Gravity Skulls
Summary: Directly after Freaking Out Arthur finds a lead that, semi-unknown to his amnesiac friend Vivi, may lead them to the Ghost of their dearly departed friend Lewis. But unbeknownst to him that very ghost was hot on their tail and he is Hellbent on finding, in Gravity Falls, Oregon.
check out archiveofourown dot org for the Mystery Skulls story Comprehension if you want to understand Arthur's situation regarding the Cave and how Lewis' spell used to affect Vivi's memories, though not as severe. This story also takes place after Land Before Swine but before Dreamscapers.
Chapter 1: Keep It Together
"Ghuehehhuh!" Arthur Kingsmen vocalized his discomfort as a series of goosebumps raised on his skin and an awful chill ran up his spine; he looked around for moment in nervous confusion before leaning back.
"*Sigh* another lead, another haunting, another bust." Arthur grumbled despondently as he returned his attention to his laptop bringing up a map with a face plastered all over it, some of them crossed out.
Lewis…
Arthur closed the map and now looked at a photo of All three of them with the Peppers, Lewis' adopted family. They, or rather Arthur, has been looking for him for a little over a year now, or rather his ghost but have yet to find a solid lead. He thought that maybe the ghost in the Mansion was him but…nah, the "hair" was the wrong color, the style was slightly off, he wore a suit, and why would he hate Arthur enough to try and murder him? That ghost must have mistaken him for someone else.
Vivi couldn't remember a thing about what happened in the Verde Diablo Caves, or even Lewis. After what happened every memory she ever had of Lewis just Disappeared, how they met, his place in their investigation…their relationship. Docs said it was her brain trying to protect her from the trauma but Arthur knew better, he'd seen the faint pink glow coming from her eyes whenever Lewis was mentioned or when she saw a picture of Lewis and would say she saw nothing.
She has been getting better since the mishap in the Mansion, bits and pieces falling back into her mind but she could never quite remember, not REALLY. She said it was more like remembering a movie with someone that looked like her in it than actual memories. Whatever happened to her in that cave that kept Lewis away from her mind, and Arthur knew that is had to of been the man himself. He had to find Lewis' ghost so he could help her and so Arthur could apologize for letting him die.
Arthur couldn't quite remember what happened back then either, the doctors said it could be a combination of blood loss, stress, and trauma prevented his brain from forming the memories properly but what he did.
His left arm numbing as if falling asleep, the vision in his left eye going black, Lewis was falling but he couldn't catch him, Guilt, and then…
"AH!" The mechanic hissed as phantom pain surged through his robotic arm, sparks leaking out of the joints as it twitched sporadically. Pain, so much pain, where was his arm, oh god there was blood everywhere, and…a beast a giant things with six tails took his arm. Oh god, it's in the van with them!
Arthur startled himself awake again and screamed as he though he saw the beast where their dog Mystery was sitting, he threw his computer into the air without thinking in his rush to protect his prosthetic but all his accomplished was it landing on his head and tumbling out of the van in a heap.
Mystery gave Arthur a look somewhere worry and confusion. Vivi though, who had been sleeping at the time sat up groggily and gave the most tired, deadpan glare she could muster with droll slipping out of her mouth. She turned the glare toward Mystery who only gave her a nervous smile and a shrug.
Too tired to deal with anything right now (it's 2 in the frickin' morning!) Vivi yawned and fell back to sleep…and was now hanging halfway out the back of the van.
World's greatest Paranormal Investigators everybody.
Groaning Arthur picked himself up as well as the laptop, that wolf-fox-thing has been plaguing his dreams for a while now. Not as bad as when he first woke up from the Cave Incident but every other week he'd see it.
"You okay Art?" Mystery asked curiously with a tilt of his head, the tiny yellow glasses on his snout going ever so slightly crooked.
Yup, their cute little doggy Mystery could talk. Not many people knew this though seeing as it could freak people out, especially out here in the boonies.
"Yeah, I'm fine just…" Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes to get the tiredness out. "Just some phantom pain triggering that nightmare again, we got any coffee?"
