Hey guys! New chapter! Also, this will now be updated every week on Fridays. Enjoy! Idk what else to title this chapter.

3 years ago...

Dipper sat at the kitchen table, idly twirling his fork. His eyes moved from uhis empty plate to the untouched one across from him. He thought to himself boredly and leaned back in his chair. He let out puffs of air in a tune, waiting for the time to go by. His gaze wandered to the clock on the wall.

10:00 a.m.

Dipper sighed to himself and got out of his chair. The wooden legs creaked over the floor boards. "This is getting ridiculous." The boy ran a hand through his hair, wondering what was taking his dad so long to get up.

After a moment, he found himself at his bedroom door. He ventured to knock, tapping his foot on the ground. "Dad! Are you awake yet?" His only reply was a loud snore from the other side.

Dipper raised his eyebrow and stepped through the door. He found his dad sleeping, body outstretched over the bed. Looking him over, Dipper found himself even more confused. Is he... fatter? Did he gain more weight in the two weeks I was gone? He turned pink, embarrassed by his thoughts, even if he was the only one who could hear them.

No, no, of course not. It just looks like that from this angle. Dipper dismissed the thought.

He tapped the older man's shoulder, clearing his throat. Ford shifted in the bed. "Dad, I get that you want to sleep in, but this is kind of pushing it. Soos and Wendy will be here in a bit," he said. Dipper gave him one more jab.

Ford sat up clumsily and fell off. "Ow! What's happening!" He struggled with the sheet on his head before calming down.

"Dad it's ten in the morning. You never sleep in this late."

Ford blinked, then after a moment of playing back what the boy said, he nodded. "Right. Sorry. It's just been a while since I slept in an actual bed."

"What?"

"Nothing!" Ford got to his feet and stretched, the sound of his joints popping accompanying it.

He left to go get dressed for the day, leaving Dipper alone and confused.

...

"Something's weird with my dad," Dipper said, sitting on the porch with Wendy and Soos. The sun was beating on their face, making Dipper have to shield himself with his hand.

Wendy lay on her back, her lags dangling. "Normal Mr. Pines weird or weird Mr. Pines weird?"

"Weird weird. I don't know, it's just..." he sighed. "Something's off about him."

A smirk crossed Wendy's face. "Maybe while you were gone, he was abducted and replaced with an alien clone!"

"Rawr!" Soos added, holding up his hands like claws. Wendy nudged Dipper and he let out a chuckle.

They were interrupted by the sound of someone opening the front door. Ford stood behind them. "Hey kids. Whatcha talking about?"

"Oh, Dipper just was saying-" Soos was interrupted by an elbow from Wendy. She gave Dipper a smile and ran her fingers over her lips, pretending to zip it up and throw it away.

"Just chatting about what we might do today," Dipper covered. His voice squeaked a bit, making Wendy and Soos giggle. Dipper turned a faint red. "So, what monster are we're going to track down today?" He grinned widely, hoping he looked convincing. Though to be honest, it probably just made him look more suspicious.

"I vote Zombies!" Soos said, raising his hand.

"No way! We should track down werewolves!" Wendy offered. She shook her fists excitedly, her fiery hair sprawled out on the ground. "Maybe they'll let us into their pack!"

Ford rubbed the back of his neck. "I was thinking, maybe..." He hesitated as Dipper tried to read his body language. "What if we... didn't go hunt monsters...?"

"Like a day off?"

"Like we stop the research all together."

That statement hit Dipper like a brick. He blinked a few times, wondering if he had heard him right. Finally, he managed to ask, "What?"

He glanced to his friends, who looked just as confused as he was. They all stared at Ford, waiting for some sort of explanation.

Ford rubbed his hands together nervously. "Well, I just think that monster hunting is not the safest job in the world. And not to mention, I'm getting older now, and I can't do this forever. So..."

All three kids jumped to their feet.

"But our research!"

"Monsters!"

"Adventure!"

Ford threw his hands up defensively, eyes wide. "Look kids, don't worry, it's not like I'm going fire you." That was directed at Wendy and Soos. But Dipper still felt like he needed a little more reassurance and explanation than that.

"But then what are we going to do if we aren't cataloging monsters or playing with-" Wendy shook her head, "- I mean, storing your experiments?"

Dipper remained silent, eyes fixated on the ground. The gears turned in his head, trying to make sense of all this. Surely his father wouldn't throw away his life's work with the simple excuse of "I'm getting old and it's dangerous." Would he?

