Under Wraps: Part 1

It was late at night and the moon shined bright over the Mystery Shack as well as the rest of Gravity Falls. The moonlight beamed slightly through small cracks in the wooden ceiling of the old portal room connected to Ford's underground laboratory.

Since Bill's defeat just a week before, the portal room itself had been mostly cleared of all the damaged machines that either had Ford's body smashed against or had been touched by the blast of energy that ripped through the ceiling and decimated the center of the Shack above. That hole had been patched up as well, leaving the room in an overall fair condition again. Aside from some of the untouched weapon caches and machinery in the corners, the room was basically cleared out, leaving an almost entirely empty plot of space in the center of the room that could be used for future projects.

Of course, Ford's mind wasn't currently racing to start any new projects. His priority for the past week had been staying in the basement and cleaning out everything in the room, trashing all the broken machinery and putting it to the side to eventually take out.

That evening, he had taken Dipper's offer to help bring the trash bags upstairs to the dumpster outside. With the amount of bags that needed to be taken out, he had to make multiple trips, taking no more than two at a time given the sheer weight of the crushed up machinery. As Dipper did that, Ford set his focus on cleaning up the lab room itself, which led to him disposing of several old things and experiments he had possessed that he felt he no longer needed. Those items were burned just a few days prior, on the Fourth of July.

Now, he sat at his main work desk by the window peering into the old portal room. He rearranged some of his books inside the small compartment beside it and made sure everything was in the order he wanted.

"There," he said as he finished. Backing up his seat, he stood up and looked around his tidied up lab with a pleased smile. "Looks like everything is finally back in order down here again."

As he looked around proudly, he then heard a bunch of grunts coming from the side. He looked over to his right and caught Stan leaning over his computer desk with a hand fishing behind the monitor while he tried to accomplish something.

"Stanley?" Ford prompted, walking over to him. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Oh, hey, Ford," Stan casually greeted. "Hey, tell me, how do I access cable on this thing again?"

"Stan, that's the main display monitor for the new computer system I've installed. It's not a television," Ford reminded.

"Well, how hard would it be to get a cable box running down here then?" Stan asked.

"Why can't you just go upstairs and watch TV in the living room?"

"Because Abuelita is always hogging that TV for her soap operas!" Stan expressed frustratedly. "You gotta understand that when there's more than one old person living in a house, it's a fight for that TV. And I almost always lose! The thing is that I can't even fight too hard because I actually respect women."

He paused.

"Well... most women," he clarified. "Anyway, the point is that I need a new spot that I can hog in peace."

"Well, my lab is not a building ground for your personal entertainment room," Ford asserted.

"Aw, c'mon! Even Soos put a TV in his room! My old room!" Stan pointed out. "After being his boss for as long as I was, I can't just let him outdo me like that!"

Ford shook his head with annoyance. "I genuinely have no interest in any of this."

"Fine," Stan unwillingly accepted. "Then what's this thing called 'streaming' Mabel was telling me about?"

"I don't- What?"

"Streaming," he repeated. "Or at least I think that's what she said. Makes more sense than screaming. Apparently, it's like the future way of watching TV or something? I don't know, Ford! It's young people stuff! You know how it is!"

"Then frankly, I'm the last person you should be asking about this."

Ding!

Ford glanced to the side as he heard the chime for the arriving elevator. "We'll talk about this later," he concluded as he walked toward it, leaving Stan at the computer alone.

"Hmm… What's that other thing Mabel mentioned people do? Torrenting?" he asked himself as he started typing at the computer slowly. "I have no idea what that is, but it already sounds more like my style."

At the elevator, the doors opened and an exhausted Dipper stepped out, panting and sweating profusely.

"Any more… trash bags... you need me to take out… Great Uncle Ford?" he asked between breaths.

"Uhh… no, actually! I think that's just about all that needs to be taken out," Ford said as he looked around the lab for bags. "Thank you for the help, Dipper. As always, your assistance is greatly appreciated."

"Ah… no problem…"

PLOP!

At that moment, Dipper collapsed backward onto the ground. There, he laid with his arms and legs spread out as he continued to pant tiredly.

Ford raised a concerned eyebrow. "Are you okay, son?"

"Yeah, yeah, I will be," he assured. "Just… lightheaded. All the walking back and forth, the heavy bags, my noodle arms… I need a second to relax."

Though he felt a bit bad for not providing Dipper any of his own assistance during the job, Ford couldn't help but smile gratefully at his work ethic nonetheless.

"Well, when you're done with that, as a token of my appreciation for your help, I'd like to show you some things I think you'll find quite interesting," he offered as he walked back over to his work desk.

The offer didn't instantly clear Dipper's exhaustion, but it intrigued him enough to get him back to his feet. He took his cap off and rubbed his head as he walked over to Ford at his desk.

"What is it?" he asked with great curiosity.

"Well, now that our main problem, Mr. Cipher, has finally been dealt with, I feel as though we're making a transition back into normality," Ford began. "Or, you know, our type of normality."

Dipper chuckled. "Right, because things can only get so normal around here."

"Anyhow, I feel as though with things settling down from all of that, it's about time I finally fulfill those promises I made to you when your uncle Stan and I returned to Gravity Falls last month."

He then leaned down and reached a hand underneath his desk. Sliding against the ground, he pulled out a medium-sized cardboard box, which Dipper's eyes quickly drew to.

"What's that?"

"Well, just a few days ago you saw me destroy a box of memories I wanted to leave behind." Ford grabbed the box with both hands, lifting it up, and setting it down on top of the desk as a wide smirk formed across his face. "This right here, on the other hand, is a box of memories I want to hold onto forever."

Dipper's eyes grew big with great interest as he heard this. He got in closer as Ford placed his hands on the top cover and pulled it off of the box, revealing the inside contents.

The box was full of many different distinguishable items. There were what looked like different artifacts made of stone or other minerals. Some items sparkled or shined brightly with implied value. Some things looked new and futuristic while others looked worn and ancient. And among everything, there were several printed photographs, most of which looked to have Stan and Ford in them in various locations around the world.

From the very top of the box, Ford pulled out a miniature booklet or journal that looked to have several bookmarks and folded papers tucked inside of it.

"This is a collection of everything Stan and I have managed to obtain over our long voyage around the world these past four years," Ford revealed. "The treasures we found, the relics we discovered, and of course, the pictures we've taken."

"Holy…" Dipper said, lost for words.

Trying to analyze every individual item in the box with a single glance pushed the limits of his brain. His mind was absolutely blown already, and he still had no idea what half of the stuff he was looking at even was.

Ford reached a hand into the box and pulled out a bright, shimmering yellow coin. "Look here!"

"Woah! Is that a gold coin?" Dipper asked excitedly.

"Indeed," Ford nodded. "It was given to us by a colony of kind leprechauns after we helped them relocate across the coast of Ireland."

"No, it wasn't," Stan cut in from the side, still sat at Ford's computer. "Those little green assholes tricked us into helping them and when we were done, they wouldn't budge on a payment, so we tried to steal the whole pot of gold. That coin was just all we managed to get away with after SOMEONE didn't secure the pot properly on the boat…"

Ford blankly stared forward at Dipper with his lips tightly sealed, which implied that the story, as Stan put it, wasn't inaccurate. "Well, yes, I suppose that's the less heroic tale…" he admitted, slightly embarrassed. "But hey, it is still real gold!"

