Thanks for the feedback; I'll be sure to make the dialogue easier to follow and proofread better oops (X P.S. Sorry for taking forever to update; It is impossible for me to focus particularly when I'm on the computer... Next chapter should be up sooner; I will tie myself to the keyboard if I have to. Anyways, enjoy!
Ford returned from his lab and plopped a bag onto Dipper's lap. The young man opened it, finding a wide array of supplies he assumed were needed for their mission. However, upon closer inspection, he realized that it was nothing but typical camping gear.
"Rope... Sleeping bags... Tent...Great-uncle Ford? How is this stuff gonna help us?" He asked the older man sitting in front of him while passing the bag off to Wendy who confirmed that it was, in fact, nothing but normal supplies.
"See, the thing about this Goatman is that he never comes out if he knows he's being looked for. He strikes the ignorant and vulnerable. If you showed up with some insane paraphernalia, he'd leave you alone. For whatever reason, Goatman does not want to be found." He stated matter-of-factly.
"What!? Wait a sec. You're sending us into the woods with a psycho half-goat murderer with absolutely no protection?" Dipper exclaimed. Suddenly, watching Wolfman Bare Chest with Mabel didn't seem quite as unappealing...
"Of course not." The older rolled his eyes as he pulled a large black case out from under the table: the final addition to their load. He undid the latches and lifted the lid, revealing a sizable, menacing-looking ax.
"Woah, sweet." Wendy marveled, abandoning her drink and leaning over to get a better look. Ford pulled the weapon out and pushed a camouflaged button on the side; his companions watched in amazement as the blade retracted and the handle shank to a quarter of its original size.
"This is one of your 'tent stakes'." The old man said with a sly wink.
"Nice!" The redhead replied exchanging a high five with the man.
"So... what? We just go out in the forest and act like we're camping?" The younger man questioned.
"Exactly. You're going to play the part of naive, unsuspecting tourists. There's a map in there that shows the path you'll be taking and where to set up camp. I have you going where the most Goatman sightings have been reported, so be sure to be on high alert."
"What do we do if we find him?" Wendy couldn't help but notice this major hole in the plan.
"Whatever is necessary to stop him." He replied seriously.
Wendy's face became stern as she looked to Dipper and gave a confident nod. He returned the gesture before turning back to his uncle.
"Got it. When should we leave?"
Before Ford could answer, a frustrated groan erupted from the kitchen. "Wendy!" Stan screamed angrily.
"Uh, I'm good with leaving now..." Wendy urgently answered when she heard Stan realize she had stolen his last can of beer.
"Alright. There're some walkie-talkies in that bag; follow the map and radio in if you need help." Ford quickly explained as Wendy and Dipper ran out the door.
The pair stood at the edge of the forest, Wendy scanning the map. "Man, that's, like, an hour and a half walk..." She murmured.
Dipper shrugged in reply, feeling too awkward to respond. The woman seemed to sense his uneasiness and flashed a comforting smile.
"It's fine, Dip."
"What?" He silently panicked, staring at her with widened eyes, afraid that the redhead knew what was making him so awkward. She could tell he had a crush on her before; what if she knew now?
"I'm not gonna let that Goatman creep kill us." She reassured with a smirk. "C'mon." Wendy motioned for him to follow with a nod of her head as she started walking the path illustrated on the map.
With a stealthy sigh of relief, Dipper followed. He tried to push the awkwardness to the back of his mind in order to focus on the task at hand, but it proved extremely difficult. He was a mess of anxiety. Not only was he nervous from being around Wendy; he was also terrified at the thought of going into the woods at night when there was a murderous monster roaming around. The young man decided to make small talk in an effort to calm down.
"So... are we getting any closer?"
"We've only been walking for five minutes..."
"O-Oh..." He stammered, sinking his shoulders so he looked like a cat with its tail between its legs.
"Yeah..." The redhead thought for a moment, attempting to come up with a way to keep them entertained throughout the long journey. "Wanna play I spy or something?" She lamely suggested.
