A/N:

Code Answer: Jeff and Shmebulock return for a new Queen.

Thanks so much for the reviews and follows already! Keep 'em coming you awesome people! XD Well onwards Readers!

"Seriously? Just one time I'd like to go into these woods and not have to run for my life; even now I'm running for someone else's life which only means that my life is going to have to be in need for running for too, or something. Go on, what more could they possibly through at us?"

Mabel arched an eyebrow at her rambling twin as they ran side by side, "Am I meant to be apart of this conversation at some point?"

Not looking up, he swiped some sweat from his brow, "If you want me to appear less crazy then feel free to join in anytime."

She grinned, "Nah, this is fun to watch."

Ignoring that comment, Dipper chose to keep his mouth closed and let his mind do the ranting. What was it this time? And why now? Everything had been so calm around here lately and now it was all going down the drain. First the crystals were missing and now someone was in danger. But what were they in danger of? Dipper was already pulling out the journal in preparation. If it was the undead then whoever called for help would have stayed quiet because they'd be able to run without them following very quickly. Not to mention they'd be closer to a cemetery. Uh, let's see, there weren't any ghosts that he knew of around here and they would only attack if provoked. And Gideon didn't travel this far in the woods for fear of ruining his clothes, and there's the little fact that one look at him would send people into hysterical laughter not screaming for help. Unless he'd fixed that amulet… No that was impossible. Let's see…

"Duck!"

"Huh?" Dipper looked up from the pages to see a low branch heading right for him. He struggled to come to a stop but couldn't manage it in time. Luckily, Mabel reached out and tugged harshly on the back of his jacket, resulting in him falling flat on his back but avoiding a smack in the face. Blinking the daze away he gave a weary thumbs up, "Thanks…"

"Anytime."

The call of distress echoed out again, this time weaker, "Help! Hel… Huh…"

Jumping to his feet, Dipper scanned the area, "Okay, okay; where did that come from?"

"I know!" Mabel announced with a grin, "It came from a person!"

"I mean which direction!"

"Well you didn't say that."

"Mabel!"

"Okay, Mr. Bossy-Pants! Uh…" she started turning in little circles, judging which was the best way to go, "Left!"

"Right."

"Well why ask me if you're just going to do the opposite?"

"I'm not, I'm agreeing with you! I'm saying right to your left and, agh, come on!"

Having enough of the confusion, Dipper tugged on the sleeve of her sweater and dragged her to the left. Please let this be the right way, please let this be the right way! Mabel kept an eye out for any other low branches that threatened to attack. Or maybe she was making sure that next time there wasn't something on the branch that would be a worse threat. But for the most part, she was seeing if her choice in direction had been a wise one because if it wasn't she knew she'd never hear the end of it later. Where was that cry coming from? It didn't take a genius to figure out that someone needed help, so did this mean that this was their first rescue mission in the woods together? Thinking about it, she guessed that it was. With an internal punch of victory, she beamed. Mystery Twins to the rescue!

The pair darted through the trees until they came to the top of a steep hill. There was a faint glow from the bottom that blended from blues and purples to whites and pinks. Voices could be heard from the bottom, some vaguely familiar, all rushed and eager. Cautiously, the twins eased their way down the mossy ground one step at a time, taking impatient yet necessary care to find the footholds as not to trip on any of the mushrooms that were dotted here and there. They'd made it this far, the last thing they needed was to stumble and draw attention to themselves. Saving someone wasn't going to that good if they needed saving too. But neither of them needed reminding of how risky this place was. They'd both been here before. This was where the gnomes had brought Mabel the day they'd tried to make her their Queen.

"Maybe it's a sign." Mabel shook her head solemnly, "I should have given the ring back."

"I'm sure you can mail it to them, now shhh!"

She poked her tongue out at him as they reached the base of the mound and tiptoed closer to the mouth of a cave where the glow was seeping from. Peeking inside, they recognised the area; the grassy patch, rocks and beams of light, the trees snaking along the rock surface could only belong to one creature that they knew of. And there they were. A crowd of very short men in overalls and red pointed hats, bushy beards taking up most of their faces; were gathered around a stone platform, but what was on the platform was just out of sight. As far as they could see, there wasn't anyone here who could have been the one calling for help.

