I'm super stoked for this chapter because it's the first original one. The idea came from PC The Unicorn, so thanks for that my friend, I really appreciate it. So yeah, in this chapter, I'll bring in two familiar faces from the Loud House which I have been waiting to do since the first chapter, now I really hope you guys like this, because I admit, I only know how to rewrite episodes while also incorporating the Louds in it so please tell me what you think of it afterwards. Also, if you guys want to give me ideas for more original chapters, feel free to PM me your thoughts, I'm open to any idea you guys got.
Sorry to all who were anticipating The Hand That Rocks The Mabel, I'll get to that later.
Don't forget to Fave, Follow, and leave your Reviews.
Enjoy!
When he and his siblings first arrived in Gravity Falls, Dipper didn't really know how to pass the time, everyone else found a way to spend their time in this town through their usual hobbies; Lori would do constant updates on her phone, Leni went off to the store to buy new summer clothes, Luna shredded her guitar like always, it was no question that Luan was practicing her corny jokes, his jock of a sister Lynn was practicing sports, the poetic Lucy would write in her book, Lana and Lola would either argue or either play with some outside animals(Lana) or do her makeup(Lola), Lisa was trying to find a logical explanation to all the oddities they encountered here, and Lily was, well being a baby. Even his only brother had something to do, which was video chat with that Santiago girl from back home and of course there was Mabel knitting more sweaters. Yep, he was the only Loud who had nothing to do in their temporary home, but that soon changed when he found it.
The Journal.
Everyday he opened the pages of the mysterious chronicle he and his brother found in the woods, the young boy would be engrossed in the supernatural details hidden inside, but with each page read, he constantly asks this question; 'Who is the author?' This journal had to have belonged and be written by someone, but the name was torn off and there was nothing else on his or her identity. It was a mystery, and if there was anything Dipper Pines Loud loved other than Disco Girl, it was a good mystery.
"Flying eyeballs. Cool."
"AHH! Dipper lightly screeched once Lucy showed herself. "Lucy, how many times do we have to tell you not to do that?" he gave her an annoyed glance. "Plus, I thought you were with the others."
Lucy shrugged. "I was getting tired of consorting with other humans, I see you've been consulting into the journal again. you've been doing that a lot lately." she observed.
"Well of course I have." Dipper told her, as if it were obvious. "With all the information inside this journal, who knows what sort of mysteries surround this town. If only there was more info on the author though. I can't find any initials, first or last names or anything that could point to who he or she is."
"Perhaps he tried consorting with the dead and his soul was dragged to the depths of the underworld where he would suffer for all eternity." Lucy suggested. "When man tries to tamper with forces beyond their control, it can only lead to disaster."
All Dipper could do was stare at her in dead silence. "I know mom and dad say you're going through a phase and all that, but honestly Luce, we sometimes worry about you."
"No need to concern yourself with me brother, I am perfectly at peace with the dark element of this hopeless mud ball we call a planet." she left the room without another word.
Dipper shook his head. "Knew Mabel shouldn't have given her vampire novels for her birthday." he too soon got out the shared Loud sibling bedroom and went downstairs but then bumped into Lori. "Sorry." he apologized, but surprisingly she didn't tell him for not watching where he was going, in fact she wasn't even using her phone which was a rare all on its own. Curious, he went to see what was going on with his elder sibling, he saw her look out the window in a very depressing manner which concerned them. One simple fact with the Loud siblings, if something was wrong with one of them then the rest couldn't help but be involved.
But he knew better to give Lori her space so he walked away to consult with others.
Outside, the other Loud siblings were just hanging out since Duck-tective wasn't on yet, their uncle then came to them hauling a large crate of stuff that was definitely not imported illegally. "Hey knuckleheads, any of you seen Soos or Wendy? I need their help to carry this heavy crate along with all the other crates in my trunk."
"You told Soos to fix that S on the sign, Stan." Lana reminded.
"He's still not done though." Lola added.
The aforementioned S dropped on the ground as always.
"My bad dudes!" the handyman yelled from the top. "That was definitely on me but don't worry Mr. Pines I'll fix the sign, might need to but some more glue though!"
"You also gave Wendy the day off." Lincoln told him.
This made the conman to raise a brow in confusion. "Day off? I never give my employees one of those. Heck, I don't even recognize it as an actual thing, like refunds, or the law." he added with his arms crossed.
Luna shrugged. "That's what she told us."
Stan promptly face-palmed with an aggravated sigh. "Of course she did." then he got an idea, he adopted a pleading tone and expression. "Say, why don't you all help your poor old withering great uncle lift some crates. See, I'm so old that these bones are too weak to even carry a single pebble. Having to do all this heavy lifting could cause me to have an accident." they gave him deadpan stares. "Not buying it?" their collective silence was good enough answer. "Dang it, I can't keep business flowing if I don't have enough employees, Soos is a hard worker but he almost messes up everything. No offense!" he yeled to the top.
"None taken Mr. Pines, you make a very valid point." Soos said from above. "Heck, I just lost balance and am dangling o the ledge right now, so you mind getting me a ladder or something, Mr. Pines?"
His plea fell onto deaf ears. "Hmm...you know before you kids got here, I did have some computer nerd send an ad out for new employees but no one's responded yet. I wonder if I should've crossed out the fact that you may or may not get incurable sicknesses if you apply for a job at the Mystery Shack." but the conman dismissed such concerns. "Bah, I'm sure they probably ignored it or something. If anyone needs me, I'll be committing tax fraud while trying to figure out this employee mess."