"I spy something green." Dipper replied.
"Uh... trees?"
"Gee, how'd you guess?"
This petty exchange caused the woman to chuckle. Dipper could feel some of the awkwardness flutter away as he chuckled along with her.
"Yeah, maybe I spy's not the best game to play in a place full of, like, only three colors." She giggled.
"Well, there's different shades of green..."
"Oh, yes. Well, I spy something that is the finest mixture of seafoam and evergreen with a hint of jade." Wendy retorted with a snooty accent, earning a laugh out of the now perfectly comfortable young man.
"I spy something that is azure with wisps of white and baby blue floating throughout."
The two shared another laugh and continued with their ridiculously difficult and posh game of I spy.
The game continued until they came upon a leaf pile. Wendy said, "I spy something evergreen and burnt sienna with a tinge of banana yellow."
"The leaves?" Dipper replied, having become an expert at the silly game after nearly half an hour.
"Which one?" Wendy slyly teased with a playful grin.
"Seriously?" He gawked.
"Hey, I gotta up the difficulty, man. You're getting too good at this."
"Fine." Dipper approached the pile of leaves and began to meticulously examine each one. "Is it this one?" The young man asked as he held up a leaf that somewhat matched her precise description.
"Nope."
Normally, this kind of game would annoy Dipper to no end, but with Wendy, it was the most fun he ever had.
"This one."
"Not even close."
He sighed as he surveyed the pile one final time. "I give up." He admitted defeat.
Wendy smirked and strolled to the leaf pile. She picked up a leaf and held it up. Dipper had to admit, she was pretty spot on with her depiction of the plant.
"Well, I guess you win this round..." Dipper chuckled.
"What can I say? I'm obviously the best." The woman replied with an uncharacteristic, dramatic flip of her hair. She burst out laughing. "Sorry, I can't do that with a straight face."
Her companion laughed along with her. "We should probably get going." Dipper said, still snickering.
He began walking and Wendy followed. Or, tried to. Once she stepped on top of the pile of leaves that had seconds before been their source of entertainment, a trap sprang up, encasing her in a poorly-made net. The net was tied up to the tree adjacent to it, so Wendy was shot a few feet into the air. The trap only held her for a few seconds before giving out, sending her thudding onto the ground.
"Woah, what the hell?" Wendy fiddled with the rope, untangling it from her ankles.
"Wendy? A-Are you okay?" Dipper was immediately kneeling on the ground tending to his friend. He noticed a small scrape on her knee and took out their bag to find a bandage.
"It's fine, dude. I'm fine." Wendy assured, standing up and brushing the dirt off her pants. Her friend, however, had already placed a band-aid gently on her minor injury. He gave her a sheepish look which made her smirk at him.
The redhead turned her attention back to the trap, squatting to get a better look. She held the net and pulled, finding that she could easily rip it with her bare hands. "Jeez, this is a pretty crappy trap." She stood and kicked the rope away.
"Who do you think made it?" Dipper asked nervously, looking all around to make sure nothing jumped out.
"Probably shouldn't stick around to find out..." She responded.
"Think it could've been Goatman?"
"I dunno... Ford said he was at least a few miles into the forest. We haven't walked that far."
After taking one last quick look around, he motioned for them to keep walking. "C'mon... Kinda wanna get as far away from here as possible..."
Wendy nodded in agreement and began leading the way with the map in hand. However, this time, she was much more careful to step on clear patches of dirt.
The sun was setting by the time the pair arrived at their designated campsite. Wendy thought it was actually quite a nice spot for camping. There was a small lake nearby and the clearing got the perfect amount of sunlight. There were no others campers around; the Goatman rumors probably scared people off.
"So I guess I'll pitch the tent while you start a fire?" Wendy suggested casually. They now had to act like they were completely oblivious to the Goatman stories and were just two innocent, naive campers.
"Yeah, I'll get the hot dogs cooking." Dipper played along as he began pulling supplies out of the sack. After taking what he needed, he passed the bag to Wendy so she could put up the tent.
