A few hours later, Stan, Mabel and Dipper sat in chairs on a stage in the town square. A smell of smoke still hung in the air from the recent forest fire.

Dipper leaned over and whispered to Mabel, "I wonder if anything happened to that bunker we found in the woods in that fire."

"Dipper, now's not the time for thinking of mysteries! Shh! There's the mayor! "

The aging mayor was rolled to a podium in his wheelchair and handed a microphone.

"Citizens of Gravity Falls," he began, "It is my pleasure to introduce to you our beloved Stanford Pines, owner of the Mystery Shack. "

After a push from Dipper and Mabel, Stan stumbled over to the podium, taking the microphone from the mayor. There was random clapping from the crowd.

"Uh—yeah—thanks, Mayor. Um—I—well—"

"What have you got to tell us, Stan?" came the whining voice of Toby Determined, Gravity Falls' town reporter.

Stan rolled his eyes at the fact that Toby was holding a turkey baster as opposed to a microphone, then looked to the opening to the backstage. Ford gave him a double "thumbs-up".

"Uh—well, first of all—my name's not Stanford."

There was a gasp from the crowd.

"It's—it's Stanley. Also—"

He turned and looked over his shoulder at Dipper and Mabel. Dipper gave him a "thumbs up" and Mabel held up a small sign she'd made that said, "You go, Grunkle Stan!"

Stan sighed. "I—I've made a lot of mistakes in my life—and because of those mistakes, I've taken on—well, different identities. I—the reason that so many buildings in town got wrecked, including the Mystery Shack, mind you, which I am still paying for—"

The crowd groaned.

"The reason is—that there was a—a dimensional portal-thing in my basement that—that I activated so that I could get back my twin brother. "

For a moment there was silence.

A large woman with one closed eyelid came to the front of the crowd. "You have a twin brother? "

Someone else yelled, "You're the reason the town got wrecked? "

Everyone was talking at once. Dipper and Mabel got out of their seats, wondering when their Grunkle Stan would run and which direction so that they could follow him.

Suddenly everyone went silent.

Stan felt something on his shoulder, and turned to see Ford there.

"Folks, please!" Ford said, "This is not Stanley's fault. I'm his brother Stanford. Years ago I built a dimensional portal that, unfortunately, I realized was too powerful, and in my own pride I refused to shut it down, as my colleague warned me I should. "

Dipper scanned the crowd. There near the edge was "Old Man McGucket", the town 'kook', who actually had been that colleague that Great Uncle Stanford spoke of. If he hadn't learned about it himself, as well as had details filled in by Great Uncle Stanford, Dipper never would have believed it.

Stanford continued. "I was sucked into that portal, and I've spent the last twenty-five years in another dimension."

The crowd gave a collective gasp.

Mabel giggled. "It's funny how they can do that. "

Great Uncle Stanford looked at Grunkle Stan. "So, really, since I built the portal, it's my fault what happened to the town. Stanley was only trying to get me back. I don't think he realized what it would do. "

"So, how is everything going to get fixed?" someone shouted.

"Oh, come on!" the large woman with the one closed eyelid turned to the crowd. "Things are getting fixed! My diner's almost ready for buisness again!"

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other. They could always count on "Lazy Susan" to put a bright spin on things.

"Yeah, and my sawmill hardly got much damage at all! I built it too tough!" "Manly Dan" Corduroy bellowed, shaking a large fist. "Besides, I can provide all the lumber this town needs for rebuilding, right boys? "

Three boys all varying in size with red hair like their father (and older sister Wendy, who worked at the Mystery Shack) all punched their fists into the air and yelled, "Yeaahh!"

The look of tension on Stan's face relaxed a little. "Anyway, I'm really sorry—"he glanced at Ford—"—but if I had to do it all over again, I would. "

Dipper looked through the crowd. He had met all of them during the summer at one point or another. Then, his eye caught a stranger at the back edge of the crowd.

The strange man was muscular, wearing a thin t-shirt (that was evidently meant to show off those muscles), jeans and boots.

He leaned over to Mabel. "Who's that guy? "

Mabel followed Dipper's gaze. "Ooo. I don't know, but I sure wouldn't mind meeting him. "

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Yechh. He must have a gallon of hair gel on his head. Looks like one of the guys off the covers of your girl magazines."

"Hey, they're better than your nerdy 'Science Monthly' things."

Mabel's eyes widened, she put her hands up and said in a deep voice, "Look at me, I'm Mister Science, I'm going to be all smart like Great Uncle Ford. "

Dipper rolled his eyes and looked back at the stranger. He wasn't interacting with anyone, he just stood there, looking—right at Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford, the latter of whom by this time was being introduced to people that were coming up on the stage. When Dipper turned back to look toward the stranger, the man was gone.