Dipper then came outside with Lucy in tow. "Hey, you guys. Have any of you noticed that Lori's been acting a little...I don't know strange lately? I haven't heard her say 'literally' lately, plus she's not even using her phone."
"I sense that there is a great emptiness dwelling inside our eldest sibling." Lucy said.
"Probably because she's so far away from Bobby." Luna deduced. "When he and his fam moved to the big city, it was bad enough for her that they didn't live in the same town but now they're more than just 3 hours apart and I guess she's major sad about it."
Lincoln nodded in understanding. "I can relate, she's not the only one missing someone." the white haired kid's thoughts were filled with images of a certain girl who had the reputation of being the toughest girl in school before she moved to the city with her brother and mother, if only there was a way to bring both here to Gravity Falls and then a light bulb went on in his head. "I got it! Guys, Grunkle Stan said that he put up an ad online in this town but I bet he never sent one to the city Bobby and Ronnie Anne live in, so why don't we do that? Maybe that will give Bobby an idea to apply for a job here. Ronnie Anne told me in one of our skype chats that he's been thinking on getting a summer job that wasn't in the bodega?"
"Say little bro, that's not a bad thought." Luna said with a smile.
Leni agreed with a nod. "Yeah, that would totes make Lori so much happier."
"Definitely make her stop acting like I sad sack, we already have enough dealing with Lucy?" Luan nudged her gothic sister. "Heyo!"
"I'm gonna let that slide." the poet said.
"And I bet you'd love it if Ronnie Anne came here with Bobby, eh Linc?" Lynn lightly teased with a nudge.
Dipper had a thoughtful look as he scratched his chin. "Hmm, I don't know. I'm not saying it isn't a great idea brother, but what about all the weird supernatural and life threatening elements this town has? So far, we've dealt with gnomes, a crazy prospector with a robot lake monster, and a horde of wax figures who tried to kill our uncle. I mean, can you honestly say something happen if they do come to Gravity Falls?"
"I have to agree with Dipper." Lisa chimed. "Given the fact for a reason I haven't quite gathered, we seem to have a knack for getting ourselves involved in whatever unexplained weirdness this settlement is capable of housing so the odds that the romantic interests of Lori and Lincoln having to try and survive such anomalies would perhaps present problems on the long run. For instance, they may find themselves so fearful of them that they may end the relationship so to speak."
"Then maybe we could make sure they don't see any giant puppy dogs or a flying dolphin with muscular arms or something." Mabel suggested.
"Have you been eating too much sugar again?" Lola asked with suspicious eyes.
"Maybe."
"I think it's a great idea, dudes." Soos said from up top. "Bobby always writes to me about how he misses Lori and I could tell him about the job opening in the Mystery Shack."
Lincoln smiled. "That's great Soos." he then took note of something. "Wait a minute, you know Bobby?"
"Oh yeah, he and Ronnie Anne are my relatives, their mother, Tia Maria is my mom's cousin, and they actually sometimes visit me for my birthdays here and as far as I can tell, they never once had to deal with zombies and all that." the handyman told them.
"That settles it!" Mabel declared with a wide smile. "We are definitely getting Bobby a job here. By the way Soos, you want us to get you a ladder?"
"Nah Hanmbone, this spot actually gives me a good view. Oh look, a woodpecker-OW! OW! It's poking my eye!"
Tomorrow morning, Lori looked out of the attic window with a somber expression on her face, she gazed at her phone as she considered using to call her precious Boo-Boo Bear but it was hard to find the perfect reception here so the conversations between the two sweethearts was very limited and it just broke her heart knowing she might have to spend an entire summer with no Bobby in it. "Hey Lori." her younger brother, Lincoln said walking inside to check up on his eldest sister.
"Hi Lincoln." she greeted back, not bothering to say much else.
"Everyone downstairs has something to show you, and you might just like it." he told her with a smile, hoping she would at least try and humor them a little but she just continued to look out the window. "Sorry Linc, but I'm literally not in the mood right now, I just want to stay up here, alone, with no one to have cute phone conversations with, or to go into the tunnel of love."
It hurt Lincoln to see Lori act this way, but he was adamant in cheering her up in one of the best ways possible, something that everyone worked together on to make into a reality. "Lori, I know why you're so sad lately. It's Bobby isn't it?" she didn't answer right way but it was good enough for him, he then put a comforting hand on her back. "You may not believe it, but I perfectly understand, I miss Ronnie Anne the same way you miss him and I know it gets sad and all, but would he like it if him being so far away from you would make you so depressed? I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but try to give us all a chance to make you feel better, we'll be down in the gift shop in case you want to come."
Once her brother left the room, Lori thought about what he told her, and he had a point, Bobby would not want to wallow in the sadness of them being separated, plus now that she thought about it, she's no doubt worrying her siblings due to her extensive depressed state and might as well try to ease their concerns so she got up and went down to the shop where everybody was waiting.
"Alright guys, what have you got for m-"
"Hey babe."
Time seemed to have frozen all of a sudden when she heard that familiar voice, she saw as a teenage boy her age was standing right there, and she recognized the clothing, it was him, he was there right in front of her standing next to a familiar 11 year old girl with a purple hoodie and all she could dowas scream out in joy. "Bobby Boo-Boo Bear!" she screeched as she rushed in for a hug, of which her boyfriend happily returned, equally joyful to see her again after so long.
"Missed you too, babe." Bobby smiled as he patted her back.
"Well, I gotta give to ya Lame-O, your plan worked." Ronnie Anne said, nudging her close friend.