Dipper gave him a humored smile. "Guess you just gotta take what you can get, huh?"

Ford continued digging through the box once again, stopping as he grabbed hold of something. He then pulled out what appeared to be a giant gray-ish bone.

"A-hah! Take a look at this one!" he said, holding it out to Dipper. "This bone stands as a trophy from the time Stan and I conquered a skeleton pirate ship sailing over the Bermuda Triangle! It's the femur of their captain, Captain Famine. They tried to take us down on our boat, but Stan and I put up one helluva sword fight!"

"I think they stabbed me like forty times," Stan once again interjected. "My scars still haven't fully faded. Anyway, you probably never want to see me shirtless again."

Ford gave a disturbed look upon being faced with this reminder, to which he slowly placed the bone back into the box again. "Moving on from that imagery…"

Dipper stood over the box and peeked inside at the general contents once again. As cool as all the actual treasures and possessions they found were, his eyes seemed most drawn to the pictures at that moment. He picked up a few of them and looked at them more closely, getting an idea of all the different lands the two brothers had gotten to explore during their voyage. From forests to jungles; deserts to snowy landscapes; ancient depths to the highest peaks, it looked as though the two had seen and done it all over the past few years.

"Wow… look at these," he said as he flipped through each photo. "You guys really went everywhere, huh?"

"We sure did," Ford fondly nodded. "Well, except Columbia. Stan's former criminal activities down there made him quite a well-known figure to the people. It was rather challenging to even dock there when even the lighthouse keepers were pointing sniper rifles at us. I believe they blacklist anyone with the surname Pines from even entering the country now, so I would strongly advise marking that country off as a potential vacation destination in the future."

"Noted. But man… seeing all of this stuff and all of these adventures you guys went on…" he glanced to the side a bit glumly as he thought about it. "...I wish I could've done it too. You know, I think I would love to travel the world."

Looking down at his great-nephew, Ford gave an optimistic smile as he put a warm hand on his shoulder. "And I'm sure you will someday."

Dipper looked up at him with uncertainty. "With you?"

Ford was immediately hesitant to give him an assured answer. There was a mixture of conflicting feelings he had regarding the idea, leaving him with no answer he felt confident in giving.

"You know, part of me would probably love to do it all again, but truthfully, I think I'm past my due for many more big global adventures," he admitted a bit gloomily. "It's been a great privilege and a dream come true to do it once, but I'm not sure I could muster the strength to ever do it again. Not at my age."

Dipper frowned disappointedly. "I understand."

"Chin up, boy. You won't need me to have your own journeys down the line. You'll already be quite the adventurer yourself," Ford said, patting him on the back comfortingly. "Not to mention, you'll likely have more family and friends by your side than I ever did. You already do now."

Dipper looked at Ford for a moment and smiled gratefully. While Ford wasn't the oldest of the old and was still in far better shape than Stan for their shared age, that didn't mean he was aging any slower. Between his early days of investigating Gravity Falls, spending thirty years between dimensions, stopping Bill, and then traveling nonstop around the world for four years straight, his body might as well be just as tired as Stan's at that point. Maybe even more.

Both of them were in need of a long rest. And as understandable as it was, it was still slightly disappointing and even saddening to know there may not be too many years left in them before any adventuring would be off the table. Regardless, Dipper knew whether it was Ford or Stan, he wanted to make the most out of whatever time they could spend together doing the things they do just as a family.

He glanced back down at the pictures and continued to flip through them one by one. "So, of all the places you guys went, which was your favorite?"

"Hmm… tough to narrow down," Ford said as he stroked his chin. "The Netherlands was quite fun. As was Japan. The African Savanna was also quite a majestic sight. Also, the food in Taiwan was pretty good. I highly recommend it."

"I don't. I basically lived on the toilet for like a week," Stan chimed in yet again.

Flipping through another photograph, Dipper saw a picture of Stan and Ford visiting what appeared to be the Giza pyramid complex.

"What about Egypt?" he asked, flipping the photo for Ford to see.

"Ah, yes. The home of the great pyramids," Ford commented, looking at the picture. "I'll admit- while it's an amazing sight with fascinating history, I personally found it largely overrated all things considered. I'm also just not much of a fan of deserts in general. Lots of dust and sand. It gets everywhere."

"And Egypt's where you got the resurrection spell back, right?" Dipper recalled.

"That's right. And that's gone now too, so overall, not much even came from that particular trip. Not even in terms of knowledge. I mean, I already knew that the pyramids were really built by the aliens."

"Wait, WHAT?!" Dipper questioned, eyes bulging in shock.

"Wait, have I never told you that?" Ford asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Wha- no?!" Dipper shook his head. "I mean, I knew about the aliens, but never that they built the pyramids! How do you know this?"

"A look at many of the unidentified glyphs and texts matched up with many of the symbols I uncovered back at the saucer," he began to explain. "As it turned out, when it crashed millions of years ago, not all of the aliens actually died in the crash. Some of the very few that survived got out and scavenged throughout the planet. They built settlements in the form of ancient underground tombs around the globe, which also doubled down as burial sites where they mummified those of them that died off. The remaining few of them eventually reached the original land of Ancient Egypt, where, as a last resort effort to get home, they built the pyramids as a way to try and contact their kind. However, while the pyramids themselves were built, the communication relay was never installed as the aliens died off before they could add them. The bodies decayed but the pyramids stood untouched until the ancient Egyptians would later come along and utilize them for their own civilization. They also learned about mummification from the last few wrapped up alien corpses they found."

"That's crazy!" Dipper said in disbelief. "And so historically and logically convoluted!"

"Yes, I understand science is all about asking questions, but in this case, it may be better just to not ask too many questions about all of this."

"So, does this discredit all of the accomplishments the Ancient Egyptians actually contributed to building the foundations of modern civilization and such?" Dipper asked.

"Oh, of course not!" Ford denied. "The Ancient Egyptians were still incredibly wise and innovative people. They just didn't build the pyramids."

Dipper shook his head in sheer excitement and disbelief. "Man, I can't believe it. This is all so… incredible! And what about the tombs? Have you ever been in one?"

"Actually, I have this map detailing the aliens' path across the world, including the burial sites they've built," Ford said as he pulled out one of the folded pieces of paper from the inside of the mini journal, opening it out on the table to reveal a world map with various pinpointed locations. "Stan and I took on one buried somewhere near the Argentinian rainforests."

"Did you see any mummies?"

"Oh, we did... But we were dangerously unprepared for how many active ones we encountered, so we had to retreat halfway through," he explained with a serious expression on his face. "All of those ruins must be infested with those things. A real nightmare to explore without proper preparations. I'm not quite sure what else might be down in any of those tombs, but I haven't really bothered to investigate further since."

Dipper picked up the map and analyzed the pinpointed locations on it. They stretched from the northwest U.S. down toward the southern region of South America before making its way slightly north and jumping across the ocean onto the African continent before ending in Egypt. Following the map from east to west, he soon realized that the westmost tomb was actually pinpointed right in Gravity Falls itself.

"Woah, there's a site right here in Gravity Falls!" he pointed out excitedly.

"Of course," Ford confirmed. "That might as well be the first one ever built considering the saucer crashed here. Must be older than the pyramids themselves."

"We should go check it out!" Dipper suggested. "As you said, we're settling down from all of the Bill stuff now. This seems like a perfect opportunity for a mission!"

