Okay, my first non-tokusatsu fanfiction. Used to watch Gravity Falls during its broadcast when I was bored, never expected to fall in love with that show. This is the first time I'm writing blind. Most of my stories are pre-planned, and this is the first one that I'm just writing out without setting a climax and ending beforehand, not to mention my first attempt at creating a fanfiction series.
This fanfiction's main character is half an original character and half a "promoted" unseen character whose name only appeared in Episode 7 of Season 2 (fans should immediately recognize the name). Other than that, most of the original characters are restricted to just super-minor roles, victims, witnesses and monsters. Some canon characters have also been changed in terms of appearance and age (be surprised when Gideon makes his debut) and I've also fused a couple of characters such as Sheriff Daryl Blubs and Deputy Edwin Durland becoming a single character named Police Chief Daryl Durland.
Now, Gravity Falls was pretty dark for a kid's show, but it was still fun and acceptable by the SJW standards. This fanfiction will contain slightly more mature themes and even a couple of "un-alive-ing". Currently attempting to draw characters in a "half-anime" style. Of course, I'm still gonna be placing a limit to how far I can go with the adult content, since the original show is based on the childhood experiences of its creator, Alex Hirsch, and I seriously don't want to screw around with it.
Now, let's begin the story…
Summary: Two years after a family tragedy, a teenager moves to Oregon with his mother to rebuild their lives, settling in the sleepy town of Gravity Falls and becoming the resident mechanics. There, he finds himself becoming acquainted with the daughter of the local lumberjack as the town prepares for another boring summer until the both of them befriend a pair of twins from California, after which they find themselves thrown into a whole new world of weirdness when the twins find a mysterious book revealing several mysteries around Gravity Falls. Meanwhile, dark forces begin to make their move on Gravity Falls as more secrets are revealed during the quartet's daily misadventures in town, beginning with the teenager obtaining a pendant with a code engraved on it...
Chapter 1: Gravity Falls, Oregon
Ah, summer break. A time for leisure, recreation, and taking 'er easy… Unless you're me.
"Dude, watch out for the-"
A sign with the words "Welcome to Gravity Falls" is suddenly smashed into smithereens as a modified golf cart crashed through it.
Its driver:
- A slightly-tanned teenager with a grey beanie over his messy mid-length black hair wearing a white sleeveless hoodie over a dark purple t-shirt, black cargo pants and workman's boots.
Its passengers:
- A young brown-haired girl with star-shaped earrings dressed in a fuchsia long-sleeved sweater and a skirt who looks like she was going to puke
- A brown-haired boy wearing a blue vest over a reddish-orange t-shirt with gray shorts and sneakers with scratches all over his face
- A redhead about the driver's age in a green flannel shirt over a white tank-top with blue jeans and muddy boots, complete with a fur lumberjack hat.
"Oh c'mon! Where did you learn how to drive?" the redhead shouted at the driver.
"My license is only for a damn scooter, not a lawn Zamboni!" the driver yelled back.
"It's getting closer!" the twins screamed.
The two older youths turned, saw the monster behind them just a few feet away from grabbing their cart, screamed right before the cart flies off a rock, does a mid-air spin and lands, just barely avoiding the monster's attempt to catch it.
Jeff. That's my name, Jeffrey Cannuck. The redhead who is about to make my right ear permanently deaf is Wendy Corduroy. Outside this sort of situation, she's pretty cool to hang out with. The kids behind us, they're twin siblings Dipper and Mabel Pines, both with their own quirks and all but, despite our age difference, I can confidently call them my new best friends.
The monster throws a tree in their path.
"Look out!" the younger girl called out as the driver barely managed to dodge the tree.
"Great Caesar's ghost, stop throwing trees at us, you asshole!" the driver swore out loud.
"Can't this thing go any faster?! Shift to gear five or something!"
Now, you may be wondering what kind of motley crew we are to be driving around in an illegally modified golf cart trying to escape from a creature of unimaginable horror. Rest assured, there's a perfectly logical explanation. At least, that's what I hope. Let's rewind…
It all began for me in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. I'm a mixed bag of races, since Dad's a Cherokee and Mom's Chinese-Korean. Dad was a cop, and a really good one, until he and his partner got jumped two years ago during a drug bust, leaving Mom to raise me.
As the rain continued to pour down on the congregation, Jeff and his mother silently watched with grief-striken looks on their face along with several police officers as the coffin was slowly placed into the grave.
Shortly after we adopted my dog Butterpaws, Mom decided to move her car repair business to this sleepy town called Gravity Falls in Oregon. We were able to hire an extra hand named Mr Ernie, and he was pretty fun. Really respectful too, since it was clear he likes Mom but knowing what we went through recently, kept quiet out of respect. Heck, he even gave me a scooter as a present once I got my license.
In the garage of a building named Cannuck Car Repairs, a balding man with a moustache wearing overalls tossed a key and a large bag to Jeff before pointing his thumb at a camo-painted scooter with a sidecar attached to it, in which Jeff's 2-year-old German Shepard named Butterpaws was already seated in.
"Congratulations on getting your license, kid."
"Woah, Ernie, seriously? Thanks, man!" Jeff exclaimed.
"Well, a man's gonna need a ride to pick up girls, you know? You're going to be sixteen, so start living your life," Ernie replied.
So, yeah, life goes on in Gravity Falls until the third day of my arrival, when I found myself having to offer repair services to a lone customer that night. That was how I came to meet my first friend in town, Wendy…
"Oh, what a cute dog you are!"
It was almost closing time at Cannuck Car Repairs, and no one pays a visit at this hour, so Jeff was quite surprised to find someone entering the garage of the repair shop.
Looking up, Jeff finds himself staring at a teenage girl with freckles and long red hair standing in front of him playing with Butterpaws. That dog rarely gets friendly with strangers, for her to immediately accept this redhead was something unique.
"So I heard that you're the new guy in town, right? I'm Wendy Cordoroy. What's yours?"
The girl gave him a friendly smile, but Jeff was surprised by the fact that she was just a centimeter shorter than him, and he was quite tall himself (5'10). Jeff also had to admit that she was quite pretty in her natural state.
Quickly composing himself, Jeff tipped his head at Wendy in response.
"Jeffrey Cannuck. I'm from Oklahoma… Anyways, welcome to Cannuck Car Repairs. We fix cars, but also plumbing, electronics, blah, blah, blah and all... Well, we pretty much fix everything in town, to be honest."
"Ha, I see. So, you okay with me just calling you Jeff?"
"Sure, why not? So, what are you doing here at such a late night?"
"Eh, night shift at the Mystery Shack, but my bicycle's come apart, see?"
Wendy held up her bicycle, which turns out to have a loose chain, which was rather easy for him to deal with.
It was only a week after this when Jeff finds himself crossing paths with Wendy again, this time at Greasy's Diner. Jeff's mother was out of town and Ernie's got a family emergency to deal with in Portland, so Jeff had closed up early and was about to have a small dinner when he nearly choked at the sight of the person who had suddenly sat down on his table.
"What's up, dude?"
