"What do we do, Chadley? I thought they were dead!"
"Far worse, Trixandra! They're... Nearly Almost Dead But Not Quite!"
" AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!! "
Dipper rolled his eyes as he and Wendy lounged on the girl's bed, watching a terrible old monster movie. Despite his attitude toward the film, he wore an easy smile on his face. He'd finally managed to have a hang-out time with just himself and Wendy, and just as promised, they were watching a crummy old film and making fun of it relentlessly. Well, not exactly as promised. Turns out Manly Dan had accidentally smashed Wendy's copy of Mystery Science Theater 3000 a week back. The redhead hadn't taken that news well, and a fist-sized hole in the wall proved it. Still, the two were having fun together, and that was what mattered to Dipper.
"Man," the boy said, "these movies are a lot less scary when you've fought real zombies."
Oh yeah, Stan had hosted a karaoke party a few days back in which zombies had attacked, the twins found out Stan knew about Gravity Falls' weirdness the whole time, and the three of them had to defeat the zombies with the power of music, and they had to de-zombify Soos. That had been an interesting day.
"They're slow!" Wendy told the characters on the screen. "Just power-walk away from them!"
"How much do you want to bet that guy dies first?" Dipper asked, pointing at Chadley.
"Aah!" Chadley exclaimed not four seconds later. "My face is being eaten a lot!"
"Called it," Dipper said. "What do I win?"
"The grand prize of..." Wendy said, doing a drumroll with her hands. "... Getting to watch the rest of the movie."
"I think Chadley got a better prize," Dipper commented dryly.
"I don't know about that," Wendy said. "Chadley ain't pretty no more."
As the two chuckled at the ruining of Chadley's modeling career, Wendy's phone buzzed. She pulled out the device and checked it, immediately frowning at the notification.
"Ugh," she groaned, "another text from Robbie!"
Dipper tried not to visibly react at the mention of the teen. "Right, Robbie. How's, uh... how's all that going? Still giving him the cold shoulder?"
"Dude, I've been giving him the arctic shoulder," Wendy responded. "The guy just can't take the hint! We. Are. Done. I don't know how long it'll take for him to figure out I'm serious, but it can't happen soon enough. And I mean, look at some of these texts!"
She showed Dipper her phone, and he quirked an eyebrow at some.
"... Winky frown?" Dipper asked. "What does that even mean?"
"You're askin' the wrong girl," Wendy said with a shrug. "Some of these texts are kinda creepy. He acts like we were a couple or something."
At that Dipper looked away awkwardly, knowing what he wanted to say, but not sure if he should. He decided to hesitantly test the waters for the moment instead.
"You... You know he wanted to ask you out, right?" Dipper asked carefully.
Wendy scoffed. "Pretty sure everyone in our school knew that. Robbie doesn't do 'subtle', ya know?"
Dipper nodded. "You... thought about going out with anyone?"
"Yeah man," Wendy said as she grabbed a stuffed walrus. "Meet my new boyfriend."
Dipper laughed, trying hard to make it sound natural. He battled with himself for a moment, before finally deciding to speak.
"... Hey," he started, "so, I was wondering if maybe... you, ah... wanted to..."
Dipper bit his lip for a moment, before finally giving up.
"... wanted to join me and Mabel on this mystery hunt?" Dipper said, trying not to let his disappointment show. "Tomorrow? Conspiracy stuff, and all that?"
"Yeah, dude," Wendy said, lightly punching the boy in the arm with a smirk. "I love doing all that junk with friends- Yo Chadley, watch out!"
"Yeah," Dipper mumbled as he turned back to the movie, thoughts elsewhere. ' Friends... '
[Later the next day]
"Thanks for coming, everyone," Dipper said to his investigation team of Mabel, Soos, and Wendy.
The gang had met in the woods near the Mystery Shack, per Dipper's instructions. After realizing that the Journal pages contained invisible ink messages during the earlier zombie attack (and after getting Journal 2 and 3 back from Stan), Dipper went through all the pages again and found something very interesting.
"We're here to solve several mysteries," Dipper continued. "The biggest one; who wrote the Journals? Thirty years ago the Author vanished without a trace. But according to a secret passage in Journal 3, the Author had a secret bunker buried right under this tree. Neither Journal is very clear about what the bunker's purpose was, or what's down there. It could be Journal 1, or a clue about who the Author is, or who was after him. Maybe even the Author himself."
"Dude, you weren't kidding about the conspiracy stuff," Wendy said with a grin. "This is awesome! Anything else we need to know?"
"Yeah," Dipper answered with a nod. "Like I said, the Journals don't have a lot of details on the bunker, but Journal 2 does mention one thing. Apparently, the Author kept something down there. A creature of some kind. It doesn't say much about it, except for that the creature is a shapeshifter."
"A shapeshifter?" Mabel asked "So like, living playdough?"
