Hello readers. I'm EJthe24th, the author of Omni Falls. To be honest, this is my first fanfic I've ever published and I'm a bit nervous doing it. But my excitement and my curiosity for making this story possible outweigh my nervousness, so go figure. You guys probably are asking: "Why make a crossover of this?" Well, besides the obvious, I like these two shows a lot and want to make a universe that blends these two together like PB and J. I figured "Why not blend the action and badassness of Ben 10, with the lore and mystery of Gravity Falls, and the overarching stories between the two?" But even with all that, it's going to be a lot of work despite the fact that I'm excited to publish this. I won't have the exact date on how many chapters I will be posting but already have Season I panned out. Ahh. Not with that outta the way, please enjoy the story.
Also, I don't own Gravity Fall or Ben 10. They belong to Alex Hirsch and Disney and Man of Action and Cartoon Network. The only thing I own is this story and a plush chameleon.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Gravity Falls, Oregon. This place seems normal to average tourists, but in all honesty, they wouldn't be wrong. The town itself is surrounded by pine trees, where the forest is home to various wildlife and other….inhabitants, there is a town square with multiple buildings used for business across the various areas and town hall near the town square. Average town, average people, and average day-to-day life, right? Aside from this, there's one place where an individual will see when they come to this sleepy town: the Mystery Shack.
The Mastery Shack is simply a tourist trap. This shop is able to attract many visitors with its absurd legends and lore, yet somehow this business is able to make a large profit each time a group of gullible tourists would come by to get souvenirs and knick-knacks. The one that leads this business was "Mr. Mystery" himself, Stan Pines. He is a skilled con artist who is able to keep this shack running through lucrative means and has no shame in it, so long as he managed to make some cash. Honestly, he is rather content with this lifestyle for 30 years.
That is until his nephew and niece, Dipper and Mabel Pines arrived. The twins were bought by their parents believing they needed to be outside more and figured going to stay with their great uncle was a good idea.
The twins themselves see things differently in life: Mabel was a ball of sunshine and energy, Dipper was more critical thinking, Mabel was free-spirited while her twin brother was more self-conscious. Despite these polarities, their bond remains tightly-wound and has been ever since. The twins have different views of being in this town so far. For Mabel, she seems to have no problem with where she was; she took it in happiness and stride, whether it's having splinters in her hands or a goat chomping on her sweater, she doesn't let it bother. Dipper, on the other hand, felt on edge since he first got here. He couldn't explain it in words but he just feels like the weirdness he felt for this town was like an itch. An itch that he can't scratch. Despite this, Stan seemed to not care and was focused on his tourist trapping, to which he and Mabel work as an extra set of hands for his business.
As business is slow in the shop, one of the Pine Twins takes this as an opportunity to finally find a summer romance, as Mabel hides behind a row of Stan-bobbleheads. She peeks to see one boy reading her note aloud.
"Uh…..Do you like me? Yes? Definitely? Absolutely?", the boy reads, confused as he looks around to see who gave him the note.
"I rigged it!", Mabel whispers to herself, excited and proud her plan worked. She's on a roll. Dipper is wiping a jar as he looks at her congratulating herself.
"Mabel", Dipper states, finishing clean, "I get that you're in this "Boy Crazy" phase, but you're really overdoing it with the crazy part."
Mabel turns her head to her twin, incredulous to his claim. "What?", she scoffs, blowing a raspberry at her brother, "Come on, Dipper. This is our first summer away from home. It's my big chance to get an epic summer romance."
"I know", Dipper replies, "But does this really mean you have to be attracted to every boy you see?"
Dipper isn't really wrong about this. Since Mabel got her, she's been constantly vying for the attention for every boy that came her into peripheral vision and most of them ended in either a.) the boys being more confused about what's going on, b.) they would be uncomfortable by her presence, or c.) they would run away from her. Is she truly not self-aware about what she does that constantly, Dipper isn't really sure. He really doesn't understand why she's doing this, it is the beginning of summer. She had time.
"Mock all you want, brother" Mabel pouts, not allowing her brother's deter her from her goal "But I got a good feeling this summer. I wouldn't be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right now." To her disgust and to her twin's humor, the man of dreams turns out to be her grunkle, who is choking on his own burp.
"Hey, I need someone to go hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest.", Stan demands, holding up Mystery Shack direction signs.
"Not it!", the Pine twins reply quickly, expressing their reluctance to do something foolish.
"Uh, also not it.", Soos, the Hispanic overweight handyman of the Mystery Shack, answers at the last minute. Stan stares at his employee with uninterested eyes. "I didn't ask you, Soos", he drones.
"I know', Soos admits, as he pulls out a chocolate bar to eat. "And I'm okay with that." Stan just facepalms in annoyance as no one is willing to take this task, so he turns to his other employee in hopes she would do it.
"Wendy!", the boss calls out to his adolescent employee. "I need you to put signs in the forest for me!" Woefully, the young redhead is too invested in her magazine reading to do anything. "I mean, I would but" she grunts as she makes a pitiful attempt to reach, being too lazy to actually do it. "Too...far...to….reach...it"
"I'd fire all of you if I could.", he grumbled, as nobody wanted to do this task. Well, it's a good thing that you have family to help you out, right? "Okay, let's make it…", Stan starts to choose, swiping his finger between the Dipper and Mabel, "Eenie….meenie…..miney…..you." His finger lands on Dipper, who is in disbelief at his grunkle's choice.
"What? Grunkle Stan, whenever I'm in the woods, I feel like I'm being watched", he explains, feeling unnerved doing this, much to his grunkle's irritation.
"Ugh, this again", Stan rolls his eyes.
"I'm serious.", he insists, "Something is weird in this town. Just today, my mosquito bites spelled out 'BEWARE'" He pulls up his sleeve to show his grunkle. Stan leans down and squints to read the marks.