"Eh… I don't know about that," Ford said reluctantly, visibly unkeen to the idea. "Maybe sometime later down the line would be better."

"Oh, okay," Dipper accepted, though feeling a bit shot down. "But, why not now?"

"Honestly, it's a very demanding adventure, and I just don't quite think you're ready to take it on."

Dipper froze as his face grew visibly dejected. "Not… ready?"

"Not yet, that is," Ford clarified. "I think with a bit more experience in the general field, you'd be much better prepared for the task.

"But Great Uncle Ford, they're just mummies," Dipper pointed out. "I mean, what's there to be ready for?"

"Trust me. These aren't just mummies," he refuted. "They're far more intimidating and dangerous than anything you could possibly expect. Especially when you're moving through tight-cornered darkness and there's an abundance of them."

Even with this, Dipper simply remained unconvinced to the idea that this was beyond his capabilities. "I just don't understand how I'm not ready. I mean, I've fought against gnomes, ghosts, zombies… I've helped defeat Bill, our most dangerous enemy yet, multiple times. I even saved you from getting sent to alien space prison all by myself!"

"Dipper, that was an entirely unanticipated situation."

"But I still did it, and I was twelve! I'm going to be seventeen this summer, Great Uncle Ford!" he reminded him, growing heated. "What else do I need to do to prove I'm capable enough to handle this, of all things?"

Ford sighed. "Look, my boy, you're capable of many things. I'm not denying that. But I've dealt with these mummies firsthand. I know what we'd be up against, and I don't want to risk putting you in such danger. It's not an easy mission."

Dipper turned away from him, tucking the folded map away as he crossed his arms frustratedly.

"Or maybe you really are just getting too old for this sort of thing."

For the most part, Stan had kept out of their entire conversation as he focused on trying to learn about torrents. But overhearing this exchange grabbed his attention, prompting him to turn around and look at them in shock.

Ford's mouth hung agape for a moment of silence as he stared at Dipper's back. For as fair as he had tried to be with him tonally, this response felt very much uncalled for. Especially from him. But still, if this was where Dipper wanted to take things, then he wasn't going to be the one to return with sudden compassion.

"We are not hunting those mummies and that is final," Ford told him upfront with narrowed eyes.

Dipper's eyes widened as he turned back to him. "But Great Uncle Ford, I-"

"Don't want to hear it," he cut off, turning away to put the lid on his box again before sliding it back under his desk. "Once again, I appreciate the help you gave me down here. Now go upstairs and get some rest. You need it."

Dipper stood completely frozen for a moment as he glared at him. He then narrowed his own eyes before silently turning around and bitterly walking back to the elevator. Stepping onto it, he pressed the button to go up, to which the doors closed. The whole time, he didn't even look back once.

"Yeesh," Stan remarked uncomfortably. "That's the first time I've seen you two nerds have drama."

"I'm not too rustled," Ford calmly brushed off. "He's a teen. He's just having a moment of rebellion. It's no different than how either of us used to be with dad."

"Please. You were never rebellious," Stan claimed. "You always played goody two shoes while Pa constantly laid into me."

"Hey, I still used to sneak off with small packs of jelly beans from the supermarket when he wouldn't let me buy them!" Ford defensively argued. "The guilt used to tear me up for weeks."

"Oh, man… Shoplifting jelly beans? How scandalous!" Stan mocked.

"Oh, be quiet."

"So, what do you think the kid's gonna do?" Stan asked. "'Cuz twenty bucks says he still goes out and takes on those mummies himself."

"Nah, Dipper's smarter than that," Ford disagreed. "He may be displeased now, but I trust that after a good night's rest, he'll come to see that I was just trying to protect him."

"Pffft, yeah," Stan chuckled. "I'm sure a kid with as many hormones as he does will let up that easily."

"He's got a strong head."

"Yeah, and that's what makes him stubborn."

"I suppose I can try to figure out another adventure he'd like to make it up to him." Ford then let out a tired yawn. "But I'll save that for the morning. Time to call it a night."

Stan stood up from Ford's desk and followed him on his way toward the elevator. He then stopped as he glanced over his shoulder, looking into the old portal room.

"By the way, are you ever going to do something about him?" he asked.

"Eventually," Ford said as he turned around. "I admit that I've been putting that off from the rest of the cleanup. Paranoia has gotten the best of me. But I know it's something I'm going to have to handle soon enough."

"Do you already know what you're going to do with it?"

"I have an idea. Might take some time to put it together though." He yawned again, scratching the back of his head exhaustedly. "Again, a problem for another day. Come on. Let's lock it up for the night."

The two of them continued walking toward the elevator, with Ford pressing the button for it to come back down. Once it arrived, he shut off all the lights in the lab and stepped on with Stan. He hit the button for the second level - once his private study, now turned shared bedroom - and they went up.

The lab room was left alone with nothing but machine and computer lights to bring little luminance to through the darkness. In the old portal room, the Bill Cipher statue laid alone in the center of the otherwise empty plot of cleared out space as it continued to remain completely untouched since his defeat. His final agonized expression and frozen flailing arms and legs were softly illuminated by the moonlight in a room otherwise submerged in pitch-black darkness and the quiet evening ambiance. A fate that had remained unchanged since his defeat and would continue to stay that way until handled again at some eventual point.

Whenever that was to be.

At the same time in the night, the Reeds residence had already shut off most of their lights as half of the family had already turned in for the night.

Evan sat at one of his computer desks, eyes focused intently on the screen as he watched an intense, over-the-top sword fight sequence from an episode of an anime series. He was as comfortable as could be, sat in his computer chair wrapped in blankets while eating slowly from a large bowl of popcorn that sat to the side. His room was encased in the darkness except for the screen light that was hardly a foot away from his face.

Ryland passed his brother's open bedroom door in his white tank top and shorts as he made his way toward his own room. Peeking inside to see his brother's late-night binging, he raised an eyebrow.

"Dude, did you seriously just spend the whole day sitting there and watching anime?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," Evan half-mindedly replied, eyes still focused entirely on the screen.

Ryland looked on at him with slight concern. "Have you eaten anything?"

"Popcorn," he simply said, raising the bowl in his hand before stuffing his mouth with another handful of it. All done still without taking his eyes off the screen.

Ryland then narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "When was the last time you blinked?"

"I can't remember."

None of Evan's responses alleviated any of Ryland's concerns. Regardless, he felt there was no use trying to get through to him. Besides, he didn't want to get in his way, so he figured it would be best to leave him alone. But only as long as he didn't have to hear him.

"Right, well, I'm hitting the sack so could you please turn it down?" Ryland asked.

"Yeah, sure," Evan said while waving his hand dismissively at him.

He then went ahead and turned down the volume by just two decibels before focusing on the screen again. Taking notice of this, Ryland stood with an irked expression on his face as he stared on at him.

"Ya know what? I'm just gonna make this easier for both of us and just close your door," Ryland suggested, grabbing the door handle and pulling it shut, closing the room.

"Okay," Evan mindlessly responded, eating another handful of popcorn as he kept watching.

Beep. Beep.

To Evan's left side, one of his other computers gave off a barely audible beeping sound as a small red light blinked at the bottom corner of his monitor. For the first time in several hours, he took his eyes away from his show and glanced over in his other monitor's direction curiously. The sound and light were both parts of a specific notification alert system he had designed for keeping track of government activity. Noticing the alert, he figured it must be something somewhat important. But surely, it was nothing urgent enough to turn off his show.

