The second chapter has arrived! Thanks to those who followed the stary. It means a lot that I'm not the only one that thinks this is worth reading.
The Legend of the Gobblewonker
The Pines were gathered around the kitchen table, preparing for the most important event of the summer.
"Go Mountie Man!"
"Go Sir Syrup!"
The Syrup Race took place any and every time the triplets had pancakes, no matter where they were. Staying with Grunkle Stan, that meant every Saturday was a continuation of the great race. For the last three Dipper and Mabel had photo finishes and insisted that there be a rematch. Mikey had agreed with them, after all he wanted to know the winner to, and would be "officiating" on this grand occasion.
"Alright folks, this is what we've all been waiting for! On my left, weighing in at 70-pounds, Dipper 'Noodle-Arms' PIIIIIIIIIIINES!" He had also decided that he was going to have as much fun announcing as he could.
"Hey!"
"And on my right, your reigning champion, MAAAAAABEL!"
"YEAH I AM!"
"Go, Go, Go, Go!" The chant was taken up by all three as they watched who would become the Syrup Race champion, at least until next week. As Dipper held his bottle above his head and Mikey continued to announce; Mabel began shaking and tapping her bottle, eventually forcing the syrup out and into her mouth winning the race.
"And we have a winner! Mabel Pines your undefeated Champion!" Mikey yelled out as he raised Mabel's hand into the air.
"Aw, come on MIkey! Mabel totally cheated." DIpper complained, but still had a wide smile on his face.
"I'll allow it." Mikey said simply as he high-fived Mabel.
Dipper, still grining, grabbed the newspaper that was sitting on the table. "Whoa, no way! Guys look at this." He grabbed his siblings and showed them the page he was referring to.
Mabel was entranced by a full-page advertisement "Human-sized hamster balls? I'm human-sized!" For only five hundred dollars Mabel could be as free as a hamster, and she was already dedicated to becoming so.
"Mabel, I think Dipstick was actually talking about the photo contest." Mikey interrupted, eager for the opportunity to earn more money. "It's too bad I don't have anymore of those pictures of the gnomes."
"What?! How did you lose them so quickly?" Dipper was disappointed, and a little shocked, that Mikey had lost something that could have made them more than three hundred dollars a piece.
"I didn't lose them, I sold them for twenty-five bucks a piece." Mikey sounded rather proud at the amount he'd been able to get for the pictures.
As they were speaking Stan walked into the small dining room, shearing nothing but an undershirt and boxers. "Good morning, knuckleheads. You know what day it is?"
"Thursday." Mikey said as flatly as he could, still reading the newspaper.
Dipper looked up at his Grunkle, he had no idea why this day would be special. "Uh… Happy Anniversary? But that didn't mean he couldn't be smart about it.
"Mazel Tov!" Mabel wasn't sure why today was special either, but whatever it was she was already excited.
Stan hit Dipper in the back of the head with a rolled up newspaper, and turned to open the refrigerator. "Today's family fun day, genius. We're gonna have one of those bonding type deals or whatever."
"Is this gonna be anything like last time we had a 'family bonding day'?" Dipper was right to be suspicious. They could all remember how well that night had gone.
Mabel shivered at the mention and pulled her sweater tighter. "The county jail was so cold."
Mikey put a comforting hand on Mabel's shoulder, and turned to look at his Grunkle. "I still say if you didn't want Ben Franklin to 'look like a woman' you should have just bought a printer."
Grunkle Stan met their accusations with a small shrug. "Alright, I might not have been the best summer caretaker, but I swear today we're gonna have some real family fun. Now, who wants to put on blindfolds, and get in my car?"
"Yay!" The three let out a cheer, at least until Dipper actually processed their uncle's words. "Wait, what?"
After a drive that hadn't taken as long as it should have, and had taught the triplets that their uncle probably shouldn't be driving, the family arrived at the Gravity Falls lake. Stan told them to take off the blindfolds and gestured grandly towards the sight before them.
"It's fishing season!" Stan told them, the happiest they had seen him other than scamming a new tourist. The siblings were not quite as thrilled as he was however.
"Fishing?" Mabel had scrunched her face up, and said the word as if she had never heard it.
