Dipper, Mabel, and Soos were watching one of their favorite shows, Tiger Fist, when it went to commercial.
"Hey, look," Soos points out. "It's that commercial I was telling you guys about."
"Are you completely miserable?" asks the television narrator. "Then you need to meet Gideon."
"Gideon?" Dipper repeated as a question. He felt sick suddenly, and wasn't quite sure why.
"What makes him so special?" Mabel asked.
"He's a psychic," chimed the television narrator. Mabel tilted her head in curiosity. "So don't waste your time with other so-called 'Man of Mystery.' Learn about tomorrow tonight at Gideon's Tent of Telepathy!"
"Wow!" Mabel marveled. "I'm getting all curiousy inside!"
"Well, don't get too curiousy," Stan said as he walked in, sipping a soda. "Ever since that monster Gideon rolled into town, I've had nothing but trouble."
"Well, is he really psychic?" Mabel asked.
"I think we should go find out," Dipper suggested with a grin.
"Never! You're forbidden from patronizing the competition. No one that lives under my roof is allowed under that Gideon's roof."
"Do tents have roofs?" Dipper asked his sister quietly.
Mabel grinned. "I think we just found our loophole. Literally!" she called, as she held up a loop of thread. "Womp womp!"
ooooo
"Wow," Dipper marvelled, as he looked around the tent. "This is like a bizarro version of the Mystery Shack. They even have their own Soos!"
Soos glares at the maintenance man across the tent.
"It's starting, it's starting!" Mabel whispered to her brother in excitement.
"Let's see what this 'monster' looks like," Dipper laughed.
As Gideon sang, Dipper became more and more certain that the boy was even more of a fraud than his great uncle. The headache raging through his skull wasn't letting him enjoy the time spent, either, but he remained unconvinced that Gideon was the monster Stan had told the twins he'd been.
"That's Stan's mortal enemy?" Dipper huffed in disbelief.
"But he's so wittle!" Mabel replied.
ooooo
"Man, that kid's an even bigger fraud than Stan. No wonder our uncle's jealous," Dipper laughed, as the three of them got up to leave.
"Oh, come on," Mabel grinned. "His dance moves were adorable. And did you see his hair? It was like…. whoosh!"
"You're too easily impressed."
ooooo
"Check it out, Dipper! I successfully bezzazzled my face!" Mabel called to her brother excitedly.
Dipper looked up at her from his curled up position with confusion and raised an eyebrow.
"Is… that supposed to make me feel better?" he asked her, before holding his head in pain.
"I'm unappreciated in my time," Mabel sighed.
Just then, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Mabel called, making Dipper wince from the volume of her words, agitating his headache.
Mabel opened the door, but doesn't see anyone until she looks down to find Gideon standing there gleefully.
"Howdy," Gideon smiled.
Mabel gasped. "It's wittle ol' you!"
"Heh… yes, my song is quite catchy," Gideon chuckled. "Now, I know we haven't formally met, but after yesterday's performance, I just couldn't get your laugh out of my head."
"You mean this one?" Mabel asked, before laughing haughtily.
"Oh, what a delight!" Gideon cheered. "Now, when I saw you in the audience, I said to myself, 'Now, there's a kindred spirit! Someone who appreciates... the sparkly things in life.'"
"That's totally me!" Mabel grinned.
"Who's at the door?" Stan called from the other room.
"No one, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel called back.
"I appreciate you discretion. Now, Stan's no fan o'mine. I don't know how a lemon so sour could be related to a peach so sweet!"
"Gideon," Mabel laughed.
"What do you say we step away from here," Gideon suggested, "and chat a bit more? Perhaps in my dressin' room?"
"Oooh! Makeovers! Yahoo!"
ooooo
Gideon opens the double-doors to a room absolutely filled with clothes.
"See somethin' you like?" he asks Mabel beside him as she stares in awe. "'Cuz I do."
"Haha… what?"
ooooo
Dipper lay on the couch, reading on his back, as Mabel returned.
"Hey, Dipper," she greeted, wiggling her long, manicured fingernails over Dipper's face. "What's goin' oooon?"
"Whoa, where have you been?" Dipper asked, sitting up quickly and regretting it almost immediately as he paused for a moment. "What's going on with those fingernails? You look like a wolverine."
