Ah, Summer break. A time for leisure, recreation, and taking 'er easy...
Unless you're me.
A billboard stood with the words: 'welcome to gravity falls' on it. Then, suddenly a go-cart smashed through it carrying four people, two in the cart, one on the roof and one hanging on to the rear bumper.
"It's getting closer!" a girl said to the other four as a monster drew near.
"I can see that!" another girl said from the roof of the go-cart, attempting to stand up and steady herself.
"Dipper! Look out!" a boy called, pulling himself up into the cart. A tree fell in front of the go-cart and the boy driving was barely able to avoid it. All four of the teens* screamed
(Author's note: technically teens)
Rest assured, there is a perfectly logical explanation.
Many years ago…
"Mam, Sir, I am happy to announce that you're newly born twins are happy and healthy." A Nurse informed the Pines. The two smiled on each other, pleased with their growing family. Would you like to see them?" The nurse asked, to which the new parents nodded. Soon, they were cradling their newborns, both soundly asleep, then they heard some commotion from outside. Mrs. Pines chuckled
"Did those rascals want to see their new brother and sister?" She called out. Then, two three-year-old kids ran in, one boy, one girl, both brown haired with a hint of blonde. They were now peering at there siblings in awe of the tiny humans.
"What are their names?" The boy asked.
"Well, Max, your new sister's name is Mabel, and your brother's name is-"
"Hey, Mummy! His forehead looks like the big dipper!" The girl interrupted. Mrs. Pines looked down at the newborn boy.
"Hmm, so it does, Aqua."
"He's like me!" Aqua stated
"Yes Aqua, he is like you." Her mother assured her. Aqua replied giving a big toothy grin.
"Well never in my life did I think that we'd have two sets of twins in this family, let alone all having the same birthday." Mr pines said, "Sorry this interrupted your big day you two."
"That's okay, this is da best gift ever!" Max said.
Twelve years later...
Four people stood just off the road, two boys, two girls. They were all holding suitcases and staring up at a house which had a large sign that read out "Mystery Shack" however the S had fallen off and it read: "Mystery hack"
"Well, this place certainly has… Character." The taller girl with a cyan tipped brown hair. "I mean it's not a total dump." As she said that, a raccoon scurried past knocking of a trash can. She sighed. "Never mind, it's a total dump."
"Oh cheer up Aqua, look on the bright side! A totally new place to meet a lot of new people!" the shorter girl said enthusiastically.
"Well my dear sister Mabel, I believe you have the right attitude. Sure, this place is a dump, but that can't stop us from having a good time." The taller boy with brown hair and a slightly muscular build told his siblings.
"I guess you have a point, Max. Eh, what have we got to lose, right Dipper?" Aqua asked her little brother.
"Well, at least we have the comforting fact of that," Dipper replied. The four siblings approached the front door of the shack. After knocking, and some muffle stumbling, an elderly man in a suit, fez, and eyepatch with a large pair of glasses on.
"Hello and welcome to the mystery shack, I'm Mr. Mystery and I shall be your guide!" The man said animatedly.
"Are you Stanford Pines?" Dipper asked. The man paused for a moment as his eyes slimmed.
"Who wants to know?" The man said cautiously
"We're you great nieces and nephews, Aqua, Max Dipper and Mabel?" Aqua said to the man.
"Ah! Yes! Sorry I completely forgot that was today. Yes, I'm Stanford Pines, but you can call me your Gruncle Stan!" The man said, removing the eyepatch. "Please, come in." the twinses* followed their 'Gruncle' inside
(*Author's note: I will use this to address all four Pines twins)
Inside the shack, it seemed that Stan had renovated part of his house into a shop. "Yep, this is the legendary tourist trap: The Mystery Shack! Here I give tourist tours about wired and wonderful things I have come into possession with."
"Oh, so the sign outside had an S on it," Mabel said softly to her siblings.
"Now come and meet my two other employees, Wendy and Soos." Stan continued, leading them over to the gift shop register which had the sign: NO REFUNDS, leaning on it. At the register, feet on the counter was a redheaded teenage girl who wore a plaid shirt and lumberjack's hat.
"Sup." Was all she said to the four.
The other was a large young man who fore a cap and a large shirt with a question mark on it.
"Hey there dudes and dudettes, I'm Soos, your friendly local repairman," Soos said cheerfully.
