(Takes place before A Tale of Two Stans)
Bill was bored. He floated in the Mindscape, lazily looking through human dreams like a slideshow.
Sure, he'd made a couple of deals earlier that day that was obviously to his advantage, woven some nightmares for some unlucky meatbags, and he might have even rearranged some organs in an unfortunate deer to pass the time. But all in all, at the end of the day, it wasn't enough. He would always have too much time left on his hands. Of course, he was an unstoppable being with no weaknesses, but that didn't mean he was entertained easily.
Bill then turned his attention to the only other source of interest he had: the Pines family. It was currently the beginning of summer, about a year since Dipper and Mabel had last come to visit Gravity Falls.
Maybe their stupid mortal lives could be compelling enough to satisfy him. He hadn't bothered them since the last summer they came, and almost missed watching the two twin meatbags, especially when they weren't trying to ruin a plan of his.
Pine Tree was usually the most intriguing and most fun to annoy, wandering through the woods with that wretched journal, being practical and contemplating life.
Then there's Shooting Star, who always has some sort of crazy thing going on in her life. He didn't find her nearly as interesting as her twin, though. Who could beat the kid with his curiosity and urge to fight back?
Of course, he didn't even had to think twice on who to spy on, and immediately looked right to where Pine Tree was with his all-seeing eye.
Bill was taken aback at first, as the first thing he saw was that he was sleeping. He glanced about the setting, which was the attic in the Mystery Shack. Shooting Star was nowhere to be found in the room, and it got even more unusual as Bill confirmed again that it was obviously daytime.
What had that kid gotten himself into this time? Pine Tree wasn't even sleeping on his bed, no, he was slumped in a chair, resting his head and arms on a desk before him. Bill then assumed that perhaps the meatbag hadn't gotten enough sleep lately. For a couple of kicks and giggles, he then entered Pine Tree's dream, invisibly observing.
Intense sunbeams first hit Bill when he entered the dream, and he felt like he was being pummeled with a hundred bricks by the rays of the sun. Quickly recovering, he observed a clear blue sky overhead, butterflies fluttering around him, crickets chirping, and a light wind brushing through the air. Pine Tree rested on a pearl white lawn chair on the porch of the Mystery Shack, the shade of the overhang covering him from the summer sun.
Everything was blurred, like in most dreams, and it took him a couple of moments to realize that there were cats. Cats everywhere.
Cats of all kinds surrounded Pine Tree's dream self, and three of them were perched on top of him, five more attempting to climb on him as well. Cats meowed for his attention, the sound almost deafening.
Then he heard it. Laughing. Pure joy erupted from the kid's mouth, and his hands worked quickly to pet every single cat available, scratching behind their ears and rubbing their fluffy backs. Those who were treated with such began purring loudly, and now there was a chorus of cat noises throughout the dream.
Pine Tree? Bill snorted to himself. A cat lover? How cute.
Bill was surprised at this newfound information and was also pleased. He had never before heard Pine Tree expressing such delight, and the sound of it was absolutely amazing. He wanted to hear more. This created a spark within Bill. A plan was quickly formulating.
The kid was lucidly dreaming, and since Bill was total jerk, he decided he should step in as Pine Tree's laughter died down to small cooing.
"Well, well, Pine Tree. Never took you as the cuddling type," Bill appeared before the kid, putting up a show of looking at the multitude of cats, and was met with big, brown, innocent, and very shocked eyes. Color drained from the surroundings, making various shades of black, gray or white the only colors visible.
At first the kid had no words, an embarrassed blush spreading across his cheeks while sputtering nonsense, but quickly gained his composure as he glared at the dream demon.
"Get out of my head, Bill," Pine Tree spat, carefully moving the cats off of him so he could get up to stand defensively. "What could you possibly want, anyway? Gonna offer me unlimited knowledge and power? Show me a mutilated forest animal?"
Bill chuckled, thriving in the kid's behavior. He loved the way Pine Tree reacted.
"Geez, kid. Don't overreact so much!" Bill threw up his hands, and continued in a casual tone. "I'm just here to take you away with me so we can live happily ever after! You know, in the Mindscape! FOREVER!" On the last word, his eye grew in size, and the echo to his voice multiplied.