"That says 'BEWARB'', Stan corrects his nephew, who scratches in either in embarrassment or because it itches a bit. He sighs and gets down on a knee, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Look, kid", he explains to his nephew, "The whole "monsters in the forest" thing is just a local legend, drummed up by guys like me to sell merch to guys like that." He points to a sweaty tourist, who was way too invested in a bobblehead in his hand. Having made his point across, he gives the signs to Dipper. "So quit being paranoid and put up the signs!"
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Klunk-Klunk-Klunk!
Dipper couldn't believe he's doing this. Not only does his grunkle not believe what he is saying about the sensation that he got from being in this town, but he also forced him into putting up the signs up around the forest. Honestly, he just wants to get this done so he could head back because the forest is making him feel unnerved. He's just finishing putting up another sign on a tree before grabs his minipack to put the remaining arrows and tools in before continuing to trek deeper in the eerie forest.
"Ugh, of all people, it had to be me going out to the scary parts of the forest", he complains, as he looks across the various trees that sway with the wind, which doesn't help in the slightest. He still couldn't shake off the feeling, if anything, it started to slowly magnify. Honestly, what is up with this place? Why does it seem to be him who can feel this disturbance? Why is-
"Oof!"
He suddenly trips on something that scraped his knee as he lands face first. Dipper winces as he shifts onto his back as he looks at the scrape on his foot. "If I only had my first aid with me", he complains to himself, forgetting the tool that might come in handy in case something like this happens. Just as he's about to pull himself up, he notices a shining glare near his foot. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he starts digging with his hands to pull out the object and holds it up, with one hand on top, the other at the bottom.
"What is this?", he asks himself, fascinated at the object he's holding. Said object is silvery and smooth on the surface, it has the look of an oversized pearl if Dipper wants to make a comparison. It's also very sturdy, due to him lightly knocking on the surface, and as far as he knows, there weren't any lines anywhere it could be opened, same with having no buttons. Its size isn't as big and as small to fit in both of his hands. "Hmm.", he contemplates for a moment. Should he really be taking this with to the shack after this was done? He doesn't know what this object is or what it could do, but at the same time, this can help figure what is up with this place. After a few minutes of hard thinking, he decides to carry the sphere under his armpit, continuing to do his work.
An hour passes, yet Dipper still had to put in a few more arrows. He hammers in an arrow in a tree, starting to feel exhausted from doing this. He stares at the sphere next to him, still in the same place he left before he looks at three more arrows. He started to get annoyed and remembers that he was still in the deeper parts of the forest. He looked up at the trees, which looked darker and more sinister. He grumbles before grabbing the sphere and the arrows, head to last trees. He puts down the sphere on the side of one of them, before heading to the first one, oblivious to the fact that he touched the sphere on the sides. The sphere starts to glow green on the points where his fingers touched it for a brief moment. It continues to do it until the sphere opens with a quiet hiss revealing something.
Dipper finished hammering the arrow in the tree. He walks over to the last tree, tired to the point that he wants to call it quits and head back. But he knows if he does that, Stan would chew him out. He sighs as he gets the hammer nail to put the arrow in place. "Ugh, Grunkle Stan. Nobody ever believes anything I say.", he grumbles, clearly annoyed that his grunkle with everybody else not taking heed to his words and he hammered the arrow, hearing a clang in the process…..
….
Wait.
"Huh?", Dipper is stumped. He puts his ear near the tree trunk and taps his hammer again, hearing another clang. He wipes away some dust and finds a line that opens the trunk. It acts as a secret window, revealing a mechanical box with two control switches on the top. He tests one control switch but nothing happens. He does it again with the other one; he hears the ground shifting and Gompers the goat running away. "What the?", he turns around to see a hole in the ground and in it was an old book. With the same curiosity he had for the sphere, he picks up the book and lays it on the ground, looking left and right for people to be around before opening it up. On the first page of the book, there is an eye-glass in it. He picks it up before putting it down and continues to flip through pages. Dipper goes to the next page to find some writing. "It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began studying the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon.", Dipper reads aloud, from the page confused by this. "What is all this?", he asks, confused by the content he's finding and what they mean.
He keeps flipping through the pages seeing various creatures and phenomena. until he hits a particular page. He is intrigued by this page because of its content: On this page, is a picture of a being made entirely out of crystals, posing as if it is ready to battle something, with a blade of a right hand. But what catches his attention the most with this page is the name on top.
Petrosapian.
He stops at the next page, reading these words
TRUST NO ONE
"Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I'm being watched. I must hide this book before he finds it. Remember: in Gravity Falls there is no one you can trust", Dipper finishes reading, before closing the book and digesting its word. "No one you can trust."
Hummmmmmmm-Hummmmmmm
"Hu-?" Dipper turns around at the noise, only to see something green and glowing charging at him. "AAAAHHHH!" He puts his left arm up in defense before the object tackles him to the ground hard, dropping the book. He groans in pain before getting up, rubbing his head to ease the throbbing he felt and slowly blinks to bring his vision back.
He feels something on his left arm. More specifically, his wrist.
He looks down to see a watch. Once his memory came back, he starts screaming frantically, trying his hardest to pull this thing off, using sticks and rocks to remove it somehow. But it was all moot. After trying multiple times to get this thing off him, he does his best to calm himself down, breathing very slowly and sits down on the ground. He takes this moment to look at this…."watch" on his wrist. It is slim and sleek, with a green wristband, and the face of the dial is black and green hourglass. He brings the watch close to his face, inspecting it. It doesn't look like a bomb or anything. Could it be a parasite or a virus? It is too early to say but he feels normal. No pain except the dull throbbing in his head and he didn't feel sick at all. He starts pulling on the watch itself until it started to hurt him. So it confirms that whatever this thing is, it's attached to him. Okay, that's the easy part.
Now, what could this watch do?
