert. Taking notice of her disinterest, he faked a yawn. "I don't know. This concert's kind of putting me to sleep…" he said, pretending to stretch tiredly. "Don't you think, Tambers?"

"Don't call me Tambers," she snapped without even looking up from her phone.

"C'mon, guys. This is awesome!" Thompson tried to convince them. "I mean, look! The bassist is playing with his tongue!"

"You know what would be really awesome? If Thompson ran up on stage and licked the bass himself!" Lee suggested.

Nate gave an amused smile at the thought. "I second that!"

"Lick it! Lick it! Lick it!" the two chanted together at him.

Thompson rubbed his neck reluctantly. "I-I don't know, guys. I mean… won't they kick me out for that?"

"Only if you get caught. Duh," Nate said.

"Which he most certainly will," Robbie remarked.

Thompson narrowed his eyes at him. "Oh, yeah? We'll see about that!" he accepted before pulling his shirt off and throwing it to the side. "I'm gonna lick that bass, and I'm gonna feel accepted!"

The others, save for Tambry, stared at him as he ran off, making his way around the crowd so he could find a way to get on stage. Lee glanced down at his shirt on the floor and looked at the others in confusion.

"Wait, why did he take his shirt off? We didn't even tell him to do that."

"Who cares? That makes this even better!" Robbie insisted. "Tambry, you recording this?"

"You know it," she said with a smirk as she pointed her phone's camera toward the stage.

"Guys, look!" Wendy directed, pointing toward the stage.

Back on the stage, Rodney Rox gestured over to his right side. "EVERYBODY GIVE OUR BASSIST, VINNIE AXEL, A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE!"

As prompted, the crowd burst into a series of claps, cheers, and whistles as Vinnie Axel stepped forward with his bass gripped firmly in hand. He bent his knee and leaned forward as he began to play the thick bass strings with his own tongue. The riff he played pulsated the entire venue through the thumping amplifiers. Fans of the band who understood Vinnie's tongue-playing gimmick were hyped up to see his abilities take place before their very eyes as the riff rang through their ears.

Though, in the middle of his performance, Thompson pulled himself onto the small stage from the side and quickly went right up to Vince with his tongue flailing in the wind as he ran. Completely unnoticed by Vinnie, Thompson grabbed onto the neck of his bass as soon as he reached him and gave his strings a long lick, much to the crowd's immediate shock.

Vinnie's eyes shot wide open as he flinched away from Thompson, pulling his bass away. "AH! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"YES! I DID IT! I DID IT!" Thompson shouted as he raised his fists in the air triumphantly on stage. "TAKE THAT, ROB- OH GOD!"

SLAM!

Thompson was suddenly tackled to the ground on stage by two large security guards, with the back of his head smacking against the stage hard. The security guards got on top of him, making sure he was secure. Several people in the crowd gasped but then cheered as he was taken down. The band themselves stopped playing, checking to see what was going on. A roadie even checked on Vinnie to ensure he was okay.

In the back of the crowd, the rest of the gang looked on with great amusement at Thompson's failure, with several laughing as Tambry recorded the whole thing on her phone.

"Oh, man…" Wendy said as she watched the incident, amused while also feeling somewhat bad.

"Haha! What an idiot!" Robbie cackled.

"That Thompson, man!" Lee said through his laughter.

Nate shook his head. "What a guy!"

Still pinned to the floor, Thompson's head spun as his vision distorted. "Ughh… what time is it?"

"It's time for you to go home," one of the security guards told him as they pulled him up from the ground.

"But, Mom, I thought I had school today...?" Thompson said, incredibly disoriented and partially incapacitated mentally.

"C'mon, kid!" the other guard said as the two began to escort him out of the venue, dragging him off-stage.

Lee wiped a tear of laughter from his eye as he and the others watched Thompson get taken away. "Welp, show's over, it looks like. For us, at least."

"I mean, we could still just stay here until the concert's done, ya know," Robbie suggested.

Wendy shook her head. "Nah, c'mon, you guys had your fun. Let's catch Thompson outside," she told them as she took the lead, walking toward the exit as the others followed, with Robbie trailing behind somewhat unwillingly.

[Present]

"That night forever holds a special place in my heart…" Thompson said as he concluded his reminiscing. "...and my mind because man, I threw up so much that night from the concussion I got. Or maybe it was because I caught meningitis from licking Vinnie's bass. Either way, it was worth it. And what I would give to have a night like that again…"

Despite Thompson's seemingly pleasant perspective of the whole memory, Dipper and Mabel both gave him uneasy looks.

"Wait, seriously?" Mabel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What?"

"That night sounded terrible, dude," Dipper told him bluntly. "Like always, you were just abused by your friends. I know at least Wendy cared about you, but I don't know about everyone else. Although, I know Mabel and I are guilty of having treated you wrong before too…"

"Yeah…" Mabel nodded guiltily as she rubbed her arm. "He's right. But the others have always come off as pretty jerky to you too."

"And I know you say you let them do this to you to keep everyone together, but… dude, that's not how friendships should be," Dipper continued. "Honestly, now that Wendy's away, maybe you should finally move on and focus on finding better friends. Real friends."

"No, you guys don't get it! These guys are my friends!" Thompson assured them as he shot up from the ground defensively. "Sure, maybe I'm treated… differently… but that doesn't mean they don't care about me."

Mabel still looked on at him with uncertainty. "Are you sure about that?"

"Absolutely! It wasn't even me who broke everybody up! It was Nate and Tambry! Robbie may have fractured us at the party, but it was Nate and Tambry who split it up with their relationship! But at heart, I know we're all still friends."

"So, how is all of this drama gonna get solved?" Mabel asked.

"I…" Thompson began as he thought about it, only to come up with nothing. "I don't know," he admitted as he glumly slumped himself against the tree again, sliding back down until his rear hit the ground. "I just wish there was maybe some way to replicate that one night. I know the others look back at that concert fondly. If we all just had one moment like that together again, I think it would fix everything between us. I really think so."

Thinking over Thompson's words, Dipper felt an idea brainstorming in his head. "Hang on, which band did you say you guys saw that night?"

"2 Def I. Why?"

"I'm thinking that maybe there's something we can do to help get you that moment you're looking for…" Dipper told him.

Thompson's eyes grew curious. "Wait… really?"

"Yeah," Dipper nodded. "But Mabel and I need to make a visit first."

"And what about me?"

"Just stay back here around the Shack and wait for us to get back," he told him before turning the other way and beginning to walk off. "Come on, Mabel."

Mabel quickly speed-walked beside him as she followed his lead. "So who're we visiting, bro?"

Dipper hesitated. "I'll, uh… I'll tell you when we're nearly there so you can't turn away when you find out."

"Aw, come on. Who could we be visiting that could possibly make me want to turn-"

She cut herself off, stopping in place for a moment as she shortly realized the only person he could've possibly been talking about.

"Ah, crap."

Here we finally are at Season 2! Kicking things off with a bit of a simple, fun one!

With a new season comes a new story arc. Season 1's arc took some time to get rolling and so will this one, so if each episode is a puzzle piece, it's going to take a bit before the picture for this season becomes visible. Rest assured, every episode is here for a reason, even the less plot-centric ones like this one.

-Absolute Rift

(Chapter updated as of March 26, 2024)