Pine Tree's face was priceless. Bill saw a mix of shock, confusion, disgust, and embarrassment from the previously mentioned cuddling.
Bill laughed manically and ended the dream, making sure that when Pine Tree woke, he wouldn't remember any of it.
The dream demon then got to work at once on his plan, finding a suitable vessel near the Mystery Shack. There were certain requirements to finding just the right cat, and finally he found a ruffled orange and white tabby not too far from the Shack. It was a stray, though still seemed to be in good condition. Using excess energy from the Mindscape, he teleported into the real world, kicking the soul out of a stray cat's body, sending it to the Mindscape, and took control of his new body. It took Bill a few minutes to get used to moving around in the animal's vessel, but he soon got the hang of it, and made his way to the Mystery Shack.
Dipper woke, a bit startled, from his dream. He couldn't exactly recall what he dreamed of, but almost thought he could hear the echo of Bill's laughter…
Dipper shook his head, thinking his lack of sleep was getting to him. Realizing he had slept on his desk, he groaned and got up.
Sleep just kept getting past him. It wasn't that he was purposely avoiding it, and he definitely wasn't an insomniac. He just got busy. After all, the mysteries of Gravity Falls wouldn't unravel for him, and neither would the supernatural creatures.
Speaking of supernatural creatures… Bill hasn't bothered them since the last year they came to Gravity Falls. It was almost unnerving. Dipper couldn't help but think that the dream demon was plotting something evil.
Sighing, Dipper got ready for the new day, and headed downstairs to greet Mabel and Grunkle Stan.
After being lightly teased by Mabel for how long he had slept in (for it was afternoon when he woke), Dipper began to eat some food. Grunkle Stan had gone to lazily watched some random TV show, and Mabel was working on a new sweater for Waddles. The pig squealed at Mabel's feet, and she was more than happy to stop in her work to cuddle the animal.
A small amount of jealousy crept into Dipper. His childhood dream was to have a pet cat, but his parents were allergic to them. It was almost infuriating that Mabel got Waddles so easily, not to mention he had to give up Wendy to date Robbie. And even though the pig had to stay in the Mystery Shack all year, at least Mabel could have fun with him during the summer. Grunkle Stan had begrudgingly let the pig stay.
A sigh escaped his mouth right as Mabel suddenly announced that she was leaving to hang out with Candy and Grenda.
"Bye Dipper! Bye Grunkle Stan! Bye Waddles!"
Before Dipper even got the chance to reply, the sound of the door shutting cut him off.
No longer feeling the desire to eat, he exited the Shack with the Author's journal in hand.
The outside air blew into his face as he opened the door, the breeze feeling good against his skin. The sound of the leaves rustling through the trees were welcomed by his ears, and it was almost like they were whispering to him. The smell of pine assaulted his nose, and he took a deep breath. This was one of the reasons he loved coming to Gravity Falls. Even though it became really hot during the middle of summer, the weather was almost always perfect. The forest near the Shack offered amazing shade from the hot sun, filled with the supernatural…
Flipping through the worn pages, he found something that he hadn't investigated before. The Golden Elk, the journal read. Found deep in the forest, though not much is known about it. Potential to have magical properties. Shapeshifter?
The rest of it was mostly blank, though a small sketch of an elk was found under its name, and a map of the forest with a giant X on it stated: spotted here. It was surprisingly close to the Shack, which might just make his whole trip a bit easier.
Dipper smiled. If he could track down this elk, then maybe he could try studying it from afar and write in some more for the page.
Walking towards the location of its last sighting spot, Dipper sighted a figure moving towards him from a distance. Stopping to squint, and shading his eyes from the sun, he found it soon to have the form of a small animal. He supposed it couldn't hurt to see what it was, seeing that the chances of it being a magical creature were present, and began to walk towards it.
The creature then seemed to notice him, though didn't stop. In fact, it almost looked like it was approaching even faster. At an alarming rate.
Dipper could only widen his eyes as the cat jumped on top of him, knocking him to the ground.
Caught off guard, Dipper could only barely ready himself for the impact, moving his arms behind him to catch himself. He met with the ground as a sickening crunch sounded, and pain flared through his right arm.
He cried out, but was instantly comforted by the cat on his chest, licking his face. He may have just broken his arm, but a smile couldn't help but break from his lips.