"Seriously? I swear I just swallowed the biggest chunk of meat without chewing it…"
"I saw you sitting alone, thought I join you for a bit. How're you finding the town? Too quiet, or just nice?"
"Well, I won't say it's boring. I mean, it's near a lot of nature, like those giant waterfalls and the forest. Kind of fitting for my tastes."
"Well, that's a first. I always found it boring in this town. Wish I can move to Portland or something.
"So, why are we talking again?"
"What do you think? I'm curious about you. I mean, you're really quiet and I kinda figured you wanted to be left alone or you're trying to act all cool and mysterious. I hope I don't offend, but you're part Cherokee, right?"
"Yup."
"Nice. You know, you're probably the first guy of Native American descent I met in fifteen years. Not to mention someone around my age. Hey, I know some people here are giving you some attitude, but don't take it the wrong way. I mean, you know."
"Yeah, I kinda figured it out. By the way, heard your dad's the toughest guy in town. Is it true?"
"Ha, yeah, I mean, the whole town calls my dad 'Manly Dan', and he's always walking about with his body hair sticking out and screaming about being a real man and all. Between you and me, he stresses me out."
"Well, every family has an odd one out, right?"
"Well, in my case, you're looking right at it."
"Oops. Sorry…"
"Hey, it's cool. I mean, at least I'm the normal odd one out. I mean, have you seen my family?"
"No, I just arrived a week ago."
Wendy laughed.
"Dude, you're so literal sometimes. You sure you can't laugh or something? I've been observing you for a while and the only expressions I see on your face is either sullen, angry or confused. You're really sort of tense most of the time, you know? Kinds of make people nervous whenever you greet them with this kind of face."
"Oh, I, er… Had a hard life. I know, who hasn't had a hard life, but mine's sort of recent."
"Well, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but seriously, I think you should start hanging out with people. You're always alone, and you barely do anything apart from repair jobs. Besides, most of the teens in town live in the western part where all the rich folks are, and they sure ain't gonna come down here to make friends with us 'boonies', so we're all you've got around here in the northeast side of Gravity Falls."
"Huh, well, I wasn't expecting to be invited."
"See, now you're starting to smile," Wendy commented as Jeff looked down while scratching his head.
Sure, the offer was nice and all, but I ended up missing both chances I had to hang out with Wendy's clique due to work commitments. But it didn't matter, I still get to talk to her every now and then at the Mystery Shack, since its owner, Stanford Pines, was always breaking stuff. Last I heard from Ernie, Mr Pines was a con-man who runs a tourist trap called the Mystery Shack on the edge of town.
About two days ago, I was on my way back from work when I came across a pair of twins from California. Dipper and Mabel Pines had just arrived in town for their summer break where they would be living with their great-uncle, whom turns out to be Mr Pines. Now, I've just turned sixteen , and the twins were three to four years younger, but we three found a common interest: Doing ridiculous things. Next thing I knew, I was their unofficial big brother…
Jeff watched as Mabel and Dipper arranged the attic they would be staying in for the rest of their summer in Gravity Falls. Mabel, who was hanging up posters, appears to be in high-spirits unlike Dipper, who seemed rather unimpressed by what he had seen in the town so far.
"This attic is amazing. Check out all my splinters!"
Jeff cringed at the sight of Mabel's hands, which have gigantic splinters sticking out of them.
"C'mon, Mabel, those things are going to give you an infection or something… Oh, look, Spauldeens!"
Jeff bounced one of the Spauldeens on the floor, but threw it too hard, causing it to bounce right into one of the rafters in the attic where it embedded itself into., causing him and Mabel to laugh. Dipper, meanwhile, backs up into his bed, which Stan's goat Gompers is on.
"And there's a goat on my bed," he muttered.
"Hey, friend," Mabel greeted as she approached Gompers, holding her arm up.
Almost immediately, Gompers began chewing on Mabel's sleeve, but she laughs it off
"Oh! Yes, you can keep chewing on my sweater."
"Ha ha, that's cute. You know what, I'll bring Butterpaws with me the next time I come here to fix stuff," Jeff commented as he pointed at the two of them while Dipper sighed.
Now, Mabel, she seems like she's permanently positive, always looking on the bright side of life…
Jeff had agreed to take the twins to one of the hills which he wanted to visit himself. At the moment, he was watching Mabel rolling down a hill of grass.
"Yay! Grass!" the little girl shrieked with joy.
Dipper, on the other hand, was having a hard time getting used to his new surroundings.
Dipper sat against a tree, ignoring the fact that a woodpecker was furiously pecking away on his cap.
Didn't tell him I brought one more person along, though.
"Boo!"
Dipper screamed and falls over at the sight of a fish-like face staring angrily at him… Until the mask came off to reveal a stocky, old man in his late sixties wearing a two-piece suit and a fez. Jeff was now laughing his head off as he helped Dipper back to his feet.
And that's Stanford Pines himself, the twins "Grunkle".After I fixed half his property within a day, Mr Pines decide that I was good enough to be hired on a daily basis. Wendy's a part-timer at the Mystery Shack, not that she does much work in the first place...
"Ahahahaha! Hahaha! Ah hack, cough, cough, cough… Argh was worth it," Stan commented as he finally managed to catch his breath.
The Mystery Shack was the result of Mr Pines transforming his house into a tourist trap, except most of the stuff in there are actually fake. Heck, the real mystery was why anyone came.
Jeff fixed a radio on the counter as Stan leading tourists through the Mystery Shack. As they passed by the fake jackalope's head, one of its antlers breaks off without anyone noticing.
"Ladies and gentlemen, behold! The Sascrotch!" Stan announced as he directs their attention towards a stuffed Sasquatch wearing underwear. The tourists start speaking excitedly, and snap pictures.
Mr Pines had an assistant named Jesus Alzamirano Ramírez, but we just call him Soos. Nice fellow, a bit simple-minded, but fun to hang out with if you know him well. And since Soos was having trouble keeping up with his work responsibilities, guess who Mr Pines hired as his new shop assistants. Hint: Not me.
Dipper is sweeping the wooden floor with a broom while Mabel is looking at stuff. Seeing a large eyeball on a display table, Mabel reached out to touch it when Stan stops her her with his 8-ball cane
"No touching the merchandise!" he warns.
It looked like it was gonna be the same, boring routine all summer. Except for a really strange case that was going on around town. About ten young girls, twelve and below in terms of age, had been hospitalized. All of them were in a coma, and doctors found really strange brain activity, but so far, they have been unable to wake them up.
Really disturbing, to be honest. But little did I know that I would be the one to find out the reason for all these recent hospitalizations one fateful day...
Wendy yawned as she stared at a magazine while seated by the counter with her feet propped on it when the door opened.
"Hey Wendy. What did Mr Pines break today?" Jeff greeted.
"The toilet and the Sascrotch. Oh, and the cart we use to ferry tourists needs a check," the girl replied without even looking up.
"Huh, figures. Hey, what's Mabel doing?"
The two turned towards Mabel, who was peeking at someone through the Stan-bobbleheads.
