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)

52. Post-Life Rock Revivalism: Part 3

The waters of Lake Gravity Falls sparkled and glistened from the reflecting light of the soon-to-be-setting sun. Stood right above the waters was the large Gravity Falls Pier, which was thriving in townsfolk attendance for the Fourth of July Festival. There was a gentle breeze in the air carrying the scent of crispy fried foods and barbecue throughout the whole pier, as to be expected. The townsfolk were having a blast with people of all ages lined up at food vendors, playing games, and riding the pier's usual rides, such as the Ferris wheel or the Gravedigger rollercoaster. Those rides and the usual pier activities were outfitted with red, white, and blue lights and banners in the spirit of the American holiday.

The Fourth of July Festival had advertised a concert event full of headlining rock artists. On the other end of the pier, away from most of the rides, a large crowd of mostly teens and adults stood close together as an audience to a great concert stage where those rock acts took place. Heavy, overdriven guitar chords were being strung, and loud, bassy drums were slammed, driving the crowd to throw hand horns up as they rocked out along with the performers.

Taking the stage at that moment was a younger rock group made of a male vocalist, a male bassist, a female drummer, and a female lead guitarist. Their entire aesthetic was very edgy, sporting dark clothes with spikes, pale white makeup with running mascara lines, and different hairstyles that made each member look a very unique type of eccentric. Each of them seemed to be having the time of their lives though, and the crowd was thriving off of their energy.

The male vocalist jerked his microphone stand around as he scream-sung directly into the mic itself, "SCHOOL IS FOR FOOLS! MY ROCK BAND RULES! GET OUT OF MY ROOM, MOM! I NEVER LIKED YOU, DOM!"

Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland both came rushing through the center of the crowd together, making their way toward the front of the stage seemingly in a rush.

"Out of the way! Sheriff coming through!" Blubs shouted while pushing through people in the crowd.

Durland followed right behind him. "Yeah! Move aside! We have important law business to tend to!"

Some people in the crowd gave them dirty looks as they were so abruptly shoved aside, but still allowed them to cut through without starting a scene. Eventually, the two of them reached the front row where they met the front barrier separating the audience from the stage itself. As they stood right behind the barrier, the two turned to one another and smiled deviously.

"Haha! Nice work, Durly!" Blubs said, giving him a pat on the back. "One of the best parts about being in law enforcement: instant front-row access anytime, anywhere!"

"WOOOOO! How I love taking advantage of my power in unharmful ways!" Durland whooped, throwing his fists up in the air triumphantly.

"You said it! Emphasis on unharmful. Now, you brought the wigs, right?"

"Right here!" he nodded.

Durland pulled two long, dark-haired rockstar wigs out of his pockets. He handed one to Blubs, and they both put them on together. After adjusting them to fit correctly, they each threw an arm around one another while throwing their free arms up in the air and doing hand horns.

"WOOOOOOOO! ROCK AND ROLL! ROCK AND ROLL!" the couple cheered.

The vocalist then walked up to the edge of the stage right in front of the crowd with his mic in hand. "NOW I'M GONNA SCREAM!" he called out. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

As he screamed viciously into the microphone, voice booming throughout the entire pier, the rest of the audience began to scream along with him. Somewhere in the middle of the crowd, the local America guy grew so excited that he tore his yellow tank top and shorts off, revealing an American Flag onesie underneath. He then pulled out a red, white, and blue top hat and put it on before doing an exuberant dance while some surrounding townsfolk cheered him on.

Backstage, things were much less disarrayed as Dipper, Mabel, Ryland, and Derrick all stood together outside a bunch of trailers and moving vans parked out back, hidden from direct audience view. Still, even with the speakers pointed away from them, all of the loud music and screaming were audible and inescapable. Dipper, Mabel, and Ryland started to grow visibly irritated, wincing and covering their ears as the music continued to blare. Derrick, on the other hand, was bobbing his head along with a joyful smile.

"Jesus, is this what our parents used to listen to?" Ryland asked.

"Seriously, how does anyone like this?" Mabel remarked, pushing her hands harder against her ears.

"I don't know what you expected. This is punk rock. Most of the culture behind this subgenre used to be based on youthful rebellion," Derrick explained.

"OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT! YEAH, OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT!" the band's vocalist could be heard singing in the background.

"You see?" Derrick pointed. "Now that's a message I can get down with."

"I think if I wanted to listen to screaming with political commentary, I'd just hang out with Stan all day instead," Dipper said.

"Ah, you people don't know what you're missing. This stuff is great," Derrick said dismissively as he continued to bob his head along.

On stage, the band let the final chord of their song ring out before ending on a final cymbal crash. The crowd broke out into applause as they finished their set. The band members grouped together and waved as they started to walk off stage.

"Thank you, Gravity Falls! Good night!" the vocalist shouted before leaving.

Following his exit, a rough-looking announcer in a white T-shirt came out on stage with a card in hand. "Yeeeah! Everyone give it up one last time for Clothes For A Funeral!" he said, which the audience responded to with an additional round of applause. "Anyways, Gravity Falls, are you all ready to rock some more?!"

"YEAH!" the crowd unanimously shouted.

"That's what I like to hear! First things first, we have a sudden new addition to our lineup tonight," the announcer said before looking down at his card. "In just a few minutes, 2 Def I is here to play!"

Despite the prompted excitement in the announcer's voice, the crowd was left dead silent for a few seconds. Voices and other murmurs began to poke out from the silence as people turned to one another in confusion.

"What?"

"Is he serious?"

"2 Def I?"

"Didn't they die or something?"

"I know! I thought they were dead too," the announcer admitted. "But uh… Look, I'm gonna be real, I have no idea what's going on. I'm just reading off a card here. But anyways, before they come on, please welcome our next act to the stage…" He looked down at the card again and read, only to give an unenthused sigh as he looked up at the audience with a face of utter annoyance. "…famed country-rock singer, Blue Jean Jackson and the Plaid Shirts."

The announcer walked off-stage as another band took the stage, led by a bearded male singer wearing a plaid shirt, suspenders, spurred boots, and a giant cowboy hat as he held an acoustic guitar.

"Howdy folks!" Blue Jean Jackson greeted. "This one is called 'Texas Roadkill'."

The band counted in and began playing the start of a slow country-rock song, characterized by twangy guitar riffs and an overall folksy sound. As they started to play, several townsfolk in the audience began to groan and wince with displeasure.

"What is this? Country music?!" Blubs questioned, eye-twitching in disgust.

"OW, MY EARS! THEY'RE BURNING!" Durland cried as he dropped to his knees, covering his ears in agony.

"Hang in there, Durly! You'll get through this!" Blubs said as he kneeled down and held his shoulders supportively.

"WOOOOO-WE! Now this is music!" Gideon whooped not too far from the front of the crowd, raising his own baby blue cowboy hat in the air approvingly.

Backstage, all four of the teens were now facing displeasure with the music being played.

"Country rock?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Derrick said before placing his head in his hands with great irritation. "Oh God, why?"

"For once, I actually agree with you. I hate country," Mabel said, covering her ears yet again.

"Damn, is this really gonna be the first common ground we share?"

Ryland glanced around. "Where even is 2 Def I anyway?"

"They're still getting ready in the dressing room," Dipper mentioned.

"Still?" Derrick asked. "What's taking them so long?"

"Well, when I went to check on them a few minutes ago, they kept struggling to change outfits because of how easily their arms and legs tore off, so I imagine it might have something to do with that."

"The life of the dead… Sounds rough," Derrick said, thinking about it.

"And what about Thompson? You think this whole plan here to help him is really gonna work out?" Ryland asked.

"I guess we're just going to have to wait and see," Mabel said as she and Dipper then glanced at one another with looks of uncertainty.

---

Outside of the main crowd, Nate stood by a t-shirt stand holding shirts of different rock album covers. He held up a dark shirt that displayed light refracting off of a prism on the front of it. He turned it around, examining it with interest.

"What do you think of this shirt? Would probably look good on me, don't ya think?" he asked.

Tambry stood off to the side, texting on her phone as per usual and not paying him much attention. She glanced up at the shirt for a mere second before looking back at her phone. "Probably a waste of money honestly."

Nate looked back at the shirt reluctantly for a moment but then threw it back over his shoulder carelessly. "Yeah, you're probably right," he said as he took her hand and began walking off.

"NATE!" a familiar voice called out to him from behind.

"Ah, crap," Nate said to himself as he instantly knew who it was without even needing to look.

"I'M TALKING TO YOU, ASSHOLE!" the voice called again as it got closer. "I KNOW YOU HEAR ME!"

Nate sighed as he turned around hesitantly. "Oh, hey Lee…"

"Don't you 'Oh, hey Lee' me!" Lee snapped, poking a finger in Nate's chest as he stormed up to him. "Do you have any idea what I've been through? Of course you don't! Because you unfollowed the rest of us on all of our socials!"

"Okay, I honestly did not think that would end up being as big a deal as it was."

"The other day, I was just having a normal afternoon, and then I decided to order a pepperoni pizza. Only instead, they got the order wrong and I got anchovies instead! Usually, I'd call you to rant about it, but because you're so high and mighty being in your new relationship, I had to call Robbie instead!"

"So?"

"So?! Robbie sucks!" Lee said bluntly. "He's too desperate to be worth ranting to."

"Sounds like the last four years of my life," Tambry casually remarked amidst her texting.

"What the hell is your deal, man?" Lee continued. "You pick up Robbie's girl for less than a week and suddenly you're too cool for your best bud?"

Tambry's eyes widened. "Robbie's girl?! Excuse you! I have a name!"

"Oh, right. My bad. What is it- Control Freak, right?"

Nate suddenly shoved him back. "Hey, don't talk to her like that!"

Lee was taken aback by the shove. He looked noticeably hurt that this was what his long-time friendship with Nate had come to.