"Meh, it can wait," he said, turning his eyes back to his main computer screen.

Beep. Beep.

"Oh, for crying out loud," he said annoyedly, instantly pressing a finger down on his keyboard to pause his show. He then rolled his computer chair over to his other monitor, pressing a button to turn it on again. "What could this possibly be about-"

He quickly cut himself off upon the screen lighting up. The notification displayed itself right in front of him, to which his eyes widened with great concern. The words "U.S. Government Alert" flashed on the screen in bright red.

"Uh oh."

Instantly, his anime binge-watch session pushed itself to the very back of his mind as his focus completely shifted to the new apparent problem at hand. He started typing fast on his keyboard, loading past a few different web pages at a rapid pace, reading several lines of text as they flashed by. A specific page he sought out popped up, and he stopped to read it.

"Gravity Falls Anomaly Investigation? Tomorrow morning?!" he read aloud worriedly. "Oh no. This is NOT good."

Processing everything, he stood up and backed away from his computer, holding onto his head with growing anxiety. Trying to calm down, he then took the next moment to think up a plan or a way to handle everything. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that this was a problem that went beyond him and needed to be treated as such.

"I gotta tell the others. This alone could change absolutely everything…"

The next morning came and started off feeling no different than any other morning at the Mystery Shack. In the twins' bedroom, Mabel stood in front of a mirror wearing a white undershirt while holding a hanger in each hand; each holding a different layer to wear over.

In one hand, she held a high school varsity jacket from back home sporting her school's colors: purple and white. As per usual with her clothes, she made it her own through bedazzling it with purple and white rhinestones and sewing a shooting star patch onto the right sleeve. In her other hand, she held a salmon-colored blouse that was covered in glitter and sparkles. There was also a little black etching of a fish stitched onto the bottom of it, meant to represent an actual salmon as a play on the color and the fish.

To her left, Waddles sat upright on the floor watching her as she glanced between the hangers indecisively.

"Hmm… I don't know, Waddles. I kind of feel it's a varsity jacket sorta day, but at the same time, my salmon sparkle blouse is a real eye-grabber to me right now," she told him as she continued examining both options in the mirror. "What do you think, Dipper?"

Across the room from behind, Dipper stood by his bed distracted by his own business. He was caught in the process of organizing his backpack, filling it with different tools as he looked back and forth between a map spread out amongst the top of his bed. Leaning against the bed, there was an axe and a shovel, both of which he planned on bringing along.

Mabel asking his name took him out of it though and prompted him to look over his shoulder toward her.

"Huh?" he asked before spotting the hangers she held. "Oh, uh, I don't know. The jacket, I guess."

He immediately turned back to his business as Mabel processed his response. Staring up at her, Waddles then gave a casual oink that grabbed her attention, suddenly filling her with excitement.

"You're right, Waddles! The salmon blouse does make us match more!" she enthusiastically agreed, tossing the varsity jacket aside as she threw on the blouse instead. "Sorry, Dipper, but I'm going blouse here."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he half-mindedly replied.

Mabel spent a few seconds by the mirror fixing herself up a bit more, flexing her self-confidence through admiration for her own style. Glancing at Dipper in the background working on his own stuff, she turned around curiously.

"I see you're all packed up," she acknowledged his backpack as she walked up beside him, resting her elbow on his shoulder while looking down at the map. "Heading out on an adventure?"

"Pretty much," he said. "Last night after helping Great Uncle Ford in the basement, he told me about some of the adventures he and Stan went on during their four-year voyage."

"Aw, drat! Really? I missed out on hearing Grunkle tales?" she asked, disappointment forming across her face.

"I'm sure they'll tell you all about it too if you ask," Dipper reassured her. "But that's not the point. One of the things he told me about was how the Egyptian pyramids were actually built by aliens. The same ones that crashed the saucer here in town! And those that survived built tombs to settle in as they journeyed across the world. One of those tombs, the first actually, is here in Gravity Falls just south of town, and I'm going after it!"

"Wow! So the Egyptians were actually aliens?" she asked.

Dipper raised an eyebrow at her. "Wait, wha- no! The Egyptians are still the Egyptians. The aliens just built the pyramids."

"Ohhh, okay! I'm gonna pretend that helps me understand the rest of what you just said," she openly told him, which annoyed him just a bit. "But it still sounds cool! So what're you looking for in this tomb?" She gasped excitedly. "Oooh, are there mummies?"

"Oh, there are definitely mummies," he nodded eagerly before turning back to the map spread out on the bed. "But I'm not going specifically for them. This tomb is super old and, to my knowledge, hasn't ever been explored. And given it was originally built by aliens, who knows what secrets might still be down there? There could be… treasure! Or there could be something supergalactic and powerful! Whatever there might be, it must be valuable."

An idea sprung in his head at that moment.

"You should come with me!" he suggested. "I mean, who knows? If there's something valuable down there, maybe it's shiny! And I know how much you like shiny things..."

"I do like shiny things…" Mabel said, tapping her chin with growing temptation. "Okay, I'm in! Let me just get my things together."

"Aaand by 'things,' you just mean snacks, don't you?"

"Well, duh. Gotta have some caloric fuel to help us when fighting mummies," she said as she walked toward the room door. "Especially Grunkle Ford. Ya know, he would probably benefit most from eating a choco-nutty bar every now and then."

"Oh, uh, Ford's not… coming with us, actually…" Dipper clarified, rubbing his neck awkwardly as he recalled their last interaction the night before.

"Wait, really?" she asked with a surprised look. "I thought he was the one who told you about all of this."

"Yeah, he was. But the thing is- he doesn't exactly want me going after these mummies."

"Woah, whaaaaaat?" she asked with the exaggerated tilt of her head.

"Yeah, apparently he thinks I'm 'not ready' for it," he brought up. "Ridiculous, right? After everything we've ever faced in this town since we were kids, a bunch of mummies is where we're drawing the readiness line? C'mon."

Although just a second ago, she was ready to go with her brother to tackle the tomb and find shiny treasure, this revelation began to give her second thoughts.

"Yeah, I guess I see where you're coming from…" she said with slight uncertainty in her voice. "But, allow me to propose a bit of additional judgment if I may…"

"Uh… go ahead, I guess."

"Right, well, what if… and this is just a theory… what if… he's right?"

"What?" Dipper asked, turning his head toward her with a look almost as though he felt betrayed. "C'mon, Mabel. How many times have we beaten Bill together?"

"I don't think that's the point, Dipper," she said. "Like, how much do you really know about this tomb or even these mummies?"

"I mean, not much," he admitted. "I know it was a tomb built by aliens. Maybe the mummies are alien mummies too. I don't know. But surely, we've dealt with far worse before. Whatever is in that tomb can't possibly be any worse than anything we faced during Weirdmageddon."

"I'm not trying to discredit you or anything we've done, but… don't you think Grunkle Ford usually knows what he's talking about when it comes to these sorts of things?"

"Look, I love Great Uncle Ford and all, but maybe we need to start being honest with ourselves, Mabel. Stan and Ford are getting older and since they came back, we've been able to see how that's affected them," Dipper told her bluntly. "Eventually, they just aren't going to be fit for these types of adventures anymore. Don't you think it's possible we might be seeing a little bit of that start to happen in this case?"

