Dipper wasn't sure how this could be happening.
Currently, she was wrapped up in her sleeping bag, on the floor, contemplating what to do. Last night, had overheard Grantie Clare and Soos's Abuelita talk about how they were going to take care of so many people in one house, when Clare had reassured her she'd send Dipper and Marvin home.
That couldn't happen.
"Marv," Dipper whispered. "Wake up." She poked Marvin, who was curled up on the sofa bed next to Soos.
"Hmm? What is it, Dip?" Marvin asked, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
"We need to find a way to get the house back from Gideon. What are we going to do?" Dipper asked frantically. "We can't go back! There's still so much we haven't done yet."
"Well, Gideon said he has something planned tomorrow, let's see what that is." Marvin replied, trying to sound cheerful.
The four of them snuck into the Grand Closing of the Mystery Shack, dressed in trench coats.
Gideon was already on the podium, with the mayor standing next to him. It seems he was in full support of whatever was under that tarp, and Grantie Clare already was grumbling in annoyance.
What they hadn't expected to find was that horrible theme park. Happiest place on earth? No way! And what was up with that ugly giant Gideon statue?
Dipper, Marvin, Grantie Clare and Soos ran on stage. Marvin tried to rescue Waddles, while Dipper and Clare tried to convince the town Gideon was a fraud.
"Can't you just ever stay down? Admit it, Clare. It's over." McGucket said, folding his arms.
"What do you know?" She spat, "it isn't over until I say it is."
Gideon asked his goons to escort them out, with Clare screaming they would soon be hearing from her lawyer.
"You don't have one!" McGucket shouted back in annoyance, before adjusting back to his smile.
"I can't believe it! Did you see what they did to Waddles? He'll overheat in that polyester suit." Marvin fumed.
"There you are!" Wendy exclaimed, running over to them. "Have you found a way to fix this?"
"We're trying. But Gideon is always one step ahead of us." Dipper complained.
"Well, I hope you figure out something, or I'll have to go work at my cousin's lumber mill." Wendy said bitterly.
"We'll keep trying." Dipper said. She noticed Robbie walking over to them with a boombox. "Robbie!" Dipper exclaimed, her voice getting a half pitch higher. "Did you come to see us?"
Robbie looked over at Wendy, who looked away. "Uh, sure?"
"I mean…" Dipper laughed nervously. "It's ok if you didn't. It's not like I wanted to see you or anything, it's just cool that you're here, and I'm here…"
Marvin interjected, "And Dipper likes you…calyptus leaves." He shouted as Dipper nudged him in the ribs mid sentence. "Yeah, big Vapo rub fan, this one."
"Ok then." Robbie said, unconvinced. "Wendy told me you guys might have to go home early, does that mean you still want to go over any of the tapes?"
"What tapes?" Wendy asked.
"That's it!" Dipper shouted. She grabbed her brother by the shoulder. "Marv, I know how we can save the Shack!"
"Grappling hook!" He shouted back.
"No, maybe there's something in the journal, or the tapes. Robbie, Wendy, do you want to come with us?"
They looked uneasy, but neither seemed to make any protests.
"Cool. Robbie, bring your boombox."
They made their way into the woods to parlay with Jeff.
"Ok, we'll think about your offer, but why don't you give us the redhead in return?" He asked.
"Why don't I give you my fist in your face instead?" Wendy replied indignantly.
Jeff recoiled. "Yeesh. Ok, fine. But only because I care for you Dipper. You would have made a great queen, and it's still yours any time."
Dipper scrunched her face in disgust. "No thanks, we just need you to take down Gideon, then we're even."
The four of them followed the horde of gnomes, watching as they made their way to the Gideonland construction site.
Gideon stood at the door. "Well, if it isn't the Pines twins. And two other people I don't know."
"It's cool, we haven't had any reason to meet until now." Robbie said, shrugging.
"Give us back the Shack, Gideon!" Dipper shouted.
"My, my. Dipper, is that how a lady ought to behave?" Gideon tutted.
Dipper fumed. "Oh, that's it!" She lifted up her hat as the signal as the gnomes started in their formation."
