PART 1:
Somewhere in Nevada, a construction worker sets off explosives to make a hole to put in sewage pipes. A man in a straw hat walks away from the site towards a town, hopeful his son Gideon's plan will work out, as it is expensive. Entering the old-west town of Darkbark, Bud Gleeful is met with the town's mayor, Bud assuring the mayor that someone outside of town isn't a real mystic. Their discussion about modernizing the town is cut short when the ground begins shaking, a cloud of dust moving in. Bud runs into the Saloon as everyone else takes cover, the sounds of breaking glass and voices echoing around. The dust cloud disappears and everyone begins examining the damages as Bud yells that he will finish the job no matter what.
In the middle of nowhere, Wendy has just finished removing the bullets that hit her the night before. Dipper tells them they are going to a place called Darkbark, promising to get Wendy bullet-hole free clothes as soon as they arrive. They start driving again, the peacefulness of being alone on Mabel's bike allowing Wendy to forget the pains of being a Wraith.
Arriving in a town barely larger than Main Street, Gravity Falls, the four decide to get some souvenirs, agreeing to keep their eyes open after passing a man talking to a destroyed car, baseball bats littering the ground. Entering the Gift Shop, they pass two local women who give the twins weird looks before rushing past.
In the Gift Shop that looks similar to the one in the Manor, Mabel starts trying to make Wendy buy everything, Wendy simply picking out a leather jacket. Mabel starts to walk over to the teenaged cashier, who is staring at her in shock, but Dipper pulls her aside, Wendy recognizing the signs of Dipper being deep in thought. As the twins discuss Dipper's bad feeling, Wendy finds Soos sitting on a bench outside, the sight of the gift shop having reminded him of the one they lost a few days previously.
Rather than spend their time drowning in misery, Wendy suggests staying distracted, the two starting to head back inside when they see a furious and familiar man heading their way, flanked by the two women from before. They run inside to where the twins are debating if Graupner has people after them and tell the twins they have company, Bud Gleeful entering the building.
Bud accuses them of coming after him and tells them to get out of his town before he uses his influence to kick them out. The twins tell him they're there on their own time before accusing him of having something to do with their mission. Bud attempts to call people in to kick them out, but the people tell him something is coming back, Bud and everyone else preparing for the worst.
Wendy watches as a dust cloud makes its way to town, her immunity to death allowing her to watch without fear as furry beings with horns vandalize a car before heading back to a mountain, one of the beings telling someone to get out of town. The people come out of their hideouts to see the damaged car, Wendy pointing out the various hoof-prints in the dirt, Dipper realizing the vandals must be minotaurs, or something similar.
Bud awkwardly asks the twins, Wendy, and Soos to help him in his efforts to modernize the town by stopping the minotaurs destroying everything. Dipper agrees when Bud says they can take anything the minotaurs have claimed, intending on getting the Starkissed they came for. An Australian hunter-like man leaning against a pillar nearby offers to take them to the mountain the minotaurs ran off to, the four of them getting in the guy's jeep.
As the man, Ron, drives them towards the mountain, Dipper lays out the plan- go in, find the leader in the main cave, and overpower him to get the Starkissed. Ron stops the jeep, a local shaman called Wanekia walking up, giving Ron a dirty look and staring at Wendy in shock. Wanekia tells them Ron's luck will run out sooner or later and to turn around, as the mountains are too dangerous. Ron tells Wanekia that he's been unseen so far before driving away, Wendy and Soos wondering if the shaman could tell what Wendy was.
They arrive at the mountain, paths and caves and a number of other things providing them access. Crossing a ravine, Ron makes them stop, and he pulls out a tranq gun as they peer over a ledge. Bison are everywhere, some walking around on their hind legs, one showing the boss the baseball bats that were made, the bat hovering an inch or so above the bison's hoof. The boss says that, with the magic power stone they have, it'll be easy to get rid of the humans nearby, the five humans observing pulling back.
Dipper pulls out a Journal and starts looking for a spell, despite Mabel's protests that magic is bad. Dust from the Journal enters the air, the smell alerting the bison to their presence. They start to run, two Bison pulling Mabel and Ron down. Dipper jumps after his sister, telling Soos and Wendy to get out in any way they can and that he'll catch up later. As the two watch this unfold, bison surround them on both sides of the path.
Wendy asks Soos how much he trusts her, Soos giving her his full support. She pulls him with her as she runs off the path and jumps the ravine, landing on the far wall. Helping Soos find purchase despite her torn fingers, the two begin to climbing the cliffside. Eventually, they make it to safety outside the mountain, Soos taking a minute to catch his breath, Wendy not in need of any. As they sit, sure the twins will be back soon, they slowly realize just how alone they are.
PART 2:
A bit later, Soos and Wendy have made their way back to Ron's jeep, intent on waiting for the twins there. Soos tries lightening the mood by talking about some of the adventures he's had with the twins when Wendy wasn't around, but it doesn't help anything... not that he's really able to pick up on that. He apologizes for making her mad, Wendy telling him not to blame himself, Soos now realizing they are talking about something else.
Wendy snaps that the two of them don't know how to find the Starkissed, the twins always being the ones with the ideas and leading the group. She starts trying to go back into the mountain to rescue the twins, but Soos grabs her and holds her back, wanting to honor his promise to Stan to keep her safe. Wendy, looking like what she is, reminds him that part of that promise was keeping the twins safe as well.
