After lunch, the trio left the diner and headed to the Mystery Shack. Much to his discomfort, Dipper's voice had grown slightly quieter when they were out on their patrol. He knew he would probably wake up barely able to talk the next day.

The hot afternoon whizzed by quickly. The three healthy enough to stay in the gift shop did so. Soos fixed up the leaky sink in the bathroom, Wendy lazily managed to sell merchandise without speaking, and Dipper sat boredly on the barrel next to the counter reading his book and watching his redheaded friend out of the corner of his eye. The sunlight shining in the windows caught her hair in an interesting way, and he found himself fascinated at how it still remained shimmery despite her not washing it for a few days. Man, maybe we should tell her it's ok if she wants to shower here.

As soon as it started to get dark outside, Soos yawned and stretched. "Ok, dudes, I'm heading home! Abuelita says she has to take care of me while I recover!"

"See ya, Soos!"

"Yeah, see ya!"

Wendy nodded in his direction and waved. He grinned and waved back to the three sitting on the couch before closing the door. The trio heard his truck start before the noise of gravel crunching and tires indicated that he had left.

"Man, I wish he could stay and keep us company," Mabel yawned before closing her eyes. "It's like an infirmary over here!"

"Hey, that's not-" Dipper broke off to cough, his eyes watering and his voice raspy. Mabel raised an eyebrow. Wendy reached over and patted her friend on the back. As soon as he regained the ability to speak, he gave her a quick smile while trying to look as dignified as possible. "Ok, so maybe it is a little like that."

Mabel nodded superiorly and snuggled down in the small nest of sweaters she had made on the couch to keep Wendy properly bedded. "I'm always right, bro. Hey, I'm going to go hit the sack. You going to stay down here and do nerd research or go to sleep?"

"It's not nerd research, and yes, I'm staying here for another few minutes or so." Dipper stuck his nose back into the book on Oregon wildlife he was reading. "I'm going to find this disease vessel if I have to deal with the flu for the rest of the summer!"

Mabel shrugged and got up off the couch, wrapping her arms around her brother in a quick hug. "Well, go to sleep at some point," she advised, squeezing tightly before letting go and heading up the stairs. "Goodnight!"

"'Night," Dipper called back. He relaxed a bit and allowed his eyes to drift back where he had been. Cougars? Hawks? He had been somewhere in the predatory section…

Wendy coughed a bit and leaned against his shoulder, reading the book as well. Dipper looked up only briefly before allowing his concentration to journey elsewhere, but it seemed that the redhead had other plans. He looked up with a confused look on his face as she tapped his shoulder, mouthing something inaudible. "What was that?"

A swift expression of frustration flashed across the lumberjack's face before she sighed. He perked up his ears and heard her whisper, "Mabel's right. You should get some sleep, dude."

Dipper felt confused for a moment. His best friend was almost always about staying up late and doing stuff, but even she looked tired tonight. After a moment of consideration, he nodded in understanding. "Yeah, maybe you're right. My throat doesn't feel so good."

Wendy cast him a sympathetic look before rotating her body and giving him a hug. "Get well soon, buddy," she murmured. Dipper was glad that the sun had gone down, so that his friend couldn't see the magnificent shade of crimson his face was going. He embraced her back before letting go and getting up off the couch, book in hand. As he left the room, he waved goodnight. His heart did flips as she grinned gratefully and waved back.

As soon as he reached his room, Mabel raised her head. "Finally decided to come up and actually fall asleep, huh?" she asked, snorting.

"Be quiet," he mumbled back. Dipper flopped into his own bed and closed his eyes, not even thinking about what dream may be impending.

This time, everything was green.

Dipper blinked. He'd expect a nightmare to be less… colorful. At least this time, he knew it was a dream, though it wasn't exactly hard to determine. The sky looked like a thousand rolling fields, and the ground like a granite rock face. He got up off the ground and surveyed his surroundings.

All he could see for miles was endless rock, spread out like desert dunes. Like in the dream he had had a couple of nights before, there didn't seem to be any light source except the brilliant sky. It even looked as though it were flowing, like wheat in a humid wind.

He stared about. There didn't seem to be anything wrong in this dream. The rock was smooth, and didn't look all that dangerous, and there were no threats in sight. Despite this, he felt anything but relaxed. It felt as though he could be killed at any moment.

After a few anxious paces, the boy sat down and glared up at the sky. "What? What do you want with me? If I'm going to get poisoned or squished or see Wendy dying or something, then just do it now!"

Nothing happened. Dipper grumbled to himself, glaring about. If this was his dream, then to put it bluntly, it sucked. He got back up and started to walk around in a circle, trying to find anything besides the flowing sky and the rocky horizon. Apart from a few particles of dust that clung to his shins and the few pebbles on the ground, there was nothing. The young detective bent down and picked one up, throwing it as far up as he could.

The pebble seemed to catch in some sort of wind as soon as it reached the apex of the throw, disappearing into a haze of gliding green. Dipper squinted in bewilderment. That didn't normally happen, he was sure of it.

Suddenly, he felt a sting in his arm. Hissing in discomfort, he slapped at the skin only to find that there was no cause of the pain. The apparently affected spot began to itch, and Dipper felt sweat beginning to bead on his neck. Heat spread from his sting and overwhelmed his vision, shutting out anything and everything. He cried out as hot magma coated his body and filled his lungs, flowing from his arm like a minute volcano.

With a gasp, he awoke. Today seemed to be cloudy, but there was still light filtering in the window. Mabel wasn't in bed. It was morning.

Dipper pulled himself out of his ragged mess of sheets and slumped onto the floor, feeling uncomfortably warm. Sweat slicked the back of his neck and his forehead. With a groan, the boy decided that from now on, he hated, hated realistic dreams.