"I know, right?" Mabel asked excitedly, before pretending to scratch something. "Raaah! I was hangin' out with my new pal, Gideon!" She grinned. "He is one dapper little man."
"Mabel, I don't trust anyone whose hair is bigger than his head."
"Oh, leave him alone!" Mabel shouted to Dipper. "You never want to do girly stuff with me; you and Soos get to do boy stuff all the time!"
"What are you talking about?" Dipper asked, before Soos walked in holding a pack of hot dogs.
"Hey, dude! You ready to blow up these hot dogs in the microwave one-by-one?"
"Am I!" Dipper yelped excitedly, getting up and hurrying over to the kitchen with soos, leaving Mabel behind.
ooooo
"Whoa, the view from your family's factory is nuts!" Mabel told Gideon excitedly, dangling her legs off of the warehouse roof. "Good thing we brought our…."
"Opera Glasses!" both Gideon and Mabel chimed at once, and then laughed, waving their opera glasses at each other.
"Mabel," Gideon began, smiling at her lovingly. "When I'm up here lookin' down on all those li'l ol' people, I feel like I'm king of all I survey. I guess that makes yeh mah queen!"
"What?" Mabel said, a wave of nervousness washing over her as she picked up what Gideon was saying. "You are being so nice to me right now! Quit it!"
"I can't quit it; I am speaking from the heart."
"From the where now?" Mabel asked nervously.
"Mabel, I've never felt this close with anyone. So… so close," Gideon continued, reaching to stroke Mabel's hair, which she denied twice.
"Look, Gideon. I um.. I like you a lot, but…. let's just be friends," Mabel told him, trying to let him down as gently as possible.
"At least just give me a chance, Mabel," Gideon pleaded. "Will you do me the honor of goin' on a date with me?"
"A play date?"
"Mm-mm."
"A shopping date?"
"Mm-mm! It'll just be one li'l date! I swear on mah lucky bolo-tie!" Gideon swore.
"Ummm," Mabel said hesitantly, feeling guilt for wanting to say no. "Okay then…. I… guess…"
"Mabel Pines, you've made me the happiest gem in the galaxy!" Gideon said excitedly.
"Wait…" Mabel said, realizing what Gideon had just said. "What?! Gem? Gideon, wait!"
But he'd already run off.
ooooo
"-and get this!" Mabel said, as she was playing a videogame with Dipper. "He said he was 'the happiest gem in the galaxy!' That's not a humansaying, is it? Right?"
"I don't think so, Mabel," he answered. "So why'd you say yes if you didn't want to do it?"
"It's not a date-date… it's just, you know, I didn't want to hurt his feelings, so I figured I'd throw him a bone…"
"Mabel, guys don't work that way," Dipper told her sternly. "He's gonna fall in love with you!"
"Pff, yeah right," Mabel said, not believing her own tone. "I'm not… that lovable…"
She then hit Dipper's character in the game. "Kaboom! Yes!"
"Okay," Dipper grumbled. "We agree on something here."
The doorbell rang, and Mabel got up to see who it was. Once she opened the door, a horse burst through it, with Gideon riding bareback.
"A night of enchantment awaits, m'lady!" Gideon smiled.
"Oh, boy," Mabel said under her breath, gritting her braced teeth.
ooooo
"I can't believe they let us bring a horse in here!" Mabel marvelled, looking around the fancy restaurant to which she and Gideon had gone.
"Well, people have a hard time sayin' 'no' to me," Gideon smiled to her.
"I've never seen so many forks! And water with bubbles in it? Wow!"
ooooo
"Hey, hey!" Stan yelled to the others in the shack. "What the jackal is Mabel doing in the paper next to that crazy pickpocket, Gideon?"
"Oh, yeah!" Wendy grinned. "It's like a big deal. Everyone's talking about Gideon and Mabel's big date tonight."
"What?!" Stan screeched. "That little shyster is dating my great-niece?!"
"I wonder what the new name will be for the power couple. May-bideon? Giddy-able?" Wendy went on. "Magid-beleon!"
Dipper grumbled anxiously at all the noise, holding his head, facing downward, his face on the table.
"Yeah, well, it ends tonight!" Stan announced. "I'm going down to that little skunk's house! This is gonna stop right now!"
As the door slammed, Dipper winced again.
"You okay, dude?" Wendy asked him.
