Hello everyone, I'm back. it's been a while.
College doesn't give you much time for Fanfic writing. Plus, it doesn't help that I pretty much forgot about this story. I hope I'm the only one that did. I wrote part of this chapter before I went to college, but I never finished it.
To Caleb Nova, it's great that you're a Pianos fan. Also, when Dipper got into high school, in this story that is, he met some guys that got him into different music. Also other things, which may or may not reveal themselves this chapter.
To Insurgent Warden, I'm not sure what the pairing will be yet. There might not be one, there might be a few, who knows? I'll work on the description and speed, too.
It had been a week since Dipper and Mabel had returned to Gravity Falls. In that time, they hadn't gone on a single adventure. Mabel spent this time between hanging out with Candy, and hanging out with Nate. Apparently they had gotten along pretty nicely at the party.
Dipper on the other hand had spent quite a bit of time in Ford's study, after asking of course, and had been catching up on the oddities in Gravity Falls. In the few hours he was out of the basement, he spent time with Wendy and, when she wasn't with Nate or Candy, Mabel.
Currently, Dipper was playing Battleship with Mabel in her room, though she still didn't know how to play. Though her 'art' did evolve from kittens to puppies.
"A5," asked Dipper, knowing that he would somehow miss yet again, despite having been playing for the past hour.
"Miss," Mabel rang out, putting the finishing touches on her fifth dog, taking a picture, then taking it all down again.
"Of course it is. Well as fun as this is, I'm going to go... do something else," said Dipper as he got up and started walking toward the door.
"Okay bro-bro," chirped Mabel.
As Dipper made his trip downstairs, he came across a pair of legs sticking out from under the sink.
"Hey Soos, what'cha doing down there," asked Dipper.
"Oh, hiya, dude. Well, the sink is broke, so I'm breaking out the old handyman skills," came Soos's response.
"Well do you need any help? I'm sure I can hold a flashlight or something for you," offered Dipper.
"Thanks, dude, but I actually got this covered," said Soos.
"Oh, okay. Well if you need help, don't hesitate to ask," replied Dipper as he walked off into the giftshop.
"Hey Dip, you headed somewhere," asked Wendy.
"Just going to go see if I can find anything in the woods. I can't believe we've been here for a week and I haven't stepped foot in there yet," explained Dipper.
"I know. I figured you would have been out there the entire time. But that't what you get for being cooped up in 's lab," replied Wendy.
"True. Well I'm headed out. I'll see you later," waved Dipper.
"Hey," Wendy called out, stopping Dipper in his tracks. "My break starts in about a minute, why don't I go with you?"
"O-oh, um uh, s-sure," Dipper stuttered out, turning faintly red. Despite getting over his crush, Dipper still wasn't comfortable around girls, let alone ones he previously had crushes on.
"Sweet. I've been dying to get out of here. It seems to be a pretty slow day," spoke Wendy as she hopped over the counter.
"Yeah, it does seem to be pretty slow,"stated Dipper. "but actually, I gotta go get my adventuring gear, I'll be down in a minute."
"Got everything," asked Wendy when she saw him descending the staircase after a few minutes.
"Yep, let's go," Replied Dipper
With those words, they began their trek into the woods.
As they walked, they held a steady conversation, talking about whatever came to mind.
"Speaking of music, did you know the lead singer of this one band tripped on acid, and began to believe that he was the reincarnation of Anne Frank's boyfriend," asked Dipper.
"Seriously," asked Wendy. "That's insane."
"I know. He even wrote an entire album about it. It's not half bad," replied Dipper.
Before either of them could say anything else, Wendy tripped on a branch and started rolling down a hill. As soon as Dipper realized what was going on, he raced after her.
It wasn't until after she reached the bottom that Dipper had managed to catch up to Wendy.
"Woah Wendy, are you alright," asked Dipper.
"Oh yeah, just peachy. So good, in fact, that I think I twisted my ankle," retorted Wendy.
"Damn. Looks like we're going to have to postpone this monster hunt," stated Dipper.
"No, Dipper. I'm fine. We can continue," pleaded Wendy.
"No, we need to get you off of that ankle. Come on, let me help you up," as Dipper said this, he picked her up and put her arm over his shoulder. They then began the walk back to the shack.
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As Dipper carried Wendy out of the forest and onto the lawn of the Mystery Shack, Mabel looked through the window, and saw the two. At first, she thought they were doing that because something happened in the woods, but, as they got closer, she noticed Wendy limping, and the scrapes on her faces.
Once Mabel noticed these things, she ran out of the gift shop over to the two hobbling teens and took Wendy's other arm.
Mabel then blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "What happened?"
"We were walking through the woods, when Wendy tripped on a branch and fell down a hill," replied Dipper as they made it into the gift shop.
"We need to clean those scrapes and get them wrapped up" stated Mabel after they had sat Wendy on the counter. "I'll go get the first aid kit." She then ran off to find it in the main house.
"Well that may have been the shortest monster hunt I've ever been on. Even the mystery of the man who was always looking to the right was longer than this," recalled Dipper.
"Sorry about that. I kind of ruined our hunt" apologized Wendy.
"Don't worry about it. It wasn't even your fault."
"Alright I guess, but once my scrapes are dressed, we can go back and continue our hunt."
"Of course not. You were limping pretty bad. You need to stay off your leg for the day, which means not adventures."
"Damn, are you still going out?"
"Of course, I want to study the Hawktopus. I saw during my first summer here that Grunkle Ford had discovered it, but found it 'Too stupid to study' so I want to see what I can find out about it and record it in the journal I made last time I was here."
"Oh, well I'm sorry I can't help with your studying." Before Dipper could respond, Mabel came bounding back into the gift shop with the first aid kit.
"Alright Wendy, Mabel Pines PhD is at your service. Be prepared to be healed" Mabel shouted while opening the kit.
"Looks like you're in great hands, Wendy. I'll leave you to your healing" said Dipper as he began walking out the door.
"See ya later Dip" Said Mabel as she began cleaning Wendy's wounds.
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As Dipper trekked through the woods of Gravity Falls, Oregon, he took in the scent of the crisp, piney smell, reveling in it's odor. Dipper walked for close to an hour before he finally found the clearing his Grunkle had described to him. It was fairly small in size, but it was beautiful. The tall grass stood at Dipper's knees, tickling him slightly. There were countless Lavenders and Sunflowers dotting the grass. The mix of purple and yellow in the sea of green was breathtaking alone, but with the morning sun just rising above the trees and hitting the field gave everything a gilded touch.
As much as Dipper wanted to sit down and sketch the beauty of the landscape before him, he knew he couldn't. Not only did he have to study the Hawktopus, but he also knew he wouldn't be able to capture the scene in it's entirety. Therefore, he just withdrew his digital camera from his pack and after about a minute of trying to get the perfect picture, he snapped the image. After placing the camera back in his bag, Dipper began looking for the path to the pond of the Hawktopi. It didn't take more than a minute to discover the part in the trees little more than 10 feet away from him. Once he found it, he began his trip down the slight incline the path held.
It didn't take very long to find the small pond that housed the Hawktopi, though it did take about five minutes to actually find the strange birds. They were nestled in a hole that let some water to allow the eggs that were in the nest to soak. Dipper soon began drawing the creatures, after which he would conduct multiple tests.