Dipper elbowed his sister lightly, "Maybe we should get out of here and look somewhere else." He whispered.

Before Mabel could answer, one gnome stood up on the platform and stated speaking over the crowd, gathering their attention. He seemed younger, mainly due to the dark brown colour of his beard compared to the usual grey and silver. Mabel felt a shiver of distain. It was Jeff.

"Gnomes of the forest! Boy, do we have some good news for you!" he announced charismatically, "Now we all know that out last attempt at finding our new Queen didn't exactly go as planned…" he paused for the gnomes to start booing and hissing, making the twins exchange a look of unease, "But fear not! Obviously our strategy of wooing, honesty, romancing and then kidnap was the wrong way to go about this. So, what did we do? We skipped right to the kidnap!"

"Oh man this is bad." Dipper muttered as the audience cheered.

"You're telling me!" Mabel replied, cheeks flushing in anger, "That jerk asks for my hand in marriage and he replaces me just like that! He should have at least a year of mourning over his loss before making the moves on another girl!"

Ignoring the urge to face-palm, Dipper edged a little closer so that he could try and get a better view. Jeff continued his speech with a gesture to the side, "And now, introducing your future Queen will be our very own… Uh… Our very own… Ah, look, pal I know we've known each other for years but your name still escapes me, no offence!"

A gruff voice sounded from just out of sight, "Shmebulock!"

"That's the one! Shmebulock with our new Queen, everybody!"

The elderly gnome with a somewhat vacant expression stepped into view, a small and unconscious figure in his arms. The twins felt their eyes widen in surprise. Now gnomes in height came up to somewhere between hips and knees on the twins. This figure seemed human for the most part with olive skin and a wild mop of mousy hair draped over her face; but her size was even smaller than the creatures that held her captive, about four or five inches tall at most. She couldn't be human, she couldn't be. But the gems were missing. Did the gnomes have them and were using them against people? It was possible… But they'd all been taken away for construction, no one knew where. So maybe this girl really was just a forest creature. They really shouldn't get involved, Dipper reasoned, but if he was wrong then an innocent bystander is going to end up in a lot of trouble.

"Shmebulock found this little bachelorette hiding from a couple of humans on the opposite side of the forest. If it wasn't for our, ahem, heroism, this little lady would be in a test tube by now. And what better way to thank us then becoming out Queen, am I right?" The crowd cheered again as the figure was lain down on the platform, "Let the ceremony begin!"

Okay, Dipper thought, that ruled out the human possibility. But that didn't explain why the figure was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt not unlike the ones he saw a lot of people wearing. But again, Gnomes wore overalls and hats so that hardly counted for much either, "She's not human, Mabel, we really shouldn't get involved."

"But they're marrying her while she's out cold! I didn't even want to marry them when I was awake!"

He gave her a sceptical look, "So what you're going to march in there and -"

"Hey Jerk-face!"

Dipper smacked his hand over his eyes, "Of course she will…"

Before he could stop her, Mabel had jumped from their hiding place and started storming through the crowd towards the centre. Jeff and all of the other gnomes had fallen deadly silent as their ex-fiancé made her presence known. Mabel didn't care. In honesty she was still annoyed after her hopes being trashed in the past and in some way she blamed Jeff for there not being a vampire movie set in progress too. How dare he disappoint her twice in the same summer? And how dare he try and try his tricks on another girl, even if the girl was a bit strange on the eye.

"M-Mabel? Oh, uh, hi! Wow, this is kinda awkward." Jeff muttered, "Uh, well, so nice of you to join us on such a happy occasion! Uh-hehe, water under the bridge and all that?"

"I don't think so, Jeff, I oppose this marriage. I object!" she declared, pumping her fist in the air.

"But we haven't even reached the objections yet…"

"Oh, well in that case; I pre-object!" she announced, repeating her movement.

