This is my first fanfiction that has ever gotten past the "wouldn't it be cool if..." stage, so I'm actually really proud of myself for getting this written. That being said, I'm not really thrilled with the way my writing is going, and I would appreciate any criticism that more experienced creators can offer.
Tourist Trapped
Ah, Summer… a time of leisure, recreation, and takin'r easy… Unless you're me.
A golf cart smashes through the "Welcome to Gravity Falls" sign, shattering it, and what had appeared to be a normal summer day.
The young girl sitting in the passenger seat of the golf cart let loose a short shriek, swiftly followed by a worried shout to the driver, "Dipper, it's going to catch us!" her brown hair and blue eyes left little doubt that she was related to the two boys she shared the cart with.
The trio rattled around the golf cart as the driver swerved around on the already bumpy road. The boy in the back appeared to be annoyed by the driver's lack of skills, but if one looked closely they could see he was as panicked as the others.
The boy yelled out as he almost lost his grip on the camera in his hand. "Hey, Dipstick, think you could turn down the 'evasive maneuvers'?!"
"Oh, I'm so sorry, just trying to keep us alive here!" the driver snapped, as he once more jerked the wheel in an attempt to keep the cart on the road. As the three recovered from the sudden swerve, they watched the giant that pursued grab a huge tree and pull it from the ground. The tree was hurled over their heads and crashed down directly in their path. The prepubescent siblings held on tightly as the wheel was jerked.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" their screams ripped through the air as they slid towards the tree …
The girl about to puke is my sister Mabel. The boy in the back trying to take pictures is my brother Mikey, and I'm Dipper, the one driving. We're the Pines triplets. You may be wondering what we're doing fleeing from a creature of unimaginable horror. Rest assured there is a perfectly logical explanation.
It all started when our parents decided that we needed some fresh air. So they shipped us off to the sleepy little town of Gravity Falls, Oregon to stay with our great uncle Stan.
The three youngest members of the Pines family slowly got off the bus, in front of them was "The Mystery Shack" a tourist trap owned by their Great Uncle Stan. Just as they had gathered their belongings a cloud of smoke covered their vision.
"Hello kids!" an older man stood in front of them, wearing a fez with a strange fish symbol on it, and a suit with a bolo tie. He had a cane with an eight ball top in one hand and was gesturing grandly at the Mystery Shack with the other.
"I'm your uh… Grunkle? Yeah your Grunkle Stan! You know cuz saying Great Uncle takes too long. Anyway, This is the Mystery Shack, your home for the summer."
The three followed as Stan began walking to the Shack's entrance, taking short looks at the various exhibits outside. Looking at the outside it was clear that it was someone's house before it became a tourist trap. A small wooden porch was out front with a screen door leading inside. The first room was obviously a gift shop filled with overpriced knickknacks and souvenirs. A tall, redheaded girl manning the register gave them a nod as they walked in.
"Alright, why don't you three go upstairs and get set up in the attic, when you're done I'll introduce you to everybody. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some rubes to scam." Stan cheerfully informed as he walked into the main body of the house.
The triplets gathered their belongings and trooped up the stairs. The attic was clearly not intended to be a bedroom with three twin sized beds pushed into opposite corners. Mabel began touching everything in her Dipper and Mikey carried their bags to the beds they claimed as theirs.
Mabel, ever the optimist, began bragging about her splinters and attempted to make friends with a goat that had apparently lived in the attic before them. Mikey searched for something to lead the goat outside with, while Dipper simply sulked to his bed and put away his things.
My sister tended to look on the bright side of things, and Mikey tended to be just fine as long as he could profit off of something. I, on the other hand, was having a hard time adjusting to the constant tourists and our Grunkles rather rough sense of humour. I was beginning to think that it was going to be the same boring routine all summer, until one fateful day.
"He's looking at it! He's looking at it!" Mabel squealed while hiding behind a shelf of Stan bobbleheads. She was looking at a young boy across the store who held a folded sheet of paper. He unfolded the page and saw three check boxes before he began reading it aloud.
"'Do you like me? Yes, Definitely, Absolutely?'" He glanced around the store with a confused look on his face.
"I rigged it!" Mabel whisper-shouted to her brothers.
"That's the way to do it." Mikey congratulated her as he carried a stack of "Mystery Boxes" to the checkout counter.
