A.N: Hey everybody here's the next chapter! Sorry it took so long but now I'm finally back! Enjoy! ;P
I actually wrote so much for this chapter that I had to divide it into two parts. I'll post part 2 later ^^
"Did you find everything okay, ma'am?" Dipper asked, he was talking to a lady at the counter in the gift shop. Melody had to leave work early because she was looking for a part time job to make a little extra money, and since Wendy's shift wasn't supposed to start for a few more hours, Dipper kindly volunteered to run the register for the time being.
"Yes, thank you very much." The woman said smiling, she had purchased a T-shirt that had a question mark on it. "How much do I owe you?" She asked, "12.95." The teen explorer replied, "Okay." The woman took out the money and handed it to him. Dipper put the money in the register and ripped out the receipt. He handed it to the woman when...
"WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" They and the other patrons in the gift shop jumped at the sudden loud cry coming from upstairs.
The lady looked at Dipper oddly, "Is everything okay?" She asked,
Dipper sighed facepalming, "It's nothing, it's-."
"WAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAA!" The loud cry sounded again making everyone cringe. "It's just my sister. She's uh, going through a bad breakup." He explained, "Oh the poor thing." The woman said putting her hand on her chest. "Well, good luck." She said, she then took the shirt and left.
Mabel was laying on her bed hugging her pillow in her arms and crying. Jasmine and Rocky were comforting her while the Stans, Soos, and Millie were watching them from the entrance to the attic bedroom. She was obviously not taking this second breakup with Mermando very well. They all felt so bad for her. She looked so heartbroken and it pained each of them to see a normally happy girl so torn apart.
Dipper came up the stairs and joined them. "She's still crying?" He asked, Mabel let out a now softer cry than the previous two.
"What do you think?" Stan replied, "Man this bites." Dipper said, the two Hispanic sisters came out of the room and into the hallway with the others.
Jasmine shrugged, "We tried to comfort her." "It calmed her down but it didn't do much." Rocky added, Stan and Ford went in next. They both sat on her bed like Rocky and Jasmine did.
"Hey you little gremlin." Stan said, he then opened his arms to her. "Come here." Mabel hugged her conman uncle as he patted her back.
"Look kid, we know it feels bad now but you'll get over it." Stan told her, Mabel let go of her uncle and sniffled, "How do you know?" She asked, "You're not the only one who's been in this situation." Ford told her, "I'm not?" She said tilting her head, "No, Stanley and I have been in the very same position as you are now…" The six fingered savant brushed Mabel's hair back.
"You were both in love too?" She asked, "Yes even we fell in love at some points in our lives, Mabel. Like you, they didn't work out well." Ford explained to her,
"The girl you liked, what was she like?" She asked now intrigued, the middle aged scientist just looked to everyone else standing in the doorway and sighed, "Well, she was gorgeous, funny, compassionate, smart…There was no one like her..." "What happened?" Mabel asked again, "...It just didn't work." He replied, "At first I tried to show her my feelings every chance I got. But after a while I knew that attempting to win her over was hopeless and that she would never feel the same way about me as I did her."
"My girl, Carla McCorkle, walked out on me for some hippy." Stan cut in, "Not to mention I've been divorced. You're actually pretty lucky, at least Mermando loves you." Mabel smiled a little and wiped her eyes. But it didn't take long for that smile to turn back into a frown. Both the Stans didn't know what else to do. They exited the room and joined everyone else in the hall again.
"We tried." Stan simply told them, "What should we do?" Soos asked, "I think it's best we give her time to herself." Ford suggested, everyone nodded and then broke off. But Millie stopped and looked back at the room. She entered the room.
"Mabel?" She said softly, the young girl was hugging her pillow once again and had resumed crying after her uncles left her. The Australian girl walked further into the room and took a seat on the side of Mabel's bed next to her.
"Mabel? Do you wanna talk? Girl to girl?" She asked, the heartbroken girl lifted her head from it being buried in the pillow and looked at Millie. Her eyes were red and teary and her lip was quivering.
