Dipper looked at himself in the mirror. He felt slightly underdressed for Grunkle Stan's grand opening of the Murder Hut. What was he missing? "Mabel?" Dipper called from out of the bathroom. "What should I wear?" Mabel sprinted in carrying a glue gun, some cloth and a ball of yarn.

"I knew it! I knew this day would come! Okay, so what's the occasion? Adventure? Nerd convention? Is it a date? OH MY GOSH! DIPPER DO YOU HAVE A D-"

"Mabel, stop-"

"CAN I COME? WHEN ARE YOU GETTING MARRIED? WILL YOU HAVE KIDS? CAN YOU CALL ONE OF THEM MABEL-"

"Mabel! I just need something for the grand opening."

Mabel blinked. "Oh." Dipper rolled his eyes. Mabel squinted her eyes at Dipper.

"Wait a minute... why haven't you got something to wear already?"

"Well, I was gonna wear this shirt but it feels a bit... I don't know-"

"Stupid?"

"No! What? It doesn't look that bad, does it?" Mabel grabbed her brother's arm and dragged him up to the attic. She opened the cupboard and looked at Dipper's clothes. "What is this?" She gestured wildly at the cupboard.

"My clothes?"

"Dipper! They're all the same! And you've been wearing the same outfit since you were twelve!"

"So? I look good in them!" This time Mabel rolled her eyes at her brother.

"Okay, okay, okay. We don't have time to get you some new clothes so we're going to need a Mabel Makeover."

Dipper gulped. "Oh no. That- that's not necessary. I look fine. I really shouldn't have brought you into this. I'll just... leave." Dipper took a step but was pulled back by Mabel.

"Oh no you don't. You're sitting here and helping me. We have two hours and a glue gun to put together an outfit worthy of Grunkle Stan's grand opening."

"But Mabel-"

"Don't 'but Mabel' me, mister. Sit down and grab the glue gun."

Dipper sighed and sat down. If it was bad enough, he could just grab another shirt from the cupboard. He watched as Mabel cut out black strips of fabric and stitched parts together. She tucked in one end of a black strip and glued the other end to another piece of fabric. She knotted some parts and then cut some more. Then she poured a giant glob of hot glue onto one of Dipper's spare t-shirts and stuck the black fabric onto it.

"Voila! A bow tie t-shirt! I know, I'm amazing."

Dipper looked at the shirt. The bow tie actually looked really nice, and it was a perfect blend of formal and casual. "Thanks, Mabel!" Mabel handed him the shirt and left so that he could change. Dipper looked back at the cupboard. Maybe Mabel was right, he did need a makeover. Then again, if he let Mabel decide what he would wear, he would be wearing sweaters every day for the rest of his life. Dipper looked back at the bow tie shirt. Focus on the present, deal with his bad fashion sense later.

Dipper stood next to Mabel and Grunkle Ford, looking down from the stage at the townsfolk that decided to show up. In the back, Candy and Grenda were giving them thumbs-up signs and Wendy was sitting with her family closer to the front, next to Toby Determined. Soos was sitting with his Abuelita in the second row, listening intently. Even Lazy Suzan from Greasy's Diner showed up, along with Professor McGucket, Tad Strange, a miner and Mayor Tyler, who probably was forced to be here to make sure things were legal.

Stan was standing at the centre of the stage, talking to the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen of the press, you may all know me as the old man who has a smart twin brother. But today, I will be marking my territory in the world of tourism with the greatest tourist attraction in all of Gravity Falls. Nay, the best attraction in Oregon. America, even! Behold, the Murder Hut!" Stan moved aside and gestured towards the entrance of the Hut. Some of the audience clapped, but most of them were silently looking at the entrance, expecting something to happen.

"I will now take questions from the floor. You, with the cinderblock."

Toby stood up. "Tobias Determined here, from the Gravity Falls Gossiper. How much would it cost to have a tour of the attraction?"

Stan coughed lightly. "I will answer in two parts. Part one, your microphone's a turkey baster, Toby."

"It certainly is."

"Part two, five dollars... plus ten dollars. Fifteen dollars!" Dipper winced. A bit overpriced. And apparently he wasn't the only one who thought so. There were grumbles and murmurs of disagreement. Dipper noticed that Stan was sweating. "Shandra Jimenez, a real reporter. Other tourist attractions in Gravity Falls are much cheaper than this attraction. Why should people come to your attraction?"

Stan's sweating was becoming more obvious. "Uh... that's a good question. Well, it's because... of the fact that... it's all part of... the mystery!" Grunkle Stan quickly grabbed a skeleton model and a tropical shirt from the back of the stage and pulled the skeleton to the front. "The last group never made it out alive!" Grunkle Stan laughed awkwardly. Dipper held his breath, hoping that Stan's last-ditch effort to gain the audience's interest worked.