"What happened to you, Nate?" he asked. "This isn't you! Tambry isn't for you!"

"Like you know anything. Things between Tambry and I are going great!" Nate affirmed.

"That's bull! You two are so problematically different, and you know it! The only reason you two are still together is that you've been doing everything she likes and says! That's not right! That's not you! I want my best friend back!"

Nate rubbed the back of his neck as he looked to the side reluctantly. "Well… I mean… You see, the thing is-"

"Just spit it out, man! Why is this so complicated for you?" Lee said before grabbing Nate by the shoulders and forcing him to make eye contact with him. "Just speak for yourself for ONCE, dude! Please!"

Nate stared at him diffidently. "I… I…"

He wanted to look at Tambry, but Lee had taken that option away from him. He had to speak for himself. The problem was that he wasn't entirely sure what he wanted for himself anymore. At least not at that moment. Therefore, he figured he had no choice but to take a shot in the dark.

He gulped. "I think we should just go separate ways, Lee," he began with a look of guilt. "You were my best friend once, but now it's time to move on. I'm… I'm sorry if you can't handle that."

Lee was left speechless. His best friend had just chosen a girl he had been dating for less than a week over the guy he'd known since childhood. There was never a moment in time where he thought it would ever come to this. Absolutely nothing foretold of this moment. So seeing it happen right in front of him just didn't even feel real.

But of course, it was real.

"C'mon, Tambry," Nate said, wrapping an arm around her as they walked off together.

Lee clenched his fists as he watched them. "SERIOUSLY?! Did what we had mean NOTHING to you?!"

Nate tried to pay him no further mind and just kept heading off with Tambry. It was hard to ignore, so he figured something else might help take his mind off of it.

"Hey, I'm kind of feeling ice cream right now," he suggested. "What do you say?"

Tambry shrugged. "Eh, not really."

"Heh, yeah. Me neither," Nate quickly flipped, only to give a disappointed frown as he glanced away from her, looking down to the side.

Unbeknownst to either party, Thompson had spectated and overheard the entire exchange from a near distance. He stepped further out in the open as he watched both sides part ways from each other. Looking over at Tambry and Nate, he noticed them making their way toward the rock concert. Turning the other direction, he saw Lee walk over to an open picnic table where Robbie sat, much to his surprise.

"Well?" Robbie prompted.

"Nothing happened," Lee answered as he sat down dejectedly. "He chose her over me."

"Gee, brilliant work, Lee. Really managed to bring the group together again like you said you would," Robbie said sarcastically.

"Oh, right. Like you did anything to help."

"As if I didn't tell you this would happen. Face it, man. The old gang died when Wendy left. None of this desperate scavenging for everyone to come back together is gonna work."

"You're sure one to talk about being desperate."

Fed up, Robbie slammed his fist down on the table. "Oh, you wanna go and tell that to your best bud Nate too? I'm sure he'd LOVE to hear that as well."

"You know what? I don't know why I'm even trying to save things. This is unbearable," Lee realized. "I can't even think of a single good memory I've had with you guys. Maybe this all really was just one big waste of time."

"Me neither," Robbie agreed. "Especially with how fast Nate went after my ex. The guy couldn't even wait a day. NOT A SINGLE DAY! So as far as I'm concerned, there is nothing left pulling me back toward you people."

"In that case, I'm out of here!" Lee said as he shot up from the table and stormed off.

"Me too!" Robbie mimicked.

The two began heading toward the pier exit, which was opposite the direction of the concert. After a brief moment, however, they both turned around at the same time and went the other way all of a sudden.

"...right after I get some food first because I'm starving!" Lee corrected.

"As am I!" Robbie nodded in agreement.

As they walked back, they both ended up right beside one another in the same line for a nearby food stand.

"This totally just killed that whole moment we had a second ago, didn't it?" Robbie asked.

"Yeah, kind of did," Lee awkwardly agreed.

"Figured…" Robbie said as he stared off to the side uncomfortably.

Knowing what was happening and seeing the short length of the food stand line itself, Thompson realized that it wouldn't be too long before the two left the pier as they intended to.

"Oh, man…" he said, shaking his head worriedly before turning around and running back toward the concert in a hurry.

---

Dipper, Mabel, Derrick, and Ryland continued to stand backstage watching as Blue Jean Jackson continued performing his detested country-rock songs. As each of them looked on with irritation, the door to a trailer behind them opened up.

"Who's ready to rock?" Rodney Rox's voice entered from behind.

The four teens turned around to catch the sight of 2 Def I standing before them in a set of refurbished wardrobes. The entire band was dressed in black leather outfits from head to toe while wearing spikey bracelets on their wrists and chains around their necks.

Vinnie wore a top hat with a red band on top of his long, curly black hair as he had a white bass strapped over his shoulder, supported in his hands. Jackson wore mascara and his hair was tied back in a ponytail as his gray electric guitar was strapped behind him. Max held his drumsticks in hand as he whipped his long, curly blonde hair back, brushing over it with his other hand. Rodney wore a black bandana with skulls on it around his forehead, as well as black star-shaped sunglasses that covered the glow of his green eyes slightly. He pursed his lips covered in black lipstick as he did a pose amongst the rest of the band.

Despite still appearing at least somewhat zombified, their new look was much more cleaned up compared to how they looked in their post-bus crash outfits. Even the dreadful, rotten scent they gave off before was not as prominent. The rock star aura that they had only slightly given off before had drastically increased. They looked more than ready to rock a stage again.

Derrick stared at the band with eyes of pure elation. "Hell… yes…"

"Woah!" Ryland exclaimed.

"Wow! Look at you guys!" Mabel said as she circled the whole band, analyzing their appearances admirably. "Even in death, you still manage to have a sense of fashion!" She stopped in front of Jackson, pressing her cheeks together as she stared up at his hair. "And such luscious hair! I hope my hair stays in such good shape by the time I'm dead!"

"Take good care of it and your wish may just come true, kid," Jackson replied with a smirk. "Trust me, it ain't easy being beautiful."

"No. No, it isn't. This guy gets it!" Mabel said while pointing up at him.

"Gotta say, even though you all still look unhealthily zombie-looking, you guys actually look pretty good!" Dipper remarked.

"Thanks, kid," Rodney nodded. "We're feeling pretty good too."

"Actually, we feel literally nothing at all. Physically and emotionally," Max said.

"Yeah, but I guess that means we aren't lacking the confidence needed to set that stage ablaze," Rodney said assuringly. "Not that confidence was ever a problem of ours."

"You got that right!" Derrick nodded. "I remember watching footage of their 1992 show in Buenos Aires, where they played an entire set wearing nothing but skin-tight speedos."

"Ha! I remember that night! You really do know your history!" Rodney chuckled heartily before raising his hand to Derrick. "Up top!"

"Yeah!" Derrick shouted as he cheerfully high-fived back.

Dipper raised an eyebrow at him. "Why do you know this?"

"Trust me, I wish I didn't," Derrick admitted, his cheery smile completely unaffected.

"So I guess you guys are ready to go then?" Mabel asked.

"As ready as can be after being dead for seven years," Rodney said confidently.

"We'll take it!" Dipper said, raising two thumbs up.

"C'mon, boys. Let's get a quick backstage soundcheck going," Rodney said as he led the other band members to another open area not too far from the teens.

Watching them walk off, Derrick shook his head as he tried to maintain his excitement. "I still can't believe that 2 Def I is actually back. This is just unreal! If only I had something of theirs on me for them to sign! Like an album or something…"

"Actually, I think I saw a record tent back outside where the merch sections are," Ryland told him. "I'm sure they got albums over there you could buy."

"That's perfect!" Derrick nodded, eyes lighting up for a brief second. "But, damn, I'm broke!" He took a moment to think before glancing back at Ryland, to which an idea came to mind. "Hmm… think you could come with me to the tent real quick?"

"Sure thing. I'll help you buy one."

"Ha. Right… Buy one…" Derrick said slyly as he started to lead Ryland out from backstage.

Mabel watched the two suspiciously. "Seeing those two get along is worrisome…"

"Dipper! Mabel!"

The twins turned to the side to see Thompson running up to them in a supposed panic. He stopped before them, holding onto his knees as he panted.

"Thompson? What happened?" Mabel asked.

"Are the rest of the old gang here?" Dipper asked as well.

"They are, but they all won't be for long. 2 Def I needs to perform now, or else Robbie and Lee are gonna bail before they get to see them!"

"Damn." Dipper looked to the side to think. "Okay, well, the band's up next. We just need a little more time. You need to make sure Robbie and Lee stick around long enough for 2 Def I to start. You can do that, right?"

Thompson rubbed his shoulder as he considered it. "I guess I can try to stall them. It's just… there's a lot of tension between everybody right now. I just really need this to go right, you guys."

"We're already doing everything we can," Dipper said.

"Yeah!" Mabel nodded. "Look, we have the band here and ready to go. Just go and try to keep the others around and everything should be alright!"

"Okay. I'll do my best." He turned around to head back out, only to stop and look back at the two again. "And… thank you, guys. For all of the help putting this together. It really means a lot to me."

Mabel gave him an earnest smile. "Of course."

"Now go! Stall the others," Dipper commanded.

Thompson jumped into a stiff marine-like position as he raised his hand to his forehead, saluting him. "Yes, sir!" he shouted before turning right back around and running off.

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "Well, that wasn't necessary, but alright then."

"At least everything still seems to be going to plan," Mabel said. "Doesn't look like there's anything we're going to need to worry about here!"

"Aaagh! Dammit!" Jackson was heard shouting from behind.

"Ho-boy, did I speak too soon?" Mabel questioned somewhat worriedly.

The two turned around and quickly ran up to the band, who looked to be trying to work with some small amplifiers and other musical equipment to get a sort of practice going. Jackson kept going back and forth between flipping his guitar's pickup switch and trying to strum his guitar to undetermined success. However, his face displayed clear frustration.

