"Ooh," Mabel breathed, poking a stick into the sky blue lake water, pushing little flowers out into the rippling waves. "This is so pretty...I'm bored."
"Go feed the ducks or something," her brother muttered, leaning out of his beach chair to gape at Wendy playing volleyball with Tambry in a bikini. While Dipper's attention was caught, Mabel tossed her stick into the water, watching it cartwheel through the air and land in the water with a small conk! A dark little figure floated to the surface of the water, seeming to have fallen sideways.
Eyes widening, Mabel leaned towards the edge of the water as the little figure floated towards her, revealing itself to be a fish. "Oh no!" she said, reaching out to guide the fish closer to her. "I am so sorry about that little fish! Are you okay?"
It made an odd groaning sound and she tensed. "That means no!" she squealed. Suddenly, the fish turned itself upright, focusing on her with one yellowed, milky eye. She grimaced and stepped back. "D-did I hit your eye, fishie? Because the way it's rolling around in it's socket is kinda unnatural." The fish tilted it's head in question, like a dog. It groaned again, opening it's mouth to reveal rows of sharp teeth.
Mabel smiled, picking up a nearby stick and prodding it into the fish's mouth. "Ooh, I have an idea! Let's play dentist!" She lifted the fish's upper lip with her new stick, smiling brightly. "Cool, I can see my reflection in your teeth! Looks like someone's been brushing!"
She pulled the stick out of it's mouth, accidentally shoving it up it's scaly nostril. She wrinkled her nose and giggled. "Awesome, fish boogers!" Pulling the stick back out, she brought it to her to examine it.
"Um...what's this little pinkish thing on here?" she asked, peering at the object. She gasped suddenly. "Is it your brain?! Cool, I've always wanted to see a fish brain!" She shook the stick, causing the brain to slide off the stick and drop into the water with an audible pop! She and the fish shared a glance at each other before flicking their eyes down to the water, then back to each other.
"Oh well," Mabel said with a shrug. "You're a fish! What do you need a brain for?" The fish grumbled unintelligibly and drifted sideways lazily, exposing it's side. Patches of scales were missing, showing a miniature ribcage and a few more exposed bones.
Suddenly, something clicked in Mabel's brain. Yellowed, glazed over eyes? No brain and still swimming? Exposed bones and a half-dead look? She gasped as she came to her revelation.
"Oh my gosh! I just figured something out!" She looked at the fish in horror. "You're a piranha! Dipper told me to not be near you!" She ran back to her brother, dragging him out of his chair and Wendy daze and shaking him by the arm.
"What?!" he yelled, glaring at her.
"I found a piranha! Come see it!" He raised an eyebrow, but before he could make an argument on tropical fish in Oregon, he was being dragged to the edge of the lake.
"See! It's a piranha! How scary is that?!" His eyes widened as he focused on the little creature, who growled and snapped at him as Mabel pushed him towards it.
"Erm, Mabel?" Dipper asked, "Did you happen to come into any contact with this...um, piranha?" She held her chin, as if she had to remember.
"Well, I stuck a stick in it's mouth and pulled out it's brain! Does that count?" Suddenly, she felt herself being flipped around and pushed away from the lake by her brother.
"Dipper?! What are you doing?!" She got no answer from him, only becoming confused when she heard him muttering, "Zombie piranha, zombie piranha, nope nope nope nope nope..."
Mabel rolled her eyes and scratched her itchy scalp. But she didn't see a piece of kelp fall out of her hair.
"Dipper," she asked her brother. "I'm craving seafood. Wanna go to Joey's?"
That might've seemed normal, but this comment made Dipper's eyes widen. He dropped the journal and ran.
"Dipper!" I called after him. But my brother was out of sight.