Luckily, it seemed to have done the trick. The audience laughed lightly and began nodding slightly at the attraction. "Now then, who wants to go first?" Grunkle Stan held open the door to allow people to go through. Mabel, Dipper and Grunkle Ford held out boxes for people to put their money in. Everyone threw their money in the boxes and followed Grunkle Stan into the Hut, where statues of dead people were waiting for them. Once everybody was inside, Dipper looked at Grunkle Ford and Mabel. "Wow, that went better than I expected."

"Yeah!" Mabel cheered. "This could actually go really well."

"That skeleton joke wasn't even that good," Ford murmured. "Still, a success is still a success."

Dipper was heading to physics when he was stopped by a cloud of white hair. He looked down to see Gideon Gleeful standing casually. "Um... can I help you?"

Gideon looked at his fingernails. "Lil ol' me? Oh no, I don't need anything from ya. 'Cause you don't have anything worth takin'! I just came to say congratulations and all."

"For what?"

"For your little wax museum. I'm sure it won't go anywhere at all, lil' garbage like that. But congratulations on it, I guess. Welcome to the tourism industry. Just a tip, I rule the tourism in this town, so you let your Grunkle Stan know that I'll always, always be one step ahead o' him." Gideon patted Dipper's cheek. "Nice chat."

Dipper watched as Gideon sauntered off. He wasn't at all threatened by Gideon's baby-like face and shiny hairspray, but he was still worried about Grunkle Stan's wax museum. Stan wanted to work on his own because he didn't want to split the money, but since the Murder Hut opened last week, Grunkle Stan had been extremely tired every evening. Dipper needed to find some people that were willing to work for Grunkle Stan.

Dipper walked into physics and took out his books from his bag. Professor Pines walked in with a stack of sheets. Oh shoot, Dipper thought. The test. Electromagnetic waves. Quickly, Dipper went through the different waves in his head and tried to recall everything he could about the things he learned. Infrared for heating stuff, X-rays for x-rays, obviously, radiowaves for communications... Dipper quickly scanned his book for any help as Professor Pines took the register. Satisfied he knew most of the information, he closed the book and waited for the test.

For the rest of the class, Dipper wrote as much as he could, flipping back and forth through the paper, trying to see if he could wrangle any spare information from the questions. Luckily, the questions were pretty simple compared to the G-lympic questions that Dipper had prepared for before. Dipper finished the test with ten minutes to spare, so he went back through it to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. He noticed a few spelling mistakes and clarified his equations so that they were easier to read before putting down his pen and watching the clock tick for the last two minutes.

"Time," Professor Pines announced. Dipper stuffed his things back in his bag and handed in his test as he left the classroom. While he was sitting, he realised that there were two perfect candidates for Grunkle Stan's new business. Both of them would definitely be great people to work with, at least in Dipper's mind. Dipper pulled out his phone as he headed to his locker. He quickly typed and sent a message to Wendy: Want some money? Grunkle Stan needs help.

He put his phone back into his pocket and went to find Soos. Luckily, he knew Soos would be playing Bloodcraft: Overdeath under the stairs near the maths rooms. "Hey Soos!"

"What's up, dawg? You playing Bloodcraft tonight again?"

"Ah, I'd love to, but I got so tired the next day. I could barely make it through school."

"But you almost beat the dreaded PlatinumPaz! That's basically impossible."

"It was definitely a fluke. He cornered himself in the building. I don't think he'd make the same mistake again."

"Yeah no kidding. He'd have to be really dumb to do that!"

"Yeah. Anyway, Grunkle Stan might need some help with running the Murder Hut. Would you-" Soos dropped his phone.

"I would be honoured."

"I didn't even tell you how much he would pay."

"How much?"

Dipper shrugged. "Probably minimum wage."

"That's basically how much I earn now!"

"Great! I'll see you at the Hut after school then!"

"See ya, dude."

"And you'll work for minimum wage?" Stan looked at Wendy and Soos.

"Yes Mr Pines!" Soos nodded.

"Better than no wage at all, am I right?" Wendy grinned. "And if I didn't say yes, I'd be working at my cousin's logging camp upstate."

Grunkle Stan nodded. "That's good enough for me. You're hired!"

Dipper sighed in relief. Now Wendy had a job, Soos could do something he actually wanted, and most importantly, Grunkle Stan could relax a little. Stan slapped Dipper on the back. "Well, kid. You did it. You saved me from dying too early."

"Haha, you're welcome I guess." Stan laughed and went through the Employees Only door, which linked the Murder Hut to the rest of the house. Then he poked his head back out. "Wendy! Soos! You start on Monday!"

"Yes, Mr Pines!" they both replied. Once Stan had left through the door, Wendy turned to high-five Dipper.

"Alright, Dipper! You got me a job!"

Dipper chuckled. "Well, I thought it could help everyone a little. Like Soos." Dipper gestured at Soos, who was wearing a prototype of some merchandise Mabel was designing for the Hut. It was a green t-shirt with a question mark painted on it. "I'm never taking this off," he said. Wendy and Dipper laughed at Soos' enthusiasm. "Well, I gotta go help my dad with some stuff. And I should probably tell him I got a job. I'll see you around, Dipper!"

