Best Laid Plans

"I hear that you kinder are on a mission. Would you mind if I joined you?" asked Pericles.

The gang looked at each other, a bit taken aback by the sight of their former enemy, unscarred and smiling pleasantly.

"What do you think?" Daphne asked Fred.

"Zoinks... Pericles..." said Shaggy.

Scooby growled, "Rericles."

"I am quite harmless, I assure you," said Pericles.

"Sorry for our strange reactions. We've lived in a parallel world where you were far from harmless," said Daphne. "But everyone from that world is gone and only good versions remain here."

Fred said, "I think we should give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Except, like, where we're going... it may put you under the influence of the Evil Entity," said Shaggy.

"I have difficulty believing in parallel worlds and evil entities," said Pericles. "I am a bird of science."

"In the other world you were the Entity's most devoted follower," said Daphne.

"I am not that other parrot. I am highly intelligent and I will not succumb to any evil influences," said Pericles. "I will help you fight whatever you may face."

"All right Pericles, you're in," said Fred. "We're going to Gravity Falls, Oregon. Paranormal activity has been reported there, as well as a crime."

"All right with that, Scoob?" asked Shaggy.

"Rif you say so," said Scooby.

They filled Pericles in on what they knew about Gravity Falls and their experiences with gnomes, Li'l Gideon, and the fake Gobblewonker.

They arrived too late that night to get together with Mabel and Dipper, but they met the next day in the Mystery Machine to discuss plans.

"We wanted to bring Soos and Wendy too," said Dipper. "But Wendy is packing to go work at her cousin's lumber mill, and Soos has taken a bunch of odd jobs to make ends meet."

Mabel said, "It's terrible how everyone is getting split up. I was almost too down this morning to wear a happy sweater, but then I thought about you coming and helping us, so I cheered myself up and picked this one."

The sweater showed a golden-yellow dog with blue eyes and a goofy expression, with the caption "Flavor Pup."

"Rhere's Raddles?" asked Scooby.

Mabel's smile disappeared instantly. "Gideon's got him! The buttface dressed Waddles up as a copy of himself, as a mascot for Gideon Land."

"The first order of business is to discuss how to recover your great-uncle's deed from the thief," said Fred. "Then we can get Waddles back, too."

"It won't be easy," said Dipper. "He has two hired goons who throw anyone he doesn't like off the property."

"Like, I don't understand how he could just take over like that," said Shaggy.

"If the deed is in your great-uncle's name and not signed over to Mr. Gleeful, it does not convey ownership," said Pericles.

"We checked the laws around here," said Dipper, "The town was founded by a crazy person who wrote a Finder's Keeper law. It says possession of a deed gives property ownership."

"So all we have to do is take it back?" asked Fred.

"That's the first step, anyway," said Dipper.

"We have a plan," said Mabel. "But it feels kind of... ewwwwy."

"What is it?" asked Fred.

"We'll ask the gnomes to help us," said Dipper. "An army of them could overpower Gideon and carry him off."

"Ewwwwy. Just... no. Bad plan," said Shaggy.

"Yeah, rad ran!" echoed Scooby.

"If we go to them they'll kidnap you again, Mabel," said Velma. "They'll force you to marry all thousand of them. Or they might kidnap Daphne, or me."

"Not if we promise them a new bride: Gideon. He has a big head of white hair and they'll think he's a girl," said Dipper.

"Are you out of your minds?" said Daphne. "You'd turn over someone else to be the 'bride' of those creatures?"

"Not forever," said Mabel. "Since he's not really a girl they'd let him go eventually."

"Maybe," said Velma. "But what if they found out while they were still with us?"

"By then we'd have the deed, and we could think of something," said Dipper. "We could use your van's big fan on them, or a leaf-blower."

"We'd be, like, doomed," said Shaggy. "They wouldn't fall for that twice."

"Let's not risk it," said Fred. "We have enough muscle in Mystery Inc. to do this ourselves. We once defeated a whole squad of Dr. Zin's goons."

"Dr. who?" asked Pericles.

"No, Dr. Zin, but you wouldn't know him. It's a long story," said Fred.

"Suppose we get the deed. You said there was another step," said Velma.

"Gideon says Gruncle Stan gave him the deed, and everyone believes him," said Mabel. "He's popular with everyone, including the police. They all think that icky creep is adorable, and a psychic."

"They might give the deed back to Gideon if we take it, Finder's Keepers law or not," said Dipper.

"We know how to debunk phony psychics," said Velma. "Once we do, it will put a dent in his public image."

"I'm not sure we can prove he's a phony," said Dipper. "He used to have a magic amulet. He summoned a demon that can get information from people's dreams. If he has more magic, we're sunk."

"Sometimes these things have logical explanations," said Velma.

"And sometimes they don't," said Shaggy.

"Rometimes really ron't," said Scooby with a shiver.

"We'll look into Gideon," said Fred. "But we have reasons to investigate the dream demon beyond that."

"D-do we have to?" asked Shaggy.

"Yes," said Fred, Daphne, and Velma in unison.

"Is there anything more you can tell us about Bill Cipher?" Velma asked.

Besides what we told you last night, I thought of something else," said Dipper. "Right before he vanished he told us a darkness was coming that would change everything we knew."

"That may have already happened," said Mabel. "Maybe he knew we were going to lose the Mystery Shack and have to leave Grunkle Stan... and Waddles."

"I think it's something worse than that," said Dipper. "Gruncle Stan has been stocking up on canned meat and talking about Armageddon."

"Were there any other clues or hints Cipher dropped?" asked Velma.

