A/N: With special thanks to Django for helping me with this awesome idea! And for putting it in code! That was freaking awesome! I hope you all enjoy this update!
Notes: Nine Lashes' 'Never Back Down' and 'Break the World' make excellent soundtracks for chapters like this.
16:46
The Pines twins stepped off the bus at Gravity Falls for a second time- this time with happiness rather than apprehension coursing through their veins. They met up with old friends, made new ones, and got to see all the familiar places and faces of what had become their second home.
Thankfully, the Mystery Shack itself was still the same, so Dipper and Mabel didn't take too long to settle. Wendy, Soos and his girlfriend Melody all welcomed their friends with open arms. Ford and Stan were still away on their trip- but Soos received postcards saying they would be back soon, so it was okay.
...
18:34
Dipper was in their shared attic bedroom- Mabel was hanging out with Soos downstairs -looking through the journals again, reminiscing over their past adventures- when he suddenly remembered the fishing trip he and Mabel once went on with Stan- before Ford and before Weirdmageddon, when they tried to find...the Gobblewonker. He never got a photo of it that day.
Then it hit him.
"I'll get a photo of the Gobblewonker- tonight!" He decided boldly "How bad can it be?" He asked himself with a self-deprecating chuckle.
...
22:19
Dipper- accompanied by Mabel, of course- headed out to the Gobblewonker's lair in the lake. They were aided only by a torch with a flicker, and a small rucksack containing some cameras, a first aid kit and the journal with the information on the Gobblewonker.
"Okay, Mabel, you clear on the plan?" He asked her carefully as they reached the shore of the lake.
"Yep- you bet I am bro-bro!" She replied, nodding enthusiastically. "We take the boat, go out over the lake and get a photo of the Gobblewonker! Ha-ha, Gobblewonker...sounds like a horn blowing turkey." She chuckled as they arrived at the lake- which was now glittering in an ominous mercury colour.
Dipper allowed a smile of amusement at his sister's strange observation, before shoving a small wooden rowboat onto the lake, with soft ripples speeding away from the bank before dissipating from view. He had prepacked the boat with some fish meat to lure the Gobblewonker to the surface, and the boat now reeked of fish. After ensuring lifejackets were secure, he helped Mabel onto the boat, before hopping on behind her.
...
22:26
As they neared the centre of the lake, Mabel began to feel funny- normally, she wasn't as perceptive as Dipper on danger or disaster, but right now, she had an uneasy feeling that something was going to go wrong. She wondered if Dipper felt the same way.
But a quick glance at him revealed the contrary- Dipper was staring intensively into the lake, no thoughts of danger occupying his features.
'Nah, I'm just being silly!' she thought to herself, as she rowed on carefully. 'Nothing's happened! But, if it does, I'll be ready, cos nothing's going to get past Mabel!'
They rowed on for two more minutes before Dipper gave her a silent command to halt. Then, using a fishing rod from the bottom of the boat, he hooked some fish meat on, and then cast it out over the boat into the lake.
A soft splash was heard, before softer silence reigned over the lake.
But the softest of silences can also be the most sinister...
...
Mabel watched over the boat's edge, fear gnawing at her stomach- and yet, she would not panic. If Dipper found out how scared she was, he would just assure her everything would be fine- or worse, call her out on it.
"Isn't this exciting, Mabel?" Dipper whispered to his twin, jerking the line hopefully, before settling back. His bright and enthusiastic smile made Mabel feel even worse about feeling scared.
"Yeah, it sure is. Go Gobblewonker seeking...!" she whooped unenthusiastically. Dipper frowned.
"You okay, Mabel?"
"Yeah, sure-I'm totally fine! Not scared at all..." Mabel replied giving him what she hoped was a confident smile. Her brother just frowned before shrugging and turning his attention back to the lake.
...
23:56
Mabel awoke with a start. She had no idea how long she had been asleep- but she realised with alarm that her feelings of apprehension- was that the word Dipper liked to use?- had grown overwhelmingly strong.
"Dip?" She asked, tentatively.
"Shh, Mabel, I think we're nearly there!" Dipper hissed in excitement, causing his sister to feel disappointed. Dipper normally listened to her- why wasn't he listening this time?
Did he suspect her fears? Did he think she was being overdramatic and a baby for staying out at a lake that potentially housed a deadly monster?
A swoosh of air above them and a long, loud whistling made the Pines girl look up.
A long, shadowy shape was descending on the pair and their boat faster than an eagle after the field mouse.
Shaking herself into action, Mabel threw herself at her twin...just in time for the shape to crash into the boat, rendering it matchsticks and firewood.
...
00:03
Mabel resurfaced from the lake, clothes soaked to the skin and teeth chattering. Her skin was bluer than Dipper's hat.
Speaking of which, she had her unconscious twin under one arm, and was attempting to swim back to shore.
Blood dyed her brown hair and her ripped jumper exposed cuts from the splinters of the boat and the monster's sharp scales.
Yet the only thing she thought of was saving her best friend.
...
00:13
Mabel began to lag a great deal- her injuries and the consequential blood loss was making it more difficult to continue swimming back to shore with Dipper.
She only had one choice- and that was to save her brother any way she could.
Finding a piece of unscathed boat floating nearby, she doggy paddled as best as she could to the boat with her twin- her blood loss making it more and more difficult to swim. She prayed that the Gobblewonker couldn't smell blood- if it did, it would spell the end of her and Dipper.
Heaving her unconscious little brother onto the makeshift raft, she used the last of her energy to shove it away from her, and therefore to safety.
"Bye, Dip- Dip- make it back to shore for me, okay?" She asked the disappearing raft, before her eyes closed and her body fell with a slump in the water, floating like an eerie corpse.
...
00:15
The Gobblewonker, much to its fury, could not find its intended prey. It would have attempted to eat the two humans on the little floating thing- but its poor depth perception made it difficult to estimate where to land its head and eat its prey.
It was having trouble smelling the prey, too...
...
00:18
A small wooden raft landed at the shore with a gentle bump. The moon's rays shone down on the boy upon it- cuts and scrapes along his arms, in addition to a gigantic bruise on his left temple.
How could help arrive with both twins grievously injured, both unconscious and one floating helplessly in the lake?