"You four will be sleeping upstairs in the attic, now, don't expect you get to live under this roof scot-free. No, I'll have you three working in the shop. Now go and unpack your things, I have jobs for you." Stan pointed at them.
The four siblings trudged upstairs into the attic. Once there, they saw the layout of their room, four beds, two near the window, two near the door. Mabel began putting posters up immediately. "This place is amazing! Look at all my splinters!" Mabel held up her hands to show large splinters all over her hands.
"I Hope this place has nice acoustics," Aqua said, setting down her black guitar case. Dipper had walked over to the other bed by the window and was startled when a goat was on his bed.
"And there's a goat on my bed." He commented. Max walked over and picked the goat up.
"Hello there little guy, how'd you get in here?" Max asked the goat. The goat simply let out a baa and began to chew on Mabel's sweater.
"Heh, yes you can keep chewing on my sweater," Mabel told the goat.
"Okay, back to the wilderness with you my horned friend," Max said, dropping the goat out the window.
"If everything is as odd as that was, this summer will be bound to be interesting," Aqua said to her family. Aqua always looked after her family, because by all technicality she was the eldest and she really did show it. Her interest in music was only trumped by her interest in having the best time with her family and keep them safe.
"Okay everybody, time for the twin twins' first photo of their summer trip, gather round!" Max told his siblings. Max was always a really fun big brother to have, he loved helping others and was good at sports, but sometimes he could be as childish as Mabel, most usually with her. The Four brunettes gathered around to have their photo snapped by Max, huddled together as Max flipped his phone around.
"Say, Mystery Shack!" Mable said, grinning
"Mystery Shack!" The others replied as Max took the selfie.
A Week Later…
The Pines had now settled into their life at Gravity Falls. Mabel was optimistic about the whole ordeal and was having the time of her life, Max was in his natural habitat, adventuring around the woods, Aqua hung out with Dipper and Mabel, disappearing to play music sometimes, but Dipper was having a difficult time to readjust to his new setting. In the Mystery Shack, the Pines twinses were attending to the gift shop, Aqua was strumming her guitar at the counter, Dipper was cleaning, Max was stocking shelves and Mabel was watching a boy open a folded piece of paper.
"He's looking at it! Aqua He's looking at it!" Mabel whispered
"Huh?" Aqua stopped playing "Looking at what Mabel?" she asked. Aqua then looked over at the boy who Mabel was staring at. The note the boy was holding read the following: Do you like me? Yes? Definitely? Absolutely! The boy nervously looked around.
"I rigged it!" Mabel said
"Mabel, I know you're doing the whole 'boy crazy' phase, but I think you're overdoing the crazy part. Dipper told his twin as he wiped a glass jar.
Mabel blew a raspberry "C' mon Dipper! This is our first summer away from home! It's my big chance to have an epic summer romance! And I think I'm not the only one that should get in on the action." Mabel raised an eyebrow at Aqua
"Not gonna happen Mabel." Aqua told her "You know how I work." She was now tuning her guitar.
"Well Mabel, while I think you may have a point, do you have to flirt with every guy you meet?" Max asked
"Well big bro, unlike you and your roguishly good looks, I need to win them over with my Fan-Tas-Tic personality." Mabel put her hands on her hips. "Now, mock all you want bothers, sister. but I got a good feeling about this summer. I wouldn't be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right now." Mabel pointed to the door as Stan walks through and burps.
Aqua snorted, "Are you sure it isn't the man of your nightmares?" Dipper and max laughed.
"Aww! Why?!"
Stan came over to the four of them. "All right people look alive. I need somebody to go hang up these signs in the spooky part of the forest."
"Not it." Aqua, Dipper, and Mabel said together.
"Max you're also not it. Last time I had you hang up signs, they were so far up the tree, nobody could see them" Stan told Max
"Aww, okay," Max said, disheartened
"Also not it," Soos said.
"Nobody asked you, Soos," Stan told him
"I know," Soos replied, "and I'm comfortable with that." He then takes a bit of a chocolate bar.
"Wendy!" Stan shouted, "I need you to hang up these signs!"
Wendy reached her hand over without looking up from a magazine. "I would, but I. Just. Can't. Reach…" She said, obviously not putting any actual effort in.
Stan pinched his brow "I'd fire all of you if I could. Now, let's make it eenie meenie miney…" he pointed at Dipper "You."