"Just a headache," Dipper told her quietly. "It'll go away…"
ooooo
Stan's car skidded to a halt in front of the Gleeful abode. He knocked harshly on the door, hissing at the sign on its front that red, "Please pardon this garden."
"I will pardon nothing," Stan grumbled to himself.
Gideon's father opened the door. "Why, Stanford Pines! What a delight!"
"Out of the way, Bud," Stan told the man, pushing him and walking into the house. "I'm looking for Gideon."
"Well, I haven't seen the boy around," Bud Gleeful admitted. "But since you're here, you simply must come in for coffee! It's imported! All the way from Colombia!"
"Wow. I went to jail there once!"
ooooo
"And then I said 'Autograph your own headshot, lady!'"
Gideon laughed. Mabel faked a chuckle.
"Mabel, tonight's date was a complete success. And tomorrah's date promises t'top this one in every way!" Gideon told her with a grin.
"Whoa, whoa," Mabel replied stressfully. "You said just one date, and this was it."
"What a surprise," Gideon smiled. "A red crested south american rainbow macaw!"
Suddenly, a huge bird flapped over and landed on Gideon's extended arm. "Mabel!" it screeched. "Will. You. Accompany. Gideon. To. The ballroom dance. This. Thurbday."
Gideon shook the bird violently. It was obviously taken aback in fear.
"Thursday!" it corrected, before coughing up a letter.
Verbalized tones of excitement from people watching started to get louder and more excited. People began to chatter about their hopes of Mabel saying yes.
"They're expectin' us. Please say you'll go," Gideon told her hopefully.
"Oh, Gideon… I'm sorry, but I'll have to say…."
"If she doesn't say yes, I'll die," Mabel heard someone say.
The chatter increased in volume. Mabel felt herself begin to sweat nervously.
ooooo
SLAM!
Dipper winced and held his head from the loud sound agitating his headache, and a wave of nausea washed over him, making him shiver.
"Dipper!" Mabel called, as she hurried into the living room, where he'd been lying for the past hour or so. "Dipper!"
"In here," he said quietly, as she turned to look at him. She ran up to him and held him up in a sitting position and shook him.
"Dipper! What do I do?! He made me say yes to another date! How am I supposed to tell him no after two dates?!"
"By saying 'no'?" Dipper said weakly. "Mabel, stop! I feel sicker when you do that!"
She let go of his shoulders. "I'm sorry, Dipper! I just don't know what to do! I'm in way over my head and I can't get out of this!"
"Just tell him 'no!'"
"It isn't that easy! He makes it really hard to say no to him at all! I don't know how he does it but I don't want to break his heart! I just want to befriends with him again. Just friends! With makeovers and shopping like we used to!"
"Then tell him that?"
Mabel sighed before looking up at her brother.
"Hey… are you okay?" she asked, seeing her brother so pale and sweaty.
"Your shaking me didn't help," he answered with a huff, before lying back down.
ooooo
"You know… I thought dancing was gonna be the end of the evening, right?" Mabel said to Gideon, with whom she was riding in a boat.
"Don't you want this evenin' t'last, mah sweet?" Gideon asked her, taking her hands in his and rubbing her gem with his thumb. She quickly pulled her hands away.
"No!" Mabel shouted in horror, but quickly calmed herself. "I mean yes! I'm always happy to hang out with a friend, buddy, pal, chum… other word for friend… mate?"
"How about… soulmate?" Gideon asked her, leaning in toward her. Fireworks above appeared, Mabel's name written across the sky in sparkling red amidst a heart.
Mabel clenched her teeth. "Uh," she said quickly, finding an excuse. "M-my brother's sick, I can't really stay here for long. I gotta take care of him, you know?"
"Ah, that's right, you're brother's been sick lately," Gideon sighed. "Well, I guess it can't be helped. These things seemin'ly never have a cause and don't know good timin'."
"Heh… nope," Mabel said cheerfully. "I uh… need to get home. He was still feeling queasy when I left…."
"You came to be with me even though your brother was struck ill?" Gideon said with a smile. "Oh, you do love me!"
"Gideon, I need to get home and help my brother."
ooooo
Dipper was asleep in his bed when the sudden slamming of the attic door startled him awake. He quickly shut his eyes as the lights were turned on. "Mabel!" Dipper grumbled tiredly. "I was finally sleeping!"