"Mabel, I know you're in that boy-crazy phase, but I think you're overdoing the 'crazy' part." Dipper criticized as he polished a jar of fake eyes.
"What!? Pthhhhhh, Come on Dipper. This is our first summer away from home, this is my big chance at an epic summer romance!"
"Yeah okay, but do you have to flirt with every guy you meet?"
"He has a point, that thing with the Mattress Prince was kind of creepy." Mikey commented as he walked towards them.
"You two mock all you want, but I have a good feeling about this summer. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right now!" Mabel said, gesturing grandly towards the doorway that led from the exhibit hall into the gift shop.
As she was doing so, Grunkle Stan walked in through the door carrying several signs under his arm and a Pitt soda in his hand. The older man burped, before clutching his chest and complaining about some pain. The boys laughed as Mabel let out a frustrated groan.
"Alright people, look alive. I need someone to hang these signs up in the spooky part of the woods." Grunkle Stan informed his employees.
The triplets looked at each other briefly, before letting out a simultaneous "Not It!"
Soos, a twenty-something latino who was employed as a handyman at the Mystery Shack, looked up from fixing a shelf on the wall "Uh… also not it."
"No one was talking to you Soos." Stan replied.
"I know, and I'm comfortable with that." Soos said before taking a large bite out of a chocolate bar and returning to his work.
Wendy, a fifteen year old redhead who worked as a cashier at the shack, didn't even look up from her magazine as she replied with "I would but I can't, huh, reach it."
"I would fire all of you if I could. Alright, let's make it eenie, meenie, miney, you." Stan commanded as he pointed at Dipper, before handing him the signs, a hammer, and some nails.
"Aw, what? Come on Grunkle Stan, every time I go in those woods I feel like i'm being watched." Dipper attempted to argue , shivering slightly at the idea of being out in the woods alone.
"C'mon Dip, It's not like you're gonna get attacked by zombies out there." Mikey tried to reassure him "Besides, even if they did they'd let you go when they realized you didn't have any brains to eat." he finished, playfully shoving Dipper's shoulder as he did so.
"Seriously kid, the whole 'monsters in the forest' thing is drummed up by guys like me to sell merch to guys like that." Stan informed Dipper while pointing a finger towards a large tourist having a pleasant freak-out due to a Stan bobble head. Dipper didn't respond as he sulked out the door.
Dipper walked deeper into the forest, hanging signs as he went. The forest was covered in a thin layer of mist, and the sun was beginning to set making it difficult to see further than a few feet into the thick woods.
A muttered "No one ever believes me." could be heard as Dipper continued to hang signs, before a metallic clang was heard loudly echoing through the woods. Dipper stared at the tree he had just attempted to nail a sign to. He raised his hammer and struck the trunk once more, and again the bang of metal on metal filled the forest. Dipper ran his hand over the tree finding a seam in the trunk. Pulling it open he found a small compartment that contained what looked like it might be some kind of radio. Reaching in he flicked one of the two switched that sat on top of the strange box. Dipper looked around and listened carefully, but couldn't tell if anything happened. Looking back to the hollow tree, he moved the other switch and heard a pneumatic hiss behind him. As he turned, he saw the goat, Gompers, standing next to a now open hatch in the ground. He rushed over eager to see what he had uncovered. Inside lay a book covered in dust and cobwebs. He brushed the book off, and saw that it had a golden six-fingered hand with a three written inside placed on the red cover. He opened it to the first page and began to read aloud.
"'It's hard to believe that it has been six years since I began studying the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon.' What is all this?" Dipper rapidly flipped through the pages of the Journal, before stopping at a page with "Trust No One" written prominently in the middle of the page. "'Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I'm being watched. I must hide this journal before he finds it. Remember in Gravity Falls there is no one you can trust.' No one you can trust... "
"HALLO!" Mabel yelled as she popped up from behind a fallen tree and Mikey walked into the glade from the direction of the Mystery Shack. "Watcha readin' there, some kind of nerd thing?
"Uh.. Uh… I..it's nothing!" Dipper stuttered as he tried to hide the newly discovered book behind his back. "Wait! where'd the Journal go?"
"Oh, do you mean this thing?" Mikey asked casually as he leafed through the journal, sitting down on the trunk Mabel had hid behind.
"I hate it when you do that." Dipper commented sullenly as he stalked toward Mikey.
