So by now, everyone has heard the news that Gravity Falls is about to end, though on the other hand it's not necessarily news since everyone had already guessed that the end was near. Now, like everyone else, I'm deeply saddened by this, but I can accept it. As Alex Hirsch himself said, most shows end up either running so long they lose their original spark or they cancelled before they come to a proper conclusion. The fact that Gravity Falls gets a fit and proper ending is satisfying enough, though I would have loved more of it in some form.
Of course, as I'm sure more "rational" people, with all their precious "realism", would tell you, that it's just childish and silly of you to be sad over the ending of a "children's cartoon". I mean, what self-respecting 21 year old would even waste their time watching some cartoon?
But that really is the whole story of Gravity Falls. It's about childhood and that you should cherish the time while it lasts because sooner or later, it ends.
The way I see it, though we all to grow up, at the same time, that doesn't mean your childhood has to disappear forever. When you watch something as special and amazing as Gravity Falls, it takes you back to that feeling of childhood and that sense of wonder you used to have about life and the world. Cartoons(not all of them anyway) aren't just something made to pander for children. They can help remind you that you were once a child yourself and if you let them, they can make you feel like a kid again, even if it's only for 22 minutes.
It's a beautiful message, and I'm truly happy that I got to experience Gravity Falls for myself, and I don't believe I can ever forget about it. Phew. Well that's enough rambling on my part. Now on to some terrible fanfic writing
Late in the evening, the Mystery Shack was just about to close up for the day, with Grunkle Stan escorting the last round of customers out the door.
"Thank you for shopping at the Mystery Shack" he said, waving to each customer as they left. "And remember, when you shop here, you'll always find the right price, but never a cheap one"
The last tourist stopped outside the door and turned back to Stan. "Excuse me, but I think I may have misplaced my wallet in there somewhe-"
"Everything beyond this point is legally property of the Mystery Shack!" Stan said quickly, slamming the door shut before the man could protest any further. "Phew, another day, another customer that didn't have enough time to call the cops"
Stan briskly walked up to the counter and checked the register for the day's intakes. It was then he realised that he hadn't seen Dipper or Mabel for several hours. Though a bit concerned, he brushed his worry off a moment later, as he was certain that they couldn't have gotten into that much trouble since the last time he saw them…..yeah. Three, two, one….
The door to the shop burst open wide with a bang, as both Mabel and Soos came rushing inside.
"Soos, there you are" Stan said sternly. "Where've you been? The toilet's clogged again and the smoke alarm's been beeping nonstop, so go out and get a new one"
"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel cried, running up to legs and pulling on his pant. "You got to help us, Dipper's in trouble, there's vampires and Gideon's back and we got to save him, comeoncomeoncomeon!"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down" Stan said, putting one hand in the air to stop her. "Take it from the beginning"
Mabel back away from Stan and took a short breath to steady herself. "Okay, first we went for some ice cream".
"Then I ate a gummi bear" Soos added.
"Then I put my best foot forward and nearly got impaled by some spikes"
"Then I found myself in the classic video game scenario"
"Then I found my disfigured twin"
"Then I became the heir of an illustrious kingdom and my hand crossed the thresholds of time and space into another plane of existence and then-"
"Alright, you know what?" Stan suddenly interrupted, already rubbing his eyes in exhaustion. "This sounds like one of those times that I'd just be better being irresponsible and not pay any attention."
Stan made a turn to leave, but before he could go any further, Mabel reached out and grabbed him by his hand. "Grunkle Stan, Dipper's in trouble!"
"What's he gotten himself into this time?" Stan said, sounding more irritated than worried.
"He's been captured by this evil vampire kid that's after the Journals!" Mabel cried.
"And he told us that you got the last one" Soos added. "Cause apparently, you're, SPOLIER ALERT, the guy who wrote them"
For once in his life, Stan seemed to be at a loss for words as he stared back and forth between Mabel and Soos. "….What?" he finally said, with a slight guffaw. "That's nuts! Like I have time to write any books. And if I did, they wouldn't be about all that 'weirdness' junk that goes on this town. I figure once I finally retire, I'll publish a book that demonstrates all my perfectly legitimate business tactics. That way even the most stupid and gullible people of the world will know how to make a living off people who are even more stupid and gullible"
"Are you saying you don't have the last Journal?!" Mabel said in a high pitched voice, looking up at her uncle, eyes wide in fear.
Stan started to squirm uncomfortably under his niece's pleading gaze. He avoided her eye and rubbed his neck awkwardly, teetering on the verge of saying something.
"Mabel….well I mean…the thing is….I don't really-"
"Grunkle Stan, please!" Mabel exclaimed, reaching out for his hand again. "I got to get back there and save Dipper! I need that book"
"Hey, hey. Now calm down sweetheart" Stan said softly, getting down on one knee and putting his hands on Mabel's shoulders. "Let's just think about this for a second okay? Now look, I….I don't know anything about any…. Journals, okay? And I'm sure whatever trouble Dipper's in, it can't be that bad"
This didn't pacify Mabel in the least. "Please, I need to get the final Journal and it bring back before sunset or…or". For a brief second, her eyes welled up with tears. "Or something terrible might happen to Dipper!" She then jumped up and wrapped her arms around Grunkle Stan's neck. "You got to help us!"
Stan's body stiffened up once Mabel had grabbed a hold of him. Without even releasing it, he was now holding her in his arms. After a long moment, that dreaded sense of guilt Stan hoped he had long given up in exchange for his unscrupulous plutomania, was now back in full effect. With a heavy sigh, he gently removed Mabel's arms from his neck and set her back down on the floor.