"...I mean, he's so nice, but… I can't keep doing this," she mumbled to herself, pacing back and forth in the room. "But I can't break his heart… Ahhh! I have no way out!"
Dipper winced at her sudden yell. "What in the heck happened on that date?" he asked frustratedly.
"I don't know!" Mabel shouted at Dipper, who made a sound of pain in response. "I was in the friend zone, and then before I knew what was happening, he pulled me into the romance zone! It was like quicksand! Chubby quicksand!"
"Mabel, quit being so loud!" Dipper grumbled quietly, almost a whisper. "I have a headache!"
"Dipper, this is serious! At this rate, I might have to marry Gideon!"
Suddenly, Stan opened the door to the attic. "Great news, Mabel! You have to marry Gideon!"
"What?!" Mabel yelped in terror, as Dipper winced again and covered his ears.
"It's all part of my long-term deal with Buddy Gleeful. There's a lot of cash tied up in this thing."
Mabel screamed and ran out of the room.
Stan looked at Dipper with confusion, but Dipper only glared back. The boy got up, despite his sick feeling, and hurried down the stairs to find his sister in the corner of the bathroom, hiding in her sweater and rocking back and forth on the ground.
"Oh, no… Mabel…" Dipper said quietly, doing his best to ignore his throbbing headache.
"Mabel's not here," he heard her mumble from inside her sweater. "She's in sweater town."
"Are you gonna come out of sweater town?" Dipper asked hopefully. Mabel shook her head inside the sweater and curled up harder, giving a quiet whimper.
Dipper kneeled down to be in front of her. He swallowed back his surplus saliva and gave a sigh. "Alright," he said. "Enough is enough. If you can't break up with Gideon, I'll do it for you, sick or not!"
"You will?" Mabel asked excitedly, popping her head out of her sweater. Dipper gave a determined nod. Mabel jumped out of her sweater and hugged Dipper tightly.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she said loudly and excitedly, as Dipper struggled.
"M-Mabel! I'm gonna… gonna hurl!" he said quickly as she began to hug him tighter. Her eyes popped open and her grin disappeared as she quickly let him go.
Dipper gagged, but managed to keep himself from vomiting.
"Sorry," Mabel frowned.
ooooo
Dipper adjusted his vest as he swallowed the saliva in his watering mouth. He didn't feel much better that day, but as he'd told Mabel, enough was enough. He strode into the restaurant and approached Gideon's table.
"Oh, Dipper Pines," Gideon greeted. "How are you? You're lookin'... a might pale."
"Look, Gideon," Dipper said flatly. "I'm just going to be straightforward and get to the point so I can go back to the shack and sleep."
Gideon gave Dipper an intrigued expression. He seemed to study the darker haired boy before him carefully before zeroing his sights on the boy's forehead. Something seemed to click in his mind, but he said nothing.
"Mabel isn't joining you tonight. She doesn't want to see you anymore. She's actually kind of weirded out by you, no offense."
Dipper swallowed again.
"So what you're sayin' is… you've… come between us."
"You're not gonna freak out or anything, right?" Dipper asked, backing up a bit.
"A'course not!" Gideon laughed. "These things happen! Bygones, you know?"
"So… yeah, okay. Cool," Dipper began to say as he backed out of the restaurant. "But uh, hey… thumbs up. Huh?"
"Thumbs up, indeed, my friend," Gideon whispered to himself, as the male Pines twin left.
"How'd it go?" Mabel asked Dipper as he let out a sigh once he left. "Was he mad? Did he try to read your mind with his psychic powers? Did he say something about gems?"
"Mabel, we don't even know if he really is a gem. Besides, we already know his psychic powers are fake," Dipper told her, and swallowed again.
ooooo
"Dipper Diopside Pines," Gideon raged as things began to levitate around Gideon's room. "You don't know what you've done! You've just made thebiggest mistake of your life!"
The levitated objects crashed into the floor and shattered to pieces.
Bud Gleeful walked in then. "Gideon Topaz Gleeful, clean up your room this instant!"
"I can buy and sell you, old man!"
"Fair 'nough," Bud shrugged, and left the room.
A picture of Dipper and Mabel burned until only Mabel's smiling face remained.
ooooo
"Hit me, dude!" Soos told Mabel, as he stuffed a pillow under his shirt.
