Later that day, the Mystery Shack was open for business, and Bill was occupied with sweeping the floor. Nearby, Stan was showing a bunch tourists around, before stopping at their final exhibit, which was covered by a sheet.

"We're reaching our last exhibit," Stan said, clutching the sheet. "I present to you, a unicorn made of corn! The Corn..ni-corn? I dunno, I'm tired."

The Day Guardian removed the sheet, and the result were a collection of gasps. The exhibit was now just a bunch of broken wires, and pieces of corn.

"What happened!?" Stan exclaimed.

Crunch!

The Guardian whirled around, to see Gompers surrounded by half eaten corns, and he was currently chewing on one now. Behind Stan, the tourists muttered angrily.

"This is a ripoff!" A woman scoffed. "Kids, we're leaving."

Her kids dropped their merchandise, and followed their mother out. It didn't take long, before the rest of the group left too. Stan stared in dismay, then turned sharply towards Bill.

"What the hay, Blondie?" Stan snapped. "This goat of yours ruined my homemade scams! Can't you take him outside?"

Bill shrugged, and put down the broom. "Trust me, I wish I can. But, I promised Will I wouldn't."

Stan rolled his eyes. "C'mon, 5 minutes without this goat is all I ask."

"Will insisted there are predators outside."

"That's just the natural order," Stan dismissed. "It's not our fault the goat is potentially delicious."

Bill narrowed his eyes at him, and Stan sighed.

"Look, he'll only be a foot away from the shack, and we'll put him on a leash so he doesn't wonder off."

The blond rubbed the back his neck, then turned to Gompers thoughtfully. The goat looked up from the corn, and stared intensely at Bill. The blond shivered, then turned back to Stan.

"OK, let's do it."

❇❇❇

Wendy, the Pine twins, and Will were halfway through the woods. They eventually paused before a bunch of trees, which were suspiciously covered in sap.

"This is where my friends last saw that thing," Wendy explained, gesturing to their surroundings. "Though, there seems to be no traces of it left behind."

"Maybe, it's invisible," Mabel beamed. "I say we pull out the glitter attack."

"You mean the attack that almost blinded me?" Dipper remarked.

"That's what you get for touching my leftovers, bro-bro."

"There's such a thing called a name tag," The male brunette argued.

"Quiet down, kids," Wendy sighed, then said. "I say we split up into teams, and search for any clues. Mabel can go with me, and Will can go with Dipper."

They nodded, and broke off into their selected pairs. While Mabel and Wendy looked somewhere else, Dipper and Will reached a spot under the trees. Will suddenly tripped over a jutted root in the ground, and planted a hand on a tree for support. However, when he tried to pull his hand back, it wouldn't budge. Will was distressed, to see he was stuck in a lump of sap growing on the trunk of the tree. He began to panic, but then Dipper came to his rescue.

"Hold still," Dipper instructed, unsheathing his sword.

Will felt a surge of fear, but closed his eyes, and did what the Guardian said. Dipper swiftly carved through the hardened sap with his blade, before it crumbled, releasing Will's hand. The boy opened his eyes, and sighed in relief at his freed hand.

"Thanks, Dipper."

The Guardian sheathed his weapon, and gave the other a curt nod. Then, a thoughtful look crossed Dipper's face.

"It's a surprise that you decided to come without Bill."

Will twiddled his fingers nervously. "Bill needed a rest, and you know me, I live for this kind of stuff. The outdoors, the ground...the prospect of being eaten by a monster. Ha, fun."

Dipper looked at him blankly, then sighed. "Will, I know you're doing this to avoid your brother, mind telling me why?"

Will frowned, finding no use in lying. "I feel like Bill is becoming afraid of me," He admitted.

"Why?" Dipper asked.

Now, would be the appropriate time to bring up the letter, but then Will remembered this was Dipper he was talking to. It was almost impossible to predict how the Guardian will react. Will knew he shouldn't, but he feared that if he told Dipper the truth, the brunette would turn on him. Not willing to take that risk, he decided to keep his mouth shut for now, until he had both Pine twins to talk to.

"I don't know," Will said. "But it isn't just me, Bill has been fidgety around everything lately. So far, the only option I have is to leave him alone, and hopefully he'll relax."

Dipper bit his lip. "You think that all of the craziness is beginning to take a toll on him?"

"Probably," Will said, worried. "He's been doing fine so far, but yet again, he's still human."

Dipper made a conflicted look, like he was wondering whether or not to believe that statement.

"Bill and I may have our differences," The Guardian said, hesitantly. "But, I think we truly bonded throughout this summer. Even though I'm convinced that he'll turn back into the golden devil that destroyed my home...for the time being, he's still my friend, and I'm concerned for his health."

Will stared at him, honestly not expecting him to admit something like that. He inspected Dipper closely, noticing the faint blush on the Guardian's cheeks. A millions thoughts went through his head, and then he asked:

"You really care about him, don't you?"

"I suppose so," Dipper answered, lightly.

Will paused, before asking. "As much as you cared about him...back then?"

Dipper stared, then made a guarded expression. "I don't want to talk about this, Will."

"Well...I do!" Will remarked. The Guardian shot him a glare, and the boy shrank a little. "Please?"

Dipper shook his head. "Forget about what I said to you. I didn't even know you two switched bodies."

"But, you wanted to say those things to Bill, right?"

"I did," He replied, sharply. "But, now I realize I was being too emotional. Bill doesn't need to know about the feelings I had for him back then, because they are long gone."

Will frowned. "Look, I understand that you don't want to get your heart broken again. But, if you have even the smallest feelings for Bill now, are you really content on ignoring them like you did in the past?"