Pulling on the cleanest shirt he could find as well as his shorts from yesterday, Dipper climbed down the stairs and entered the kitchen. Wendy was sitting next to Mabel, wolfing down her breakfast. Much to Dipper's relief, her face looked completely normal and her eyes less bloodshot. He felt his heart leap a little as she called out in an admittedly-still-raspy voice, "Hey, dude."

He opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out. A deep red blush appeared on his cheeks, causing Mabel to look up from her cereal and speculate with wonder. "Whoa, Dip, you swallow some hot sauce or something bro?"

Glaring in her direction, he shook his head, mouthing, I think I lost my voice. Wendy nodded with understanding and patted the chair next to her, giving Mabel a light tap on the head. Mabel shook out her tangled hair and gave Wendy an indignant look as her brother settled next to the redhead.

"You get any sleep?" Wendy asked after a moment. Dipper nodded and yawned, rubbing his eyes. She smiled. "That's good." He grinned as she tousled his hair.

"So, you think Soos is going to come-" Mabel was cut off as they heard a knock on the back door. Grinning at her own genius, the young artist got up and trotted to the door before pulling it open.

Soos stood on the step, grinning down at her. "'Sup, Pines?"

"Oh, nothing but the ceiling," Mabel answered after a moment of thought. Soos cracked up.

"Dude, that was so funny," he laughed, wiping a tear from his eye. Mabel grinned and hopped back towards the kitchen. "So, I like, came over to hang out, but you guys look like you're doing something."

Dipper nodded seriously from the table and watched as his friend and sister sat down. "Yeah, I was wondering if you got a lead on the whole animal thing," he mouthed. Mabel squinted at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, lizard's king?" she asked.

Dipper gave her a glare before letting out an annoyed sigh and pulling out a notepad. He held it up for his sister to see. DID YOU FIND OUT ANYTHING ABOUT THE SICKNESS?

Soos appeared confused for a moment before his face fell. "Oh, no, sorry dude," he apologized. "I, uh, kinda just fell asleep yesterday."

NO MAN IT'S FINE, Dipper hastily scrabbled on the notepad before handing the piece of paper over. Soos grew noticeably happier. "Well, heh, that's a relief."

"Maybe it's just a normal virus," Mabel shrugged. She snorted. "You know, like every other sickness ever."

"But it got around town super quick," Wendy reasoned, narrowing her eyes. "I've never seen anything like that."

"Well, maybe it's super airborne," Soos suggested. Dipper wrote something down and held up his notepad. OR SPREAD BY WATER.

"But it can't be spread by water because we didn't drink any from here before you started to get sick," Mabel shut down.

"It could be airborne. I don't see anything wrong with that."

BUT PEOPLE ALL OVER TOWN GOT IT AT DIFFERENT TIMES.

Soos sighed. "Dudes, pretty much everybody already has this virus. Finding out how it's spread really isn't going to help like, anyone. Uh, not to be rude or anything, but maybe we should just give up."

BUT WE HAVE TO FIND OUT, Dipper scribbled furiously. WE CAN'T JUST START AND NOT FINISH.

"He's got a point," Wendy noted uneasily, looking at Dipper. The young detective sighed.

"Hey, bro, I'm curious too," Mabel told him gently. "But, you know, maybe it's ok to just call it a day on this mystery, right? I mean, it's not like the answer is just going to materialize out of nowhere."

Dipper nodded, leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling. Soos hung his head a bit in embarrassment while Wendy looked mildly guilty. "Yeah, dude, it's ok to give up once in a while," she assured him. The boy just nodded and bit quietly into a piece of toast he had grabbed from the counter.

"Hey, does anybody hear a really irritating noise?"

All three looked up. Soos was looking around the room, blinking in concentration. "Sounds really familiar…"

"It's a mosquito," Wendy pointed out. The group scanned the kitchen, looking for the source of the annoying sound. All of a sudden, there was complete and utter silence. Dipper was frozen, a look of deep cogitation on his face, while Mabel was glancing up towards the rafters. Wendy was scratching her arm out of habit and pulling back her sleeve. Soos lifted his head and took off his cap.

"I think it's gone," Mabel whispered.

Soos nodded, seemingly unwilling to break the sudden silence. He squinted before shocking the other three with a loud yelp. "Ah! I've been bitten! I'm infected!"

At the same time, Dipper jumped to his feet, letting out a raspy whisper. "That's it!"

"What is?" Mabel asked.

"The mosquito," he croaked. "That's… that's what's transmitting the sickness!"

All three were silent. Slowly, a look of pure realization dawned on Wendy's face. "You might actually be right," she murmured.

"It all adds up," he whispered. "Everyone getting sick at the same time and everyone getting bitten. Nothing else making sense." He grinned. "We were right."

There was quiet in the room before Soos spoke. "I got a mosquito bite before I got sick."

"I got one on my arm," Wendy volunteered. "Hey, and weren't you scratching like crazy after you got here?"

Dipper let a laugh of pure triumph. "We found it!" he breathed.

"Found what?"

All four stopped their celebrating and slowly looked over to the entrance of the kitchen. Stan stood there, eyes bloodshot, face sunken and still in his grimy, disgusting nightclothes. He rubbed his nose and glared at them all, breaking off to cough.

"That's it. Soos, you run the Shack. I'm going back to bed."

A/N: And that was the pointless end to a pointless story! Sorry if it was a bit short, but I'm actually working on another story right now that I might have mentioned last time. The prologue is almost done, and should be posted next week.

To everyone who has stuck with me until now, thank you! I get the feeling you're really going to like what I'm writing now… Unless you can't handle angsty scenes towards the beginning. Yep. That's going to be a handicap. Until then, peace out, and feel free to leave a review!