Mabel ran toward him at full speed, slamming into his pillow-softened belly. Both of them laughed.
"Feels good," Soos told her, as Dipper frowned from his seat in the corner of the room.
"I'm so glad everything's back to normal," she smiled at Soos, but then turned to Dipper. "Except him…"
"I'm fine," Dipper told her for about the hundredth time that day. The telephone began to ring, and Dipper sighed as he got up. "I'll get it," he told them.
He walked over to the phone and picked it up. "Hello? ….What? Really?!" Dipper began to grin. "Absolutely! Where?" He picked up a pen and wrote something on a scrap of paper. "I'll be there! I'll be there in a minute!"
Dipper grabbed his scrap of paper and started running out the door.
"Dipper, wait!" Mabel called to him. "What's going on?"
"Someone's willing to listen to me about all the crazy stuff that happens in this town!" Dipper called back. "I gotta go!"
Before Mabel could say anything more, he left.
ooooo
Dipper pulled open the door to the seemingly abandoned warehouse with caution. "...Hello?" he called, hearing his voice echo off the walls. He turned to leave, but the door shut tight in front of him.
"Hello, friend…" a voice called, as Gideon turned in his chair to reveal his presence.
"Ugh, Gideon," Dipper grumbled.
"Dipper Diopside Pines! How long have you been livin' in this town? A week? Two? You like it here? Enjoy the scenery?"
"What do you want from me, man?" Dipper asked, getting frustrated.
"Listen carefully, boy! I know yer a failure of a gem. That you don't have any magic o'yer own. I'm sure you've relied on my darlin' Mabel's magicplenty'o times! Besides, this town has secrets you couldn't even begin to comprehend!" Gideon shouted, making Dipper wince.
"Is this about Mabel?" Dipper asked accusingly. "I told you, she's not into you!"
"Liar!" Gideon screeched, as his turquoise gem on his belly and his bolo tie began to glow in sync. Dipper's eyes widened. "You turned her against me! She was my peach dumplin'!"
"C-calm down," Dipper told him, backing into the door.
"Readin' minds isn't all I can do, Dipper Diopside Pines."
"B-b-but you're a fake!"
"Tell me, Dipper... is this fake?"
Things all throughout the building soon took on the same glow as Gideon's tie, and began to float in the air. Dipper closed his eyes and held his head.
"And there's nothin' you can do to protect yerself, Diopside. I see you lookin' so sick by the roadsides, holdin' yer head with those headaches a'yers, I should'a caught on earlier!"
Dipper looked up at Gideon in panic.
"Yer gem is cracked!"
Dipper gulped. "H-how did you...?"
"It'd be obvious to any gem who'da seen it, Diopside. Yer powers are useless, and yer left magicless! Gems don't fix 'emselves! Were you waitin' for that crack to heal on its own?" Gideon laughed, as Dipper stood there in terror. "It explains everythin', doesn't it? Th'sick feelin's yeh get, the headaches, the pain goin' through your face and teeth, why Mabel has her gem weapon and her magic, while yer stuck here, without a single ounceof magic to help you! Ah, but I'll help you, Diopside. I'll put you outta yer misery..."
Things began flying toward Dipper, who dodged them in a rush, and silently thanked Stan for the dodging practice he'd been given. In dodging another set of items, Dipper ran headfirst into the wall. He rubbed his forehead, hoping desperately that he hadn't agitated the crack in his gem.
"Grunkle Stan was right about you! You really are a monster!" Dipper yelled, before grabbing his head and clenching his teeth.
"Ah, ah, ah! I wouldn't yell if I were you. Wouldn't want that headache a'yers t'get to yeh!"
Dipper eyed a bat next to him. He picked it up and ran for Gideon, who lazily began levitating him into the air. Dipper grit his teeth in panic.
"She's never gonna date you, man!" Dipper yelled at him, before grabbing his head again and curling up in midair.
"That's a lie!" Gideon hissed, before levitating a pair of shears toward Dipper. "And I'm gonna make sure y'never lie t'me again, friend..."
A pair of shears began rising into the air, getting close to Dipper's neck.
"Gideon!" Mabel shouted, as the door slammed open, revealing her presence. "We have to talk!"