"O-Okay…" She nodded, she then sat up and sniffled again. "I know what Mermando did was for the greater good and saved countless fish people, I can respect that...and I know that he still loves me...but why does it still hurt?" She asked,
"Mabel, you two broke up. Whether it was easy or not, whether it was for the best or not, breakups hurt." Millie replied, "I know it hurts now but you'll get over it. There are plenty of fish in the sea." Millie said, Mabel started crying again. Millie realized what she said was a mistake for the mention of fish reminded her of Mermando. "Sorry." She apologized,
"That's alright..." Mabel assured her, then she sighed, "Love hurts..."
"I know, luv." Millie said, "Is there anything you need?" She asked, Mabel just outstretched her arms to her.
"I could really use a hug." She replied, Mabel crawled over to her and hugged her. Millie hugged Mabel back and then began to softly stroke her brown hair. Mabel held tightly to her not wanting to let go. Normally it was was kind of embarrassing crying and spilling her guts to someone she just met, but for some reason, Mabel felt like she could confide in Millie, like she could trust her with a deep secret if she had one.
Millie felt terrible for Mabel. She wished that she could make Mermando come back and be with her so that she would not have to feel this way ever again. As she held the crying teen in her arms she felt the same feelings that Mabel was feeling. It should've felt odd nurturing Mabel so maternally considering that she had just met her. But instead it felt...normal.
Suddenly Mabel's phone went off. Someone had sent her a text. She picked it up and looked to see who texted her.
"Who texted you?" Millie asked, "It's from Pacifica. She said she feels bad and wants me to come over for a makeover day. She thinks it will cheer me up."
"That's great, you should go. It might help." Millie said encouragingly, Mabel then slowly got up from her bed.
"Okay, thanks for the talk Millie." Mabel said thankfully, she then turned and exited her room. Millie laughed softly, "You're welcome, Mabel…"
Mabel sadly walked through town on her way to Pacifica's place. Even after all the talks she had with everyone she still felt pretty down. What made it even worse was that she started to see happy couples walking around all over the place. She began to cry again and hugged herself snuggling deeper into her sweater. She continued to walk until she felt herself crash hard into someone.
"Ow!" She whined grabbing her cheek, "Hey! A voice yelled at the exact same time, "Why don't you watch where you're going!?" The person snapped. The person had a medium sounding kid's voice just like Dipper's, it wasn't as deep as Dipper's but it was close.
Mabel looked up to face the stranger. "Sorry I-." She stopped dead. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. The person she crashed into was a boy. He was about her and Dipper's age and he had a pale almost grey complexion and black hair that went over his right eye. He was dressed in a black hoodie and black jeans with red and white sneakers. He had his hood up.
"Uh, are you crying?" He asked raising an eyebrow,
Mabel was at a loss for words. This guy was cute! And here she was crying in front of him. He couldn't know that she was crying, he would probably think that she was weird or a crybaby or something. She had to pull herself together.
She quickly wiped her eyes with her sleeve and put on a fake smile. "Uh no! No I-I-I'm not crying!" She told him, "Are you sure? Because it looked like you were crying." He replied,
"Trust me, I'm fine." Mabel assured him,
"...Okay then…" He said slightly confused by how odd she was acting, he then walked past her but stopped and turned back to her. "You sure you're okay?" He asked her still uncertain, "I'm fine. But thank you." Mabel replied, the boy then gave a nod and walked away. Mabel just stared after him completely awestruck. After a minute she realized what she was doing and shook it off and headed off to Pacifica's.
"Thank you sir, come again." Dipper said kindly to another customer at the register. There was just one more customer left in the gift shop, after this person would finish looking through the merchandise and buy something, Dipper's shift would be over and it would be Wendy's shift.
His mind then wandered to Mabel. It had been a few hours since she left to go to Pacifica's, he was wondering when she was going to come back. He hoped that she was feeling better, he hated to see her so down.
But he was broken out of his thoughts when the last customer set a Mystery Shack mug on the counter. The last customer was a tall husky man with a bald head and glasses wearing a thick sweater and scarf. He looked extremely pale and had a red stuffed up looking nose.
"Here, this is all I want to get." He told Dipper, he then sneezed into the tissue he had with him.