"He's looking at it! He's looking at it!" she was whispering.
Leaning back, Jeff could see a boy looking at a note.
"Uh… Do you like me? Yes? Definitely? Absolutely!"
Nevously, the boy began glancing around. Mabel giggled, but then saw the two teens staring at her quizzically.
"I rigged it!"
"Mabel, I know you're going through your whole "Boy Crazy" phase, but I think you're kind of overdoing it with the "crazy" part," Dipper commented as he cleaned one of Stan's displays.
"What?"
Mabel blows a raspberry at Dipper's direction.
"Come on, Dipper! This is our first summer away from home! It's my big chance to have an epic summer romance!"
"Yeah, but do you need to flirt with every guy you meet?"
Mabel approached a boy near a greeting cards display.
"Hi! My name is Mabel, but you can call me "The girl of your dreams."
"Really?"
"I'm joking!"
Mabel shoves the boy into the display and starts laughing.
Mabel approached a boy holding a turtle on a bench.
"Oh my gosh, you like turtles? I like turtles too! What is happening here?"
The boy was clearly disturbed by Mabel's antics, and so was his turtle.
Mabel approaches the Mattress King inside of a mattress store.
"Come one, come all, to the Mattress Prince's kingdom of savings!" the Mattress King said when Mabel, who was hiding behind some balloons, suddenly sticks her head out.
"Take me with you..."
The Mattress King was so startled by Mabel's whisper that he screams, drops a sceptre he had been holding and cowered away from her.
Jeff and Wendy guffawed as Dipper continued to list all of Mabel's attempt at finding romance.
"Mock all you want, brother, but I got a good feeling about this summer. I wouldn't be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right now," Mabel retorts.
At that moment, Stan walks right through the door and burps, but instead of the burp coming out, it appears to get stuck in his throat.
"Oh! Oh, not good. Ow," Stan moaned as he struggled to release the burp.
"Aww! Why!" Mabel exclaimed as Dipper, Jeff and Wendy laughed.
"All right, all right, look alive, people. I need someone to go hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest," Stan declared after getting rid of the burp.
"Not it!" Dipper said quickly.
"Not it!" Mabel added.
"Uh, also not it," Soos said.
"Nobody asked you, Soos," Stan snapped at him.
"I know, and I'm comfortable with that."
With that, Soos took a bite out of a chocolate bar he was holding before going back to dusting a mounted elk's head.
"Wendy, I need you to put up this sign!"
"I would, but I, ugh, can't, ugh, reach it, ugh..."
Stan face-palms at Wendy's act.
"I'd fire all of you if I could. All right, let's make it... eenie, meenie, miney... you."
Stan points at Dipper, who shrank back in fear.
"Aw, what? Grunkle Stan, whenever I'm in those woods, I feel like I'm being watched."
"Ugh, this again."
"I'm telling you, something weird is going on in this town. Just today, my mosquito bites spelled out beware," Dipper said as he showed Stan the mosquito bites on his left arm.
"Er… that says 'Bewarb', kid. Look, the whole 'monsters in the forest' thing is just local legend, drummed up by guys like me to sell merch to guys like that, so quit being so paranoid!" Stan said as he pointed at a fat, sweaty man who was laughing while looking at a Stan-bobblehead's head bobble before dropping the signs into Dipper's arms.
"Well, I guess I can go deal with the cart and keep an eye on him at the same time," Jeff said with a shrug as he followed Dipper out the Mystery Shack.
"Ugh, Grunkle Stan. Nobody ever believes anything I say," Dipper grumbled as he puts one sign up on a tree that says "To The Mystery Shack" while Jeff followed him.
"How did you went from listless to thinking about monsters in the forest within three days?" Jeff asked, attempting to cheer Dipper up.
"I dunno, I mean, it started out as a gut feeling, but then things start happening. I hear voices in the woods, see shadows darting out of sight, and I swear I saw a pair of eyes run by me while I was walking around the edge of the forest just yesterday."
"Could it be Mabel or Wendy playing a prank on you?"
"If they had slit pupils."
"Okay, that is disturbing. Are you eating Smile Dips or something?"
"What? No! Those things were banned for containing hallucinogenic substance in them that renders the consumer comatose for forty minutes, right? Oh man, you should have seen the last time Mabel ate those things..."
"Of course you little angel! The future! ...is in the past! Onwards, Aoshima!"
Dipper and his parents stared in horror as Mabel rolled around on the carpet of the living room, making chewing noises, then laser 'phew, phew' sounds while giggling in a disturbing manner before Dipper rushed over and attempted to shake her out from whatever hallucination she was having.
"Mabel! How many of these did you eat!?" Dipper's mom asked.
"Beleven.. teen..."
"Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man…"
"Dipper, get a grip on yourself! Wait, hang on, Mabel's waking up from whatever's gotten into her!" Dipper's dad said as he tried to reassure his son.
"Mabel, darling! You scared us half to death!" the twn's mother said in relief as Mabel stirred back into reality.
"Ugghh... Mom? Dad? Dipper? Oh gosh, I'm never gonna eat or do anything ever again."
"Hey, Mabel, look, there's still some left," Dipper commented as he showed Mabel an open bag of Smile Dips only for Mabel to slap it out of his hands.
"EVIL!"
Jeff's jaw was hanging in disbelief by the time Dipper finished describing the events at his home which led to the banning of the Smile Dips.
"What kind of hallucination was she having? And what the heck is an Aoshima?"
"Beats me," Dipper replied as he prepared to nail another sign to the next tree.
DHONG!
Instead of going into the tree trunk, the nail dented and fell to the ground along with the sign.
"Huh?" Jeff uttered.
"Huh?" Dipper uttered.
As Jeff approached the tree, Dipper taps the tree with the hammer again, which makes more metallic sounds. As Jeff felt around the tree, he suddenly triggers some sort of switch disguised as a twig which opens a secret window on the tree, revealing a mechanical box with two control switches on top.
"Woah, what it this, some Area 51 tech?" Jeff commented.
Jeff tested one control but nothing happens. Then he tries the other. A sound caused both him and Dipper to turn around just in time to see a hole opens up in the ground.
"What the?" Dipper asked as he looked inside the hole, reached in and pulls out a book.
The book looked old but well-preserved, and on its cover was a symbol resembling a six-fingered left hand with "#3" written on it. Dipper places it on the ground while Jeff checks to make sure that no one was watching. The hole closed back up itself and so did the secret window on the tree.
"Well, what's in the book?" Jeff asked.
"An eyeglass?" Dipper replied as he reveals an eyeglass behind a page.
As Dipper and Jeff flipped to the next page, Dipper reads out loud its contents.
"This one says, 'It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began studying the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon'… What is all this?"
As Dipper continued to flip the pages, Jeff suddenly spots something and stops Dipper from flipping to the next page.
"Look at what this page says," he said as he pointed at a large message.
-TRUST NO ONE-
"That doesn't sound good," Dipper commented.
"Yeah, it sounds pretty ominous," Jeff added.
"Look what it says here on the last page. 'Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I'm being watched. I must hide this book before he finds it. Remember: in Gravity Falls there is no one you can trust.' No one you can trust..."