Mystery pushed a quarter full coffee pot and a mug toward his friend.
"Any new leads on where Lewis' ghost could have ended up?"
Now fueled by day old caffeine and his resent scare Arthur reopened his laptop and checked his messages on the Mystery Skulls website. He began scrolling through the new ones.
"Hoax, hoax, hoax, some guy accusing us of ripping our name off from a band, another Cthulhu cult that doesn't understand what fiction is, hoax, hoax, ho-wait." Arthur clicked on a message titled Weirdness Central, Oregon from GothicMistress92.
Sometime ago I visited a town up in Oregon called Gravity Falls with my parents for some stupid ball/party thing or whatever at the Northwest manor and right away I notice some seriously weird stuff going on around the town and the surrounding forest. My town is no stranger to odd happening with it ghost problem but this town is in a league all its own. Flying eyeballs with bat wings, Minotaurs overdosing on testosterone, Gnomes, and yes even a few spirits. If your friend's ghost is anywhere that place is probably your best bet in the states, it's a magnet for the weird and creepy.
Good luck and happy ghost hunting!
Along with the message were some photos of what she saw.
(3 guesses who gave this tip)
"Huh, we're not far from Oregon are we?" Mystery asked, scratching himself behind the ear with his hind leg.
"Yeah, let me see."
Arthur went to Google Maps and search for Gravity Falls, Oregon and… "Right there, we can get there by morning!" Arthur said getting excited and terrified at the same time.
"It is morning Art, It's like 2:15 man. You haven't got a goodnight sleep since we started traveling again." Mystery chastised his friend, worried for his wellbeing.
"I'll sleep when we get too Gravity Falls, right now I'm too wound up on caffeine to sleep."
"Fine, but you are the one that has too wake up Vivi again so she doesn't slide around in the back." The dog declared before hopping over the seats to get to his place in the middle.
"Coward." Arthur muttered disgruntledly.
"Said the pot to the kettle!" Mystery quipped over the back of the seats.
Over the a few years the Mystery Skulls have been active there were 3 rules that should never be broken without caution. 1: Never eat Lewis' personally prepared food if you enjoy having taste buds (Seriously, who snakes on GHOST PEPPERS!?). 2: Don't touch Arthur's tools without permission or risk getting bolted to a wall. And 3: Unless you are Lewis, never EVER physically touch Vivi in her sleep.
Well, he's not Lewis but Arthur was quick so maybe…
"Touch me Squire and you will need a robot jaw to go with that arm." Vivi growled sleepily as she sat herself up to glare at Arthur, though the effect was largely lost with her wild bedhead and her little mouth stretching wide open to let out a yawn.
"What's this about going to Oregon?" She asked, smacking her lips groggily and letting out a tiny "blech" as morning breath already settled in.
"Got a big lead on a place called Gravity Falls, if it is half as weird as the message said it is then we'll likely find Lewis' ghost there."
"Lewis? Who is…oh yeah, that guy I can't remember." Vivi said before she took a swig of mouthwash and spat it at the road.
"And if that doesn't motivate you here are some things the messenger claimed were there. Gnomes"
"Uh-huh?" Vivi responded suddenly more awake.
"Flying eyeballs."
"Yeah?"
"Minotuars."
"Really?"
"And spirits."
"Eeeeeh!" Vivi squealed in delight and the next thing he knew she was bouncing in the passenger seat like a toddler on a sugar rush. "Come on, what are we waiting for?" She shouted over the seat impatiently.
Arthur just shook his head with a half-hearted chuckle before closing up the back and hopping into the driver's seat.
"Gravity Falls, Oregan here we come!" The bluenette cheered as the van revved up and began its journey.
But unknown to them a storm was brewing overhead, but literally and figuratively
Lewis Pepper felt a tug in his anchor, the heart-locket that held the majority of his spectral power. Vivi was on the move thanks to the pedals of that flower that plant woman left behind he could feel where she was, or rather her general direction
Shifting gears in the semi he "commandeered" the flames in the pipes flared and he hit the gas.