"Are you feeling alright, man?" Dipper asked the guy raising an eyebrow, "Ah..ACHOO! Yeah kid, I'm fine...I just have a little thing that's going around. But I'll be okay." He explained, Dipper rung up the mug and handed him the receipt. "Alright, here you go." He said, he then grabbed the bag he put the mug in. "And here's your mug." He added as he handed the guy the bag.
"Th..Thanks, kid I-. Ah...ah...ACHOO!" The guy let out a loud sneeze and sneezed all over Dipper causing snot and spit to fly into the young teenager's face.
"Whoa! Sorry kid." The guy apologized, inside Dipper was ready to scream and gag but decided to restrain himself as to not upset the guy. As he wiped some of the sickening crud from his face he forced an obvious fake smile and replied, "Oh no it's okay, man. Just get better okay?"
The guy nodded, "Thank you." And with that he took his bag and exited the gift shop.
As soon as the door closed Dipper ran out from behind the counter and scrambled out of the gift shop and upstairs for the bathroom. He turned the faucets on the sink and started scrubbing his face with soap and water in an attempt to get the rest of the sick guy's awful residue off.
"Blech! Blech! Blech!" Dipper yelled disgusted as he scrubbed, "Why!? Why!?" He whined, it was then that he noticed Mabel happily skip down the hall past the bathroom humming a happy tune to herself. Her hair was done in braids, her nails were done in bright pink nail polish, and her face was covered in makeup that actually made her look quite stunning.
"Look at you, you seem happier." He smiled, Mabel just smiled back at him, her signature cheery smile had now fully returned.
"Yep! Pacifica was right, a makeover was just what I needed! I also met a nice guy on the way there!" She replied, Dipper raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. He turned off the sink and dried his face with a towel.
"Wait a minute. You've been crying over Mermando for over a week and you've already found a new crush?" He said confused and slightly surprised, "Well I wouldn't say I have a 'crush' on him, but he was cute I can tell you that much." Mabel said,
"What was his name?" Dipper asked, "I don't know, I didn't get it." She replied, "He was real sweet though, he was worried about me when he saw me crying." "Mabel I think you are moving on a little too fast. Don't you think you should wait until you're completely over Mermando to start dating again?" He asked her, the naïve brunette just gave him a playful shove. "Don't worry, Dipper! It's not like I'll see him again anyways! Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go tend to Waddles." She then danced off and Dipper just smiled and shook his head.
"Dipper!" Someone else called, Dipper recognized it as Ford who had called him.
"Great Uncle Ford? Dipper called back, "Come here, I need to tell you something." His uncle replied, he was calling from the basement. Dipper headed back to the gift shop where he saw Wendy now working her shift at the register reading one of her magazines. He walked through the open vending machine and went down the elevator the the basement lab.
"Hey, Great Uncle Ford. What did you call me down here for?" Dipper asked, "I need my apprentice." Ford replied winking at him, Dipper instantly smiled, "Oh yeah! What's up?" He asked,
"After the maniacs attacked us at the Summerween party, I realized that we have underestimated their power. They're each not that strong on their own but united as one they are just as powerful as Bill." Dipper nodded, "Yeah, when they attacked us in Weirdmageddon they did a huge number on the shacktron."
"Yes, they are a bigger threat than we thought." His uncle nodded , "So I've been searching for ways that maybe we can take them out before they even have the chance to attack us again...But to face them we'd have to have some kind of protection. Bill could only hurt us in the mindscape, however, his friends are able to harm us in real life. We're going to need physical protection against them instead of mental protection...Luckily for us I researched on them a bit more and I've found their weakness."
"What is it?" Dipper asked, his uncle then opened a book entitled: "Protection Spells". He flipped through the pages and stopped at a certain one with an image of a blue and purple bell flower. Only this flower was a little different. It had small sparkles on the petals almost like tiny diamonds.
"It's called a Pure Bell, whoever wields them is immune to anything that's evil and impure. This flower is their most powerful weakness. So much as being close to it is enough to render them powerless. If we get this flower I can make a protection spell like the one we made for Bill, only this one will be stronger." Ford explained, "Awesome! But where do we find this flower?" Dipper asked, "Funny you should ask that. Many years ago when I first came to Gravity Falls, I managed to come across a whole patch of them. They grow deep in the forest. Like our other journeys, this one will also be dangerous. You must be willing to take this risk..."