Looking at the first time, he knows it can't tell time. So what is it? He looks at the watch before getting the journal he found and looks through some pages. So far, there's nothing in here that can explain to him what this thing is. He gets up, grabbing the journal and looks at the watch again, having no idea on what it can do. He looks at it slowly putting his finger to press the hourglass part of the watch. Maybe there is something he has to-
"HELLO!"
"AH!", Dipper screamed almost dropping the journal and instantly hid his left arm behind his back, turning to look at his twin sister. "What'cha got there, some nerd things?", Mabel inquires, curious as to what her brother has on him. This is making him nervous. How is he going to tell his sister about this?
"Uh, uh, it's nothing!", he nervously chuckles, hoping his half-attempted lie would steer him clear.
"Uh, uh it's nothing!", Mabel playfully imitating her brother, laughing at her brother's fidgety response. "Come on, are you not gonna show me?"
"Uh..", Dipper wants to make a retort but he can't find one. Honestly, Mabel is the only one he can trust with something this big. Whenever there was something that was going on with, she's the first person he would go to, so why is he afraid to tell her something like this? He is pulled out from his thoughts as he turned around to see Gompers nibbling on the journal.
He turns to his sister, "Let's go somewhere more private."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
As Mabel sits on the recliner with her brother explaining what he found in the journal, she keeps taking a few glances at Dipper's new watch. She was curious as to where he got it because she really liked how cool it looked.
"It's amazing, Mabel!", Dipper exclaims, finally proven right about the weirdness he felt in this town. "Grunkle Stan said I was being paranoid, but according to this book, Gravity Falls has this secret dark side." He shows her various pages that he found. "And get this! After a certain point, the pages just stop, like the guy who was writing it... mysteriously disappeared."
"Wow, that's awesome", she's amazed by this, she really couldn't believe there is something odd about this town. But now, she wants to know something else. "But where did you find the watch, bro? It looks nice."
The air grows tense.
Dipper rubs his arm in nervousness, he really doesn't know how to explain this to her: this obviously wasn't a watch but he really doesn't know what it is. And he really doesn't wanna lie to her. He guesses he can figure it out later on. He inhales deeply before closing the journal looking at his sister.
"Mabel.", he starts, already feeling uneasy as he holds up the 'watch'. "When I was putting up the signs, I found this weird looking sphere. As I left next to put up the rest of the arrows, I was reading through the journal until this thing-", He points to the 'watch'. "-latched onto my wrist. I can guess that this was what was in the sphere the whole time." Mabel takes in what he says and her eyes linger on the object latched to her brother's wrist, curious as to what it is.
"Have you tried pulling it off?", she asks.
"Yes", he answers.
"Did you try pulling it off with a stick?"
"Yes."
"Smash it with the rock?"
"Yes."
"Did you try to-"
"Mabel, anything you're about to say I tried", he cuts off her questioning, "Whatever this thing is, it's near indestructible. I smashed a hammer on it and it didn't have a dent. That and, for whatever reason, it's latched on deep in my skin. No matter what we do, this watch isn't going to come off." Mabel starts to understand what he's saying, but she still looks at it. What could this thing do? She looks at her brother for a brief moment to see him looking deeply at this mysterious object, as it glows an ominous green…..
She tries to press it.
"Hey!", Dipper is snapped out of his deep thought and quickly moves his left arm away from his sister. "Mabel, what are you doing?!"
"Just wanted to see what it could do.", she admits, looking at her brother's astonished face.
"W-wha-? Mabel, we don't know what this is!", he protests, upset that his sister couldn't understand the danger this watch can hold. "For all we know, this could be a bomb of sorts or a virus, or it could be a parasite, o-or-" He stops rambling and feels his sister holding his cheeks, with a pout etched on her face.
"Dipper, calm down.", she tells her brother, "Breathe." He does what she says, feeling his heart slow and his mind clear up. "Thanks, but this still doesn't change what I said."
"How do you know it's a bomb? Or a virus?", she questions, "Has it ticked? Do you feel different?"
"I….", Dipper didn't really have a response for that. As far as he knows, the watch didn't do anything aside from glow when it latched onto him. His body feels normal and the object didn't give off any signs that it was gonna blow up. His sister's right.
Huh.
"I guess you're right.", he admits, staring at the watch, "But as of right now, let's not touch it or do anything with it...just to be safe. And I really think we should keep this to ourselves. I don't how Grinkle Stan would react to something like this."
"Okay", she agrees, respecting his decision, to which her brother thanks her. Suddenly, the doorbell rings, making Dipper jump. "Huh? Who's that?", he asks, perturbed to who's ringing the doorbell.
"Well, time to spill the beans.', she confesses as she pushes a literal can of beans. "Boop. Beans. This girl's got a date! Woot woot!" She falls back on the recliner, giggling at the fact that she finally might have a chance at a summer romance. Dipper just looks at her like she's grown a second head. How was she able to get a date so quickly, let alone actually find the boy that would agree to go on one?
"Let me get this straight", Dipper recollects, repeating himself just in case he missed something, "In the hour I was gone, you already found a boyfriend?" He's stumped when it comes to finding a logical explanation for this. There's no possible way she was able to get a boyfriend like this. Something is off.
"What can I say, Dipper?", Mabel asks rhetorically, pulling her arms into the shirt to flail her sleeves, "I guess I'm just IRRESISTIBLLLLE!" The doorbell rings again, twice.
"Oh, coming!", she runs to the door.
He sighs as his sister leaves, shaking his head at the idea of her getting a boyfriend in a day, an hour even. He sits on the recliner, reading the journal. He really is amazed by what he's finding in the journal different monsters, various items, rare phenomena, heck, even aliens like the crystal man he found. But as he's enamored by the journal, he takes a moment to look at the watch on his wrist. Honestly, he wants to know more about it but right, he doesn't wanna risk it. Maybe some other time, he'll try to figure out what it can-
"What'cha reading there, slick?"
