"Hey, Mabel, want more syrup on your pancakes?" Asked Dipper cheerfully.
"Nah, too much sugar." Replied Mabel wearing an open pink button up shirt and a white under shirt with black leggings and a purple skirt. Around her neck was her shooting star necklace. "Hey, what are you doing?"
Mabel quickly noticed that Dipper was aiming the maple syrup at her pancakes, ready to fire at any moment.
"Dipper..." Threatened Mabel, but her brother didn't stop. "I'm warning you."
Instead of stopping, Dipper squeezed the bottle of syrup, letting it flow all over his sister's food.
"Nnnnooooooo!" Said Mabel dramatically before she and Dipper burst into laughter. After they stopped laughing, Mabel continued. "But seriously though, I'm not eating that."
Dipper, knowing his sister's health habits, swapped their plates without hesitation, giving Mabel the plate with less syrup before turning to a newspaper near him.
"Woah! Mabel, check this out." Said Dipper pointing at an article in the newspaper about a monster photo contest.
"Oooh!" Mabel stared at the prize for winning.
"We see weirder stuff than this every day! We didn't happen to get any pictures of those gnomes, did we?" Asked Dipper excitedly.
"Nope, just beard hair, some of their little hats, rainbow vomit I had to scoop off Stan's suit and Jeff's tooth from the rock I hit him with." Said Mabel recollecting the fight with the gnome army. "Thankfully, it's all incinerated now."
"Ah, man. That rainbow vomit could've-" Dipper couldn't finish his sentence before Mabel glared at him as if she was about to commit murder. "Nevermind."
As if on que, Stan entered the kitchen cheerfully and changed the subject.
"Good morning, knuckleheads. You two know what day it is?"
"Uhh, happy anniversary?" Dipper guessed.
"A cosplay related holiday?" Guessed Mabel hopefully.
"No." Deadpanned Stan before hitting the twins on their head lightly with a newspaper. "It's family funday, genius! We're going on one of those... bonding type deals."
Dipper raised a brow skeptically. "Uhh, Grunkle Stan? Is this gonna be anything like our last family bonding?"
Mabel quickly remembered the cold county jail they were thrown into for trying to draw counterfeit money and shrunk away from Stan.
"All right, maybe I haven't been the best summer caretaker, but I swear, today we're gonna have some REAL family fun." Said Stan with a smile, getting the twins to smile with him. "Now who wants to put on some blindfolds and get into my car?"
The two cheered before realizing what Stan had just said. Nothing good can come out of this.
xxXxx
And it was proven true when the two witnessed Stan's reckless driving.
"I hate how much you're enjoying this." Said Dipper nearly vomiting.
"I LIVE FOR THE THRILL!"
"Yup, hate it." Commented Dipper.
Suddenly, the entire car shook as Stan's reckless driving continued.
"Grunkle Stan, are YOU wearing a blindfold?" Asked Dipper as he tried to stabilize himself in the car.
Stan chuckled. "No, but with these cataracts, I might as well be." He said cheerfully before noticing something in the distance. "What is that? A woodpecker?"
It was an advert sign...they crashed right through it.
By the time the Pines family reached their destination, Dipper was dizzy and Mabel was excited.
The two got out of the car and Stan stood in front of them ready for his great niece and nephew to take off their blindfolds.
"All right, open them up!" He exclaimed cheerfully before continuing the moment they got the blindfolds off. "Ta-da! It's fishin' season!"
Dipper's heart sank as he immediately remembered something Stan didn't know.
"Uhh, why is Mabel shaking?" Asked Stan in confusion as he scratched his head as Mabel tightly clung to her brother.
Mabel was deathly afraid of swimming or getting anywhere near large pools of water. Having her movement and breath restricted reminded her too much of her past life. Being unable to move freely as you're one mistake away from death.
Dipper winced as he stared at his twin before Stan decided to ask what's going.
"Kid? What's going on with your sister?"
"Mabel's... terrified of any pool of water that's deeper than a bathtub." Replied Dipper as he comforted Mabel.
All Stan could do was just stand there dumbfounded at this new information. After all, Mabel was yelling 'i live for the thrill' just a minute ago.
"Grunkle Stan, why did you bring us here?" Asked Dipper raising a brow.
"Well, uh, I thought that we could, y'know, get on a boat and fish...for ten hours." Replied Stan sheepishly.
"TEN HOURS?!" Exclaimed Mabel in horror making Stan's shoulders drop dejectedly.
Before another word could be said, a seemingly crazy old man entered the scene.
"I seen it! I seen it again!" He exclaimed in horror as he crashed into several items.
Mabel stared at the old man, never taking her eyes off of him. Memories quickly opened up and she recognized him. It was none other than old man McGucket.
"The Gravity Falls Gobblewonker! Come quick before it scrabdoodles away!" McGucket continued before doing a jig.
"Huh, what a nice jig." Said Mabel.
"Oh, thanks." Said McGucket turning to her. "It's a JIG OF GRAVE DANGERRRRR!!!!"
Suddenly, someone came out and started spraying McGucket with a spray bottle.
"Hey, hey! Now what did I tell you about scaring my customers? This is your last warning, Dad!"
"But I got proof this time, by gummity!" Replied McGucket before everyone headed out to see this proof.
xxXxx
It was a tiny boat split in half.
Everyone easily concluded that McGucket was just crazy and went along with their day... except for.one person.
"Hey, Mabel, did you hear what that old man said?" Asked Dipper excitedly.
"...about the monster?" Asked Mabel with a frown.
"Yeah! If we snag a picture, we can win the photo contest and split the money!"