"If it means protecting ourselves from those creeps, then it's worth it." Dipper replied confidently, "Very good, so tomorrow we'll set out." Ford told him, Dipper nodded, "Okay."
The next morning Mabel woke up with a yawn. She gave a quick stretch and then climbed out of bed and went to go grab the hairbrush to do her hair. She was feeling a lot happier after yesterday. Everyone's talks and the makeover Pacifica gave her made her feel a million times better, so much to the point that she could think about Mermando without crying or feeling a hint of sadness. She hummed a bouncy tune to herself contentedly as she ran the brush through her long brown locks but stopped when she noticed something was wrong.
She turned around and looked over at Dipper's bed. He wasn't up yet, usually he was already up at this point if not at the same time as her. Concerned for her brother, Mabel walked over to Dipper's bed where he had the blankets pulled up over his head.
"Dipper? Are you okay?" She said worried, "Bro bro?" She then pulled the blanket down only to jump back startled. Dipper looked terrible! He was as pale as a ghost and had dark circles under his eyes. His nose was also red and runny and he was shivering.
"Dipper! What's wrong with you!? You're so pale!" Mabel asked still surprised, the young explorer struggled to sit up in bed, he was so weak. He suddenly felt a strange tickle in his nose. A sneeze was coming on. "A-ACHOO!" His kitten-like sneeze rang loud throughout the attic bedroom as he sneezed. He wiped his nose with his arm as his nose made a mucus like sound. He knew what was wrong with him. That sick guy in the gift shop yesterday had gotten him sick when he sneezed on him. This sucked! Dipper hardly ever got sick and when he did he would feel terrible. Plus whenever he or Mabel got sick, everyone would make a huge fuss out of it and he didn't want to be fussed over. What was even worse was that he had to go with Great Uncle Ford on that mission to find that bell flower. He felt like crap, but to let everyone down felt even worse. He decided that he would pretend he was okay and pull through it.
He put on a fake smile for his sister and replied. "I'm fine, Mabel. I'm just a little tired because I was up late with my summer reading again." He lied, Mabel just gave him an unsure look, even she couldn't be easily fooled by his lie. He looked awful for the most part and plus she knew when her brother was lying, she had known him for thirteen years, she may had been naïve, but she wasn't stupid.
"Are you sure, Dipper? That was a pretty big sneeze you let out there." Mabel pointed out, "It's just my allergies or something." He lied again, now Mabel knew for sure that he was lying. She knew it wasn't allergies because they had that thing where their allergies would act up at the same time, if it were allergies then she would've sneezed too. She knew it was official. Dipper was sick and he wasn't going to admit it.
"Come on, Mabel. I'm fine, really. Since when have I ever gotten sick?" Dipper asked her, Mabel just looked at her brother still unsure. She knew he was sick, there was no doubt about it, but she also knew how persistent Dipper could be. He wasn't going to let some illness stand in the way of his adventures. If that's what he wanted to do, then who was she to stop him?
"Okay." Mabel said still unsure of whether or not to let him walk around sick. Dipper gave a weak smile and a nod and struggled to stand up. He suddenly felt lightheaded and nearly lost his balance and fell back on his bed if it weren't for Mabel grabbing his hand and pulling him up to a stable stance.
"Thanks." He thanked her, "No problem, bro." Mabel replied,
The two twins walked downstairs and entered the kitchen.
"Morning kids." Ford greeted them, both twins took their seats at the table. "Morning." They both replied, Mabel replied in her usual cheery mood while Dipper replied in a tired and sick sounding mood but with a bit of strength to sound convincing enough that they would think he was well.
Both Jasmine and Rocky looked at Dipper and were instantly concerned.
"Hey amigo, are you okay?" Rocky asked him raising an eyebrow, "Sí, you look *enferma." Jasmine added on,
Stan then lowered his newspaper and instantly saw Dipper's condition. "Whoa kid, what happened to you? You look like you slept in a coffin or something." He said, Dipper instantly responded to this statement. "Huh? Oh it's nothing, I'm fine I just-." He was cut off when Ford put his hand to Dipper's forehead. "Dipper you're burning up." He said surprised, Dipper began to grow nervous. "What!? No I'm not!" He said laughing nervously, both Stan and Ford got up from the table.