Dipper remained silent, and for a while, they stood there looking at each other. It was soon put to a halt, when they heard a call from Mabel.

"Guys, we found something!"

Quickly, the two followed her voice, deciding to forget their conversation for now. When they arrived before the two women, they were faced with a surprising sight. The trees overheard, had broken branches, and the earth below was littered with what looked like dry flakes. Wendy had one of the flakes in her hand, and inspected it.

"These are scales," Wendy explained, dropping it to the floor. "Something must've shed them."

"Could it be a giant iguana with wings?" Mabel asked. "Oh! Maybe, it can breathe fire?"

"It sounds like you're describing a dragon, Mabel," Will pointed out.

"It's not a dragon," Dipper said. "Trust me, I've encountered a lot of them, and they don't nest in the forest."

"Speaking of nest, maybe I'll find one in the trees," Wendy said. "Stay here, until I come back."

The redhead moved towards one of the trees, and quickly climbed it. The rest of the group watched, as Wendy finally reached the top, and looked around.

"I'm really confused about what exactly is this thing," Dipper said, crinkling his nose at the shriveled scales on the ground.

"Whatever it is, we can totally take it on," Mabel smiled, bumping her brother's shoulder.

Will smiled at her, but then stopped midway. He caught the sounds of soft rustling in the distance. Will looked up, but only saw canopied branches.

Snap!

Will jolted on the spot, and two shadows loomed over him. He looked over, to see Dipper and Mabel standing protectively at his sides, appearing to have heard the sound too. They stood in the unbearably silence, and scanned around with frantic eyes. Eventually, they relaxed a bit, when no danger revealed itself.

"I guess it was nothing," Mabel said.

Will sighed in relief, but might have done it too soon. Because a second later, a shriek arrowed through his ears, and a huge dark shape launched out from the trees. Before anyone could comprehend this, it swooped overhead, and Will felt his torso being clutched by a iron grip, and he was abruptly lifted into the air.

Will heard Dipper and Mabel's distant screams, as he was dragged through the air by the monster. The deafening flaps of wings filled his ear, and he turned his head to get a better look at his captor. He caught flashes of dark scales, and a glowing yellow eye. Will felt queasy, and his heart raced, as cold fear pumped into his veins. He thought he'd surely die, but then there was a flash of metal, and the monster shrieked, when an axe slashed at it's hide. It instinctively dropped Will, and the boy plummeted to the ground at high speed. Will tucked himself into a ball, as dropped to the earth. He rolled across the ground, before hitting a tree stump.

Will groaned, feeling an agonizing pain in his ribcage. He shakily pressed a hand on the center of his chest, and used some healing magic. The pain immediately lessened. He wasn't completely healed, but at least it was bearable for him to sit up. As he did, he noticed Wendy's axe embedded into the earth, stained with blood.

"Will!"

Will turned, seeing Wendy running towards him, with the other two Guardians in tow. The redhead pulled her axe out from the ground, then she knelt down to inspect Will.

"Are you okay?" She asked, in a hurry.

"I'm fine," Will told her. Then, he looked up wearily, but saw no signs of the beast. "What was that thing?"

Wendy's green eyes shined determinedly. "I don't know, but I'm gonna find out."

❇❇❇

Stan and Bill were in the middle of fastening a leash on Gompers, that they planned to tie to a stake in the ground.

"You sure this will hold?" Bill questioned, looking down at the stake.

"Of course," Stan reassured, tying the end of Gompers's leash to the piece of wood. "There you go, now this goat won't be bothering us anymore."

The Day Guardian clapped Bill on the back, nudging him in the direction of the shack. "Come on, let's get back to work."

"Sure," Bill said. "But, we should remember to check on him once in a while."

"You're worrying too much," Stan pointed out. "Trust me, the goat will be just fine."

Bill was about to reply, when there was an deafening shriek behind them, followed by Gompers bleating in distress. Both whirled around, and were shocked to see Gompers wasn't where they left him. There was another shriek, and they looked up, appalled to see a large shadow carrying away the goat, before it disappeared.

They stood there, not saying a word to each other, then four figures stepped out from the woods. Will and the others were returning.

"Guys, you won't believe what we saw!" Will gasped, but then he noticed their horrified expressions. "What's wrong?"

Bill cleared his throat. "Good news, you're getting a puppy!"

Will tilted his head. "What?"

"Kid, I'm gonna say this as gently as possible," Stan started. "Your goat was carried away by a monster."

Bill shot him a glare, and Will stared.

"WHAT?" Will gasped, then turned to Bill. "How did this happen!? You didn't put him outside, did you?"

Bill quickly shook his head. "No! I-I can explain."

"I'll explain exactly what happened," Stan said.

"Yeah, listen to him," Bill said, quickly.

Everyone looked at Stan intently, as he spoke. "There Bill was, naturing Gompers like his own child, when BOOM! That monster crawled into the house, and snatched the goat away! And then Bill was like: Not so fast, cretin! And started punching it in the face, like WHAM! But then it flew off before he could finish it."

Bill looked at him like he was bonkers, and Mabel rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"That story sounds oddly suspicious, but I'm gonna believe it anyway because it involves punches," She said.

Will placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Thanks for trying to save him," He said.

Bill laughed nervously. "Yeah...just trying to be a good brother."

"We shouldn't lose hope," Wendy chimed in. "The monster didn't eat Gompers on the spot, so it's probably carrying him back to it's nest. We're gonna track it down, save Gompers, and catch that monster!"

The others nodded in agreement, and the redhead turned towards the woods.

"We should hurry, though. There's no telling when that beast will be having it's snack."