Gideon's eyes widened in disbelief. "What is this?"
Dipper lifted her journal out of her pocket. "This is the power of Gravity Falls. Gnomes, attack!"
"You have a journal?" Gideon shouted.
As the gnomes formed into a giant tower, they slammed against the Shack, Gideon pushed aside by their weight. His pompadour fell out of place, as he crumpled to the ground. Gideon stood up, brushing the dust off his powder blue suit. "Oh, this will not do."
He lifted up the whistle hanging around his neck, and the gnomes fell out of formation, clutching their ears.
"What is that?" Marvin asked.
"A pig whistle. Pity you never thought of using one with your little feller." Gideon replied smugly.
"How dare you! You better not be using that on Waddles you jerk face!" Marvin wailed.
Gideon frowned. "Why Marvin, that was positively hurtful. I'll forgive you this time." He lifted up the whistle to his lips. The noise was able to control them, "Gnomes, take them away." They could feel the gnomes lifting them up in a wave, ready to drag them off. As they were taken away, Dipper could feel the journal slipping out of her hands. "Wait! I need that!"
"Too late, Dipper! I already have your journal." Gideon cackled as it landed in his arms from the gnome wave.
Dipper climbed over their tiny hands and faces, making her way to Robbie. "We need to act fast." She pulled out a tape from her vest. "Punch it in!"
"What is that?" Robbie asked, sticking it in his boombox.
"Just do it!" Dipper shouted as she could feel those little hands pulling at her sleeves and vest.
As soon as Robbie pressed play, the intense high pitched shrieks and deep bass reverberated in shocks throughout the woods, drowning out the sounds of the whistle. The gnomes stopped, falling to their knees to cover their ears.
"This is worse!" Jeff screamed, "Turn it off!"
The frequency of the tape sent a feedback, and Dipper could swear she could hear some sort of amplified feedback, and a pop. She made a motion with her hand to cut off the tape, and Robbie did.
The gnomes scattered, and Gideon looked at them in anger. It seems his Gideon pin, and Marvin and Wendy's that they had slapped onto them earlier had popped from the sound.
"Now look at what you did!" Gideon screamed. "You'll pay for this."
"Why should we? What's so important about your tacky pins?" Dipper asked.
Gideon glowered. "Let's face it Dipper, you don't have anything. I have the journals, you don't have any brawn, or brains. You're just a scared little girl."
"No she isn't, she has us!" Marvin shouted back. "I can't believe I ever wanted to be friends with you."
"Oh, you'll see. Now I have both the journals, I'll rule Gravity Falls, and then you'll have to be my friend." Gideon cackled, slamming the door.
"Dude, that was awesome!" Wendy exclaimed. "My ears are still ringing."
"Yeah, I think I definitely have tinnitus, but it was worth it," Robbie agreed.
"But we still didn't get the Shack, and now he has the journal. Gideon is still winning." Dipper lamented. "It's hopeless."
Meanwhile, on the other end of the woods, Grantie Clare could feel her hearing aid pop as she screamed in pain. She noticed that her pin had also broken in the exact same way.
The next morning, Dipper and Marvin boarded their bus, ready to depart. It was a failure of a summer, and Dipper didn't know what to say to her brother as she looked out the window.
"Hey Marv," Dipper said, lifting her head in shock as she gazed at the changing landscape.
"Yeah Dip?" Marv said, flipping through a teen magazine.
"There wasn't a giant Gideon robot casually jogging before that I never noticed, right?"
"I don't think…"
Marvin didn't have time to reply before the robot lifted the bus off the road.
They fell, and found themselves getting chased across the cliffs.
Suddenly, the robot picked them up, lifting them high above the ground.
"Where is it?" Gideon's voice boomed from the speaker in the robot's mouth. "Where is Journal 1?"
"I don't have it!" Dipper shouted. "I never had it."
"Don't lie to me. You must have switched them out."
"We don't know what you're talking about." Marvin shouted back. "We didn't even know there were more journals."
"No matter." The robot arm threw Dipper to the ground. Hastily, Dipper grabbed onto a rock, watching the long drop down. "Come on then, Marvin, we'll pick up right where we left off."