Mabel sighed unhappily at the reminder. "I don't know, Dipper… I don't like to think about that sort of thing. Maybe they are getting a bit old for this, but I don't think that makes their judgment any less valuable. I mean, is Grunkle Ford really someone you want to go against?"

"I don't want to go against him. I just feel like this is something I can do and I want to prove it to him," Dipper said with determination, holding the map to his chest.

"Well, I think you should just trust Ford's word on this one and stay back," she insisted as she walked back toward the door. "C'mon! Let's just have a normal day hanging out here at the Shack with everyone else. Not unnecessarily risking death yet again only a week after we survived Bill."

Stood at the doorway, she let Waddles walk out ahead of her before shutting the door, leaving Dipper to his own in their room.

He sighed as he thought over her words. "Maybe she's right. Maybe I should just listen to Ford. What if I'm really not ready?"

Just hearing himself say such a thing felt wrong. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists arduously.

"What am I talking about? Ford said it's just a bunch of mummies in tight spaces. I've dealt with worse. I've beaten worse."

He put the folded map into his hoodie before putting on his backpack. From the side, he grabbed the shovel and tucked the handle into a strap on his backpack. He then grabbed the axe, but instead of putting it under the strap too, he raised it up in the air confidently.

"I am perfectly capable of doing things on my own!" he declared.

He then proceeded to take a single step forward, only to immediately slip on one of his own socks that laid out on the floorboards. As he slipped forward, he landed right on his face while throwing the axe straight forward, sending it flying across the room with the blade cutting and sticking into the wall. Lying on the ground, he looked upward at the axe, clenching his teeth together worriedly.

"Okay, maybe it wouldn't hurt to have someone there to watch my back," he admitted.

Downstairs, Soos had just finished leading a bunch of tourists through the Shack's museum. Popping out through the curtains, he led them back out one by one into the gift shop, letting them disband from a single group to explore the shop at their own leisure.

"Thanks for checking out the Mystery Tour, dudes! Now feel free to spend most or all of your hard-earned money on our overpriced and unlicensed Mystery Shack merchandise! Also, pay no mind to the giant hole in the wall in the back of the room. We're still undergoing repairs after our recent… uh… termite problem." He subtly pumped his fist triumphantly. "Nailed it!"

While the Shack itself was mostly back in order again following all of the recent repairs, there was still an unpatched corner of the gift shop that remained completely blown open from the basement's upward energy beam blast. In the meantime, while waiting for proper repairs, the corner was simply closed off from tourists using some cheap barricades made from tape and wood. There were similar spots throughout the Shack's interior that still needed patching and other repairs, but for the most part, the place was good enough to reopen. Luckily, it didn't appear to be a bad decision either, as tours through the day ran as they normally would any other day, and merch sold just as well as it always did.

Stan walked around the gift shop casually watching the various customers as they browsed merchandise. Although he never had any doubts about Soos' ability to run the Shack himself in his absence, he was still happy to see how successful everything continued to be.

"I gotta say, Soos- while you could probably be a bit less upfront about everything, you really do a fine job as Mr. Mystery," Stan said as he walked up to him.

"He does, doesn't he?" Melody agreed as she passed by from the side, putting a loving hand on his shoulder. "Good work today, sweetie." She pecked him on the cheek before continuing to pass by him.

"Heheh. Thanks, babe," he told her as put a hand on his cheek. "And thank you too, Mr. Pines. That means a lot. I've really worked hard to honor the legacy you left here at the Mystery Shack. I'm sure you're already well aware of the statue I've set up while you were away."

He pointed off to the side toward the back wall of the gift shop. There stood an imperfect stone statue of Stan himself in the old Mr. Mystery outfit. He was portrayed as a hearty old man with a goofy smile, large gut, and a really awkward pose of him standing against his cane with his legs crossed. The stand the statue stood on read the word "Founder."

"Oh, yeah... that monstrosity…" Stan remarked as he cringed just from looking at. "Well, I mean, I guess I've been fatter."

Despite Stan's would-be hurtful words, Soos' mind was in a completely different place. He took a deep breath as he rubbed his shoulder nervously.

"Say, Mr. Pines, now that all of this Bill stuff is over, there's actually something really important that I've been meaning to ask of you for some time now…" he told him anxiously. "You see-"

"Hey, look! Over there!" called out the youthful voice of a child. "It's him! The guy from the statue!"

"Woah, the original Mr. Mystery!" another kid called out.

A group of five different kids suddenly ran right up to Stan at that moment, causing him to turn away from Soos. They all stood together as they looked up at him excitedly, exchanging murmurs and other comments amongst themselves. Stan glanced between them all in slight surprise.

"Wow! The kids actually recognize me! And they aren't running away!" he mentioned.

"Mr. Mystery, can we get a picture with you?" one the kids asked with a phone camera in hand.

"Sure thing, kid!" Stan gladly accepted to which he kneeled down and put his hands on two kids shoulders' as they grouped up to pose. "Just to be clear, your parents ain't planning out a lawsuit with this picture, right?"

Behind Stan and the kids, Soos continued to stiffly stand by. "Actually, nevermind about that question, Mr. Pines," he mentioned again with a light chuckle. "It can probably wait for a better time. Now's a bit crazy and all… ya know?"

"Yeah, yeah, you're kinda in the shot right now, Soos. Could you step aside?" Stan asked.

Soos looked up and saw that he still stood right in the background of the kid's picture. "Oh, right. My bad," he said as he moved aside.

"There we go. Now, everybody say- 'No refunds!'" Stan prompted as he smiled for the camera.

"No refunds!" the five kids said at once with wide smiles.

Click!

While they took their picture, Soos gave a dispirited sigh as he quietly sauntered away from them. He tried hard not to let getting brushed off get him down too much, as of course there would be other opportunities to ask what he needed to. But still, the simple state of feeling unresolved was a hard one to let go of.

At the front of the shop, there was a decently sized line of tourists at the register where Ryland sat taking transactions. Beside him sat Mabel, who couldn't really do much more than stick around and watch him and everyone else as they worked. On the ground beside her seat was Waddles, who just laid down relaxed, looking as lazy and cute as always.

"Man, it's great to see the Shack booming again," Mabel said while looking at the line of tourists.

"Yeah, though I'm really missing Wendy right about now," Ryland replied while simultaneously putting money into the register. "I used to do more backroom-type stuff when she still worked here. Now that she's gone, I've taken up all her frontline duties, and man, cash registers stress me the hell out."

"Aww, don't worry. You're doing great so far!" Mabel told him supportively. "Heck, you don't even look all that stressed anyway."

With the blink of an eye, she turned back to him as he appeared frozen in place in his seat. His eyes were staring intensely at the register and his body was leaned forward. It looked as though his brain had just stopped working all of the sudden.

"Wow. I spoke way too soon," Mabel remarked.

"Huh?" Ryland said, unfreezing. "Oh, no, this isn't my stressed face. I just keep feeling like I've been forgetting about something since this morning..."

SLAM!

To their right, the gift shop door suddenly slammed open. Stood at the doorway itself was Evan with a laptop tucked under his arm. He stood there seething with rage as his eyes shot right over at his older brother.

"Oh, hey Evan!" Mabel casually waved to him.

"Ohhh, now I remember," Ryland realized.

"YOU!" Evan shouted, angrily marching straight up to Ryland at the counter. "You left me at home! After I told you a million times this morning to bring me with you today!"