"Hey, I have to keep my skills sharp Dipstick, and these tourists are way too easy. Speaking of, how would you like a new watch?" Before Dipper could respond to the question Mikey tossed the Journal back to him. "Are you gonna tell us what that creepy thing is or not?"
"Yeah Dipper, Tell us! Tell us! Tell us!" Mabel began to chant as Mikey joined in.
"Ok, ok. Let's just get somewhere more private." Dipper attempted to silence his siblings before walking towards the Mystery Shack.
In the living room of the Mystery Shack, Dipper Pines paced across the floor in front of the television. Mabel and Mikey both leaned against the recliner watching as Dipper gushed about the Journal.
"This is amazing! Grunkle Stan thought I was being paranoid, but according to this Gravity Falls has this secret dark side." Dipper showed His siblings several pages filled with odd supernatural creatures and artifacts.
"Whoa. Shut. Up!" Mabel shared her brothers exuberance as she playfully pushed him.
"This is really cool Dipper, where did you find it?" Mikey was just as entranced by the strange writings as his brother, though for different reasons.
"It was in this metal compartment underground, and the way to open was hidden inside a tree. I think the author was trying to hide it from someone, and look the pages just stop right in the middle, like he mysteriously disappeared!" Dipper quickly flipped to the last page that had anything written on it, showing that the Journal stopped in the middle of an entry.
Before anyone could make further comment the doorbell rang, and Mabel let out a small squeal of excitement
"Who's that?" Dipper asked as he continued to flip through the Journal.
Mabel had one of the widest smiles the brothers had ever seen one her face as she tipped over an empty can of beans. "Well, I guess it's time to spill the beans. Boop. This girl's got a date!"
"You're saying that in the half hour I was gone you already found a boyfriend?" Dipper asked incredulously.
"And how did I not know about it?" Mikey added.
"What can I say, I'm just IRRESISTIBLE!" Mabel stuck her arms in the sleeves of her sweater and waved them around in order to emphasize the obvious fact.
Mabel rushed over to the door and opened it, letting in a pale-faced, teenager wearing a black hoodie that covered everything but his face and his hands.
"'Sup." The teen that was apparently Mabel's boyfriend greeted her brothers and Grunkle Stan, who had walked into the room while she answered the door. Mumbled greetings from the three followed, accompanied by a short but awkward silence.
"So, what's your name?" Dipper questioned, not quite trusting this boy yet.
"Uh… Normal..man" The teen scratched out, sounding incredibly nervous about the simple question.
"He means Norman." Mabel quickly covered for her boyfriend, pulling him closer in the limited space of the door frame.
Dipper wouldn't let his suspicions go however and noticing something on Norman's face continued his questions. "Is that blood on your face, Norman?"
Norman glanced around clearly made nervous by the questions. "It's jam." He quickly replied, too quickly for Dipper.
Mikey abruptly stood from his seat on the recliners arm. "It was good to meet you Norman," he said as he squeezed past the pair and down the hallway toward the kitchen. "but if you'll excuse me I have some… stuff to do."
Norman turned to look at Mabel "So, do you want to.. go hold hands or something?"
Mabel's face flushed as she stuttered her response. "Oh.. oh my. Don't wait up!" She quickly ran through the front door Norman stumbled after her smashing into the doorframe as he went.
"Something isn't right about him." Dipper muttered to himself watching Norman and Mabel leave. Just as he said so Mikey walked back into the living room from the same direction he had left.
"You're telling me, that kid didn't have a wallet, jewelry, anything! The only thing I found on him was this weird hat." Mikey was quick to agree with Dipper holding a red, cone-shaped hat up for him to see.
Fifteen minutes later found Dipper in the window sill mumbling as he read. Mikey was doing… something in his corner of the room. Dipper imagined that it had something to do with another scam when he pulled his eyes from the Journal.
"Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes these creatures are often mistaken for… teenagers!? Beware Gravity Falls' nefarious… ZOMBIE!" Dipper's mumbling had gradually grown louder as he read the passage eventually pulling Mikey from his own work in the corner.
"You're joking right? There is no way that Norman is a zombie. He's probably just a weird teen." Mikey was completely unconvinced by Dipper's reasoning. Though Norman stalking towards Mabel, as seen through the attic window, briefly caused him to consider before Norman placed a daisy chain around her neck.