"Of course I'll help you" he said with steely resolve, standing up again. "And I'll do it the only way I know how. By passing something completely worthless off as being valuable and authentic". He threw his hand over to Soos. "Get me crayons and glue, stat!"
Back in the underground hideout, Vincent and Gideon had resumed their search for the mysterious knife that Vincent had mentioned earlier, pulling books off the shelves, ransacking some chests and looking through more of Abendroth's personal belongings.
Dipper and Pacifica, still tied up, had been tuck away in the far corner of the room. Normally Dipper would be trying to formulate a hundred different plans on how to escape, but as of right now, his mind seemed to be focused on a single, crushing thought. Beside him, Pacifica was trying to wiggling herself free from her ropes.
"Hey Dipper" she whispered in his direction. "I think I can slip out of these. What about you? Dipper? Dipper?"
Dipper didn't even seem to be listening to her. Instead he was too preoccupied staring off into space, looking deep in thought.
"What's the matter with you?" she asked.
"He's got to be lying" Dipper said abruptly.
"What?"
"Vincent. He has to be lying. There's absolutely no way Grunkle Stan is the Author. That's just not…possible"
"Is that really what's bothering you right now?" Pacifica said incredulously. "Not the fact we're being held hostage?"
"You don't understand" Dipper said impatiently. "I spent my entire summer trying to find the Author of that Journal, thinking he'd be the most amazing person in the whole world, but no matter what I did, I could never fine any real answers. And if it turns out that Grunkle Stan has really been the Author this whole time, then that means…that means-". Dipper suddenly had a brief flashback to when he and Mabel confronted Vincent in the cemetery a few nights ago, remembering what Vincent had said to him in particular.
"That means I couldn't even find the answer when it was sitting right in front of me the whole time" Dipper finished morosely. He sighed and lowered his head, growing even more depressed. "Vincent was right. I am always one step behind"
"Dipper, could you have picked a worse time to be having self-esteem issues?" Pacifica asked in exasperation. "You don't know if Vincent was telling the truth or not. Even if he did, doesn't that make you happy? That means you uncle is really your hero"
Dipper raised his head, taking a moment to consider this. "Well, I-I guess, but why would he lie to me and Mabel all summer? Why wouldn't he trust us with his secrets? Why wouldn't he trust me? What else could he be hiding from us? Does he have the last Journal? How does he-how…?"
Dipper, who had begun to talk in rapid pace, suddenly lost himself in his words and shook his head with frustration. "Argh! I don't even know what to think anymore! Is Grunkle Stan even the same person Mabel and I thought he was all this time?"
Pacifica didn't say anything, but was now regarding Dipper with a sympathetic look as he stared down at the floor. She shifted her position a little, avoiding Dipper's eye. "Um this is kinda weird" she finally said.
"This is Gravity Falls, everything's weird" Dipper said flatly, not looking up at her.
"No, what I want to is, I know how you feel and that's weird because I don't think I've ever said that to anyone before" she said with a half-hearted laugh. "Remember when I found out about my family's bad history? I used to think my family name was the greatest thing in the world, but it turned out that it was just an appearance and underneath it was something really terrible, and that my parents were just as bad. I guess, sometimes, people just aren't always gonna be what you expect them to be. They'll pretend to be something else. Maybe because their scared of being judged by everyone else or maybe it makes things easier for them, but it just means you're really lying to-"
Pacifica abruptly came to a halt and went very quiet, her eyes widening, as if she had just been hit by a sudden inspiration.
"What's wrong?" Dipper asked, becoming cornered.
"I just got an idea on how to get out of here!" she said excitedly.
"What is it?"
"Lean closer and I'll tell you" she said, dropping her voice down low. Dipper did as she said and moved closer, dropping his voice even lower.
"Okay, so what's your idea?"
"I said get away from me you creep!" Pacifica said, so loud that it caused Dipper to jump away in surprise. "Don't come near me. I don't want to catch your fleas! Or worse, you're social status" she said, edging away from Dipper in disgust. "Could I please be transferred to side of the room that isn't seriously infested with nerds?!"
Her outburst was loud enough that it had drawn the attention of both Vincent and Gideon, who stopped in middle of their search and turned their heads back in the direction of their captives.
"Pacifica what are you doing?" Dipper hissed.
"It's bad enough you dragged me to this dirt hole, now you get me taken hostage? Again?" Pacifica said, sounding just as snarky as she did when Dipper first met her. "Do you know how much I can be ransomed for compared to you? I could probably buy you now and sell you back to these guys for a discount. Then you'll actually be worth something"
"Pacifica, this is really not helping my self-esteem issues at this point" Dipper said, half insulted, half mortified, as he tried to come to terms with her sudden relapse back to her previous snobbish demeanour. Vincent and Gideon had now come closer, watching the spectacle with a mixture of surprise and curiosity.
"Uh, please don't talk" Pacifica said with an eye roll. "I can actually feel my popularity drain from me by the second just from listening to your voice"
"Whoo-hoo, sounds like trouble in paradise" Vincent said, amused, nudging Gideon with his elbow.
"Wait a second, they're dating?" Gideon said, looking at both Dipper and Pacifica with surprise. "Goodness me, prison has put me so far behind on current events. Never in all my years, would I have thought that a Northwest would stoop so low as to be dating a Pines"
Vincent dropped his grin, his face suddenly turning into a frown. He wheeled around to Gideon, looking as if didn't hear him correctly. "What did just you say?"
"That I didn't think a Northwest would date a Pines?" he answered, shrugging. Vincent looked from Gideon from to Pacifica, until he finally settled his eyes on her.
"Wait a minute? You-you're a Northwest?!"