Dipper jumps before hiding the journal. "Oh, nothing", he lies, trying to keep the journal hidden from his grunkle and immediately picks up a magazine. "I was just catching up on, uh….Gold Chains For Old Men Magazine?"
"That's a good issue." Stan guarantees, taking a sip from soda before looking at his nephew's left wrist. "Where'd you get the watch?"
Dipper looks at the watch on his hand before looking at his grunkle. "Oh, uh, I found outside. I cleaned it off and polished it to make it look better than it did before." That was a good enough lie, right?
Stan seems to buy it. "Hmm. Looks good."
"Hey, family!" Dipper and Stan turn to look at Mabel and a stranger in a black hoodie.
"Say hello to my new boyfriend!", she introduces her date as he turns around to be a brunette in a hoodie with a mysterious red liquid on his, giving a casual "S'up?"
"Hey….", Dipper greets, already feeling suspicious about this boy.
"How's it hanging?", Stan salutes with a finger pistol.
"We met in the cemetery. He's really deep.", Mabel clarifies, as she starts to feel up his bicep, "Oh, got a little muscle there." She's getting flustered by how strong he must be. Dipper doesn't like this guy.
"What's your name?", Dipper inquires, ready to know more about this guy.
"Uh…", the stranger hesitates, "Normal….MAN!"
"He means Norman', Mabels says dreamily, hugging his arm.
Dipper looks at the red liquid on his face. "Are you bleeding, Norman?"
Norman looks at the red substance before looking at Dipper defensively, "It's jam." Mabel gasped at this. "I love jam!", she cries out, swishing her hand between her and her boyfriend. "Look. At. This."
"So, you wanna hold hands...or whatever?", Norman suggests, delighting Mabel to no end. "Oh, oh, my goodness", she giggles, clearly excited at the prospect of holding hands as she runs outside. "Don't wait up!" Norman finger pistols Dipper and Stan before smack his head on the wall several and leaving out. Dipper didn't like this at all. This guy comes out of nowhere and asks Mabel out on a date but he looked suspicious.
There's something off about Norman and Dipper is gonna find out what.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
He spent a large amount of time within the attic to find out what Norman is. So far, he's got nothing at hand to give any inkling as what he truly is and what his motive maybe. He keeps flipping through pages until he finds something that may help him.
"Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes these creatures are often mistaken for... teenagers?! Beware Gravity Falls's nefarious..." Dipper reads aloud, only to pause in fear of the page before him, showing a hooded undead figure. This means that Norman is a….
"ZOMBIE!"
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Stan pauses what he's doing in the bathroom to look in the mirror. "Somebody say "crombie"? What is that, crombie?", Stan asks himself, confused by what he's saying. "That's not even a word. You're losing your mind." He just finished washing his hands, afterwards.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Dipper has to calm down. He has to calm down or else, he's going to panic. And he doesn't want that, so he breathes slowly and turns to look out the window to see his sister, Mabel sitting on a log outside, swinging her legs…..and Norman limping towards her, his hands outstretched and ready to eat her.
"Oh, no! Mabel, watch out!", Dipper calls out to his sister, scared for her safety. Norman inches closer towards her and wrapped his hands behind her neck…
Only to put on a necklace of daisies. Mabel gasps, at the sweet gesture and is smiling at him.
Dipper sighs in relief before laying down on the windowsill, thinking. Is he wrong for assuming the worst out of Norman? As far as he knows, he hasn't done anything to harm her. But at the same time, his behavior doesn't seem to be normal at all. Dipper grumbles as he puts his hands on his. "Is my sister really dating a zombie, or am I just going nuts?", he asks himself, not even sure if he had the answer.
"It's a dilemma, to be sure."
Dipper jumps up from his spot to see Soos putting up a lightbulb. Seriously, how many people are gonna keep sneaking up on him like this? He's surprised he hasn't got a heart attack.
"I couldn't help but overhear you talkin' aloud to yourself in this empty room", Soos clarifies, pulling out the screwdriver in his tool belt. "Soos, you've seen Mabel's boyfriend, right?", Dipper hesitates, trying to get a better answer from the handyman of the Mystery Shack. "He's gotta be a zombie, right?"
"Hmm', Soos thinks for a minute, twisting in the bulb. "How many brains didja see the guy eat?"
Dipper looks at Soos, before looking down embarrassed. "Zero."
"Look, dude, I believe you.", Soos reasons. Like Dipper, he has suspicion on what's really going on in this town. "I'm always noticing weird stuff in this town. Like the mailman? I'm pretty sure he's a werewolf, but you gotta have evidence. Otherwise, people will think you're a major league cuckoo clock." Dipper nods, understanding that he needs evidence in order to convince his sister that Norman isn't what seems.
"As always, Soos, you're right.", Dipper acknowledges.
"My wisdom is both a blessing and curse.", Soos replies, solemnly.
"SOOS! The portable toilets are clogged again!"
"I am needed elsewhere.", Soos backs out from where he came. Dipper looks at the camera next to the journal. Looks like he's got work to do.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Like Soos advised, Dipper takes as much evidence as he can between Mabel and Norman. He heads to his and Mabel's room, replaying the the recorded material he had as said sister is brushing her hair. So far, Norman always seemed to stumble, like his body lacks any motor control and his sense of balance, like when he's walking or when he failed to catch the frisbee Mabel throws at him. And when they're running in a grassy field, he seemed to have the behaviour of pulling himself out of a grave like an undead being. He also has no respect for using doors properly so that's a clue also.
"Mabel, we've got to talk about Norman", Dipper insists, really wanting her to listen to the evidence he has.
"Isn't he the best?", she asks wistfully, "Check out this big smooch mark he gave me!" She turns face to show a giant red cheek mark, making Dipper scream in horror. She laughs at his response.
