Chapter 11: The Dance

Dipper, Mabel and the rest of the gang were very excited for the dance party they were going to be hosting at the Mystery Shack. The Pines twins had been having fun with the party favors, pretending to throw up silly string claiming that it was something their Grunkle Stan had fed them. Even Wendy had joined in with them. Dipper had noticed that Wendy's mood had been cheerier compared to the past couple of days. He had chalked it up to Adam's absence. Adam had to leave earlier that day, saying that he needed to meet with the contractor about his new place, as well as some other things he had to do in town. While Dipper did miss his new friend, he was more enthusiastic about the time he was going to spend with Wendy at the ticket booth. He couldn't wait to be able to put his "Get Wendy to Dance and eventually Marry Me" plan to work tonight.

Mabel had also been thrilled about the celebration. She was going to have such a great time, but she was going to miss Adam. He had said that he might stop by later to catch the end of the party, but he didn't know when or if that would be possible. Even though the tall blonde wouldn't be there, Mabel knew that she would still have a lot of fun. She was a little worried about her twin brother and his overcomplicated plan to impress Wendy. Mabel knew that Dipper meant well, but sometimes he was so caught up in his undertakings that he would undoubtedly be his own worse enemy.

The twins also couldn't get over the discovery of the copier Grunkle Stan had in his office. Dipper had tried to find out more about the device, but 3 didn't offer any additional information about it. He wondered why Stan would have such a machine, but perhaps like the wax figures, Stan hadn't been aware of it's true potential. Dipper had other plans for the machine, as when they were working the ticket stand, Wendy decided to ditch her post to join in on the festivities. He was forced to stay, but he wanted to be with Wendy. So he decided to use the copy machine to help him with his plan. As he laid down on the glass, the eerie green light engulfed the boy and soon he was standing face to face with himself.

Dipper 2, or Tyrone had been an interesting subject of study. Dipper noticed that besides the physical similarities, the clone also retained many personality traits as well as being able to link minds and have the same thoughts. He wondered if it was a side effect from the copier or if some other supernatural forces were at work, but those inquiries would have to be put on hold. Dipper thought that with Tyrone, nothing could stand in his way to spend time with Wendy. He had strolled over to her when Robbie appeared.

Out of everyone in Gravity Falls, Dipper trusted Robbie the least. Something about the pale black-haired teenager made Dipper uneasy and the fact that the dark boy was a friend of Wendy made it all the worse. Ever since the Dusk2Dawn incident when Robbie and Dipper first met, there has been an increasingly tense relationship between the two. Needless to say, his head was spinning from the fantasy he had of losing his beloved to this emo guitarist. Tyrone and he had agreed, they needed a distraction to lure the unwanted visitor away from Wendy.

So they made three new clones, Dipper 3, the one they designated as Paper Jam Dipper and Dipper 4. Since Mabel was distracted trying to beat Pacifica and Grunkle Stan had seemingly disappeared from the party, the plan was foolproof. So Dipper 3 and 4 rode the bike with an angry Robbie running behind them. It had all gone according to plan, until now. They had ridden away on a stolen bike from the teenager, but now they were sitting back to back, tied together and blindfolded, somewhere in the middle of the dense pine tree forests of Gravity Falls. Suddenly they heard a voice, the voice of their captor.

"I'm not going to ask you again. What does Dipper know?"

The voice had sounded familiar, the clones knew that it was someone Dipper knew, but from the darkness of their blindfolds they couldn't identify the mysterious man.

"I don't get it, if we have Dipper's memories, shouldn't we know who you are by the sound of his voice?" Dipper 3 and 4 didn't know which of them had asked the question, one of the symptoms of the hive mind they shared with Dipper Classic.

The man laughed.

"When a copy is made, not all the memories are exactly copied over. They are more like smaller ripped versions, so there are holes that the copies can't fill. Also, the hive-mind only works one way. It's a safety override, to make sure the clones can't kill the originator and take his place. Now, how does Dipper know about the secrets of Gravity Falls, and how did he find out about the copier?"

Robbie came upon a clearing, chasing after the thieves that stole his mountain bike. He could have sworn that it was the snot-nosed brat that Wendy had dragged along on their time at the haunted convenience store, but he noticed that the other thief was not the kid's twin sister. It almost looked like an exact copy of the boy. Robbie wondered if perhaps he had a twin brother as well. In the clearing lay his bicycle, completely abandoned and unharmed. Robbie looked around and saw no fleeing children in sight. He shrugged and picked up the bike, straddling the seat and taking off toward the Mystery Shack. As he rode back to the dance, he couldn't hear the horrified screams of the two tortured clones in the deep woods nearby.