"Uh, yeah" she said hesitantly. "I'm Pacifica Northwest"
Vincent's mouth dropped open slightly. He stare back Pacifica, and glanced over to Dipper, until finally he slapped his hand to his forehead
"Oh, I get it now!" he said, as if realising something that should have been obvious. "Very clever. This was all your scam"
"Scam?" Pacifica repeated.
"Of course. You were just pretending to be interested in him, so you could exploit something out later. Typical Northwest. I guess the apple always does land next to the tree doesn't it?"
"Well…. yeah, duh" Pacifica said, catching on quickly. "Why else would I hang out with this loser? Ever since that stupid ghost thing nearly ruined my parent's party, they had me follow him around to try and get that weird book of his, so we can protect ourselves from anymore weird stuff"
"You what?!" Dipper exclaimed, horrified.
"Now just tie me already and I'll write you a check, then you can go shopping for capes or whatever" Pacifica said.
"I don't need money" Vincent replied. "But my family does technically owe your family a favour, so out of courtesy, we can call this even"
With a snap of his fingers, the ropes around Pacifica, slide off and she smugly got to her feet, with Dipper looking at her, his mouth hanging open.
"Consider this debt repaid" Vincent said.
"Whatever" Pacifica said with disinterest, examining her nails.
"You Northwests never change." Vincent continued, shaking his head. "You're more underhanded and devious than my family, and we're vampires for crying out loud. Anyway, you're free to go". Vincent gestured to the door, which swung open. Pacifica turned to leave, but paused for a moment.
"By the way, just want to say one more" she said.
"What?" Vincent asked, sounding bored.
Without warning, Pacifica, grabbed the back of Vincent's cape while his back was still turned and threw right over his head. She then kicked Gideon in the shin, which him produce a loud yelp before shoving him right into the still blinded Vincent, knocking them both into a tangled heap on the floor
"Don't judge a person by their family!" Pacifica ran back over to Dipper who was looking up at her in amazement as she undid his ropes as fast as she could before helping him to his feet.
"That was the best you could come up with?" he said to her, a bit too harshly
"At least I came up with a plan!" she replied, incensed. "Just come on!" Dipper didn't need much persuasion as Pacifica pulled him by the hand toward the open door.
Dislodging himself from Gideon and throwing the cape off his head, Vincent watched his two former captives make a break for the exit. With nothing but a thought, he flung one of the nearby book cases after them, cutting them off before they could reach the door. He then leapt up in the air, flying over their heads and then landing in front of them.
"Okay, Little Miss Northwest" Vincent growled, glaring at Pacifica. "You want to be my bad side? So be it"
"Get out of the way Vincent!" Dipper yelled.
"Get… out of the way?" Vincent repeated, smiling incredulously. "Okay, just indulge me for a moment, but please explain how you're gonna make that happen. What brilliant move have you got up your sleeve this time Dipper? Come on, show me what you got"
Dipper didn't answer Vincent. He just stood where he was, glancing around the room, desperately trying to think of a way out of this mess. As Vincent slowly began to advance on them, panic, fear and stress soon began to overwhelm him. There was nothing he could but to try and think. Try to think of way to think of an idea that will help him think his out of this. He tried thinking harder, hoping that would help him think of something but now he was beginning to think that thinking wasn't going to help him think of anything. Or so he thought.
His heart began to pound its way out of his chest, adrenaline started pouring into his veins, electrifying his body and killing off the piece of the brain that governed common sense and rationality, until finally it snapped. With a warrior's cry, Dipper shut his eyes and charged at Vincent, his arm raised in up.
"Left hook!"
Dipper swung his fist with all the strength he could muster, aiming right for Vincent's face. Without being very dramatic about it, Vincent effortless caught the fist in the air and was holding it in place with a piercing grip. The excitement of the moment of was now gone and Dipper felt his earlier courage drain right out of him, replacing itself with impending sense of doom. He tugged feebly on his arm which confirmed his suspicion that he wasn't going anywhere.
Vincent looked down at Dipper's fist still in his hand and then back up his face. He cocked his head to the side and gave Dipper a small pity smile, as if he was trying to say 'Really?'"
Raising his free hand up, Vincent thrust his open palm into Dipper's chest. If it had come from anybody else, the blow would have felt like nothing but a love tap, but with Vincent's inhuman strength, it was enough to knock the wind out of Dipper and send him tumbling back to floor.
After flexing his hand ostentatiously, Vincent marched up to Dipper, until Pacifica jumped in his path, standing between the two of them.
"Leave him alone!"
"Oh, girlfriend to the rescue" Vincent sneered. "Now I'm scared"
"I'm not his girlfriend" Pacifica said. "But he is my friend, so leave him alone".
Vincent clearly didn't take her threat seriously and just continued forward, however Pacifica firmly stood her ground, refusing to be intimidated.
"I said leave him alone!"
Pacifica thrust her arms out, hitting Vincent with her open palms. The second her hands made contact with him, a bolt of lightning erupted inside of Vincent's chest and sent him flying backward, crashing right into a stone wall, with a sizzling burn mark on his vest.
Dipper stared at what just happened, dumbfounded beyond words. He looked over at Pacifica, who was standing with her arms still outstretched, looking equally stunned by what she did. Very slowly she lowered her hands and looked down at them as if they might just might explode any second.
She then felt a hot sensation down on her wrist, just underneath her sleeve. She pulled it back, revealing a sliver, curved bracelet across her skin, that was emanating a faint glow but then it disappeared a moment later.
"What is that?" Dipper asked, moving up beside her.