"If it's any consolation, I believe you dude." Soos, the handyman for the Mystery Shack, had apparently come in at some point during their conversation, and now stood on a ladder in the middle of the room. "But, no one's going to believe you unless you see him eat brains or something. You need proof."
"Soos you are, of course, correct. Dipper you should listen to Soos more often." Mikey said as he returned to his corner of the room.
"My wisdom is both a blessing and a curse." Soos said seriously, before a call from Grunkle Stan alerted him to a clogged toilet. "I am needed elsewhere." Soos slowly backed out of the room to go do his job.
"Alright, Mikey, let's go get some evidence!" Dipper shouted as he turned to his brother.
"Are you suggesting that we follow our sister around and record her date?" Mikey asked incredulously.
Dipper was suddenly less sure of his plan as he looked at his brothers serious face. "Um… maybe, possibly?"
Mikey gave a wide grin before gathering the items he had been working on. "Good. Whether he's a zombie or not I don't trust him.
The brothers quickly gathered the camera they had brought to record "family memories", and quickly stormed down the stairs and outside in order to stalk their sister and her boyfriend. The brothers watched as the couple played Frisbee, Norman failed to catch the disk which hit him in the head and knocked him over. Norman took Mabel to a diner, and opened the door by breaking the window and turning the doorknob from inside. The teen appeared to completely lack any motor control crashing into walls and even falling into an open grave. The two brothers had decided they had seen enough.
"I'm telling you he's a zombie!"
"And I'm telling you that a zombie wouldn't have waited this long, or have taken Mabel to all those public places!"
"Are you kidding me, you saw exactly what I did! He must be a zombie!"
That didn't mean they agreed though. The two had been arguing for the last ten minutes, trying to decide what exactly they were going to tell Mabel. That plan was going about as well as could be expected.
"We don't have any evidence he's a zombie. For all we know he… uh" Mikey rapidly flipped through the pages of the Journal. "He could be under a puppet curse or something, that would explain why he has no idea how to walk."
Dipper snatched the journal back from his grip. "Mikey, zombie is the only thing that makes sense! He can barely walk, he only speaks in those weird grunts, and he had that blood on his face earlier."
The two brothers approached the top of the stairs, and reached the door to their room. Mabel had been in there since she got home and they weren't really sure what she had been doing. Dipper opened the door and immediately got to the point.
"Mabel, we need to talk about Norman." Dipper had attempted to use his sternest voice, which wasn't very good coming from the small twelve year old.
"Isn't he the best, look at this giant smooch mark he gave me." Mabel turned her head to the side, showing a massive hickey on her cheek. Both brother flinched away staring in horror at the dark purple mark. "Hah, gullible. This is just a mark from kissing practice with the leaf blower!"
"Why were you kissing the leaf blower?" Mikey's look of pure horror had been replaced by one of complete confusion as he questioned his sister.
"That's not important right now!" Dipper tried to steer the topic back. "Mabel, Norman isn't what he seems!" he held up the book for her to see.
"Oh, do you think he could be a vampire? That would be so awesome!" Mabel began to fantasize about her, potentially a vampire, boyfriend.
"Guess again, sister. SHA-BAM!" Dipper opened the journal dramatically to the page on gnomes, and then quickly flips it to the correct page. "Oh wait, I'm sorry. Sha-bam!"
"A zombie? That's not funny Dipper." Mabel quickly changed from amused to frustrated as she saw the Undead page of the journal.
"Look, Mabel, I don't think he's a zombie, but something is definitely weird about Journal says not to trust anybody here, and he's not someone I would trust anyway!" Mikey tried to intervene and head off the argument, but Mabel was having none of it.
"Well what about me? Why don't you two trust me?"
"Mabel, he could be dangerous!" Mikey tried to convince Mabel of their stance, but she quickly cut him off.
"Listen to me. Norman and I are going on a date at five o'clock, and I'm going to be ADORABLE, and he's going to be DREAMY, and I'm not going to let you two ruin it with some crazy CONSPIRACY!" Mabel had gone from matter-of-fact to screaming as she reached the end of her rant, and pushed her brothers out the door so she could finish getting ready.
As the clock struck five a doorbell was heard throughout the Mystery Shack, calling Mabel to come down from her room. Pulling her sweater on, she ran down the stairs, and opened the door revealing Norman.
"Hi Norman! How do I look?" Mabel asked her boyfriend.