"Look, I'm sorry!" Ryland said, raising his hands up defensively. "I saw the Sub Truck setting up around the corner and had to get a tuna sub before a line grew. After I got it, I forgot to go back home to get you."

"Yeah, well, I hope it was worth it!" Evan said, folding his arms bitterly.

"I mean, it kind of was. That was a really good tuna sub," Ryland said, rubbing his stomach with satisfaction.

"Well, I had to take the bus because of you!" Evan scolded. "The bus! That smelly, unsanitary, social anxiety-inducing…!"

"Okay! Easy there, Evan, bud," Mabel cut in to try and calm him down. "What's going on? Why did you need to come here so badly today?"

"Because there's an emergency!" he said alarmingly. "An agent from the U.S. government is coming here right now as we speak!"

"Wait, what?! " Mabel asked, eyes bulging.

"The government is coming?!" Soos asked as he overheard from the side. Growing immediately panicked, he ran through the line of confused tourists, racing for the back of the shop.

"Wait, the government is coming?" Stan overheard from Soos. He then narrowed his eyes at the group of kids. "So, you WERE planning a lawsuit with those pictures, huh? Well, not anymore!"

He leaned forward and swiped one of the kid's phones away before throwing it violently against the ground. With his foot, he damaged it even more by stomping on it repeatedly until was completely smashed up against on the floorboards. The kids looked up at him in utter confusion and shock.

"NOW GET OUTTA HERE!" he screamed in their faces, which sent all five of them running off screaming.

Soos quickly ran up to the back of the gift shop, stopping at the intercom on the Employees Only doorway. He placed a finger on the button. "Attention, dudes! The Mystery Shack is now closed! We have, uh…" He paused, trying to guess up a decent excuse. "The termites are back. The termites are back! EVERYONE GET OUT NOW! THE TERMITES ARE BACK! DO YOU HEAR ME?! JUST GET THE HECK OUTTA HERE NOOOOOOOWW!"

With Soos' alarming screams amplified through the intercom speaker, all of the tourists came running out the front door with a series of panicked screams. Everybody else that stayed behind looked out the window as they skipped through the parking lot in a rush, getting back to their cars and driving off without looking back.

"Little much there, boss," Ryland commented honestly.

"Yeah, I mean, it's an emergency, but that was just… unnecessary," Evan nodded in agreement.

"Just following the Shack precautions, dudes," Soos said. "In the old Mystery Shack Book of Guidelines, it states 'In case of government presence or impending arrival, promptly scare off every customer in the building.'"

"We had a book of guidelines?" Stan asked.

Melody burst out from the living room hurriedly. "Soos, what's going on?"

Right after she entered, the vending machine flew open with Ford emerging from the doorway, holding a laser gun in hand at the ready. "What happened? I heard screaming. Is anyone hurt?

Evan's eyes darted over toward Ford. "Mr. Pines!"

"Evan?" Ford prompted, lowering his gun. "What's happening?"

"I apologize for the late notice. I wish I could have informed you of this sooner, but I just learned about this last night," Evan said as he walked up to him.

"Learned about what, boy?" Ford asked.

Evan opened his mouth to speak but stopped as he and everyone else heard the sound of a car door open right outside. Glancing over his shoulder toward the window, he snuck over to it quietly and peeked his head out. He grew instantly anxious upon realizing his expectations were confirmed right outside.

"Her."

Everybody else curiously walked up to the window and took a look outside. In the middle of the lot was a black car with the words "U.S. Government" written to the side above the agency's symbol, which was a left-facing eagle head with a large eye. Emerging from the driver's seat was a woman with straight, neck-length dark brown hair in a dark gray shirt with a plain black suit over it that had an American flag pin on the left side. She also wore black sunglasses and a radio earpiece in her right ear. She looked to be somewhere in her late 40's with prominent wrinkles around her eyes and mouth.

She pulled off her sunglasses, revealing her stern brown eyes. In her left hand, she held a black tablet with the same agency symbol on the back of it. She appeared to tap on it a few times before looking back up and keenly analyzing the area with growing suspicions.

Ford watched her observantly from the window. "A U.S. government agent… What's one doing here?" His eyes suddenly narrowed dubiously. "Dang it, Stanley! What did you do this time?"

"What?! I haven't done anything!" Stan defended. "Not yet, at least..."

"No, he's right, Mr. Pines," Evan told Ford, coming to Stan's defense. "And that's not just any government agent. That's Agent Beatrice Fraid. She comes from the Federal Anomaly Investigation unit of the agency."

"What? Since when does this country have an Anomaly Investigation unit?" Ford wondered.

"Nevermind that! What is she doing here?" Mabel asked.

"Anomaly investigation, obviously," Evan answered, breaking out his laptop and setting it down on the counter. "Something strange here in town must have triggered some sort of alert on the main radar."

"But doesn't strange stuff always happening in this town? What recent weirdness would be weird enough to attract them now?" Ryland asked.

Ford gasped all of a sudden. "The energy beam from the portal when we defeated Bill! It must've caused another power surge that was traced over their satellites! Just like with the last interdimensional gateway."

"So we just have to come up with another excuse for why that's not our fault and we're off the hook! Sounds easy enough to me," Stan thought up.

"While that might've been what brought her here, she's not searching for you guys in particular," Evan clarified as he typed away. "I've been able to access a few files in their federal system that tells me this."

"Wait, federal files?" Stan questioned. "Kid, is any of this stuff you're doing here legal?"

"Not at all," Evan admitted.

"Well, I like your style!" Stan praised.

"Stan, now's not the time to be a terrible role model," Ford discouraged. "Anyways, what did you find out in those files, Evan?"

"Well, it turns out this investigation is founded upon stacks of anomalous reports that have come up over the past four years," Evan said, showing his laptop to Ford.

Ford analyzed the data presented to him on the laptop, but reading it all only made things even more confusing to him. "I don't get it. Gravity Falls has been weird for lifetimes. How is it that they've only stacked up reports since the last summer we were here? What changed four years ago?"

Soos stroked his chin. "What about those dudes that used to erase the memories of the townsfolk who saw weirdness?"

"Wait… that's right!" Mabel realized. "The Blind Eye guys! Since we took them down, no one's been around to wipe away people's memories of all the weird things they saw!"

"So that means reports of weirdness must be going directly to the government instead…" Ford summed up. "Oh boy, this is not good."

"What does this mean for us?" Melody asked.

"For ages, Gravity Falls has remained a sleepy town where anomalies only exist to the public in the form of urban legends. Everything has been localized and out of government view," Ford explained.

"And if the anomalies are discovered by the government, the entire town is at risk at being founded, evacuated, and then locked down for federal investigation and experimentation," Evan added.

"Evan's correct," Ford nodded. "When I was young and first exploring this town, I dreamed of one day publishing all of my findings to the world. But eventually, I learned the last thing that should happen to these incredible species is for them to be truly found out by the rest of the globe. To expose these creatures and legitimizing their existence past their legends could pose irreversible dangers to them all. In a world where we struggle just to keep a species of island birds from going extinct, who knows how long a species like the gnomes would be able to last?"

"Humans. Why do we have to be so cruel?" Mabel said, saddened by mere idea of innocent creatures, weird or not, going extinct because of her own kind.

"At least my field studies have been ethical for the most part," Ford claimed. "I would never do anything to willingly harm the creatures I study if they aren't capable of presenting no danger to the world. Of which there are several that do, mind you, and I'm sure you're all aware by now of which ones. But I wouldn't trust any of these federal people to make such discrepancies."