"Maybe," Dipper said. "I'm not sure what it's like, if it's hostile or not, or if it's even still alive after thirty years down there. But we need to be ready for anything."
"Glad I brought this thing then," Wendy said as she twirled her ax in her hand.
Dipper nodded, giving the redhead a smile. "Alright, Step One: We need to find the entrance to the bunker. Knowing the Author, it's probably some kind of hidden switch. Everyone fan out and starting looking for anything that looks man-made."
Wendy and Soos nodded, each walking off to look for a secret switch of some kind. Mabel meanwhile, was giving her brother a sly look that he didn't like one bit.
"So," Mabel said in a low tone as she walked up to her brother. "Inviting Wendy on our mission? Me thinks there's romance afoot."
"No," Dipper said in an equally quiet voice, glancing around to see that they weren't being overheard. "Look, I've thought this through and I'm over Wendy.
Mabel rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Right, you've 'gotten over' Wendy. Allow me to put on my skepticals."
"I'm serious, Mabel," Dipper growled. "I've looked at it from every angle, and that thing was going nowhere. I'm too young to even have a chance with her. I like being friends with her, and I'm not going to ruin that by chasing after some crush that's never would have amounted to anything."
"Skepticals..." Mabel repeated, squinting at her brother as she made rings around her eyes with her hands.
Dipper shoved his sister as he walked off. "I've moved on, Mabel. You should too."
Mabel was about to say something to her brother, when she was cut off by a shout.
"Hey guys!" Wendy called, getting the group's attention. "Is it just me, or does that branch kinda look like a lever?"
Dipper glanced up to where the redhead was pointing, and saw a branch near the top of the tree that did look suspiciously metallic where it connected to the tree.
"Good find," Dipper said with a nod. "Now, how do we get-?"
The boy was cut off by Wendy flinging her ax up into the air. It struck the bottom of the fake branch, knocking the lever up, and the ax fell back to the ground. Eyes closed, Wendy stuck her arm out and snatched the tool out of the air. She opened her eyes and cracked a cocky smirk.
"Boosh," Wendy said, slinging the ax over her shoulder.
"Whoa ho-ho!" Soos exclaimed.
"Wow!" Mabel gasped in awe.
Dipper nodded, impressed. "Okay, that works."
"Oh yeah," Wendy said with a casual shrug, "my dad used to make me compete in these lumberjack games when I was a kid. Guess I kinda ruled at it."
The tree suddenly began shaking, scaring off birds. The group took a few steps back as the ground vibrated under their feet. They watched as the tree and the dirt immediately surrounding it sank into the earth. They took a few hesitant steps closer, ready to get back if more ground gave way. They saw the tree stop, and the base of the trunk opened up, revealing a new doorway to further below. At the same time, planks stuck out from the walls of the hole, forming a staircase down.
"Alright guys," Dipper said, looking at the rest of the group, "looks like this is it. Remember, whatever happens down there, we tell no one."
Mabel gave her brother a thumbs up, and Soos gained a determined look as he turned his cap around. Wendy gave Dipper a smile, and zipped her lips shut. Dipper smiled back and mirrored the motion, before turning back to the stairs.
"Let's go."
The four of them descended into the pit, and entered the fake tree. They continued down another dark staircase for a bit, cobwebs caking the walls. When they reached the bottom, they stepped out into a room and...
"Whoa!" Mabel and Soos gasped.
The group looked around the room. There was an old cot, various boxes and cans, and a cabinet labeled "Weapons".
"This is so, stupid cool!" Wendy marveled as she looked at a "Fallout Shelter" poster on the wall. "This is going over my bed."
Dipper observed as he looked at a shelf filled with boxes of food supplies. "It's like he was preparing for a disaster. But what kind of disaster would need supplies for over sixty years? These go all the way 2070."
"Oh my gosh!" Soos exclaimed as he opened a locker. "A Smez dispenser! I remember these things. What's that? Yes, I will have some of your old-timey face food."
Soos munched a piece of the candy, but then winced.
"Ew, dusty!" the handyman muttered, before eating a second piece.
"Guys," Dipper announced as he picked up a dripping bean can. "I think this can was opened recently."
"The Author might still be alive down here!" Soos exclaimed excitedly.
"Wait a minute..." Wendy said, grabbing everyone's attention.
The redhead walked over to an old map of Gravity Falls. She saw the map shaking, and felt a slight breeze blowing out from behind it. She pulled the map off of the wall, and revealed an open emergency hatch in the wall. She pulled the hatch open wider, exposing a tunnel.
"I think I know where he might have gone," Wendy said.
The group began crawling through the tunnel. It was a bit cramped, especially for the two bigger people, but they soon made it out the other side.
"Whoa!" Wendy said as she emerged in a box room with numerous symbols on the walls and floor. "Oh, man! Was this place built in the past or the future?"
Dipper's eyes widened as he saw the room. "Everyone, stop!"