Dipper's voice trails off when suddenly…
"HALLO!"
Dipper and Jeff screamed as Mabel jumped out from behind a log, with Dipper quickly hiding the book behind Jeff's back.
"What'cha two reading, some nerd thing?" Mabel asked.
"Uh, uh, it's nothing!"
"Uh, uh, it's nothing! Ha ha ha! What? Are you actually not gonna show me?"
"Why don't we go somewhere private. Like your attic?" Jeff asked.
"It's amazing! Grunkle Stan said I was being paranoid, but according to this book, Gravity Falls has this secret dark side," Dipper said as he, Mabel and Jeff flipped through the pages of the book.
"If this book is marked as Number Three, where is one and two?" Jeff asked.
"And get this! After a certain point, the pages just.. stop, like the guy who was writing it... mysteriously disappeared."
"Woah! Shut. Up. You're jumping to really scary conclusions almost immediately, bro-bro," Mabel said.
The three of them suddenly heard the doorbell ring.
"Who's that?" Dipper asked.
"Well, time to spill the beans."
Mabel knocks over a can of jellybeans on the table
"Boop. Beans. This girl's got a date!"
"W-What?" Jeff stammered out as Mabel falls backward into the chair giggling away.
"You're telling me that in the half hour me and Jeff were gone, you already found a boyfriend?" Dipper asked.
"What can I say? I guess I'm just irresistible! Oh. Coming!"
Mabel races out of the room as the doorbell rings twice. As Jeff scratches his head in confusion, Dipper sits back down on a chair and continues to read the book when Stan pops his head in.
"Hey, Jeff, thanks for fixing that toilet. And what'cha reading there, slick?"
Dipper, who had stowed the book away under his pillow, was now holding a magazine.
"Oh! I was just catching up on, uh... Gold Chains For Old Men Magazine?"
Stan looks at Jeff, than back at Dipper.
"That's a good issue."
"Okay, this is unexpected," Jeff said as he, Stan and Dipper stared at the sight before them.
"Hey, family! Say hello to my new boyfriend!" Mabel introduced the three of them to a tall youth wearing a hoodie.
"'Sup?" the youth greeted.
"Hey..." Dipper replied.
"How's it hanging?" Stan asked.
"How did ya two meet?" Jeff asked.
"We met at the cemetery. He's really deep. Oh. Little muscle there. That's...what a surprise..." Mabel squealed as she felt her new boyfriend's arm.
"So, what's your name?" Dipper asked.
"Uh. Normal... MAN!"
"He means Norman."
It was at this point Jeff spotted a red stain on Norman's cheeks.
"Woah, Norman, you cut yourself or something?"
"Oh, it's jam."
"I love jam! Look. At. This!"
Mabel looked like she was going to swoon over. Jeff was having bad vibes about Norman, and it was clear Dipper felt the same way. Just yesterday, the two of them had been discussing about the recent hospitalizations of ten young girls around town, All of them had been found near the forest and in a coma, unable to wake up from whatever afflicted them, and they were all about Mabel's age.
"So, you wanna go hold hands or... whatever?" Norman asked Mabel.
"Oh, oh, my goodness. Hehehe! Don't wait up!"
As Mabel runs out of the Mystery Shack, Norman points at the three males before trying to leave, walking face-first straight into the wall several times in the process.
"Well, now that's done, I gotta take a leak," Stan commented as he headed for the toilet.
The moment Stan was out of earshot, Dipper turned to Jeff with a frantic look on his face.
"Jeff, Jeff, there's something wrong about Norman! You think so too, right? Please tell me you think so too!"
"Woah, woah, easy there, Dipper. You want me to keep an eye on the two of them for you?" Jeff offered.
Dipper, however, was already flipping through the pages of the book, mumbling to himself until…
"Jeff, listen to this: Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes these creatures are often mistaken for... teenagers?! Beware Gravity Falls's nefarious..."
Jeff pulled the book away from Dipper and found himself looking at an entry that says "The Undead".
"Zombie?!" Jeff asked out loud, loud enough for Stan to catch part of the word despite being in the toilet.
"Somebody say 'crombie'? What is that, crombie? That's not even a word. You're losing your mind," Stan muttered to himself.
Meanwhile, back in the attic, Jeff watches as Dipper looked out the window to see Norman walking towards Mabel with outstretched arms while moaning.
"Oh, no! Mabel! No, no, Mabel, watch out! Ahhhh! Don't put your hands around her neck! Eh? A flower necklace? Is my sister really dating a zombie, or am I just going nuts?"
"It's a dilemma, to be sure."
"Ah! Soos!" Jeff and Dipper yelled as they nearly jumped out of their skins by Soos' sudden appearance.
"I couldn't help but overhear you talkin' aloud to yourself in this empty room."
"Soos, you've seen Mabel's boyfriend. He's gotta be a zombie, right?" Dipper asked.
"Hmm. How many brains did you see the guy eat?"
"Er… Zero."
"Look, dude, I believe you. I'm always noticing weird stuff in this town. Like the mailman? Pretty sure that dude's a werewolf."
Speaking of the huge, hairy and sole mailman of Gravity Falls, Jeff happened to look out the window just in time to see him walking away from the Mystery Shack after stuffing some letters into the rusty mailbox.
"Woah," he muttered.
"But ya gotta have evidence. Otherwise, people are gonna think you're a major league cuckoo clock."
"As always, Soos, you're right," Dipper replied, finally calming down thanks to Soos
"My wisdom is both a blessing and a curse."
"Soos! The portable toilets are clogged again!" Stan's voice is heard from the toilet.
"I am needed elsewhere," Soos said before leaving the attic.
"Oh no… My sister could be in trouble. It's time for me to get some evidence…"
"Wait, Dipper, I thought you've calmed down, dude! DIdn't you hear what Soos said?"
"I can't! Not when Mabel's in danger! Jeff, can you help me out here?"
"Well, I guess I… Hold a sec, got a call from… Who is this number? Hello?"
"Hey, Jeff, my friends and I got something planned. Wanna join us? We're in the southside of town."
"Wendy? How did you get my number?"
"Ernie."
"Oh. Well…"
If it was Wendy and her gang, it was probably something fun, but then he suddenly remembered his schedule for the day.
"Er… I just remember that I need to wash Butterpaws today, sorry. You guys go have fun, all right?"
"Well, if you say so… Besides, dogs come first for every dog owner! Well, next time then! Oh, keep an eye on those two dorks, would you? I heard Mabel's running around with some stranger…"
"Will do, Wendy."
As Jeff hung up the phone, he suddenly realized that Dipper had left.
"Oh boy…"
"No, seriously. You spent the entire yesterday filming all these? Like, Dipper, what the heck? You're stalking your own twin sister!" Jeff asked incredulously.