"Neither would I," Evan shook his head.

"So what do we do then?" Soos asked.

Knock, knock, knock.

Everyone froze up as they heard a knocking at the door, which they figured with almost complete certainty that it was the agent. While most of them stood unsure with how to respond, Ford narrowed his eyes resolutely.

"We throw them off of their scent," he stated. "Here's the objective, folks- it's up to us to keep Gravity Falls under wraps. We need to prove to Agent Fraid that Gravity Falls is as normal and uninteresting as any town could possibly be. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir, Ford, sir!" Soos affirmed with a salute.

"Uh… very well, then. Let's get started with this then," Ford said as he walked toward the door.

The others started to gather into positions throughout the gift shop and the rest of the Shack. Mabel and Stan continued to stand in place as she crossed her arms somewhat annoyedly.

"Great. First zombies, now the government? It's like we're repeating our last summer here all over again!" she realized. "Grunkle Stan, I swear, if there's some long lost triplet of yours we don't know about, they better like Pony Heist or else I'm gonna be really upset."

She pointed a finger at him threateningly as she spoke before walking back toward the counter, leaving him standing on his own without a response as he stared forward worriedly.

Dipper looked down at the pinpointed map while walking along the sidewalk of town next to the open forest. Having a good idea of his distance, he folded it back up and tucked it inside his hoodie. He then took out his phone and called a number, awaiting an answer as he continued on his way.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Derrick," Dipper greeted.

"Dipper, what's up?" Derrick spoke over his granddad's old house phone.

"Hey, you wanna go mummy hunting?" Dipper offered.

"Mummy hunting, eh?" Derrick repeated. "Is that what's on the agenda for today?"

"Well, I just said that to get you interested," Dipper admitted. "I found out about this old tomb in the woods south of town. Apparently, it was built long ago by aliens and such. It's a lot of confusing stuff; best not to question any of it. Anyway, I figured there could be some neat things inside worth checking out besides mummies. So, what do you say? Would be a better adventure if there's two of us going in there."

"I agree," Derrick replied, admittedly interested. "But I don't think that's an adventure I can do today."

"Wait, seriously? Why?" Dipper asked, frowning.

"Well, uh, you've met my granddad, right?"

"Right."

"Well, after all these years, it looks like he finally figured out how to turn on the TV."

Right behind Derrick, his grandpa sat on his knees on the floor in front of his old television with a face of sheer amazement as he watched an actual movie play on the screen.

"Haha! Who knew pictures looked so good when they moved?" he said joyfully.

"It's called a movie, grandpa," Derrick told him, holding the phone away.

His grandpa gave him a funny look. "What's a mooo-veee?"

Having no patience for this, he held the house phone back up to his face. "Anyways, Dipper, as much as I'd LOVE to go hunting mummies, my hands are already tied and pretty much against my will. Looks like you're gonna have to do this one without me. Sorry."

Dipper sighed over the line. "It's fine, I guess."

"Wait, Derrick! I just pressed a button on the box here and the picture changed!" his grandpa called out behind him again.

Derrick's eyes widened. "AW, CRAP! He just found out how to change the channel! I gotta go, Dipper!"

Click-Click!

Derrick hung up and Dipper was met with nothing more than a lonely dial tone.

"Well, there goes that plan." He sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose disappointedly. "Great. I've already come this far. Now what?"

"Ugh! This is SO gross!"

Dipper looked up as he heard a sudden voice that sounded like it came from somewhere close. "Where did that come from?"

He took a few steps further down the sidewalk only to stop as he spotted something to the side. Tucked inside the forest to the side was a noticeably expensive-looking property that seemed to still be having some work done on the outside. There was a long unfinished driveway that led to a steel fence gate surrounded by marble walls and cleanly cut bushes that surrounded what overall looked like a recently built mansion.

Studying the outside, Dipper started to pick up a familiar vibe. "Wait a second… Is this…?"

The main gates appeared locked, but because of the recency of the construction, the general perimeter still wasn't secure yet, making it easy for anyone to sneak around the side through the surrounding forest. So, he did just that, sneak-walking his way through the trees as he made his way around the mansion. He soon moved up and kept his back to the marble walls as he walked toward the back area.

Eventually, he found another steel beamed fence gate along the side to what looked to be a pen connected to some stables inside. While keeping his back to the wall, he glanced around through the fence before his eyes caught a lone pony standing around. He looked on at it for a moment of confusion, wondering why a mansion this clean would have a fenced backyard just for what looked like just a single pony.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps and a shadow slowly step out into view. He quickly hid away behind the wall to avoid getting spotted. For what was meant to be a quick investigation of a voice, he really wasn't looking to get caught for trespassing. Especially if this mansion was owned by who he thought it was.

After waiting for a brief moment, he slowly poked his head back out as he looked back inside the pen. To his slight surprise, he saw Pacifica outside with a large scoop shovel in one hand and a bucket in another. Less surprising was her presence, but the real shock was her very atypical outfit.

She donned a simple light pink shirt underneath short overalls and tan high laced work boots. On top of that, her hair was completely loose instead of tied back. It was probably the least upscale she had ever looked, her Weirdmageddon outfit aside. Almost comparable to Mabel on a casual Sunday. A large departure from her usual expensive wear.

Still, her expression was no less prickly than it usually was as she seemed to show resent for everything she had to do at that moment.

"I still can't believe I'm doing this," she said aggravatedly as she put the bucket down. "For all the talk about having to uphold the family's reputation, putting this type of chore on your own daughter is doing the exact opposite."

The pony blew air through his nose as he stood beside her passively.

"Oh, shush! You know what you did. You're lucky I still own you after all the trouble you've caused me."

He let out a gentle sigh before lowering his head and nibbling on the grass below. Pacifica continued to glare at him angrily but found herself growing affectionate again, which she tried her hardest to resist.

"Arrgh… no!" she shouted, clutching her fists tightly. "I won't let your cuteness stop me from being mad at you! Not this time!"

She turned her attention back to the ground, of which there was a pile of pony scat among many throughout the pen waiting to be cleaned. The sight alone made her want to gag, and she knew the smell would make her lose it altogether. Still, she knew there was no getting out of it this time.

"Guess I should get this over with," she said, looking as repulsed as ever as she held her shovel forward and slowly went in for it.

"Pacifica?"

Her eyes shot open as she jumped back with a light screech, which alerted the pony as well. She looked at the fence gate and spotted Dipper standing on the other side, looking right at her.

"Dipper?!" she asked, skin going cold and stomach-churning. "W-What are you doing here?!"

"Woah, sorry!" he said easily, noticing her tone. "I was just passing by. I didn't mean to startle you."

"What?" she asked, becoming self-aware of her disordered behavior, trying to pull herself together. "Pfft… You didn't startle me! You just… caught me off guard."

"Uh-huh…" he said, raising his eyebrow suspiciously. "And what's with the shovel?"

Her eyes grew big again as they slowly glanced at the shovel. She could feel her face start to fill with red as she struggled to find a way to make things look any better than they really were.

She looked over at her pony. "Oh, uh… I'm just…"

Catching where she looked, Dipper's own eyes widened in shock before growing an amused smirk. "No way… Are you…?"

"Don't you DARE!" she snapped, knowing where he was going with this.