The other three froze, all looking at the boy.
"I read about this place," Dipper explained quickly as he flipped through Journal 3. "Right here! It says this is some kind of security room meant to keep out intruders. The symbols on the floor are booby trapped. If you step on the wrong one it'll cause the walls to close in and crush us. Be extremely careful where you step."
The rest of the group gulped and nodded at the news, none eager to be flattened into human pancakes.
"Okay," Dipper breathed, before looking at the page with the black light. "It looks like to open the door out of here, we need to hit these four symbols. Everyone take one, and watch where you step."
The four carefully tiptoed around the room. Dipper and Mabel each took one symbol on the floor, while Soos hit the one on the wall. Wendy looked up, spotting the last one on the ceiling, just out of reach. With careful aim, she threw her ax at the pressure panel. The blunt edge struck it, pressing the final button. The ax fell, hit the ground in between two of the rigged panels, and bounced right back into her waiting hand.
Dipper let out an impressed whistle. "You really do rule at that."
Wendy shot the boy a smile, and the group carefully made their way to the newly opened door.
"Whew," Wendy breathed as they made it to the safety of the next room. "Okay, that was crazy stressful. Good work with those books, Dipper."
Dipper awkwardly scratched the back of his head, looking away.
"Yeah, well..." Dipper started. "Good work with your ninja-lumberjack skills."
"Thanks, man," Wendy responded, before her attention was taken by the new location. "Get a load of this crazy Surveillance Room."
While the redhead watched Soos play around with some beakers, Mabel pulled her brother back, giving him a smug grin.
"What is it, Mabel?" Dipper asked. "We need to look aro-"
"'Uh, uh, I'm totally over Wendy!'" Mabel said in a mocking voice of her brother. "'I'm just gonna flirt with her the whole time we're down here! Wendy, you're my waifu!'"
"Would you keep it down?" Dipper hissed, checking to make sure they hadn't been overheard.
"C'mon, Bro!" Mabel insisted. "You obviously aren't 'over' her! I bet the whole reason you asked her here was because you wanted to ask her to go on a date, but chickened out."
Dipper looked away.
"I knew it!" Mabel squealed quietly. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!"
"Shut up!" Dipper whisper-growled, clamping his hand over his sister's mouth. "Alright, fine. I was going to ask her out, but I changed my mind. It's a bad idea. I'd just embarrass myself and then I'd be another guy she hates, like Robbie."
"Dipper, you should just tell her already," Mabel said. "One way or another, you'll feel better afterwards."
"Look, Mabel," Dipper said firmly, "I'm not going to tell her, so just drop it."
"Dude!"
The twins looked over and saw Wendy standing in a steel compartment of some kind.
"Dipper, you gotta check out this weird metal closet," she said, before swapping into a robot voice. "I am a robot, I have a metal closet."
"Coming!" Dipper called to the redhead, before glaring at his sister. "This never happened."
Mabel watched as her brother walked up to his crush and joked with her about the closet-thingy, frowning at the sight.
' He wants to tell her, but he's scared! ' she thought. ' Maybe he needs a little push? Good idea, Mabel. Thanks, Mabel! '
At that, Mabel ran up to Dipper and hugged him from behind.
"Brother," she whispered in his ear, "whatever happens, I just need you to know something: this is for your own good."
The boy got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Mabel, what are you-?"
Without warning, Mabel shoved Dipper into the closet with Wendy, and slammed the heavy metal door shut behind them.
"MABEL!" Dipper shouted. "Let us out! NOW!!!"
"Oh, I'll let you out Dipper," Mabel said through the door. "As soon as you tell Wendy that thing you've been wanting to tell her! You'll thank me for this later!"
"What is she talking about?" Wendy asked, feeling for the walls in the pitch-black space.
"Nothing..." Dipper growled through gritted teeth. "Mabel's just been eating raw sugar packets again."
"That's besides the point!" Mabel insisted as she pulled out a sugar packet and ripped it open.
"MABEL!!!" Dipper shouted as he pounded on the door.
"Where are the lights?" Wendy muttered as she felt around.
As she moved, the redhead felt a cord of some kind hit her face. Thinking it might be for the lights, she pulled it. But instead of illuminating the room, the two occupants were suddenly doused in water. Before they could even wonder what had just happened, a powerful blast of hot air shot out from the walls, drying them off in an instant. The two stumbled into each other, and a sign in the chamber flashed to life, saying "Decontamination Complete". Behind them, another door opened, revealing a new room.
The two stepped out, Dipper turning on the flashlight he'd been carrying, and they began looking around the new area. It appeared to be a roughly dug out cave system, with various pipes and machinery on the walls near the door.
"Whoa!" Wendy marveled. "A hidden lab! You think that Author guy did some crazy experiments down here?"
Dipper paused, looking down at something with great concern. "I'm more worried about what did that."
Wendy looked at where the boy was pointing the light, and saw a metal cage.
