The other day, while watching The Amazing World of Gumball's The Void, realized the idea of a void-like dimension where lost things would end up was right up the alley of Gravity Falls.
All rights belong to their respective owners.
It was at the town's elementary school field. Dipper and Mabel were watching the cheerleaders practice. Candy was gracious enough to invite the twins to the school to watch the the team's practice session, in which she and Grenda were members of, for the withdrawal of Pacifica and her friends opened up quite a few spots in the squad. The twins were wearing western threads (see cover image) depicted in a select your own choose-venture book.
The cheerleaders went, "Go, GF, Go!" They were stacked like a pyramid.
"Woo! Ready! Yeah!" exclaimed Mabel, who then fired an air-horn. "Woo! Mexican wave!" she then performed the wave by herself as she suddenly changed into the sombrero and sweater she wore at Soos' birthday party and went through the stands. "Listen to the crowd, they love you!" she reverted to her western threads, picked up a blowhorn and then imitated a spectators' cheer, then looked at Dipper. He sighed, then cheered unenthusiastically. "Dude, that sounds like a cow on anesthetics."
"It's not that I'm not supportive but... they're kind of a train wreck... that like, a truck crashed into and... and then the whole thing sunk into a lake... and managed to catch fire... and exploded."
"Go, GF, Go!" the cheerleaders went, before they lost their balance, and collasped.
"Ugh, my tail bone!" said a cheerleader after she landed. Candy then fell on Grenda.
"Alright, I guess they didn't explode, but you have to admit that was-" an explosion then went off.
Later, in the schoolyard, the twins were talking about the practice earlier.
"Yeah, I know what you mean." said Mabel. "They were clearly missing something."
Then an aged hippie, wearing a tin-foil hat, popped out from behind them. "You notice too? Stuff goes missing all the time in this town. Everyone pretends it doesn't happen, but I say it's a conspiracy. That's why I've got my hat on! TO STOP THEM ERASING MY MEMORY, AND FORGETTING WHAT WAS TAKEN FROM ME!
"Whoa. Hehehehehehehehehe... so it's both fashionable, and useful."
"Who are you, again?" asked Dipper.
"I'm Thistle Downe. I've heard strange things 'bout this town, that's why I came here. I've only been here a few days, but I've seen plenty."
"What have you lost, Mister Downe?"
"Er, his marbles?" added Mabel.
"No. The love of my life, Janice."
Dipper replied, "Mr. Downe... With all due respect, how do you know that Janice didn't just leave you?"
"Yeah, because of... you know... the hat, the long hair and the whole-" Mabel then made a spooky whistle as she does the cuckoo sign with both hands.
Thistle Downe then laughed hysterically. "Janice could never leave without me." He then added, as he walked away, "Look for what's not there, look for what doesn't make sense."
"I think we're looking at it right now."
The twins sighed. Thistle Downe then came back suddenly, "AND MAKE A HAT!"
Later, in the hallway, the twins were by the lockers, waiting for Candy and Grenda.
"You know, I kinda feel something's missing too." said Dipper.
Mabel replied sarcastically, "Your fingers?"
"No."
"Hair?"
"No."
"Some kind of a torso?"
"No, think about it. Something that used to be here at school, but now it's gone." He sighed. "Never mind." He then noticed something and gasped. "Look at this!" He pointed to some lockers. Two lockers in particular. 115 and 117, but...
"There's no 116! There's a locker missing." He then noticed the space between the two remaining lockers. The twins then looked at the hallway's corresponding section and noticed that something appeared to have been taken out. They noticed an unusually narrow door. It opened and the cheerleaders emerged from it. They didn't seem to notice, even when Grenda got wedged in the doorframe.
"Okay. Even I can tell something's missing here." said Mabel.
"Maybe it's not something. Maybe it's some-"
"Where!?"
"No."
"Somehow?"
"No."
"Somewhat?"
"No."
"Sombrero?" she said as she was suddenly in the sombrero and sweater she wore at Soos' birthday party.
Dipper adjusted his hat. "No. Someone."
"Yeah, well. I was gonna say that next, so-" Mabel then blew a rasberry.
They then went to the school's library, where they found some yearbooks and pored through them. Mabel had reverted to her western threads.
"Let's look at the yearbook." said Dipper as he looked through the pages.