"What happened?" Dipper asked.

"My dang guitar pickup ain't working right. Wire must be loose or something," Jackson said while repeatedly flipping his pickup switch.

"That's no good. We probably need to take it in for repair at the shop," Rodney said.

"What? No, we don't have time for that!" Dipper opposed.

"Well, I can't go on stage like this," Jackson said as he pulled his guitar strap off from over his head, holding it up by the neck. "I need a working pickup to do our songs right."

Mabel thought for a moment. "Maybe Dipper could fix it. He knows a lot about fixing wires and fancy junk like that."

"Really?" Jackson asked, glancing over at him. "You could do that, kid?"

Dipper's face looked unsure. Still, he sighed and carefully grabbed ahold of his guitar, examining it in his hands. "Well, if it's just a loose wire, then I should be able to fix it up real fast. Just give me a few minutes."

He took the guitar over to the side and laid it out on top of a box. From there, he pulled a screwdriver out from inside his hoodie and began to unscrew the back of the guitar to get to work while Mabel and the rest of the band watched from the side.

"That's my brother!" Mabel praised. "Always fixing stuff with his nerdy… fixing powers… or whatever it is he has."

"Say, Mabel, is it?" Rodney prompted. "I didn't give it too much thought before, but now that my hangover has worn off, I've started to wonder- how exactly did you guys manage to bring us back to life? I figured such a thing must be really complicated, but you guys are just a bunch of teens. Like, how did you do it?"

"Oh, it was easy!" Mabel began. "My brother and I found this old spell in our great uncle's box of failed love letters and other old doohickies."

She reached into her pocket and took out the folded zombie spell, which she had snagged off of the ground after Dipper's use of it to bring the band back. She then unfolded it and held it out to Rodney, which he took from her and examined.

"Reading it aloud can bring people back as zombies but without the stupidity, aggression, and appetite for brains," she continued. "It's not exactly resurrection, but... it's basically resurrection. Let's be real."

Rodney stared at the page in awe. "Wait, you mean reading a few lines off this crumby piece of paper could bring anyone back from the dead?"

"Yup!" she nodded. "Anyone who died in the last century that is, so not someone like Alexander Hamilton… unfortunately…"

"Anyone in the last century?" Rodney repeated as a smile formed across his face. "That's amazing! That's like… the last twenty years!"

"A century is a hundred years, ya wombat," Vinnie reminded.

"Is it?" Rodney asked, scratching his head. "Well, you know I never went to college."

"Neither did I."

"Oh, right," Rodney suddenly remembered. "But anyway, this spell can bring back anyone that died in the last hundred years? That's even better! We've watched so many of our old rock friends and other musical legends come and go over our lifetime. If this thing brought us back, then just think of who else we could bring back! Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Freddie Mercury... "

"And our old buddy, Kyle!" Max mentioned.

"No, no, no. Screw Kyle," Rodney refused.

"But-"

"I said, SCREW Kyle."

Max frowned dejectedly. "Aww… I liked Kyle..."

Rodney turned back to Mabel. "But just think about it! If we bring back all those great rock stars who have passed, we could literally revive rock and roll! This could be legendary!"

"After we're done with the show, we could go around the world to their burials and get started!" Jackson suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Rodney nodded excitedly before turning to Mabel with the spell. "Hey, kid. Mind if we borrow this thing to irresponsibly bring back all of the world's greatest rock stars?"

Mabel tapped her chin as she thought about it. "Well, I don't have much investment in rock and roll personally, but you guys seem pretty enthusiastic, so knock yourselves out!"

"You're the bomb, kid!" Rodney praised. "Alright, fellas. Since we can't practice right now, let's just head back to the trailer and blow dry our hair again before showtime."

"But I don't even need to blow dry my hair again," Max said, feeling his hair with his hands.

"Not everything is about you, Max. Now get back to the damn trailer before I pull your leg off again," Rodney threatened while walking back toward the trailers.

"Fine, but for the record, it doesn't even hurt when you pull it off!" Max grumpily told him as he followed along with the rest of the band.

"God, if we weren't already dead, I swear I'd kill you," Vinnie remarked in annoyance.

The band all joined up back inside the trailer, shutting the door behind them as they left the twins to their own back outside.

"Awww, they bicker like a family!" Mabel said genially.

"Mabel… what are you doing?" Dipper suddenly asked as he walked up to her from the side. "Bringing back all the legendary rock stars from the dead? We can't let them do that! Do you know how much trouble that could cause?"

"What?" Mabel shrugged. "We brought back the eighth-and-a-half president four years ago and he's still roaming around." She then glanced to the side with uncertainty. "Maybe he's still roaming around," she corrected. "Either way, everything still turned out fine."

"Yeah, but this is more than just one guy we're talking about. On top of the four zombies we already have, they want to go back and revive all their dead friends and other dead celebrity musicians. We can't have a bunch of world-famous people coming back as zombies roaming around and bringing attention to themselves!"

"Oh… right…" she finally realized. "I guess the whole zombie thing kind of slipped my mind."

"Mabel, their skin is green, and their eyes are glowing! What were you paying attention to?"

"Uhhh, definitely not their wonderful hair," she said as she awkwardly glanced to the side, avoiding her brother's eye.

Dipper facepalmed at the excuse but quickly opted not to get too fussed about things. "Look, it's already risky enough that we went and brought one famous band back from the dead. We can't take any more chances here. This isn't what we agreed to."

"So what should we do then?"

"Well, I still gotta fix Jackson's guitar, so you just go to their trailer and do what you gotta do," he insisted before turning around and walking back toward Jackson's guitar to continue fixing it.

Mabel took his word at face value and thought over it carefully. "Right. Well, this could get messy."

"Whatever it takes."

With his word, Mabel glanced around the area and conveniently spotted a nearby golf club leaning over against one of the larger backstage amplifiers. She ran over to it and grabbed it firmly in her hands.

"Got it," she said assuringly.

With the club in hand, she made her way over to the band's trailer and walked inside, shutting the door behind her. Within seconds, the trailer started to shake as muffled screams from each of the band members could be heard coming from inside. Soon, there were splatters against a high window to the trailer that dripped downward. The band members continued screaming as small, muffled grunts from Mabel came before every impact.

This went on for approximately a minute, and despite the muffled screams and the shaking, neither were loud or obvious enough to attract the attention of anybody who might've been outside or nearby. Not even Dipper, who was in the process of screwing the back of the guitar back on after reconnecting the loose pickup wire.

Once things had calmed down, the trailer door slowly opened and Mabel stepped out with her golf club. Her face and clothes were covered in a pale green ooze, which also coated her golf club. She looked somewhat disturbed as she walked out with big eyes, but this seemed to clear up relatively fast upon walking outside.

"Okay! I did it!" she announced.

"Wow, that was fast and- WOOOAHHH! WHAT THE HELL?!" Dipper shouted as he turned around to face her with a look of genuine horror. "What happened?!"

"What I had to do," she casually said. "I beat them to a pulp so that they couldn't go bringing back dead rock stars."

Dipper stared at her in utter shock. "ARE YOU INSANE?! I meant just going in and telling them they couldn't bring back their dead friends and getting the spell back! Not completely murdering the entire band!"

Mabel stood quietly for a moment. "Well, technically, they were already dead…"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Dipper snapped before tucking his face in his hands. "I can't believe you did this…"

"Okay, just relax! It's no problem!" She pulled the zombie spell out from her back pocket. "You see? I still got the spell back! Surely if it can bring them back once, it can do it again!" She looked down at the page and quickly glanced between the lines. "Let's see… Ahah! It says right here- 'According to the psychic, this spell cannot resurrect the same person twice.' Wait… shit."

"Yep. You screwed us."

"Alright, I know this looks bad, but c'mon. You know how this kind of thing usually goes for us," she began. "If I went in there and told them they couldn't use the spell after I just said they could, what are the odds they would've just turned on me right then and there? Then we'd have to fight them and a horde of zombie musicians, then sing in harmony to 80s music again to save the day, yadda yadda... If anything, I say we dodged a bullet."

"Okay, genius. But did it completely slip your mind that 2 Def I is still supposed to perform in just a few minutes, and now they can't? Literally the whole reason we brought the band back in the first place. What're we supposed to do now?"

"We're back!" Derrick suddenly interjected as he and Ryland both returned backstage, each of them holding a sizeable stack of what looked to be 2 Def I vinyl records in their hands. "We got the albums. Bought them all totally legit with Ryland's money."

"Yep. Definitely didn't steal them," Ryland clarified somewhat nervously.

"Absolutely not," Derrick shook his head. "Even got this spiffy red marker for the band to sign them with."

"Which we also definitely didn't steal."

Derrick glared at him. "Thank you, Ryland… Anyway, where's the band at?"

Mabel tapped her fingers together nervously as she tried to think of an excuse. "Well, uh… you see…"

"Mabel obliterated them all with a golf club," Dipper bluntly told them.

Mabel sighed guiltily. "Well, you could've at least softened the blow a little…"

Derrick stared at them both for a second. Rather than the adverse reaction they were expecting from him, he gave a soft, amused chuckle instead. "Alright, c'mon. You're kidding, right?"

Both of the twins simply stayed silent as Dipper glared at Mabel once again. As Derrick glanced back and forth between them, his smile gradually faded away as he began to realize they were telling the truth. His eye started to twitch as his skin visibly started to pale. He slowly turned his head in Mabel's direction with a look of pure horror while making the connection as to why she was coated in green ooze.

"You killed 2 Def I? YOU KILLED 2 DEF I?!" He dropped to his knees, dropping his stack of records on the ground. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he belted up at the sky. "I WAS GONNA GET THEM TO SIGN MY ALBUMS! THEN I WAS GONNA SELL THEM ONLINE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY I COULD'VE MADE?!"

