"Cheer, up, Johnny! You'll love our new home!" said his father as he sped down the country road, passing the large wall of trees beside them, "It's in a beautiful area surrounded by forests and full of friendly people. This'll be a great place to make new friends and get in touch with nature!" The sun was barely peeking out from behind the distant mountains. Their father wanted to leave the house as early as possible so they that could be moved in and still have time to meet the townsfolk.

Johnny rolled his eyes as he glared out the window, his eyes half-lidded. "Yeah, being in a backwards, middle-of-nowehere town full of rednecks sounds like a barrel of good times." He rested his cheek on his clenched fist and furrowed his brow. He felt Dukey, who was sleeping next to him, shift his head into his lap. He couldn't believe this was happening, leaving his old life behind for some crappy town in Oregon. He'd never even heard of Gravity Falls before his father anounced the move. Sure, his old home wasn't perfect, what with the barrage of villains trying to kill him every chance they got, but at least his parents were still together.

Last week, Johnny and his sisters had learned that their mother had been cheating on their father with her boss. They fought the night he found out, and their father woke them up the next morning to announce that he was divorcing their mom and taking them to Oregon. He thought it was a nice place to start fresh, especially since the small town was the complete opposite of Porkbelly, and dragged the kids along against the wishes of Susan and Mary. They weren't too happy that they were no longer going to live next to Gil, along with having to leave behind their lab and a large chunk of their inventions.

Hugh Test frowned. "Now, Johnny, it's not good to judge things at first glance. Sure, it's different than our old suburban neighborhood, but maybe you'll end up liking it if you give it a chance."

The 12 year old grunted in disapproval at his father's words. They passed by an old sign that read 'Welcome to Gravity Falls!' in large, cursive letters as the town came into view. God, it was even smaller than it looked in the brochure. Johnny felt like he could fit it in his hand. Out of all the places in the country-the state, even-he just had to pick this one. It was probably the most boring, sad-looking place on Earth. He was already bored, and they haven't even gotten out of the car yet.

Hugh's face lit up. "Isn't it beautiful, Johnny? Man, moving here is probably the best thing this family's ever done. We're finally away from that crazy neighborhood with all those...all those secret agents and evil supervillains and whatnot. Now we can finally have a normal life in a normal town with normal people." He glared into the rearview mirror, looking at his kids with a bright smile, though it quickly faded when he really looked at their faces.

Their eyes were heavy and tired. Johnny stared angrily at his father from the corners of his eyes with a deep frown. Susan had her head rested on the window, her cheeks wet with tears. Mary was hugging her legs with her face in her knees.

"Hey..." their father said softly, "I know you kids have been through a lot these past few weeks. I never wanted things to turn out this way, but...we're gonna put all of this behind us. I promise that things will get better now that we're away from all of the drama." He gave a light grin as he turned at a stoplight. "Now, let's try to be optimistic...okay?"

Their new house was almost surrounded by trees. A thick forest hid the town from view, and it was eerily quiet, besides the usual crunching of leaves and sounds of animals. The house was a bit old, but not too out of shape. Mary and Susan could probably do a bit of touching up around the place with the help of their dad. It also wasn't quite as big as their old house. There were two bedrooms, one of which was to be shared by the girls, so Johnny would sleep in the attic. There was also a basement that Mary and Susan were allowed to turn into their new lab. It was a bit more cramped than what they were used to, but they could fix that.

Johnny had just brought in the last box from the car, dropping it onto the floor with a loud thud from whatever was inside. He sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "Moving blows!" he said eloquently

"Good job, everyone!" their dad said with his hands on his hips, "Now that all of the boxes are inside, we can begin unpacking everything!" His announcement was challenged by a symphony of frustrated groans erupting from his children. "Oh, don't start! Let's get the hard work outta the way before we rest."

"Can't we just take a short break for lunch? We haven't eaten a thing since we left Porkbelly!" Mary whined, stripping out of her sweat-soaked lab coat. Susan was next to her and fanning the both of them with a brochure.

"We can't eat until we unpack the dishes and pans. The faster we work, the sooner you can enjoy the rest of your day. Let's get on it!" he commanded, pointing to the large pile of boxes in the middle of the room. "Johnny, start taking your things to your room. I want your bedset assembled and dressers filled by the next hour!"

Johnny did as his father demanded of him and carried a large box with both hands up the stairs, grunting with each step as he made his way up the steep slope. When he reached the top, he stood ontop of the box to reach the attic door on the ceiling. The ladder slid down, granting him access to his new bedroom. He climbed up and crawled onto the polished hardwood floor. Johnny looked around the room, dimly lit by the single circular window, and observed the several layers of dust and cobwebs. The severely outdated wallpaper was peeling, trash littered the floor, and...was that a dead cat under the old three-legged desk?

"Welcome to Gravity Falls," he muttered to himself.