"Stop! Look." Mabel pointed to the picture of the school's principal. It showed his upper body, and his stern expression. Someone had drawn a skirt and slender lady legs under the photo. Mabel giggled, but stopped when Dipper glared at her.
Dipper then went through the pages again. "I mean-STOP!" Look. Mabel pointed to a photo of the cheerleaders in a pyramid formation. But one of the cheerleaders holding up the pyramid is missing. "It's like someone was... erased."
"Okay, concentrate. It's gotta be someone we've encuntered." Dipper closed his eyes and focused. "Okay, okay." He tried his best to remember, even as Mabel's voice was heard. He opened his eyes, only to find pictures flosting in front of him.
"Du du du du-" said Mabel. "Du du du du-who can it be? Du du du du-we met her..." Mabel continued rotating pictures in front of Dipper. "Du du du du-du du du du-"
"Are you du-du-du-done here?"
"Well what do you do when you need to remember something?"
"The same thing I do when the TV loses signal." He pounded his head on the table. "Come on, you goshdarn piece of junk! This is what happens when you buy cheap knockoffs!" He then noticed a picture. "Who's Molly?"
Later, at the schoolyard, many students were gathered around the twins, who were still in their western threads.
"So you're telling me that in a class full of your friends, who went to school with her your whole life, not one of you remembers Molly?" said Dipper. Everyone either murmured or shrugged their shoulders, as if they were wondering who she is.
"Wait, did you say Molly?" asked a male student.
"Yes!"
"Nah, don't remember her."
Candy then noticed Dipper's get-up. "Nice threads, pard'ner." she said.
"Maybe if you gave us some more details about her, we could all try, and remember together!" said another student.
"More details? More details!?" Mabel exclaimed. "WHAT KIND OF FRIENDS ARE YOU?! SHE WAS A GIRL! SHE WAS JUST A GIRL! And that girl's name was Molly! And Molly was your friend... and a girl..."
"You don't remember her either, do you?" asked a female student.
"NO! YOU'RE RIGHT! I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO SHE IS! BUT NOW THAT I HIT THIS VOLUME, I CAN'T REALLY STEER AWAY BACK DOWN. SO I'M JUST GONNA WALK AWAY-" "C'mon, let's find Mr. Downe." said Dipper, and he led his twin away, as she continued, "-SHOUTING. THEN I WON'T HAVE TO ADMIT-"
Later, the twins, who had somehow reverted to their normal clothes, managed to track Thistle Downe to a yoga studio in the downtown area. He was alone, meditating, shirtless, with six eyes drawn on his torso. His forehead had some kind of Hindu face paint on.
"Mr. Downe! You're not actually crazy!" said Mabel.
Dipper noticed Thistle Downe's get-up and commented, "Or not completely, anyway."
"Your conspiracy theory. It's true!"
Thistle Downe then looked up and exclaimed, "I knew it! Redheads are the descendants of an alien race."
"No, not that one. The people disappearing, remember? We need your help to find Molly." said Dipper.
"And your Janice." added Mabel.
"Right. I foresaw that you would come to me, so I made these." He produced two tin-foil hats, and placed them on Mabel's head and on Dipper's trucker cap.
"How did you know?" asked Mabel.
Thistle Downe then pointed to the six eyes drawn on his torso. "The six nipple-eyes see the past, the present, and the future."
"...six?" asked Dipper. Mabel replied, "Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigght..."
Back at the school's hallway, they were at the lockers in question. They were in front of the spot where the missing locker used to be. Thistle Downe took a closer look. "Hmm... yeah."
"So, what do you think?" asked Dipper.
"You're right. The locker's gone. But there's something left here."
"Well I don't see anything." said Mabel.
"Look closer." Mabel moved foward. "Closer." Mabel took a closer look. "Closer." She bumped into the lockers. "I think, that might be a little too close."
Mabel then exclaimed in a muffled voice. "Mff mff! Mff mff mffmff mff mff." "But wait! There is something in here." She pulled her face out of the gap between the lockers. "Quick, Mr. Downe. I need a hairpin!"
Thistle Downe pulled out a hairpin from his hair, and his hair fluffed up. He then retrieved a photo from the gap with the hairpin. "Oooooh!" exclaimed the three of them. They looked at the picture. It showed a girl standing in front of a treehouse, which was in front of a small single-storey house with a front yard. Mabel gasped. "Oh yeah! That's Molly."
