"Because while people are sleeping behind said walls, we're explorers of forests and haunted halls! Empty graves and abandoned malls! I mean there's nothing else to do here in Gravity Falls!" Mabel sung with a skip in her step.

"Mabel, would you stop singing the Gravity Falls Song?" Dipper asked. He sighed tiredly. The walk over to the Arcade was a tough one. Everybody was in a frenzy because of Christmas in July, so the twins had to avoid falling snowmen, a psycopathic elf (a story for another time), and an out of control zamboni. Luckily, they made it to the arcade in one piece.

"Why should I? It's a free country!" Mabel responded.

"First of all, that's the 40th time you've sung it today, and second of all, we're here!" The twins entered what was now called "Santa's Arcade." It was mostly deserted; only Old Man McGucket was in there, playing Dancy Pants Revolution for the 21st day in a row.

"Which game should we enter the code in?" Mabel asked. The two looked around the Christmas-ified arcade, which included statues of reindeer and elves.

Dipper gawked at a broken game with a large hole in the size. "Well not Nort. There's a Soos-sized hole in it!"

Mabel scratched her chin. "What about Fight Fighters?"

Her twin nervously shook his head. "No way. Not since that fight with Rumble McSkirmish."

"C'mon Dipper." Mabel took out a quarter and waved it provocatively. "You know you want to. Just play one game Dipper. It's beckoning to you." She "accidentally" dropped the quarter and it rolled toward Dipper, coming to a halt at his feet. "Whoops...my bad."

Dipper picked up the quarter. "Fine, but just one game."

Mabel jumped for joy. "Yay! But I call Ivan Bearskins, even though I don't know what a Soviet Union is."


Yuri peered from behind a pile of crates. His hidden spot from inside the arcade was perfect, and he could spy on the twins with ease.

"This is too easy for Yuri," he whispered.


"HAHA, LIGHTNING PUNCH!" Mabel's Ivan delivered a crushing blow to Dipper's Rio de Death, sending him to the ground and blasting away all of his health. Mabel let out a cheer, Dipper let out a groan. He grabbed another quarter from Mabel's pocket.

"Alright, Mabel, one more game."

Mabel gave him a funny look. "Are you sure? I've beaten you 14 times already and my hands are getting numb."

"ONE MORE GAME!" Dipper slammed his quarter in. Mabel sighed and put her last quarter in.

3...2...1...BEGIN!

To Dipper's annoyance, Mabel had an annoying habit of yelling out her attacks. "ROUNDHOUSE, REVERSE ROUNDHOUSE, DRAGONFLY STING, ROLE REVERSAL!" Ivan kicked while doing a back flip, hitting Rio in the jaw. Dipper looked in horror at his health bar, which only contained 1%. "Now to finish this." Mabel's nimble fingers started tapping all the buttons lightning fast. "SUPER ULTRA MEGA HYPER NINJA TURBO BLIZZARD UBER MAGIC FALCON PUN-"

"RAGE QUIT!" To Mabel's horror, Dipper screamed in frustation. He grabbed a crate and threw it as hard as he could, hitting Yuri in the nose. He cried out in pain and fell to the ground. The twins didn't notice because Dipper grabbed another crate and threw it at wall. He then rolled on the ground and threw a mega tantrum, so loud even McGucket stopped playing his game. Mabel just awkwardly stood there until he calmed down a few minutes later. "Uh, Dipper..."

Dipper placed his hat back on his head. "Um...sorry 'bout that..." Mabel just shrugged.

"Hey, Dipper, look at the wall." Dipper sat back up and looked at was once a wall. A section of bricks had fallen, revealing a dark corridor. Dipper resisted the urge to punch a nearby lamp and stood up. "Dipper, are you sure you're, you know, emotionally stable."

"I hope so." The twins walked down the corridor. At the end there was a staircase, lit up by torches. Dipper grabbed one of the torches and led the way down, which must of been about 50 feet. The ground leveled out and the twins found themselves in another hallway. Dipper noticed four runes etched in to the wall. He held a candle up to them, but couldn't decode them. He turned around, coming face-to-face with a large skull, which had horns and was covered in spider webs.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Dipper bobbled the lamp in shock, and it crashed to the ground. He stepped back, shocked. The hallway plunged in darkness, and Dipper couldn't see anything. He reached out, accidentally bonking Mabel in the nose. "Sorry, Mabel."

"Dipper, I can't see, what do we do?"

