Starfall

Chapter 6 - Reprisal

The cave began to shake as bubbles rose from the massive pool's depth. Pacific had assumed the pool was shallow, but the volume of bubbles surfacing seemed to indicate otherwise. Something was rising from the depths. Something big...

Pacific moved away from the water's edge to stand next to Dipper. "What's going on Dipper?!?" Pacific asked forcing her voice to remain calm. Dipper shook his head, "These readings don't make any sense. Somethings rising from the bottom." Pacific frowned. "I was hoping for a more in-depth analysis. Even I figured that one out just by observation."

Dipper not phased in the least shook his head. "You don't understand, this spring is twenty-five hundred feet deep. The pressure down there is immense. Anything large and organic shouldn't be able to survive down there."

Pacifica had begun backing away further as the rumbling grew louder and the bubbles started to churn and roil as the black waters grew steadily whiter. Dipper stepped closer to the water's edge as he tapped away at the screen of his handheld device. He glanced at the readings before looking back at the water. Irritation flared white hot as Pacifica grabbed his shoulder pulling him back away from the water's edge. Dipper's curiosity was going to be the death of him she surmised.

Dipper turned to say something in a complaint to Pacifica but was cut off before he could start. A large rock began to rise out of the water. The stones were smooth in some areas and jagged in others but appeared to be dome-shaped and the size of an SUV. As the boulder rose higher out of the water Pacifica realized the shape tapered off to form a sphere rather than a dome. The rock sphere continued to rise as greater rocks bigger than it began to rise out of the water. The round boulder stood with jagged rock shapes rising from a slopping stone platform behind it. It was then that Pacifica realized what she had missed. Two red dots in the middle of the boulder. Twin red dots were shrouded in darkness. Two eyes were watching her. As the stone began to grind and shift its eyebrows formed a furious frown. It was then that she realized what she was looking at. Some kind of rock creature was rising out of the water. Two large arms the size of greyhound busses grappled with the edge of the pool as it attempted to hoist itself out of the spring and into the room with the lake. Pacifica now realized the spikey shelf behind the head was the broad and spanning shoulders of the formidable creature that was before her. Its entire body was shaped as if it had been carved out of jagged-hewn rocks. The jagged rocks protruding from its shoulders stood formidably like spiked armor.

Pacifica's grip on Dipper's shoulder became very strong as she hissed, "What's the plan genius?" The creature's arm reached out in an attempt to find a better grip as it struggled to draw itself out of the pool. As it did its arm slammed down on the shallow water and stone beneath it. The cave shook as the walls reverberated with echoes. As it struggled it managed to take hold of a massive stalagmite rising out of the flowstone on the water's edge. The arms were the size of Greyhound buses and covered in rough natural stone formations. The elbows terminated in sharp spikes before the joint that formed a formidable edge. As it drew itself out of the pool and stood to its full stature the creature towered one hundred and twenty feet high as it loomed over them.

Dipper was shaken from his reverie as his eyes grew wide. Then his eyes narrowed as they steeled with resolve. "I have a plan to neutralize the Golem," he said confidently as he set his flashlight down on a chipped-off stalagmite. He pulled a long metallic rod out of his jacket. Twisting the rod in the middle he pulled it out on top and bottom tripling its length. One end had a pair of thin blue and yellow lead wiring attached to it that spooled into his jacket. Right next to the lead was an exposed logic board with blinking lights on it. It looked homemade. The other end terminated in a sharp-looking spear point. Dipper's shoulders swelled as he raised the spear using both arms. Dipper thrust the spear deep into the stone surface at his feet with a grunt. He stood up reaching into his jacket. These days he was beginning to look and sound much more like his uncle Ford. The jacket helped the illusion along, even if it was maroon leather and not a trench coat grey.