She pulled out the tent and four stakes- including the one that was a hidden weapon. The redhead expertly set up the tent in less than five minutes. Her many trips with her family had made her an expert in camping. Dipper, meanwhile, was having trouble with his assigned task. No matter what he did, the wood would not burn consistently. He pushed the lighter's flame closer to the log. The kindling burned for a second before tapering out again. He grunted with frustration.
Wendy chuckled and strolled to where he was kneeling. "Hey, I got it." She grabbed the lighter from his hand, making him blush briefly as their hands touched. "Can you put the sleeping bags in there?" She nodded her head towards the tent.
"Yeah." Dipper grabbed the two sleeping bags and crawled into the tent.
Meanwhile, the redhead crouched over the wood, lit the kindling, and blew on the fire to build it up. She added a few twigs she found scattered underneath her. The small flame gradually became a miniature bonfire. Wendy stood up and admired her handiwork before grabbing the package of hot dogs and a bag of marshmallows.
"You done in there, dude?" Wendy called over her shoulder as she placed a marshmallow on a stick.
"Yeah, coming." He called while he attempted to get out. He ended up standing too soon, catching his head on the top of the tent's opening. His friend laughed as he untangled himself and stumbled to the campfire. The young man chortled along with her after the initial shock of being caught wore off.
The redhead handed him another stick with a marshmallow. They stuck their sticks into the fire to roast the treats.
"Cheers," Wendy smirked as she held up her marshmallow. Dipper grinned and knocked his own against hers. Unfortunately, the 'marshmallow-cheers' did not end up as expected; the melted marshmallows stuck together, fusing into one giant blob with two sticks that made it look like it had sprouted legs. They shared a laugh as they pulled at their sticks to detach the marshmallows. Dipper winded up with no marshmallow as the entire blob stuck to the redhead's stick. This made them giggle louder.
Dipper had almost forgotten they had been sent into the woods with a mission; he was having too much fun hanging out with Wendy. He pushed away his repeating thoughts of Goatman, not wanting to ruin their joy. The young man was glad to spend time with his best friend face to face again. At first, he was dreading the thought of seeing her due to the awkwardness burning inside of him, but now that he was with her, he felt calmer than ever. Of course, there was still the little flutter in his chest whenever she smiled at him, but it didn't bother him.
He grinned at her as he watched her grab a handful of marshmallows and stick them to each side of a long stick.
She guffawed. "It's like one of those jousting sticks. Wait, wait." She grabbed Dipper's stick and did the same to it. The woman threw it back into his lap and stood up. She pointed her makeshift marshmallow weapon at him. "En garde!" She snickered before slapping him across the face with the puffy stick. He nearly flew off the log he was sitting on but quickly recovered. The young man grabbed his stick and shoved it in Wendy's face.
"I challenge thee to a duel!" Dipper declared half-seriously. "To the death!" He added menacingly.
"I accept your challenge! Prepare to meet your demise, you fopdoodle!"
"Fopdoodle?" The young man burst out laughing, breaking his character.
"I heard it on some history show." Wendy shrugged and stared at him for a few seconds before nailing him in the gut with her stick. He tried to get her back, but she dashed off, heading for the lake. Dipper chased after her.
When he arrived at the small body of water, Wendy was nowhere to be seen. He peered around, just knowing that she was probably about to sneak up on him. The young man continued looking, but he couldn't find her. He began to get worried.
"Wendy?" He called out. No answer. He dropped his stick and stepped closer to the lake scanning the horizon for any sign of her. "Wen?"
Suddenly, Dipper felt something shoot out of the water and grab his leg. He struggled as the unknown horror dragged him further into the lake. The young man yelled and kicked until his captor released him.
"Ow!" He heard Wendy exclaim. Dipper looked up and facepalmed when he realized that the person who grabbed him was his friend.
"Geez, man, you almost kicked me in the face." She nursed an aching shoulder.