Soos, feeling useless, admits that he doesn't know what to do about the twins, but he'll honor the promise as best as possible to make sure Stan's sacrifice was worth something. The two apologize for getting mad at each other but agree they need to do something. Soos suggests heading back to Darkbark and getting what help they can, Wendy offering to hotwire the car for them.
Soos watches Wendy hotwire the jeep, a weird experience watching someone else work. The two start the drive but stop when they see the Shaman on the horizon, suspicious of him being involved with the Bison. They pull up to him, Wanekia noticing they have lost members to the Bison. Wendy asks him how he knew what the creatures were, attacking him and demanding answers for why he didn't warn them what they were going into.
Wanekia agrees to tell them everything and why he is at fault for it all. He says that Bison were being hunted unfairly, and Gleeful coming to town would have taken half of their roaming lands and made it impossible for them to recover. He tried to stop the people, but their greed was too much and he was forced out of town. He pulls out a necklace with an empty socket for a stone, explaining that it was passed down to him. Hoping the promise of the stone having powers was true, he placed it in the mountain and wished for the Bison to be able to defend themselves.
Unfortunately, the Bison wanted revenge, both them and the people of Darkbark refusing to listen to reason, Wanekia himself unwilling to take away the Bison's only chance at survival. Wendy snaps at him for helping when he didn't know what he was doing and making everything worse, saying people like him are what made things like her. Soos convinces Wanekia to help them fix things and the three of them get back in Ron's jeep, Wendy requesting Soos not tell the twins about her freaking out. Soos encourages her that Dipper knows a lot of stuff, maybe not as much as Zander, but he knows enough to find a cure, Wendy dazedly agreeing that he does know a lot of stuff.
They arrive back in the town, the people reacting negatively when Wanekia is revealed. Wendy defends Wanekia and tells Bud that he can't talk about being run out of town. Bud says his family left Gravity Falls on their own, Wendy and Soos shocked that Bud remembers Gravity Falls. Wendy mentions the Bison, Soos catching Bud when he lies about not knowing what they are talking about. Bud tries to appeal to the crowd for help, but Wanekia snaps at him that the 'help' he has offered so far has only made things worse.
Soos tells Bud and the people that, when something falls and breaks, you don't fix it by dropping it again. The problem only gets worse, his statement impressing Wendy and Wanekia and getting the crowd to turn on Bud. They hogtie Bud as Wendy starts to watch the mountain, Wanekia and the mayor thanking Soos for showing them Bud's true colors.
Wendy yells Soos' name and gets everyone's attention as the ground starts to shake, a cloud of dust moving in from the direction of the mountain. Deciding to talk it out with the Bison, and maybe sacrifice Bud if need be, the crowd stays put as the dozen animals arrive. They welcome the Bison to the town and apologize for what they did, telling the Bison Bud is responsible, but the Bison refuse to accept the apology.
Wendy and the lead Bison get into a shouting match before the Bison charge, the crowd scattering, Wanekia getting hit. Soos pulls Wanekia to his feet, both concerned the Bison won't listen to reason, but Wendy has just punched the leader in the face, bringing the fight to a standstill. She tells him she knows how it feels to have your home taken away from you, telling him about Gravity Falls and why he (and other animals) can sense something different about her. She tells him she survived by having people around that she trusted, encouraging him and the people of Darkbark to trust and help each other recover, the mayor and the lead Bison agreeing to that plan.
Two hours later, we meet the entire group again at a gas station, a Starkissed in the twins' possession. After the mayor and Bison made their deal, Bud being kicked out a part of that, the people and animals in the town had gone back to the mountain to discover the twins had convinced the Bison there to make peace with the town as well. With the Starkissed, and Wendy's jacket, in their possession, the group is able to start moving to their next location. Soos complements Wendy on her ability to calm down the Bison, but as they get back on the road, he can't help but wonder why he feels useless.
At another gas station, Bud Gleeful steps out of his car and walks to a nearby payphone booth. Gideon answers, Bud informing him that their plan in Darkbark didn't work. Yelling loud enough to be heard outside the phone, Gideon tells his father money would be lost if he messed up again, Bud mentioning the Pines and their friends showing up. Gideon thinks Mabel came looking for him, but when Bud tries to talk him down, Gideon starts barking out orders for a new mission he wants his father to complete. Promising to see his son tomorrow despite the cost for a plane, Bud hangs up the phone, dreading the long journey ahead of him.
Cryptograms:
Zh duh wkh juhdwhvw sxccohv zh fdq ilqg. Eurnhq dqg eulwwoh, zkr fdq uhsdlu wkh plqg? Wkh ulggoh ehiruh lv dq dqvzhu dwrqh. Wr ila lw qrz, rqh pxvw qrw eh dorqh. We are the greatest puzzles we can find. Broken and brittle, who can repair the mind? The riddle before is an answer atone. To fix it now, one must not be alone.
9 18-15-12-12 6-15-18 2-9-19-15-14 19-20-5-1-12-20-8. I roll for bison stealth.
R'n tlrmt gl kfmxs gszg kozgrmfn yolmw qvip rm gsv uzxv hl sziw R'oo gfim srh hprm rmgl z dsllkvv xfhsrlm.
I'm going to punch that platinum blond jerk in the face so hard I'll turn his skin into a whoopee cushion.
