Chapter 3: Cryptid Day
Summary:
Gravity Falls has a new holiday and the Twins and Wendy are all set for festivities, but when a new foe comes to town they have to spring in action to protect the very forest they live in.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
I looked at myself in the full length mirror as I compared the two shirts I was considering. This mirror, Dad got me this mirror last year. Told me it might make me more lady-like. Not sure what his standards are but I don't think it helps. I guess he's old fashioned in that manner. I look over at a picture of my Dad, brothers, and me. Maybe he is thinking of mom when he did this?
I decide to go with my normal green today. As I look over to the outfit I made I see the hat, my hat. It was a weird feeling, something different. I'd never been on that side of it before. I mean, Dipper was, is, just a kid. He was too young for me anyway. I mean, I didn't even have feelings for him . . . I think.
I shake it off. I have enough things to worry about now without thinking about what may have been. The outfit is ready. Mabel would be proud of the work I put into it, then again it is going to be hot to be in that all day. Don't worry, I think, you're just going to take it off after you see them again.
See them again. My mind wanders back to them. Will it be the same as last year, full of laughs and adventure, or will it be something different. I look at the hat again. Different, I think, but not so far off from what it was before. Either way, I needed to get ready.
As Mabel and Dipper walked down the street they saw all of the festivals being prepared around them. "I wonder what all of this is" Mabel said as she saw Sprott setting up his petting zoo near the town square.
"It's too early to be Pioneer Day." Dipper replied as the two look curiously. The twins walk down the sidewalk seeing Fiddleford McGucket trying to hang a sign by the town hall. The twins look at the sign curiously but can't make it out.
"I don't get it." Dipper gives a confused look at the sign. Mabel thinks for a moment before getting an idea. She turns around and does a hand stand to look at the sign upside down. "Mabel what are you doing." Dipper looks down at his sister.
Mabel squints for a moment to read the sign. "Gravity Falls First Annual Cryptid Day?" As Mabel falls over and gets back up she looks yells to McGucket "YOUR SIGN IS UPSIDE DOWN AGAIN!"
Dipper realizes she is right, McGucket looks up at his sign and shouts out a quick "Dagnabbit" before undoing the sign and letting it fall to the ground. As the twins chuckle Dipper looks at his sister. "I wonder what that means. Did they invent a new holiday while we were gone?" As Mabel turns to reply she sees a large wolf like monster approaching behind Dipper. Before she can say anything the monster bellows,
"Today is the day we get to come out and eat all of you!" Dipper turns and jumps in fear. As the twins begin to slowly back away the monster raises its claws in attack position and begins to approach the two.
"I'm going to have me twins stew tonight!" The twins continue to back up until they both run into the edge of the petting zoo pen. Realizing they are trapped Mabel pulls the grappling hook from her sweater, aiming it at the monster.
"EAT HOT GRAPPLING HOOK!"
Mabel fires the grapple, knocking over the monster momentarily. The twins are stunned that this actually worked but before either can make a break for it the monster speaks again, this time in a more familiar voice.
"Jeez dudes, you didn't have to go that far!" As the monster stands back up it removes the head revealing a costume with Wendy in it. "Man Mabel, you've gotten good with that thing. My chest still hurts and I think there about two inches of fur in this thing to absorb that impact." Mabel smiles, proud of her quick draw skills.
"This is why I always recommend puffy stickers to absorb the impact."
Mable and Wendy laugh as Dipper, still in shock, looks between them. "Wait, what's going on?" Wendy clears her throat and explains.
"Well after all that happened last year the town came together and decided that instead of trying to hide what goes on around here would embrace it. So thanks to a wandering minstrel presenting the idea at the town hall meeting it was decided to make this day Cryptid Day."
"Hold on, they made a FULL DAY for the stuff my brother and I find?"
Wendy nodded at Mabel. "Yea, we even got some of the ones who were with us during Bill's thing last year to arrange for everyone to come into town. The entire town was cool with it. This place will probably be banging with gnomes and fairies and stuff later." Gnomes, Mabel thought, literally anything but those.
