Gravity Falls: Mind of Cipher

Part 11 - Preparing for Sunset

    Twelve hours after the vanishing of Blendin Blandin, the Crawlspace was left vacant.

    A trail of claw prints and wreckage led from the dirty old pub, through the streets. They ended at an outhouse door, which now hung cracked and angled on its hinges.

    Through the door - and the portal like-space inside - lay the wreckage of the Mystery Shack.

    Pacifica stepped carefully over blackened boards and piles of ash. No part of the Shack was left standing, though only part of it had been burned.

    She had searched for survivors but so far ... well, she hadn't found anyone. Living or otherwise. Perhaps it was a good sign.

    She just didn't know.

    Pacifica noticed a fabric-like material beneath a fallen chunk of wall. She waved to her servant...er, helper Leaderaur, then gestured to the pile. The massive mantuar came lumbering over.

    He hefted up the boards with a grunt, then tossed them crashing to the side. Pacifica crouched and wiped ash and dust from the fuzzy material.

    She smiled when she saw it was a blue-green shag carpet.

    "I think this might be it," Pacifica said, "The thing Dipper wanted us to find."

    Leaderaur nodded, and grabbed the carpet and ripped it out of the wreckage.

    It was patchy, and one side was singed, but it was still mostly intact. Pacifica inspected the rug.

    It was disgusting. Dipper had described it as "awesome", but she figured he didn't know much about finery.

    She lifted a tag that'd been stuck to the bottom of the carpet. There was writing printed there.

    "Experiment 78!" Pacifica said excitedly, "This is the one!"

    According to Dipper, the rug was capable of switching minds via static charge.

    "Good. You have sight of a mantuar, Leader-Leader," Leaduar rumbled, "Now, let us rejoin the others at meeting place and wait for the Wimp to return."

    "We talked about this, cow man," Pacifica sighed, "Dipper Pines is not a wimp. Stop calling him that."

    Leaduar nodded briskly, then draped the shaggy rug over one shoulder and picked up Pacifica and placed her on the other shoulder.

    Pacifica balanced on top of his shoulder easily. It was like riding a horse. A clumsy horse with just two legs and a bull's head.

    "Let us rejoin the others and wait for the Wimp-I'm-not-supposed-to-call-a-wimp to return," Leaderaur grunted, seeming quite pleased with the remark.

    Pacifica sighed.

    "Just get us to the meeting place," she said.

    Leaderaur grunted again, then took off through the trees at a steady jog, with Pacifica and the Experiment 78 carpet bouncing in his shoulders.

    They arrived at the meeting place a short while later. It was a tall, but apparently fake, pine tree. A horde of monsters of every kind imaginable guarded it.

    Fortunately, they were all under Leaderaur's control - who was under Pacifica's control.

    "Is Dipper here yet?" Pacifica said, as Leaderaur lowered her to the ground. The mantuar leaned the rolled-up shag carpet up against a tree.

    "No, Leader-leader," the cyclops from the pub - she'd never bothered to learn his name - said, "The wimp has not-"

He stopped, shrinking slightly under Pacifica's gaze.