"Relax, man," Ryland said as he patted him on the back. "I'm sure they probably aren't even worth that much anyway."

"Dude, a signed vinyl from Rodney Rox ALONE is worth up to fifteen thousand dollars!" Derrick said.

Ryland's eyes suddenly bulged. "Fifteen thousand…?! MABEL, WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"Okay, everybody just calm down!" Mabel intervened. "Listen! There's still a way we can make this work!"

"How?" Dipper asked skeptically. "This entire plan hinged on 2 Def I playing and now they're dead again. How are we possibly supposed to go through with this now? By stepping in for the band and playing ourselves?"

While trying to think of her own plan, Mabel stopped and started to grin widely as she turned to Dipper. Catching the look on her face, Dipper immediately knew what she was thinking and just as immediately started to regret saying anything.

"Oh God, Mabel, no."

"Oh God, Mabel, yes."

"Not happening," he refused as he crossed his arms stubbornly.

"C'mon, bro! It's perfect!" she insisted. "We even got a full band right here! Derrick can obviously play bass. And you could play guitar!"

"What? No, I can't!" he denied.

"Oh, yes, you can. Remember?"

"That was four years ago!" he reminded. "Even then, I only barely learned how to play 'Hot Crossed Buns'!"

"That's three notes more than the rest of us probably know how to play, so it looks to me that you're still our best pick!" she pushed. "And Ryland… you can play drums, right?"

"Umm… no?" Ryland shook his head. "In fact, I don't think I've ever even touched an instrument other than the recorder in second grade."

"Well, have you ever tapped on a desk to music before?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I mean… yeah. I guess."

"Would you consider yourself good at it?"

"Moderately, I suppose."

"Well, there you go! By modern standards, you're already skilled enough to produce most of today's chart-topping albums! Therefore, you must be at least somewhat good at drumming!" she told him encouragingly.

Learning this, Ryland looked down at his hands wondrously. "Really? That's all it takes?"

"And with my strong vocal range and talent in screaming, I'm obviously the best choice in imitating a lead rock vocalist!" Mabel said while pointing two thumbs at herself.

"Can't argue with that one," Dipper said with an eye roll.

"So, don't you guys see?" she asked as she suddenly wrapped her arms around all of them. "We can do this! We don't need the real 2 Def I to put on a good show! We can be just as entertaining without them!"

"Of course. Four almost entirely inexperienced musicians posing as a world-famous rock band? No, yeah, that'll definitely be entertaining to see," Derrick sarcastically remarked.

"You're out of your mind if you think this will work," Dipper told her. "We don't even look like the band."

"Not yet we don't!" Mabel said with a snap of her fingers before running up to the band's trailer and kicking the door open, gesturing inside. "C'mon, boys! It's makeover time!"

Derrick then glared at Dipper with narrowed eyes. "Dipper, why don't you ever know when to stop talking?"

"Honestly, I'm starting to wonder that myself," he admitted.

---

"Thank you, Gravity Falls!" Blue Jean Jackson waved to the crowd. "You've been a wonderful audience!"

"YOU SUCK!" shouted someone from the crowd.

"GIT 'EM!" Mayor Tyler Cutebiker shouted viciously from the crowd. "...off the stage, I mean! Nobody actually hurt him."

"Haha, hate me all you want, but you'll still inevitably hear my hits again on the radio!" Blue Jean Jackson said with an amused chuckle as he started to depart from the stage with his band. "Good night, everyone!"

"Geez. Get a load of that guy, am I right?" the announcer poked as he stepped back onto the stage.

As the announcer started to speak out to the crowd, Dipper, Mabel, Derrick, and Ryland were grouped together in the darkness backstage, waiting to get called on. Just minutes before, they had spent a brief couple of minutes separating 2 Def I's clothes from their decimated corpses and outfitting themselves with them. Mabel had also managed to make impromptu wigs from each band member's long hair to use for themselves. While the process wasn't the cleanest, it was done as fast as could be with the little time they had.

Now, each of them stood outfitted in the band's clothes, hair, and makeup while Dipper held Jackson's guitar, Derrick held onto Vinnie's bass, and Ryland held onto Max's drumsticks.

"Okay! We're about to go on!" Mabel noted, turning back toward the others. "How's everybody feeling?"

"Stupid," Dipper said.

"Uncomfortable," Ryland said.

"I'm wearing the hair ripped from Vinnie Axel's dead scalp. HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL?!" Derrick barked.

"Don't worry, you guys! We got this!" Mabel assured them all with a look of confidence.

"Got this? We don't even know what song we're playing!" Derrick pointed out. "Not that it even matters considering we haven't even practiced a single song together."

"Does 2 Def I even have any easy songs to play?" Ryland asked.

"Most of their big radio singles are pretty easy on bass," Derrick said. "Not surprising considering nothing interesting ever plays on the radio."

"Hey, leave the radio alone! Hits are hits for a reason!" Dipper said defensively.

"Your music taste saddens me, Dipper," Derrick said as he shook his head disappointedly. "I need to get you into rock one of these days. Maybe you'd like math rock. You like math, right?"

"You guys are overthinking this. We don't need to have practiced anything," Mabel tried to assure them once again. "Trust me! Just follow my lead."

---

Towards the back along the edge of the crowd, Nate and Tambry hung out watching the concert casually. Nate had his arm wrapped around Tambry's waist as he looked ahead, but she had both of her hands wrapped around her phone as she continued to text away, paying little to no mind to the concert or Nate.

From a distance, Lee and Robbie sat once again at a picnic table together, both eating from the same tray of chili cheese fries in the center of the table. The two of them eyeballed Nate and Tambry from afar, watching them stand together at the back of the concert crowd.

"Look at those two," Lee said, bitterly chewing on a fry. "Just standing around…"

"...being all happy and couple-y with each other…" Robbie just as bitterly continued.

"How sickening."

"Yeah…" Robbie agreed as he went for another fry. However, as he tried to pick another one from the tray, he quickly realized that there weren't any more left. "Huh. Looks like we're out of fries."

"Ah, shoot," Lee said as he glanced at the tray. After sitting for a moment longer, he simply shrugged and stood up from the table. "Welp, guess I'm out of here for real this time."

"Same here," Robbie nodded as he got up as well.

The two then started to walk off, both heading in the same direction of the pier's exit in the distance. As they went on their way, Thompson spotted them from the side and ran up to them.

"Guys!" he shouted as he jumped right in front of the two.

"Thompson?" Lee questioned, slightly surprised.

"Hey, what a coincidence! You're here too?" Thompson played up.

"Yeah, but not for long. I'm going home," Robbie said, quickly walking right around him and continuing on his way.

"Me too," Lee said as he did the same.

"Wait! Y-You guys can't leave yet!" Thompson called out to them. "W-What about the rock concert?"

"Who cares about that?" Robbie dismissed.

"Yeah. I don't really want to watch anything as long as Nate and Tambry are," Lee agreed.

Thompson quickly ran right back in front of them and stopped them yet again. "Come on, guys! You gotta stick around! I mean, you won't believe who the next act's gonna be!"

"I don't care, Thompson! Now out of the way!" Robbie impatiently demanded before shoving him aside, to which he and Lee continued walking along.

Thompson held a finger up as he tried to tail them, struggling to come up with another way to stall further. "B-But-"

"Anyways, Gravity Falls…" the concert announcer called out from the stage. "Please put your hands together for... 2 DEF I!"

The announcer's voice suddenly stopped both Lee and Robbie in their tracks, causing them both to turn their focus back toward the stage in surprise at what they had just heard.

"Wait, did he just say…" Lee began.

"...2 Def I?" Robbie finished, raising an eyebrow.

"Wait a second… 2 Def I?!" Nate questioned as his attention was suddenly grabbed back where he stood as well. Surprisingly, even Tambry was perplexed enough by the announcement that she brought her focus away from her phone and up toward the stage.

Thompson glanced back in forth between both pairs and started to smile excitedly. Subtly pumping his fists up and down, he turned toward the stage in preparation for what was about to happen.

"Yes! This is it!"

---

"We're on!" Mabel shouted as she looked back at the others. "C'mon, guys. Let's do this!"

Dipper grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her from heading out. "Mabel, this is stupid! We can't do this!"

"Yes, we can!" she told him. "And we have to! It's the best shot we have at helping Thompson at this point. Please, Dipper. Do it for Thompson."

Dipper stared at her for a moment, still very much hesitant about the entire situation. But regardless, he knew they were just about out of options at that point. If they wanted to help Thompson, this looked like the best they could do with whatever time they had left at their disposal, which wasn't much.

"Fine," he sighed. "For Thompson."

Mabel turned around, raising a fist in the air before running out. "For Thompson!"

Derrick shook his head while following after her alongside Dipper and Ryland. "I don't even know this guy. Why am I still helping?"

As ecstatic and full of energy as could be, Mabel ran out on stage in front of the entire festival crowd. Dipper and Derrick took places to her left and right sides on stage, whereas Ryland walked toward the back center and sat down behind a drum kit. Mabel then grabbed hold of the microphone stand, swinging herself on it for a moment before holding it up to her mouth.

"HOW ARE YA DOING, GRAVITY FALLLLLLLS?" she shouted into the microphone, her vocals as raw as they've ever been.

The crowd had held onto a certain level of excitement before when 2 Def I was announced, but nobody truly knew what to expect then. As Mabel and the others stood on stage with the bright stage lights beaming down on them, they were now on full display for the audience. Despite wearing the outfits and the actual hair of the real 2 Def I, something still clearly looked off about them to anybody who knew what the band really looked like. However, even with the off appearances, Mabel's voice was the clearest indicator that something was very much not right.

From the very back of the crowd, Thompson felt as though his heart had pretty much fallen completely out of place and just stopped beating upon watching the four of them come out on stage instead of the actual band. His skin went pale and even his brain started to struggle to work.

"What the...?" he said to himself under his breath.

