A portal opened up in a small town named Gravity Falls. It was a small town where nothing seemed to happen. It was the ideal location for two dimension-traveling teens to relax and take a break. At least, it seemed that way.
Star Butterfly stepped through the portal, followed closely by Marco Diaz, who closed the portal with his dimensional scissors. The pair emerged from the portal near the center of the town. No one seemed to notice them at all. Star looked around with a bright smile.
"This is going to be so much fun!" Star exclaimed, looking around the town with glee. Marco looked around the town too, but without a smile.
"I don't know Star. There doesn't seem to be much to do here," Marco observed.
"Well, I'm sure if I used my magic wand, I-"
"Not happening Star. You promised no magic on this vacation unless it's an emergency, no matter how bored we get," said Marco. Star simply sighed in response. The reason she picked this place is that she once heard Marco's parents talking about it, back when she lived on Earth. They described it as a small, boring town where nothing ever happened. She was hoping the boringness would convince Marco to let her use her wand, but he wasn't budging.
"Fine, we will just ask a local for somewhere fun to go," said Star with a sigh. She turned to an older lady with a lazy that was about to walk away. "Excuse me, do you know somewhere fun to go here? Someplace not boring?"
"Oh, yeah, a couple of tourists, eh?" The woman asked. "You might be interested in the mystery shack, a couple of interesting things there."
"Could you tell where that is?" Marco asked her.
"Oh sure," The woman said. She listed off the directions while Marco wrote them down on his hand.
"Thank you! See, I told you we would find something to do, Marco."
"Mabel, come on!" Dipper shouted to his sister from the front of the bus. They were heading back to Gravity Falls for their third year in a row. The twins were both excited everyone, especially their great uncles who were returning for the summer. Mabel grabbed her pig, Waddles, and jogged to the front of the bus. They quickly exited together and greeted the "welcoming committee" that was at the bus stop. Wendy and Soos pulled the two into a group hug, exclaiming how excited they were to see them. Dipper tried not to get too excited when Wendy hugged him. He was mostly over her, but some part of him would always hope.
"Where's Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford?" Mabel asked, looking around.
"They are coming in on the bus tomorrow," Wendy explained. She reached grabbed her old hat off of Dipper's head and replaced it with his old pine tree hat. They started doing this every summer. They would switch hats while at school and then switch back during the summer. This year, however, was the first year Wendy didn't have to crouch down to get the hat. Dipper had grown quite a bit since last summer. He still wasn't taller than her, but he definitely wasn't ridiculously short like before. Dipper adjusted the hat so it was the way he wanted it and picked up his bags.
"We should probably go to the Mystery Shack now so you guys can get settled in," Soos said. He still lived at the Mystery Shack, but he lived there alone now. His mother had passed away shortly after he became the manager. "It'll be nice to have some company."
"Star, it doesn't look like it's open," Marco said in a slightly bored tone. Usually, he would put up with Star's crazy ideas, but right now he was tired. He just wanted to find a nice place to sleep.
"I'm sure they'll open soon, we just have to wait for them to come back," Star assured Marco as she peered through the window. The room was dark so she couldn't see anything.
"Oh good, tourists!" A voice said from a little ways away. Star and Marco turned to see a group of people walking towards the shop. The person who shouted was a tall, rather large man with a hat on. Standing next to him was a tall, skinny redhead that was probably a couple years older than Star. Behind them was a boy around Marco's age wearing a pine tree hat and a vest. Next to him was a girl with brown hair and a headband, wearing a pink sweater with a shooting star. Star immediately liked the last girl.
"I wonder who they are?" Dipper whispered to his sister.
"I don't know, but I like that girl's dress!" Mabel said in a stage whisper. Dipper could see why Mabel would like the dress. It was mint green with a pink octopus on it. The girl was also wearing plastic red horns, pink and orange tights, and pink boots that resembled monsters. Next to her was a boy probably Dipper's age, wearing a plain red hoodie. It seemed odd to Dipper that one person wearing something so simple could be friends with someone that seemed so eccentric, to say the least. But maybe he shouldn't judge a book by its cover. After all, Dipper was a pretty normal guy, but he was still friends with Mabel.
"Hi!" Star greeted as the other group wandered over to meet them. "Are you guys the owners?"
"I'm the manager here," Soos said to her. "My names Soos."
"Hi, Soos! I'm Star and this is my squ-" Marco cut her off by elbowing her in the ribs. They were still supposed to be passing as regular teenagers for the time they were here. Star winced and glared at Marco, though the glare was only half-hearted.
"I'm Marco," he told them, leaving out that he was Star's squire.
"I'm Mabel!" Mabel exclaimed, not wanting to be left out. "And this is my twin brother Dipper, and this is our friend Wendy, she works here."
"Hi, Mabel! Hi, Dipper! Hi, Wendy!" Star greeted enthusiastically. "We are on vacation for a bit and decided to come to Gravity Falls. Someone in town told us we should come here."
"Well, you certainly came to the right place," Soos told them. "Just let me unlock it for you and I'll show you around." He was putting the key in the lock when a large low growl came from the forest.
"Uh, what was that?" Mabel asked. Star instinctively reached for her wand, but didn't pull it out yet she wanted to make sure it was an actual emergency. Marco put his hands up as if he was going to karate chop something. Despite the situation, Star smiled slightly.
The growling came closer to them until the monster that was making it was right next to the edge of the forest. Dipper could just make out an enormous mound. Suddenly, the monster pounced towards them.