"And Ronnie Anne too?" Lori questioned. "I don't get it, what are you doing all the way in Oregon?"
Bobby gestured to the rest of the Loud kids. "Thank your siblings, Lori. They sent an online ad for a job opening here and it took a little while to convince mom and grandpa but we managed to smooth things over, you're looking at the newest employee at the Mystery Shack." he pointed to himself with pride.
"You all brought him here?" Lori said to her brothers and sisters, completely touched by their selfless action.
"It was mostly Lincoln's idea, but yeah pretty much." Mabel confirmed.
Soon enough, they were all hugged happily by their oldest sibling for their great deed. "Oh, you guys are the best! And Grunkle Stan, you're okay with Bobby working here?"
Her conman of an uncle shrugged. "I needed some extra help around the joint, and just as long as the kid doesn't waste time making goo-goo eyes at you, then why not?" Stan was caught by surprise when his niece wrapped her arms around him.
"Thanks you! Thank you! Thank you!"
Stan was never one to be hugged, a punch in the face sure but this was a somewhat foreign feeling to him, but for some odd reason he couldn't but crack a little smile at this display of family affection. But he still had appearances to keep up. "Alright, that's enough of that, kiddo, I already have enough back pains as it is. And as for you Santiago, you should know that I expect you to show a lot of sweat and other bodily fluids when working here because this isn't some cashier job or any of the other jobs you had back in Michigan, so you better be up to it, city boy." he sternly told his new employee.
"Don't worry Mr. Pines, you can count on me." Bobby promised.
"But wait, where are you gonna stay?" Lori asked.
"We're staying with Soos and Great Aunt Esmerelda." Ronnie Anne answered. "They got a few extra rooms laying around so we can stay there until the summer's over."
"You know I could show you around town." Lincoln offered, shyly rubbing his nape. "Unless it's okay with you, Ronnie Anne, it's cool if you just want to hang here for a while."
Smirking, she interlocked her arms with Lincoln's own. "I got nothing planned for today, Lincoln, go ahead and play tour guide." the two kids went out of the tourist trap to get a layout of the town.
"Thanks again for letting me know about this job, guys." Bobby said gratefully to the Louds. "Summertime in the city was starting to get a little too hectic plus I was really getting tired of being stuck in the freezers. So, level with me, is your uncle a tough as he looks or something? My grandpa said something about running into a Stan Pines in Colombia a few years back that didn't exactly go well so I'm kind of nervous."
"Don't worry, the old man's not so bad when you get to know him, dude." Luna told her sister's BF. "Just don't do anything to tick him off and you're golden, he does pay little though so don't come crying to us if your paycheck ain't that swell."
"I don't think he even knows what a paycheck is." Luan cracked.
Then, the door was heard being opened, with the only other employee in the shack coming in. "Hey guys, what's up and who's that?" Wendy asked, motioning to the Santiago teen.
"Name's Bobby." he greeted.
"Oh, Lori's boyfriend. You here visiting for the summer?" the redhead daughter of a lumberjack asked.
"Actually from here until the summer's over, I'll be working at the shack. You must be Wendy." Bobby put his hand for her to shake.
She returned with a friendly smirk. "A new guy, eh? Well, welcome to the next few months of soul crushing agony while working here." she caught him having a fearful look making her punch his shoulder playfully. "Ah I'm just messing with you dude, just pretend you're doing hard work and you'll be fine, heck it'll be great to have a normal conversation with someone. No offense, Soos."
"None taken. That's actually understandable."
"Anyway, come on I'll show you the looks of the place." Wendy said, guiding Bobby through the shack.
Later that day, Lincoln acted as a guide for Ronnie Anne as the two went on what one would call a date around Gravity Falls, moving from the big city to a backwoods town that was even smaller than Royal Woods would be as big a change as when she and her family moved in with their relatives back at the city so he might as well help her get familiar with the sights. "Over there is the arcade, so we know where to go if we want to have fun that isn't in the shack and the old guys who's having homemade dinner with a raccoon is Old Man McGucket, local kook."
Said wild man noticed the white haired boy. "Oh well hello there, you're one of those youngin's whom I nearly killed while handling a robotic lake monster, why don't you and your little lady friend come to dinner, my raccoon wife doesn't bite...most of the time."
"Wait, what's he talking about?" she asked her friend with a curious look.
His eyes wide, Lincoln cleared his throat and urged her away from the crazy inventor. "Um, ignore him. Like I said, he's a complete loon, he always said these old timey prospector words that no one understands. So, how are things back at the city?" he asked, hoping to change the subject. "Was your mom really cool about you and Bobby spending the summer here?"
"Not gonna lie, she was pretty worried since she wouldn't be here to watch over us, but Bobby promised that we wouldn't get into any trouble and besides, with you and your sisters here that means we wouldn't completely be alone." she answered. "You know, some folks at the city have these crazy stories about Gravity Falls. They keep saying stuff about ghosts or monsters in the woods, sounds like something your uncle would keep in that fake monster museum, huh?" she chuckled. "As if that's actually true."
"Heh, yeah, definitely nothing paranormal about this at all." he laughed nervously.
Ronnie Anne then had an idea. "Hey, why don't we go explore the woods a bit? We could go see if there's any cool stuff there, what do you day?"
Normally, Lincoln would be all for it but a certain encounter where a bunch of gnomes gnome who tried to marry his sister to make her their queen came to mind which made him hesitant. "I don't know, I was thinking we could head back to the shack, I mean it's getting pretty late." he noted, observing the setting sun.
