Chapter 1

The Land of a Thousand Mysteries

"Hey, Takechiro!" (Character created by Darkcastchamp) A girl's voice called as the silver haired hero's eyes started to open with the pupils of his magenta colored eyes dilating. The voice came from behind him as he tilted his head up to see who it was from. Looking down at him, while leaning over the back of the bus seat, was someone who he considered as a really close friend. Her shoulder length, brown hair hung over her tilted head as it dangled in front of Takechiro's face and her circular glasses were barely hanging on for dear life. "What is it, Cassie?" Takechiro responded, rubbing his eyes a bit.

"I'm bored." Cassie answered with a little pout. "And you're the only one I know who is sitting back here with me. Whoever came up with the ideas of assigned seats are dummies." She ranted, making Takechiro chuckle out a bit, "Weeeell this would be a good time for you to beat the anti-social problem of yours."

"H-Hey, It's not a problem…" The introvert retreated a bit, shyly, as Takechiro rubbed the top of her head, making her eyes close with a smile. Sitting up in the bus seat he was in, Takechiro groaned out a bit, "Where are we, anyways?"

"We're almost to the field trip destination." Cassie reminded him.

"Riiiiight, we're heading to the Land of a Thousand Mysteries, Gravity Falls." Takechiro remembered.

A week ago, this field trip was announced that those who have been academically excelling could be able to attend. Thankfully, for Cassie and Takechiro, they were pretty smart beans in their classes. Unfortunately, some of Takechiro's more colorful friends were unable to go, like the Eds. The only people he knew were going, other than Cassie, was Dib and Gaz Membrane, Bubbles, Buttercup (surprisingly), Mandy, and Josie along with Jack being the chaperone for the trip.

"A babysitter, huh?" Josie commented as she was leaning over the back of a seat, talking to her teacher, Jack. "Well, not really a babysitter. More like a good friend who is also staying with me and Courage." Jack admitted, obviously referring to Bunny, his and Courage's current, amnesiac roommate. "Well, I'm just happy to know that he's not staying in that house all by himself." Josie sighed out in reassurance.

"Are you seriously gonna be playing that the whole time?" Dib commented at his sister who was playing her Game Slave Portable. She's been at the game she was currently playing since the bus left the school. "Dib…with all of the studies and school activities I have to deal with, I haven't had time to play any of my new games." Gaz took a moment to look away from her game to give Dib a soul-stealing glare, "I. Need. This." She spelled it out to Dib as her brother went pale and sunk in his seat a bit. "Man, whoever thought of assigned seats is a dummy…" Dib unknowingly agreed.

After about a half an hour later, the bus started to veer off from the concrete road and onto a dirt, rocky path where the sign that was at the turn off read "Welcome to Gravity Falls: The Land of a Thousand Mysteries". This rocky path though wasn't so comfortable for the school bus's passengers as everyone in it were rocking and bouncing around. "Ah! T-Take!" Cassie called out as Takechiro looked to his right. "Ah!" He yelped out seeing his friend almost flipped over the back of his seat from the rough path they were on. "Don't worry Cassie, I gotcha!" Takechiro tried to reassure her as the path was making it hard for him to try and pull her back up. After struggling to get his friend back, upright, the bus soon came to an abrupt stop, making Cassie fall over again, but also flip over the seat entirely while Takechiro's face kind of rammed into the back of the seat in front of him, both of the two being dazed in the aftermath. "Uaaaaah…where are we?" Cassie muttered. Takechiro shook his head a bit, regaining his mindset, before he looked out the window, "Um…I think we're here."

Takechiro smiled as before his eyes was a small town that was surrounded by a mountain line with even a ridge that looked out for the place from above. There were convenience stores, a church, and Takechiro could've sworn he saw a water tower sometime before they got into the town area. The thing he thought was really cool was the massive lake right next to the town. He hoped that him and the others would have some time to take a swim in it before they leave. But before all of that, Takechiro made a promise to Cassie that they would visit the famous Gravity Fall's Mystery Shack.

The bus doors opened, releasing everyone on board into the town as everyone seemed like they were about to split up, before Jack cleared his throat. Some people groaned when they all had to return. As much as some didn't want to believe, this was a still a school field trip, so there was going to be some kind of assignment. "I know a lot of you want to enjoy your time here, but remember that when we return to the school, you're going to have to write a two page essay on something specifically about the town." Jack explained only for Mandy to immediately blurt out, "I got dibs on the Mystery Shack." This made everyone in the group groan out as the Mystery Shack was definitely the easiest thing to write about. And knowing Mandy, she always does what's easiest for her. "Oh, darn that Mandy! She thinks she's all that…" Cassie pouted.

"Hey, just because she called dibs, doesn't mean we can't still visit the shack itself." Takechiro reminded Cassie, putting a smile on her face.

"You know what, you're right, Take!" Cassie giggled before pulling Takechiro off with her to the town with everyone else scattering to all of the different areas. Watching from the side, though, within the city's shadows, was someone who seemed to be keeping a tab on our heroes.

The first place that Takechiro was dragged into by Cassie was one of the convenience stores. Cassie was curious to see what exactly a forest town like Gravity Falls had in stock. Alongside Dib, Takechiro was looking through one of the aisles as the mysterious stranger who was watching them had already entered into the store. Hiding into one of the adjacent aisles, the stranger seemed to have pulled some kind of gadget out that had a small, radar-like monitor attached to the top. Slowly approaching Takechiro and Dib, the stranger held the device out towards them as a slight and steady beep could be heard, making the two boys flinch a bit. "What was that?" Dib asked, making the stranger begin to back away. Looking behind, Takechiro saw that no one was there, "Huh…"

"Take!" Takechiro jumped, being broken out of his focus, only to turn and see Cassie running towards him and Dib with a bag full of snacks. "Can you believe some of the food they have here? Some of this stuff dates back to their original creations in the 1940s. Pretty cool, huh?" She tried to intrigue the two.

"Uh, y-yeah?" Takechiro was having a hard time listening though as he couldn't help but think about that strange feeling he had, feeling like they're being watched.

"Hey, you okay, Takechiro?" Dib asked as Takechiro wasn't exactly sure how to answer his friend. Before long, Cassie latched her arms around both Takechiro and Dib, leading them out of the store, "Come on~! It's time to go see the Shack~!" Cassie announced as the stranger watched the group from the alleyway beside the convenience store they came out of.