"Come on, kid. We'd better get you back to bed." Stan said,
Dipper was put back in bed. Soos was grabbing a soda from the fridge and Stan fetched the thermometer from the medicine cabinet. They both came back into the attic bedroom and Stan turned the thermometer on.
"Okay Dipper, open up." He instructed, Dipper obeyed and opened his mouth and lifted his tongue and Stan slid the thermometer underneath. After a minute Stan took the thermometer out and checked it.
Stan shook his head, "101.5. Looks like you're gonna be spending today in bed, possibly tomorrow too." He said, Dipper instantly jumped a little. "No! Great Uncle Ford and I need to get that flower! It's the only thing that'll protect us from Bill's minions!" He exclaimed, but he was cut off when his chest was racked with a coughing fit.
"Sorry kid, it's not gonna happen. Not until you're better." Stan replied, "But what about the maniacs? What if they hurt us?" Dipper asked, "Dipper, your health is one of the more important things right now. The maniacs haven't attacked us for a while. We can get the flower when you're better." Ford told him, the teen explorer then sighed as he fell back on the bed. "Alright." He said, "You just stay in bed." Stan said slightly demandingly, "Feel better, dude." Soos said sincerely, the two uncles and Soos then left the room, as they left they passed by Mabel who was watching from the doorway.
Stan put his hand on her shoulder, "You're going to have to stay out of the room for a little bit, Pumpkin. We're quarantining the room until Dipper is better. We don't want you to catch what he has." Mabel sighed and nodded her head, "Okay." She said, Stan then gave a nod and he, his brother, and the ex-handyman left.
Dipper sighed again. This sucked! He felt like a failure, they were never going to get that flower now. He just wished that he was better so he could fulfill the mission and not let everyone down.
Mabel just continued to watch her brother sadly. It just wasn't fair, just when she was feeling better, he felt horrible. She walked over to his bed and sat on the side. She hesitated before talking to him. He just laid there staring up at the ceiling frustrated. "So, you're sick huh?" She finally asked, "Yeah." He replied, he then sniffed causing his nose to make a stuffed up sound.
"But what about the flower for that protection spell or whatever? You said you need to get it!" Mabel exclaimed, "And there's no one else to get it or you!" Dipper's tired eyes widened. He had an idea. It was a crazy one but it was an idea.
"Mabel...it looks like you're going to have to do it for me..." He told her, "I'm in no condition to get it, but you can."
"What!? Me!?" Mabel said taken aback, "But Dipper I'm not-! I'm not the adventurer that you are!" Dipper didn't say anything and just took her hand. "Mabel...you can…" He then propped himself up on his elbow and reached over to the nightstand and handed her Journal Number 1 with a shaking hand. "Here, it'll show you what you need to do, and you'll have Great Uncle Ford to help you too… now go…" Mabel then nodded and ran out of the room. Little did they know that they were being listened in on by the maniacs not so far from the shack.
"Did you hear that, boys? The little pipsqueak is sick!" Pyronica said turning to the other freaks,
"So?" Keyhole said shrugging, "So, this is the perfect opportunity to kidnap him and the others! He's too weak to fight, catching him will be a cinch!"
But then some other noise hit her large bat-like ears. She listened in again only this time it was in the gift shop.
Mabel ran into the gift shop hugging the journal to her chest.
"What is it Pyronica?" Kryptos asked, Pyronica rolled her eye. "Ugh, it's that annoying girl, Mavis!"
"Uh, I'm pretty sure her name is Mabel." 8-Ball corrected her, Pyronica suddenly got up in 8-Ball's face, her dark pink pupil aflame. "WHATEVER!" Then she heard Mabel talk and turned her attention back to that.
"Great Uncle Ford! Great Uncle Ford!" She called out, everyone in the gift shop including her mentioned Uncle looked at her in confusion as to why she had the journal and sounded like she was in a hurry.
"Whoa whoa kid, where's the fire!?" Stan asked stopping her, Mabel showed everyone the journal. "There's still hope! We can still get that flower! I'll go in Dipper's place." Everyone was taken aback by this. Sure Mabel was adventurous but she wasn't nearly as adventurous as Dipper was.
