DIPPER AND MABEL ARE NOT DEMIGODS IN THIS STORY. I REPEAT, NOT DEMIGODS.
Don't own, because Dipper is too cute for me to own.
Chiron examined the map hanging in his office in the big house. He was in his wheelchair, since otherwise, he would be much too tall. He traced his finger along a road, tapping when he came to a seemingly unmarked part. "That looks to be it..." he muttered to himself.
There was a knock on the door behind him. "You wanted to see us, Chiron?" asked Jason Grace, sixteen-year-old sole inhabitant of the Zeus cabin. Piper Mclean, head of the Aphrodite cabin and Jason's girlfriend followed behind him.
Chiron wheeled himself around. "Ah, yes. Are you familiar with the phoenix?"
Piper contemplated this. "Um, I've heard of them, but I don't know if they're malicious, like Laistrygonian giants, or beneficial, like unicorns. They're not really known for being super Greek."
"Sometimes mortals seem to switch it around," Jason agreed. "Like, in Narnia, Griffins are good, but they're actually bad."
"Well, it turns out they are, indeed, malicious," Chiron said, looking as if he was talking about a nasty dog in the neighborhood, rather than a giant man-eating bird. "They're rather unusual, though, as far as monsters go. In order to keep their extraordinary eyesight, they'll feed on demigods, but prefer clear-sighted mortals."
"Like Rachel?" Piper asked.
"Yes, but Rachel was difficult to get to because of the commotion of the big city. They favor quieter surroundings," Chiron said. "And, unfortunately, I think I found a colony."
"Where?" Jason asked.
"A tiny town in the middle of nowhere," Chiron stated. "Its name is Gravity Falls."
...
"And here, Ladies and Gents, is the incredible were-wolf rabbit corpse. Behold its terrible sharp buckteeth!" Stanley Pines announced, dramatically, throwing out his arms for emphasis.
While the crowd oohed, and ahed, the great-nephew of Stan, Dipper Pines, whispered, "Boo! Fake!" to his twin sister, Mabel, who giggled.
"Not as fake as your manliness," she snickered.
"Hey!" Dipper gave her a playful smack.
They watched as Stan wished the crowd good-bye and shooed them out the door. "Hey, I don't pay you kids to laze around all day. Make yourself useful and go get some firewood."
Dipper gestured to the empty pan besides the fireplace. "It's summer. Why do we even need a fire?"
"We need a fire so this place looks spooky to the tourists, and if there's no logs, go out into the woods and get some more!" Stan ordered.
"Grunkle Stan, that's dumb!" Mabel protested. "You expect us to work our butts off getting logs when you pay us less than ten bucks a day?"
"Hey, under-the-table jobs are better than ones where the government takes half of what you should be earning," he told her. The twins glared back at him in response, knowing full well why he refused to pay them minimum wage. Finally, he relented. "Okay, I'll tell you what; it's noon now. If you can get enough firewood to last the week by six, I'll take you out for ice cream."
The twins high-fived.
"But," their "Grunkle" continued, "if it takes you longer, you forfeit all desert privileges for the next two weeks! And I'll make Soos install a lock on the vending machine to keep you kids from stealing candy." He thought for a moment. "And I'll keep your money you earn until after that so you can't buy any snacks in town."
With simultaneous looks of shock, the siblings ran outside as fast as their legs could carry them.
Ford, Stan's six-fingered brother, came out from the hall, sipping a PITT soda. "Harsh much?" he asked.
"I don't want them turning out like us, even if what keeps them together is them being scared of punishment," Stan sighed. "And don't steal my soda!"
...
After about ten hours, Piper and Jason finally stopped in the small town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. It was quaint, yet a little odd, and looked as though it was a few decades behind the rest of America. On their way through the town, they passed an arcade, a biker's club, a diner shaped like a log, and a water tower with a giant muffin graffitied onto it.
According to Chiron, phoenixes typically resided on the highest peak they could find, so the two demigods took an unused road that started to get more and more dusty and unkempt as they went. At one point, they passed an abandoned convenience store, Dusk2Dawn, surrounded by a metal fence. A sign on it said, "Trespassers will be DEAD", since "Prosecuted" was spray painted out.
"Wow," Jason marveled. "Let's stop in for a soda, why don't we?"
Piper laughed, and punched him in the arm. "Yeah, let's get all our grocery shopping done for a week."
As they turned their backs on the store, a strong wind blew past. It was probably just Piper's imagination, but she could have sworn she heard a voice harshly whispering, "No teens..."
An involuntary shiver ran down her spine and she trotted to catch back up to Jason. They continued along the road until they reached a path that led off into the forest.
"Yay," Jason cheered sarcastically. "It's gonna be so much fun going through a dark spooky forest looking for monsters."
"Sounds like most days," Piper shrugged. "But that doesn't make it fun," she agreed, starting after him.
...
Dipper scowled as he chopped deeper into the large log of wood that had been placed on a tree stump in the woods. Mabel grumbled as she pushed another piece along on its side, annoyed that chips of bark were getting caught in her sweater. Finally, she gave up and slumped against it. She pulled out a water bottle and offered it to Dipper after taking a sip.
He slumped alongside her. "Ugh, we're never gonna win. Good-bye, sugar," he said, mournfully. "We've already been out for an half-an-hour." He glanced at their paltry pile of wood and pulled his hat over his eyes.
"We can't let Grunkle Stan win!" Mabel chastised, standing on top of the log for emphasis. Dipper glanced up, lifting his hat over one eye. She jumped down. "Dipper come on! Look, this is what Grunkle Stan is like." She grabbed two wood chips from the ground and held them over her eyebrows. "'Look, I'm Stingy Stan! Behold my incredible exhibit, Buttface old man! Oh, wait, that's me!" she mocked, in a pretty terrible, yet very hilarious imitation.
Dipper laughed. "Wait, you need a fez!" He picked a smaller log up and placed it carefully on top of her head. Both burst into peals of laughter at this.
But their joyfulness was cut short by a loud screech.
The twins stepped together for protection. "What was that?" Mabel asked, her voice trembling very slightly. The log fell off her head and almost crushed Dipper's foot.
"I don't know," Dipper replied. He put his hand inside his vest and reached for his journal. He never even touched the spine of the book before he was lifted up into the air by the back of his vest. "AUUGH!" he screamed, in almost perfect harmony with Mabel, who was having the same experience. He twisted his neck around and saw he was being held by the talons of a giant orange, red, and yellow bird. Incredible heat radiated off its body. "What is this?!"
He tried to fight it, but no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't free himself. At one point, he burned himself on the back of his hand by accidentally touching some of the feathers. He couldn't reach his journal when he was up in the air, and didn't know what to do. That is, until the eagle came.
...
Ending was kinda weird, sorry.
BTW, did you notice in The Last Mabelcorn when Dipper was having his mind scanned, one of the messages in the background was "Eenie, Meenie, Minie, YOU!" (What Bill said just before he stole his body in Sock Opera.) It could mean nothing, or it could mean that Bill is still in there a little bit! Either way, I like continuity.