"Hang on a second… those guys aren't 2 Def I!" Robbie quickly realized.

"Who the hell is this? Some lame cover band?" Lee asked as he analyzed the band distantly.

"Oh no… Dipper, Mabel… What are you doing?!" Thompson whispered to himself as he grabbed onto the sides of his head anxiously.

"GRAVITY FALLS, ARE YOU READY TO ROOOOCK?" Mabel fiercely asked.

She then turned the microphone toward the crowd, cueing them to respond. However, she was met with dead silence instead. She looked around at everybody, scanning the faces and moods of everybody that stood within the crowd, most of which just looked either confused, unamused or just angry.

As the silence prospered, the other three started to grow nervous. Dipper began sweating bullets, which was only worsened by the already persisting heat radiating from the several stage lights beaming down on them.

Derrick simply gave a defeated sigh. "We are so screwed."

Mabel, on the other hand, continued to smirk confidently. "Not yet." She turned back around toward the drum kit. "Ryland, do the song that goes stomp-stomp-clap!"

He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You know- like at sports games and stuff!" she reminded him.

"Ohhh!"

With the drumsticks in his hands, he scanned the entire kit. Having never touched a drum kit in his life, he wasn't entirely sure which drums made which type of sound. Regardless, he needed to put down a beat quickly. While he knew the beat he needed to make, he just had to take a random guess regarding which drums he thought he needed to hit. With the sticks tightly gripped, he nervously hit down on the bass-y floor tom twice, before ending on a single snare hit.

BOOM, BOOM, CLACK!

His eyes widened. To his surprise, the drums he hit actually sounded right. In fact, there were even some murmurs in the crowd that followed. Looking over the kit, he glanced over at Mabel, who smiled eagerly at him and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Keep going!" she mouthed with a hand gesture signaling to continue.

With her go-ahead, he smiled back at her and sat upright on the stool before turning to his drums and repeating the same exact beat pattern on the floor tom and snare again.

BOOM, BOOM, CLACK!

BOOM, BOOM, CLACK!

Ryland kept the beat on loop, allowing his loud, amplified drums to ring throughout the crowd. Mabel, Dipper, and Derrick turned their eyes back to the crowd and noticed an increase in activity as many started to smile. Others murmured and chatted with one another.

"Hey! I've heard this song before!" Blubs instantly recognized.

"Yeah!" Durland nodded. "They play it all the time at those sportsball games! It's the one where you're supposed to go stomp and clap!"

"Guess we better stomp and clap then," Blubs said.

At that moment, they, along with many other audience members, began to follow the beat themselves by stomping their feet twice and clapping their hands together in unison. As time went on, the number of people participating continued to multiply until soon enough, nearly everyone in the crowd was stomping and clapping along.

"What the...? This isn't even a 2 Def I song! Hell, this song wasn't even made by Americans!" Derrick pointed out.

"Who cares? Everybody knows it!" Mabel said.

"But it's not a-"

"ALRIIIIIGHT!" Mabel shouted into the microphone, cutting him off. "GRAVITY FALLS! LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN- ARE YOU READY TO ROOOOCK?!"

"YEEEEAAAAH!" the crowd shouted back in unison.

Mabel grinned as she started to feed on the crowd's returning energy. "NOW THAT'S WHAT I LIKE TO HEAR! NOW COME ON! EVERYBODY STOMP AND CLAP!"

She began to stomp and clap with the rest of the audience. Derrick stared at her and the rest of the crowd for a moment before letting out a sigh. While he was disappointed they weren't playing an actual 2 Def I song, he was no stranger to the actual song they were doing. As such, he began to play a bassline to go along with the beat itself while everyone continued to participate.

"YEAH, THAT'S IT!" Mabel encouraged the crowd. "NOW WE'RE GONNA SING! ARE YOU READY? IT GOES LIKE THIS- GRAV-I, GRAV-I, -TY FALLS!" she started to sing. "SING IT WITH ME!"

"GRAV-I, GRAV-I, -TY FALLS!" the crowd sang along.

"Those aren't even the lyrics! What is she doing?!" Derrick asked as he kept playing his bassline.

"Just go with it, man!" Ryland shouted over to him amidst his drum playing.

Derrick shook his head frustratedly. "Oh God, I feel so disrespectful…"

From the other side of the stage, Dipper continued to just stand by watching the entire crowd stomp and clap away to Ryland's beat. Mabel's energy seemed to surge through all of them. All the same, Derrick's bassline pulsated the entire range of the crowd just like it did the walls of his granddad's house earlier that day. Still, for as good as it seemed like they were doing, he still felt too self-conscious to have any idea how to contribute.

"Dipper c'mon!" Mabel suddenly called out to him. "You're the guitarist! You gotta play something!"

"Mabel, I don't know what I'm doing!" he told her timidly. "I can't play this song! I'm not good enough!"

"You don't have to be a good musician to know how to rock!" she told him. "I learned that from watching these other rock bands play today! It doesn't matter how good or bad you sound. It's all about the energy, Dipper! Just let loose and have fun and the people will too!"

He stared at her for a brief moment before looking back down at his guitar. The fretboard was practically alien to him. The few things he learned in the brief time he spent trying to learn on acoustic had completely escaped him and would absolutely not return by any miracle while he was under all of the pressure he felt at that moment.

Placing his hand somewhere in the center of the fretboard, he used his fingers to push down on one entire fret, which he wasn't even sure if it was even a real chord. Taking a chance though, he strummed down with his other hand and a shockingly decent set of notes actually managed to ring out. Mabel, Derrick, and Ryland's eyes glanced his way in surprise.

With the strum of the chord, the crowd suddenly started to cheer them on. Dipper gazed upon the crowd in shock at what he had just done. He stood motionless for a second in fear of messing up the chord. But slowly, a smile began to grow across his face as the cheers grew louder and louder.

"Wow, these guys are terrible!" a man in the audience shouted.

"I know, right?" a woman beside him agreed. "But their energy is so infectious that I can't help but like them!"

"Me too!" the man nodded.

"I also agree with that assessment!" another man randomly chipped in from behind.

The cheers continued to persist and grow in strength as the four stood on stage. Fists and finger horns were thrown in the air by various people of all ages. Kids, teens, and adults of the town were all surprisingly having a great time listening to the four's attempted impression of a much more famous and talented band.

Derrick raised an eyebrow. "Why are they cheering? How low are these people's standards?"

"Alright, guys! Time for the big finish!" Mabel settled, pointing a finger back toward the drums. "Go, Ryland!"

As cued, Ryland took his drumsticks and started repeatedly hitting them against the two crash cymbals. As he did so, Derrick repeated a single finishing bass note while Dipper continuously strummed on his one guitar chord up and down. The musical resonance of the combined instruments rang throughout the pier, filling the entire audience with one last surge of energy.

Mabel jumped on her mic stand one last time, tilting it down as she bent herself forward, putting her mouth right up to it and singing, "YEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

CRASH!

Ryland hit one last cymbal crash at the same time that Dipper and Derrick finished on their instruments. Mabel stood on her knees with her arms spread out for a final pose as she panted heavily. With their grand closure to the song, the entire crowd soon erupted into spontaneous applause. Claps, cheers, and whistles filled the four's ears, which subsequently filled them all with a sense of great relief knowing they somehow didn't fail horribly in front of hundreds.

None of them knew how they didn't fail, but still, they were glad they didn't.

Mabel rose to her feet again, holding the microphone back up to her mouth. "THANK YOU, GRAVITY FALLS!" she shouted with a wave. "THAT'S ALL FROM US! GOOD NIGHT!"

The crowd cheered them on once more as she placed the microphone back on its stand and quickly ran back to the end of the stage with the other three following right after her.

---

From the back of the crowd, Thompson stared at the stage in complete and utter disbelief at what he had just witnessed. On a personal level, he had no major qualms with the performance. But with the context of knowing what the twins had just done and how it was bound to affect him, it was like he was living some sort of nightmare. He felt lightheaded and sick to the stomach as his nervous sweats began to kick in.

Despite the crowd's generally positive reception to the performance, Lee and Robbie's faces seemed remarkably unimpressed.

"Well, that sucked," Robbie said bluntly.

"Yeah, it did," Lee agreed.

"Oh God, I'm gonna be sick," Thompson said as he clutched his churning stomach.

"But ya know what?" Lee continued. "That was still pretty entertaining."

Thompson's eyes bulged. "Huh?"

"Honestly, yeah," Robbie agreed. "I wanted to laugh the whole time, but I was just so mesmerized by how bad it was."

"Exactly," Lee nodded. "You know, even though it wasn't really 2 Def I, hearing their name again did remind me of that one concert we went to back in sixth grade. Remember? When Thompson got tackled by security on stage?"

Robbie gave him a nostalgic smirk as he remembered that same night. "Yeah… Yeah, I was just thinking about that too. Those were good times."

"They were," Lee fondly recalled. "I guess I was wrong before. We really did have some good memories together after all. I guess all of this stuff involving Nate and Tambry just kind of made me forget that."

"I always thought we all used to be really good friends," Robbie admitted. "I've been thinking- did Wendy leaving actually change that or are we just stupid?"

"I don't know. Maybe the latter?" Lee shrugged. He then turned to the side. "But I think maybe we should see if they feel the same way."

Robbie looked over in the direction Lee did and realized he was gesturing over at Nate and Tambry, who continued to stand together facing the stage after the performance.

---

With the sounds of cheers still fresh in their ears, Mabel, Dipper, Derrick, and Ryland quickly made their way backstage following their performance. It had already occurred to them that they had only done one song, but that was more than enough for them. As they grouped together, the four could feel a rush of adrenaline racing through them.

"AAAAAH! You guys! That was amazing!" Mabel shrieked happily. "Actually, it was awful, but hey, for four inexperienced hacks, we still basically killed it out there!"

