Hello, everyone, and welcome to yet another Gravity Falls fanfiction! I just love this show too much…
Anyways, this is a fanfic that is inspired by something, but I don't plan on telling you what that something is, just to keep some mystery!
All I'll share is; this story is based on a nostalgic, digital memory from my childhood, one that I treasure to this day, and I wanted to put it into a story of some sort.
And thus, Beach Bandits was born!
Full Unedited Summary: After one year has passed since their last visit, Dipper and Mabel return to Gravity Falls, only to find that the sand from the lakes and beaches has vanished. Not only that, but at the same time, EcoTech, a nature preserving and technology producing company, has opened its doors to helping recover the missing sand. Something's pretty fishy here, and it's up to Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy to find out what happened to their sand, and what's truly the plans behind EcoTech's founder, Eric Tech.
Now, on with the show!
Chapter 1
New Mystery Arc - Part 1
"A Problematic Return"
Hi, I'm Dipper Pines.
My sister, Mabel, and I spent our last summer at a town called Gravity Falls, which is in Oregon.
Nevertheless, it was definitely an…abnormal summer.
I mean, it was crazy, but I'll save such a story like that for a later time.
For now, I wanna tell you guys about our next summer at Gravity Falls.
Was it crazy? Yes, but insane is a better word to describe it.
And it might've just been crazier than our last.
"Aw yeah! Schools out for the summer!" Mabel Pines chanted as she and her brother, Dipper Pines, departed from the bus. Dipper rolled his eyes and merely followed his enthusiastic sister to their great uncle Stan's place of business, the Mystery Shack.
This would be the Pines Twins' second summer in Gravity Falls. Having just turned 13, the two of them decided another summer spent in the mysterious town would be quite the time well spent. As they traveled down the somewhat populated streets, Mabel completely oblivious, as usual, Dipper immediately felt a strange sense of unease, one different from the feelings he experienced last summer.
But he brushed it off and smiled, following his sister. He assumed that it was just the town's usual strange vibe getting to him.
As they entered the shack, they were immediately greeted by three familiar faces.
"Aha! There's my two favorite employees!" Stanley Pines smiled as his great niece and nephew entered his 'humble abode'.
"Hehe, hey, what's up dudes?" Jesus "Soos" Ramirez adjusted his cap and waved at his two friends from behind the counter.
"Sup, dorks?" Wendy Corduroy closed her magazine and got up from her seat against the back wall.
"Heyyyyyy everybody!" Mabel said in a sing-songy voice as she sprinted in circles around the gift shop.
"Hey guys." Dipper waved back and closed the door behind him. "Hm? Where's-"
"Ford's off somewhere. He told me to tell you guys he's happy belated birthday." Stan responded.
"He's been here very little, hasn't he?" Dipper asked.
"Ever since...the incident, he's been very quiet." Stan said. "Anyways, since it's your first day back, why don't you all just take the day off and go do something fun?"
Dipper and Mabel grinned at each other.
"Wow, the arcade wasn't as fun as I remembered." Mabel said in a rare unenthusiastic tone.
"Ever since they replaced Fight Fighters with T. E.: The Terrestrial Extra, business has gone downhill over there." Wendy said.
"Yeah, and T.E. was horrible!" Dipper through his arms in the air for emphasis.
"Dude, truer words have never been spoken." Soos agreed.
"You know what?" Wendy walked quickly in front of the others, stopping them in their tracks. "Why don't we check out the beach, and see what we can do there?"
"Gravity Falls has a beach?" Mabel cocked an eyebrow.
"But, aren't we, like…nowhere near the ocean?" Dipper questioned.
"It's one of those things that you just don't ask about, okay?" Wendy sighed. "Besides, it'll be fun anyways, right? It's a beach!"
"I'm in!" Soos smiled and raised his hand.
"Count me in, too!" Mabel grinned as her hand shot into the air. "Come on, bro, you comin' too?"
"Mabel…I actually have a…weird gut feeling about this…" Dipper rubbed the back of his head and looked at the ground.
"Gut feeling?" Mabel tilted her head.
"…never mind, I'm just reeling from school I guess." Dipper shrugged his shoulders and chuckled.
"Then come on!" Mabel grinned again and started running down the side of the path, Wendy and Soos following.
Dipper hesitated slightly, but he soon ran after the three, catching up with them once he saw they stopped.
He saw their eyes were wide, and soon he knew why, as his eyes went wide as well.
Now I know why I felt so strange about coming here…
The beach was blocked off with large iron fences, and nobody was on the beach at all.
