Chapter 3

Touring the Mystery Shack

Location: Gravity Falls, Oregon

Lok's POV

The team and I made our way back to the Mystery Shack. We were disguised as a tourist family, Zhalia wore a black wig and green contacts. She spoke in a French accent. I felt funny. Zhalia put something in my mouth to make cheeks look rounder and my brown wig itched. Dante told Sophie and me to disguise our accents and try to tone them down. So I was back to Irish. Man, I hope it doesn't stick again. Sophie had a black wig like Zhal and was in a pink tee shirt and jeans. Dante used temporary dye and dyed his beard and and hair to match my wig. His outfit was a dorky pair of glasses and a weird jacket.

The shack, at this point, had a few visitors as it was afternoon, but there were enough for us to blend in. The team and I walked through the cheesy displays and I saw Sophie was getting a snack. Lucky, she can eat. I was looking at the eyeballs in a jar when Den and Harrison came up to me.

"We're going go play with our new friend, Dipper. He's right outside." Den pointed to the door.

"Ok." I said. That name sounded fimilar.

Zhalia left halfway through the tour to investigate loud booms coming from outside, where Den and Harrison said Dipper was. Maybe they're throwing things.

I walked through the shack, staring at the "oddities" and not paying attention. I ended up tripping and falling headfirst into one of the displays and I was sprawled on the ground. I accidently spit out one of the things Zhal gave me to make my cheek round. Grunkle Stan stood over me.

"If anything's broke..." He stopped and pulled off the cap that smooshed my real hair down, "Wait, you're that blond kid that was with Dante... Vale."

And that's I blew our cover and got us yelled at and accused of snooping then kicked out. As we walked through the parking-lot, we heard the distinct sound of Zhalia yelling at Den and Harrison.

Lok's POV End

Dipper's POV

A little bit earlier

"Grunkle Stan, I wanna play with the bottle rockets and sparklers!" I yelled.

"Keep it down! The customers are almost gone, ok?" He got the box down from the shelf.

"Ok. I met some boys in town and we're going set some off." I picked up a box of sparklers.

"Alright. But if Mabel wants to join, you let her." He walked with me to the backyard.

"Ok." I nodded. We set the fireworks down and Grunkle Stan gave me his lighter to use. I got a bucket for the used fireworks and filled it with water.

Den and Harrison came and I asked what they wanted to do first. It seemed like the right thing to do. Harrison wanted to shoot off the the blue bottle rocket first and Den did too so I put the stake in the ground and lit the fuse. We stood back and watched the rocket go up into the sky and explode in blue sparkles. We then started the sparklers and ran with them until they didn't sparkle anymore and put them in the bucket. Then we lit the red and blue bottle rocket and it had red and blue, one color after the other. Den wanted to light the red one with his sparkler so I let him.

"I'll get more sparklers while you guys choose the next rocket," I shook the box and it was empty. I guess we used more than I thought. I rumaged through the box and found another, "Guys, I got anoth-"

"Do you know what I thought when I heard those explosions and you were gone?! I thought you were hurt. But you're playing with bottle rockets! They take people's hands off. I can't believe you two!" An Asian lady with blue hair and hazel eyes was yelling at Den and Harrison. She had a green top on and jeans and a backpack. They were frozen stiff. This lady must be their mom.

"Mrs. Fears, it was my idea to play with bottle rockets! Don't be mad at them. I'm sorry I made you worry." I yelled.

"Mrs. Fears?" She turned to look at me.

"Uh, yes?" I felt very small as she looked down (she was pretty upset), frowning.

"You think I'm their mom?" She asked.

"Um..." I stared as she laughed.

"No, I'm their guardian. Both of you grounded. What's your name?" She asked with interest.

Dipper's POV End

Zhalia's POV

The boy looked like Mabel. With the same brown hair, but short and peeking out of a white hat with a blue bill and an also blue pine tree on the front. He had a orange tee, a blue vest and shorts on.

"Dip-Dipper Pines." He said very softly and squeakily. Like a kitten trying to meow, "Dipper Pines." He said louder in case I didn't hear.

"Ah, the ever elusive Dipper Pines." Dante smirked. Sophie and Lok were behind him.

"Oh, you're Mabel's brother. Did you bring the journal? Can we look at it?" Lok had the puzzle look in his eyes. He wanted to know everything in the journal.

"R-really?" He started for vest then stopped, "Wait, you shouldn't know the journal and I never said anything about it to Den or Harrison. How do you know Mabel?"

"Dipper! I tried to tell you earlier, but Grunkle Stan made me help Wendy unpack the new stuff," Mabel ran up to her brother, "I met 'em yesterday while you were actin' funny. They wanna learn about the stuff in the journal."

"We need to figure out why there was a mass power surge and the gravity being reversed." Dante told him.

"Oh, that's because our Grunkle Stan opened a portal to get get his brother back. Kinda a stressful day since those government agent took us away." Dipper shivered a bit.

"A portal?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"We need to see it." Dante said frimly.

"A man made portal." Sophie awed.

"Dipper! We need to talk." Grunkle Stan grabbed him by the shirt and was dragging him inside. He must of heard Sophie and Dante.

"Hey!" The boy yelled, struggling.

"Grunkle Stan, I told them! Not him." Mabel ran after them.

I used Nimblefire to grab Dipper from his grunkle. The boy was trying to get free and didn't notice me. He looked back to see Dipper behind me. Mabel asked if her twin was alright.

"Hey, don't take my kid from me!" He yelled.

"We have to see the portal. There are bad people willing to do anything to get something like that. They will kill." I looked at the kids. They looked at me, slightly getting what I said.

"Rrr," He gritted his teeth, "Fine, but you got some explaining to do."

"Fine." I said. Dante looked at me. I shurgged. Why lie when the truth is more effective?

Zhalia's POV End