Gravity Falls: No Strings On Me

Chapter Two

Dipper opened his eyes the next morning and propped himself up. Right now, the only ones that truly knew what was going on were the Stans, Mabel and himself. Soos sorta knew, but they didn't tell him everything since he was preoccupied with running the Shack. Ford had suggested that Dipper keep wearing the knit winter gloves as much as possible until they could determine how to help Dipper gain control.
As Dipper brushed his teeth, adjusting to doing the majority of his morning with gloves on, he took in his reflection. While he had definitely bulked up in the last few years - partially from army training and partially from work during the summers at the Shack, he had never considered himself muscular. Looking in the mirror now, however, it seemed he had gained muscle mass almost overnight. It wasn't until he looked at his own face that Dipper began to fear what he was looking at.
His eyes were much more rounded than normal, the whites were glowing blue and the pupils were stretched into tall black slits - much like a demonic Dorito that had terrorized the town five years ago. In the reflection, Dipper's smile seemed to be stretched a bit beyond the length of normal, blue flames occasionally sparked in his hair only to die out seconds later. His left arm was vibrating like last night with the blue electricity coming off of it, the right arm was engulfed in blue flames without burning.
"Hello, Pine-tree." The all-too-familiar voice that haunted Dipper's dreams seemed to echo from within the mirror itself.
Dipper reached a hand up to his face to feel that it was just his reflection that looked like this, his face and arms were still as normal as possible.
"Bill?" Dipper asked a bit timidly, afraid to know the answer.
"Not exactly," The Reflection admitted as it looked at its own hands, "I'm not exactly sure what I am. All I know is, I'm in your head - been here since Triangle-Face took over your body for those few hour. I'm sorta a combination of you and him, only I become more like him the more you use...whatever it is he left behind. Powers, magic, meta-human abilities - whatever you wanna call it, it's me. As you lose control, I gain it."
"So if I kill myself, you should die." Dipper reasoned in a very serious tone as he looked at the reflection.
"Only one way to find out, kid." The Reflection replied with an evil grin.
Dipper looked at his pile of clothes - he always kept some kind of pocket knife clipped to the hip of his jeans. Grabbing the knife and extending the blade, Dipper looked at the reflection.
"Well?..." The Reflection edged on.
Dipper drove the knife into his chest - or he meant to anyway. The blade bent against his skin as if it was made of steel.
"Funny thing about Bill's power," The Reflection chuckled as Dipper dropped the now curved knife in shock, "It's just as unpredictable as he is."
"Is?!" Dipper asked in alarm, "You say that as if he's still alive!"
"Oh, he's still alive." The Reflection grinned maniacally, "The problem is, he's been possessing someone since his 'defeat,' and you'll have to figure out who that is before he's at full strength again - which should be, in about two weeks."
Dipper backed away from the mirror as The Reflection began to laugh evilly. Without even thinking to grab his things, Dipper threw open the bathroom door and ran out into the hall - right into Wendy.
"Uh, hey, Mabel sent me to check on you since you hadn't woken up yet." Wendy explained as she stepped back, "Dipper, why...um...why aren't you...uh...where's your shirt?"
Dipper didn't answer, instead he stepped back, looking at every picture frame in the hall. Anything that could give off a reflection echoed with The Reflection's laugh, but only Dipper seemed to be able to hear it. Ignoring Wendy, Dipper ran full force down the hall and down the stairs.
"Dude, where's the fire?!" Wendy yelled after him as she did her best to keep up, "Dipper, what is going on?"
Dipper grabbed his boots and practically threw them over his feet before running out into the snow in only a pair of sweatpants. He kept running, deeper into the woods, remembering the path from long ago. Dipper practically slid to a stop before gingerly stepping towards the now snow covered and somewhat cracked stone statue of Bill. A note was attached to the hand, as if the statue itself was holding it.
"Oh, Gravity Falls, it is good to be back. -B" The note read.
Wendy had just caught up to Dipper as he took the note off the statue. He handed it to her and as they looked at the statue together, it suddenly crumbled apart. Dipper looked at Wendy before looking back to the Shack and then towards town.
"We gotta warn the town." Wendy breathed, still out of breath from the run.
"We can't." Dipper replied, "They still have their whole 'Nevermind-All-That' mentality as if none of it ever happened. They'll never believe us anyway."
"Then let's tell the others at the Shack." Wendy suggested.
"They're already worried about something else." Dipper replied solemnly.
"You?" Wendy asked.
Dipper looked at Wendy with sadness in his eyes.
"Dipper, I don't know what's going on with you," Wendy started with bitterness in her voice, "But we've always told each other everything, ever since that first summer. I respect that it's scaring you, but it kinda hurts when everyone knows but me."
Dipper seemed to gain a sudden interest in his boots as he felt the wind blow against his back.
"Whatever man, don't tell me." Wendy huffed, "Just know I'm here for you when you're ready."
Dipper felt a tug in the back of his mind as he watched Wendy walk back to the Shack. Everything around him seemed to slow to a halt. Dipper looked down and saw arcs of blue lightning sparking off his body in slow motion. Looking back up, Dipper walked up to where Wendy stood in a single frame of time.
"I want to tell you," Dipper practically shouted, hearing his voice echo oddly through the woods, "Believe me, I wish I could tell you everything. I don't know what's happening, and I wish I could figure it out but I don't want you in danger. I can't lose you, I can't let that dream come to pass. I know what you said before, but... I can't lose you, Wendy."