As usual, Stan had broken something in the Mystery Shack and Jeff is the one who has to go fix it, though he had to clear out his workload first, which was not going as fast as he had hoped since he had lost his pipe wrench the day before. By the time he arrived at the Mystery Shack (this time with the 'S' on the ground, having fallen off the large signboard), it was already evening, and Wendy was not at her usual spot, so he assumed she must have gone home early. Jeff finished his work quicker than usual since there wasn't anyone around to talk to, but the moment he was done, however, Dipper showed up and pulled him aside to show him the video he took of Norman and Mabel's date.
"Look, Dipper, stop being so paranoid and stuff like that! You want people to think you've gone mad from leaving the city to live in a small town?" Jeff continued.
"Jeff, just watch this!"
Sighing, Jeff decided to entertain Dipper for now. However, when he looked at the video, his eyes began to bulge in surprise.
The first clip was of Mabel throwing a Frisbee at Norman, who fails to catch it and falls over. That was literally impossible, considering that even an old man in a wheelchair could catch the Frisbee given the way Mabel threw it. The second clip was taken at Greasy's Diner, which was closed for the day. That did not stop Norman from punching through the door window to open it from the inside and letting Mabel in, but then he appears to lose his balance and falls trying to follow her in. The third clip, however, was taken at the local graveyard, where Norman and Mable were playing around when Norman suddenly falls into an open grave. As Mabel went to check on him, however, Norman suddenly crawls out, sticking his hand out first and letting out a scream. Mabel paused, stared at Norman who stared right back at her, and then the two of them began laughing.
And Jeff has had enough.
"I've seen enough. Dipper, I don't know how, I don't know why, but you're right about one thing: Norman ain't normal."
"You believe me now?"
"NO! I think he just have some mental problems, that's all. A psychiatrist should do the trick for him."
Dipper stared at Jeff with disbelief in his eyes.
"He's a zombie!, Jeff!"
"He's human, Dipper! Sweet skies, I thought you're the mature one of the twins!"
"Have it your way, Jeff. Mabel's my sister, I got to warn her," Dipper said as he began making his way to the attic.
"Dipper, wait, you're not making any sense! Mabel's not going to…"
Too late. Dipper had disappeared up the stairs. Unsure of what to do, Jeff simply waited downstairs while eavesdropping on the conversation. He felt really bad for having to lecture Dipper in this manner, but if Dipper was going to trap himself in some delusional fantasy, he was going to end up in a madhouse sometime in the future, and Jeff really did not want that to happen. Silently, he cursed whoever hid the book in such a manner in the first place. Now Dipper's gone on some wild goose chase and was probably going to change his name to Mulder or Scully…
"Mabel. We've gotta talk about Norman."
"Isn't he the best? Check out this giant smooch mark he gave me!"
Dipper could be heard letting out a small scream.
"Ha, ha! Gullible. It was just an accident with the leaf blower!"
"How did you have an accident with a leaf blower?"
"Kissing practice! I placed Norman's picture on the leaf blower, but then it started up and nearly took my face off. That was fun."
"No, Mabel, listen! I'm trying to tell you that Norman is not what he seems!"
A gasp could be heard.
"You think he might be a vampire? That would be so awesome!"
Jeff gagged as he remembered how his cousins forced him to come along with them to watch that horrible, horrible trilogy.
"Guess again, sister. SHA-BAM!"
"Agh!"
"Oh, wait. I'm-I'm sorry... Sha-bam!"
"A zombie? That is not funny, Dipper."
"I'm not joking! It all adds up: the bleeding, the limp. He never blinks! Have you noticed that?"
"Maybe he's blinking when you're blinking."
"Mabel, remember what the book said about Gravity Falls? Trust no one!"
"Well, what about me, huh? Why can't you trust me? Beep bop!"
Oh boy, this isn't going to end up well, Jeff thought as he decided that it was time for him to intervene before the discussion goes out of hand.
"Mabel, he's gonna eat your brain!"
"Dipper, listen to me. Norman and I are going on a date at five o'clock, and I'm gonna be adorable, and he's gonna be dreamy!"
"Bu-bu-but—"
"And I am not gonna let you ruin it with one of your crazy conspiracies!"
The door was heard slamming. Jeff raced up to see a depressed Dipper sitting on the stairs.
"Well, what do we do now?" Jeff asked.
"I don't know what am I gonna do. Soos was right. I don't have any real evidence," Dipper replied.
"Listen, Dipper, when I was your age, my grandparents and father would tell me and my mother stories about a terrifying creature from us Cherokee people's legends. We call it the Raven-Mocker. It preys on the sick and the old, and for six years, I believed that if I fall sick, the Raven-Mocker would come for me, and I furiously exercised and eat healthy to prevent myself from getting a cold and stuff like that. Then I grew up, and I realize that all these legends and tales were not meant to scare us, but to teach us what to do and what not to do as human beings," Jeff said as he sat down beside Dipper.
"What do you mean?"
"What I am saying is, maybe whoever wrote this book wanted to keep its readers from living life on the wrong side. See the description of the zombie? Probably the author's way of telling us teenagers to go out and have a life instead of blindly following trends and becoming a shut-in."
It was obvious to Jeff that Dipper was not convinced, but Dipper knew that Jeff was trying to make him feel better and lets out a small smile.
It was at that moment the clock struck five and the doorbell rings. The door to the twin's attic room opens and Mabel dashes past Dipper and Jeff all the way to the ground floor. Telling Dipper to stay in his position, Jeff went back downstairs and silently observed Norman, who was standing at the doorway in front of Mabel.
"Shiny..." Norman commented at the sight of Mabel's star-shaped earrings.
"You always know what to say!"
The moment Mabel left with Norman, however, Dipper suddenly rushed downstairs and out the door without even acknowledging Jeff. Jeff could hear him shouting for Stan, but then he went screaming for Wendy, which surprised Jeff since he thought the lanky girl was not around.
It was then did Jeff notice that Dipper had dropped his camera.
"Great, I hope it's not broken, or I'll have to fix this as well and kiss my sleep goodbye," Jeff muttered as he picked up the camera.
A clip was running on the screen, set to a loop. Curious, he decided to watch it. It was a clip of Mabel teaching Norman how to play hopscotch, but as Mabel's attention is distracted, one of Norman's hands fell off.
One of Norman's hands fell off.
Jeff's jaw dropped. As he continued to watch the video clip, he saw Norman checking to make sure that Mable wasn't watching before picking his hand up and re-attaching it to his wrist!
"What the freaking heck?!" Jeff exclaimed.
"What's with the what?"
"GAH!"
Jeff managed to calm down upon realizing that it was only Wendy, who was staring at him curiously.
"Hey, Jeff, what's with you today? You're not your usual sullen self. Guess you can make five expressions after all."
"Five expressions?"
"Yeah, like John Cena had his five moves of doom. I've seen you sullen, angry, confused, smiling, now's the first time in three weeks that I seen you with a look of shock. Man, you should see yourself in the mirror, you look like one of your eyes was gonna pop out of its socket."
"Where's Dipper?"
"I dunno. He was talking about needing to save his sister from some zombie or something. Probably on one of their little pretend adventures or something, so I passed him the keys to the Mystery Cart. Warned him not to run over any pedestrians along the way…"
Wendy's voice trailed off as Jeff showed the video of Norman's hand dropping off and him re-attaching it to his wrist.