"I-I don't know" Pacifica said, a bit fearful. "I found it my Mom's old jewellery. She said it's an old heirloom or something"
"Okay, I have about a million question about what just happened," Dipper said with a perfectly straight face. "But for the moment I think I'll just settle for, you're awesome and we should be leaving"
There were about to make another run for the exit, but Vincent had already gotten back up and moved in to block their path.
"You're not going anywhere!" he grunted, his hand over his burnt chest which was slowly beginning to regenerate.
"Oh yeah?" Pacifica stepped forward, now flaunting her newfound bracelet confidently. "Well, what you going to do now Mr Big Shot?"
No sooner had she said this, Pacifica was suddenly tripped over by some kind of unseen force. After she hit the floor, her hand was then pulled up into the air and the bracelet was wrest off her wrist. The bracelet hovered its way over to Vincent and a moment later, Gideon materialized out of thin air, holding the bracelet in one hand and what seemed to be some kind of wizard hat in the other.
"What is this?" he asked.
Vincent eyed the bracelet intently, recognition coming across his face. "This is an Ostracize Charm" he answered. "It's designed to repel a single type of being or creature by using a sample of its blood. This one has been set to work against vampires. This is why I couldn't get into the house that night" he said slowly, looking at Pacifica. "Because you were there!" Vincent let out another groan, clutching his chest in pain.
"Are you alright my friend?" Gideon asked him with the utmost concern in his voice. "You took a nasty tumble there. Here, let me help you".
"Get away from me!" Vincent snapped, knocking Gideon's hand off his shoulder. "I don't need help!"
Vincent pulled out a small seed from within his pocket and threw across the room at Dipper and Pacifica's feet. A second later, greenish vines sprouted out from the seed like a swarm of snakes and wrapped around the two of them, tying them up once again.
"This time, you're going anywhere" Vincent said, glowering at them. He turned back around to Gideon, pointing at the charm in his hand.
"Get rid of that thing!"
"Oh of course, of course" Gideon said quickly. With minimal effort he chucked the charm as far as he could across the room. "There, see. No more problem now"
Before Vincent could respond to this, he turned his head back to door as he noticed something. A small, green eyed spider had entered through the door and trotted its way across the room, stopping at Vincent's feet. He bent down and picked the spider up in the palm of his hand, and it was close enough that Dipper could see it had a large green eye in the middle of its abdomen. Vincent gazed deeply into the spider's eyes and moment later, he stowed it away into his cape
"There here" Vincent said to Gideon. "I'll do the talking, you just watch them"
Gideon didn't object to this and just stood guard over Dipper and Pacifica, while Vincent walked into the middle of the room, his eyes focused on the door. After another few moments, Grunkle Stan entered, followed suit by Mabel and Soos. In Stan's hands, was what looked to be a book exactly like the one Dipper had found, only with a number 1 written on the front. Without waiting for an invitation, Stan stepped forward, standing opposite of Vincent, and held up the Journal for him to see.
"You guy in charge?" he asked him. "Alright kid, I got your book right here. Now hand over my nephew". Stan glanced over at Pacifica. "Ya can keep the other one" he added dismissively. "And Gideon too I guess"
"Stanford Pines" Vincent said coldly, his eyes boring right into Stan. "It's been a long time" He paused as he surveyed Stan for a moment. "Huh, you look like been working out"
"Oh well." Stan said, clearly flattered. "I do hit the gym every once in a while and occasionally beat up some loiterer who falls asleep on my porch. Anything to keep my muscle guns loaded". He raised his biceps and kissed them.
Mabel walked out and stood beside Stan, pointing an angry finger at Vincent. "Let Dipper and Pacifica go!"
"First, the book!" Vincent said extending his hand. Sharing a nodding glance with Mabel, Stan dropped the book to ground and kicked it across the room to Vincent's feet. He picked up the book and regarded it with a deep sense of longing in his eyes.
"We held up our end" Stan said. "Now let them go"
Vincent took his eyes off the book and back up to Stan. "Before I do that, let me ask you something. Do remember what my favourite movie is?"
"I wanna say Dracula, but I to come off as racist" Stan replied.
"I'll give you a hint. You're about to say its second most famous line"
Before Stan had a chance to respond to this, he heard Soos voice come from behind. "Oh dudes, check this out. I just noticed all these weird seeds things laid on the floor, right in front of the only door in or out of here, in a somewhat suspicious manner. Wonder what that's about?" He bent down to pick one up with a curious expression. Just like before, green vines came out of the seeds in an instant, tightened themselves around Soos' midsection. The vines then did the same to Mabel and Stan, who fell down to his knees as the vines bound his wrist and ankles together.
"Ohohoho. I get it" Soos said cheerfully. "It was a trap"
"I guess genius and age don't mix well together" Vincent said, directly addressing only Stan who was now at eye level with. "You were never this sloppy back in the day"
From behind him, Dipper perked his ears up and was intently watching Vincent's exchange with Stan, hanging on every word he was saying.
"Well doesn't this bring back some memories?" he continued, with an unpleasant smile. "You, me, this book. Oh but wait". Vincent looked around the room in a mocking gesture. "It seems that someone is….missing". That last part carried a clear note of anger in it, as Vincent was now glaring darkly at Stan. "Now who do you think that could be, huh?"
Dipper now had his eyes on Grunkle Stan, waiting to see his response
"Off the top of my head, is it…Manly Dan?" he answered tentatively. "No? Okay uh, Tyler Cutebiker? Lazy Susan? That guy who wore the blue vest? No wait, I got it! Tad Strange!"
"You know who I'm talking about!" Vincent snapped, now turning vicious, advancing on Stan. "Don't pretend like I've forgotten what happened thirty years ago!"