"What, scared that bigfoot might come out and maul you?" Ronnie Anne teased as she ran on ahead of him. "Last one there gets to have teasing rights."
"But you always get teasing rights, Ronnie Anne wait!" Lincoln ran after her as they went out of the town limits and into the heavily wooded area where there wasn't a human in sight. Things could go wrong in many ways, those gnomes from before might be lurking and as soon as they see him, they might want to get some personal revenge as a result of their humiliating defeat at the hands of the Loud siblings but there was no stopping Ronnie Anne from wanting to explore these parts. He eventually caught up with her as he took a minute to pant over the amount of running he had to do, he looked around and couldn't help but be slightly nervous by the eerie atmosphere. "Okay, here we are in the woods, and there's nothing to check out so why don't we head back? There's this awesome TV detective series, only the main character is a duck but it's way cooler than it sounds."
"Come on Linc, what's the harm in doing a little exploring?" the free spirited girl asked.
"It's just, these woods aren't safe for two 11 year olds, I mean are you ignoring those KEEP OUT sings on purpose or something?" he motioned to the various warnings to jot venture any further.
What the two didn't know was that they were being stalked by an unknown predator, it picked up their scent a while ago and surveyed them both as it hid behind the bushes, there were only two of them, younglings from the looks of them and they were all alone, no adult watching over them, this was a good thing. That meant there would be no interferers for when he starts getting in on the oncoming hunt, it slowly went out of the bushes and snuck up behind the one that was female.
"Seriously Linc, we're about the only human beings for miles. So stop being so afraid, the most dangerous thing that could be here is like a bunny or something. Lincoln?" she noticed that his eyes were widened and had a look of utter panic as he pointed behind her. "What's up with you? Is there like a ghost right...behind...me..." she too became shocked when she turned around and saw what was behind, it was bipedal creature that was covered in grey fur with blood red eyes, fierce fangs were snarled at the two and his claws were out, the creature roared at them as it got on all 4s and lunged at them both only for Lincoln to push her out of the way, but the creature bit down on the kid's hand.
"GAH!" Lincoln held his right appendage in pain as blood leaked out, the creature howled in the night sky as it disappeared into the woods, leaving them behind.
"Lincoln!" Ronnie Anne ran to him and held his injured hand. "What the heck was that thing?!" she asked, frantically.
"N-Not sure...! Some sort of wolf, maybe-NGH!" he grunted as the pain was settling in his system.
"Hang on, I'll get you back to the shack."
It took a while, but Wendy was able to get Bobby up to speed about what to do and not do in order to get by in the Mystery Shack, she's even invited him to hang with her group of friends whenever he and Lori had the time, the others were in the living room watching TV until this downtime was disrupted by the front door being forced open by Ronnie Anne who was supporting Lincoln. "Guys, I need help!" she yelled in hysterics.
The sight of their brother in pain made the Louds stop what they were doing and go to him for aid. "Oh my gosh, Lincoln!" Luna took him from Ronnie Anne and inspected the wound. "Dude, what happened out there?!"
"AH! He's bleeding!" Leni shrieked as she nearly fainted.
"Normally, I like the sight of blood but now when its one who shares my own." Lucy said. "Poor big brother..." she lamented.
"I'll go get Dr. Good times from the room!" Mabel suggested.
"Our brother needs real medical attention Mabel, not one of your stuff toys." Dipper admonished his twin.
"Nie-Nie, how did this happen?!" Bobby asked.
Ronnie Anne could barely believe it when she saw it but she gave them the basic description of what just transpired. "We were out in the woods and then some...animal jumped out and nearly wasted us, Lincoln pushed me out of the way and got bit!"
"It-It's okay guys, it barely hurts-AH! Okay never mind, the pain is really unbearable!" Lincoln exclaimed, and was then hugged by his little twin sisters.
"Aw, poor Linky!"
"I'll go fetch the disinfecting spray." Lisa said, taking out a case.
"Just tell me where this thing was little bro and I'll take care of it." Lynn promised, picking up her trusty baseball bat.
Lori took the bat from the jock's hands. "And risk you getting bit like him? Right now, we need to focus on Lincoln, Lynn. Alright, Luan get the bandages."
The comedian did so as she handed the box to her sister. "Here you go, now should I fetch the sarcophagus?" she was met with stern glares from everybody which made the message clear. "Right, sorry, inappropriate time for jokes, I got it." she said, looking down in slight guilt.
Once Lori wrapped the bandages around the bandages, Bobby couldn't help but pop some questions. "So you said that it was some kind of animal? What like a wolf? Or maybe a bear?"
"That's the thing, it didn't look like any animal I've ever seen before." Ronnie Anne clarified. "It was like something out of those scary movies you sometimes take Lori to only like 100 times more freakier, it was like some sort of mutated werewolf beast. Is stuff like this normal around here?" she asked the sisters who gave pensive glances to each other.
Lisa cleared her throat and attempted to put a logical spin on things before more assumptions can be made. "Perhaps it was simply your standard Canus Lupis that merely looked increasingly frightening when being in close proximity of it, I highly doubt it was anything...weird if that's what you're implying." she said, hoping to dissuade any suspicion of there being a possible paranormal element involved with this recent incident but that didn't necessarily mean that it shouldn't be ruled out.
"Lincoln, is there anything you need?" Lori asked gently to her injured little brother.
Rubbing his sore hand, he answered. "No, I think I'll be fine, it kind of itches a little but I don't think you all need to worry about anything else."
"It's getting kind of late, we should just sleep this off and forget it in the morning."