"Gullible. It was an accident I had with the leaf blower.", Mabel clarifies, remembering how she was trying to do kissing practice with it but instead had the machine stuck to her face. "That was fun"
"Mabel, listen to me. I'm telling you there's Norman isn't what he seems.", Dipper explains, showing the journal to emphasize his point, to which his sister gasps.
"You think he could be a vampire", she asks, enjoying the idea that her boyfriend is a handsome vampire. "That would be awesome!
"Guess again, sister….SHA-BAM!", Dipper exclaims, opening a page in his journal making Mabel scream. Dipper checks the journal to realize he was on the page of gnomes. "Oh, sorry, wrong page...Sha-bam!" He shows her the page of the undead, making his sister roll her eyes.
"Ugh, a zombie? That's not funny, Dipper.", Mabel doesn't appreciate the revelation, thinking her brother is trolling her.
"I'm not joking, Mabel!", Dipper persists, not allowing Mabel's disbelief sway him in the slightest. "It all adds up: the bleeding, the limp. He never blinks! Have you noticed that?"
"Maybe he's blinking when you're blinking.", Mabel suggests, not really getting why her brother is getting paranoid about this.
"Mabel, have you forgotten what the journal said about Gravity Falls?", Dipper reminds her, "Trust no one…."
"Well, what about me, huh? Why can't you trust me?", she asks, putting on her star earrings, "Beep. Bop."
"Mabel!", Dipper grabs his sister, shaking her in the hopes that she'll come to her senses, "He's going to eat your brain!" Okay, Mabel has had enough of her brother's paranoia. She firmly removes her brother's hands from her shoulders, pushing him away.
"Dipper, listen to me.", her voice being firm when she addresses Dipper, refusing to let him voice his concerns, "Norman and I are going out on a date. And I'm going to be ADORABLE"-she points her firmly on her brother's chest-"And he's going to be DREAMY" She does it again as she continues walking up to as he keeps walking until he walks out the room. "And I'm not gonna let you ruin it with your crazy CONSPIRACIES!" She slams her, leaving Dipper speechless. He took a moment to look at it from Mabel's perspective: This is her chance at getting a date and she may not be able get another. But does this mean he's wrong about Norman? Is he right? What is he missing?
He just sighs in defeat. "What am I gonna do?"
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Dipper keeps looking through the videos but not with the determination he had earlier, no. He had the expression of forlorn permeate on his face. Maybe he is looking too deep into this and just allowed his paranoia to cloud his judgement. Maybe Norman is just eccentric. Maybe he just wants to look for love like Mabel does. And he is getting in their way.
The clock dings 5;00 and the doorbell rings.
"Coming!" Dipper hears Mabel shouts, looking up from the camera to look at his sister running downstairs, fixing her sweater and making herself presentable before opening the door beau. He hears Norman saying how shiny her sweater is before he sees them leaving the house and head out to the forest.
Dipper watches the video he collected from spying Mabel and her date. "Soos was right. I don't have any real evidence.", Dipper laments, realizing his mistake. He watches as the video shows Mabel teaching Norman hopscotch, only to fall over. He unconsciously fast forwards to Mabel and Norman with Norman's arm around Mabel. "I guess I can be kind of paranoid sometimes and— Wait, WHAT?!" Dipper watches Norman's hand fall off, giving a glance around reattaching it. He rewinds the tape and watches it again, just to be sure he wasn't being crazy, which only confirmed what he saw. Shocked right now, he screams and accidentally tips the chair backwards.
"I was right! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!", Dipper freaks out, running outside to get his grunkle, "Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Stan!" He keeps trying to get his grunkle's attention, but he's too focused on showing tourists one of his attractions, so he looks around to see the mystery cart. He runs towards to see Wendy taking the key out of the ignition.
"Wendy! Wendy! Wendy! I need to borrow the golf cart so I can save my sister from a zombie!", Dipper explains, hysterical at this point, to which she gives him the keys before heading off. "Try not to hit any pedestrians." Dipper gets in the cart and starts the ignition. But before he can drive off, he sees Soos waiting for him.
Soos gives him a shovel. "This is for the zombies." Dipper takes the shovel. "Thanks." Just as he's about to leave again, Soos gives him a bat. "And this is in case you find a pinata."
"Uh...Thanks?", Dipper takes the bat, weirded out before driving off.
"Better safe than sorry!" Dipper hears Soos yell out, but he hardly focuses on it as he only cares about saving his sister.
Who knows what could be happening to her right now?
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
As Mabel and Norman stand in the forest by themselves, he turns away from her nervously, like he was hiding a dark truth.
"Uh, Mabel", Norman hesitates, holding his zipper, "Now that we've gotten to know each other, there's…" he exhales "...there's something I should tell you." The passes by as the tensity rises in the area.
"Oh, Norman, you can tell me anything!", Mabel says in mock concern. Please be a vampire, please be a vampire!, she thinks, excited by the prospect that her boyfriend might be what she always desired.
"All right, just... just don't freak out, okay?", he insists, making sure she doesn't get appalled by what's going to happen. "Just... just keep an open mind, be cool! He unzips his coat and throws it off and what Mabel sees surprises her. Underneath, the coat…..
Are five gnomes standing on top of each other.
"Is this weird? Is this too weird?", the top gnome asks, concerned, "Do you need to sit down?" Mabel just stands there with her mouth hung open, completely in shock that her date is something else entirely than what she expected.
"R-r-right, I'll explain. So! We're gnomes.", the gnome higher up makes clear, "First off. Get that one outta the way." His response doesn't really help as Mabel still fails to process what is transpiring in front of her.
"I'm Jeff", the top gnome introduces himself before introducing his other colleagues, "And here we have Carson, Steve, Jason and... I'm sorry, I always forget your name."
"Shmebulock!", the last gnome answers.