"Okay, wait, is that an arm bone I see? All right, that's just not right."
"Mabel's new boyfriend really is a zombie! And I didn't believe Dipper back then. Damn it, he's probably running headlong into danger… I should have listened to him!" Jeff cursed himself as he face-palmed and turned away.
"Woah, chill, I saw him drive into the forest. He can't be that far in. We'll just go in and search for him and help him out if he's really in trouble, okay? Maybe it's some misunderstanding. And what do you mean by zombie?"
"Well, I don't exactly feel right about the two in the forest with a complete stranger."
"Then what are we waiting for? Grab a tool and let's go help Dipper out."
Jeff nearly had a heart-attack when he saw Wendy wielding a woodcutter's axe while holding out a pipe wrench to him.
"Where did you get that axe from?"
"Oh, this? I always carry it around with me. Not exactly safe for a girl to be walking around town at night on her own in this part of the town, you know?"
Jeff meekly nodded as he took the pipe wrench from her but then…
"Hey, wait a minute, isn't this the one I misplaced yesterday?"
"Oh, Stan took it, actually."
Silence.
"I'm charging him extra this time round," Jeff said.
Five minutes later, the two were following the cart tracks through the forest. As they continued walking, the two began picking up sounds in front of them. Sneaking forward, both teens were completely caught off-guard by what they were looking at.
"Darn mud! C'mon! Get out of the mud!" Dipper yelled as he tried to free the cart from a mud bank.
"Dipper?" Jeff and Wendy asked in unison.
"Ah, guys! What are you doing here?"
"Er… Zombie hunt?" Jeff replied.
"You didn't believe me before!" Dipper yelled at him.
"Yeah, until you dropped your video camera, and both Wendy and I saw Norman's arm dropped off!"
"So you believe me now?"
"Duh! Now move and let me deal with the cart in the mud."
Years of carrying about heavy stuff has done wonders to Jeff's arms as he easily lifted the Mystery Cart out of the mud and back onto dry land.
"Wait, are these modifications legal?" Jeff asked as he realized that the cart had been altered into something akin to a cart-shaped racing kart.
"I'll explain it to you later," Wendy replied.
As the three got into the cart, Dipper turned to Jeff.
"Hey, Jeff, I'm sorry I lashed out at you just now…"
"Look, Dipper, even if we're wrong and everything turns out to be just us scaring ourselves with our imagination, it's sort of common sense that an older male bringing a young girl into the forest only means something bad, get it?"
In an isolated area of the forest, Norman stopped in his tracks and turned to face Mabel, who was happily tagging behind him.
"Uh, Mabel, now that we've gotten to know each other, there's... there's something I should tell you."
"Oh, Norman, you can tell me anything!" Mabel replied while in her mind, she was hoping that Norman turns out to be a vampire.
"All right, just... just don't freak out, okay? Just... just keep an open mind, be cool!"
Norman unzips his coat and throws it off, and what Mabel sees under the coat left her in total shock.
What had initially appeared to be "Norman" was actually five gnomes standing on top of each other, with the two gnomes in the middle holding prop hands with sticks attached to them.
"Is this weird? Is this too weird? Do you need to sit down?" the top gnome asked.
Mabel continued to stare blankly at the gnomes.
"R-r-right, I'll explain. So! We're gnomes. First off. Get that one outta the way. I'm Jeff, and here we have Carson, Steve, Jason and... I'm sorry, I always forget your name."
"Shmebulock."
"Shmebulock! Yes! Anyways, long story short, us gnomes have been looking for a new queen! Right, guys?
"Queen! Queen! Queen!"
"Heh. So what do you say? Will you join us in holy matrignomey? Matri...matri-mo-ny! Blah! Can't talk today!"
The gnomes, still holding their position, managed to make a kneeling figure. By now, Mabel had gotten over her shock, and it was as though a balloon inside of her had burst as disappointment began setting in.
"Look... I'm sorry, guys. You're really sweet, but, I'm a girl, and you're gnomes, and it's like, "what"? Yikes..."
"We understand. We'll never forget you, Mabel…"
The gnomes look sad and Mabel gave them a reassuring smiles, but then the sad expressions on the gnomes suddenly turned into aggressive ones.
"Because we're gonna kidnap you!"
"Huh?"
With that, Gnome Jeff lunged at Mabel, who screams in horror. Before long, all five gnomes were holding her down as she tried to shake them off, showing herself to be quite a good fighter despite her age and size.
Just then, a familiar voice reaches Mabel's ears.
"Don't worry, Mabel! I'll save you from that zombie!"
"Dipper! Help!"
"The more you struggle, the more awkward this is gonna be for everybody! Just, ha ha, okay. Get her arm there, Steve!"
Gnome Steve starts biting at Mabel's sweater's sleeve, but is then violently shaken by her before she punches him in the face, causing Gnome Steve to tumble all the way into a tree, hitting his head so hard that when he got to his feet, he literally puked a rainbow out.
It was at this moment the Mystery Cart burst out from a bush.
"What the heck is going on here?!" Dipper demanded as he rushed out of the Mystery Cart to confront the gnomes.
"Dipper! Norman turned out to be a bunch of gnomes! And they're total jerks! Hair! Hair! Hair!" Mabel cried out as she struggled against one of the gnomes that was pulling at her hair.
"Gnomes? Huh, I was way off. Let's see what's written in the book. Gnomes: little men of the Gravity Falls Forest. Weaknesses: unknown."
"Dude, why are you reading the book now? All of you, clear off her, now!"
Despite his surprise at the sight of the gnomes, Jeff swats them away from Mabel, whom was helped to her feet by Wendy, who looked as astonished as Jeff at the sight of the gnomes.
"Okay, according to my childhood fantasies, I don't remember gnomes being kidnapping scums. You better explain yourselves," Jeff demanded as he waved his pipe wrench at the gnomes in a threatening manner.
"Woah, woah, woah, take it easy! This is just a misunderstanding, you see! I'm Jeff, and here we have Carson, Steve, Jason and Shmebulock..."
"Oh great, I share first names with a three-inch kidnapper. All right, Gnome Jeff, you better give me a good reason before I turn you into a gnome-ato."
"Oh! Ha, ha, You see, the girl's not in danger. She's just marrying all one thousand of us and becoming our gnome queen for all eternity! Isn't that right, honey?"
"You guys are butt-faces!" Mabel snapped back.
"Hey, wait a minute… Why the heck is it that only ten of you have brown beards and the rest look like old men?"
"Oh, we regain our youthful looks from our gnome queen, see? Mabel was going to be our eleventh queen."
"Why would you need eleven queens if the gnome queen was supposed to be eternal? I don't buy it," Wendy asked.
"Oh, our previous queens gave us the gift of youth, but the strain caused them to fall unconscious, so..."
"Jeff, Wendy, remember the recent cases of girls aged twelve and below falling into a coma?" Dipper suddenly asked.
"Yeah, I remember, and they were all found near the forest, right?" Wendy added.