"I'm not pretending" Stan said quickly, raising his hands defensively. "I just can't help but feel I'm missing out some context here"
"You promised that you'd help me, but instead you betrayed me!" Vincent yelled, drawing up closer to Stan's face, which made backed away somewhat nervously. "After everything we went through together, you stabbed me in the back and took away the most important thing in the world from me! Well now I have the power and nothing, not even you, can stop me from fulfilling my destiny!
"Look, whatever this is, I'm sure you and I can resolve it together with only a semi amount of violence and lawsuits" Stan said, trying to placate the situation. "But if your beef is with me, then let everybody else here go and we'll work this out man to….ah, undead abomination"
"Oh feeling a little self-sacrificey are we?" Vincent said sarcastically.
"That's not a word" Gideon pointed out.
"SHUT UP!"
Vincent clenched his fist in the air. Dipper felt a sudden and familiar pull come over the vines around him, as he was levitated off the ground. From behind Stan, Mabel also rose up and flew over beside her brother, the two of them now hovering over Vincent's head
"You want me to let them go?" he said. "Fine, I'll let one go and you can decide yourself Ford! Your niece or nephew, who will it be?"
From across the room, one of the swords ornaments on the wall was ripped from its holding, speeding through the air, until it stop, floating stationary in the space between Dipper and Mabel. Stan barely had half a mind as to what was going on, but this was enough to cause him alarm.
"Hey, wait, just hold a second!" he said to Vincent. "Leave the kids out of this. It's me you want!"
The sword was now rotating on a horizontally axis in a fixed position between Mabel and Dipper, moving at an incredibly fast speed, just like a game of spin the bottle, except this was probably going to end with a lot more stabbing
"What's it going to be Ford?" Vincent taunted. "Who are you going to save this time around?"
"Grunkle Stan, what is going on here?!" Dipper yelled unable to contain himself anymore. "How do you two know each other?"
"And why does he keep calling you Ford?" Mabel exclaimed in confusion.
"Kid, believe me when I tell you this!" Stan said desperately, throwing his hands out at Vincent. "I am not who you think I am!"
"I know exactly who you are". Vincent snarled furiously, going almost nose to nose with Stan. "I could never forget your face. The face of the man who I put my trust and faith into, but you were right along. In Gravity Falls, there's no one you can trust! I will never forgive for what you've done and-"
Vincent didn't finish whatever he was about to say. Right in the middle of his rant, he had glanced down at Stan's out stretched hands and the instant he did, he became transfixed by them and fell silent. Moving closer, he slowly opened out the palm of Stan's hand and stared at his fingers.
"Five fingers?" he whispered, backing away from Stan, pointing at him in shock. "You…you're not-"
Vincent cut himself off mid-sentence, as he suddenly let out a sharp cry of pain. He backed away even further, dropping Journa#1 to the floor, his hands reaching up to the back of his neck. A second later he toppled back down to the floor and doubled over in pain.
Dipper and Mabel both dropped back down to the floor, Vincent's telekinetic power no longer keeping them airborne. The sword dropped as well, stabbing itself into the floor. Vincent's hands scraped at his neck which seemed to be the source of his discomfort. Craning his head up to get a better look, Dipper could see that some kind of golden bug had impeded into Vincent's skin. Whatever it was, he couldn't seem to get it off and neither could he get back up on his feet again.
"What's….happening?!" Vincent grunted, his body now twitching violently.
He got his answer when Gideon, who had remained in the background this whole time, briskly strolled out front of him and picked up the Journal from where he had dropped it.
"That would be a Golden Scarab of Ramata-tabadata-tatablahblah" Gideon explained with a smug look. "Just a little something I collected during the day while you were asleep. It'll drain the life force right out of your body, till your nothing but a mummified husk. Oh I am sorry. Do I have your attention?"
His fangs bared in rage, Vincent made feeble lunge at Gideon but he couldn't even muster the strength to reach him.
"I'll being taking this" Gideon said, patting his hand on Journal#1. "And this!" Vincent was about reach into his cape, but Gideon quickly ripped it off his shoulders before he had the chance to retrieve anything of use.
"That'll teach you to make a fool of Gideon Charles Gleeful!"
Everyone else in the room was a bit surprised this turn of events. Dipper was the first recover himself, since he knew that villain team ups usually ended in betrayal. But with everyone's attention now on Gideon, he quickly realised that this might in fact be the perfect opportunity. Darting his eyes over to the sword sticking out of the floor a few feet away from him, Dipper slowly started to trudge his way to the blade.
The cape now in his own hands, Gideon immediately passed his hand right through its mysterious fabric into and from its void, he pulled out Jounral#3. He then opened up his prison vest and took out the ringed bound stack of papers that he had printed off from his flash drive, a large 2 drawn on the front page.
"Yes!" Gideon cheered in triumphant, holding all three books in his hands. "Yes, yes! I finally have them all! The key to ultimate power is mine! Hahahahahahahahaha!"
Gideon continued to laugh manically into the air and he went on for so long that Stan and the others were beginning to wonder when he would stop. As he kept laughing, Dipper had reached the sword and carefully started to rub against the sharp edge, cutting through the vines restraining him.
Unaware of what Dipper was doing and finally ceasing his laughter, Gideon eagerly opened up Jounral#1, like a kid about to open his Christmas present.
"Now, after all these years, I will learn the secrets of-"
As soon as he opened the book he was greeted by an impromptu blast of spray to his face. Spluttering furiously, he rubbed his face to get the spray out of his eyes. He then paused to sniff the air.
"Garlic?" he coughed, looking around the room. Stan, Mabel and Soos all started to whistle nonchalantly.