"I'm coming Vivi." The revenant declared. "And when I find you, and kill that bastard we can be together again!" Mauve flames were left on the road under the ghostly wheel of the truck.
Rain began to fall and darken the already dark early morning.
It was around 6:00 A.M when they passed a sign that said "Welcome to Gravity Falls" but they hardly noticed it through heavy rain and cloud cover that made it almost looks like night. The roads were slick with rain water, the oil in the asphalt it drew out and Arthur's sleep deprivation wasn't helping any.
"Arthur, we need to pull over. I can barely see through all this rain!" Vivi exclaimed, she could swear they hydroplaned for a couple seconds on that last turn.
"I can't just stop in the middle of the road Vi, and I can't find a spot on the sides." The blond mechanic argued.
"I just know something bad is gonna…" Mystery began but it already happened.
Hidden by the rain and darkness the gang didn't see the huge pot hole in the road and Arthur ran headlong into it. With the water and road oil slickening the road it didn't take much for them to actually and without any room for doubt hydroplane and skid out of control.
All three of them grabbed on to whatever they could. "Hold on guys, I don't think I can-"
Arthur didn't get to finish as the van's front smashed into a rock and the back still had enough momentum to bash the side into the big oak tree next to it.
The next thing they all knew was blackness.
A loud crash was heard and Stan Pines jolted awake at the noise in his chair, his TV still playing bad soap operas.
"Sweet Moses what was that!?" He exclaimed as he stood up and as he did he could hear two pairs of little feet making their ways down stairs.
"Grunkle Stan did you hear that?" His great niece Mabel asked as she slid on her socked feet into the kitchen,
Her twin brother Dipper was not far behind. "It sounded like it came from the road leasing up to the Shack, I think someone might have hydroplaned crashed their car into the trees." He theorized.
Stan rubbed his head with a grunt as he began to think of what he should do. "Is Soos still here?"
Dipper answered. "Uh, yeah. He's stayed the night in that spare room we found the other week."
"Alright, me and Soos are going to go out there and see what happened." He explained while putting on a heavy raincoat and boots, he turned and pointed at the twins. "You two will wait in here and help out when we get back, I don't need you gremlins catching pneumonia out there or somethin'."
"Aw, but Grunkle Stan." Mabel whined.
"No buts, get the first-aid kit and wait for us. Soos wake up!" He called grabbing a couple of flashlights.
The rain and began to die down as Stan and Soos made their way down the dirt road, but even with that, the sunrise, and the flashlights it was still kinda murky. But eventually they found the source of that crash.
A big orange van with the logo "Mystery Skulls" plastered on the side. It was pretty banged up, the front end looked like it was half curled around a rock and the bulk was bent into a tree. It'll likely never ride again.
"You think they're okay Mr. Pines?" The handyman asked worriedly.
Stan ignored the question. "Help me get the door open Soos, if they're still alive we need to get them out of this wreck and the rain as soon as possible."
Soos took out a crowbar he brought and he wedged it into the door. With his surprising strength, weight, and Stan's old man strength they managed to pry the door open and see the three passengers inside.
In the driver's seat was a scrawny young man who couldn't be much over 20 with spiked blond hair with a tuft of black in the front, next to him was a small white dog with "hair" in a similar style but black and red and a pair of small glasses on his snout, and finally in the passenger seat a young lady that looked like she dropped in a vat of blue dye. Blue hair, blue sweater, blue scarf, blue skirt, and blue shoes. The only part of her not blue was her, now broken, dark pink spectacles and her very pale white skin.
They seemed to be alright, a few bruises and cuts here and there but nothing life threatening.
"You take the boy and his dog Soos, I'll carry the girl." Stan said as he made sure the door wouldn't slam shut on them,
"Sure thing, dude."
The two men, well one and a man-child, gathered up the three unconscious stangers. Soos had the blond guy over his shoulders while he cradled the dog and Stan held the girl bridal style to his chest.
They can search the van for any surviving property after they woke up and the rain let up.
And there is chapter 1, short buy I hope you guys liked it!