What was even stranger was the fact that the sand was completely gone, not a trace of it left.
"Jeez…I mean…just…what?" Wendy slumped onto a park bench and rubbed her forehead.
"No sand? Just…no sand?" Soos stared ahead blankly, as if reality had been shattered before his eyes. "Beaches without sand…beaches need sand!"
"The sand was there yesterday, right Soos?" Wendy asked, to which Soos nodded slowly.
"I knew it, I knew something was up…" Dipper muttered, pondering the strange occurrence they had been presented with.
"I…guess that gut feeling was…pretty accurate, huh?" Mabel shrugged, kicking her feet back and forth on her own park bench, a small frown on her face.
"How…how does all the sand from an entire beach…disappear in one night?!" Dipper exclaimed. "It's…it's impossible!"
"Hey, look!" Mabel quickly pointed ahead of the four of them. "Someone's gonna say something!"
"Huh?" Dipper looked up at where Mabel was pointing, seeing a crowd of people gathering around a large stage placed in the road, where a few people in suits stood on it near a podium.
"Dudes, let's scope things out." Soos started over to the stage.
"This…is weird…" Wendy muttered, following Soos.
"Come on, Dip." Mabel got up and grabbed Dipper's wrist, pulling him along with her and over to the stage.
On the stage, after a moment of silent murmuring, one man in a generic suit stepped up to a podium, a sincere smile on his face. "Good afternoon, my fellow Gravity Falls citizens and visitors to our fair area. I'm sure a lot of you have noticed a slight…how do I put this…reduction in the quality of our beach overnight.
"I would just like to assure you that there is no reason to be alarmed whatsoever. I'm sure this is purely a temporary problem, and rest assured that we are working to fix this issue as soon as we can." He contiuned. "On that note, I'd like to welcome Eric Tech; the CEO of a brand new nature preservation and technology producing company, EcoTech, whose base of operations has been stationed here in Gravity Falls.
"On that note, as a gesture of goodwill and gratitude, Mr. Tech has pledged his science division to find the answer to our…anomalous sand deficiency. Thank you." He finished and stepped away from the podium, allowing a man in a blue suit and golden tie to step forth.
The man grinned a wide, prideful grin, and the Pines twins, Wendy, and Soos cringed at the sight of the man's single golden tooth. "Thank you, and good afternoon, everybody.
"When I first happened upon Gravity Falls, I said to myself; "What a marvelous, friendly community; just the kind of place you would want to take your family on vacation. Or, for some of you lucky few, to live here all year 'round". That's why I decided to come here and do my best to help turn Gravity Falls into the best possible place it could be.
"Now, I know some of you are a little worried about the sand…but rest assured that one of my top Hydrodynalogicalticians is looking into the problem, and he's sure that it's just a combination of freak tides and some new underwater currents forming in the bay.
"We can fix the problem, with a new harbor wall; which I will be only too happy to build free of charge. So don't be surprised if you see teams of my technicians over the next few weeks…
"…and I'm sure things will be back to normal before the end of your summer. Thank you for your patience." As the audience clapped and cheered for Mr. Tech as he stepped away from the podium, Dipper shivered.
He didn't stop grinning that entire speech…
"What was he babbling about anyways?" Mabel asked as the crowd started to disperse, leaving the four to talk on their own.
"No idea, dudes, but there's something weird about that guy and his business…" Soos eyed the man skeptically with his peripheral vision.
"Definitely, Soos." Wendy nodded in agreement. "Hydrodynalogic—whatever? Yeah, toatally."
"I'd say we should keep our eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary around here." Dipper added. "Well, more out of the ordinary than usual."
"Let's also go see what Grunkle Stan thinks about all of this." Mabel suggested. "We gotta find out what the hey hey is goin' on around here, or there'll be no summer for any of us!"
The others nodded and started sprinting off to the Mystery Shack. Dipper glanced once more over his shoulder at Mr. Eric Tech on stage. He hadn't left, and was still chatting with multiple businessmen.
And he was still grinning. Dipper shivered yet again.
Something's up with that guy…
He kept staring for a second longer before running off to catch up with the others.
-(End of Chapter)-
Well, that was the first chapter, and what a start!
This story will be decently long, but it won't exceed, say 80 chapters. I hope, though, that a few of you will stick with this story from beginning to end, enjoying it through and through.
Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed this beginning chapter, reviews are highly appreciated, and as always…
Stay Tuned!
~087-B