"Mabel, it's 7:00 a.m. Nothing is worth waking up at 7 in the morning on summer, except illegal fireworks"
Mabel remembered the day where she, Dipper and Grunkle Stan lit up fireworks in the rooftop. Now that she thought about it, it made a lot of sense that he accompanied them, he was celebrating for his twin brother's return.
"C'mon Dipper, stop being such a jerk!" Mabel replied as she picked up her needle and thread to sew the letter "G" of "Goodbye"of the sweater.
For the following 3 hours Mabel tried to fix Stan's sweater since every time she fixed a letter the one right next to it fell off, while Dipper wrote down on a paper the mysterious code he heard on his dream. He decided to consult the copy made by the cloning copy machine of Journal #2 for help. Time went by quickly because Dipper entertained himself reading the entire Journal for the tenth time, which made him forget about his dream. He didn't remember about it until Grunkle Stan appeared at the door, bursting his inner thought bubble.
"Kids, time for breakfast. I prepared some scrambled eggs with a special touch!"
"Oh, hi Grunkle Stan... OH MY GOSH GRUNKLE STAN!" Mabel shouted as she hid the Goodbye sweater behind her.
"Hey kiddo, I know I'm not the best looking guy around but don't act like if I was some kind of monster."
"Sorry Grunkle Stan, I didn't mean it. Will you forgive me? she asked Stan while she made a cute puppy face.
"Don't worry pumpkin, I do. Just get down to eat breakfast as soon as possible." Stan replied while he shut the door behind him.
"What's up with that Mabel?" Dipper asked.
"I don't want him to know about the sweater, I want it to be a surprise!"
Mabel putted on a sweater full of pink and violet flowers.
"Don't you think it's already a bit too hot outside to be wearing a sweater Mabel?"
"Nope." She winked.
The mystery twins rushed down the stairs and were welcomed with the familiar smell of scrambled eggs when they entered the kitchen.
Grunkle Ford was already sitting in the table, reading the latest issue of "The Gravity Falls Gossiper".
"Oh, good morning kids." Grunkle Ford said.
"Hi Grunkle Ford. What are you doing?" Dipper asked.
"I'm reading this... how were they called? Oh yeah, newspaper, you know, to update and get used to the modern world and stuff." he replied.
"Breakfast's ready!" Stan said as he served the scrambled eggs on everybody's dishes.
"Umm, Stan, is this hair in the eggs?" Ford asked as he examined the food on his plate.
"Yup! That's how Grunkle Stan prepares them!" Mabel replied cheerfully while she started eating the eggs.
"Kid, don't eat that! It's gross". Ford said while making a repulsion gesture.
Dipper got the scrambled eggs full of hair out from Mabel's mouth just in time before she swallowed them.
"What? You think you can prepare a better dish pointdexter?" Stan asked.
"At the very least I'd make sure to not leave hair on it." Ford answered back.
The original mystery twins looked at each other fiercely.
"Are you challenging me Ford?" said Stan while he pointed at Ford with his hand covered in a kitchen glove full of sparkling kittens made by Mabel.
Ford laughed as everyone looked at him confused.
"What's so funny" Stan asked in a daunting tone.
"Sorry, I just can't take you seriously with those kitchen gloves" replied Ford, laughing again right after.
"Guys, I thought you already forgave each other after Weirdmaggedon!" Mabel argued.
"We did, although this natural rivalry between twins just never dies" Grunkle Ford replied.
"Maybe you should switch positions to, you know, figure out who's the alpha twin." Dipper proposed.
The confused looks now pointed at Dipper.
"Watcha mean kiddo?" Stan asked.
"I mean that you could switch positions. Grunkle Ford would run the shack for a day while you'd catch a monster." The boy explained.
"Sounds like a good idea to me. I certainly doubt that it's going to be a busy day, people already experienced enough weirdness for a lifetime. Are you up to it Stan?" Grunkle Ford asked.
"Well, I mean, it's just a monster right? How hard could it be? Maybe I could even use your whacky nerd books to make the job even easier." Stan replied.
"I officially declare that the Stanchurian Competition has started!" Mabel shouted at the top of her lungs while standing in the table, spilling her scrambled eggs all over the floor.
"Geez, relax Mabel, seriously? Go for the mop." Stan said.
After the Pines family ate dinner and Mabel cleaned the floor the Stanchurian Competition finally started.
"Dipper, come here for a second" Ford whispered with a very serious tone to the boy, making him gestures so that he would come with him to the living room.
Dipper walked into the TV room, wondering what Ford was going to tell him about? A new secret mission? Ford giving him the brand new Journal #4 as a birthday gift? A photo of Wendy in her red bathing suit? Wait, why would Ford show him that? He became so excited by this thoughts that he accidentally collided with the sofa.
"What's going on?" Dipper replied curiously, putting himself back in place.
"Remember the time when we visited the extraterrestrial facility?"
"Yeah! I still remember that feeling when alines were revealed to me!"
"Well, I need to go back. I've detected some anomalies going on around that area. Dipper, would you like to go with me?"
"Of course! I'll gear up."
"Wait, go easy" Grunkle Ford said with a little laugh at the end "I haven't prepared the necessary gear yet, so we will go tomorrow."
"Can't wait!"
"Hey, Dipper, on an unrelated topic, does anybody in the shack has any experience on managing it? You know, aside from Stan."
"Well, I suppose Soos but he'll be busy working."