"What're you playing at, old man?" Dipper accused Stan, still suspicious of his Uncle's motives.
Mikey was just as mistrusting of Stan's honesty, but was slightly more… admiring. "So, what kind of scam is this? Get other people to fish for us, and then take off?" He was rubbing his hands together eagerly, ready to get work.
Stan appeared shocked, for some reason, at his nephew's accusations. "What? No! We're just goin' fishing. You'll love it! Everyone's out here!"
Looking around it was clear that Stan was right. What looked to be the entire population of Gravity Falls was out on the lake fishing, or at least attempting to fish. Lazy Susan, named for her lazy eye, was attempting to convince fish to jump into her frying pan, while the Corduroy boys were watching their dad, Manly Dan fish barehanded.
"This is gonna be some quality family bonding!" Stan proudly told them, attempting to get them as excited as he was.
"Are you saying you actually want to bond with us? MIkey asked even more confused now than when he thought this was another scam.
"Come on kids, this is gonna be great! I've never had fishing buddies before: the guys from the lodge don't 'like' or 'trust' me enough to go." Stan told them, while he began searching the pockets on his fishing vest.
Mabel turned to her brothers and pulled them close. "I think he really does just want us to go fishing with him." The three turned to look at their Grunkle.
Stan had finally found what he was looking for. "I know what will cheer you sad sacks up!" Stan slammed three hats on the kids heads with their names sewn on. "That's… that's hand stitching you know."
The three watched as the "L" on Mabel's hat fell off. "We noticed." Mikey grumbled quietly.
"It's just gonna be the four of us out on that lake for the next ten hours! And don't worry about getting bored I brought the joke book." Stan told them holding up a book with the title "1001 Yuck'Em Ups." This was more frightening than anything the siblings had seen in their short lives.
"NO! No!" Dipper couldn't contain his fear, and Mikey and Mabel looked like they had been hit in the stomach.
"There has to be a way out of this." Mabel whispered to her brothers, sounding far more scared than she was of the gnomes.
Luckily for the three, that was when fate decided to intervene.
"I SEEN IT! I SEEN IT AGAIN!" An old man, hunched over and with bent knees wearing ratty clothes and a hat but lacking shoes, ran from the dock. He was yelling at the top of his lungs and knocking over and through the people and objects in his way. "The Gravity Falls Gobblewonker! Come quick before it scrabdoodles away!" The man had stopped in the middle of the crowd that had gathered and began hopping around in his panic.
Mabel, the naive girl that she was, was enamoured by the colorful character. "Aww, look he's doing a happy jig!"
The old man decided to correct her assumption. "NOOO! It's a jig of grave danger!" He had jumped directly in front of Mabel, and screamed in her face.
As Mabel flinched away from the man, the owner of a small bait shop on the lake approached, clearly angry at the man. "Hey, hey! What did I say about scaring away my customers? This is your last warning Dad!" The son was spraying his dad with a water bottle, as if he was a pet that had misbehaved.
"But I got proof this time by gummity!" The man said, clearly distressed by his son's treatment of him. He led the crowd to the end of the dock, and showed them a completely trashed boat. He pointed to the boat. "BEHOLD! It's the Gobblewonker what done did it! It had a long neck like a giraffe! And wrinkly skin like...like this gentleman right here!" The man pointed to Stan, and looked around at the gathered crowd, desperate for someone to believe him.
Unfortunately for him, no one did. Even the Sheriff had decided to mock him. " Attention all units: We got ourselves a crazy old man!" The entire crowd aside from the Pines and the man's son laughed at the remark and began to move back to what they had been doing.
The man was clearly upset by the crowd's reaction and wandered off, muttering to himself. "Aww, banjo polish. Aww, donkey spittle."
Stan simply shrugged at the events and turned to ready his boat for the day. Dipper on the other hand was as excited as he had been since arriving in Gravity Falls.
"Guys, did you hear what that old guy said?"
Mabel, who had paid more attention to the old man's dance than his words, made her best attempt at copying his stance and accent. "Awww, donkey schpittle."
