Under Pressure: A Gravity Falls Story

Family is Everything

Soos was flooring the gas of his pick-up, trying to get back to the Mystery Shack before the darkness of the apocalyptic nightmare following them comes crashing like a tidal wave.

"Can't this thing go any faster?!?" Mark-Anthony yelled over the wailing screams of the demons they passed. "Noooo..I just thought we needed to take it slow and watch the destruction of our world." Soos says sarcastically, which mostly surprised Dipper and Mabel, who had never seen Soos this irritated. "SOOS, JUST KEEP DRIVING!" Wendy now yelled at him. "On it!" The handyman says, immediately shutting up afterwards. Demons were one thing, but if he tried going up against an angry Wendy Corduroy...well she knows Gravity Falls the best out of anyone. She knows all the good spots for hiding a body.

"We're running low on the heavens ammo, and these non lethals are just pissing them off!" Giffany said with anxiety in her voice. She alone had the capabilities of locking on a monster in a split second and firing with near anti missile precision thanks to her high grade targeting system, but even she was starting to get overwhelmed with the immense number of demons. "How much further?!?" Dipper asked. "Not much farther, just keep them away for another mile!" Soos said frantically.

They rounded a corner onto a familiar dirt road, the path to the Mystery Shack. "Dipper, how do you know the Mystery Shack will be safe?" Mabel asked, fear evident in her voice. "Don't worry, Ford has to have put up some kind of defense against this...thing." Dipper tried to say with confidence but was drowned out by the wailing. Soon though they did come across the Mystery Shack and crossed into the parking lot, screeching to a halt. They then closed their eyes fearing the worst, but when they opened them the team saw a sort of force field around the perimeter of the shack. "See, I told you." Dipper said with relief, though mostly to himself because he honestly did not expect his plan to work.

"Okay, so now what?" Mystia spoke up, reminding everyone she was still there. "Now we figure out how to stop Bill!" They all heard behind them. They turned around and noticed Ford in the doorway on a crutch and holding his left side. Grunkle Stan was also there and was helping his brother walk. "Grunkle Stan, what happened to Ford?" Dipper asked quickly, concern showing on his face. "He was busy setting up the shield around the shack when a monster came out of nowhere and clawed his left side...it's starting to color." Stan said solemnly, but Ford brushed him off. "I'm perfectly fine Stanley, what worries me is what we're going to do when the shield breaks." Everyone went wide eyed with fear, "Don't you mean IF the shield breaks? Please tell me you mean if." Mabel asked, her voice still trembling.

"No...when!" Ford said as he pointed behind them. They all turned around, only to have their hearts immediately jump to their throats. Just as he said, there where cracks starting to show in the magical barrier, black wisps of smoke were starting to seep in. "They weren't this agitated before you guys showed up, it's almost like you..." but he trailed off once he noticed the clothes and the weapons strapped to their bodies. "I guess there's some things we need to discuss, everyone in the shack." He beckoned the team inside.

Once inside they all recounted the events of the past week; from the mall to the party, making deals with Bill, being trapped, killing the shapeshifter, Preston, and Gideon in that order, and to where they were now. "This certainly is a lot to process, it seems like all of this was meticulously thought out very considerably by Bill once he heard about Dipper's predicament, but what doesn't make sense is why he needed Giffany, Gideon, and the shapeshifter for his plans." Ford rubbed his temples, trying to concentrate. The wound that monster left was messing with his head and Ford had a sinking idea about what it was, but now wasn't the time to worry about himself.

"He never really explained anything, we just went along with whatever he said because he told us we would get what we wanted most if we did." Giffany said sadly, breaking into small sobs. "Bill can't be trusted, no matter how tempting he makes his deals." Ford lamented, remembering when Bill had tricked him so long ago. "We can't possibly go up against him now, we're out of the heavens ammo and last we heard McGucket was hanging in front of town hall by the entrails of his raccoon wife." Wendy said darkly, causing Ford to take on a sad look while everyone else looked for a trash can.