"M-Mah Marshmella...!" Gideon said in surprise, as the shears fell from the air. Dipper sighed in relief before Gideon tightened his grip on his bolo tie, and Dipper could feel Gideon's fingers starting to constrict him.
"No! I am not your 'Marshmella'! What the heck are you doing to my brother?!"
Gideon gripped the bolo tie harder out of nervousness, constricting Dipper further. "M-Mabel!" he managed to choke out.
"Now, you're going to listen to me, Gideon. I want you to put my brother down, now!" Mabel demanded harshly.
"Mabel, do you even know what your brother has done?" Gideon hissed at her.
Dipper began to cough and choke, trying desperately to breathe inward.
Mabel looked at her brother's face turn a light red. "Wait! Gideon... please let him go!"
"He's compromised himself and ruined his chance at magic!"
Dipper squeezed his eyes shut and grit his teeth.
"What does that even mean?" Mabel asked.
"It means that your brother will never have magic of his own," Gideon hissed, turning toward Dipper and looking him in the eye. "Do you hear me,Diopside?! Yer a pathetic excuse for a gem. Nevermind, I don't consider you a gem at all! Yer magicless, helpless, and too weak as a human to do athing with all your nausea and headaches..."
Dipper started opening and closing his mouth desperately, trying to gather air to breathe, while glaring at Gideon.
"I said… Let! Him! Go!" Mabel yelled, as she dashed towards the floating Gideon and snatched his bolo tie from his neck.
The glowing stopped, and Dipper fell straight to the ground with a crash. A sudden deep breath and coughing come from his throat as he struggled to get up.
Mabel ran over to her fallen brother fearfully. "Dipper! Are you okay? Please tell me you're okay!"
He gave a nod, still catching his breath. "Thanks," he managed to choke out.
After a few seconds of relief, Mabel's hands shook with fury as she turned toward Gideon. She strongly gripped the gem in her hand.
"Not so... powerful without... that, are you...?" Dipper managed to say hoarsely as he panted.
Gideon gritted his teeth.
Gideon started screaming as he ran for Dipper, crashing the both of them through the window. The both of them started to fall rapidly as they began wrestling each other in midair.
"Yer nuthin, you weak slime!" Gideon hissed. "And yer gonna die here and now!"
Dipper hissed back through his teeth, unable to speak, but punched Gideon in the face regardless, taking out his frustrations and even some of the pain he was feeling.
The fighting boys began to plummet to the ground. As their bodies were being pulled down to the earth, Mabel used Gideon's tie's gem to stop them from falling, merely inches from the ground. As the boys magically dangled, Mabel used the bolo tie to slowly descend to their level until she finally dropped all three of them onto the ground gently.
Dipper, after being lightly set on his feet, dropped to a sitting position. He gave a glare to Gideon, before looking at Mabel with a soft, grateful expression.
Mabel reciprocated Dipper's facial expression with one of her own. Her smile, however, quickly faded away as she stared down Gideon. Her pupils became daggers as she glared at the white-haired boy.
"Gideon… You almost killed Dipper..." she hissed in a tone even Dipper had never heard before. As she spoke, her breathing became intense as she began to seathe.
Gideon glared at Dipper harshly. "He took you away from me!"
"So what?! You were gonna go and kill him?!"
"Don't you know that his-" Gideon began, but Dipper quickly covered his mouth.
"Don't you dare!" Dipper yelled, then coughed. He hadn't quite recovered from the strangling he'd received. "Mabel... bubble the gem!"
"What, you mean the tie thing?"
"Yes! It's a gem!" Dipper told her. "Bubble it!"
"Don't you tell her what to do, Diopside!" Gideon hissed. Dipper punched him again, then rubbed his own hand.
Mabel stood in silence as she focused on the bolo tie. "Gideon… was this the thing that was hurting Dipper?"
"It's mine! Give it back!" Gideon screamed.
Mabel gritted her teeth. "How dare you?...How dare you?!" Mabel stomped her feet toward Gideon. "What gives you the right to use somebody as... some toy?!"
Mabel moved Dipper aside and grabbed Gideon by his shirt color. She pointed to the gem in her hand. "This is a person! This person lived andbreathed, and you're treating them like some stupid tool! Where did you even get this thing, huh?!" She pulls Gideon closer, "Who was this!? Did youdo this?!"