Mikey's had begun to grin as he realized Dipper was talking about. "No Mabel, Dipper is talking about the 'gobblewonker', that definitely sounds like something that could win the picture contest."
"If we win we can split the money!" Dipper grabbed his siblings shoulders and shook them gently. "That's over three hundred dollars!"
The two boys shared large grins at the thought of the prize money, but when they turned to Mabel she was staring into empty air.
Mabel was not with them at the lake. Instead, she found herself in the attic at the Mystery Shack. She was standing in a giant hamster ball and was staring down at a hamster in its own ball.
"Hah! Not so high and mighty anymore, are you?" She laughed at the hamster. The hamster whined back at Mabel and tried to sulk it its ball. Laughing again Mabel rolled away, crashing through a wall and out onto the street. Rolling down the sidewalk, Mabel saw the boys of her dreams stopped at a red light. Standing up and leaning against her ball i the smoothest move she could manage, she called out to the two young men. "Hey boys! You can look, but you can't touch." She readied herself for more flirting, but a loud snap interrupted her.
"Mabel!"
"Hey Mabel! Is anyone home?"
She quickly came back to reality , and saw her brothers standing in front of her with slightly concerned looks. Instead of answering there unasked question, she smiled widely and gave her support to the plan. "Guys, I am one million percent on board with this!"
Mikey, glad to hear that all three of them were alright with the plan, turned to Grunkle Stan. "Grunkle Stan! There's been a slight change of plans. Instead of going out to fish, how about we make some money?"
Stan's head shot up from the boat so fast it looked like he should have gotten whiplash. "Money? Alright kid, I'm listening."
Mikey smiled slyly and gestured towards the lake. "Well Grunkle Stan, what if I told you that we could win one thousand dollars just by winning a monster photo contest? And out there is what's going to win us that contest!" as Mikey finished he turned to look directly at Grunkle Stan while Dipper and Mabel started up a chant.
"Monster hunt! Monster hunt!"
The siblings pumped their fists into the air with each repetition, until a slightly familiar voice joined in. "Monster hunt!" The hillbilly that had first brought the Gobblewonker to their attention tried to join their chant. "Monster… uhhh." The stares he was receiving from the PInes family quickly convinced him to change his mind. "I… I'll just go now."
When he turned back to look at the kids Stan's excited expression had already deflated. "Kid, are you talking about the Gobble-whatever? That's just an urban legend invented by old coots like McGucket," Stan pointed at the old man as he sulked away. "so that they can grab attention. Now quit your yapping and get ready for the best 10 hours of your life!"
The triplets sighed deeply as they stared at the ground, discouraged by their Grunkle's refusal. That is until they heard a boat honking at them. "Yo, dudes, did you say somethin' about a monster hunt?" Soos, the handyman at the hack, was driving a boat that had pulled into the dock right beside them.
"Soos!" Mabel yelled as she ran to the large man.
"Wassup, hambone!" Soos greeted Mabel with a fist bump and a smile that rivaled her own.
Mikey looked the boat up and down, before turning to Soos with a surprised look on his face. "You own a boat?"
Soos kept his wide grin up and nodded enthusiastically. "Yep. It's got chairs, a steering wheel, normal boat stuff." Soos' face lit up with excitement, when one of the best ideas he ever had occurred to him. "Dudes, we could totally use it for your monster hunt!"
Stan cut the trio off before they could give Soos an answer. "Okay, let's think about this. You could go off, wasting your time on some 'magical adventure'. Or you could spend your time out on the lake with your Grunkle Stan!"
The three twelve year olds looked to between their crabby grunkle and the person that was the closest thing they had to a best friend so far this summer. While inside they had some slight want to spend time with their family, the answer was never in doubt.
Grunkle Stan had closed his eyes for just an instant while he was making his pitch. They shot open at the sound of a boat engine revving and happy cheer coming from his niece and nephews. Soos' boat was speeding into the distance and from it he could hear Mabel's voice calling back.
"We made the right choice!"