"Yeah, I gotta say. That… could've been a lot worse!" Dipper admitted with a proud smile.

"I've never touched a drum kit before today, but after that, maybe I'll actually invest in one," Ryland considered. "Who knew hitting stuff with sticks to make music was so much fun?"

"All I learned is that the people of Gravity Falls are easy to impress. Or maybe just really stupid," Derrick said. "Either way, I think I'm starting to see why 2 Def I were never found here."

"Whatever the case is, we got away with it, and we totally ruled!" Mabel said as she threw her arms around everyone again. "We could probably turn this into a real thing if we wanted. Who knows? Maybe with some actual practice, the four of us could be a pretty killer band! I could see it now- Mabel Pines And The Boys Next Door!"

"Oh, hell no," Derrick refused as he immediately pulled himself out of her grasp.

"Yeah, uh, as fun as that sounds, I think I'll be retiring from my musical career early," Dipper said as he pulled away as well. He then carefully took his guitar strap off and held Jackson's guitar firmly in his hands. "I don't think I'll have another reason to pick up the guitar ever again."

"Your loss," Mabel told them. "What do you say, Ryland? We could be like one of those cute musical couples with our own social media feed of pictures with us together except we actually still like each other!"

"Hey, I'm down," Ryland casually shrugged.

Bzzz.

At that moment, he could feel his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. Digging it out, he realized he was receiving a phone call and answered, holding it up to his ear.

"Hello?" he said as he picked it up. "…Uh-huh …Really?" His eyes widened. "…Wow. …Okay, bye." He hung up and turned back to Mabel. "That was Evan. He said there is no map on the back of the Declaration of Independence."

"Dang," Mabel said disappointedly.

"Anyways, Mabel, we should probably go check on Thompson to see how things went," Dipper reminded her.

"Oh, right!" She turned back to the others. "We'll be back, guys."

The twins ran off, leaving the backstage area as they went to go find Thompson, leaving Ryland and Derrick on their own.

Ryland grinned as he glanced over at Derrick. "So, you don't want to be a boy next door, ayy?"

"I will beat your face in with a door," Derrick threatened him with narrowed eyes.

---

At the back of the concert crowd, Nate continued to gaze at the empty stage for a while. He peered over at Tambry, who was looking down at her phone once again but wasn't texting. She also looked somewhat gloomy rather than careless as she was before. After a moment, she simply pocketed her phone and stared down at the ground beside her unhappily.

Nate then looked over his shoulder and managed to spot Lee and Robbie in the distance. He was surprised to see that they were looking right back at him. The sight caused him to frown guiltily as he realized what he had done. As he turned his head back to the stage, he began to reminisce about all the same memories the others had thought about. The longer he pondered over everything, the guiltier and stupider he felt.

"What am I doing?" he asked himself as he shook his head.

Tambry glanced up at him. "What did you say?"

He looked her in the eye for a second before taking his arm off of her and stepping back. "I'm sorry, Tambry, but... I can't do this anymore."

She raised a confused eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean… look, I've had a thing for you since we were kids, but I'm starting to realize that this just isn't gonna work out," he admitted. "Lee was right. We are very different, and I've been pretending like we're the same because I've liked you for so long, and I wanted to make things work. But… I can't keep doing this. To Lee and to Robbie…"

"So… I'm guessing you're breaking up with me?"

Nate shut his eyes guiltily. "I'm sorry. I know you've already been through a lot. I don't want you to be upset."

He expected her to get angry with him right then and there. But as he spoke, her facial expression didn't seem to shift around that much. Her frown grew a bit more, but overall, she seemed to maintain her composure, which was somewhat unexpected.

"Actually, I should be the one apologizing," she said with a sigh. "You've honestly been really sweet to me by being there and all after my breakup. But the truth is… I'm just too emotionally exhausted to be dating right now. I guess I thought I could move on from Robbie faster by dating you, but I'm honestly just not ready for a relationship at all."

"Wait… so I was just a rebound?" Nate asked with a frown.

"I wouldn't say that. I never realized before, but there's a lot about you that I actually do really like. We might be different in a lot of ways, but I like different."

"Wait, really?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, do you really think I want to date someone who's exactly like me? That'd be so boring. I might as well date myself at that point."

Nate suddenly started clearing his throat aggressively as his face turned bright red. "Right… right… EHEM! D-Definitely knew that," he nervously said. "But anyway, I'm sorry I kind of went after you right after your breakup. Even though you gave me a chance, I should've waited until it was truly right for you."

"Well, if you're okay with waiting, maybe we could give things another try when I am ready," she said with a slight smile. "By then, hopefully, I'll be able to give you the attention you deserve. And you can actually be you instead of… well, whatever the hell it was you were trying to be before."

He chuckled at her slight jab at him, realizing now how foolish it was of him to try to be exactly like her. As he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, he looked up at her with a sincere smile.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

The two exchanged smiles with one another for a brief moment until Nate looked over his shoulder once again. In the near distance, he still spotted Lee and Robbie standing by looking at him. With things settled with Tambry, he knew now what he needed to do next.

"Excuse me for a moment," he said to Tambry before turning around and walking toward Lee and Robbie.

As he approached them, he noticed their faces turn from melancholic to angry. To them, the fond memories started to tuck themselves away as the present took the forefront of their minds. That included all of Nate's actions as of recent.

Not that he didn't understand the trouble he was in, because he did. And so he knew it was on him to try to fix the problems he started.

"Guys…" he began, glancing between the two with earnest eyes. "Look, you have every right to hate me. I was SO unbelievably stupid. For disrespecting a good friend and idiotically turning away my bestest friend. I know now that nothing I say will ever be worth enough to earn your forgiveness back."

Robbie stood unswayed by his words, folding his arms as he stared him down. "You're right."

"Nothing you say will be," Lee nodded in agreement.

Nate sighed glumly. "Yeah… Which is why I'm allowing each of you a free shot at punching me as hard as you'd like, wherever you'd like."

Lee's eyes widened at this. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yep," Nate nodded. "Well, maybe anywhere except the-"

POW!

Nate suddenly took a hard punch directly against the side of his face, sending him planting flat against the ground. Tambry and Lee gasped as they both jumped back, turning their heads toward Robbie as he held his clenched fist out after taking the swing.

"...face…" Nate weakly finished as he lay on the ground.

"Robbie!" Tambry snapped.

"What? He offered!" Robbie said, holding his hands out defensively.

"No, no, Tambry," Nate called her off as he slowly stood back up while rubbing the side of his face. "He's right. That was fair game."

"Uh-huh," Robbie said, sticking his neck out in Tambry's direction, which she rolled her eyes at. "Anyway, I'm satisfied. Your turn, Lee."

As called, Lee walked up to Nate and held his fist out in preparation. However, he started to grow hesitant as he looked on at Nate's helpless eyes. "You sure about this, man?"

"Positive," Nate nodded, spreading his arms slightly open, painting himself an open target. "Do your worst."

Lee looked on at him for a few seconds longer. While his eyes were reluctant before, they suddenly grew cheery as he started to smirk. He pulled his fist backward, to which Nate closed his eyes preemptively. But against his expectations, Nate was simply met with a soft blow to the shoulder.

"There."

Nate opened his eyes and glanced back up at him in confusion. "Huh?"

"You said as hard as I'd like and wherever," Lee reminded. "So, that's that."

"But… I thought-"

"Hey, man. I get it," Lee said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're an idiot, but I already knew that. I also knew that no matter how stupid you get, you'll always remember that at the end of the day, you're my best friend. I don't need you to take a punch from me to know that."

A grateful smile soon formed across Nate's face as he looked on at Lee. He made a fist and lightly punched him back in the shoulder. "Thanks, man. You're too good for me."

Lee chuckled. "I know."

Nate glanced back between the others. "So, like, are we all cool now?"

"Yeah, I think so," Lee nodded.

"I'm fine," Tambry said.

"You still kind of deserve another real punch, but yeah, I guess," Robbie shrugged.

"Alright, sweet!" Nate said.

"Whew!" Thompson suddenly interjected with relief as he stepped forward and joined the four's circle. "Man, I'm glad the gang's all back together again. I say this calls for a celebration."

"Yeah, you know what? We should do something," Lee agreed, glancing back at the others.

"Let's go ride the Gravedigger together!" Robbie suggested enthusiastically.

"Aw, hell yeah!" Nate said.

"Now you're talking!" Lee said.

"Sounds good!" Thompson nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, just the four of us!" Nate said.

"Yeah! Just the four-" Thompson began before pausing. "Wait, there's five of us though."

As Thompson looked up, however, he realized that the others had already started walking off without him, making their way back toward the pier rides.

"Wait, guys?" he asked, eyes going worrisome as he ran after them.

"Maybe afterward, we could go and get ourselves some churros on sticks," Lee suggested to the others as they walked.

"You read my mind, dude!" Nate enthusiastically agreed, slapping Lee on the back.

"I… I like churros on sticks," Thompson tried to chime in as he trailed behind the four.

"Hey, maybe we could also catch that new Colonel America movie together too! The one that just came out last Friday!" Nate mentioned.

"Oh, totally! I've been dying to see that!" Lee said.

"Y-Yeah! Yeah, that'd be neat!" Thompson nodded along.

"I'm already looking up screenings tonight," Tambry said as she tapped away on her phone. "I could book us the last four seats next to one another for the next hour."

"Let's do it!" Nate said.

"Yeah, I love watching superheroes punch each other!" Robbie said, throwing his fists up in the air excitedly.

"B-But... I've been wanting to see that movie since it was announced!" Thompson reminded them. "I was the one who even told you guys that movie was coming!"

Despite everything he tried to say to them, the four continued on their way without paying him any mind at all. He stopped in his tracks and stood completely still in the middle of the walkway, watching as the four of them all just happily went on without him. He reached a hand out forward, hoping they might turn around at any moment and come back to him. But instead, they just kept going until they were completely out of sight, disappearing from his view behind other passing townsfolk on the walkway.