No one argued with Lori as they had enough of tonight so Bobby and Ronnie Anne said their goodbyes as they left with Soos in his truck and the siblings went up to their attic bedroom and promptly went to sleep. But Lincoln couldn't help but scratch his bandaged hand a little as he felt this urge to get up and do...something and had anyone stayed up they would have noticed one of his eyes open and turned into a red slit.
Morning came as always and everyone was gathered in the kitchen for some breakfast, the Shack hadn't been opened yet so the Santiago siblings and Soos haven't come in yet. "Mabel, for the last time we're not having that awful homemade juice of yours." Lori told the energetic young girl who was pouring a na array of ingredients into the blender, creating a rather unique concoction that didn't really sit in well with most of her siblings due to the fact that it was very disturbing.
"Come on you guys, one sip of Mabel juice and you'll be supercharged." Mabel then took a spoonful and poked it on Lily's cheek. "I bet Lily wants some, don't you Lily?" she cooed.
The infant's response was a raspberry.
"You're brain is blended if you think I'm having your gross juice, Mabel." Lola turned around with a huff.
Lana then noticed something. "Hey, where's Lincoln?"
"Little dude must still be asleep." Luna guessed. "Guess that bite must have taken a lot out of him, you think we should-" she was caught off when they heard footsteps coming down and there was their brother right now, only there was something slightly different, Lincoln's white hair seemed a bit longer and was a bit unruly as opposed to his neatly combed style. He looked at them with tired eyes as he opened up the fridge and took a cartoon of milk, he drank the entire contents in a matter of seconds and let out a large belch.
Everyone stayed silent in surprise until he spoke. "We're out of milk. Probably should tell Stan to head out and buy some more." he walked out without another word.
Dipper blinked. "Okay, so that just happened."
"I'm both proud and a little freaked right now." Lynn admitted.
The siblings followed their brother where he was sitting on the couch, watching TV. "Um, Linky?" Lola asked. "Is everything okay?"
He shrugged. "Pretty much, why" they then noticed his right hand which had no bandages.
"Did you take the bandages off? And is your hand healed?" Dipper asked, shocked by how quick it was for the wounds to all but disappear in over a short night ago.
"I guess."
"But that's impossible." Lisa abruptly said. "Due to the extent of your injury, I should have taken weeks, if not a month for your wound to heal, it disappearing is medically speaking, absurd. Lincoln, I advise that you should let me inspect it for a moment, I don't want to risk there being any form of side effect."
Lincoln crossed his arms. "How about no?"
"I don't think you understand, brother-"
"And I think you don't understand that I'd rather not be used for one of your freak experiments!" Lincoln shouted at his toddler sister, surprising her and the others as this was not typical behavior of him.
"Hey cool it Linc, random bursts of anger are usually my thing." Lynn told him.
"Then tell the mad scientist here that I don't want her messing with my DNA or something, of you'll need me I'll be out." Lincoln got up and left his siblings behind, leaving them stumped at this drastic change in attitude coming from their brother, Lincoln rarely ever shouts at people, least of one of his own little sisters. Something was definitely wrong with him but they didn't no if this was a serious thing or not, with Dipper being the only one speculating the cause of this.
"Jeez, what was all that about?" Mabel questioned.
Dipper looked to his second youngest sister. "Lisa, you alright?"
Snapping out of her initial stupor, Lisa answered. "Y-Yes, I'm fine, I was just unprepared for Lincoln's rather aggressive response, it was something I never thought I would take account for."
"You don't think bite mad him into a rabbit do you?" Leni suggested with concern.
"That's rabies, Leni." Lori corrected.
Whenever a strange occurrence transpired, Dipper Pines went into full on speculation mode, to some this may be considered a typical child acting out, but there was more to it, he just knew it but he can't pursue this further, not without gathering some evidence first to support any wild conspiracy he's got cooking in his mind. "Guys, I know you think we should leave this alone but there's something up with Lincoln, I don't know what but maybe we can find out if we tail him or something."
Lori considered this. "Even if we agreed, won't Lincoln notice that we're spying on him? He's not exactly oblivious."
"I think I have the answer." Lisa took out her laptop and once it turned on, it showed them footage of Lincoln walking into the town. "By using the built in camera on the tracer I secretly planted on Lincoln's being, we should be allowed to see everything he's doing right at this precise second and he'd be none the wiser."
"Wait, I thought you said you only had a tracer on dad? Are there more?" Lucy recalled as they all casted suspicious looks to the young prodigy.
Lisa answered creepily. "Noooo..."
They looked to the screen and saw what their brother was up to...
Beforehand, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne had made plans to meet up with each other and spend the day hanging out, but given the incident that transpired just yesterday, Ronnie Anne wasn't sure if he'd still be up for it but to her pleasant surprise, he was in peak physical condition, even that wound he got from that crazy beast had healed up, they were both presently in the arcade, playing a shooting game. "Look out for that one!" she advised him but he already shot the target dead with quite hand eye coordination. "Dang Linc, you got a better eye than I thought. What, you using contacts? You know that counts as cheating." she teased.
He shrugged with a smirk. "What can I say? Just call me Dead-Eye Loud." they were then bumped by a passing by person which caused him to miss a shot, he gritted his teeth and turned to the dude with a scowl. "Hey! You messed up my shot just now, aren't you gonna apologize."
"Chill out kid, it's just a game."
Unfortunately for him, Lincoln reached up, grabbed him by the collar and made pulled him closer and it was his imagination or does this kid have teeth that were shaped like fangs. "I won't repeat myself!" he then actually growled like a junkyard dog about to attack on a trespasser that was sneaking around its home turf.