Grunkle Stan stared after them, and felt a pang in his heart. That pang swiftly turned into an inferno of rage. "INGRATES! Get back here!" The boat showed no sign of turning around or even slowing down, considering how far away it was that wasn't exactly surprising. Stan sat heavily in the small hunk of scrap he called a boat. "Feh, who needs 'em? I have this box of creepy fishing lures to keep me company." Stan looked into the bait box that sat in front of him. The lures stared back with cold, dead eyes. They were searching for something, something insi-
SNAP!
Stan closed the bait box with a slight shiver, and went to back to making the boat lake-worthy.
On board the S.S. Cool Dude Dipper had taken charge. "Hoist the anchor! Raise the flag!" At his words Soos and Mabel rushed into action. Soos pulled the old cinderblock he used as an anchor from the water, while Mabel attached a towel to the flag pole.
Mikey stood next to Dipper smiling at both the antics of some of the most important people in his life and the idea of the money they were all about to make. The smile faded slightly as he thought of a slight problem, and he turned to tell his siblings. They were still caught up in the excitement of going on a real monster hunt, so he decided to let them get it out of there systems.
"We're gonna win that photo contest!"
"We're gonna catch that Gobblewonker!"
Mikey gave a slight smirk as he placed a hand on his siblings shoulders. "Well, before we do any of that, we should probably get some sun screen."
Dipper and Mabel took the remark in stride, and Dipper's announcement of "We're gonna go get sunscreen!" was met with cheers by Mabel and Soos.
Fifteen minutes later the group was back on the lake completely protected from the sun's damaging rays. Dipper was in full lead investigator mode, and was doing his best to tell the other's his plan.
"Okay guys, If we're gonna win this contest we have to be the best! What's the number one problem with monster hunts?"
Soos had clearly put some serious thought into his answer. "If you're a side character you die within the first five minutes. Dude, am I side character? Do you ever think about stuff like that?"
Dipper shook his head exasperatedly. "No no no. Camera trouble. Say Bigfoot show's up. Soos be Bigfoot."
While Soos followed his order Dipper prepared to illustrate his point. "Oh look, it's Bigfoot!" patting at his vest in the most exaggerated fashion possible. "Aww, man, no camera. Oh wait, here's one. Aww. no film. You see? You see what I'm doing here?"
"You make a good point Dipstick." Mikey told him. "I'm guessing that's why you bought 18 cameras?
"Right!" Dipper quickly ran through the cameras, showing them to the others as he listed off their locations. "Two on my ankle, three in my vest, three for each of you, three extras in this bag, and one under my hat." The preteen passed the cameras to the rest, still talking excitedly. "Seriously, guys, there is no way we're gonna miss this. Everyone try out your cameras!" Dipper finished confidently. Unfortunately for him, this started things downhill fast.
Soos knew that the best way to test his cameras was to take a picture, and the best picture to take was of himself. The flash from the camera blinded him, and he fumbled the camera over the side of the boat and into the lake. "Aww, man, I'm sorry dudes."
Dipper quickly reassured his friend. "It's fine. This is why I bought extras. We still have 17 cameras."
"Yeah, dude. Here you can take one of mine." Mikey agreed with his brother as he gently tossed another camera to Soos. Soos completely missed the toss and the camera followed the previous one. "Whoops." MIkey said sheepishly.
Dipper flinched when he saw the camera go overboard, but he still tried to reassure his brother. "That's okay, we still have sixtee-"
"Ahhh! Bird!" Mabel yelled out throwing a camera in an attempt to ward off a low flying bird.
"Fifteen! Please, guys, try not to lose your cameras!" Dipper's exclamation was heard by everyone on the boat.
Soos grabbed the bag of extras, and began doing exactly what Dipper said to do. He was almost finished how strange a request it had been. "Wait, lose the cameras?"
Dipper let out a frustrated yell as he answered Soos. "Don't!"
Soos was obviously apologetic as he told Dipper what he had done. "Oh, dude, I just threw two overboard."
Dipper was clearly beginning to get angry at the loss of so many cameras in the first five minutes of their adventure. "Thirteen! All right! We still have thirteen came-" Dipper had stopped pacing and slammed his fist down. Unfortunately for him his hand had come down directly on another camera. "Twelve. We still have twelve cameras."
Mabel turned to Dipper, wondering why it was taking so long for them to get started. "So what's the plan? Throw more cameras overboard or what?"