"...Mabel, are you sure you want to do this? It's going to be a dangerous mission…You may not like everything you see..." Ford warned her, Mabel closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It's important for our safety, plus it means a lot to Dipper...He even told me himself to go…"
Everyone looked at each other then back at Mabel. After a minute Ford replied, "Okay then. Let's get moving." The naïve brunette and the six-fingered savant exited the Mystery Shack.
"Excellent! The weird scientist is leaving! And he's bringing that foolish girl with him too! That'll make kidnapping Dipper and the others all the more easy!"
"But wait! The others know a threat when they see one. Plus, remember the Summerween party? They practically fought us off with their bare hands!" Keyhole pointed out,
Pyronica thought for a minute. "Hmm...You're right, Key. It seems that we have mistaken their strength. Fortunately for us, I know a way around that…"
Mabel and Ford were now walking down the forest trail, the woods around them getting thicker and thicker as they went on.
Mabel was now looking at the journal with intrigue. Sure Dipper had shown her the journal before but she had never really gotten the chance to see its contents. She certainly did enjoy some of the things that were written in there. "So, where exactly do we find this flower?" She asked,
"The flowers grow in large patches so they won't be hard to spot. But to get to the patches we'll have to go through the deeper parts of the forest. We must be wary at all times, it's very easy to get lost in them. I know that from personal experience." Ford replied, "So stay close to me."
Mabel just nodded and continued to look at the old book. Eventually they reached a fork in the path that went two ways.
Ford looked to his niece. "Okay Mabel, where does the journal say we need to go?" He asked her, Mabel looked at the old pages and pointed to the right path, "We have to go right." The six-fingered savant just nodded and they proceeded down the right path unaware of something watching them from the trees above them.
As they continued on their way, Mabel noticed that not only was the forest getting denser as they went on, but it was also getting darker, and scarier. This began to frighten her a little bit. She saw a few scary animals give her and her uncle glares from the shadows and the air had gone from a nice warm summer breeze to a slight chilly breeze. Mabel huddled close to her uncle and in response Ford put a protective arm around her.
"Great Uncle Ford? How much longer until we get to the patch?" She asked shakily, "Don't worry, Mabel. It shouldn't be too much longer." Ford told her, suddenly they saw light up ahead.
"This is it, Mabel! We made it!" Ford said happily to his niece, a smile came upon Mabel's face and she ran ahead.
"I can't believe it! We're here! She yelled, she entered the patch only for her smile to change to a confused look. After a minute, Ford caught up with her and looked at her confused. "What's wrong Mabel?" He asked, Mabel didn't say anything and just pointed out in front of her. He looked ahead of him to see that there were no Pure Bell flowers, just piles of dug up dirt and grass.
"Where are the flowers?" Mabel asked,
"I don't understand...there has always been a whole patch here! There were dozens of them!" He said as he frantically searched for any trace of the flower that they needed,
"What happened to them?" Mabel asked,
"They were taken…" A voice said out of nowhere, the sudden voice startled the two weary travelers out of their wits. They looked up towards the trees because that's where the voice came from. It sounded oddly familiar to Mabel.
"Who said that!?" Mabel asked shaking, Ford whipped his gun that could knock people out and looked around.
"Over here." The voice said, they looked to the tree from which It came and there they saw someone chilling out on one of the branches. He had pale skin and black hair and was wearing a black hoodie. Mabel's eyes widened upon seeing the person. It was the boy that she met yesterday, the one she ran into while on the way to Pacifica's.
"The flowers are gone, in case you were wondering." He said,
"It's you." She spoke up, the boy looked at her, he instantly recognized her as well. "Hey, you're that girl I met yesterday. You were crying." He said, Mabel's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, he knew she was crying, now she felt foolish.
"Uh...yeah." She admitted, "Who are you?" Ford asked, he had lowered his gun but still had it ready to shoot in case this boy was going to pull anything on them.
The kid jumped down from the branch and landed perfectly on his feet.
"That's not important right now. You guys are looking for the Pure Bell right?" He asked, Mabel nodded, "Yeah, we are. What happened to them?"