Whispered of outrage, confusion and 'can she do that?' echoed throughout the audience. Jeff cleared his throat, "Well it's too late to take me back Mabel, I know it's hard to get over me but you're going to have to deal with it."

She rolled her eyes at what an egomaniac he was, "I wouldn't want you back if you were the last gnome alive! And even then there'd still be other guys around who weren't gnomes so your chances aren't that good. But here's the thing, Jeff, how're you going to get married if you don't have the ring?"

Jeff paled, "Th-the ring?"

Folding her arms smugly, she nodded, "That's right, I've still got it. Looks like you're going to have to let this girl go too." She softened her expression, "Why not try a gnome dating site or something, I've heard there's a lot of love to be found online."

"Or; we could just force the ring back from you."

"What? I don't have it with me!"

"Gnomes, attack!"

"Agh!"

Mabel cried out as the gathering of creatures started swiping with their hands and bearing pointed teeth. Well, she thought, this could have gone better. Pushing her way past them, she sprinted out into the open. Something looped in her arm and hoisted her from the path and into the shadows. A hand clamped over her mouth as she was about to yell in panic. But the familiar eyes and set expression made her pause.

"Well, are you happy now? We've managed to get hunted down by the same bunch of gnomes twice in a matter of weeks!" Dipper snapped, removing his hand.

"I consider that an achievement." She nodded, wiping her mouth, "And look, they're after me now not her. The way it should be… in some sense…"

"So when do you suggest we start running?"

She was about to answer, but found she didn't have one yet. The sound of rampaging creatures was becoming ever louder. The two flattened themselves against the side of the cave as the enemies started flooding out. The paused to scan the area for the intruder. Dipper was starting to panic, any second now they'd find them and without a golf-cart he wasn't sure if they'd get away this time. Suddenly, he foot nudged against something, a large stone, and he had an idea. Picking it up to test its weight, he bit his bottom lip in determination. With all of his strength, he chucked it over the creatures and over to the other side of the pathway. The rock vanished into the trees, clattering along the dirt and rustling over some shrubbery. The noise caused the gnomes to prick up their ears.

"There she goes! Quick, before she escapes with the ring! Again…" Jeff demanded with some reluctance to the thought of a past failure. He hated that he'd forgotten about the ring, but in fairness things had moved along very quickly in the gnomes society and in the excitement of getting a new Queen, some details were forgotten, "Gnomes, charge!"

Taking the bait, they hoard of creatures followed orders and tracked the sounds of the thrown stone in hopes of hunting down their prey. As soon as they were out of sight and earshot, the twins sank down to the ground, gasping for breath to try and stop their hearts hammering so loudly.

"Thanks," Mabel breathed.

"We're even for the branch." He replied with a cocky grin, "Okay, we've had our dose of supernatural for the day, let's head back, we can check out the missing gems tomorrow."

"What about her?" she asked, peering into the lair where the tiny figure was still unconscious.

"It's not human, Mabel, we should leave it alone before it wakes up."

"Oh come on, Dipper, lets at least take a look."

She jumped to her feet and pulled him along with her into the empty cavern. Dipper didn't share his sisters excitement; curiosity, sure, but he'd learnt from experience that if they came across something once in Gravity Falls, chances are you were going to see it again soon. And for all they knew, it could be more dangerous than the gnomes. He wished he had some time to look over the journal, but he knew that if he even tried then Mabel would have something to say about it. She dropped to her knees and peered at the small humanoid with a look of growing awe. Dipper kept a reasonable distance, circling the slate platform quizzically. The unknown creature's shirt was ripped at the back, revealing some of the skin below the neck. He could just make out two little stumps that looked incredibly sore as if recently wounded. Still not quite human, he thought to himself. He made his way back to Mabel by the front of the figure.

"So now what?"

SXI MZNV TH ILCTV

A/N:

And so it begins, I hope I kept everyone in character and please keep up the reviews people, I love hearing you all XD So what do you think so far?