One that had been ripped apart.
From the inside out.
"Huh..." the redhead muttered as she backed away. "Think that was the shapeshifter thing your Journal talked about?"
"Let's hope we don't find out," Dipper answered.
At that, the two heard a growling sound echo through the tunnels. The looked and saw a dark shadow shaped like a large creature peek out at them. Their eyes widened and they ran back to the decontamination chamber.
"Mabel, open up, for real!" Dipper shouted as he pounded on the door. "The shapeshifter's in here!"
"Ha ha, nice try!" Mabel laughed as she held the door firmly in place. "The only monsters are your own inner demons, Dipper!"
"That is so wise," Soos said to the girl.
"Dipper, just say whatever Mabel wants you to say so she'll let us out of here!" Wendy exclaimed, eyes darting back to the distant shape slowly getting closer.
"Come on, Dipper!" Mabel said. "Now's the time, Bro!"
Dipper's eyes widened. He glanced at the door, the shape, and Wendy. He swallowed hard, and tried to speak, but found he couldn't. No matter what, he couldn't say it.
"We'll figure something else out," he declared as he grabbed Wendy's wrist and dragged her off. "Let's go!"
"Wait, what?!" Wendy asked in surprise as they began running down on of the tunnels. "Dude, where are we going!?"
The two dashed for a bit, Dipper trying to get away from the monster, but they quickly reached a dead end.
"What do we do?" Wendy asked, frantically.
"I- uh..." Dipper stuttered.
No stalagmites to hide behind, no electrical cables, a not very bright flashlight, no weapons save for Wendy's ax, which could very well do nothing against a shapeshifter.
No good options.
"We- ah... We have to fi-!"
Suddenly, the two heard a human sounding grunt. From around the corner, the saw the monster's shadow, and the shadow of a man on top of it, punching and wrestling the creature into submission.
"Back!" a voice cried out. "Back, you heinous beast!"
With a fleshy tearing sound, the creature let out a pained shriek and seemed to run off. At that a gruff-looking older man wearing a beaten up trench coat and goggles walked out from around the corner, facing the two.
"Well," the old man said, "I just ripped out a monster's tongue."
At that, he threw said appendage on the ground in front of the two.
"Ew..." Wendy muttered at the sight, trying not to focus on the nauseating smell coming from the severed tongue.
"Hurry now," the stranger said, ushering them forward. "I scared it off, but it'll regenerate."
Dipper and Wendy, not really having any better options, followed the man down the tunnel back to where the decontamination chamber was.
"I wasn't expecting guests," the stranger said. "I've been down here for a very long time. Years! Weeks, maybe! I miss orange juice..."
Dipper considered how to respond to the old man. On the one hand, this seemed like the answer to all his questions. A man trapped down here for decades? It had to be the Author. And yet...
"What was that thing?" Dipper asked.
Wendy gave her friend a confused look. Weren't they both pretty sure it was a shapeshifter? Did he feel the need to clarify, or-?
She noticed Dipper was giving her a look, silently urging her not to say anything. Wendy got the message and decided to play along.
"It's one of my experiments, a shapeshifter," the man explained. "Able to take the form of anyone or anything it sees. It broke free from a cage of solid steel!"
At that he gestured to the ripped apart cage they had seen earlier, before leading the two down another tunnel.
"I've gone half crazy trying to catch the creature alone," the man continued. "But now you're here!"
The man paused and knelt down to be face-to-face with Dipper. He looked at the boy before him, lifted his goggles, and gave Dipper a hopeful smile.
"Will you help me catch it?" he asked the boy.
Dipper's fist clenched, before giving an energetic nod.
"You can count on me!" he answered excitedly.
[Meanwhile]
"Sure are taking their time in there," Soos commented as he slipped on a white coat and grabbed a case. "Hey, do I look smarter with this coat and briefcase? I feel like I look smarter..."
"Razzle dazzle!" Mabel exclaimed. "Look at this tube-y thing!"
Soos walked over and saw a monitor displaying footage of a containment tube. As Mabel pressed a button, the inside of the tube became encased in ice. With another press, the tube was thawed out in an instant.
"Frozen! Unfrozen! Frozen! Unfrozen!" Mabel repeated happily, before seeing a note on the dashboard near the controls. "What's this? 'Experiment number 210: "The Shapeshifter". Became too dangerous! Placed in cryogenic stasis.'"
"That monster thing-a-ma-hoosit Dipper read about in the Journals?" Soos asked.
"Guess it really was dangerous after all," Mabel muttered, before a thought occurred. "Uh, Soos? This thing says it was frozen, but there wasn't anything in the tube when I started messing with it. And the one next to it is broken."
Soos' face fell. "Didn't Dipper say there was a monster in there with them?"
Mabel gasped. "I thought he was just joking!"
"YOU KNOW DIPPER'S JOKES ARE TERRIBLE!" Soos exclaimed.