"Anyway, let me get changed out of this costume and I'll show you two around at what we have planned." The twins nodded and followed Wendy away. "Dipper, I'm going to need your help with the zipper in the back. I can't quite reach it." Dipper gulped and Mabel giggled as they walked around the corner.
"Crypid Day eh? I guess I picked a mighty fine time to show up in Gravity Falls." A man, wearing top to toe Khaki's and an Australian outback hat said as he flipped his knife.
Dipper and Wendy were leaning against the fence as Mabel was petting Octavia in the pen. "Man, Mabel really likes that cow for some reason."
Dipper nodded. "Yea, she helped try to free it last year. After she did though we realized that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for it to roam wild so it's a good thing that Sprott and his sons caught it again." A small critter walks in front of Octavia as she grabs it with her tongue and eats it.
Wendy shudders at the sight before looking down at Dipper. Her mind wanders back to the morning for a second. "Hey Dipper." Dipper looks up at her. "Yeah?" Wendy raises her finger and begins to say something but stops herself. "Never mind." She pauses to find something to say. "That hat looks good back on your head."
Dipper takes of his hat and looks at it in his hands for a moment. "I guess. I almost wasn't going to wear it but Mabel told me that I did really look like it was back in Gravity Falls without it." Dipper returns his hat to his head.
"I can see what she means, it's kinda weird seeing you without a hat after all that time."
Mabel stole a quick glance to Dipper and Wendy. Good they're talking like normal, she thought. Mabel had been worried that when Dipper officially gave up on Wendy that it would be awkward between the two. Thankfully it looks like she was wrong. It's not like she had ever had an awkward breakup before.
As if on cue Mabel heard a familiar voice. "Come over here, I love this big fluffy co. . . oh, Mabel." The person was wearing all black, goth veil covering his face. She knew who this was even through that. It was Vladimire, a vampire she dated briefly last year before he mysteriously called off the relationship.
"Oh, hey Vlad" She replied sheepishly. "What are you doing here?"
"I, uh, was just coming out to see all of the wonderful things in town. You know, to see the sights on this, err, wonderful holiday." The tension was thick in the air. "So how have you been? Did you get a new boyfriend after we, you know, broke up?"
Mabel thought to herself for a moment. She needed someone, anyone to fit this bill. She looked to Dipper. No, couldn't use that fake out, who could she. A terrible but brilliant thought popped into her mind. She quickly looked around for a second to make sure the coast was clear.
"I did, and his name is Gideon." Mabel tried to say as quietly as possible.
At the Tent of Telepathy Gideon sneezed in the middle of his show. "Oh boy, Mabel must be talking about me!"
Mabel took a quick glance to Dipper and Wendy who were now giving her the most quizzical stares she has ever had. Crud, she thought, they heard her. She was going to have to explain this one later.
"Oh, that's uh, nice. I too am now seeing someone again." Mabel looked back at Vlad. She was already positive that this was going to be some exotic beauty. Vlad was always the kind of guy who could have any girl he wanted and she was sure he was dating a super model or something. "Mutt, come over he for a second." As Vlad call out a tall harry man walks out from behind Octavia. He walks over and stands beside Vlad. "Mutt, this is Mabel. She and I, well, we were friends last year."
Mutt looks down at Mabel, his wolf like face getting close to her as he sniffs her a little. "Sup," he grunts.
"What a minute. You mean you and Mutt are. . . " Vlad blushes as Mutt stands back up. Mutt nudges Vlad a little and holds his hand.
"Yes, Mabel, we're together." Mabel's jaw drops. She would never have pegged Vlad going that way. A pretty boy with perfect hair and skin, who was always well dressed, who always knew what to say to a girl to make her . . . Okay, now that she thinks about it this was super obvious.
"Turns out that, uh, sucking blood isn't the only thing I like to do." She isn't sure how she can tell but Mutt is blushing. "Who knew? I guess sometimes you just find something out about yourself. Honestly I have you to think for that. If we hadn't dated for a while I would have never found Mutt." Vlad and Mutt grip their hand more tightly. "Well, we'd better go. Mutt wanted to see the sheep before the big announcement later." Mabel waves goodbye as the two walk off to the next pen. Dipper and Wendy approach.