"Now I GET IT! You guys aren't as innocent as you look! Wedding's cancelled!"
"You think you can stop us, human Jeff? You have no idea what we're capable of. The gnomes are a powerful race! Do not trifle with the—
Jeff kicks Gnome Jeff into a tree, causing him to cough out a ball of light that immediately shot into the air. At the same time, Gnome Jeff's beard began turning from brown to white and his appearance began to become older.
As the other gnomes rushed Jeff, the mechanic lets out a bloodcurdling war-cry and began bashing them away, specifically targeting the brown-haired ones. As each of the young-looking gnomes are struck, they vomit out balls of light and turned older in appearance. Finally, once all the youthful gnomes had been dealt with, Jeff lets out a horrifying roar with an equally horrifying expression on his face, scaring the gnomes into hiding.
"Jeffrey! Let's go!" Wendy yelled at Jeff.
"Coming!"
Jumping into the driver's seat, Jeff sped off as Gnome Jeff emerged from where he had been punted into, waving his arms angrily at the fleeing humans.
"You've messed with the wrong creatures, human Jeff! Gnomes of the forest: ASSEMBLE!"
By now, the Mystery Cart was charging full speed out of the forest.
"Okay, there are little men in the forest! There are little men in the forest! I don't think I can un-see it!" Wendy said as she braced herself for a bumpy ride.
"Hurry, before they come after us!" Mabel urged.
"Going as fast as I can, Mabel!"
"I wouldn't worry about it. See their little legs? Those suckers are tiny!" Dipper replied.
"Ha ha ha, that's a nice one, Dipper. Oh, wait… Uh oh…"
The four of them heard sounds of stomping behind them, shortly before they peeked at the side-view mirror of the cart to see a giant stacked gnome chasing after them.
"Oh, you got to be kidding me, a gnolem?" Jeff exclaimed.
"Gnolem?" the other three asked in unison.
"Gnome combined with golem. Don't ask how I came up with it on the spot, I know it sounds stupid…"
"All right, teamwork, guys! Like we practiced!" Gnome Jeff could be heard calling out as the gnolem continued to chase the cart
By now, Jeff was panicking so badly that he was no longer checking behind the cart, but thankfully, Wendy was doing so and quickly grabbed the wheel from Jeff to steer away just in time to avoid a blow from the gnolem.
"Come back with our queen!" Gnome Jeff yelled as the gnolem throws several gnomes at the cart., whom began to chew the cart and attack its passengers)
Mabel elbow punches a gnome off. Shmebulock jumps up behind Dipper, who grabs him and slams him the seat several times before throwing him out, only for another gnome to jumps onto the cart and start clawing at his face. Jeff turned around and punches the gnome off of Dipper's face, but inadvertedly knocks the younger boy's cap away.
"Dude, watch out for the-" Wendy shouted a warning, but did not manage to finish it.
A sign with the words "Welcome to Gravity Falls" is suddenly smashed into smithereens as Jeff crashed right through it, with the gnolem not far behind.
"Oh c'mon! Where did you learn how to drive?" Wendy yelled at Jeff.
"My license is only for a damn scooter, not a lawn zamboni!"
"It's getting closer!" the twins screamed.
The two older youths turned, saw the gnolem behind them just a few feet away from grabbing their cart, screamed right before the cart flies off a rock, does a mid-air spin and lands, just barely avoiding the monster's attempt to catch it. The gnolem then throws a tree in their path.
"Look out!" Mabel called out as Jeff barely managed to dodge the tree.
"Great Caesar's ghost, stop throwing trees at us, you asshole!" Jeff swore out loud.
"Can't this thing go any faster?! Shift to gear five or something!"
As the Mystery Cart reaches the Mystery Shack, it finally gives out and overturns, landing next to the building. Dipper, Mabel, Wendy and Jeff crawled out, dazed but uninjured. But then they find themselves cornered by the gnolem.
"Stay back, man!" Jeff yelled as he threw his pipe wrench at the gnolem, who merely punches it to the ground in mid-flight.
"Uh, where's Grunkle Stan?!" Dipper asked.
"Behold! The world's most distracting object," Stan introduced to the tourists inside the Mystery Shack as he holds up a dazzling piece of artefact, drawing 'ooohs' from them.
"Just try to look away, you can't! I can't even remember what I was talking about," Stan continued.
"Okay, we're on our own. Dipper, does the book say anything about- Woah!"
Jeff and Wendy, who had been standing in front of Dipper and Mabel, were suddenly grabbed by the gnolem and held upside down, dangling from their feet.
"It's the end of the line, kids! Mabel, marry us before we do something crazy to the redhead and Human Jeff!" Gnome Jeff threatened.
"Marry? You guys don't want Mabel as your queen, you wanted her as your newest victim! You sent those girls into a coma, right? You needed them to somehow regain your youths and Mabel was your latest target!"
"You know what this is called, human Jeff? It's called survival!"
"You know what comes next. It's called the Amber Alert!"
"Dude, that was a pretty crappy comeback," Wendy commented.
"I ran out of insults," Jeff admitted.
"Darn it, we got to save Jeff and Wendy! There's gotta be a way out of this!" Dipper said as Jeff and Wendy attempted to punch some of the gnomes forming the gnolem, but they were held out of reach.
Mabel looked around but suddenly saw that the leaf-blower she had an accident with earlier was just right behind Dipper. And she immediately got an idea.
"I gotta do it," Mabel said suddenly.
"What?! Mabel, don't do this! Are you crazy?"
"Mabel, what are you trying to do?" Wendy called out.
"Don't do something so reckless!" Jeff added.
"Trust me."
"What?" the three replied together.
"Dipper, Jeff, Wendy, just this once. Trust me!"
Dipper looked at Mabel, then at the older teens still dangling from the gnolem's grip, but the two of them nodded to him, prompting Dipper to step back as Mabel stepped forward.
"All right, Gnome Jeff. I'll marry you."
"Wait, really?"
"Yes, Gnome Jeff. Just leave my brother and friends alone, all right?"
Gnome Jeff began doing a dance on the gnolem, now that victory was his.
"Hot dog! Help me down there, Jason! Thanks, Andy! All right, left foot, there we go, watch those fingers, Mike."
Climbing down from the gnolem, an excited Gnome Jeff approaches Mabel and holds out a diamond ring. Mabel responds by sticking her hand out for Jeff to put the ring on her finger.
"Bada-bing, bada-bam! Now let's get you back into the forest, honey!"
"Oh, man, that is just messed up," Wendy said as she held on to her hat to prevent it from falling off.
"All right, Gnome Jeff, you may now kiss the bride," Jeff muttered as he folded his arms while rolling his eyes in disgust while Wendy
"Well, don't mind if I do," Gnome Jeff replied as he leaned up to kiss Mabel, but then…
"Ah! Hey, hey, wait a minute! Whoa, whoa! What's going on?!"
Mabel had grabbed hold of the leaf-blower while the gnomes were distracted and at this moment, Gnome Jeff had been sucked half-way into the leaf-blower
"That's for lying to me!"