Taking another look inside the Journal, Gideon's surprised doubled as he started to flick through the pages and found there was nothing inside but a bunch of childish doodles, and some scribbled words that said 'mysterious code junk that some nerd will try and decode'.
Gideon threw another glance over at Stan, who just shrugged back at him.
"Least the cover of the book was convincing"
"It doesn't matter!" Gideon said, tossing the fake Journal aside. "I still have these two and sooner or later, I will find the final-"
With a loud snap, Dipper finally broke free of the vines. Getting to his feet and taking a running charge, he tackled Gideon to the ground, knocking the two other Journals out of his hands. They wrestled against each other for a moment, until Gideon managed to push Dipper off.
"You won't beat me this time!" he said, raising his fists. "I've been doing cardio in prison!"
Gideon waved his fists around dramatically, but then abruptly dropped them again, taking a dive for his copy of Jounral#2 instead. Reacting quickly, Dipper jumped down at the book and grabbed one end of it, while Gideon had the other. They each used their free hand to try and push the other one away, while pulling the book with the other hand.
"Get'em Dipper!" Stan cheered. "Fight for our amusement. And freedom. But amusement first!"
Vincent, still laying sprawled out on the other side of the room, now looking thin and malnourished, reached down into the pocket of his pants, and pulled out a small black pen. Steadying his hand as best he could, he aimed the tip of the pen up to the back of his neck and clicked the button, which produced a loud electronic ringing noise. Then in flash light, a thin red beam of energy shot out from the tip, hitting the scarab. Vincent held the laser in place, keeping it concentrated on the scarab until finally shattering it into pieces
Gasping for breath, Vincent appearance soon return to normal, though he still looked fatigue as he barely managed to stand up again. He turned his head up to see Dipper and Gideon were now standing up and playing tug of war with Gideon's copy of Journal#2
Raising the pen up again, he fired the laser directly at them, but wobbled and missed his mark, so instead of Gideon or Dipper, it hit the copy of Jounral#2, burning a hole through the middle, which soon set the whole buddle of papers ablaze. In a panic, Gideon and Dipper instinctively dropped the papers as they started to burn.
"No, no!" Gideon screamed, falling to his knees, trying to put the fire out, hoping to save what he could, but the papers were soon burnt beyond point of recovery. A foot then smashed down on the charred papers. Gideon turned his head up, and saw Vincent standing over him, looking vengeful beyond words, a deep growl emanating from his throat.
With the shoe back on the other foot, Gideon scurried backwards, cowering in terror, his hands over his head. Vincent was about to strike at him when he felt something pull very hard on the back of his head. From behind, Dipper had grabbed a hold of his ponytail and used it to pull Vincent away from Gideon.
Vincent now turned his full attention to Dipper. He swung his arm at him, but missed by a wide margin, his movements too lethargic. He seemed to realise this himself, because he now took aim at Dipper with his pen. Reacting as fast as he could, Dipper jumped at him, grabbing a hold his arm by the wrist and pointed the laser upward just as he fired. The laser went straight through the ceiling, burning through the solid rock like a hot knife in butter, which caused some cracks to form. Vincent tried to jerk his arms free from Dipper, but he was keeping his grip frim on him. Normally, Vincent could have easily broken free with his superior strength or used his telekinesis, but the scarab had drained away most of his power, putting him and Dipper on equal footing as the two them were now locked in a death struggle.
The laser, which was still on, was now going off it every direction as Dipper and Vincent spun around the room, cutting a clean line through the walls, celling and every other material that came in contact with the beam of energy. It also came dangerously close to hitting Stan and the others who had to duck down low each time the beam came their way.
Dipper and Vincent continued to struggle against each other, both trying to get control of the laser pen, while everyone else was trying to stay out of the crossfire. The only one missing was Gideon. In all the confusion, he seemed to have disappeared from sight. Out of the corner of his eye, Vincent could see Jounral#3, the only viable one left, was now floating in the air. Vincent pulled hard on Dipper, forcing them to make another turn, which caused the laser to sweep through the air above where the Journal was floating. A second later, the air rippled as Gideon reappeared, holding the Journal in his hands, the top half of his wizard hat having been cut off.
Now seeing Gideon with the Journal, Vincent tried to take a run at him before he made it to the door, but Dipper was still keeping a hold on him, refusing to let go. Vincent on the other hand, couldn't find the strength to shake him off, actually becoming surprised by Dipper's own vitality. Growing desperate, Vincent leaned in closer and snapped his jaw, sinking his teeth into Dipper's hand. Dipper then pulled away from him with a yelp of pain.
Once he released him, Vincent finally turned off the pen and ran to grab Gideon by the back of his collar before he could get away. He snatched at the Journal in his hands, but when Dipper tackled into him from behind, knocking all three of them down on the ground, which began were a three way dog pile between the three boys, each them fighting for possession of the Journal.
During the scuffle, Vincent lost his grip on his pen, which rolled out onto the floor away from the fight. Gideon momentarily hit against the floor, a small flash drive stick popped out of his vest and bounced its way across the room over to the Stan, who after cautionary glance, pocketed the drive before anyone would notice.
The pen on the other hand, had rolled out right in front of Mabel. Bending down, she picked the pen up in her mouth and with a spectacularly unrealistic level of dexterity, she managed to turn the laser back on, aiming it into the floor. Carefully getting to her feet, she hopped over to Pacifica and used the laser to cut through the vines around her, before hopping over to do the same for Stan and Soos. She then pointed the pen down and cut through her own vines, freeing herself. She then turned the laser off and spit it out of her mouth
"Laser pen!" she exclaimed, holding it in the air, but she soon lowered her arm again, losing enthusiasm. "Eh, it's not the same"
A huge piece of rubble suddenly fell down to the floor, an inch from where Mabel was standing, making her jump back in shock. Glancing up, they could see numerous cracks had formed in the celling and surrounding walls, the structure of the room having become destabilised due to the laser and was now beginning to fall underneath its own weight.