"S-sorry. I'm just... y-you scared me." Dipper pulled himself out of the lake. "Y'know, the Goatman thing." He started wringing out the end of his soaked shirt.
Wendy hopped out of the water, completely soaked as she had been hiding underwater. "Yeah, that was pretty uncool of me, I guess..." She slumped dejectedly.
"No, it's alright. You didn't me-" The young man began to excuse her but was interrupted by the homemade jousting stick hitting him right in the nose followed by Wendy's hearty laughter.
"I win." She smirked. Dipper rolled his eyes and promptly faked a dramatic death scene.
They pair lingered for a few minutes, watching the sunset glitter across the lake. "Well, it'll be dark soon; we should probably get back to the camp." Wendy suggested.
"Yeah, let's go." They got up off the ground and started the short walk back to their set up, water still dripping off the both of them.
"I'll get the hot dogs cooking." Wendy offered when they arrived back at the camp. Dipper nodded in response and retreated into the tent to grab the walkie-talkies. Since it was getting close to dark, Goatman could appear at any time. They needed to be prepared to radio in if things got rough.
The redhead sat by the fire and warmed herself. The night air combined with her soaked clothing was making her freezing. She looked around for the hotdogs which she thought she'd left right by the fire, but they were gone. The woman saw something gleaming in the distance and squinted. It was the package of hot dogs, but it appeared empty.
"Dang it..." Wendy assumed an animal snatched their food while they were gone and stood up to pick up the garbage left behind. However, halfway to the wrapper, she noticed odd hoof prints. An alarm instantly went off in her brain. These definitely did not look like normal tracks. The prints had toes like a human footprint, but there was a hoof where the heel ought to have been.
"D-Dipper!" She whooped. Sensing the concern in her voice, he came out, careful not to hit his head this time.
"What's up?"
She wordlessly pointed to the prints. Dipper's eyes went wide. "W-what is it?" He whispered frantically and fidgeted, having trouble keeping up his unknowing camper persona. A rustling in a nearby bush disintegrated his cool, and he dropped the act. "Get the ax."
The redhead ran to the tent, removing the ax disguised as a stake. She pressed the button on the side, and the blade shot out. She tiptoed to the bush, holding the weapon close. Dipper followed, ready to protect her if he had to.
Wendy paused at the brush and gave her friend a reassuring nod before slicing into the leaves. She sighed in relief when her eyes met the gaze of a small bandit-faced creature. The raccoon squealed in fright at the intruders before scampering off.
"Phew, for a sec I thought it might be-" Wendy turned to face the young man with a smile on her face. However, she grimaced when she saw what was standing a few feet behind him. A hideous half-goat, half-man creature was glowering over them. The beast was well over six feet tall and had the head and horns of a goat. Its legs were shaped like a man's yet were smothered with hair. The feet attached to those hairy legs perfectly matched the tracks she had found just a few minutes earlier.
Dipper gave her a confused look before turning and seeing the terror behind him. He yelped and tried to run away, tripping on a log. The Goatman took out a massive ax and slung it over his shoulder.
"Dipper!" Wendy grabbed her friend to help him get to his feet. The young man had scarcely made it off the ground when he saw the creature's ax dig into the ground where he'd just been lying. He felt like he was going to puke...
His redheaded friend took his hand and practically dragged him away from danger. They ran until coming to a dead end. They were surrounded by rocky mountains that were far too steep to climb.
"What do we do?" Dipper panicked frantically looking around for a way out. Wendy was crouched on the dirt searching desperately for her ax. She must have dropped it while trying to get Dipper out of there...
She bellowed a series of curses before standing back up. They saw the Goatman threateningly hiking towards them.
"I-I'm sorry, Wendy." The young man said as they were backed up into the stone wall. Great, they were both gonna die, and it was all his fault.
"What? No! We are not going down like this!" The redhead cracked her knuckles and charged at the creature.
"Wendy!"