"Lincoln, cut it out!" Ronnie Anne pulled him back, allowing the guy to run away in fear. "What is up with you lately? You haven't been yourself ever since that dog bite."
"Yeah well-" before he could retort, he took a look into her eyes, the eyes of someone close to his heart and in that instance, his temper began to die down a little and he thought about what he just did along with how he acted towards his own family not too long ago. "I-I'm sorry." he rubbed his temple as he started to sweat a bit. "I don't know what came over me, I just-" he then saw his hand and either he had too much to eat last night or his nails were starting to sharpen a bit. "You know, maybe I just need a change of scenery, why don't we go somewhere else?"
The two left but Lincoln couldn't help but feel strange and those who were listening in couldn't help but agree.
"You see? There's definitely something wrong with him."
"Okay bro-bro, so you might be right? But what can we do?"
"Perhaps our next course of action would be to observe Lincoln for tonight, to see if anything strange happens."
"That sounds like a good idea. In the meantime Lisa, I think we need to have a talk about personal space."
"Dang it."
Nighttime soon came to Gravity Falls and Lincoln sat quietly in the kitchen, scratching his right hand, he thought it was getting better but now it was starting to act up, he started shivering a little couldn't help but feel a little lightheaded as he heard a howl from outside, and then he saw the moon, he didn't realize it before but the moon was actually hypnotic in some aspects. Its luminescent glow looked so beautiful and he found himself lost in it but the more he looked at it the more he started to feel something. "His right hand started trembling and he grabbed his chest as his heart started to beat at a fast pace and he could barely make it to stop.
He lost his footing and knocked some plates down and grabbed his chest as the beating got even faster and he was sweating profoundly, he panted heavily as his pupils shrunk and slammed his fist tot he floor, breaking it, he gritted his teeth as they started to grow into sharp fangs, then he started to hear something.
"This is odd."
"What is it Lis?"
"It seems the tracer's camera has gone offline."
The sound of his siblings was as clear as day, but he shouldn't be able to for they were too far away for him to hear from such a distance, that's when he decided he needed help, he needed his family. He struggled as he got up and went to find them, but that's when a few white hairs started to grow all over his body, he leaned his hand on the wall for support but as he walked, his nails became claws and left scratch marks all over the wall, he got to the point where couldn't take anymore."
"Wincoln?"
He looked up and saw the concerned face of his youngest sibling. "Lily." he rasped. "You need to go, I think-I think something's bad is about to happen." he grunted as his clothes began to get torn from the increased muscle mass. "Please, go before I do something I may regret, get Stan, Lori, Dipper, anyone that could help!"
"Lily? Where'd you run off to?" Leni came up and saw the infant. "Oh there you are, and-" she gasped. "Linky?!" she then shouted for everyone presently in the shack to hear. "Guys, come quick! Something's happening to Lincoln!" the dire tone in her voice made them all come down immediately and gasp at the current state of their brother.
"Lincoln, what's wrong?!" Mabel asked, moving to help him but a hand from his stopped her in her tracks.
"Get back!" he told all of them. "You have to-have to-NGH!" he tore through his orange shirt and increased in size, being about past Lori's level and grew a bit more muscular, white fur formed all around him and his eyes became blood red with slits and his face became bestial in appearance and he let out a loud howl and then snarled at his human siblings as they backed up in both fear and surprise at their brother's transformation from a child to a ravenous beast from the nightmares of men. The furry beast that was once their brother towered over them with a deep growl as he got on all fours and circled them like a lion.
"Um, L-Lincoln?" Lucy's response was him nearly biting her hand. "Hmm, it seems he's transformed into a lycan-esque creature. Sigh, is it really hard to ask for a vampire?"
"Lincoln, it's us, you siblings!" Dipper told him which made the transformed beast widen his eyes, their scent was familiar and his care for them outweighed his need to hunt, but the instinct was still there so he roared and crashed through the window and disappeared into the forest, leaving his stupefied family behind.
"Dipper?"
"Yeah Lori?"
"You still got that book of yours lying around?"
Taking out the Journal from his backpack, Dipper instantly surveyed the pages for anything that resembled what Lincoln turned into just now and stopped at the page where it showed the image of the kind of horrific creature that bit Lincoln in the first place. "Alright, here its; The Lycanbeast." he then read all the characteristics and description.
"Various rumors of a man-beast prowling the woods of Gravity Falls led me to investigate if they were true and they absolutely were. Similar to the perceived fictional werewolves of lore, these creatures appear to be some sort of rare breed, and offshoot of werewolves so to speak. Symptoms of a bite include an aggressive change in behavior along with a craving for dairy products. I encountered one myself and nearly got bit which was fortunate, considering of how the legends, if one were to get bit by these creatures not only did they transform into one, but they have until dawn to shower the transformed along with the original beast in the fresh waters of the lake else the poor soul who got bit stays that way forever!"
Hearing that brought massive dread to the siblings as the thought of Lincoln staying like that forever would be a nightmare for all of them which made returning him to normal was their upmost concern. "What time is it now?!' Luna frantically asked.
"8:00 P.M." Dipper answered. "That means we have about 10 hours to find both Lincoln and the beast that bit him in the first place."
"I believe splitting our exact numbers up in 2 groups would be beneficial given the circumstances." Lisa suggested.
"Right. Dipper, Lynn, Luan, and Leni, you're with me to find that monster while the rest of you go find Lincoln and make sure he doesn't cause too much damage." Lori instructed.
"To himself or to the town?" Lynn asked.