"G-Guys…?"

After a few seconds, he just dropped onto his hands and knees and hung his head tearfully in the middle of the walkway. His world felt like it was crashing down on him and that he was now truly alone. Several walking townspeople continued making their way around him, not paying him much attention or even a simple glance otherwise.

That was everybody except for Dipper and Mabel, who stood by looking on at him from the side of the walkway. They had witnessed a good amount of the end of the whole exchange between him and the others. There they now stood being able to feel his sorrow just from the sight of him alone. The two exchanged glances with one another before moving in on him from each side.

"Thompson…?" Mabel prompted.

Dipper leaned down and put a comforting hand on his back. "What happened, man?"

Thompson slowly sat upright on his knees, looking between the twins. He sighed. "Well, it worked. I brought them back together."

"But what about you?" Mabel asked. "Did they just… forget you?"

"Maybe." His eyes then lit up stubbornly. "Or maybe they just didn't realize it was me! Or they just forgot by accident! Or maybe I wasn't being obvious enough! Or-"

"Thompson!" Dipper bluntly cut off as he looked him in the eye. "It's over, man."

As much as it hurt to admit it, Thompson knew that denial wasn't going to get him anywhere this time. The people he had glued himself to since childhood, the ones he had aspired to keep together through doing stupid things to himself for so long, had abandoned him. There was no excuse this time. These were the facts, and he knew he needed to face them.

"Yeah. I guess it is," he painfully accepted. "You guys were right all along. I guess they weren't real friends after all."

"Real friends wouldn't forget you exist," Mabel said.

"And real friends wouldn't abuse you relentlessly for several years for their own amusement," Dipper added.

"I let it happen though," Thompson told them. "I just wanted to keep everyone together. Making a fool out of myself made them all happy. So I kept doing it."

"You never should have subjected yourself to that," Mabel said, shaking her head.

"I know. But I did." He sighed sadly, pulling himself off of his knees as he stood back up. "I guess it was all for nothing. And now it looks like all I'm left with is nothing."

"That's not true. You still have us," Mabel said with a comforting smile.

"And on top of that, maybe now that you're apart from the others, you could finally go out and find yourself some real friends. People that actually respect you as a person that you don't need to abuse yourself for in order to keep together," Dipper suggested.

"Yeah!" Mabel nodded. "Look around, Thompson! We're at this huge town festival! This is a perfect opportunity to meet new people!"

"I appreciate it, guys. Really. But I think I'm just gonna go grab a few of those Independence Day bacon-wrapped donuts and then head home," he said as he took off a few steps only to stop and look behind him again. "But thanks for all the help, you guys. Like I said before, it means a lot to see the lengths you two have gone to try and help me. As far as I know, I doubt I'll ever meet anyone as caring as you guys have been to me."

Despite his despair, he worked up a grateful smile as he looked at the twins, which they kindly returned. He then turned around and took a single step, to which he found himself immediately walking right into another passing fest attendee. An ice-cold slushie stumbled out of the attendee's hands before spilling open onto Thompson's shirt and then the ground.

"AH!" Thompson yelped as he jumped back. He pulled on his polo shirt, examining the freezing wet blue stain that now drenched nearly the entire bottom half of it. "AW, MAN! MY SHIRT!"

"Oh my gosh! I-I'm so sorry! I should've watched where I was going!"

Thompson looked up at the person he bumped into. She was a kind-eyed young girl with glasses that looked somewhere around his age or slightly younger. Her hair was black and curly and hung just over her shoulders. She was also shorter than he was, had tan skin, and was a bit chubby.

Looking at her at that moment, she seemed very timid and a bit shaky over what had just happened. Her eyes also already looked a bit stressed, as though her day had been rough enough as it was.

"Man, I'm so stupid!" she said to herself as she looked away from him. "I literally can't do anything right!"

"H-Hey, don't worry about it," Thompson told her with ease. "It's just a shirt. No big deal."

"I know. It's just… I've been through a lot today," she said, staring at the ground. "My head isn't all that right. I was supposed to go to the festival with my best friends today, but they all texted me saying they couldn't make it. I believed them… until I caught them all taking selfies at the top of the Ferris wheel without me…"

Thompson sighed. "Yeah, I know how you feel. Some of my best friends since grade school just reunited only to abandon me while they went off to have fun themselves." He smiled slightly. "So I guess we both have terrible friends then."

She slowly turned back to him, to which she gave a soft chuckle. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Anyway, I was just gonna go get some bacon-wrapped glazed donuts and then head out," Thompson said.

"Wait… bacon-wrapped glazed donuts? They have those here?"

"Yeah, over by the games. They're basically instant heartburns for me, but they're delicious and usually make me feel better when I'm sad. Or maybe it's just the literal pain in my heart that takes my mind off the figurative heartache."

"Honestly, my day's been so rough, I think I could use some literal heart pain right about now," the girl told him as she put a hand over her chest.

"I mean, we could go together if you want," Thompson offered.

The girl's eyes widened. "R-Really?"

"Yeah!" he nodded. "We can even get you another slushie too! Replace the one that, uh… spilled on my shirt, I guess."

"Yeah! I mean, absolutely! I mean, uhhh-" She quickly cleared her throat as she readjusted her glasses nervously, face reddening. She then smiled at him. "That would be nice."

"I'm, uh… Thompson, by the way," Thompson told her as he put his hand forward.

"Masie," she greeted, shaking his hand back.

"Nice to meet you, Masie."

The two started to head off together among the pier walkway. As they did, Thompson glanced down at her shirt, realizing she had the red, white, and blue shield of Colonel America printed in the center of it.

"Hang on, is that a Colonel America shirt?" he asked.

She looked down at it. "Oh, yeah, it's Colonel America. I figured, ya know, being the Fourth of July and all, what better day to wear it?"

"That's so cool! I love Colonel America!"

"Me too!" Masie nodded excitedly. "Oh my gosh, I've been dying to see that new movie with my friends. But then, well, you know…"

Thompson frowned at the reminder. "Same here."

Masie thought for a moment. "M-Maybe after we get donuts, we could catch the next screening ourselves? That is, if you want, of course..."

Thompson's eyes widened as he smiled happily. "Yeah… Yeah! That'd be awesome!"

As they walked off, Dipper and Mabel stood back on the walkway watching them. Neither of them quite minded that Thompson didn't acknowledge them past the point of their initial parting. Who could blame him? He had taken a hard blow today, and it was looking like recovery wouldn't be as much of a struggle as he initially figured. All things considered, it looked as though Thompson walked away from things a winner after all.

"You know, I think he's gonna be okay," Dipper said confidently with a proud smile.

Mabel nodded the same way. "Agreed."

The two then glanced to the side as Derrick and Ryland suddenly came running out, bolting right past them in a hurry.

"IT'S THE RECORD TENT GUY!" Ryland screamed out fearfully.

"JUST RUN, MAN! RUN!" Derrick frantically urged as the two continued racing through the pier in their Max and Vinnie outfits.

About five seconds behind them, an older, bearded bald man wearing a black t-shirt for some rock band came running out onto the walkway, chasing the two down the same path they had taken through the pier.

"HEY! I KNOW YOU TWO STOLE MY RED MARKER!" he called out to them. "GET BACK HERE, DANG IT!"

He continued his chase after the two boys, zipping right past the twins just as they did. Dipper and Mabel just stood by, watching awkwardly in slight confusion.

"And them?" Mabel asked.

Dipper shrugged. "Eh, they'll probably be okay too."

"So, what now?"

Dipper looked down at his outfit, realizing they were still wearing the band's clothes, hair, and makeup as well. "Well, now that all of this is done and out of the way, there's still one last thing left for us to do."

---

Ding!

As the elevator doors opened, Dipper and Mabel both stepped out, walking a few steps forward into Ford's lab back at the Mystery Shack. They looked around the room and caught no immediate sign of him.

"Grunkle Ford?" Mabel called out.

"It's us," Dipper added.

"Ah, Mabel! Dipper!" Ford's voice suddenly called out to them.

He popped out from behind a piece of machinery across the room before happily walking toward them only to quickly stop in his tracks as he caught sight of their appearances, which they still hadn't changed out of despite getting back. His eyes widened in surprise as he scanned them head to toe.

"Oh, um… interesting style of clothing!" he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Uhhh… tell me, is this one of those teenage phases Stan warned me about?"

"It's, uh… it's been a long day, to say the least," Dipper simply responded, to which Mabel nodded in agreement.

"But we came down here because we found something in your old box that we think might've accidentally slipped away from you," Mabel continued.

Ford raised an eyebrow. "Huh. Is that so? I certainly haven't noticed anything to be missing."

"Well, either way, we thought we'd just return it to you just in case," Dipper said.

"Well, I really do appreciate it," Ford nodded gratefully. "So what did you find?"

Mabel dug her hand into the pocket of her black leather pants and took out the folded zombie spell. She took a step forward and handed it out to Ford, who accepted it. Upon unfolding it, his eyes suddenly grew large with shock upon realizing what it was.

"It's the zombie spell that you came across in Egypt," Dipper said.

"The one that basically resurrects people as zombies and stuff," Mabel added.

"And we TOTALLY didn't use it to bring back a famous rock band from the dead or anything like that…" Dipper nervously added.

"Yeah, that would be REALLY irresponsible," Mabel backed up. "But you know us! Responsible Mabel and Dipper being… responsible! Heheh…"

"Anyways, considering how powerful this sort of spell could be, we figured it had to have been a mistake throwing it away with the rest of your old stuff."

"That's, uh… very considerate of you kids," Ford said as he stared at the page. "But I… didn't mean to keep this spell."

Dipper's eyes widened. "Wait, really?"

"But why not?" Mabel asked. "You could bring back anyone who died in the last century! With that kind of power, you don't have to worry about losing anybody you care about. Family, friends, other important people… You can always have them around."