A smile crept onto Ford's face. "Eh, but you know what isn't dangerous and is actually profitable? A gift shop!"

Dipper stopped. I'm sorry, what now?

The kids tilted their heads at the man, who seemed to be the only one unable to see the madness of his words.

"Wait, kids, here me out. We can set up all that stuff in the basement for show and sell random nicknacks to tourists! And if we ever run out of real stuff, we can make fake stuff!"

Dipper gave his father a weird look. "That is the worst idea ev-"

"Scamming people? Awesome! I'm in!" Wendy said, shooting finger guns at Ford. Dipper stared at her in disbelief.

"I mean, it doesn't sound as cool as monster cataloging, but if Wendy likes it, sure!" Soos added.

Dipper's eyes widened. Throwing up his hands he said, "Are you guys insane! This is a horrible idea! Dad, you've been researching the abnormal since before I was born and now you're just throwing that away!"

Of course, no one heard hip because now they were parading inside, cheering, "Gift shop! Gift shop! Gift shop!"

Dipper tugged on his hair with an angry sigh. "That's it. They've all lost their minds." His voice quivered. We're really never going on another expedition? No more adventures? What happened!

Thankfully they had all gone inside, so none of them saw Dipper's eyes get watery. After realizing he was starting to cry, he sucked it up, wiping the tears with his sleeve. Nope! He would have none of that!

Dipper ran up to his room, subconsciously slamming the door behind him. When he noticed he did, he winced. He opened the door again and closed it softly this time. Once he was alone, he sighed and sunk to the floor.

His eyes wandered to his bed. He had been so off put by his dad's recent behavior that he had forgotten to make it. Maybe making his bed now would make him feel better.

He stepped over to it and started by pulling off the blankets. As he did, the pillow knocked to the floor with a thunk.

Thunk. Pillows didn't go thunk.

Dipper raised an eyebrow, his frustration changing into curiosity. He picked up the pillow from the floor, dropping the blanket. In the pillow case he immediately felt something hard. Reaching his hand in, he pulled out a book.

On the cover of the book was a golden template of a six fingered hand and the number 3 written over it.

"Dad's field journal? What's this doing in here?" he questioned. A paper stuck out of the book, and he opened it up.

The paper was a note, written in his father's handwriting. Dipper scanned it over:

Dear Dipper,

I never wanted to keep secrets from you, but it seems that's where it's come to. I'm certain I've protected you the best I could, but I still can't help but feel like something terrible is about to happen. I can't tell you everything, but I want you to know that even when I felt I could trust no one, you were by my side. You're the best son any man could have.

And so I am entrusting you with my 3rd journal. I have already found places for the other two and I have now realized they must be kept separate at all costs. If one man were to have them all, the knowledge they hold combined would be too dangerous for this world.

If somethings happens to me, take care of this journal. I'd say guard it with your life, but you are too precious to me to risk over a book.

Dipper, there are some things about me that you don't know. And I'm sorry I couldn't tell you everything. But I fear he is watching me. And it would be dumb to write it all on paper for you.

So I leave you this warning. TRUST NO ONE! Not even me.

Your proud father,

Stanford Pines.

Dipper turned over the paper and looked at it from all angles. His heart was racing now and his stomach uneasy. He traced the charcoal letters with his finger, a million questions running through his mind.

He sat down on his bed, holding the letter in his hand. The sound of his friends and family cheering drew his eyes to the door. "What's going on with you, dad?"

He turned his attention back to the journal and flipped through the pages. But what he found in the back of the book surprised him. After a few blank pages were pages filled with scribbles. The scribbles made out one eyed triangles with top hats or just gibberish writings.

"Never seen these pages before," he mumbled to himself. He narrowed his eyes at a spell inscribed on the page. He read it over aloud to himself, punctuating the consonants.

He looked up from the book, wondering if anything had happened. After a moment of silence, he bit his lip.

Then suddenly, a gust of wind blew around him, despite the fact that no windows were opened. The gust of wind blew harder, shoving him to his feet.

He let out a small gasp, the wind forming a tornado in the middle of the room. Then a burst of bright light. Dipper covered his eyes with his arm. Then there was a loud ringing in his ears.

Once the light and ringing had cleared, he put his arm down. Before him floated a yellow triangle, one huge eye peering down at him.

Dipper stumbled backwards, his jaw gaping. Eyes wide, he tried to make sense of what was going on. Stepping back, he tripped over a knot in the carpet.

"Don't hurt yourself now!" the triangle said, despite not having a mouth.