"And what is this about you dating Gideon." Mabel's face goes red with both embarrassment and anger. She turns to Dipper and hits him squarely in his shoulder.
"You will say nothing about this ever again, got that!" Dipper nods at this sister while rubbing his shoulder. She was serious about that, he thought.
"So who was that?" Wendy asked as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Just someone I dated briefly last year. He is a vampire." She pauses for a second. "And apparently the only person I dated who wasn't actually in to me." Dipper gives Mabel a quizzical look.
"I thought you were joking about that."
Mabel shook her head. "I told you before, I don't tell you everything I do."
As Wendy chuckles Toby's voice can be heard over a loudspeaker that was set up near the stage by the town hall. "Gravity Falls, can I have your attention please. If everyone would make their way to the stage we will get these festivities kicked off!" The townsfolk start to walk to the stage.
"Guess that's our cue, we better make our way over there too." The three turn to leave the Petting Zoo and head to the stage.
The crowd has gathered around the large stage, Mayor Tyler stands getting ready for a speech. On his left sits Sheriff Blubs, Deputy Durland, Preston Northwest, and Toot-Toot McBumbersnazzle. On his right sits several of the forest's inhabitants, Multi-bear, Jeff, Chutzpar the Manotaur, and a fairy. Tyler clears his throat.
"Citizens of Gravity Falls, we are gathered here today to celebrate the creatures of the forest who, even when it looked like we were going to get it, get it, last year, stuck around with us. We wish to show them our appreciation by acknowledging them the best way we can. Thanks to the wise words of Toot-Toot during the town meeting last March we have decided to have this day forever be the day when we ask these creatures to come out of the forest and reaffirm our friendship."
The crowd claps excitedly at this. Tyler continues. "Now if you would all put a few rounds of applause together for Multi-bear, who wishes to give a short speech to kick off the festivities." Multi-Bear rises from his seat as Tyler steps back and offers him the podium. His other heads roar as he yells at them to be silent. Once they have calmed down he moves up to the microphone and begins speaking.
"Citizens of Gravity Falls, I am Multi-Bear, chosen representative of the forest this year. Much has happened in the last year and I would like to extend my many paws out to you in friendship and respect. For years we have hidden from you and you have shied away from us. Let today be the beginning of something new." The crowd gave a roaring round of applause. As it reached a peak Multi-Bear began to smile. Suddenly a large knife flew out from the crowd and implanted itself the podium. The crowd parts to show the man from earlier standing there with a camera phone on a stick.
"Crikey! All my years hunting cryptids I've never heard of a town that accepted them." The man walked up to the stage and jumped up. He pulled his knife out of the podium. "A Multi-Bear, vicious beast of the forest. His most defining traits are his multiple heads and his love of BABBA music." Multi-Bear back away at this.
"HA, KNEW YOU WERE A PANZY!" Chutzpar shouts out as he stands and points to Multi-Bear. The figure turns to him and approaches.
"Manotaur, Aggressive beast whose sole focus is pure manliness. Nothing to be afraid of if you are secure in your own masculinity." Chutzpar shirks back at this sitting down at what may be a more manly predator.
The man continued. "Gnomes, weak pitiful, afraid of most gardening instruments." Jeff gives the man an angry look. As he starts to say something the man walks on. "Fairies, playful little things. They will often steal things you leave around and occasionally trick wanderers. You just have to be careful and make sure everything you have is secure and you will be fine." The fairy crosses her arms and pouts as the man walks back to the podium. He stops and looks at Multi-Bear.
"You say you were picked to represent the forest but I know that can't be true. Cryptids have only one thing that can represent them, the biggest, meanest, and most powerful of the cryptids, the Guardian of the Forest!" Multi-Bear shows surprise at this and steps back.
"Who are you, how do you know about the Guardian?" The man takes the podium and looks at the crowd. "I'm Steve Logan, Cryptid Hunter. I'm going to find and bag the Guardian of the Forest and we're going to film the whole thing!"
The crowd reacts in shock at this. "This sounds bad." Dipper says as he, Mabel, and Wendy look on.