Dipper swallowed, biting back his nervousness. "Just, um, reach for the walls." Mabel nodded and placed her hand on a dusty old stone wall. She felt around, and her hand hit a switch. The hall suddenly lit up, revealing a large room at the end of the tunnel. "Let's go!" The twins sprinted towards the room.

Inside was all white, with one game inside. "Conspiracy: The Game?" Dipper wondered aloud. He flipped through the 3 book, but he found no clues. "I got nothing," he told his twin.

"Maybe this is the game where you have to enter the code," Mabel suggested. Dipper thought about it for a moment, then realized she was probably right. He stood infront of the machine, which was dull beige. One joy stick and four red buttons for each direction, along with two buttons labled "A" and "B", were the controls, and the large screen was blank.

"Here goes nothing." Dipper started the code. "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, and A!" He pressed the joy stick forward, ending the code. Nothing happened. The room was dead silent. "Well, I guess-"

The machine lit up, a blue light nearly blinding the twins. "What the-" was all Dipper could say, before he was literally sucked into the game. Mabel tried to grab him, but it was too late; he was gone. The light disappeared, and the black screen changed.

"Dipper!" Mabel yelled happily. Her brother appeared on the screen. Dipper, now 2D, stood on a sandy beach. He tried to speak, but no words came out. Instead, "BEGIN?" flashed on the screen.

Mabel flexed her fingers and pressed the "A" button. Nervously, she pressed the right button, sending Dipper a step forward. "Wow," she whispered to herself. She held down the button, and Dipper ran to the right. Out of nowwhere, a knife flew toward Dipper from behind. Mabel hit the duck button, and Dipper managed to duck in time. The knife took his hat, however. Mabel looked at Dipper's health bar, which was now 95%. What would happen if he lost all of his health?

Gritting her teeth, Mabel knew she was in a game for her-well, Dipper's-life. Knifes, boomeranges, swords, blowdarts, and another psycopathic elf were flung at Dipper, but Mabel dodged most of them. She pressed the up button, and Dipper jumped into a green pipe with 70% health left.

Dipper landed in a dark dungeon, lit up by dark torches. A cutscene played, and a suited man with a pyramid for a head came into view, standing in front of a treasure chest. "I will figure out the conspiracy!" Dipper yelled. Letters flew across the screen, telling Mabel it was the Boss Fight.

"You're no Ivan Bearskins, but I know you can win!" Mabel said with determination.

3...2...1...BEGIN!

The triangular landed an uppercut on Dipper, sending hurtling toward a wall. 3 seconds had gone by and Dipper only had 40% health left!

"Let's do this!" Mabel yelled fiercely. She landed two combos on the triangular, then shoulder-smashed him into the wall, leaving the enemy with 50% health. Dipper tried to stomp on the pyramid, but the guy spun and delivered a fierce roundhouse kick then a double punch. He stabbed the 12 year old boy with a knife. "KNIFE STAB?" Mabel said with shock. Dipper's health had gone down to 30%, but to Mabel's horror the health bar slowly went down; the knife was poisoned.

Mabel only knew one move that could win the fight now, but it might cost Dipper his life. She cracked her knuckles, then began her attack. She dodged another knife stab and grabbed the triangle dude from behind. Dipper hoisted him in the air, and Mabel yelled out her attack. "SUPER AWESOME MEGA EXTREME FIGHTER ULTRA WESTERN HYPER AWESOME SONIC DIVINE GREAT OUTSTANDING TERRIFIC EXPLOSIVE TIER FIVE FALCON PUNCH UPPERCUT FIREBALL OF DOOM!"

Mabel pushed the joy stick back, and Dipper released a frenzy of kicks, punches, and fireballs. His final uppercut fire ball of doom sent the triangle hurtling into the wall, and all the health in his health bar disappeared. He scowled not at Dipper, but at Mabel. "I'll get you for this," he stated calmy before disappearing.

Mabel looked at Dipper's health bar. 1%. She breathed a sigh of relief as Dipper danced in victory. "Just call me Big Dipper!" he gloated. A paper arrived in his hand.

Another blue light shone in Mabel's face, and Dipper appeared before her. He grabbed his hatless head, dazed. "What just happened?" He croaked.

He nearly fell when Mabel tackle hugged him. "DIPPER! YOU'RE ALIVE!"

"Not for long."

The twins spun around and saw a very angry Yuri standing before them. In one hand he held a glowing yellow medallion.

"Not for long."


A/N: Thanks for reading! More of Yuri's backstory will be released in the next couple of chapters.