" Yes!", Jeff snaps his fingers before looking at the dumbfounded Mabel, "Anyways, long story short, us gnomes have been lookin' for a new queen! Right, guys?" To which, the other gnomes started to chant "Queen! Queen!", really wanting to have her as their royal subject.
"So what do you say?", Jeff asks her, before tapping his foot to cause the collective to make the body kneel and hold out an engagement ring. "Will you join us in holy matri-gnomey? Matri...matri-mo-ny! Blah! Can't talk today!"
Mabel is honestly dumbfounded by what is happening right now. She honestly never expected that her date would end up like this and now, it ends up like this: her being in the middle of the forest with her boyfriend, who was not human, not a vampire…..but a bunch of gnomes asking about for her hand in marriage. She thinks it would be better to let them off easy.
"Look... I'm sorry, guys.", Mabel apologized, feeling awkward in explaining how she feels about the situation, "You're really sweet, but, I'm a girl, and you're gnomes, and it's like, 'what?' Yikes…" Mabel holds her arm, just explaining makes her feel uncomfortable.
"We understand.", Jeff accepts sadly, seemingly understanding that Mabel didn't want this "We'll never forget you, Mabel." The gnomes look melancholy, Mabel smiles appreciating their decision. Maybe they aren't so bad-
"Because we're gonna kidnap you."
"Huh?", Mabel takes double before Jeff leaps at her, screeching to, which she screams in terror.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Dipper drives as fast as he can to get to his sister and so far, he couldn't find her. Where could she be? Regardless of what happens, he still had to find her no matter what happens.
"Mabel, where are you?!", Dipper calls out. She's gotta be close, right?
"Help!", he hears his sister calling for help and heads to the sound of her voice, driving near a path that leads downwards. He stops the cart to grab the shovel and charges to the source of Mabel's cries for help, leading him witnessing her being surrounded by gnomes as she punches some them away.
Wait…..she wasn't getting attacked by a zombie but rather gnomes?
"What the heck is going on here?!", Dipper demands to which a gnome passes by him hissing.
"Dipper! Norman turned out to be a bunch of gnomes! And they're total jerks!", Mabel explains to him while trying to keep the gnomes away from here before a starts pulling on her hair. "Hair! Hair! Hair!"
"Gnomes? Huh, I was way off.", Dipper feels awkward that he got the wrong creature at this moment. He takes the journal out of his vest and reads the relevant page. "Gnomes: little men of the Gravity Falls Forest. Weaknesses: unknown.". No weakness? That might be a problem. When Dipper lowers the book, he sees that the gnomes have managed to tie Mabel to the ground.
"Aw, come on!", Mabel complains, not liking her situation at all. This makes Dipper walk towards Jeff with the shovel at hand.
"Hey! Let go of my sister!", Dipper commanded, holding the shovel close
"Oh! Ha ha, hey there!", Jeff greets, weakly. "Um, you know, this is all really just a big misunderstanding. You see, your sister's not in danger. She's just marrying all one thousand of us and becoming our gnome queen for all eternity!" He turns to the ensnared Mabel. "Isn't that right, honey?"
"You guys are buttfaces!", Mabel protests, only for a gnome to cover her mouth.
"Give her back right now, or else!, Dipper threatens, pointing the shovel at Jeff.
"You think you can stop us, boy?", the gnomes warns, narrowing his eyes. "You have no idea what we're capable of. The gnomes are a powerful race! Do not trifle with the—ah!" Dipper scoops him up and tosses him aside before he uses the shovel to cut Mabel free, to which she kicked the gnomes away and runs with her brother to the cart before driving off.
Jeff gets up, looking miffed.
"You've messed with the wrong creatures, boy! Gnomes of the forest: ASSEMBLE!"
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The cart drives as fast as it can across the forest. So far, it seems as if they managed to get away from the little men of the forest.
"Hurry, before they come after us!", Mabel begs her brother to speed up, worried that the gnomes will come after them. Dipper, on the other hand, is not apprehensive about that notion.
"Mabel, I wouldn't worry about it. See their little legs? Those suckers are tiny!", Dipper chuckles, finding the idea that the gnomes catching up to them impossible and hilarious.
He is wrong on both fronts.
Thump-Thump-Thump-Thump!
Dipper stops the cart and turns around to see a giant gnome, comprised of every gnome found in the forest. It roared in absolute fury.
"Dipper, step on it!", Mabel commands her brother. Dipper wastes no time and steps on the gas pedal. The cart drives as fast as it can before the Gnome Giant smashes its fist on the ground, causing some gnomes to fall the formation only to get back in. The giant gives chase and follows them.
"Give us back our queen", Jeff shouts from atop the Gnome Giant, controlling like a robot.
"It's getting closer", Mabel shouts, making Dipper wish the cart can go faster than it already can. The Gnome Giant starts to shoot out gnomes at the cart, to which they start biting at, along with attacking Dipper and Mabel. Mabel punches off a gnome hanging on the side while Dipper slams Schmebulock's face on the wheel, making him fall out. Dipper sighs in relief, only for another gnome that jumps out of the cart to scratch him.
"I'll save you, Dipper!", Mabel declares, punching the gnome while also hitting her twin brother's face until it falls out with his hat.
"Thanks, Mabel", Dipper expresses his gratitude despite feeling dazed from the punches.
"Don't mention it" , Mabel returns it, happy to help.
The Gnome Giant roars in indignation. To slow down the cart, it pulls out a giant tree and throws akin to a javelin at the runaway vehicle.
"Lookout!", Mabel points to the tree that's flying through the air before crashing, blocking their path. Dipper and Mabel scream as he swerves the the avoid crashing into the tree but only causes the cart to crash onto the ground near the Mystery Shack. Dipper and Mabel themselves out the totaled cart only to see the Gnome Giant towering over them.
"Stay back, man!", Dipper warns, showing fear towards the hulking beast before grabbing a shovel and tosses it, only for the Gnome Giant to crush it, the scared Pine Twins hold each other close.