"NO!" Dipper yelled. "No. You and Mikey can be on lookout. Soos can man the steering wheel, and I'll be the captain." Dipper crossed his arms and nodded, satisfied with how he had split the work.
Mikey was clearly less than pleased, and stared at Dipper through narrowed eyes. "Why do you get to be captain?"
Mabel joined Mikey in glaring at their brother. "Yeah! What about Mabel? Ma-bel, Ma-bel, Ma-bel!"
Mikey shot Mabel a sideways glance as she started up her chant. "And the other third?"
Mabel stopped and giggled while playfully punching Mikey in the shoulder. "Uh, duh. Of course you to, Mikey Mike!"
Throughout the small exchange Dipper stood resolutely, unwilling to relinquish his command. "Guys, I really don't think it would be a good idea for you two to be in charge."
MIkey raised his eyebrow in confusion, though it was hard to tell if it was sincere or mocking. "Why? It's not like we get into too much trouble."
Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose, as he tried to understand the words that had come out of his brothers mouth. "Mikey, you and Mabel stole thirteen pounds of candy from a convenience store once. What part of that sounds like 'not too much trouble!'"
Mabel spoke up before her brother could respond. "That was a misunderstanding, Dipper. You were there, you know exactly what happened!
MIkey nodded at Mabel's words, and continued where she left. "Exactly! And on top of the fact that I totally didn't steal it on purpose, we didn't even get caught."
"Well, it doesn't matter anyway. I'm the captain and that's final." Dipper told them, completely unwilling to give in.
Mabel and Mikey glanced at each other, and a small smirk slowly grew across their faces as the same idea occurred to hem. Both grabbed a camera, and casually tossed it over their shoulder and into the lake. "Whoops."
Dipper's face contorted into a look of pure terror as he watched the cameras fly over the railing of the boat. "Okay, okay! Why don't we all be co-captains, or something?"
Mabel let out a loud cheer when Dipper caved in, and Mikey slung his arm around Dipper's shoulders and smugly told him, "See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"
Soos, having heard the entire exchange, asked a burning question. "Can I be associate co-captain?" The eager grin on his face made sure that Dipper couldn't say no.
"Alright, fine. But as first co-captain, our number one order of business is to lure the monster out with this." Dipper pointed to a massive tub of fish food.
Soos checked inside the barrel and turned to look at the triplets. "Permission to taste some?"
Dipper and Mikey glanced at each other, before shrugging and saying at the same time, "Granted."
Mabel was still overjoyed at winning the argument with Dipper, and yelled out to Soos, "Permission co-granted!"
Soos grabbed a large flake from the barrel and licked it. As soon as he had he was doubled over trying to get the flavor out of his mouth no matter what. "Oh, dudes, I don't know what I expected that to taste like."
The triplets laughed as they watched Soos frantically try to get the flavor out. Only a short distance away their Grunkle Stan sat in his boat watching them through binoculars.
"Traitors!" Stan yelled out to the boat, shaking his fist in the air. He sat down heavily, glaring at the boat. "I'll just find my own fishing buddies." Looking just a short distance away Stan saw a young couple in a boat of their own, and knew he had found his new friends.
The young man in the boat was trying to build up his courage, because he was about to ask the most important question of his life. He held tightly to the small box that was inside his life jacket, and began to speak. Unfortunately for him Stanford Pines had decided that they would make great fishing buddies.
"Hey!" Stan had pulled the Stan O' War next to the couple's boat and gathered all of the charisma he possessed to win over some new friends. "Wanna hear a joke?" The couple stared back at Stan, confused and slightly frightened, but Stan didn't give them any time to voice an objection. "Here goes. My ex-wife still misses me… But her aim is getting better!"
The young couple stared back, incredibly offended but still unsure what was happening. Stan was certain that the couple's lack of a reaction was because they hadn't understood the joke the first time.
"Her aim is getting better! Do ya get it? It's funny because marriage is terrible!"
The couple rowed their boat as fast as they could to get away from Stan, leaving him alone again.