"DIPPER!!!"
[Back with Dipper and Wendy]
Wendy knew something was up.
Dipper kept asking the Author(?) Questions. He seemed overly excited, and just... not Dipper, Yet whenever the mysterious stranger wasn't looking, he'd shoot her a grave look that didn't match his tone. His message was clear: let him do the talking, because something wasn't right. And, Wendy admitted to herself, while she wasn't as smart as Dipper, it didn't take a genius to figure out what his suspicions were.
They just so happened to run into the Author at the exact right time while a shapeshifter was on the loose? The Author thought a cage with bars could hold a creature capable of changing its shape at will? Yeah right.
Wendy glanced around as they walked, taking note of their surrounding to make sure they didn't get lost. Aside from the various tunnel openings they passed, she also saw a large pressurized pipe labeled "H 2 0", and an assortment of scattered bean cans, empty of their-
Wait.
... Uh oh.
Wendy elbowed Dipper in the side as the man led them down the tunnel, gesturing with her head at the discarded bean cans. He looked, and saw what had she'd noticed.
The man on the cans was the exact same as the man leading them deeper underground.
' Well... ' Dipper thought. ' This sucks... '
"I apologize for the state of things!" the "old man" rambled. "I don't get many non-mole people visitors. Now, the beast must have some weakness we can exploit! I just wish I had my research on me. But alas, I lost my Journals so many years ago..."
Dipper swallowed. And now he was fishing for the Journals. Probably figured no one could've found this place without them. And the fact he was feigning ignorance over that, almost prompting Dipper to speak up...
Well, fine then.
"Dude! I found one of them!" Dipper exclaimed in the same faux-enthusiasm as before, letting Wendy know this was a part of his plan. "That's how I tracked you down here."
At that, he pulled Journal 3 out of his jacket, showing it to the man.
"What?!" the man exclaimed. "Could it be-? My boy! I can't express my gratitude!"
Dipper handed the old man the Journal, and both he and Wendy noticed the stranger's smile grow just a touch more sinister upon holding it.
"Oh yes," the man chuckled to himself, "after all these years-"
As the stranger opened the Journal, he was cut off by a surging mass of pink exploding out of the Journal's pages, his face coated in the sticky substance. The "man" let out an inhuman wail at the trick, the sound echoing through the tunnels as Dipper and Wendy ran back to where they started.
' Glad Mabel talked me into keeping one of these bomb books on me, ' Dipper thought as he ran. ' You really never do know when you'll need one. '
The Shapeshifter howled as he ripped the Mabel Soup off his face, also ripping off his skin and muscle at the same time. The disfigured flesh quickly liquified, turning into an off-white goo as the Shapeshifter reverted to his true form.
" You're not going anywhere! " the monster roared.
It shifted to the form of a giant cross between a rolly-polly and a centipede, and rolled after the two humans like a certain famous blue hedgehog.
Dipper and Wendy ran through the tunnels, hearing the distant thunderous rumbling approaching them from behind.
"We can't let him get the Journals! " Dipper said frantically. "If he gets access to all those forms, there's no way we could stop him! "
The two found themselves at a fork in the road, as it were. The one on the left would take them back to the exit, but the Shapeshifter probably expected them to go that way, and from the sound of things, it was gaining on them. The one on the right went deeper underground. If they could just trick him into going that way...
Dipper quickly shoved Wendy around the corner of the left tunnel. Once she was out of sight, he threw his flashlight down the tunnel on the right before joining her in hiding.
The Shapeshifter reached the fork, stopping to look at the tunnel on the right. He saw the light from the flashlight descend the path, quickly leaving sight. The monster chased after it, leaving Dipper and Wendy behind.
The two smiled at each other, before turning around to keep running to the exit. They didn't make it far before crashing into Mabel and Soos.
"Guys!" Wendy exclaimed as the four picked themselves up.
"Wait!" Dipper cautioned, pulling Wendy back. "How do we know they're not the Shapeshifter?"
"Maybe I am..." Soos said, as if he'd just asked himself a huge metaphysical question as he pulled up his shirt and exposed his belly. "Mabel, inspect my shape!"
"Poke!" Mabel said with a goofy grin as she poked Soos' stomach.
Soos laughed. "Do that again!"
"Poke!"
"Even better the second time!"
"Okay, its them," Dipper deadpanned, before looking at Wendy. "Your knee!"
Wendy looked down, and hissed as she saw her jeans had been ripped at her right knee, and her joint had a nasty-looking gash. Now that she actually felt it, it didn't seem that bad, but it would sting like a mother, and she'd need to get it cleaned the first chance she got.
"It's cool, it's cool," Wendy muttered as she took off her jacket. "I've had worse. I'll be fine."
"What happened?" Mabel asked.
"We got attacked by the Shapeshifter," Wendy explained as she ripped the sleeve off of her plaid button up, using the cloth as a makeshift covering for her knee. "He broke out of his cage, pretended to be the Author, and wants Dipper's Journals."