Dipper looked up at Wendy, still frozen in place, reached out to touch her arm but pulled back. Looking to Gravity Falls, Dipper saw something that scared him to the core.
A figure stood in the road wearing a black cloak with a yellow Cipher's Wheel stitched into the chest, with the hood of the cloak pulled over the face. The figure turned around, despite time seemingly frozen, and took off into town with lightning similar to Dipper's except that the newcomer's energy was yellow. Dipper looked at Wendy, then back to the road and took off after the figure.
Behind Dipper, Wendy had a vague feeling that someone had been standing next to her for a split second, but when she turned she saw nobody there - including Dipper who had just been standing not too far behind her a minute ago.
"I wish you would tell me what's happening..." Wendy whispered as she looked down the road and shoved Bill's note in her back pocket, "Just let me in, Dipper."
A half mile down the road, in Gravity Falls, people were going about their day. It was a snow day, so kids were playing in the snow covered yards, the sidewalk, even in the street if traffic wasn't going by. Businesses were closed, everything was peaceful - until the wind seemed to pick up in one direction going down several streets every few seconds.
Dipper ran as hard as he could, trying to catch the cloaked figure - who seemed to be running very well despite the baggy cloak flying just about everywhere except off their face. Out of nowhere, the cloaked figure stopped turned around, ignited their right fist with yellow fire similar to Dipper's and aimed a punch right Dipper's face as he tried to stop. Swerving out of the way, Dipper placed a foot on a nearby wall and used his momentum to pull a backflip over the figure, ignite his own fist in blue fire and swing a punch at the cloaked figure. Dodging the punch, the cloaked figure threw another at Dipper, who in turn dodged and through another of his own punches. The cloaked figure then took off to another street corner on the other side of town and the two began their fight anew.
After leading the fight out onto Scuttlebutt Island - surprising Dipper that he could run fast enough to run on water, the cloaked figure turned around to Dipper as the two of them stood a few feet apart.
"You can run, you can fight, what else can you do?" The figure called out in a raspy voice.
"I'd rather not find out." Dipper answered back honestly as he extinguished the flames on in his fists.
"You know, he was right about you." The figure shouted, "You're too clever for your own good."
"Who was right about me?" Dipper asked cautiously.
"Who do you think, Pine-tree?" The figure answered before grinning about twice as wide as a normal person should.
"Are you Bill?" Dipper asked in alarm.
The figure was silent as they kept grinning.
"ARE YOU BILL?!" Dipper asked.
"See ya' soon, kid." The figure called out, "You've got a big week coming up."
The figure then sped off trailing yellow lightning behind as he headed back to town. Dipper tried to keep his eyes on the figure, but couldn't pinpoint where they went.
Just as he moved to run after the figure, what felt like physical hands inside his head wrapped around his mind. Screaming in pain, Dipper doubled over grabbing at his head. Stabling himself on his knees and hands, he rose back up still kneeling in the snow. When his eyes opened, the whites glowed blue and the pupils had been extended into black slits. His hair ignited with blue flames, and his smile widened. With a snap of his fingers, a Mystery Shack t-shirt appeared on his torso and his flannel jacket - which had been hanging in the closet in the attic - appeared in his hands.
"Thanks for the wheel, kid." An amalgam of Dipper and Bill's voices spoke as the jacket was put on, "Let's see what you can really do."
The Reflection sped Dipper's body over the lake and back into Gravity Falls, not really sure where to go but looking for something to test Dipper's abilities on.
<====+====>
Mabel had just walked out of the grocery store with a basket full of dinner for everyone at the Shack and was about to get unlock the car when she saw two guys walking towards her. They kept their heads low and their hoods up over their heads, and they each had something threatening to poke through the pockets in their jackets.
"Ok, not good," Mabel thought to herself, "Just get the stuff in the car, don't make eye contact."
"Hey pretty lady, how about a ride?" One of the men asked as he brandished a knife.
"Or make fist to face contact like Stan taught you, that works too." Mabel thought as she set the basket of groceries on top of the car.
As she turned around, the other man pinned her arms to the car with his. Before Mabel could react, a figure with blue flames for hair, blue eyes with black slit pupils and a very familiar jacket sped out of nowhere with blue lightning sparking off of them.
"Dipper?" Mabel asked in disbelief as the two men turned around.
"Hey man," The man with the knife began, "We know this is Gravity Falls, crap gets weird, but get lost."
"You're not bright in the whole 'weird-and-supernatural' department, are you?" The figure asked in a 50/50 of Dipper's voice and someone that Mabel had prayed she'd never hear from again.
Before anyone could react, the figure ignited their left fist with blue fire and shot a fireball through the man with the knife - not at him, through him. The man dropped to his knees, then fell over, eyes wide open. The other man let go of Mabel and moved to pull a weapon, but the figure raised their right hand and sprayed blue lightning through the man, throwing him up in the air and into a nearby light pole head first.
"See ya' around, Shooting-Star." The figure said in that terrifying split voice before igniting the other hand in flames, looking to the sky and literally flying off.
Mabel watched the figure's path, got in the car and began following it as best she could. She didn't care where it was going, she had to get her brother back. He had to know what Wendy had told Mabel before the twins had left last summer.