On the S.S. Cool Dude Dipper was doing his best to make sure that Soos didn't hit any of the sunken trunks that were hidden in the mist surrounding Scuttlebutt Island. Mikey and Mabel on the other hand, were busy making new friends.
Mikey smiled cheerfully at the pelican, and spoke to with a soothing tone that barely contained his excitement. "Well, hello there! How are you doing?"
The pelican's beak opened and closed in a completely random manner as he heard a strange voice that seemed to come from it. "I'm doing awesome! Bow buh bow bow." Mikey, hearing the jingle, looked on the other side of the pelican, and saw mabel moving the pelican's beak and making the strange voice. "Hiya Mikey!" Mabel greeted him in the same voice.
MIkey's smile grew even wider and he got a strange glint in his eye when he looked at Mabel moving the pelican like a puppet. "You know, we should make that an exhibit: The Pontificating Pelican!"
The pelican turned to look into Mikey's face and leaned in close. "That's a great idea! I have some awesome jokes to tell!"
Dipper had turned from the water to glare at his siblings. "No one is going to pay to watch Mabel use a pelican as a puppet."
"You didn't think anyone would pay fifteen bucks for a snowglobe either." MIkey countered.
Dipper's frown deepened when he heard Mikey, it still annoyed him that people were that gullible. "Maybe, but even if they would Grunkle Stan would just keep all of the money. There's no point."
"You might have a point Dipper, you might have a point." Mikey's voice trailed off and a look of intense concentration formed on his face. Unfortunately, whatever idea he was forming was interrupted by the Pelican taking off, flying just over the triplets heads.
After he had recovered from the shock of the bird almost hitting him, Dipper opened his mouth to remind his siblings that they were supposed to be on lookout. Before anything left his mouth though, he felt the S.S. Cool Dude crash into land. The irritation he felt as he heard his siblings cheer about their amazing lookout skills quickly disappeared. The island itself was just as foggy as the waters surrounding it, and Dipper was suddenly very glad of the lantern he was carrying. Even while Soos, Mikey, and Mabel laughed at the islands unfortunate name, he could hear things moving in the woods, and the low light and thick mist weren't helping his nerves.
Mabel noticed her brothers serious expression and the slight shiver that would occasionally run through him, and knew what her sisterly duty was. "Hey, Dipper why aren't you laughing? Are you scared?" Mabel had run to her brothers side to begin the merciless teasing and Mikey quickly joined her.
"C'mon Dipper, you can tell us. What are so scared of? The living dead? The cannibal hillbillies that live on the island?" Mikey's teasing tone was further punctuated by pokes to Dipper's side and face, which Mabel joined in on with gusto. The flurry of horseplay knocked the lantern from Dipper's hands to the ground where a possum grabbed it and ran off into the woods.
"No! Guys, that was our only lantern, I can't see anything!" Dipper squinted his eyes and tried to peer through the gloom to no avail.
Soos shifted his weight nervously and glanced around the small clearing the group found themselves in. "I don't know if this is worth it guys." His voice shook with the nerves he had kept bottled up since they stepped on the island.
Dipper was quick to stop Soos before his hesitation could spread. "We can't stop now! Think about what could happen if we got that picture!" The three siblings stopped, and imagined the results of succeeding in their quest. Dipper was being interviewed apparently world famous after taking the photo. As the host was about to place an award around Dipper's neck, a loud crash was heard, and Mabel, still in her hamster ball, rolled into the room with a crazed look in her eyes. While she chased after Dipper and the host, Mikey walked through the hole she created wearing and carrying several trinkets that were probably worthless. Hijacking the camera from the fleeing cameraman, Mikey began to promote and push the numerous items he carried, before he too was forced to run as Mabel continued to roll around the room.
The triplets snapped out of their fantasies at the same time, and eagerly jumped back into the hunt for the Gobblewonker, forcing Soos to tag along. As the group walked through the thick woods without any sign of the monster Mabel and Soos lost interest in looking for any clues, and decided to entertain themselves. What started as Soos humming a tune that only he knew quickly turned into Soos beatboxing as Mabel attempted to rap along with him.
"My name is Mabel, It rhymes with table, It also rhymes with… glable, It also rhymes with schmabel!" Mabel's energy and excitement made up for the lack of… substance in her lyrics, and she was further encouraged by Soos.