Mabel turns to Dipper. "We can't let him do that, can we?" Dipper turns and looks at Wendy and Mabel.
"I don't know, but I have a feeling we can't." As the three look back to the stage Toby is approaching to interview the Cryptid hunter with this new recording device, a sponge.
A few minutes later the crowd had dispersed. The town square was becoming full of the festivities as more and more of the inhabitants of the forest appeared. Mabel, Dipper, and Wendy, however, were trying to gather more info on Steve Logan at the library. Mabel and Wendy stood behind Dipper as he searched the internet. "It says here that Steve Logan is the world's most renowned cryptid hunter. Wherever he goes and finds "cryptids" inevitably become hot spots for tourist activity looking for the same thing he saw."
"That can't be good. Can you imagine of the town were flooded with people looking for the same thing this guy is?" The two looked at Wendy as she asked this.
"Well at least Soos would be getting a lot of business from this." Mabel pointed out.
"Yea, but they will be looking for this Guardian, not the Shack." Wendy affirmed.
"Either way we should go talk to Multi-Bear and see what he knows about the guardian. Maybe we can help him if we know more." Wendy and Mabel nodded in agreement. The three left the Library to go look for Multi-Bear.
It didn't take long to find him. Eight feet tall on hind legs and almost a ton, Multi-Bear hadn't gone far from where the last saw him. He sat behind the stage along with Jeff and Chutzpar. They are quietly conversing when Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy approach.
"This is a disaster, how does a human know about the guardian?"
Chutzpar flexes his muscles as he replies. "Can't be from me. We Manotaurs don't even go anywhere near the guardian. Never have, never will." The two turn to Jeff.
"Hey don't look at me. The Gnomes are still trying to find a new queen. Do you know how rowdy everyone gets when we don't have a leader?"
The three creatures sigh as Dipper announces their presence. "Ahem." The three creatures jump back, startled that anyone was there. "Oh, Dipper you scared us. What can I help you with?" Dipper raised his hand.
"Actually, I think it's you who need the help." The three creatures looked at each other for a second then their gaze returns to Dipper.
"Well I suppose I am able to bear the humiliation of asking for help."
Chutzpar laughs "Panzy"
Multi-Bear gives him an angry look and Chutzpar backs away. "I suppose it won't hurt to show the three of you. Follow me into the forest and I will explain on the way."
As the group made their way into the deep forest Multi-Bear regaled the story. "The Guardian has always been in Gravity Falls. Whenever the forest creatures were in danger, or when one would get out of line the Guardian would show up and restore order." The group approached a cave inlayed into the ground. "However last year changed things. With all of what happened we thought the Guardian would save us, but as it was going to stop that creature who took over the town it was hit in a large energy blast that shot out of the pyramid structure that was floating over town.
"Sadly, the Guardian would not survive this, however before it left us it laid a single egg, its successor."
Mabel gives a quizzical look. "It lays eggs?"
Multi-Bear nodded. "Yes, we have been trying to raise the offspring for some time now but . . . well you can see for yourself." Multi-Bear motions to the cave.
As the group descends into it they see large silk sacks strewn around the cave. As the group reaches the deepest part a large furry worm like creature is laying on the ground cooing.
"IT'S SO CUTE!" Mabel exclaims as she runs up to pounce on it before anyone can stop her. As she tries to cuddle with it she keeps getting caught in the hairs of the creature.
"Mabel stop that! You don't know what that thing is!" Dipper exclaims as he berates his sister for her impulsiveness.
"Aww, but is so fluffy. Nothing this fluffy can be bad."
"Indeed, the Guardian is quite placid. This is what worries us actually. Without a proper Guardian to help us when we need it I fear the forest is doomed." Chutzpar nods in agreement. Jeff looks down on the ground.
"It doesn't matter if we find a queen if this guy doesn't step up the plate."
Dipper looks at the Guardian again. "Alright, we'll help. We just need to convince this Cryptid Hunter that the Guardian is a fake and he'll leave, but how to do it?" Dipper pondered out loud.
