"Shock has rocked Gravity Falls today as the family once labelled the town's heroes are put behind bars. In an amazing turn of events, the town's police - who apparently really arequalified - arrested the Pines family yesterday evening under the charge of breaking over forty seven different laws. The charged family members - Stan Pines, Mabel Pines, Dipper Pines, Pacifica Northwest and 'Hot Stan' are expected to be trialled in the town courthouse before August the 31st. When asked if this constituted a tainted Jury, Sheriff Blubs explained that their last attempt to get out-of-towners resulted in numerous cases of spontaneous human combustion.
We spoke to our brand new legal analyst, Boty Tedermined, regarding this- wait. You look familiar."
"I have a very handsome, easily mistaken faaaaaaaace! Now, according to Webby's Legal Duck-themed-dictionary, a crime is defined as-"
The town was shaken to its core, as if its entire foundation had come under immense, tremouring pressure. Shocked murmurs had given way to silence. Scandal had given way to sadness. Confusion stayed… exactly the same. Susan had closed the diner. The Gossiper went on a two issue hiatus. Bud Gleeful deflated his inflatable arm-flailing tube man for the first time in over eight months. Soos closed the mystery Shack. It was as if the entire community had slammed on the brakes.
The townspeople were not the brightest bunch. This much was true. They were, however, intrinsically well natured, trusting, and emotional. The news that the Pines may have wronged them hurt. The Pines were heroes. It didn't make any sense.
People had grown quiet and isolated, as if they were all trying to avoid the discussion. They withdrew, closed their doors, drew their curtains, and waited for the upcoming trial. Waited to hear the truth of the town's saviours. Waited to see if they really did need to accept that yet another group of idols were nothing more than frauds.
Gideon. The Northwests. Now the Pines?
Were they just… terrible judges of character?
The weather grew terribly cold and overcast. Clouds gathered, and the warm, gently yellowed postcard-print tones of the Oregon town were replaced with ashen darkness, clouds and rain. The glow of the sun was replaced with ethereal reflections and shadows of what felt like eternal moonlight.
The signs, shapes and structures that made up Gravity Falls became muddy, dark silhouettes that seemed to accent every careworn spot of decay that once made the place feel so charming.
And it continued.
Hour after hour, it rained. Morning, afternoon, and evening - it rumbled in a spattering, homogenous rattle that never slowed or ceased, that seemed to hammer down relentlessly, no matter how much the wind tried to force it left or right.
They couldn't quite work out why, and only hoped it wasn't a fallacy.
The church bells rang in a mournful, flat clanging that once felt so jovial and warm, ringing out to the powers that it felt had forsaken them.
The townspeople continued about their lives slower, sadder and - above all else - confused, only punctuated by the occasional, worried glance towards the sky.
They noticed that even more dark clouds seemed to lurk over the horizon. Deep, angry, purple clouds that crawled, swirled and spun in the increasingly, unseasonably cold summer winds. It seemed as if the world was punishing them for their misdeeds, as if their very world was coming to a close. As if, by some small stretch, a force immeasurably powerful compared to their own was now threatening to drown them like vermin.
There was no lightning to speak of, but a definite rumble in the air, from deep within the depths of the murky, grey-purple vapour peering above them, cruelly.
The menacing aura could be felt within the simplest and most benign of creatures. Cowls burrowed into knot holes, Plaidypi covered themselves in all-season weather treatment, gnomes scattered up lady's skirts (as was their custom) and Soos's Abuelita put on a jacket.
The final summer storm was on its way. And it looked like it could be a killer.