"They were taken...by the leprechauns...little thieving twerps…" The boy said annoyed, "Then they sold them to the Yaoguai…"
"The what?" Mabel said tilting her head in confusion,
"The Yao Guai, it's a demonic creature that is very strong and powerful. Because the flower is his weakness, he stole the Pure Bells so that no one could defeat him. Many have died trying to fight him and get them back. It will be hard to defeat him to get those Pure Bells by yourselves, that's why I'll come with you. I know the way to his lair." He then walked past them and pushed aside some bushes and walked through. "Come on." He said, both Mabel and Ford just stood there watching him for a minute unsure of whether or not to trust him. They looked at each other and Mabel shrugged and began to follow. Her uncle followed suit. He wasn't about to let Mabel go off on her own with this random boy.
Mabel ran a bit faster to catch up with the boy. "Uh..thanks for helping us, what's your name?" She asked,
"The name's Brock." The kid replied, Mabel smiled, "It's nice to meet you, Brock…I'm Mabel…"
"Mabel huh? That's a cool name I guess." He said simply shrugging his shoulders, Mabel smiled and attempted to hide the blush forming on her cheeks.
They continued to walk until they left the woods and entered a wet foggy area. As they walked the fog began to grow thicker to the point where they almost couldn't see.
"Brock? Are we there yet?" Mabel asked using her arm to shield her eyes from the fog,
"We're almost there…" Brock replied, he then turned to her. "...The Yao Guai cave…" Both Mabel and Ford's eyes widened upon hearing that.
After another minute of walking they saw a cave not far up ahead. They approached it and Brock ushered them to follow him to the side of the cave. They obeyed and they went to the right side of the cave where they were hidden.
Brock then looked to them and put a finger to his lips shushing them to let them know they had to be quiet. Ford didn't say anything but just stared at him while Mabel nodded understandingly, Brock peeked around the entrance to the cave and there he saw the Yao Guai. It was a large creature with a bear-like head and an odd looking large body. It was curled up and sleeping. He then looked over to his right and there were a stack Pure Bells.
He smiled mischievously. "Bingo." He then turned back to the others. "Okay, he's asleep. All we have to do is sneak in and snatch a few up." He explained to them, "I'll go in and grab them."
"Wait, it's too risky for you to go in there." Ford said stopping him, "Yeah, we're going with you." Mabel nodded, "No Mabel, you need to stay here, if something were to happen to you, I Don't know what I'd do. If anyone goes in there, it's me. If I get mauled, then so be it, at least you'll be safe." Her uncle told her, he then turned to Brock. "I'm trusting you to keep Mabel safe from harm." Brock nodded, "Okay, I will." Ford gave a nod and entered the cave. Mabel and Brock just sat back and watched as he got closer to the sleeping monster. Now terrified, Ford shakingly reached for the pile of Pure Bells hoping he could snatch a few. But just before he could grab even one, a paw instantly slammed over his wrist. The six-fingered savant looked up to see he was staring into the eyes of Yao Guai. It was seething and angry. It looked down at the pile of Pure Bells and then back at Ford knowing that he was trying to steal a few. The monster growled obviously angered and was ready to attack. He took a swipe at Ford but he was too quick for him. He ran away from the monster and pulled out another one of his futuristic guns. He aimed for the monster's chest. While this was going on, Brock looked to Mabel and pressed a finger to his lips signaling her to be quiet. He then slipped into the cave and snuck past the ferocious monster and the middle-aged scientist. He headed for the pile of Pure Bells but stopped when the Yao Guai charged at Ford and knocked the gun out of his hands and knocked him down.
Mabel gasped, "Great Uncle Ford!" She screamed, she then ran in to rescue her uncle. Mabel ran towards her uncle and the beast that was about to maul him. She jumped in front of her uncle and pulled out her flashlight and shined it in his eyes. The Yao Guai roared in pain and stepped back a bit, however, it was now even more angry. It glared at her and snarled and charged at Mabel and Ford, but before the beast could hurt them, Mabel pulled out a ball of yarn and began to run around the cave while letting it unravel. The Yao Guai chased her all around the cave until she went around two large rocks where the yarn acted as a tripwire. The Yao Guai fell for the trick and tripped over the yarn and fell hard on the cave's stone floor knocking him unconscious. She then pulled a rope from the backpack and tied it around the large unconscious beast. Brock then pulled Mabel away and gave the unconscious Yao Guai one last kick in the face before escaping. Ford got up and got out as well. He joined the other two outside the cave.