Mabel increases the sucking power of the leaf-blower
"That's for breaking my heart!"
The leaf-blower's power increases even more as Gnome Jeff screamed in pain.
"That's for threatening my friends and holding them hostage!"
By now, Gnome Jeff had been sucked into the leaf-blower to the point where his face was stuck at the opening, with only his eyes and top of the head visible.
"Ow! My face!" the gnome moaned.
"And this is for messing with my brother! Dipper, wanna do the honors?"
Dipper smirked as he joined Mabel in holding the leaf-blower and aiming at at the gnolem.
"On three!"
"One, two, three!"
The Pines twins switched the leaf-blower mode to 'blow' at full power, causing Gnome Jeff to be shot out like a cannonball towards the gnolem, striking it with such force that the gnolem collapsed into hundreds of individual gnomes while freeing Jeff and Wendy at the same time.
"Bye bye Gnome Jeff," Jeff said to his gnome counterpart as the latter continued sailing through the air.
"I'll get you back for this!..." Gnome Jeff yelled as he disappeared from sight.
Meanwhile, without the command of Gnome Jeff, the other gnomes have fallen into disorder.
"Who's giving orders? I need orders!"
"My arms are tired."
"Anymore of you garden ornaments want some more?" Dipper challenged as he and Mabel moved the leaf-blower around, sending more and more gnomes flying away.
The gnomes made a break for it, with Jeff and Wendy assisting them by kicking them towards the forest. The ones that avoided the teens' assault ran off on all fours, but then one of them gets caught in a six-pack holder that had been carelessly discarded on the ground, which was then picked up by Gompers the goat who had appeared from out of nowhere as the gnome screamed in fear.
"Hey, you go back and tell the rest of your fellow gnomes, especially the one with the same name as me, that if another girl goes to hospital in a coma in this town, I'm going to burn down the forest and you all with it, you hear me!" Jeff yelled at the retreating gnomes before retrieving his pipe wrench.
"Hey, Dipper? I, um...I'm sorry for ignoring your advice. You really were just looking out for me," Mabel apologized to Dipper once the gnomes were all gone.
"Oh, don't be like that. You saved our butts back there."
"I guess I'm just sad that my first boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes."
"Look on the bright side. Maybe the next one will be a vampire!"
"Oh, you're just saying that!"
"Awkward sibling hug?"
"Awkward sibling hug."
Wendy and Jeff watched as the Pines twins hugged it out.
"Well, pushing all the weird stuff aside, I'm glad they finally patched up," Jeff commented.
"Yeah, and you got to live with the fact that there's a gnome that shares the same name as you," Wendy replied.
"Oh, c'mon! Besides, you don't seem shocked about it anymore."
"What are you talking about? I mean, all my summers had been nothing but boring, boring, boring. I mean, who would have thought that there were actual gnomes leaving in our town's forest? I have a feeling that this summer is going to be my most interesting one! You agree, right?" Wendy said excitedly as she playfully elbowed Jeff.
"Ow, what was that for? But, yeah, feels kind of weird… Hey, maybe Dipper finding that book wasn't such a bad thing after all," Jeff replied before the two accompanied the Pines twins into the Mystery Shack, where Stan was fixing one of the displays.
"Yeesh. You four get hit by a bus or something? Ahah!" Stan joked.
Dipper and Mabel began to walk away while Wendy and Jeff grabbed their stuff and prepared to leave.
"Uh, hey! W-wouldn't you know it? Um, I accidentally overstocked some inventory, so, uh... how's about each of you take one item from the gift shop? On the house, y'know? Except for you, Wendy! I know you've taken some stuff home. Hahaha!" Stan said as he revealed to them a pile of junk.
"Really?" Mabel asked.
"What's the catch?" Dipper asked as he folds his arms and looked at his Grunkle with suspicion.
"The catch is do it before I change my mind, now take something. You too, Jeff. I know I'm behind payment for your services, so grab a free gift or something."
Dipper & Mabel began looking around at items, with Dipper picking up a blue pine tree hat to replace the one he had lost.
"Hmm. That oughta do the trick!"
"And I will have a... Grappling hook! Yes!"
Mabel held up a crossbow that had been modified into a rewindable grappling hook.
"Woah, hold it right there. Wouldn't you rather have, like, a doll, or something?"
Mabel responded by firing the grappling hook up at the ceiling, which catches and pulls her up.
"Grappling hook!"
"Fair enough!" Stan said with a shrug.
"Hey, this pendant… It's got Cherokee designs all over it...?" Jeff commented as he picked up a circular pendant. It was then he noticed, engraved on the back of the pendant in a circular clockwise direction, was a line of alphabets and numbers that goes "18-4-5-3-IA"...
Without warning, Jeff suddenly found himself in a place where the ceiling was black, the floor was white and gray fog surrounded the place.
What the heck? Where am I?
As Jeff looked around, he suddenly saw an image of a circle appear in front of him. The circle began forming images within it, but the images were transforming so fast that Jeff was only able to make out a pine tree, a pentagram with an eye in it and an ice bag when…
"Jeff? Jeff! Dude, don't just zone out like that," Wendy said as she shook Jeff's shoulders.
Jeff's body gave an involuntary jerk as he snapped back to his senses, still confused by what he just saw. He looked back at the pendant he was holding, then at everyone else in the room, who were staring at him quizzically.
"Sorry, I was, er… Where did you get this pendant, Mr Pines?"
"Oh, that thing? Got it from some self-proclaimed Cherokee shaman when I was in Oklahoma. She said it was blessed to ward off evil and all, but then she's got, like, sixteen of them for sale. I sort of bought it in the heat of the moment," the owner of the Mystery Shack replied.
"Mind if I keep it?"
"Oh, well, it's yours, then."
The sky had turned dark by the time Jeff and Wendy left the Mystery Shack.
"Well, we sure had an exciting day. Wonder what other secrets this town is hiding?" Wendy commented.
"Yeah… Guess I just kissed goodbye to fifteen years of normal."
"Ha, nice one. Say, you won't mind giving me a lift home?"
"Don't you have a bicycle or something?"
"Meh, I got lazy and took a cab today."
Jeff lets out a small laugh.
"All right, fine. Into the side car."
"Cool, thanks, man!" Wendy replied as she hopped into the side car of Jeff's scooter as he drove off towards the Corduroy cabin…
It was midnight when Stan sneaked out of his bedroom with a lantern in his hands. Making sure that no one was up and about, he goes into the gift shop and stands in front of the vending machine, pressing the numpad on it five times. The vending machine silently opens like a door, revealing a secret set of stairs hidden behind it, and Stan walks inside, looking around one last time with a sly look before closing it behind him…
[JSYJW YMJ MFZSYJI MTXUNYFQ]
And here's the first chapter all done. I'm going to transfer the next few chapters once every week, so for now, you guys have to go to my site at AO3 to continue reading. And like the series, we've got CIPHERS! Go enjoy, or don't, up to you...
Either way, while it's optional, I'll appreciate if you readers leave a comment or a helpful criticism about this fanfiction. Thanks in advance!