"Shiny…" Norman replied in a tone that was as dull as the look in his eyes.
"Oh, you always know what to say!" She replied excitedly grabbing his arm and walking outside with him.
"Man, you were right. Maybe she wouldn't have left with him if i hadn't tried to push the zombie bit so hard." Dipper mumbled dejectedly as he sat next to his brother on the recliner, playing back some of the footage of Norman and Mabel.
Mikey was just as dejected as his brother. "I don't know, maybe we we're just being overprot- Wait what was that." He was staring hard at the footage Dipper was still playing on the camera.
Dipper quickly rewound the video before stopping at a short clip of Mabel teaching Norman how to play hopscotch. The brothers watched as Norman tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground. Mabel helped him stand up,and once she had Norman's hand… just fell off. He calmly reached down and reattached it to his wrist. The two brothers stared at each other.
"MABEL!" the simultaneous scream went through the house, unluckily for them no one was inside.
"We need to find Grunkle Stan!" Mikey pulled Dipper behind him as the two raced outside.
Grunkle Stan was currently leading a tour around the outside exhibits, including one of his most famous pieces.
"And here, is Rock That Looks Like A Face Rock: the rock that looks like a face." Stan gestured grandly to a large rock that had a vague face on it, and the tourists were enthralled.
"Does it look like a rock?" one of the tourists stuck their hand in the air and asked.
Stan was already becoming frustrated by this group "No, it looks like a face."
"Is it a face?" a larger, sweatier tourist asked.
"It's a rock that looks like a face." Stan nearly shouted at the crowd. Meanwhile Dipper and Mikey had been calling for Grunkle Stan to come and help them save Mabel. Giving it up as a lost cause they turned away from the crowd of tourists just in time to see Wendy arrive in the mystery cart. The brothers ran to her as quickly as they could.
"Wendy! Wendy! We need to borrow the golf cart to save Mabel from a ZOMBIE!" Dipper screamed as he approached. The brothers stopped in front of Wendy as she stared at them.
Wendy smiled and dangled the keys from her hand before dropping them into Dipper's. "Try not to hit any pedestrians." She called back as she walked away. The brothers' faces broke into wide grins, as they climbed into the cart
Just as they pulled out Soos stopped them and handed Dipper a shovel "Yo, dudes this if for the zombies." He then handed Mikey a bat. "And this is for any piñatas you happen to come across in the woods."
"Uh… thanks Soos." The brothers weren't quite sure what to make of the piñata comment, but quickly shook it off. They had a sister to rescue.
In one of the deeper areas of the woods Mabel and Norman were having a romantic date. Norman was acting even stranger than normal, but Mabel didn't mind. She just chalked it up to nerves.
Norman coughed awkwardly as he fiddled with the zipper of his hoodie. "Mabel, there's… there's something I've been meaning to tell you." the awkward fiddling only go worse as he began to speak.
Mabel was overjoyed that her boyfriend was going to confess some secrets to her. "Oh Norman, you can tell me anything." she really only wanted to hear one secret though. Please be a vampire. Please be a vampire! She bit her lip to contain her excitement, waiting for the big reveal.
"Alright just… don't freak out, okay. Just… just keep on open mind. Be cool." Norman grabbed his zipper and pulled it down.
Norman's hoodie had slipped to the ground, exposing him for the monster, or rather monsters, he was. Mabel saw the true Norman. Apparently, the true Norman was a group of small men stacked on each others shoulders.
The little man that had served as Norman's head spoke up once more. "Is.. is this weird? Is this too weird? Do you need to sit down?" The leader still seemed to have some concern for Mabel as he asked after her well being. He was clearly the most intelligent of the five creatures that had been Norman, and also seemed more youthful. "R..right I'll explain. So! We're gnomes first off. I'm Jeff, and here we have Carson, Steve, Jason, and… I'm sorry I always forget your name." Jeff named the four gnomes, before stopping and staring expectantly at the gnome serving as the left leg. The gnome looked more wild than the others, and was missing the red, cone-shaped hats that the others possessed.
"Schmebulock." The gnome deadpanned without any other reaction to Jeff's question.
Jeff snapped his fingers and nodded as he heard the name. "Schmebulock! Yes! Anyway, we gnomes have been looking for a new queen! Right, guys?" He smiled at Mabel as the gnomes under him let out high-pitched growls of "Queen!"