Dipper and Soos waved Wendy goodbye as she left the Hut's gift shop. "So, dude, you sure you won't stay up and play a couple rounds?"

"Nah, you get that PlatinumPaz. I need to be awake for school tomorrow."

Soos shrugged. "Sure. I gotta try fixing some stuff to train for Mr Pines' work anyway. I'll see you tomorrow, Dipper!"

Dipper went to the attic and collapsed on his bed. Mabel, who was knitting on her bed, looked at him strangely. "What happened?"

Dipper turned so that he could see Mabel. "I don't know. I'm tired."

"From all that exercising, am I right?"

"Haha, very funny," Dipper said sarcastically. "They've been killing me with exercises. I don't even know why I'm doing so much."

"It's because if I look at you from a certain angle, you disappear. You need some muscles. Like Grenda!"

"I have muscles!" Dipper argued, hiding his arms behind his back.

"Dipper, your shirts are still baggy."

Dipper turned away from Mabel dramatically. "I don't have to take this."

"You know you love me." Dipper turned his head and stuck his tongue out at his sister. She stuck her tongue out back then looked down at the sweater she was making. "Well, I've made another sweater. Do you want this one?"

Dipper looked at it. It was a furry cream sweater with a llama stitched in the middle. "It looks nice, but I don't think it's for me."

Mabel nodded at him. "You're right, this definitely doesn't match you."

"Um, exactly. That's why I said no. Anyway, I'm going to sleep. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Dip."

Dipper looked at his paper. 98%. Well, what did I miss? He quickly flicked through the pages and checked what was missing. He looked through the red check marks and found a little note in Professor Pines' writing. You didn't rearrange the formula. Dipper looked at his working and smacked his head. "Of course I forgot to divide the wavelength. Of course I did," Dipper muttered to himself. He grabbed his green pen and corrected himself.

Professor Pines stood up and addressed the class. "Well, the test went relatively well. The average was sixty-four per cent. It could have been higher but there were some students who decided to answer the questions in their own way." Next to Pacifica, two girls laughed and high-fived each other from under the table. Dipper turned back to look at Professor Pines. "Good job to Dipper and Pacifica, who were the only two that managed to get above ninety per cent." Dipper glanced at Pacifica, who looked back at him. Pacifica nodded stiffly then looked away.

Dipper wasn't surprised. It had been like this since last year. Pacifica was actually incredibly smart, but she acted like she didn't need her intelligence. That annoyed Dipper, but what really drove Dipper over the edge was how terrible Pacifica could be to his sister. Calm down, he thought to himself. You have a truce.

The rest of the class was spent correcting mistakes on the test paper. Dipper used that time to write in his journal, a habit he copied from Ford. 98 in electromagnetic waves. Could've been 100, but I was stupid. Nothing else happening. What could happen in Gravity Falls? Dipper kept writing, occasionally flipping the test paper to pretend to pay attention to what was happening in class.

The bell rang and Dipper put his journal and his books in his bag. He was walking out of the door when he felt someone tapping his shoulder. He turned, but could only see Pacifica who was looking down. He must have imagined it. He turned back and started walking again. This time the tap was more forceful. Dipper turned and still, only Pacifica was standing there.

"Oh! You tapped me."

"Of course it was me, dimwit." Pacifica looked up with harsh eyes.

"What did you need, Northwest? My lunch money? My pride?"

"As if I need anything from you. Just tell me what you got."

Dipper looked in his bag. "Well, I got a few books, a pencil case, a rubber band-"

"What you got on the test, dipstick!"

Dipper stopped checking through his bag. "Oh, right. Sorry. Um, 98."

Pacifica shook her head in disbelief. "98? Dammit."

"Why? What did you get?" Pacifica mumbled something incoherent. "What was that?"

"94! What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all, that's a great score!"

Pacifica whipped her head around, smacking Dipper with her hair and storming off. Weird, Dipper thought. She was only 4 per cent off him anyway. It wasn't that important. Dipper walked off in the opposite direction to Pacifica. They probably wouldn't need to talk for a while.

Probably.

I think this is the longest chapter yet! Anyway, we're one chapter away from the question. ONE. Jeez, it takes ages to set up a story. Well, I hope you liked this chapter.

I have noticed how dialogue-heavy my chapters are. Not sure if that's a problem, but I'm trying to add some more description anyway. I referenced the Man Cave in this chapter mainly just to let you guys know that Dipper is training with Grunkle Stan and Ford, as well as going to the gym, during and in between the chapters. I may get to show you what sort of stuff happens while he trains some time in the future.

Well, that's pretty much it. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you thought of the story so far, which characters you're hoping to see later on, and other random stuff. I'll leave you guys with a thought that someone reading this story told me:

Was is what is was.

Not sure if you care, but I think it's pretty weird.

Until next time!