She pushes Gideon onto the floor and lifts his shirt over his head, revealing his turquoise colored gem. "I ought to smash this thing Gideon! Let's see how weak you are when you're nothing but a hunk of mineral!" She picked up a rock from the ground and lifted it in the air, ready to crush Gideon's gem, which she'd seen glowing under his shirt whenever he used the levitation using the bolo tie.
"Mabel, wait!" Dipper cried, then coughed again. "Th-they could still be alive! It's not worth trying to kill Gideon!"
"How do we know this little punk didn't do this?! Soos said if something happens to a gem they turn into the gemstone!" She turned her attention back to Gideon. "What did you do?!" Mabel's eyes began to tear up as her hand holding the rock hovering over Gideon's gem began to shake with emotion.
"I-It was one o'them monsters!" Gideon admitted. Dipper clenched his teeth.
"Monster or not, you don't use people..." he says to the smaller boy. "Mabel. Gideon isn't worth our time. The gem he took should be safe with u-I mean... safe with you. Put it with the gem we got from old man McGucket. If it really is a monster, maybe we- uh, you, you can heal it up someday."
"Heal it with what?! I can't spit medicine!"
"I don't know... but there has to be a cure somehow, somewhere, for these monster gems, right?"
Mabel lowered the rock to the ground. "We can't just let him get away with this...I can't let him off this easily!"
"Mabel! I'm angry too, but... I..." Dipper sighed heavily, seeming guilty, thinking about his churning stomach and tired eyes. "I just don't have the energy. He's essentially powerless now. Can we go back to the shack, please?"
Mabel looked at the ground, tears still in her eyes. She forced herself to stand up and hold on to the 'stolen' gem. "Gideon... if I ever catch you doing anything like this ever again..." Her grip tightened around the gem, but out of security rather than anger, "I won't let Dipper talk me out ofanything."
Gideon gritted his teeth as Dipper sighed in relief. The older boy practically collapsed right then and there. Dipper groaned.
"Heh, weakling," Gideon hissed under his breath, before scampering away.
Mabel looked around frantically for a way to help her brother. "Uh... uh. Oh!"
Mabel slipped the gem in one of Dipper's pockets. "Okay, I hope this works," she told him. Mabel placed her hands on Dipper's chest as a soft purple hue brightened the area. The light slowly became a bubble encasing Dipper, who watched with intrigue and confusion.
"Okay, now the hard part," she sighed to herself. Mabel rubbed her hands together and pressed them against the bubble. Her bedazzled left hand quickly flashed as she made Dipper in his bubble vanish.
"Haha, yes! I am the greatest!" she cheered. Mabel celebrated her small victory by doing a short robot dance. "Alright, me next," she told herself. She rubbed her hands together again and pressed them against herself. Nothing happened except for a slight sound from her gem.
"Wait what?"
She tried again, but to no avail. "Are you kidding me? I can't bubble myself?"
She sighed at the annoyance and began to walk a trail that eventually led her back to the Mystery Shack.
ooooo
When Mabel returned, Dipper was stuck in a bubble on the attic ceiling, asleep, though obviously uncomfortable, curled up in the bottom of the bubble. Mabel looked up at her floating brother.
"Aww, he's like a hamster," she whispered to herself, smiling in adoration.
Dipper shifted in his sleep, clenching his teeth. He was obviously sweating.
"Oh, man," Mabel said, gritting her teeth as she tried to jump up to her brother, but she couldn't reach him. After a few seconds of pondering, she left the room and came back with a ladder. She climbed the ladder and pulled her brother down to his bed to release him from the orb.
Dipper gasped, awakened as the bubble popped, and looked up at his sister. "Oh... you're... we're back."
"Yep!" Mabel chirped. "So, you feeling okay?"
Dipper gave an uncertain hum. He took off his vest and shoes, then placed his hat on his bedside table.
"Do you need anything? Because I'm totally here if you need anything."
"N-no, it's fine. I'll be fine. I'm just tired... and queasy."
"Queasy, huh?" Mabel sighed to her brother as she crawled into her bed. "I hope you get better, Dipper. I can't be the only one that can save the gems now, can I?" She winked at Dipper and points at him with both hands. "I'm gonna need a sidekick. Haha!"
He gives a nervous chuckle before he slipped under his bed's covers and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.