"Thanks anyways Dipper. I'll let you know the hour of our adventure tomorrow"
"I'll be waiting!"
Dipper walked to the stairs. He stumbled on the first step because of two reasons: He was pretty excited about the new mission (about Wendy too man) and there were stains of Mabel juice on every single step.
"Aghh, this thing smells to vigenere, I mean, vinegar" the boy thought. He got up and covered his nose, when he suddenly realized something.
"Great Uncle Ford, wait! I just remembered that Mabel ran the shack once!"
"Oh, I see" Ford replied with a look of triumph on his face. "Wait, is that actually legal?" Ford wondered, scratching his chin.
"As Grunkle Stan says, everything's legal when there are no cops around!"
"Hehehe. He's just like he was back then." Ford said with a bit of nostalgia in his words. "Well, see ya Dipper".
"Goodbye Great Uncle Ford".
Dipper started rushing up the stairs, thinking about what he'd do in the afternoon. He thought about reading the journals (and Wendy too man), which lead him to...
"Ughh, stop being so paranoic, nightmares are just nightmares" The boy said to himself.
Before Dipper could go into his room Grunkle Stan went upstairs and approached him.
"Hey Dipper, how's it hangin'?"
"What's up Grunkle Stan"?
"Look kiddo, I've become more used to all the supernatural stuff in this town, specially after the Oddpocalypse, but I still don't have any experience on how to deal with it, and I'm competing against the guy who does. However, you two have spent a lot of time together these last few weeks. You see where I'm goin'?"
Stan winked and accidentally let out a burp which ruined the point he was trying to get across.
"Nope".
"I want you to help me Mr. Oblivious." said Grunkle Stan in a sarcastic tone, giving a pat into Dipper's back making him stumble.
Stan laughed as the boy got up and shrugged it off.
"You seriously need to hit up the gym."
"Whatever, back to the topic, isn't that like cheating."
"Calm down kid, i'd still be the one who catches the monster, you would just guide me to it, or whatever."
"And why should I do that?"
"Wendy's arriving soon. You want me to show her all of those pubert love cards that you threw away?"
Dipper freaked out and facepalmed as he had never facepalmed in his life.
"STAN! HOW COULD YOU? DID YOU READ THEM?"
"Hehehe, obviously! The part I laughed the most at was wh-"
"Just stop! I'll do anything but don't show those cards to Wendy, or anybody else for that matter."
"As long as you help me with the monster thing, don't worry, I'll keep them around with me for when I'm not in a good mood." Stan said giggling at the end of the sentence.
"C'mon Grunkle Stan, seriously?"
Dipper and Stan went to the vending machine that lead to the basement. At the same time Ford was going upstairs. He knocked the twins' room door.
"Hey Mabel, can you come here for a second?"
Mabel opened the door.
"Sure Grunkle Ford".
"Look Mabel, I don't have any experience in running a business and I certainly don't wanna lose to Stan. Dipper told me you have experience in running the shack. I was wondering if you could give me a little hand?"
"But isn't that like cheating?"
"I see it more as helping, but I get it if you don't agree" said Stanford with a little sad tone in the last part. Sometimes he had to be cunning. After all, he was surrounded by two great scam artists his entire life.
"Now that I'm thinking I didn't even considered making you a sweater. Maybe this can be your gift from me to you Grunkle Ford!"
"So it's a deal?"
"It's a Deal!"
They shook hands. The action made both remember the scam artist that threatened their lives on various situations, although neither of them mentioned it.
Both Mabel and Ford rushed down the stairs and went to the Gift Shop. Wendy had just arrived.
"Hi Mabel, what's up?" They both clashed fists.
"Hello Wendy!" said Mabel.
"Hi Mr. Pines. What's up with that outfit? It makes you look nerdier than usual." said Wendy.
"Hi Wendy. Actually I'm Ford, I'll be taking Stan's place for the rest of the day".
"Oh, cool. I'll be at the counter then".
Wendy sat in her usual place and started reading the latest issue of her favorite magazine just as Soos arrived.
"What's up hambone?" They both high-fived.
"Hi Soos!" said Mabel.
"Hello Mr. Pines. I got some new ideas for the Mystery Shack. Wanna hear them?" Soos asked.
Ford explained the situation again just like he did to Wendy.
"Oh, I see. I'll wait for tomorrow to talk with him then."
Ford went from a feeling of triumph to being really upset.
"Why don't we just talk about your ideas right now? I'm sure he'd approve them."
"Mmm, I'm not too sure. Without Stan's approval?"
"C'mon Soos, do it for Grunkle Ford!" Mabel supplicated to Soos with her adorable puppy face. She still felt bad for not thinking about Grunkle Ford when making the Goodbye sweater.
"Ok, I guess I'll then. I have lots of them, lots of them dudes. Hehe."
The trio went into the museum and started to create attractions based on the ideas of Soos, which included a shrunk moon made out of cheese which was just a soccer ball painted with yellow aerosol, a potato chip with the form of the head of Quentin Trembley, which was just a clay modeled after it and a cursed disc which was literally just a disc with the word "cursed" written onto it with red marker. In the meanwhile Dipper and Stan were in the basement, reading the copies made by the cloning copy machine of Journals #1 and #3 respectively, looking for a monster that could be caught before the Mystery Shack closed its doors.
"Watcha think about gnomes? I bet those little fellas can't even kill a fly" Stan said.
"Believe me, they are not what they seem". Dipper replied.