"Aw, what? Grunkle Stan, whenever I'm in those woods, I feel like I'm being watched." Dipper complained
"Yeah, me too. It's soothing." Aqua said
"What?" Dipper asked
"What?" Aqua replied.
"I'm telling you, something weird is going on in this town. Just today, my mosquito bites spelled out 'BEWARE.'" Dipper lifted up his sleeve to show a series of bites that spelled out 'BEWARE' that looked like it spelled 'BEWARB'
"That says 'BEWARB.' Look, kid. The whole "monsters in the forest" thing are just local legend, drummed up by guys like me to sell merch to guys like that." They all looked over at a fat sweaty man who was chuckling at a Stan bobblehead.
"Hey Dips, if it makes you feel any better, I'll tag along. As I said, I don't mind the forest." Aqua told her little brother
"Thanks, Aqua."
The two headed outside, dipper holding a hammer and nails, and Aqua holding the signs.
"Ugh, nobody ever believes what I'm telling them." Dipper ranted as he posted the first sign
"Well, I believe you Dips, if it's any… Constellation." Aqua snorted a bit at her little joke. She and Dipper usually made a lot of star joke with each other. Dipper, however, wasn't in the mood.
"Not now Aqua, It's just… I don't know. I have this gut feeling there's just not something right here."
"Well, my gut believes your gut, but it also says your gut needs to take a chill pill." Aqua hobbled over to dipper, hands on her slim stomach, "Gut buddies!" she said in a deep, gruff voice. This cheered Dipper up.
"Hand me another one of those signs."
"Hyup!" Aqua tossed one over. Dipper caught it and stumbled back slightly under the weight. He then began to hammer it into a tree, but instead, it made a metal clanking sound.
"Huh?" Dipper exclaimed. Aqua came over to look at what her little brother had found.
"Why is there some kind of metal tree out in the forest?" Aqua asked. Dipper wiped away the thick dust that had settled on the tree, revealing a secret control panel.
"Cool!" The siblings admired. Dipper goes to press one of the two buttons on the panel, but Aqua stopped him.
"Dipper, should we really mess with this? Old? Creepy? Mysterious? It checks all the boxes of Not a good idea."
"Exactly!" Dipper said "This could lead to answers! And when have you ever been one for good ideas."
Aqua paused for a moment. "Fair enough," she said whilst pushing one of the two buttons. Behind them a hatch opened, starting a goat. "Wait a moment, isn't that…"
"Hey Aqua, check this out!" Dipper Called over to his sister. He was huddled over the hatch, inside was a small metal outcrop that held a single leather book with a six-fingered hand and the number three. Dipper opened the book and began to read aloud. "It is hard to believe I now have been studying the wonderous and strange secrets of Gravity Falls, Orogen." Dipper began flipping through the pages.
"What the heck is all this?" Aqua asked, rhetorically. Dipper Landed on a page with the large red words: TRUST NO-ONE. Aqua was now reading, "My suspicions have been confirmed. I am being watched. I must hide this book before he finds it." Aqua stopped reading "Who's He?" Dipper Shrugged and turned back to the book.
"Remember, in Gravity Falls, there is no-one you can trust." Dipper set the book down "No-one you can trust…" He repeated.
"HALLO!" Mabel suddenly appeared.
"AH!" Aqua and Dipper were surprised by their sister's sudden appearance
"What you got there Dipper? Some kind of nerd book?" Mabel asked.
"Mabel, what have I asked you about calling Dipper a nerd?" Aqua scolded Mabel.
"He's a little bit nerdy Sis," Max said, also appearing "and that's a good thing!"
"So, what are you doing out here you guys?" Dipper asked, skeptically.
"Mabel here thought she could find more mushrooms than me." Max scruffled Mabel's hair. "FOOLISH MORTAL! You can not beet the great Artimas, god of tracking!" He said in a booming voice
"Artemis was a girl, Max," Aqua informed him with a smile
"That changes nothing!" Max now adopting a feminine tone. The twinses laughed at their brother.
Well there's part 1 of the first episode. I thought that giving another set of Pines twins would create some interesting dynamics for the rewrite, so we'll have to see where that goes. Now, I a still building Max and Aqua's characters, so any suggestions/feedback would be appreciated, as I am still deciding on things like if Aqua should be asexual or homosexual (and have some dumb romantic rivalry with Dipper). Anywho, stick around and review, because I may just put some of your suggestions in!