Everyone else in the room looks at Dipper for a moment while he catches up. "Um, Dipper dude, you do remember you are living at the biggest place in town for fake stuff right?" Dipper looks up at Wendy; the realization of what she means crosses his face.
"THE SHACK!" Mabel and Wendy laugh at Dipper while Multi-Bear looks confused.
"What do you mean?"
"The place we are staying is full of fake mysteries and stuff. I'm sure Soos has something that we can use to convince this guy that the Guardian is fake!"
Wendy nods. "Yeah, Soos has added a lot of new stuff to the place since you guys left. Maybe he has something."
Mabel jumps off of the Guardian, which resumes cooing. "How are we going to convince this guy to come to the shack?"
A voice at the cave entrance rings out. "I think I know how to convince that guy"
As the group looks a figure, shadowed by the light of the tunnel entrance steps forward. Once far enough in the tunnel it becomes apparent it is Sherman Pines. "I've dealt with this guy's type before. Just leave it to me and we'll get him in the shack but you guys better have a backup plan in case this doesn't work." The group nods and Wendy ponders something for a moment.
"Actually I may have something that we can use. Hey Dipper want to help me out with it." Wendy asks impulsively. Crud, I just asked Dipper to go with me alone, she thought. Some habits die hard she supposed.
"Good idea, Mabel, you come with me and we'll get this guys to the shack in no time. I don't know how long we'll be able to hold him there though." The group nods at each other in understanding and begin to split up.
As Mabel and Sherman walk through the town square looking for the Cryptid Hunter Mabel asks. "So how do you intend to get him to the shack?" Sherman stop and looks around. He looks disappointed.
"That's easy, this guy is probably used to people being afraid of the creatures of the forest who blab on them, so since he won't find that here he's going to want a "friend" to give him a clue where this might be. I say let's be that friend." Mabel nods "Mabel, I can't see him. Wanna ride my shoulders and see if you can find him?" Mabel jumps excitedly into Sherman's waiting arms and he places her on his shoulders.
As she looks around while Sherman walks she looks down at him for a second. "Hey Grandpa Sherman, how did you know we were in the forest?"
Sherman stops for a second and becomes flustered. "Oh, um . . ." He stops to think. "I saw you guys walk off with that Bear thing and followed." Mabel ponders this for a second then replies with a cheerful "Okay!" As she does she spots the hat of the hunter in the distance.
As the two approaches the hunter he is speaking with some random towns folk. "Oy, you're telling me you don't know anything about the Guardian? Not even a legend or a random tale passed down?" The townsfolk shake their heads and start to walk away. "Well, this has been the most depressing hunt I've ever been on. I guess I'll have to explore the forest myself. This could take a while." The hunter says into the camera.
"Ahem, excuse me. Mr. Cryptid Hunter?" Sherman calls out as the hunter turns around.
"Crikey, are you two just adorable. Please, call me Steve. What can I do for you?" Steve reaches out with his hand and shakes Sherman's, then Mabel's hand.
"Steve, my granddaughter and I couldn't happen to overhear that you were having trouble finding info on this guardian thing you were looking for. Maybe we can help if we can get an idea of how you found out about it."
"Well it don't hurt telling a friendly stranger, after all. Here, this page was given to me by a viewer." Steve pulls out a page and hands it to Sherman who looks at it and hands it to Mabel. "The beast was listed on that page and there is some gobbledygook on the back. Had someone look at it thinking it would help me find out about the beast but the person who translated it told me it was unrelated."
Mabel looks at the page for a moment, a thought crossing her mind. "Hey mister, do you mind if I keep this page for a while? My brother is really into this stuff and he might like it." Steve laughed for a moment.
"Please, don't be so formal with me. Call me Steve, or at least Mr. Logan. You say you've got a brother who might like this. That's wonderful. I've got few copies of it already so you can go ahead and keep that one until I can get you another copy. If your brother likes it tell him to talk to me, maybe we can work out a cameo for him on my show."
Mabel pockets the page. Sherman motions for Steve to follow them. "I think I know a place that might have more info on the beastie than you're going to find here. If you are willing to take a short drive with me we can be there in no time."
Steve cheerfully puffs up at this. "Well that would be mighty fine of you. If you don't mind, after you." Sherman walks off to his car as Steve follows.