"She was definitely here!" said Dipper.
"How could they not remember? And her treehouse."
"Yes, yes-that's it! All we have to do now is build a treehouse just like hers, and she'll come right to us!" said Thistle Downe.
"Or we can try, and find hers since that's probably where she is." added Dipper.
"Or, we could try, and find hers because that's probably where she is!" Mabel replied.
"Oh my gosh! That's a much better idea." said Thistle Downe. Dipper just stared at them, his mouth a-gape.
Later, the three of them were walking on the streets, trying to find Molly's home. The twins were carrying backpacks. "Mr. Downe, do you remember Molly?" asked Dipper.
"Of course I remember her. Thanks to the hat. I was fortunate to know her a few years back, at the last place I was in. She was a neighbor, from across the street, until she moved out a couple of years ago."
"What was she like? Everyone's completely forgotten about her."
"Well, let's see. She was boring, and uh... ooh... eh... no, that's it. She's just boring."
"What do you think happened to her?" asked Mabel.
Thistle Downe explained, "Well kids, Gravity Falls is not a normal place."
"You tell me." said Dipper.
A blonde man walking his wiener dog walked by.
"Oh, hello." said the dog.
The blonde man barked, as if he was greeting. He sounded exactly like a dog.
Thistle Downe then continued, "It's a pretty weird world, and sometimes it makes mistakes."
Mabel asked, "Do you think the world thought Molly was a mistake?"
"No. If I was the world, I'd be pretty bummed with calling up someone as boring as Molly-" he then tripped over what appeared to be a linear break on the pavement and fell on his face.
"Mr. Downe! Are you okay?" asked Dipper.
Thistle Downe then picked himself up. "Of course! Pain is just information that the mind can master."
"So it didn't hurt bad?" said Mabel.
He replied sarcastically, "No, I feel great."
Then Mabel noticed something and gasped. "Look! Another clue. Just like at the locker." The three then noticed that an entire lot appeared to have been taken out, and the two adjacent lots were put together, like a rudimentary cut-and-paste job. Dipper then looked at the photo of Molly and her treehouse for comparison. But her whole house was gone. It's like something was removed. They looked at the lots again. Not only was the lot missing, but the trees and the sky above the lot appeared to be removed. "What is this? What's going on here?"
Then suddenly, something between the lots sucked the photo Dipper was holding into it. Mabel grabbed on to her twin before he was to be sucked in.
"What-"
"The-" said Thistle Downe.
"What?" exclaimed Mabel.
Dipper's face was sucked into the gap, and his head was eventually swallowed by it. "I got you. I got you!" said Mabel as she pulled him out. His face was stretched and contorted beyond its normal dimensions. "Oh my gosh, your face!" "If you think that's weird, you should see what's in there." said Dipper, in a distorted voice. His head then sprung back to normal, and they prepare to pry open the gap. "Are you sure you wanna do this?" asked Thistle Downe.
"We have to! We can't forget about our friends." said Mabel.
"Okay. On three. Two. One!" They pry the gap's sides apart, revealing a strange, cosmic dimension and all its contents.
Dipper went through his journal. There were no records of such a dimension. Ford never found out, nor had the chance to. "On second thought," said Mabel, "Maybe we should just forget about Molly and Janice since uh-I don't remember Molly anyway. And if the world decided that she was a mistake, and we were-" Dipper shoved her in. "Dipper! It wasn't very nice of you to push your sister in such a way. People will allow-" Dipper grabbed and tossed Thistle Downe into the dimension while the aged hippie was still talking. Dipper then jumped into the rift.
The three then landed on a floating rock in a huge void-like dimension. There were other floating rocks, many items floating in the sub-space, and a planet with the label Pluto. Some concordes, an airship and space shuttles were also seen flying in the background.
"Look children," said Thistle Downe, "All the things that has ever been lost to the world." He pointed at some floating objects. There was a Sega Neptune prototype, an Atari Panther, a 3DO M2, a 32-bit CD-ROM add-on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, many un-realeased video games, a Betamax tape recorder, some Betamax tapes, an HD-DVD player, some HD-DVD discs, MiniDiscs, a MiniDisc player, some MiniDV tapes, a MiniDV camcorder, a video footage of Lil' Gideon playing in the woods and discovering Journal 2, some early concept sketches of Dipper, with straight mid-length hair, wearing a polo-tee and a peaked cap, abandonware, namely DirectX 4, some peripherals, like the 32X spacer for the Sega CDX, "...jorts, LaserDisc, the Mullet..." he continued.