"Both."
Living in a small home was a welcomed feeling to the Santiago siblings, it reminded them of their old house before the move to the city, plus the fact they're staying with their extended family for the time being gave them a feel of living with the Casagrandes even if there were only two relatives in the house it was good enough for them. "Get out, you actually went A-truck-alypse Now?" Soos said to Bobby, then again he's always worked overtime at the shack and he there was a high chance that the reason he never got enough money was most likely because Stan never paid him the right amount on purpose but was oblivious to the fact.
Still, the handyman would have been cool about it, he is about everything else.
"Heck yeah!" Bobby confirmed. "You know cuz, you should definitely drop by at the big city some time. Mom, uncle Carlos, aunt Frida, and everyone else would be happy to see you, their offer to invite you into their home is still on the table., you know."
Soos shrugged. "I appreciate, but Gravity Falls is my home, plus someone needs to take care of Abuelita."
And speaking of, the kind old lady handed walked in with a tray of dinosaur cookies. "I brought you kids your favorite, now eat up." she then noticed that Ronnie Anne was the only one not eating. "Mija, is something wrong? You, Roberto, and Soos always loved my homemade dinosaur cookies since you were little."
Ronnie Anne sighed and leaned back on the couch. "It's nothing, Tia Abuela, I'm just worried about a friend of mine."
The elderly woman nodded in understanding. "Ah yes, boy trouble. Just to be sure, he's not like Soos's grandfather, yes?"
"What?"
"Just tell me, is he exactly like Soos's grandfather?"
"Um...no?" Ronnie Anne answered, confusion plastered all over her face.
"Then you have nothing to worry about, Ronalda, now eat up, it'll help you grow big and strong."
Then, something was heard from outside. "Aw dude, looks like the raccoons are back for seconds." Soos got up and picked up a broom, holding it like a weapon. "Don't sweat dudes, I got the fighting spirit of samurai...or any other person who uses a sword, like a pirate. Oh dude, a pirate-ninja would be the like the perfect combination." he was met with stares. "Just saying. Alright, time to potentially kill a living animal." he got out to deal with the problem but a scream was heard. Ronnie Anne and Bobby went out and saw Soos struggling to get his broom free from the mouth of a white furred beast that was like the one Ronnie Anne saw."
"Soos, what is that thing?!" Bobby exclaimed, both shocked and afraid the same as his little sister since she recognized the resemblance even with the different fur color.
"No idea doug, it might be the mailman though, I always thought that dude was a werewolf!" the broom was yanked out of his hands and the beast bit it in two pieces and it growled at Soos. "Don't worry, it can't see me if I can't move." he reassured his cousins but then remembered. "Wait a minute, that the wrong movie genre!" the handyman ducked down just as the beast swung his claw at him then kicked Soos to the ground, but before he could attack, the beast took one look at the 11 year old girl and his threatening expression softened.
For Ronnie Anne, she didn't know why but as opposed to the beast from before, this one seemed familiar in some way but she didn't know why, before more could be done, the beast noticed the arrival of Mabel, Lucy, the twins, Lisa, and Lily who was being carried by the goth, they all were carrying nets and flashlights as gear. "Lincoln, stop!" the sweater wearing girl begged to the beast.
Bobby's and Ronnie Anne's eyes widened when they heard that name. "Hold up, that thing is bro?!" the teenager shouted in shock.
"Lincoln?" Ronnie Anne numbly asked as she stared hard at the beast, there were many reasons to have her believe that this wasn't her best friend (and sorta boyfriend) but in her heart she knew this to be true. Lincoln looked at Ronnie Anne then at his clawed hands and realized that in this state, she could get hurt...or worse, he then began to leave over to the forest.
"Wait, come back big brother." Lucy said, but it would have worked if she had put more energy in her volume. "Sigh, once again our poor male sibling continues to be plagued by this insidious curse."
"We can still catch him and with any luck, the others got the other one." Lana urged her sisters to continue the search, but before they could the Santiagos stopped them.
"Hold up, can someone to us what's going on?!" Bobby demanded.
"For starters, why does Lincoln look like the thing that attacked us the other day?!" Ronnie Anne crossed her arms, not intent on being kept out of the loop.
Mabel flinched and knew that by involving these two, their efforts to keep them out of the paranormal would be for nothing but in order to save Lincoln, they may need more help. "Look guys, you may have like tons of questions and I'd be happy to answer them but right now, Lincoln needs us and as his honorary big brother and girlfriend, at least I think so, you both should help out."
The two shared a tense glance, though it was true, they did want answers but if Lincoln's in trouble then they might need to put that aside, at least for now. "Fine." Ronnie Anne conceded. "What can we do?"
By morning, the woods were already creepy enough, but at the dead of night, it was as if the creepy meter went beyond the limit and it definitely gave off the sort of atmosphere that gave shivers to the group of Loud siblings that were tasked to hunt down the Lycanbeast that bit their brother, Dipper took charge with the Journal in his hands while the sisters followed from behind with flashlights with Luna carrying a tranquilizer pistol. "Luna, you sure how yo work that thing?" Lori asked, wanting to make sure it was in the hands of a professional as she's not too fond of becoming numb in the cargo area should the rocker have poor aim.
"It's cool sis, it's just lick rocking a guitar." Luna reassured her.
"Guys, this is scary." Luan spoke up. "And I'm not trying be funny here, I'm actually serious, I watched all the movies at Benny's house and a bunch of kids looking for a monster in the dark forest never ends well."
Leni gulped. "They say the pretty ones are the first to go."
