Excerpt from "3", pg. 35

Gravity Falls Sphinx

The sphinx is said to be a wise and powerful creature, blessed with the sleek body of a feline and the gifted mind of man. It has come to my attention that Sphinx do not only roam the deserts of Egypt. I have witnessed two small people, with kitten paws and sun-bright eyes, circling a specific area deep within the forest of Gravity Falls. When I tried to approach them, they fled.

I do not know what the Sphinx may be doing here, or what they are protecting. I do not know if they can even speak. Perhaps they are just a strange breed of wild cat. Perhaps they are reincarnated Gods. Whatever the case, approach with caution. Though these specific specimens are small, the Sphinx of legend would devour persons who could not answer their riddles. Either stay back, or have a good head on your shoulders.

They may just take it off.

If Dipper had his way, he would've gone back ages ago.

He had been wandering through the pine forest alongside a girl and her pig for what felt like countless hours. His eyes were drooping and his legs were jello tubes. The boy had been doing much more running than he was used to, and that was saying something. It seemed like he was outrunning dangerous monsters and crazed lunatics once a week during his stay at Gravity Falls. He never knew that a pig could be the main glutton of his energy.

Said pig was snuffling along the ground, occasional oinks emerging from his half-hidden snout. A colorful girl with coco curls stood a heartbeat behind him, pumping her arms and chanting.

"Go, go, go, go, go!"

It was a wonder she hadn't stopped to take a breath yet.

Dipper groaned, leaning against the rough bark of a tree. "Did he find any yet?" he asked, voice straining. He knew he was borderline whining, but the boy couldn't help it. They'd been out here for hours and hadn't gotten a single fruit for their labor.

"Nope!" Mabel responded cheerfully, abandoning her mantra. "But I've got a good feeling! Waddles seems really focused right now."

"He's been focused since noon!"

"Do not question the Waddles!"

"But-"

"Do not question!"

A slew of oinking, growing steadily fainter, interupted the bickering twins.

"The Waddles has spoken!" Mabel shouted, chasing after her fleeing pig. Dipper sighed, hanging back for a second to readjust his hat. The darn pig probably just got spooked by a deer again.

Steadying his overworked legs, the boy began to jog after the duo. He kept his sister's bright orange sweater in his constant line of sight, which was difficult as she weaved between the trees. As the sun began to dip toward the horizon, he grew grateful for her luminous taste in fashion.

She stopped and her silhouette kneeled. Dipper stopped as well, lifting off his hat. He reach inside the cap and pulled out a small length of red ribbon, pilfered from Mabel's side of the attic. With expert hands, he tied the ribbon around the middle of the smallest tree to his right. He stepped back, surveying his work, and nodded.

His sister's excited shouting urged him to return to his trek. As the distance between them grew from tens to single-digit yards, he noticed the look of pure unabashed pride gracing her features.

"He did it," the boy panted in disbelief. "He actually found one."

She held it up in one hand, displaying their prize to the needles above them. The tiny black morsel was held fast between her thumb and forefinger, hardly bigger than a ping-pong ball.

"My pig is a truffle-hunting master!"

"It's not gigantic, but it could probably net us a few bucks." Dipper exclaimed, finding energy in the fact that their efforts had not entirely been in vain. He grinned at his sister. She grinned back, her signature silver smile glinting in the dying daylight. While maintaining direct eye contact with her overjoyed brother, Mabel flicked her wrist and promptly popped the expensive fungus into her mouth.

Dipper's jaw dropped. He held up a hand, eye twitching.

"Blargh!" A half-chewed pile splattered onto the earthen floor, where it was devoured by the hungry pig that had been circling them. "That wasn't chocolate! What the heck Dipper, it isn't April Fools Day!"

Dipper tried to form a coherent sentence, but each attempt dribbled down his chin once it left his lips. His sister glared at him, fuming and tapping her foot. The girl quite obviously thought she deserved an apology.

"Mabel! Oregon truffles are mushrooms! Not chocolate! That doesn't even make sense!"

"Shut up, you don't make sense!"

"That doesn't make sense, either!"

"Shut up!"

"I will not! You just wasted what we've been looking for all afternoon!"

"Yeah well you're a big nerd! How the heck was I supposed to know you didn't mean chocolate?"

"Why would chocolate grow in a forest?"

"Weirder stuff has happened, Dipper!"

He had to give her that one. Unable to find a suitable retort, his anger began spilling away. The red hot fury drained out of his cheeks and into his hands, which slowly unclenched.

"Yeah, I know," he replied, standing beside her.

"Sorry," she mumbled, kicking at the loose pine needles beneath her feet.

"It's alright." He punched her lightly on the arm, and she returned the favor by slugging him back. He winced and rubbed his smarting limb.

Waddles, who had observed the entire ordeal, began to make happy shnuffling noises by Mabel's foot. "Aw, family hug!" she exclaimed, scooping up the fifteen pound oinker and pulling her brother's head down beside her own, forcing him to lean over.

"Yay! This is a picture perfect moment!" She momentarily let go of her brother in order to dig through her sweater's front pocket. Within seconds her arm was back around his neck and a camera was clenched beneath her fingers. Mabel flashed her metal smile. Dipper's mouth stayed closed, but he smiled nonetheless. With a blinding flash the image was saved to the tiny device. Dipper attempted to blink away the floating colors.

"We should head back now," he decided, peering up at the sky through the crevices in the treetops. Sunset-orange was bleeding across the previously darkening blue, and the light was fading quite quickly.

"Yeah, it is getting late. Waddles, away!" Mabel poked the pig on the behind and he took off like a rocket, leaving the two twins to follow him. Dipper placed a hand on the book hidden within his vest. The woods of Gravity Falls always made him uncomfortable. Especially at night.

Behind the long-gone twins, a beast shifted it's grip and slid down, down, down the length of bark. It blinked, watching the orange and blue and pink leave the haven of trees. It took a deep breath, closed it's sun-bright eyes, and followed the trail of red ribbons.

A/N: This was an idea I've been tossing around for a while. Hopefully it goes somewhere.