"Where's Stan?", Dipper asks
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Behold!", Stan shows a swirly pattern on a stick to the tourists, "The world's most distracting object!"
"Oooh"
"Just try to look away, you can't!", Stan chuckles as he pulls the string making it spin. Eventually, everyone, Stan included, becomes distracted by the object. "I can't even remember what I was talking about.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"This has gone far enough kids. We're done playing games.", Jeff declares, controlling the Gnome Giant into getting closer to the Dipper and Mabel. The Giant gets close enough to snatch her into its giant hand. "Mabel, it's time for you to come back with us. This'll be much easier if you accept being our queen."
"Ah! Dipper!", Mabel cries out, trying to break free from it's hand, only to fail to do so once it starts to leave.
"Mabel!", Dipper exclaims as he tries to catch up to the "Let go of my sister!" The giant just keeps walking away, blatantly ignoring to his pleas of both Pine Twins. Dipper pulls out his journal to see if there's something he missed on the gnomes, but finds nothing. He tries again, again, and again. Only to find nothing. His sister cries for help ever present in his ears. What can he do? There's nothing he has on hand that can help him.
Except…..
Dipper looks at the mysterious watch and back at the Gnome Giant as it keeps walking away, having his sister in it's hand as she kept trying to escape while also calling out to her brother. He looks back at the watch with a mix of nervousness and determination before pressing the hourglass symbol on it, making the watch spring up (much to his surprise) showing a hologram of something. Something he found in the journal earlier.
The crystal being. The Petrosapian,
Dipper hesitates before pressing the hourglass symbol down.
In a massive glow of green light, getting the Gnome Giant's attention, Dipper's entire anatomy starts to change. His body starts to harden as cyan crystals start to cover him entirely. He feels himself starting to get stronger. Stronger than he's ever felt before and he started to become taller than he was previously. Dipper's physiology is exponentially nonidentical: He's 7 feet tall with his body, no longer skin and bones, entirely composed of cyan-colored diamond with a green jumpsuit-like uniform with a black stripe down the center, black boots, two sharp crystal shards on his back with a sharp head and yellow eyes. And to top it off, there's an hourglass symbol on the center of his chest.
Mabel is shocked to see what brother turned into. "D-Dipper?"
The Gnome Giant was stumped. "What the? He can turn into a walking chandelier?", Jeff asks, confused as to what just happened. Unfortunately for him and the rest of the gnomes, this "walking chandelier" is not interested in answering questions.
Dipper's yellow eyes go to his sister before glaring at the colossal conglomerate of gnomes. He speaks, despite being full of bass, with determination and anger, "I'm going to say this once: Give me back my sister. Or you're gonna regret it." Mabel is blown back by how tough her brother sounds.
The Gnome Giant, on the other hand, laughs. This walking chandelier is supposed to intimidate it? Jeff wipes a tear, laughing. "Yeah, right! There's a thousand of us and only one of you. What are you gonna do? Reflect some light to make yourself shinier? Pull some of yourself off to trade for your sister?"
Dipper's eyes narrow. "No.", he simply answers, "I'm gonna do this." He pushes his left arm out and shoots speeding crystals at the Gnome Giant, as it roars in pain. He runs forward, continuing to shoot at the colossal Gnome while turning his right hand into a blade and cuts the beast's left leg, breaking off some of the beast's formation. The Gnome Giant struggles to keep itself together, while at the same time, blocking the crystals as Dipper keeps shooting at it. It tries to move away but sees that Dipper is now punching at its leg, causing some of the gnomes to fall out.
"Hey! Stop doing that!", Jeff yells out, trying to make sure Mabel stays in one hand while trying to crush this annoying gem with the other, who keeps rolling out the way and avoids getting stomped on, smashed with the other hand, and takes the shooting gnomes without even flinching.
I gotta find a way to get Mabel free, Dipper thinks as he continues to avoid all of the Giant Gnome's attacks while also continuing to attack the on the leg he damaged. There has to be a weak spot in the formation. If I can't find one, I'll make one. With a boost in adrenaline, Dipper delivers a powerful hook to the left leg, causing the it to explode and by extension, the gnomes to fly off in different directions. The Gnome Giant falls on a knee, holding itself up with a hand that didn't have Mabel in it. Dipper takes advantage of this and plants both hands on the ground, causing a giant diamond piller to uppercut the giant's chin, causing the behemoth to fall to the ground letting Mabel go in the process.
"AH!", Mabel screams as she keeps falling until she feels a pair of crystal hands catch her. She looks to see Dipper caught her by summoning a pillar underneath him. The pillar goes back into the ground and Dipper puts her down. "You ok?", he asks her sister, wanting to make sure she's alright.
"Yeah.", Mabel nods, impressed by what her brother is and what he can do. "At least we know what that watch can do."
Dipper looks at his diamond hands and toward the hourglass symbol on his chest. "Yeah, at least we know." Before Dipper can ask himself what this means for him, a roar is heard, causing the crystalized Pine and his twin sister to see the Giant Gnome, fully reformed and charging at them, or specifically, the transformed Dipper. He grits his teeth before pushing both hands out, shooting out speeding crystals at the behemoth's face, making it slow down and cover it. "Mabel, get back inside!"
"But what about you?!", Mabel doesn't want to leave her brother behind, even if he is a rock monster.
Dipper turns toward his sister, not relenting in his barrage. "I'll be fine! Just get outta here before-URK!" Dipper isn't paying attention, until the Giant Gnome comes in and punt kicks Dipper into a couple of trees.
"Dipper!", Mabel shouts, appalled that her brother got sent flying from that attack.
"You know, we were going to let off easy, kid", Jeff explains, his aggravation reaching its peak. "But you have been a thorn in us gnomes' side one too many times! It's time for you to-Ah!" Jeff is interrupted as diamond shard whizzes past him, leaving a scratch on his face. This gives Dipper the opportunity to charge at the behemoth and smash his hands, which are now spiked balls, on the right leg.