"Mabel! What were you thinking!? You could have been killed!" Ford said frantically, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't just stand by and watch you get mauled!" Mabel apologized, she was starting to tear up at the thought of almost losing one of her Grunkles.
The three of them began back along the path. Each of them were slightly bruised and shaken up but fine.
"Are you okay?" Brock asked her worried, Mabel wiped her eyes with her sleeve and looked at him smiling a little. "Yeah...thanks for helping us…"
"Eh, it was no big deal." Brock shrugged, "Wait, did we ever get those Pure Bells?" Mabel asked remembering, the other two guys' eyes widened.
"Ugh! I knew we forgot something!" Ford said frustrated with himself for forgetting.
"Hey you guys?" Brock said getting their attention, they looked at him odd, Brock smirked and reached into the front pocket of his hoodie and pulled out about a dozen Pure Bells. Both the middle-aged scientist's and the naïve brunette's jaws dropped in surprise and Mabel ran over and grabbed the flowers from him.
"Brock! You got the flowers! Thank you!" She said giving him a hug, this took Brock back a bit but he politely pushed Mabel away awkwardly. "It's no problem, I just don't do hugs." He said, "Oh, okay then." Mabel said still cheerful, "Come on, my brother HAS to meet you!" She said running go ahead of him, the three of them then headed back to the shack.
The maniacs entered a cold space and looked around at their surroundings.
Pyronica put a hand on her hip. "Huh, so this is that old scientist's lab…" She said as she continued to look around, they were in Ford's underground bunker. It was just the way Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, and Soos left it. Aside from it being damper and the walls more eroded and the old machines more rusted, it was the same.
They began to look around. While Pyronica was looking at the old capsules which Ford used to keep creatures in, the other maniacs were looking around in intrigue and fear.
Teeth began to chatter like a normal set of teeth would. "Can-can we please get out of here? This place is giving me the heebie jeebies!" He said,
"Shut up!" Pyronica snapped, "Not until we get what we need!" They continued to look around the lab starting to search thoroughly behind the old machines and pipes for what they were looking for. Eventually they reached the freezing capsules and they stopped in front of one of them.
Inside was the shapeshifter that almost killed the kids the year before. He was still frozen in his defeated pose. Pyronica's mouth split into a wide and evil toothy grin.
"Here we are...This is what we need…" She said, she pressed a button which opened the capsule door. The shapeshifter was still frozen up solid, Pyronica then pulled out a giant syringe and stuck it into his upper arm and extracted something from inside him.
"What is that? Keyhole asked, the hot pink monster turned to them deviously. "What we need to defeat those mortals…" She replied, she then grabbed Keyhole's arm and injected some of the substance in his arm.
"Ow! What the heck!?" He yelled as he clutched his arm in pain, Pyronica then moved on and injected the syringe into the other maniacs.
"What are we going to do with this?" Teeth asked, he was the last one and he asked this as Pyronica injected it into the top on his gummy head. After she was done with him she did it to herself. "There, finished." She said, the other maniacs were now rubbing their stinging arms in confusion.
"Um, not to question your wisdom, Pyronica...But how will that shapeshifter blood help us in any way?" Kryptos asked her, Pyronica just gave them an evil smile. "Watch…" was all she said.
What she did next surprised the others. She slowly and so creepily morphed into an exact clone of Mabel. She opened her now two eyes to reveal that they each had a wicked gleam in them.
Everyone gasped. "Pyronica! You shapeshifted into the little brat!" Teeth pointed out,
Pyronica disguised as Mabel just smiled and replied, "That's right, Teeth. There's no way they'll suspect that anyone's in danger when we look like them!"
"But what will we do with the real ones?" Kryptos asked, "Leave that to me…" She said with a devilish grin,
Oh my god! The maniacs have the power to shapeshift! Will they end up kidnapping everyone? Will Mabel and Ford make it back in time? To be Continued...