"We saw where he broke out of," Mabel chimed in. "Looks like the Author tried stick him in some freezy-tube, but it stopped working and he got out."
"Makes sense," Dipper said, thinking the info over. "Sticking him in cryo seems like the best way to contain him. Any chance we can get that tube working again?"
"Don't need to," Mabel answered. "There's another one that still works."
"Good," Dipper said with a nod. "We have to trap him here and now. Imagine if he escaped into town. We could never trust anyone ever again."
"Okay," Mabel agreed. "What's the plan?"
"Well," Wendy said as she tied the remains of her shirt around her waist, "he took us into his home, tricked us, and tried to destroy us."
She looked at her companions with a serious glare.
"I say we return the favor."
[Meanwhile]
The Shapeshifter emerged in the cryostasis room, turning back into his human form.
"Dipper, my boy!" he called. "Come out!"
At the lack of response, his form warped a bit, before resettling.
"I must speak with you!" he shouted, anger seeping into his voice.
The Shapeshifter growled, transforming into a large bug-like creature with a fist for a head.
" Reveal yourself, you single-formed human weakling! " the creature boomed, punching the ground with his head.
"Oh boy, Dipper," Mabel said loudly as she and her brother entered the room. "That book sure is full of some great monsters!"
" There you are! " the Shapeshifter exclaimed, turning to the twins. " Ooh, and a new one. Should I be one...? "
At that, the monster shifted into a perfect copy of Mabel.
" Or the other...? "
It suddenly changed into a copy of Dipper, eyes widening, an evil grin growing as a thought occurred.
" How about both!? "
In an instant, the creature became a six-legged spider amalgam of the twins, roaring out of both their now saber-toothed mouths. The two ran back into the tunnel, the Shapeshifter giving chase. As they ran they eventually passed Soos and Wendy, who were ready to turn a release valve for the water pipe Wendy had spotted earlier. The twins stopped and turned around, just in time to see the Shapeshifter round the corner.
"Now!" Dipper shouted.
Wendy and Soos tried turning the valve, but panicked when they realized the old thing was stuck in place.
"It's not working, dude!" Soos exclaimed.
Dipper's face paled. So much for their plan.
Having caught up, the Shapeshifter shot out his frog-like tongue, which stuck right onto Dipper's letterman. He tried to plant himself in place, and Mabel held onto her brother to keep him steady, but the Shapeshifter was stronger that the two of them.
"You leave him alone!" Wendy shouted, leaving the valve to help her friend.
The redhead grabbed the tongue, trying to pull it off of Dipper's jacket. She succeeded, but found herself being yanked back to the Shapeshifter. Adjusting herself in mid-air, she managed to land on the grotesque body. She quickly whipped out her ax, about to strike the monster, when Soos finally got the valve to turn.
Out of the pipe came an explosion of water, much bigger than anyone had expected. Wendy and the Shapeshifter were struck head-on, rocketed down the tunnel, and the ensuing flood dragging the twins and Soos along with them. Wendy tried to swim up for air but instead crashed hard into a submerged stalagmite, the air being knocked out of her lungs.
Dipper gasped for air as the water drained down the tunnel. He glanced around. Mabel and Soos were there, coughing up water. They hadn't gone too far from the pipe, which had seemed to run out of water- The Journal!
Dipper frantically felt inside his Jacket and pulled out Journal 2, Journal 3 was nowhere to be found. His eyes darted around for the missing book, praying the Shapeshifter didn't get it. He didn't find the Journal, but he did find Wendy's ax.
And no Wendy.
Dipper's eyes widened. He grabbed the ax and ran down the tunnel.
"Wendy!" he shouted as he made it back to the cryo tubes. "Wendy!"
The boy gasped at the sight of the redhead, sprawled out on the ground. Her eyes were closed, non-responsive. Dipper looked to her chest and felt his stomach drop when he didn't see it rise and fall.
She was completely, deathly still.
"No..." Dipper breathed. "No, no-no-no...!"
The boy put his hand over his mouth, trying to keep himself from losing his lunch at the sight. He looked away, before forcing his eyes back to the body.
"No..." Dipper repeated. "No, this can't be... This is all my fau-"
"Uh, Dipper?"
The boy whipped his head around, looking for the source of the voice. Behind him stood the redhead, Journal 3 in hand. She looked a little more banged up, but other than that fine, and certainly not dead.
"Wendy!?" Dipper exclaimed, relief spreading on his face, until the realization hit. "Uh oh-"
Dipper was cut off by the previously dead Wendy knocking him aside as she rushed at the other Wendy.
"Give me that Journal!" the charging Wendy growled.
"Never!" the other Wendy shouted back.