"Well, that adds to drama" Soos pointed out.
"Okay, I have had enough experience with debacles to know that we've bacled the heck of out of this place" Stan said. He turned to Soos. "You get the girls out of here. I'll get Dipper"
"On it Mr Pines!"
"Wait a minute" Mabel tried to protest, but Soos had already scoped up her and Pacifica in his arms, carrying them with him out the door.
Dipper meanwhile was still furiously grappling with Vincent as well as Gideon, the Journal no longer anywhere in sight. All three of them continued to push and shove against each other, but then all paused unison, when they noticed the chunks of rock beginning to rain down from above. Looking up, they could the ceiling was barely holding together and may collapse at any second
"This way! Quick!" Stan called out to them, waving this hand for them hurry. Gideon screeched in terror, immediately running toward Stan and the door, but tripped over a rock midway, falling to the floor.
"Ah, my widdle ankle!" he cried.
Dipper and Vincent had yet to move from where they were standing, as if waiting to see who might go first, the two of sharing a mutual look of hatred and mistrust with each.
That's when two different things caught their separate sets of eyes
Laying just a few feet away from him, Dipper spotted Journal#3. He knew what he was about to do was insane, but that didn't matter to him right now. No matter what, he couldn't leave without that Journal.
Beside him, Vincent had noticed a chunk of rock that collapsed out from the nearby wall, revealing a hollowed out section. A small, curved shaped dagger fell from the spot, clanging to the floor. Vincent let out an inaudible gasp, his eyes fixed on the dagger as soon as he saw it.
Moving almost in synchronisation, Dipper and Vincent took off in different directions, each going for their own prize.
Dipper ran through the crumbling room, dodging the falling debris through a combination luck and timing, until finally he clasped his hand around the same Journal that had changed his whole summer.
"Yes!" He jubilantly held up his cherished Journal, finally returned to him. But that moment didn't last very long, because once he opened his eyes again, Dipper could see the celling was about to give way. A strong arm came swinging in and picked Dipper by the waist. He turned his head up to see that Stan had run into the room after him and was now carrying him under his arm.
At the same time, Vincent ran toward the dagger, but his legs gave way beneath him, causing him to fall face first to the floor. Fortunately for him, he landed right beside the dagger and quickly grabbed the handle of the blade. However, he when he rolled over on his back, he stared up to the celling in the exact moment when it all came crashing down.
Stan and Dipper, who were too far from the doorway, hugged it each other, preparing for the impending impact. But after a few seconds of not being crushed into mushed up pancakes, they opened their eyes to see that the celling was still above them but much lower to the floor than before.
With both hands in the air, Vincent used every bit of strength he had left, to telekinetically halt the mountain of rock and dirt just before it landed on him, but he was straining himself just to keep the effort up and as a result he couldn't move from where was.
As with surviving life threatening debacles, Stan also had enough experience to know when to take advantage of somebody else's hard work to benefit himself
"Thanks for that" he said, giving Vincent a quick thumbs and then ran out the doorway along with Dipper, without a moments pause. But after pausing for a moment he back up again, picking Gideon up by the collar and then ran out the door without another moment's thought.
Vincent was now alone in the room, still keeping the roof from caving in on him. It slowly started to become heavier and heavier, until eventually he couldn't hold it any longer and just let his arms fall back to the floor in defeat.
"Oh, not again!"
Running up the stair and through the abandoned ice cream store, Stan vaulted right through the door, just as the entire building collapsed on itself behind them one second later. When the dust clear, Stan, Dipper and Gideon were lying down on the pavement, the ruined ice cream behind them.
Soos, Mabel and Pacifica, who had all made it safely back outside, rushed over to Dipper and Stan's side.
"Are you alright?" both Mabel and Pacifica asked Dipper.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine" Dipper coughed out, getting to his feet. He tried to steady himself as he stood up, but was almost knocked back down when Mabel wrapped her arms around him in a crushing embrace.
"I'm glad you're ok" she said.
As soon as Mabel let go of Dipper, she latched right onto Pacifica, taking her by surprise. "I'm glad you're ok too"
"Ah…. thanks" she said, lightly patting Mabel on the back.
After releasing Pacifica, Mabel turned around when she came face to face with Gideon who was holding out his arms, a huge smile on his face, apparently expecting his own hug. Mabel frowned at him and shook her head. Gideon smiled nervously backtracked a few feet, when he suddenly bumped into a pair of legs.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Gideon wheeled around to look up at Stan, who was looking back at him with a wryly smirk.
"Looks like someone has to go to jail. Soos, put him the in sack"
"You haven't seen the last of me Stan Pines!" Gideon warned. "I'll be back and-". Doing just as Stan said, Soos stuffed Gideon inside of a sack that seemed to appear out of nowhere and slung him over his shoulder, Gideon's cries of protest muffled inside the bag.
"Are you sure, you're alright?" Pacifica asked Dipper once again, concerned in her voice.
"I'm fine, really" he assured her. He then grinned slightly. "Although, I think my social status is just as low as ever".
Pacifica's face dropped to anguish as he said this. "Hey, I didn't mean those things I said before, I was only-"
"It's okay, it's okay" Dipper said, with a slight laugh, putting a hand on Pacifica's shoulder. "I know what you meant". Pacifica smiled back at Dipper with relief
"So, you think Vincent survived that?" Mabel asked her brother, looking over the ruins of the former building.