The three then negotiated the sub-space by leaping from floating rock to floating rock. It was easy, for there appeared to be little gravity in this dimension. Upon landing on one rock, they saw cars that never made production, like the BMW M8, the E39 M5 wagon, the Lamborghini P140 prototype, the Cala, Lotus Etna, De Tomaso Bigua and Plymouth Howler.
On another rock, there were people, all of which disappeared mysteriously from the world. Benjamin Bathurst, Jimmy Hoffa, Roald Amusden, Amelia Earhart and her co-pilot, still in their plane, and the bodies of Sebastian of Portugal and the gladiator Spartacus. All appeared to be in some form of suspended animation. Dipper then walked over and examined the body of the latter. It looked as fresh as the day the Thracian fell. Apparently decomposition did not exist in this void.
While leaping onto another rock, Mabel then noticed some things. "Could it be...?" she said. It was pieces of a goat's horn, floating in mid-air. She grabbed them and put those in her backpack. Dipper then saw something familiar. Floating towards him, in the sub-space, was a tan and taupe cap, with a star on its front. "My old hat!" he exclaimed, and he grabbed it, and put it in his vest. The twins then noticed sixteen disposable cameras. They then floated around while grabbing them and putting them into their backpacks.
After landing on another floating rock, they saw the World Trade Center twin towers, as well as the five other blocks, and parts of the Pentagon. Floating in the background, there was some floating eyeballs, giant vampire bats, a green Bill Cipher, and some cursed doors. A bunch of documents floated within grabbing range of Dipper. He took the papers and examined them. It was a script for a cancelled episode, which explored Dipper's fear of puppets. He flipped through his journal, then looked up and around, towards the eyeballs, bats and doors. "These are abandoned plot lines!" exclaimed Dipper. "The producers had no time to explore them!"
Mabel then noticed something on a faraway floating rock. "Guys! It's Molly's treehouse."
"Okay! You get her, and I'll find Janice." Thistle Downe then proceeded to hop, flip, cartwheel and somersault his way around on the floating rocks and other objects. "Whoa! Oh yeah!"
"Mr. Downe! Wait!" said Mabel as she proceeded to jump from floating rock to floating rock, but crashed right into one. Dipper followed his twin, but he kept crashing into floating objects. "Oof! How- come- you're- so- good- at- this- jumping!?" He then groaned in pain.
"Let's just say I'm used to feeling spaced out." said Thistle Downe.
The floating rock with Molly's treehouse was much farther than they thought. "Okay. How do we get to the treehouse?" Dipper asked his twin. Mabel saw some cans of hairspray floating around and grabbed two. "With these cans of ozone-depleting hairspray from the 80s!" She then used it as a propellant, spraying it backwards as she sailed through the sub-space. Dipper, who was behind her, was coughing, and his hair grew.
They made it to the floating rock. Upon landing, they ran towards the treehouse. "Molly? Molly?" The twins called out, as they climbed up its ladder. Upon entering, they saw a young female, around Mabel's age, with long black hair, wearing a dark grey dress. She was in suspended animation, and was apparently in the process of pouring some tea.
"What's wrong with her?" Mabel asked. "She's in suspended animation." Dipper then proceeded to poke her. "Molly? Moll-" She then distorted and unfreezed. "Oh, hi!" she said. "Oh, you're okay." said Mabel. "Everyone's so worried!" Dipper added. "We finally remembered you." "You were gone for a year."
"What do you mean, worried? I saw everyone yesterday."
"Are dinosaur years like dog years? Like you saw everyone yesterday, but it was actually a year ago." said Mabel.
Molly laughed. "That wasn't a year ago. Right?" There was no response. "What happened to me?"
"Well, the world thought you were a... you know... how do I say this-"
"It's because you're boring." explained Dipper.
"I'm not boring, I do lots of cool stuff! I collect pencils. I got red ones, I got blue ones, I got yellow ones, I got..." The twins dozed off while still standing. They suddenly jolted awake. "What were we doing?" Mabel asked her twin. "We were getting out of here."