Dipper picked himself up off the ground, looking at the doubles fighting. Each one had a grip on the Journal, and were rolling over each other. He had only looked away for a moment, and yet he already had completely lost track of who was who. He saw the two get to their feet, playing tug of war with the book.
"Give it back, it belongs to Dipper!" one of the Wendy's shouted, before turning to the boy. "Hit her with the ax!"
Dipper looked down at his hand, realizing he was still holding the ax. He looked back up at the two, eyes darting back and forth between them.
"Don't listen to her, Dipper!" the other Wendy shouted.
"She's the Shapeshifter!" the first yelled.
Dipper kept looking between them. He couldn't tell which was which, and he couldn't get this wrong. How could he-? Wait. The Wendy on his right staggered. Her knee, the injured knee! Dipper looked at the other Wendy. Sure enough, Wendy was putting all her weight on her supposedly injured knee. Of course! The Shapeshifter couldn't see the wound, he didn't know Wendy's knee had been cut! That meant the one on the left...
"Take this!" Dipper shouted as he threw the ax at the Wendy on his right.
The left Wendy smirked maliciously and thrust her right arm out at Dipper. The arm exploded forward as a mass of pale goo that formed into an enormous fist, shooting out to flatten the boy. Unfortunately for the Shapeshifter, his attention left the real Wendy for the moment. With practiced ease, she caught the ax out of the air with one hand, and swung it right down into her deformed double's leg, green slime spurting out of the thigh.
The fake Wendy let out a pained shriek, the extending arm falling limp before it could strike Dipper. The Shapeshifter growled, glaring back at Wendy. The arm still holding onto the Journal suddenly turned to the off-white goop, before expanding around Wendy. With a snarl, the Shapeshifter's arm threw Wendy up.
"GRAGH!!!" Wendy choked out as she was crushed between the large morphing hand and the stone ceiling.
At the impact, Wendy dropped the ax. Dipper rushed forward, catching the weapon out of the air a mere foot from the Shapeshifter. With a mighty swing, Dipper sunk the ax into the fake Wendy's gut, spilling more green slime.
The monster howled in pain, arm holding Wendy up falling slack from the strike. Dipper yanked the ax out of the Shapeshifter and tossed it straight up as the redhead fell. Wendy caught her trusty tree chopper, and used her fall to bury the blade in her copy's head as she came down.
"Now!" Dipper shouted once Wendy was back on her feet.
The girl ripped her ax free of the monster's head, the body reverting to the pale paste as it tried to reform. The two didn't give it the chance though, as both Dipper and Wendy simultaneously gave the Shapeshifter a step up front kick straight into the working cryo tube. The two rushed forward and sealed the tube as the monster reverted to its original form. The Shapeshifter was ready to break his way out when Dipper turned to look at a security camera.
"Do it, Mabel!" the boy shouted.
Mabel, who'd been watching the thing on the observation screen, hit the freeze button on the control panel. Just like that, the Shapeshifter was engulfed in subzero temperatures, and the glass door was too fogged up to see through.
Dipper and Wendy looked at each other, relieved that the plan had ultimately worked, until they heard a loud thud from the cryo tube.
" No! " the Shapeshifter roared as it pounded on the glass.
The monster tried turning into a stone monster, with no success. Next he tried a fire monster, trying to fight off the freezing, but that was similarly futile. He returned to his human form for a moment as he continued to beat on the glass.
" LET ME OUT!!! " the Shapeshifter shouted as he went back to his true form, starting to freeze.
Soos and Mabel walked into the room, and saw the Shapeshifter slowly becoming a popsicle. Mabel shuddered at the unsettling sight, and Soos gestured to Dipper and Wendy.
"Let's get out of here, dudes," the handyman said.
"Not yet," Dipper said.
The boy walked straight to the cryo tube, and looked the Shapeshifter dead in the eyes.
"Who is the Author?" Dipper asked. "What did you do to him?"
The Shapeshifter laughed darkly. " You think you're so clever don't you, Dipper? But you have no idea what you're up against. You will never find the Author, and even if you did, that six-fingered nerd hasn't been himself in ages. He can't save you from what's coming. If you keep digging, all you'll find is a fate worse than you can imagine! And this will be the last form you ever take! "
The Shapeshifter morphed into Dipper, and let out a blood-curdling scream of fear and agony as the creature finally froze over.
Dipper stared at the predictor of his future, shell shocked by the image.
"Heh heh," Soos chuckling, breaking the stunned silence. "Good luck sleepin' tonight!"
[Later, outside the Bunker]
The group watched the fake tree rise back up, concealing the bunker yet again.
"Dude, I think I'm kind of adventured out for a little while," Soos said.
"Yeah," Mabel agreed with a nod, "but you gotta admit, we're all total heroes."
"Hey, who wants to get some heroes' breakfast, huh?" Soos asked.
"Syrup on cereal!" Mabel cheered.
"Mabel, you're a visionary!" Soos declared.