"Heh. So what do you say?" Jeff asked as he tapped the gnomes with his foot, causing them to kneel and open a ring box. "Will you join us in holy matrignomey? Matri...matri-mo-ny! Blah! Can't talk today!"
Mabel stared at the gnomes, her head spinning with the proposal from creatures that she hadn't even known existed five minutes ago. "Look… I'm sorry guys. You're all really sweet, but, I'm a girl, and you're gnomes, and It's like 'What?' Yikes…"
Jeff looked down disheartened and the other gnomes lost their wide smiles. "We understand. We'll never forget you Mabel…" Jeff looked up suddenly even as Mabel smiled. "Because we're going to kidnap you."
Mabel's smile quickly changed to a look of horror as she watched Jeff and the other gnomes jump at her with savage yells. Dipper and Mikey, driving the golf cart through the thick woods, heard her scream , and attempted to push the golf cart even harder. The two quickly arrived at the small clearing to see several gnomes attacking Mabel with Jeff overseeing the fight.
"The more you struggle the more awkward this is gonna be for everybody. Just, ha ha, just get her arm there Steve." Jeff was becoming more frustrated as Steve bit Mabel's arm, and Mabel refused to surrender.
"What the heck is going on here?" Dipper yelled out as he and Mikey climbed out of the cart.
"Guys! Norman turned out to be a bunch of gnomes! And they're total jerks!" Mabel yelled as a gnome jumped on her head and began pulling her hair.
"Gnomes? Really? Man, you were way off. Does the book have anything about how to beat them?" Mikey turned to Dipper the smallest smirk on his face as he was proven right.
Dipper flipped through the pages of the Journal, stopping at the gnomes page. "'Gnomes: Little men of the Gravity Falls' forest. Weaknesses: Unknown.'" Dipper looked up to see Mikey trading the hat he had taken off Norman for a small bag.
"Mikey, don't you think there are more important things to be doing? Like saving Mabel!" Dipper yelled gesturing towards their sister who was now tied to the ground.
"Look, this isn't as bad as it looks. Your sister is just marrying all one thousand of us and becoming our gnome queen for all eternity! Isn't that right honey?" Jeff tried to calm the brothers down and looked at Mabel waiting for her to answer.
"You guys are all butt-faces!" Mabel was not having any of it however.
Mikey poked Jeff in the chest with the bat Soos had given them. "You listen to me gnome, if you don't let Mabel go right now there is going to be hell to pay." Mikey's face was contorted in anger as he threatened his sister's kidnapper.
"You think you can stop us, boy? You have no idea what we're capable of. The gnomes are a powerful race! Do not trifle with the…" Jeff was interrupted as Mikey's bat smashed into his face sending him flying into the woods.
Dipper ran to Mabel and cut her free with the shovel. The three siblings ran to the cart, climbing in and driving away as fast as they could.
"Dipper, you need to hurry before they come after us!" Mabel screamed as they drove at a more sedate pace on the main road.
"I wouldn't worry about it. Did you see their little legs? Those suckers are tiny!" Dipper laughed before stopping the cart as the ground shook around them.
Behind them, coming from the same direction they had come from, was a giant. A giant made of gnomes.
"Dipper, I think you might want to drive a little faster!" Mikey yelled as he clutched the bars that connected the awning to the cart.
Dipper hit the gas and swerved as he shot down the road, the giant closing every second. The giant reared back and threw several gnomes, which landed on the cart and began attacking anything they could reach. Dipper slammed a gnome against the steering wheel before it let out a pained "Schmebulock" and he threw to the ground. One gnome latched onto Mikey's face, and was swiftly attacked by Mable, leaving Mikey bruised and slightly bloodied. A tree thrown by the giant landed in front of them, and the cart skidded before turning over in front of the mystery shack.
The trio were cornered by the gnomes, backed against the walls of the Mystery Shack. "It's the end of the line kids! Mabel, marry us before we do something crazy!"
"That wasn't crazy?" Mikey muttered under his breath turning to look as Dipper tried to think of a way to get out of this.
"I gotta do it." Mabel said as she stepped towards the gnomes.
"What?"
"Mabel that's crazy!" Her brother's both grabbed her shoulders in an attempt to pull her back.
Mabel looked Dipper and then Mikey in the eyes. "Trust me guys. Please, trust me this time."The brothers looked at each other, then nodded and allowed Mabel to step forward.