"In the lake?" Asked Mabel clearly uncomfortable.
"You can use this to get over your fear!" He added causing his sister to frown. "C'mon, monster hunt! Monster hunt!"
That instant, Stan turned to Dipper with a disapproving look.
"Absolutely not." He said. "I'm still waiting for my suit to be fixed after Mabel incinerated the part covered in gnome puke. She'll get over her fear with me on a nice, calm boat ride."
"Excuse me?" Asked Mabel in surprise.
"Grunkle Stan!" Exclaimed Dipper in frustration.
Stan and Dipper glared at each other before the two argued about which one Mabel should go with under the pretense of helping her get over her fear. After a while, someone broke the cycle.
"Look, kid. That old man was definitely crazy, so there's no monster in the lake. Now, let's get on the boat and completely forget everything about monster hunting."
As if one que, a large boat entered the scene with Soos as it's captain.
"You doods say something about a monster hunt?" He asked cheerfully.
"Yes!" Exclaimed Dipper throwing his hands in the air with excitement.
"Sweet! You could totally use my boat for your monster hunt." Replied Soos cheerfully.
Dipper immediately hopped into Soos's boat before instinctively turning to Mabel expecting her to do the same before noticing she was not. She was shaking in fear.
"Good choice, Mabel. We'll make sure-"
"WHAT?! NO! I'M NOT GETTING ANYWHERE NEAR THAT LAKE!" Yelled Mabel before running away from the dock. "ESPECIALLY WITH EITHER OF YOU!"
Dipper and Stan could only watch as Mabel left before they moved forwards with their respective plans.
xxXxx
"Stupid Stan, stupid Dipper." Muttered Mabel with tears in her eyes as she hid away from the dock but somewhere near the lake. "...stupid me."
Mabel whimpered as she ate some peanuts that were sold nearby.
"The episode ends with everyone hanging out in the boat." She said crying as she finally remembered the episode. "How is that gonna happen when I can't even get close to the lake?!"
As Mabel kept wallowing in self pity, a friendly creature noticed her from far away.
Curious, it approached the preteen as it rose from the waters of the lake.
Mabel quickly noticed this creature from it's loud movement. It was none other than the Gobblewonker.
It huffed in her face before tilting its head curiously.
"Are you asking why I'm sad or do you just want the peanuts?" Asked Mabel raising a brow as well as the peanuts.
The gobblewonker gobbled up the peanuts in Mabel's hand, but it didn't leave after.
"I'll assume both." Deadpanned Mabel. "Well, where do I start."
xxXxx
"Dood, why didja leave Mabel behind?" Asked Soos as he and Dipper made it to scuttlebutt island.
"She doesn't like large pools of water. Besides, she doesn't mind me doing anything unless it's about cleanliness or unhealthy food." Said Dipper with a shrug.
"Huh. Well, I just hope she doesn't get lonely. Cuz, y'know, you're here and Mr Pines is fishing in the lake that she doesn't like."
Dipper stopped abruptly and frowned. "I... haven't thought of that."
xxXxx
Later
Stan groaned as he sat alone in his boat. He hated the current situation.
Especially with the salt on the wound that was a grandpa fishing with his grandkids like he wanted to do with his great niece and nephew.
Dipper left him for adventure and Mabel couldn't handle being in a boat surrounded by water.
He pulled out his Pines family fishing hats he planned on giving the twins and frown.
He turned to the one for Mabel and and stared at it for a good few minutes before trying to go back to the dock.
But before he could, Soos's boat and "the gobblewonker" passed by him.
"Oh no." Said Stan in horror upon realizing that the monster was real and currently chasing his nephew.
He immediately started rowing the boat forwards, following the trail of the beast.
xxXxx
Even more later.
"*Sob* Grunkle Stan is alone right now and it's my fault because I CAN'T GET OVER SOME STUPID FEAR!" Yelled Mabel with tears in her eyes. "And Dipper left me too! How could I mess everything so badly!"
The beast tilted its head and before it could huff or do anything to reply, Mabel spoke.
"You're right. I have to be responsible! I'm Mabel now so I HAVE to do this. The real Mabel would have." She yelled to herself. "Thanks for listening, bye!"
Mabel rushed back to the lake with the complete intent to get on a boat and fish with her family.
By the time she got to the lake, she saw Stan and Dipper standing next to each other with Soos, all looking beat up. She immediately approached them and spoke.
"Guys! I'm ready to get on a boat and do whatever for hours on end!"
Stan and Dipper gave her an awkward look before Dipper spoke.
"Nah."
"After thinking about it, we can just fish ashore." Added Stan.
"Really- I mean, didn't you two want to do stuff on boats?" Asked Mabel filled with hope. "And what happened the monster hunt?"
"Well, I found out the only monsters I wana hang out with today are you and Stan." Replied Dipper with a shrug, causing Mabel to laugh.
"Well, now that that's settled, who wants to see me thread a hook with my eyes closed?"
Everyone cheered immediately to that question. But before the four could start, they saw a large figure in the distance. Mabel immediately recognized it with her great eyesight. It was the gobblewonker, the real one.
"Is that-" said Dipper thinking McGucket got his gobblewonker robot working again.
"Hey! It's the real gobblewonker!" Said Mabel cheerfully, causing Dipper to freeze. "I was hanging out with it while you guys were away."
Dipper glanced at his sister in confusion. What did she mean...real? Did she know about McGucket and the robot?
He quickly shook his head. Removing the thought for now. Maybe it was a simple phrasing mistake.
And without anything else in their way, the pines family messed around all day near the lake.
xxXxx
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Toodles.