"Dude, we should be writing this down."
Mikey spoke up from just ahead, waving a small tape recorder at the two. "Don't worry, I've got it on here."
A loud growl was heard coming from directly ahead of the small group, and birds and small animals could be seen fleeing from whatever had made the sound. The triplets shared excited looks as they rushed in the direction of the sound. Soos took a deep breath and grabbed the nearest fallen branch to use as a weapon, before he cautiously followed his young friends.
The group stopped and ducked behind a fallen tree when they saw a silhouette through the fog. They couldn't make out any details, but the long neck and half submerged body convinced them that they had found the sea monster.
"Okay everyone, get your cameras ready." Dipper told the rest, barely able to contain his own excitement. When he saw the others had turned on their cameras he yelled for them to go and jumped over the tree. His siblings followed him, but Soos took the lead snapping pictures at random as he approached the lake monster. Unfortunately as they left the fog, they saw that the silhouette hadn't been the monster, and instead was just a wrecked boat that a family of beavers had made home.
Dipper was distraught when he saw the wreck, and looked to his siblings to confirm what he had heard. "But I heard a monster noise! Didn't you guys hear it too?"
Before they could tell Dipper that he wasn't going insane the growl was heard again, but this time they could see where it was coming from: a beaver chewing on a running chainsaw.
Soos grinned at the sight, taking a picture as he walked closer. "Sweet, Beaver with a chainsaw!"
On the lake Stan was sharing his best tips with his newest fishing buddy. "Look, when you're threadin' the line, a lot of people don't know this, but you wanna use a barrel knot. That's a secret from one fishing buddy to another! Heh heh." Stan patted the child's shoulders as he showed him how to tie the knot.
"Who… who are you?" Unfortunately, the kid wasn't exactly excited about the complete stranger showing him how to fish.
Stan was completely oblivious to how nervous his new buddy was, and slapped him on the back as he laughed. "Just call me your Grunkle Stan!"
"SIR! Why are you talking to our son?" A very angry voice interrupted Stan's enjoyment. Looking past his new friend he saw a young woman glaring at him. "If you don't leave right now I'm calling the police!"
Stan wisely decided to leave before he got into anymore trouble.
Dipper sat on a partially submerged rock, just off the shore of Scuttlebutt Island, as he moped. "What are we gonna tell Grunkle Stan? We ditched him over nothing."
"Well, I wouldn't call it nothing. With Mable's rap, Pontificating Pelican, and beaver with a chainsaw I'd say this trip has been a gold mine" Mikey countered only half jokingly.
A sudden rumbling stopped any comment Dipper or Mabel would have made, and the rock Dipper had been sitting on disappeared into the lake. Mikey and Mabel helped him onto dry land while they watched a huge shadow glide just under the surface of the lake.
All of Dipper's enthusiasm returned with force as he grabbed his camera and prepared to take a picture. "This is our chance guys!" The other three were slowly backing away from the edge of the island as the shadow approached. "What's wrong guys? It's not tha-" Dipper was cut short when Mikey grabbed his arm and pulled him further up the path. The angry roar encouraged the group to begin running.
Even while they were running for their lives Dipper couldn't resist trying to take the picture. He turned around and managed to take one but at the same time tripped over a root. Mikey was quickly at his side, dragging him up and forward. By the time the brothers made it to the S.S. Cool Dude, Soos had started the engine and was ready to go.
"Quick! Someone take a picture!" Dipper yelled pointing to the massive creature that was slipping into the water after them. He looked at his partners and saw that the only one with cameras out was Soos. However, Soos had decided that throwing the cameras at the monster would help keep it away. "Soos, what are you doing?!" Dipper yelled at the handyman.
"Oh, dude, I'm sorry. Here ya go." Soos tossed his last camera to Dipper, but it struck the boat and shattered. "Whoops."
By the time Soos tossed the camera, the Gobblewonker had fully entered the lake, and was now chasing after the boat at full speed. Soos took the wheel and pushed the boat as hard as he could. They drove past and around the numerous townsfolk that had come out on the lake with the lake monster in close pursuit. The chase was leading them nowhere in the small lake, and eventually the Gobblewonker cornered them between it and a waterfall with no room to maneuver.