The two began walking off, and Wendy was going to follow, but she felt something hold her back. She looked back and saw Dipper grabbing her arm, giving her a conflicted look.
"Hey, Wendy," Dipper spoke, "can we talk for a moment?"
Wendy nodded, and the two sat down on a nearby log. Dipper took a minute to get his thoughts together, before finally saying something.
"I owe you an apology," Dipper told her. "I almost got us both killed just because I couldn't bring myself to say what Mabel wanted me to."
"Hey man, it's fine," Wendy said. "Everything worked out, and if it was really that big a deal, you don't have to say anything. I won't pry."
"No," Dipper said. "I messed up big time with this. It wasn't that big a deal, I just..."
He paused, searching for the right words. There were a few moments where it looked like he was going to speak again, before he shut his mouth and rethought what he would say. Finally, he just looked at Wendy and was a straightforward as he could be.
"I have a crush on you."
Wendy blinked.
"... Ha, ha, good one, man..." she laughed kind of awkwardly, waiting for Dipper to say it was all a joke.
His look let her know he wasn't kidding.
"That's what Mabel wanted me to tell you," Dipper explained, looking away.
"... Ah..." Wendy nodded as she looked forward, thinking things over.
Dipper risked a glance at her. "... Wendy?"
"... Right," Wendy said, bringing herself out of her thoughts. "Sorry, I just... That wasn't what I was expecting. Um... Listen Dipper, I'm like, super flattered, but... I'm too old for you. I mean, you know that, right?"
Dipper nodded, not able to meet the girl's eyes. "I know. That's why I didn't want to say anything. But Mabel was sure that confessing would make me feel better. I swear, I am going to burn all of her romance novels when I get the chance..."
That earned a chuckle from the redhead. "Dude, let me know when. I'll bring the matches."
Her smile shrank a bit, and after a moment of hesitation, she rested her hand on Dipper's shoulder.
"Let me tell you something," Wendy said. "This summer was super boring until you showed up. I have more fun with you than practically anybody else. And if you ever stopped being my friend, I would, like, throw myself into the Bottomless Pit!"
Dipper, despite himself, snickered and the grand gestures his friend was making with her statements. "So things won't be too... awkward, now?"
"I just wrestled myself, dude," Wendy said with a weirded-out expression. "THAT was awkward. If you can handle that monster, you can handle a little awkwardness."
Dipper nodded, before extending a hand with a hesitant smile. "... Friends?"
"Yeah, dude!" Wendy responded, playfully shoving the boy off the log. "Friends!"
The two laughed, Wendy pulling Dipper back up onto the log. After the nice moment, Wendy rose and walked over to her bike parked by a close tree.
"I gotta go," Wendy said as she buckled on her helmet. "I need to get my knee a real bandage. But thanks for everything, Dipper. Today was amazing."
She was about to leave when she turned back to the boy.
"Oh, and hey Dipper?" Wendy spoke. "See you for movie night tomorrow. Your place this time, okay?"
Dipper was surprised by the statement, but nodded, smiling back to the girl. With a nod of her own, she pedalled off, leaving Dipper on his own.
Well, almost on his own.
"Sooo, how did it go?"
"Gah!" Dipper exclaimed, turning to his sister who seemed to appear out of nowhere. "... How much did hear?"
"Everything!" Mabel answered. "All the time!"
At that, Soos poked his head up from some nearby bushes. "I'M NOT HERE!"
Dipper groaned before shouting back, "Haven't you guys ever heard of privacy!?"
"I'm sorry for being so pushy Dipper," Mabel apologized. "If it's any consolation, I'm already working on your list of potential rebound crushes."
"Mabel," Dipper said looking his sister dead in the eye, "I will forgive you right now if you scrap that list and never make another."
"OOO-kay!" Mabel said happily as she pulled out said list and tore it to pieces.
"I'm still bummed we're no closer to finding the Author guy," Soos said as he sat next to the twins. "At least I got his science-y coat and briefcase."
At that, Soos held up the briefcase, showing off its glorious science-y-ness. But in doing so, the latch holding the thing shut broke, and it fell open.
"Whoa!" Soos exclaimed. "What the...?"
Dipper's eyes widened, seeing the insides of the case. "Soos, that's not a briefcase, it's a laptop!"
"And a really busted up one, too," Mabel commented, taking in the cracked screen and several missing keys.
"I bet I could get this thing fixed up in a few days," Soos said. "It's gonna take a lotta duct tape."
"This could be our next clue," Dipper said, holding the device. "Good work, Soos."
Dipper looked at the laptop, curiosity inflamed. He wondered what secrets the old device could hold. In the back of his mind he remembered the Shapeshifter's warning. Trying to find the Author would lead them to more danger. But Dipper was determined to find the truth of this mystery. And together, with his friends and family, he knew he could take on whatever challenge was coming their way.
These were Dipper's thoughts as he looked over the laptops label above the screen that read, "Property of F."