Dipper watched incredulously as the woman jumped onto the creature's back, viciously punching it. She had it in a choke hold and tried desperately not to fly off its back as it whipped around. "Dude, find something!" She pleaded.
He looked around until his eyes met a decently sized rock on the ground a few feet away. He grabbed it and got close enough to throw it at their attacker. Wendy hopped off its back, and Dipper chucked it into the monster's face, making it fall into a nearby bush. They watched anxiously for several seconds, waiting to see if it was going to stand up. To their relief, it stayed down.
They looked to each other, both breathing heavily. "Thanks," Wendy said. Her body almost instinctively encompassed his in a tight hug. Dipper blushed and returned the gesture, wrapping his arms snugly around her.
"N-no problem."
They heard a groan coming from the bush and went back on guard. However, confusion washed over them when the head of a human emerged, rubbing a fresh wound from the recent tussle.
"What the hell?" Wendy approached the man and saw the goat head lying on the ground. She picked it up and upon examining it, immediately realized that it was just a taxidermy goat head. Close to the man's feet were hooves that clearly had tape on them.
"Billy!?" The man turned in all directions, frantically searching. When his eyes landed on the goat head in the young woman's hands, he screeched. "Billy!"
The odd man jumped to his feet and began stomping furiously to Wendy. Dipper automatically found himself standing in front of his friend to block the crazy guy.
"Get outta my way, boy! That bitch done has my Billy!"
The redhead glowered at the man from behind Dipper.
"Don't call her that." The young man said with a stern voice that surprised even Wendy.
"Just gimme my Billy!" He looked like he was on the verge of tears.
"You just tried to kill us; why would we give it to you? I should burn the stupid thing!" The redhead shouted back.
"No! Please no! I wasn't gon' kill no one!"
"Pssh, yeah right! Why do you need this stupid thing, then? Are you the one scaring people? Goatman?"
The stranger grunted. "Yes! Yes! I need Billy; he was my best friend! Some stupid teenagers and their damn dog killed 'im! I scare people to avenge him! Now give 'im back!"
"Geez, this guy is nuts." Dipper murmured.
"The nuttiest." His companion agreed.
"Look," The young woman began, "I'll give your creepy goat head back if you get out of these woods and never come back."
"But I-"
She shrugged and fished her lighter out of her pocket and flicked it, holding it too close to the animal for comfort.
"Wait! No! Fine! I'll leave!"
Wendy put the lighter away and tossed the goat head onto the dirt. "If I ever hear about any more 'Goatman' shit, we'll track you down and burn the stupid thing. This is your only warning." She glared at him before shooing him with a brief hand motion. "Get outta here, creep."
The now-former Goatman didn't respond, just scooped up the remains of his old pet and scampered away.
"That is probably the weirdest thing that's ever happened." Dipper said, dumbfounded.
"Yeah. Why couldn't he just get a new goat?"
The two of them just stared into the distance watching as the creepy stranger faded away.
"Well, we did it... I think...?" The young man announced.
"Mission completion." The redhead answered, her initial shock evaporating as she tried to keep from snickering. "God, let's get out of here. I can't stand to be in these woods any longer."
"But i-it's getting dark..."
"Don't worry, chicken. You protected me from that lunatic; I'll protect you if anything happens." She winked and chuckled when she saw his face turn red. "But seriously, thanks, Dip." She affectionately ruffled his hair.
"Heh, yeah..."
When they arrived at the shack close to 3:00 in the morning, they were ready to just drop to the floor and pass out. Unfortunately, it seemed that Mabel decided to move her 'Wolf Man Bare Chest' marathon to the Mystery Shack.
Dipper and Wendy groaned in unison as they heard the dramatic 'oooohhhs' and giggles from the three women in front of the television.
"My place?" The redhead suggested.
"Definitely."
Not sure yet if Pacifica will be in this story; she doesn't seem to me like someone who'd really want to return to GF, but ya never know. Melody's not in the shack, may bring her in later, though. And Gideon? I may have a plan for that little turd...