"If he did, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough" Dipper said, grimly
"Well, kids it's late and we just destroyed a building" Stan said, as if that was a normal occurrence for him. "Time to vamoose before the cops show". Stan ushered the kids to come along, but Dipper tugged at his arm to get his attention.
"Um, Grunkle Stan, about what happened in there" he began. "I mean all that stuff Vincent was saying. About you and the-"
"Ah that kid was just nuts" Stan said dismissively. "I honestly had no idea what he was talking about"
"So, you're not the Author the Journals?" Dipper said, with some slight tension in his chest.
"No, of course not" Stan said, with a gruff smile. "The only mystery I'm interested in is where I can put my ice cream sandwich where Soos eat"
"Yeah, I figured it must have been a mistake or something" Dipper said, chuckling a bit too obnoxiously. He cleared his throat and spoke again. "And thanks. For saving me back there, you know"
"Ah it's fine" Stan said, giving Dipper a small nuggy. "Mabel would have kicked my butt if I let anything happen to you"
"And I thought my parties were wild" Pacifica mused as the group started to walk down the street. "You guys literally tire up this town"
"Don't about you" Mabel said "But I scored big time on this one". She waved Vincent's black pen in the air teasingly. "I got a laser pen! That fires actual lasers of death!"
"Normally, I would be going crazy over that" Dipper admitted. "But right now, all I can think about is that I finally got my Journal back!" Dipper hugged the book to his chest, happier now he had been for a while
"Oh yeah I almost forgot" Stan said, coming to an abrupt halt. He turned on his heel to face Dipper. "Give me that Journal".
"What?!" Dipper exclaimed.
"I said give me that Journal" Stan repeated, his expression unwavering. "I told you before didn't I? I'm taking it back and this time it's for good"
"But I only just got it back" Dipper protested.
"Then you won't miss it that much will ya? Now give it to me. That book has done nothing but get you and your sister in trouble. I'm only trying to look out for you two. This for your own good"
"But I still need it to-"
"Dipper, quit arguing with me and hand over that book" Stan cut over, growing more impatient. "I'm not gonna ask you again. Give it to me!"
Stan reached his hand down and tried to forcefully pull the Journal out of Dipper's hands. Dipper could feel the book already slipping through his fingers once again. It was about inch from being pulled away, when Dipper felt another fire erupt in his head.
"No!" He tugged the Journal out of Stan's hand, taking him by surprise.
"This is my book!" Dipper said fiercely, clutching the Journal to his chest protectively. "I found it and I can do whatever I want with it. And the only person I'm going to give it to, is the Author, when I find him. And if you're really not him, then….. then it's none of your business!"
Dipper stared up at Grunkle Stan, refusing to give in. Stan returned his gaze, looking more cankerous than usual, until he finally sighed in exasperation.
"Alright fine, keep the stupid thing" he grunted. "But next time you're being held hostage, you better just hope they ask for a cheap ransom".
Stan turned his back on Dipper and walked on. Dipper, who was still holding onto the Journal, was now staring intently into Stan's retreating back as if seeing something that wasn't there before. The others were taken back by the exchange between the two of them. Mabel in particular, looked stunned by her brother's outburst
"Dipper, are you…?" she said, moving to touch him, but he just brushed her off.
"I'm fine" he said curtly. "Let's just go home". Dipper walked on ahead, keeping his distance as he followed behind Grunkle Stan
Mabel remained where she was and watched with apprehension, as it looked as though something very bad had opened up between her two favourite people in the world.
Hours later, the remains of Bud and Larry's Ice Cream Store had not been disturbed since. However the rubble began to shake as if an earthquake had just struck. There came a small explosion from underneath the ground, as a section of the rubble was fire up into the air.
Vincent, covered in dirt and mud, climbed up out of a hole the ground, his. In his right hand was his now mud soaked cape and in his left hand, was the dagger he risked being buried alive for
"You think this is over Dipper?" Vincent whispered aloud, his brow furrowed in anger, as he wiped some dirt off his face with his sleeve. He looked down at the dagger, the shiny metal of the blade unable to produce his reflection. "I'm just getting warmed up"
He turned his head upwards, his resolve toward his mission still as iron clad as before, but now his mind was also turning toward thoughts of vengeance against a certain of pair of twins, one them in particular. This atmosphere was then unceremoniously cut short when a tub of expired ice cream landed on right Vincent's head from up above
And. That. Is. Done
So, I couple things I'll close off on. First, as always, I hoped you all enjoyed the chapter. And I would really like to apologize for how long it took me to get here. The fact that I'm putting this up on Christmas Eve is definitely not the reason for the delay, it's pretty much just a happy coincidence.
I am a slow writer when I write anything. It's mostly when I start in setting up the structure of what's going to happen, but once I get into it, I speed up. Another reason is I that I wanted to take a short break of writing for a while, as it was taking up a lot of my energy during that time.
This chapter became a lot longer than I initially anticipated, but I did plan on packing a lot of stuff into it. In a way, I suppose you could call this something of a mid-season finale, due to its length and drama
Also, for those wondering about Vincent biting Dipper, don't worry. He's not going to become a vampire. Vincent can't turn anyone else into a vampire by biting them. The reason being is that he's still an adolescent. By vampire standards, he's about the same age as Dipper and Mabel, though he likes to think that he's at least a teenager.
The next chapter will indeed be shorter and it will be more a filler kind of episode. Also it will feature the appearance of very special guest character, which I'll leave up to your imagination…..It's Bill Cipher
Anyway, guess I'll end this by saying that I wish you a happy holiday to everyone and please leave a review if you can. Peace out