The three then exited the treehouse. "Okay Molly, we just have to get back through that big hole, and we're home." said Dipper. "You mean that hole over there, the one that's shrinking, and almost closed?" "Yes, exactly. The one that's-OH MY GOSH IT'S CLOSING!" They then leaped their way towards the hole. "Quick! The world doesn't want you to escape!" He ran across the large floating rock, while Mabel and Molly hopped their way across on some kind of spring loaded small platforms. "What are you doing!?" Mabel replied. "Well, I dunno. I thought using these would be a good idea." "Dude, everything here is a bad idea! Do I have to spell it out for you?"
A paperclip with eyes then appeared in front of them. "Hey! Are you writing an email?"
Mabel screamed and then grabbed the paperclip and hurled him into the sub-space. A dance floor was triggered, and some music started playing. "Oh no, we gotta get out of here! We're in the world of disco!" The twins then ran away, screaming. "But I love disco." said Molly, and she followed them. The three landed on an airship. "I don't know why they got rid of these. They're pretty cool." said Mabel. The airship then caught fire. "Oh. Right." The three ran screaming as they jumped off. The airship then crashed into an electric tower holding up power lines, and exploded.
Meanwhile on another piece of floating rock, Thistle Downe was still searching for his Janice. "Janice! Janice!" He looked through a large tube. The fridge behind him opened and Thistle Downe looked out."Janice!" He then picked up an 80s brick cellphone and dialed a number. "Janice!" The others then landed on the floating rock. "Oh no, guys! The hole's almost closed!" exclaimed Mabel. "Mr. Downe, we have to go!" said Dipper. "No no no! I have to find Janice! She has to be-I see her!" He ran off, and the others followed. "I'm guessing librarian, flowered t-shirt-" said Dipper. "Yeah. And thick prescription glasses." Mabel added. The twins then saw Janice and were surprised. "Huh?"
"Here she is, kids! Meet Janice." He showed them a colorful van with art on it. The twins then realized what Thistle Downe meant by Janice not being able to leave without him.
"Janice is a van?" said Mabel.
"I can see why the world thought it was a mistake." added Dipper.
Thistle Downe then explained, "She runs on sunflower oil, and good vibes. And we've got plenty of those, right?" They then got in. "Okay! Let's go." He then inserted the ignition key. The van didn't start up, but because someone imitated the sound of a vehicle starting up, he thought it was strange. "Well that's weird. I haven't even turned the key yet."
In front of them, a guy was pretending to ride a motorcycle across their path. "Run him over." prodded Dipper. The guy then turned around and ran. He was being pursued by dodos. "Ooh. That won't be necessary. He's gone the way of the dodo." He started up the hippie van, and accelerated up a slope, towards the hole. But upon reaching the crest, it lost momentum and went back down the slope, even as the portal shrunk.
Thistle Downe tried feverishly to start the van again. "No! Come on. Come on!"
"Let me try something." Dipper then pounded on the dashboard. "Come on you goshdarn piece of junk!" Everyone then followed his lead, until Mabel stopped. "Hey, wait. I thought you ran on good vibes." She then kissed the dashboard. The van immediately started up, and accelerated up the slope, while leaving behind a rainbow trail. The van then sailed over the crest of the hill and made it through the shrinking portal.
On the other side of the portal, a clap of thunder was heard, and the hippie van came out of the portal. Upon landing, the van drove around in circles, as if it was doing donuts. The portal closed, and the space surrounding it unfurled, revealing the lot with Molly's house on it. Meanwhile at the school, The missing section of the hallway unfolded, enlarging the door across the lockers, and freeing Grenda from the doorframe.
Back on the street, the van was still doing donuts. Dipper screamed. "AH!" He panicked. The van finally stopped. They all cheered. "Yeah! We did it! In your face, world!" exclaimed Mabel. "Guys, wait! Do you realize what we've just seen? This changes everything." "We must tell everyone before the world tries to make us forget." said Thistle Downe. "But how could we forget something like that?" Molly asked.
The portal then reopened and sucked up their tin foil hats, and their memories of being in the dimension, before it closed again.
"What were we talking about again?" asked Dipper.
Later, outside the Mystery Shack, Mabel was glueing the pieces of goat's horn on Gompers' left stump. "There you go." she said, after she was done.
Gompers then made his goat noise. "I feel whole again."
"Sure you do." She rubbed Gompers' hair. "Sure you do."
- THE END -
Read and review!