"Well, that's actually why I wanted to get rid of it," Ford admitted just as he folded the page in his hands and put it aside on a desk. "Bringing back the dead is a complicated idea, to say the least. It's also a very tempting one when it offers the possibility of bringing back someone you might really care about. In relation to that, before Stan and I returned to Gravity Falls this summer, we found out that our father had since passed back home during our absence. And our mother…" He sighed somberly. "Well, let's just say she's not too far behind him…"

"Oh, man…" Dipper said remorsefully.

"Oh no…" Mabel said the same way. "Grunkle Ford, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Ford nodded, working up a small smile again. "That's the thing though. The idea of being able to bring back anyone who has passed in recent times is tempting. But at the same time, it's not my job to essentially reverse their fates for my own desire. Death is part of the circle of life. It eventually comes to all of us. Sometimes it comes naturally, other times, it comes too soon. And sometimes to us, death is unfair. And when it's unfair, you might wish you could make it so it never happened. But the fact is, it did happen, and no matter how much it hurts, we have to learn to live with it and move on. Nobody likes losing those that they care about. But if I can't learn to live without the people I love, then how can I live with myself?"

It was challenging to consider loss in the same way Ford had. For all of the things that he and Stan had been through, Dipper and Mabel knew they themselves hadn't come close to that. And that included facing true loss. Losing someone really important that they knew would never come back. Even though Berry was a pet to Mabel, she had her for less than a month, and for as much as she loved animals, it wasn't anywhere near the same type of loss Ford was referring to.

Perhaps they didn't quite understand exactly how he felt yet, but they did understand that it was a real feeling. One that would probably be best to consider.

Mabel looked over at Dipper. "Guess we didn't think of it like that."

Dipper leaned to the side and picked the folded spell back up from the table. Without opening it, he gazed upon it one last time in his hands before looking back up at Mabel. "Well, you know what we gotta do now."

"The responsible thing," she nodded. With a hand on her chin, she suddenly looked down and thought for a few seconds. "But maybe… with a little extra flair."

"Mabel…" Dipper said warningly.

"Trust me. I think you'll like this too."

---

After spending a few minutes cleaning themselves up and returning to their normal outfits, Dipper and Mabel had gathered Ford's box of old projects and belongings and set it up in the center of the lot outside the Shack. From there, they went ahead and planted a bunch of fireworks inside the box with Stan's help, making sure they were pointed upward toward the night sky. Ford, Soos, Melody, and Abuelita stood back by the Shack waiting as they got everything set up.

"There! That should be all of them," Stan told the twins as he stepped back away from the box to join the others by the Shack.

"Dipper?" Mabel prompted.

Dipper pulled the zombie spell out from his hoodie and unfolded it before walking over to the box and placing it back inside with the rest of Ford's stuff.

"There we go. No more resurrections after this," he said with a smile.

"It's for the best," Mabel said.

"Agreed."

"We're all set!" Mabel announced as she walked back to the others. "Grunkle Ford, would you like to do the honors?"

Ford smiled appreciatively. "It would be a pleasure."

As Dipper and Mabel got back, he stepped forward until he was close enough to the box. At that moment, he dove a hand into his coat and pulled out his flamethrower once again. He then put on the same safety goggles he wore earlier before wielding the flamethrower in hand and aiming it forward at the box. With a finger wrapped around the trigger readily, he waited for clearance.

"Alright!" Mabel called out to him. "Let her rip!"

As ordered, Ford pulled the trigger, which immediately shot a giant, burning blast of fire that extended just far enough to touch the box. He kept the trigger held for a moment to ensure that whatever fire he started was actually able to last. After the moment passed, he let go of the trigger and aimed the flamethrower downward as the blast dissipated.

The box was set entirely ablaze, allowing for all the contents inside of it to slowly burn or melt apart. The zombie spell page at the very top burnt up quite fast, ensuring it could never be used again by anyone else.

As for the fireworks, all of the different fuses had been lit at different times. Soon enough, they started to go off, launching one by one into the air and bursting into big, colorful sparks that gloriously lit up the night sky with every burst. Everybody by the Shack cheered as they stood by and just enjoyed the show.

"Muy bonita," Abuelita said as she watched, folding her hands together happily.

"Amazing," Soos said with sparkling eyes. "What do you think, Melody?"

"It's beautiful," she nodded in agreement. "Though, I should probably ask- is any of this legal?"

"Haha! Absolutely not," Stan chuckled.

To the side, Dipper took his phone out from his pocket and pointed it upward at the fireworks. He snapped a quick picture before typing up a message, which Mabel noticed as she turned to him for a brief second.

"Wow, actually using your phone for once?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Forget about zombies. That might just be the weirdest thing I've seen today."

"I'm just sending Wendy a photo. Sharing the moment since she can't be here and all," he told her amidst his typing.

"Awwwww! How considerate of you!"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Can't just normally talk about her now without you making a big deal out of it."

"I'm just kidding around. Just tell her I said hi."

"Uh oh. Too late," he said just as he placed his phone back into his hoodie pocket. "Already pocketed my phone. You gotta text her yourself now."

"Dang it, fine," she settled as she went ahead and pulled out her phone. "Probably for the better anyway. Can't have her thinking you're the only friend thinking about her."

"Well, I still did it first, and I hardly use my phone, so ha."

"aNd I hArDLy uSe mY pHonE! Cuz I'm a huge dork! HUR HUR!" she said mockingly while typing up her own text message.

"Oh, laugh it up," he said as he sat down on the porch exhaustedly. "But man, what a day."

"I know, right?" she agreed, sitting down next to him after sending her text. "By the way, I'm sorry for being a screw-up earlier and killing 2 Def I. Things probably could've gone a lot smoother had I used my brain there."

"I think the same could be said about a lot of the things you do."

"Eh, you're not wrong," she said with a shrug.

"But it's alright. Looking back, I don't think it would've mattered either way. Thompson needed new friends. It's a shame things didn't go the way he wanted, but hey, at least something worked out for him in the end."

"Yeah, and as ridiculous as it may have been, at least we got the chance to rock out!" she said, making hand horns and raising them in the air.

Dipper chuckled. "Yeah, I'll give you that. I guess doing that concert was kind of fun, all things considered."

"You bet! We could pass for real rock stars any day! Heck, I could still feel the adrenaline seeping through me!"

She then reached a hand backward and picked up Jackson's guitar from earlier. Holding it over her shoulder by the neck, she then hacked the body down against the ground, obliterating it with a single slam. The body now just barely hung onto the neck by the attached strings.

"BA-BAM!" she shouted energetically as she held the now-destroyed guitar.

"Mabel! That was a rental!" Dipper said, wrapping his hands around his head apprehensively.

Hearing this, her eyes bulged as her energy quickly dialed down. She silently stared at the guitar for a good moment as she began to regret her decision.

"Uhh… Soos will pay for it."

---

In a small apartment close to the sprawling streets of Downtown Portland, Wendy stood by one of her shelves with a box in hand. From the box, she took out a framed photo of her and her family at her graduation, setting it right in the middle of the shelf beside a childhood photo of her and her mom.

She then put up a framed photo of her, Tambry, Lee, Nate, Robbie, and Thompson having a laugh at prom. She remembered it was one of the few times she bothered putting any major effort into her appearance. Still, she wore a simple light green dress without too much flair and just straightened her hair out. Tambry went a little more with it, wearing a slightly more enticing sparkly purple gown. The guys, of course, wore tuxes, though she vividly recalled Thompson suffocating in his. And of course, in the background, there were the firefighters putting out the fire in the hotel where the dance was happening. Just looking at the picture again, she softly chuckled at the general absurdity of the whole thing while shaking her head.

Lastly, she put up a framed photo from four summers ago. It was an old selfie Mabel took while she was on the job. She looked at herself waving at the camera behind the register as a nervous Dipper eyeballed her from the seat next to her. Soos was caught in the middle of the shot sweeping next to the register. He must not have been aware a photo was being taken because the camera caught him with his mouth wide open and his eyes partially closed. In the very back of the photo, Stan was caught with his fist raised as he angrily yelled at them all to get back to work. She chuckled a little harder at that one as she put it up at the end of the shelf.

Once she was done, she threw the box to the side on top of a stack of already empty boxes. It took her just about the entirety of the past four days, but it looked as though she was finally done unpacking into her new place. Exhausted, she walked over to her bed and just threw herself backward on top of it.

Bzzz.

Sitting up slightly, she dug into her pocket and took out her phone. Opening up the home screen, she went into her messages to see a new text from Dipper. He had sent a photo of fireworks going off right in front of the Shack.

Dipper: Happy Independence Day, Wendy! Hope you're doing alright over there. We're really missing you over here.

Bzzz.

Not even two seconds after she finished reading his text, she got another message from Mabel.

Mabel: hey Wendy! just texting to say hi because Dipper was being a butt. could you tell him to not be a butt? he likes listening to you more than me. anyway, hope ur living life and partying hard (but not TOO hard) over in Portland! p.s. lmk what a brisket tastes like. miss youuuu!

"Pfft…" she chuckled softly to herself. With a wistful smile, she typed up a response directed to both of them at once.

Wendy: Miss you guys too

She sent the message to both of them before turning off her phone screen and placing it over to the side. From her bed, she then looked out the window to the side and watched as fireworks started to launch in the sky from somewhere across town, likely from a nearby park. As they went off, she lay back in her bed with her hands resting behind her head. She stared out the window for a few seconds more before shutting her eyes peacefully.

Undoubtedly, she would visit her friends and family once more in her dreams before the start of her new life in Portland truly began.

---

20-8-15-19-5 23-8-15 12-9-22-5 20-15 12-5-1-18-14 13-21-19-20 12-5-1-18-14 20-15 12-15-19-5

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(Chapter updated as of March 27, 2024)