It was too late though, as he burst out laughing much to her greater dismay. "Haha! Wow! I never thought I'd ever see the Pacifica Northwest cleaning after her own pet. Times really have changed, huh?"

Her face continued to burn with intense red as she watched him laugh. "You would find this amusing."

"More ironic than anything else," he said. "You're rich again, aren't you? Doesn't that mean you have people to do this sorta stuff instead?"

"Actually, we do," she said. "But that particular butler got into a steamroller accident and rather than paying for a substitute, my parents insisted that my pony is my responsibility."

"So that's your pony, huh? Aren't you too big for that thing these days?" he asked, analyzing the pony's size.

"I haven't ridden him since I was like fourteen," she replied. "But he's been with me since we lost Northwest Manor, so I still like to keep him around." She leaned forward and shoveled a pile of excrement from the ground before dumping it into the bucket. "This though? I don't like this nearly as much."

"Wow, having to actually care for your own animal? How miserable."

"Oh, shut up. You may not believe it, but I'm actually really close with Mason," she said as she walked up to her pony and stroked his mane. "He trusts and loves me more than you think."

Remembering the shared name of the pony brought immediate discomfort to Dipper, especially when coupled with Mabel's teasing back at the diner the previous month. He cleared his throat as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I'm sure he does," he quickly brushed aside. "Well, as I said, I was just passing by, so I'll just be on my way. Wouldn't want to distract the local rich girl's hard labor."

"Right, and she wouldn't want to distract the town geek from his quest to find the world's weirdest math problem," she jabbed back as she turned away from him.

"Actually, you'd be surprised just how odd-"

"That wasn't an invitation…" she annoyedly cut off.

He paused for a moment. "Okay… Well, I'll just leave you to it then."

She rolled her eyes carelessly as he began to walk off. He made it a few steps back before stopping in place and thinking to himself. Remembering why he came out as far as he did, an idea came to mind that had him walking back up to the fence gate.

"Actually, maybe you could help me out here," he said to her.

"I don't care about your stupid math problem!" she barked.

"Not that!" he said. "I'm out on a mission right now. I'm heading to an ancient tomb buried out in the woods. There are supposed to be mummies there."

"Mummies? Seriously?" she questioned, giving him a look. "What, are those two uncles of yours not ancient enough for you?"

"I'm not going just for the mummies. According to my great uncle, these tombs are of extraterrestrial origin. Exploring the ruins could lead to some incredible new discoveries!"

"Uh-huh…" Pacifica said carelessly. "And why are you asking for my help?"

"Well, right now, I'm going alone, but I just think it'd be better if I have someone with me going into it. Ya know, to watch each other's back and stuff," he offered.

"What makes you think I want to go into some dirty, dusty underground tomb with a bunch of old, rotting, toilet paper zombies?" she asked, folding her arms.

Dipper gave an irritated sigh. "I don't know what else I expected from you."

"Oh yeah? Well, why ME anyway? Why not Mabel, or your uncles, or that servant who runs the Shack now? Or your emo friend? Or better yet, why not ask that cute redhead friend of yours? Winnie, or whatever her name is," she bitterly presumed.

He raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you mean Wendy?" he asked, oblivious to her bitterness. "Well, I would, but she moved out of town just last week."

Her eyes widened. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah, it kind of sucks," Dipper said somewhat moodily. "But if she was still around, I'd totally ask her for help. This kind of adventure is right up her alley and I know she'd love to join. Derrick too, but he's preoccupied with other stuff. As for everyone else… well, it's complicated. But it's whatever. I'll just solo this one. I guess I kind of have to anyway if I wanna truly prove myself to Ford."

While she was completely uninterested in the entire adventure before, her mind quickly changed. Though, the reason had absolutely nothing to do with being interested in the adventure itself. Upon their most recent interaction, she felt like she had been completely sidelined (by almost everyone else there at the time too but she didn't care as much about that). Seeing Dipper hugging Wendy for whatever reason, seeing him holding hands with her on the wheel, seeing how chatty they were with one another… and how comfortable the two looked together…

Not that it mattered to her, of course. It was something she noticed and obviously didn't think much about since then. But knowing now that Wendy was no longer residing in town anymore and therefore wasn't able to help Dipper out, she saw this as, perhaps, an opportunity presenting itself. In some shape or form, at least.

"Anyway, I guess I'll just see you around," Dipper told her as he began walking away again.

"Wait!" Pacifica suddenly called out, racing up to the fence gate. "I changed my mind. I'm coming with you."

Dipper stopped in place as he turned back to her in surprise as she unlocked the gate and stepped out to join him. He then raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Really? Why? I thought you didn't want anything to do with 'toilet paper zombies.'"

"No, yeah, I don't," she immediately reestablished. "I just figured that… You're right! Knowing you, you probably do need someone there to make sure you don't trip over your own brain in that tomb. And if no one else is going to do that, then it may as well be me."

"Are you sure about that? You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"Of course I don't want to," she emphasized. "But you getting yourself killed is something I want even less, so better safe than sorry."

Hearing that was even more of a surprise to him coming from her. But it was a surprise in a sort of gratifying way that made him rub his neck somewhat flusteredly.

"Gee. Thanks, Pacifica," he told her gratefully. "I didn't think you cared that much for me."

"Oh, please. It's not that I care about you," she was quick to deny. "It's just that if you die, Mabel's going to force me to go to your funeral and I really don't want to wear black. It's too drab and depressing for me. So I'd rather just avoid that altogether."

Dipper scanned her appearance at that moment. "So… you're telling me you prefer wearing overalls to wearing black?"

She glared at him impatiently. "Do you want my help or not?"

"I mean, sure!" he gladly accepted, brushing the previous exchange aside. He then glanced over her shoulder back into the pony pen. "But what about your, uh, little chore? Your parents aren't going to bust you if you bail on it?"

She looked back at the pen for a second before rolling her eyes. "Like I care about what they have to say anymore. If they want that pen cleaned so bad, they can either wait for me to come back and finish, pay someone else to do it, or just clean it themselves."

With the same key she used to unlock the gate, she locked it again after pushing it shut. Pocketing the key, she then took out a hair tie and tied her hair back into her usual high ponytail style.

"Now, c'mon. Let's go now before I get caught," she urged as she walked alongside him.

Dipper took Ford's map back out and led the way as they left the mansion together through the woods. Thinking about it, he realized this was the first time the two ever had a direct one-on-one adventure or at least the first time they went on one that was actually sought out. Despite this, with past situations such as the Lilliputtians, the lumberjack ghost, Mr. What's-His-Face, the diner ants, and the manatee war, he knew by now that she had proven her capabilities well enough.

For as snobby as she could be, he knew Pacifica was a valuable teammate (in more ways than just her bank account). In his mind, he figured they could make a good team and that whatever they had to face in the tomb, there was no way they weren't ready for it.

Therefore, there was no way this could possibly go wrong.

Just a quick note that I'm going to be moving soon, so update time might be a bit longer for next chapter as I deal with that as well as school. I'll try my hardest not to make the wait too long, but it is what it is otherwise.

Not much else to say here. As I said, we're kind of starting with this season's plot stuff now. Things will continue to expand as we move forward. I still don't plan on rushing anything, so if you folks are still good for the long haul, let's just keep going then. Lots of crazy stuff ahead. Hope you're excited/ready for it.

And no, Stan and Ford don't have a long lost triplet.

Until next time!

-Absolute Rift