But the opportunity never came. The Gnome Giant is prepared and grabs him before smashing him into the ground hard to leave a crater. He tries to break free, only to be punched into the ground and gets more stuck.
"Alright, that's it! It's time for this walking chandelier to be shattered!", Jeff growls, controlling the conglomerate of gnomes into getting ready to punch Dipper into smithereens.
"Stop!" Giant Gnome stops what it's doing to see Mabel standing in front of his transformed brother. She can't take her brother getting beat up because of her mistake.
"Alright, Mabel! It's time to make a choice: Either be our queen or watch your brother get crushed!", Jeff makes her choose, having enough of these obstacles preventing him and his gnomes from having their queen. Mabel looks at the giant beast then her brother, who is struggling to get himself free, only for the hourglass symbol on his chest to beep, blinking red before he turns back to normal. She realizes what she needs to do.
"I'll do it.", Mabel hangs her head in defeat, she accepts her fate. Dipper looks at his sister in shock.
"Mabel, what are you doing?! Are you crazy?!", Dipper exclaims in confusion and dismay. Why is she doing this? Mabel looks at her brother with a forlorn look on her face.
"Dipper. Trust me.", she simply responds. Jeff takes a 180 and is ecstatic by her decision.
"Hot dog!", Jeff cheers. "Help me down there, Jason!" He climbs down from his gnome brothers and approaches Mabel, holding out a diamond ring. "Eh? Eh?" Mabel smiles and holds her hand out, to which he puts the ring on it. "Bada-bing, bada-bam! Now let's get you back into the forest, honey!" He walks away with a pep in his step.
"You may now kiss the bride!", she announces, making Jeff stop and turn around.
"Well, don't mind if I do.", he says, before using mouth spray, smiling at his bride-to-be, who gave one of her and eyes fluttering. They lean in to kiss, only then for Mabel to take out a leaf blower and aim it at the gnome.
"Ah! Hey, hey, wait a minute!", Jeff is shocked by this. He gets sucked up in the leaf blower "Whoa, whoa! Wh-what's goin' on?!" Jeff struggles but just gets more sucked into the leaf-blower halfway.
"That's for lying to me!", Mabel yells, angry at the little man. She increases the sucking power. "THAT'S for breaking my heart!"
"Ow! My face!", Jeff groans, painfully as he slowly gets sucked in further.
And THIS is for messing with my brother!", Mabel declares aiming the leaf blower to the immobile Gnome Giant, before looking at Dipper. "Wanna do the honors?"
Dipper smiles at her. "On three!"
"One, two, three!", they chant in unison as they blast Jeff towards the gnome monster, causing all the gnomes to fly out in multiple directions. After threatening them with the leaf blower, they all retreat within the forest. As they all left, Mabel looks at her brother remorsefully.
"Hey, Dipper? I, um...I'm sorry for ignoring your advice.", Mabel apologizes, feeling sorry for not listening to her when she had the chance. ,"You really were just looking out for me."
"Oh, don't be like that. You saved our butts back there.", he encourages her.
"I guess I'm just sad that my first boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes.", she says.
"Look on the bright side.", Dipper proposes "Maybe the next one will be a vampire!"
"Oh, you're just saying that!", Mabel smiles, valuing her brother's gesture.
"Awkward sibling hug?", Dipper asks, his arms out. Mabel smiles and accepts it. "Awkward sibling hug."
"Pat-pat" "Pat-pat"
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Stan is counting money when he sees the Pine Twins walk in, fatigue and untidiness .
"Sheesh. You guys got hit by a bus or something?", he laughs at the kids, who scowl at him before walking away. Seeing them like this, he decides to give them something to cheer them up.
"Hey.", Stan calls out to them, getting their attention, "Wouldn't you know it? Um, I accidentally overstocked some inventory, so, uh... how's about each of you take one item from the gift shop? On the house, y'know?"
"Really?", Mabel asks, happy at getting something.
"What's the catch", Dipper questions, suspicious as he crosses his arms.
"The catch is do it before I changed my mind.", Stan grumbles, really just wanting to do this simple gesture. Dipper and Mabel look across for different items on the shelves and grab what they wanted.
Picks up a cap with a pine tree on it and puts it on, looking in the mirror impressed. "Nice."
"And I will have a…..", Mabel says before grabbing something out the box. "Grappling Hook!"
Stan and Dipper look perplexed.
"Wouldn't you want a doll or something", Stan asks, not really why she wants the item picked. Mabel just shoots the grappling hook into the air, knocking down a shelf in the process. "Grappling Hook!"
"Fair enough", Stan shrugs.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o
As Dipper sits in his bed reading the journal while his sister keeps jumping on hers, he starts to think about what happened earlier in the day. The journal said to not trust anyone but thanks to his sister, he would probably be dead despite turning into that crystal being. Speaking of the crystal being, he wonders what the watch can do and how it can do it? So far, he can assume the watch can do more than give him just one transformation but how many are there? Did the watch have aliens that can be found in the journal like the Petrosapian? These were another addition of questions he has for the town of Gravity Falls. Dipper takes a look at his sister using her grappling hook with glee to catch a stuffed animal. She really is the only one he can trust with the secrets they have.
And he has no problem with it.
"Hey, Mabel. Can you get the light.", Dipper asks.
"On it!", she replies, aiming and shooting the grappling hook on the lamp, breaking it. "It works!" The Pine Twins get a laugh before heading to sleep.
For these two, the mysteries and strangeness in this town were only beginning.
So what do you guys think? It took me roughly an entire week to get this done but it gave me an appropriate schedule for getting these down. For now, I'm going to take a little longer so I can set up the pre-writes for the next 5 chapters. Please give me constructive criticism and/or praise. Thanks guys!