As Wendy, Dipper, and Jeff walked in the forest a squirrel ran up to Jeff and whispered something in Jeff's ear, running off afterwards. "Tim just told me that they are on their way to the shack. We don't have a lot of time left. Are we almost there yet?"
Wendy gives Jeff an annoyed look. "Settle down man, were almost there." As Wendy moves some branches out of the way she reveals a small clearing with a wooden statue in the center. The statue looks almost demonic in nature. "We're here."
"What is this place?" Dipper asks as he looks around.
"My dad told me once that he was inspired by my mom to make this weird statue. He took me to it when I was little, got all sentimental on me." The two walk up the statue. "I figured we could spruce it up a little and make it look like something more guardian like." Wendy turned around to give instructions to Jeff and Dipper, as she does she notices Jeff is gone. "Well you guys . . . Wait, where's Jeff?" Dipper looks around too then shrugs. "This is why you don't trust a gnome to help with something. Fine, Dipper you and I are going to start working on this.."
As Sherman pulls up to the Mystery Shack Steve lets outs a shout. "Crikey, there is a whole place here for things like this. Who woulda thought that?" Sherman gets out of the car and starts to walk to the museum entrance.
"Oh, and there is so much more inside than outside. Follow me, the curator will probably know more."
As the group enters they see that the museum is empty of people. "Hmm, he must be in the gift shop. Mabel would be a dear and go get the curator for me?" Mabel nods and winks and runs off to the gift shop. "Now, while she is doing that feel free to take a look around at some of the oddities that have been found in Gravity Falls."
As Mabel rounds the corner to the gift shop she sees Soos giving his farewell to several customers as they leave. Melody stands behind a coat rack not far from him, obscured by the merchandise. "Soos, Soos, we need your help." Soos turns to see Mabel running at him.
"Hey there dude, what can I do for you?"
Mabel stops in front of him waving her hands back and forth in the air as if trying to visually explain. "There is this guy in the museum he's a big hunter and is trying to find the Guardian of the forest and we have to stop him and you have to help!"
Soos tried to calm Mabel down. "Dude slow down. I think I caught about half of that." Mabel stopped and took a big breath.
"There is this guy, Steve Logan, he hunts cryptids and he is trying to find the guardian of the forest here in town. We met the guardian but it's just this big baby harry worm thing and we don't want him to find it. He says if he does he is going to film it and make everyone come to Gravity Falls."
Soos ponders this for a minute. "Huh, that would defiantly increase the profits at the shack if I had more business." Mabel pouts at him. "Okay, okay, I was just kidding. What do you need me to do?"
"We need you to convince him the Guardian isn't real, or at least stall him until Dipper and Wendy prepare what they were doing."
Soos nods. "Leave it to me, Mr. Mystery is on the case!"
Soos starts to walk to the kitchen. "Uhh, Soos, he's in the museum." Soos stops and turns around laughing.
"Dude, I knew that." He walks into the hallway towards the museum.
"As you can see, these are the creatures the great and wondrous curator has captured over the years. If anyone knows where the guardian is it is Mr. Mystery." Steve leans in close to examine an exhibit.
"Roostdeer, Beavercorn, Teledove? Most of these aren't real, or at least I haven't heard of them." He looks at Sherman with a discerning eye. "Are you sure this, Mr. Mystery, is reputable? I am after all the world's foremost cryptological hunter."
"You doubt the wonder that I have collected here at the Mystery Shack?" As the two turn they see Soos walking in from the hallway. "I'll have you know the founder of the Mystery Shack and I personally hunted all of these beasts down!" Steve seems to perk up at the mention of hunting.
"So you say the two of you captured all of these?" Soos nods.
"Of course dude. Mr. Pines and I go way back. Here let me give you the guided tour." Soos begins to show Steve around the museum.
Wendy and Dipper stand back and look at their creation. "Nice work dude. You really know your way around camo these days."
Dipper smiled at the compliment. "Yea, Mabel's been getting really into different colors and clothing lately, I guess I just got dragged along and happened to learn a few things myself." A rustling in the bushes catches both of their attention.