"Ah quit your worrying, you big babies." Lynn chastised, taking a few swings with her bat. "We survived killer wax people I think we can take care of some big ugly fur ball."
"Everyone quiet." Dipper told them. "It says in the Journal that the Lycanbeast normally prowls in these parts of the woods, so we should be ready for anything otherwise we may end up like Lincoln or possible worse." they then heard the sound of ruffling in the bushes and got ready but became at ease when it turned out to just be a rabbit. "Oh, just-just a rabb-AHH!" he screamed as the Lycanbeast itself jumped out of the bushes and roared at the siblings. "There it is! Lori, Leni, blind it with your flashlight, it should have a blind spot."
The two sisters did so and the beast had to shield his eyes as it couldn't focus on the hunt with that accursed light getting in the way, he quickly jumped over to the blonde teenagers and swiped the light out of thei hands but thankfully, he didn't leave any scratches but the two was still nonetheless frightened as she fell on her back and yelled out a terrified shriek as it started to get ready to go in for the kill but miraculously, Lincoln showed up in the nick of time as he gave a solid punch to the beast's face. "Lincoln?!" both sisters were shocked by this turn of events as they saw their transformed brother begin to engage in an all out brawl with the beast that infected him.
"Babe, are you alright?!" even more surprising, the other siblings came as well with Bobby and Ronnie Anne in tow, with her boyfriend helping her up, Soos was there too in case people were wondering.
"Bobby? Ronnie Anne?" Lori blinked rapidly. "What are you-"
"Woah, dude check it out, epic were-beast fight." Soos said, as he took a picture with his phone.
Lincoln slashed with his claws against the beast, both were battling to determine who was the alpha and who deserved to be stomped over like a weakling, but it seemed like the original beast had the upper hand, but Lincoln tackled it and both rolled over to a small body of water which made Dipper gasp as re recalled the means to curing his brother. "Lincoln, if you're in there then you and that thing need to get in those waters, the waters of Gravity Falls are the key to curing you!"
Fortunately, Lincoln understand perfectly and grabbed the beast by behind and put it in a hold that trapped it, he howled over to Luna and she understood now was the time to use the darts, she steadied her aim and despite the amounts of struggling on its part, she got a good shot and fired, the dart hit the beast on the chest making it numb and both it along with Lincoln fell into the waters. Everyone tentatively looked to see of this worked and then they saw someone emerging, they were ready in case it didn't work but Lincoln, back in his human form wearing only his pants emerged with a gasp. "Lincoln!" Ronnie Anne offered her hand to help him get back to the surface.
"Did...Did it work?" he panted.
His brother and sisters promptly hugged him out of relief then another figure emerged, he was a middle aged man with tired eyes, this was the beast before his transformation. "Thank you..." he whispered, grateful that they freed him of his curse, he then aimlessly walked into the woods, never to be seen again.
For a while, everyone seemed silent until Ronnie Anne spoke. "Okay, can someone now give my brother and I some answers?"
With Lincoln back to normal, everyone went to the Shack to not only take care of the white haired boy but to give a perfect explanation to the Santiagos about all they've been through so far. "Okay, so just to recap. In addition to a were-animal, you guys had to deal with gnomes that wanted to marry Mabel, a crazy old timer with a robot lake monster and living wax guys who wanted revenge on your uncle?" Bobby surmised after taking it all in, they were all gathered in the living room with Lincoln wrapped in a warm blanket.
"That's about it, yeah." Lucy shrugged.
"Okay, so if you knew all this then why didn't you tell us?" Ronnie Anne asked, a little offended by the lack of trust.
"We didn't want you guys to get hurt." Lincoln told her. "Every time we have to deal with stuff like that we nearly get killed in the process and you two don't deserve anything life threatening, we-I would never forgive myself if you ever got hurt and I could have stopped it, Ronnie Anne."
Lori rubbed her arm. "Plus, I was kind of scared that you wouldn't want to see me ever again, Boo-Boo Bear, I'd understand if you want to go back to the city and do just that." she looked down, once again depressed.
But her beloved boyfriend put a hand on her shoulder. "Lori, you know me better than that, nothing in this world could ever scare me into breaking up with you. I love you too much to do that." he smiled. "Sure it's crazy, but you can at least depend on me to protect you when you need it." he promised her.
His words made her eyes water with tears of joy. "Oh Bobby!" she hugged him happily along with a kiss.
"Barf." Ronnie Anne gagged then addressed her friend. "And just so you know Linc, nothing scares me easily, and if I'm being honest I think it's awesome you have to face stuff like this."
"Seriously?"
"Duh." the rough girl answered, as if it was obvious. "I thought this summer would have been boring but if this town is as awesome as you say then this will be a blast!"
Lincoln was surprised but then smiled with a chuckle. "Heh, I guess I should've figured."
"How are you holding up, bro?" Lynn asked.
"And how did it feel being an animal?" Lana curiously asked with bright eyes, sure it was scary but it was also cool that her big bro became a were-beast.
Lincoln sipped on the cup of tea Lola provided for him. "I'm okay for the most part, and I felt a little more ferocious than usual which is never. At least it's all over."
The Santiago's debut in Gravity Falls may not have gone as intended but it pays to have some help in a town where attack by beasts from the woods are a given.
End Credits
The former Lycanbeast stood at the side of the road, with his thumb up to hail a car to pick him up, but each car passed by the ragged man without a care.
"Oh shoot, did I leave the stove on?" he asked himself with a panicked eyes as he remembered that before his transformation, he left the stove with his soufflé running.