"All right Jeff, I'll marry you." Mabel yelled up to Jeff, controlling the giant from its head. Jeff let out an excited yell before climbing down the hundreds of gnomes. Upon reaching the ground Jeff presented Mabel with ring set with a large gem. Mabel allowed Jeff to place the ring on her finger, but before he could turn around and take her to the forest, Mabel stopped him.
"You may now kiss the bride." Mabel said as sweetly as she could manage.
Jeff turned around and strutted toward Mabel. "Well, don't mind if I do!"
Just as Jeff leaned forward to kiss Mabel, she grabbed the leaf blower, still set to suck, and turned it on. Jeff attempted to scramble away, but was trapped by the machines suction, to big to be sucked in. Mabel turned up the suction punctuating each with another comment.
"That's for lying to me! That's for breaking my heart! And, this is for messing with my brothers!" Mabel took aim at the giant with the leaf blower before turning to her brothers. "Would you like to do the honors?"
"On three." Dipper said as he and Mikey grabbed the leaf blower.
"One! Two! Three!" The triplets yelled before reversing the suction on the leaf blower, launching Jeff through the giant. The gnomes scattered like animals, many yelling for orders as they fled.
Mabel blew away any gnomes that remained, and turned to look at her brothers, a sheepish expression on her face "Guys, I.. I'm sorry for ignoring your advice. You were just looking out for me."
"Mabel, come on. You just defeated an army of gnomes, all is forgiven." Mikey said with a wide smile on his face.
"I guess I'm just sad my first boyfriend was an army of gnomes." Mabel said looking down sadly.
"Look at it this way, maybe your next boyfriend will be a vampire." Dipper comforted his sister with a smile on his face.
"You're just saying that." Mabel forced out through a giggle.
"Awkward sibling hug?" Dipper asked, opening his arms.
"Awkward sibling hug." Mabel answered. Both turned to look at Mikey who stood with his arms crossed.
He rolled his eyes before opening his arms and walking to his siblings "Oh, alright."
The three embraced before opening their eyes and patting each other on the back twice with a simultaneous "Pat, pat."
Walking into the Mystery Shack the three found Stan counting the money in the register.
"Yeash, you three look like you've been hit by a bus. Hah!" Grunkle Stan told them as they walked in. He looked at the money in his hand and patted it awkwardly. "Uh hey. W.. wouldn't you know it I accidentally overstocked some inventory, so uh… how's about each of ya take one item from the gift shop? On the house y'know?"
Mabel and Mikey exchanged glances before running to box they had never seen Stan stock from to look through. Dipper wasn't convinced.
"What's the catch?"
Grunkle Stan gave an annoyed grunt "The catch is do it before I change my mind, now take something."
Dipper quickly found a white hat with a blue pine tree on it, to replace the one he lost while fighting the gnomes. Mikey also soon stood from the box holding a walking stick much like Stan's that came up to his chest.
Dipper looked at him confusedly. "Why did you pick that?"
Mikey offered a small shrug in response "I don't know, I guess I liked the way it looked."
Their short exchange was interrupted by Mabel's shout of joy "I choose… this grappling hook!"
"Wouldn't you rather have a doll or something." Stan asked her, to which she responded by yelling again and hauling herself to the ceiling using said grappling hook. "Fair enough."
That night Dipper sat making additions to the Journal including filling in the gnomes weakness.
This journal told me to trust no one, but when you battle hundreds of gnomes side-by-side with someone, you realize they've probably always got your back.
Putting the Journal away Dipper turned to Mabel. "Could you get the light?"
Mabel responded by pointing her new grappling hook at the lantern that it the attic "I'm on it!" she fired the gun shattering the lamp and the only window in the room. "It worked!"
While the three shared a laugh at the antics, underneath them their Grunkle Stan stopped in front of the vending machine. Stan entered a code, and the machine opened revealing a hidden passage. He stepped inside and glanced around before softly closing the door.
Our uncle told us there was nothing strange about this town. But who knows what other secrets are waiting to be unlocked.
1-12-4 18-8-19-17 2-5-7-9-12-17 *-19-17-18 1-12-13-18-8-5-16 18-16-9-14-10-5-18 1-19
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and come back for more! Don't forget to R&R!
I'll try to get updates out weekly, but I don't know how long I'll be able to keep up that pace.