Dipper was hurriedly looking through the journal for something that could save them "Go straight into the waterfall! I think there's a cave behind it!"
No one, even Dipper, really wanted to test that theory, but there wasn't much of a choice. The sudden crunch I of soil under the boat was a good sign, and everyone quickly ran to a tall ledge in the cave. The Gobblewonker crashed into the entrance and was trapped unable to get any farther in or back out, but before any celebration could take place a rock fell from the ceiling and crushed the head of the monster. Strangely though the crash resulted in a cloud of sparks and the slow whirring of a failing engine.
The triplets looked at each other, but none of them had an explanation. They approached the monster cautiously losing most of their fear when it had no reaction. Stepping on a fin caused a metallic knocking to ring out, and the body of the creature was cold and hard without any of the give skin would have.
"What is this?" Dipper asked no one in particular gazing in awe at the massive creature.
"I don't know. Dipper, What is that on top?" Mikey was just as shocked as Dipper and couldn't quite get his head around the submarine style hatch on top of the beast.
A difficult climb up the slick body found all four of them standing around the hatch. Without a word Dipper reached down and twisted, opening the door in the same motion. It was safe to say that what they found was far more shocking than the gnomes had been.
"You?!" An incredulous Mikey shouted Old Man McGucket. The man was pulling levers and hitting buttons seemingly at random.
"Why did you do this?" Dipper asked the old man who had apparently built a life size lake monster.
The old man nervously looked at the group,hesitantly speaking up after a short pause. "Well, ya see… I… I just wanted attention." the ashamed answer and dejected look on his face did not help to clear any of the confusion the group felt.
"I still don't understand."
The old man's head shot up and a grin stretched at the controls as he attempted to explain. "First I hootenannied up a biomechanical brainwave generator, and then I learned to operate a stick shift with my beard!"
If anything the attempted explanation caused more confusion amongst the group. Mabel attempted to get a real answer out of the man. "Okay, but why did you do it?"
McGucket gave a deep sigh before answering "Well, when you get to be an old fella like me, nobody pays any attention to you anymore. My own son hasn't visited me in months! So I figured maybe I'd catch his fancy with a fifteen ton aquatic robot!" A maniacal laugh ripped itself from the old man's throat before it was cut off with another sigh. "In retrospect, it seems a bit contrived. You just don't know the length us old-timers go through for a little quality time with our family."
Soos turned to the triplets with a slight chuckle. "Dude. I guess the real lake monster is you guys. Sorry, that just like popped into my head there."
Dipper and Mabel looked down dejectedly at Soos' comment. Mikey huffed at the sad looks his siblings sported, and grabbed their arms to drag them to the boat. "Come on. You know what we need to do."
Stan sat in his boat isolated from the others on the lake, wallowing in his loneliness. His pity party was interrupted when he heard a boat pull up next his. Turning he saw he his great nephews and niece along with the employee they had abandoned him for. He turned back around angrily. "I thought you were off playing Spin the Bottle with Soos."
The triplets looked down guiltily, but Mikey took the lead with their apology. "Grunkle Stan we're really sorry we left you to go on some monster hunt."
"Yeah, we just wanted to have some kind of adventure while we were staying here." Dipper continued.
"But what good is an adventure if you don't share it with family?" Mabel asked Grunkle Stan as sweetly as she could, while all three of the triplets put on the hats Stan had given them at the start of their day.
Stan's expression softened as he looked at the earnest faces of his family. "Have you knuckleheads ever seen me thread a hook with my eyes closed?"
Taking the question as the invitation it was, everyone left the S.S. Cool Dude for the Stan O'War. Mikey pulled out a small notepad as he climbed aboard, and jotted a few notes down in it. "I'm giving him four to one odds. Any takers?"
A flurry of playful bets and additional challenges followed his announcement, beginning the end to one of the triplets fondest days of the summer.
Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter! Please R&R, even flames are welcome! (I take great pleasure in laughing at them, and sometimes underneath the insults you can find valuable criticism)
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