"Uh, dude? You alright?" the blue jay questioned. He looked down hoping to get a response from the child in front of him.
Dipper, just overcoming the initial shock of the strange meeting, responded shakily.
"Yeah, I'm... I'm alright, I guess..."
A small smile appeared on the beak of the huge bird. "Well, that's good. Oh, my name's Mordecai by the way."
He held out his wing toward Dipper. Hesitantly, Dipper reached out and shook hands with the massive bird.
"N-nice to meet you. My name is Dipper."
From the cart full of the strange travelers, the raccoon burst out laughing.
"BAHAHAHA! What kinda name is Dipper? Seriously that's the lamest name I've ever heard of!"
the raccoon mocked.
Almost immediately, Mordecai turned and glared at the raucous raccoon. "Rigby, shut your hole right now! You have no room to talk about stupid names." Mordecai yelled at him, a smirk then came over his face. "Remember, Trash Boat?"
With that, Rigby crossed his arms and began pouting at Mordecai bringing up that embarrassing memory. All the others in the golf cart started laughing at Rigby's expense. Mordecai turned back to Dipper and addressed him once again.
"Sorry about him." Mordecai apologized. "He can be a real ass sometimes. Don't pay any attention to him when he's being one."
"It's alright, I'm not offended." Dipper replied sincerely. "In fact, that's the most common response I get from my name..."
"Well, I think it's actually a pretty cool name." Mordecai said with a kind smile. "But anyways, we're kinda lost out here in the woods. Would you know where to find a place called Gravity Falls?"
"Um, yeah sure. We're actually not too far from town." Dipper replied. "I could lead you guys there if you want."
Dipper was still suspicious of the travelers. After all, it's not every day that you meet such a vast array of odd characters like that.
Who or what could they possibly want in Gravity Falls?
"Awesome, dude! Thanks a lot!" Mordecai beamed, he then motioned to the cart. "Come on, hop in. We've still got a little room left."
"Alright then." Dipper replied as he approached the cart.
Mordecai got into the cart first, shoving Rigby (who refused to move over) out of the way to make room for Dipper. Dipper then took his seat next to Mordecai. It was then that the gumball machine turned to face him. He noticed that the gumball machine man looked overworked and exasperated. Heavy bags under his tired eyes. His brow furrowed in a near perpetual scowl. He then spoke to Dipper.
"Hey, I'm Benson." he spoke bluntly but tried to sound as pleasant as possible. "You're name's Dipper, right?"
Dipper nodded.
"Alright Dipper, please tell me which way to go." Benson said, shifting the cart out of park and into drive.
"You're already heading in the right direction. Just keep going down this road and we'll be there in a few minutes."
With that, the golf cart sped off into the night. The cool breeze that swept through the forest was intensified by the movement of the cart. Any trace left of the humidity of a summer's night was cast away. Feeling almost serene, Dipper realized something. It made his heart nearly jump into his throat. He glanced at his watch hoping not too much time had passed. He hoped in vain. In bright green numbers on the LCD screen of his watch displayed the time. It was 12:45 in the morning.
Ugh, great... How am I going to explain this to Mabel? A crushing wave of guilt washed over Dipper. He had promised Mabel that he wouldn't be out for too long. She was probably worried sick, pacing back and forth wondering when he would get back. Or even worse, she might fear that something terrible had happened to him and would then retreat into Sweater Town...
Dipper's thoughts were then interrupted by the old-timey man with the enormous head. He was staring at Dipper with such a look of pure excitement and joy, that Dipper couldn't help but smile back at him. This man's cheery attitude was indeed infectious. The man then took off his hat and with a slight bow addressed Dipper.
"Hello there, Dipper!" the man blurted out blissfully "My name is Pops! It is a true pleasure to make your acquaintance!"
Dipper still smiling responded, "Nice to meet you, Pops!" He still couldn't believe the true innocence and happiness coming from the large-headed man. It was truly a breath of fresh air in such a cynical and harsh world.
With a short giggle, Pops spoke again, "Do you happen to live in Gravity Falls, my good man?"
"Actually, yeah I do." Dipper replied "But only for the summer, though."
"Ah, jolly good show!"
Dipper was then silent for a moment, turning back to his thoughts.