"He flashed up a ring of symbols around him," said Dipper. "A light circled though them, and he said he'd be watching us. One of the symbols was like the pine tree on my hat. Whenever the light passed over that symbol I felt a twinge."

"Huh," said Mabel. "That's what happened to me when the light passed over the symbol of a shooting star like the one on a my favorite sweater of mine."

"He called me Pine Tree, Mabel was Shooting Star, and Soos was Question Mark," said Dipper. "All things on our clothes."

"I was wearing my sunset sweater that night," said Mabel, "And one of my other sweater patterns was on the ring. A llama, facing left instead of right. But only the shooting star felt connected to me. Is that weird, or what?"

"This entity seems to deal in symbols," said Pericles. "We should try to reconstruct this ring, and see if we can identify anyone else connected to it. Knowledge is power."

Mabel and Dipper drew up a rough sketch from memory, bickering and correcting each other until they had a complete ring. From the top, there were a question mark, a bag of ice, a lodge symbol that looked like a fish eating a ball, a pine tree, an eye in a five-pointed star, a six-fingered hand, a left-facing llama, a shooting star with a rainbow tail, a heart with stitches, and pair of glasses.

"The eye in the star is Li'l Gideon," said Mabel. "I saw it on the top of his Tent of Telepathy."

"I've seen that heart before," said Dipper. "It's on the shirt of that jerk Robbie. And the six-fingered hand is on the cover of the book I found."

Velma pointed to the lodge symbol. "That one looks a little like the symbol on your great-uncle's fez."

"You're right," said Mabel. "It looks exactly like it."

"Not exactly," said Daphne. "I have an eye for fashion. It was more like this, a moon curve with nothing inside it. Did he get a new one recently?"

She sketched the fez symbol she remembered.

Dipper said, "No, it's never looked like that. It 's always looked just like the one we drew. We should know, we've been here all summer."

"Do you have photos or videos from around the time we were here?" asked Fred.

"Yes, something feels funny about this and I'd like to check the evidence," said Velma.

"Hee hee, I have some good clips of Gruncle Stan doing a sorry dance when he lost a bet with me," said Mabel. "Lucky I brought my video camera along."

Mabel opened the camera and played the video clip from its memory, in fast forward mode.

"See, I was right," said Daphne. "Look at that symbol – wait, what just happened there?"

Mabel rewound the clip a few seconds. In the video, between takes 29 and 30, Stan's fez fell off and a goat went for it. Stan struggled with the goat and yanked it back, and when it was on his head again it showed the new symbol. They played it back a couple of times to be sure.

Mabel made a spooky hum like a theremin in an old science fiction movie. "Oooo-eeee-oooo... awesome weirdness!"

"It need not be supernatural," said Professor Pericles. "Electronic devices are easily tampered with."

"Too confusing for me right now," Fred said, "There may be more clues at the Mystery Shack, once we get it back."

"So, like, how are we going to get past the guards?" asked Shaggy.

Velma said, "First you and Scooby get them to chase you and you lead them into a trap."

"I knew it!" said Shaggy. "Why us all the time?"

"Because you're our best runners," said Daphne.

"And the best bait," said Fred.

"And you have colossal luck, that kicks in when the traps don't work as planned," said Velma.

"Rhich is rall the rime," said Scooby.

"And if that fails, we have my trusty grappling hook," said Mabel. "It's never failed me yet."

"That's because you've never used it for anything," said Dipper. "We also have my journal. That's what I'm counting on."

Scooby was right. The original plan to drop a net on the two guards didn't work, because the net dropped on Shaggy and Scooby instead. But they ran around and around a tree in confusion until the thugs were tied up in the net.

They confronted Gideon in the yard of the Mystery Shack.

"Oh dear, what are you going to do to li'l old me?" asked Gideon.

"Hand over the deed, or else!" said Dipper.

Gideon said, "Fine. I'll get it for you. It's in my private office inside my new Gideonland statue."

They let him get into an elevator in one of the feet and waited for him to come back.

Dipper said, "I'm not so sure we should have done that. I thought I saw Old Man McGucket working up there."

Shaggy said, "You mean the Old Man McGucket who builds..."

"Riant robots?" Scooby finished for him.

The eyes of the giant statue began to glow, its arms moved, and it slammed its "Gideonland" sign into the ground next to them. They all jumped back, and Dipper's Book 3 fell out of his jacket, face open.

Gideon's voice boomed from the robot. "Oho! I should have known, Dipper. You had it the whole time! And to think I actually considered you a threat!"

Gideon's giant robot fist closed on the book.

"You're nothing without this journal, boy. Now get out, before I squash you," said Gideon. "Goodbye forever, y'all!"

The gang backed off, got into the Mystery Machine, and drove away.

"You might as well drop us off at the bus stop," said Dipper. "We're through."

"No! I'm sure we can come up with something," said Mabel.

"Mabel's right," said Fred. "We'll find a way. Even if we have to stay and investigate after you've gone, we'll solve this and you can come back."

"No good," said Dipper. "Once we're home our parents won't trust Gruncle Stan again. No more summer of adventures in Gravity Falls."

"Dipper, can't you come up with another plan?" asked Mabel. "I don't want to leave Waddles with that jerk forever."

"Gideon was right. The only courageous or cool things I've ever done have been because of that journal. Without it, I can't help you, or Stan, or Mystery Incorporated," said Dipper.

"Rait! Rhat's that roise?" asked Scooby.

They looked back and saw Gideon's robot in hot pursuit of the Mystery Machine. "You dropped the wrong book to trick me! Where's journal number one?"