"Jeff, where have you been?" They cry out simultaneously as Jeff exits the bush.
"Geez, sorry, I had to check on something. Anyway I wanted to let you know that your buddies are on their way here with that hunter. They should be here any minute now." Wendy and Dipper look at each other, for a moment with shock on their faces then turn back to Jeff who is trying to escape again.
"Where are you going?" Dipper shouts.
"Somewhere away from here. I don't want to be around when all of this goes down."
As Jeff dipped out of sight the sound of muffle voices can be heard. "This way Mr. Logan, the guardian is just in this clearing." Soos enters the clearing first, followed by Mabel and Sherman. After a moment Steve exits the forest.
"Crikey, this was what you wanted to show me? This is the guardian?" He looks up to the statue, now decorated with leaves, branches, and other forest items. "Are you sure that's it?"
Steve walks up to the statue and starts to pull some of the debris off of it. "Well this looks like it all right, but it's just a statue. Where's the real one?" He looks back at Soos.
"Sorry dude, the real one was caught years ago. We ended up losing the body in a remodel of the Shack so we erected a statue of it in honor of the hunt."
Steve looks angry for a moment then calm. "I bet it was some hunt. This beast looks like it could have taken ten men to take down, let alone you and that Mr. Pines fellow." He puts his hand on the statue. "I wish I could have been there. The hunt is all I really have. My show is wonderful and it lets me do the thing I love to do, but to be honest it gets lonely." His tone gets more saddened. "I used to have a partner you know, a long time ago. But those days are gone."
Steve perks up as he turns around. "Well I guess there's nothing to be done about this. I know, how about we get together and take one big picture together, a memento of the hunt. Good or bad they come to an end someday and a picture is the best way to keep the memory alive." The group looks at each other and a few shrugs later they gather around the base of the statue. "Alright, everyone say 'Crikey!'"
The group shouts out simultaneously "CRIKEY!"
As Steve packs up his things and talks with Sherman and Soos I stand there looking back at the statue. I still don't understand why dad made this statue so many years ago, or why he thought of mom doing it. I look down and Mabel is sneaking up on Dipper. As she jumps on him she pulls something from her pocket as the grownups leave. "Hey Dipper look at this!" She shows him a piece of paper. Dipper takes a look at it for a second and pulls a journal from his pack. Wait, journal? When did Dipper get a new one?
Dipper began to flip through the pages until he stopped at one. "I knew it, that's why the clues didn't make any sense on this page. The journal is incomplete! I thought it looked like some pages had been removed." Dipper places the page in the location that he feels it should be. As I take a closer look at the image on one side I realized what it is.
"Dipper look." As we all do I realize the page has the statue we that is standing right behind us. "How is this possible? It looks like how we made it too."
"Dipper you have to find the rest of the pages now, even I'm interested." Mabel exclaims.
"Yeah, but where are they and how did that guy get a page?" We all look up in the direction that Steve left.
"He told Grandpa Sherman and me that he got it by mail from a viewer of his show." As we begin to walk to where the adults left I think to myself. Well, I guess I was right; these two are going to bring me on a new adventure. I laugh a little. Well I guess I do have something new to worry about now.
Multi-Bear watched as the group walked away from the statue. He breathed a sigh of relief. "It worked, they managed to get that guy to leave." As he turned around a chill filled the air. He saw a shadow hiding behind a tree. "G, Guardian what are you doing out here?"
A sultry voice replies to him. "Were you able to protect my identity? They must not know who I am yet."
Multi-Bear bowed his heads for to the guardian. "Not at all. We protected your secret from them. They think the guardian is that large silk worm that we found. No one would speak of your identity after all you did for us before."
The shadow faded and with fading voice said, "Good, in time I will meet her on my own terms, but that time is not now."
Notes:
I removed the original cipher as block text doesn't work too well in the age of auto translators, especially for people who want to do them by hand. I may add another one to this later but for now I will leave it blank.
Anyhow, first actual "normal" adventure the group has. Hope you like it. I admittedly hit a bit of a block a while in so some of the things I originally planned got cut for later or removed entirely.