I wonder what these guys want with Gravity Falls... After all, there's nobody in town like them. There's nothing but humans who live here. What do they want with us?
Dipper then quickly came up with a question to get them to divulge their purpose in Gravity Falls.
"Hey, so... Are you guys just coming to visit? Or do you have family here? Friends?" Dipper questioned the group.
Benson responded rather quickly. "We're looking for someone in your town. He has some very important information that we need to get from him."
"Oh, that sounds pretty serious." Dipper said, trying to come up with a follow-up question. "I know pretty much everyone in town, so maybe you could describe this guy to me and I can help you."
"Well, we weren't given a physical description of the guy," Benson began, eyes still fixed on the dirt road ahead of them. "But someone close to him said that his name had something to do with the name of this park."
Park? What is he talking about?
"Er – Park? What park?" Dipper asked in total confusion.
"Yeah, the park. You didn't know that your little town is actually inside of one of Quintel City's parks?" Benson questioned back suspiciously.
I probably shouldn't have fell asleep on the car trip here to Gravity Falls at the beginning of summer. Otherwise I would've known this. Still, it is very unusual to have a town inside of a park.
"Um... Yeah, of course I knew!" Dipper lied. "But I'm always forgetting the name of the park... What is it again?"
"East Pines Park." Benson replied slightly annoyed by the boy's perceived ignorance.
At that moment, a sudden realization came over Dipper.
Oh no...
The man's name that they're looking for has something to do with the park's name...
The park's name is East Pines...
We're the only family here in Gravity Falls with the last name Pines...
Could they be looking for Grunkle Stan?
What would they want with him?
What would they want with us?
Dipper began to sweat as small waves of panic overcame him. A deep sense of worry and fear formed in the pit of his stomach from the worrisome thoughts.
"Hey, dude." The blue jay's voice snapped Dipper out of his internal thoughts. "You alright? Because you look like you're about to throw up or something."
Dipper tried to smile reassuringly, but could only manage to produce a slightly-pained looking grimace.
"Uh, yeah. Everything's totally fine." he tried to sound convincing as possible.
"Okay, if you insist." Mordecai wasn't convinced. He was about to ask Dipper again, when something caught his eye. He then spoke out "Hey, guys! We're here!"
The golf cart rolled through the entrance of the tiny town. A worn and weathered sign, colors dulled from countless years of being exposed to the outdoors read: WELCOME TO GRAVITY FALLS.
They went past the fishing docks, the diner, and the town square, but stopped outside of an intriguing looking building. It was none other than the Mystery Shack.
"Hey, this is where I live!" Dipper spoke excitedly. They all stepped out of the cart to get a better view of the building. But Dipper's excitement was short lived. With a loud bang, the front door of the Mystery Shack was thrown open. Out came four people.
A large man with a baseball cap wielding a shovel. He tried to look as serious as possible but actually came off as quite goofy.
A young girl with a huge sweater on despite the fact that it's the middle of summer. She was holding a grappling hook.
A tall redheaded girl wearing a lumberjack's hat. She was barely awake. She stood propped up on her weapon, an axe, trying to keep her eyes open. Probably from being woken up so suddenly during the middle of the night.
Then there was the old man wearing oversized glasses and a fez. He was brandishing a loaded 12-gauge shotgun. His eyes met Dipper's, and the old man instantly formed his face into a menacing scowl.
Dipper knew that look on his uncle's face. He had only seen it once before during the summer and was sure he would never want to see it again.
Oh boy... Grunkle Stan is pissed!
With a loud, growling tone Stan shouted at Dipper "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS?"
Dipper was scared into silence.
"MABEL WAS WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU! SHE CAME IN AND WOKE ME UP, CRYING ABOUT HOW YOU NEVER CAME BACK AFTER SNEAKING OUT!"
The familiar pangs of guilt stabbed at Dipper for what he did to his poor sister.
I WOKE EVERYONE UP TO MAKE A SEARCH PARTY TO FIND YOU! WE THOUGHT YOU WERE MISSING OR EVEN DEAD!"
Dipper feebly replied to his great uncle "Look, I'm really sorry. But I can explain!"
Stan retorted back, "It better be a damn good explanation if you don't want to be working double overtime at the Mystery Shack for the rest of the summer."
And with that Dipper started to explain the events of the night.