Dipper watched, thinking about the insult Gideon slung at her, and knew she had to act. She took a deep breath, she grabbed a piece of rock from the cliff and threw it at the large window where the robot's eyes faced. She waited for the right moment and flung herself forwards, jumping inside.
"You!" Gideon screamed. "What are you doing here?"
"Something I should have done sooner," Dipper said. She walked over to him and punched him in the face.
Gideon scowled. "You don't think I'll punch a lady, but I will."
"Then have at it." Dipper taunted.
Gideon threw a punch, only for Dipper to deflect it, and punch him with his own fist, the robot taking the command to punch itself in the face.
"Why are you hitting yourself? Not much of a scared little girl now, huh?" Dipper said.
It only took a few more self punches for the robot to keel over and hurtle off the cliff.
They landed safely thanks to Marvin's grappling hook, just in time for the police and the press to arrive.
"What is the meaning of this?" The mayor asked indignantly. "Gideon, are you alright?"
"Mayor McGucket, the Pines twins are trying to kill me! Look what they did to my robot." Gideon shouted as he climbed out of the rubble.
"Oh you poor thing." McGucket lifted Gideon out of the pile of metal, examining him. "As long as your peachy keen that's all that matters, robots are meant to be rebuilt." Gideon hugged him back in gratitude.
The bystanders cooed at the touching display of affection.
"But Gideon's a lair!" Dipper exclaimed. "You can't believe this."
With a screech, they saw Grantie Clare's car rush to the scene as she climbed out. "I'll tell you what's the matter, Gideon is a fraud!" She shouted.
"Off by a minute there, Grantie Clare. We got to that part already." Marvin noted. Dipper saw he had moved closer to Clare and McGucket.
"I can prove Gideon is a fraud, and our mayor is in cahoots!" Clare slammed the panel of the robot, to reveal a row of CCTVs, all covered in static.
McGucket put Gideon down, and walked up to the televisions, examining them. "It looks to me they had some sort of feed on them, at one point. But who knows what was on them now."
"I don't get it." Toby Determined interrupted.
Clare faltered. "Those…those were supposed to show that Gideon was recording everyone's personal business and watching it on the tvs. I know he was, he was using the pins."
"The pins." Dipper interjected. "They must have all broken when we played the tape!"
McGucket gave a chuckle. "Oh you Pines and your overactive imaginations, what will you think of next. Why don't we talk this out? I'm sure we can come to an understanding."
"I want my house back. It was stolen from me." Clare declared.
McGucket looked over at Gideon, who sat down, sulking.
"Well, since most of the draw for 'Gideonland' is scrap metal at best, I don't see why not." McGucket replied breezily.
"Gideon also has something of mine." Dipper noted. "I want it back."
"I'm sure he'll take it into consideration." McGucket added, not sounding genuine in the slightest. He turned to the townsfolk, "Well, there you have it. The Mystery Shack is back."
There was a polite clap, and everyone dispersed back to their cars.
"Did you mean that? Or was that some political stunt?" Clare asked, not daring to hope.
McGucket looked at her from her spectacles. "I am a man of my word. And so is Gideon, isn't that right, sugar?"
"I just want to go home." Gideon replied, standing back up. He lifted his arms up. "Could you give me a piggyback ride?"
"Oh, alright." McGucket replied. "But you're getting too big for these.
As they headed out of sight, they made their way back into their car.
"We did it!" Marvin whooped, "We saved the Shack,"
Clare sighed. "I kind of thought it was going to be a bigger deal though. You know, get called a hero, have that little creep and the mayor get arrested, the whole shebang."
"And Gideon still has the journals," Dipper said in frustration.
"The journals?" Clare asked.
"Or does he?" Marvin asked pulling out two books from under his crocheted poncho.
Dipper grabbed them, hugging them tight against her, then tacking Marvin into a hug.
"Marv! How did you get them back?" Dipper squealed.
Marvin wiggled his hands. "The old six fingered discount! I learned from the best, Grantie Clare."
Clare chuckled. "That's my boy." She turned on the ignition, turning her head back to reverse, and catching a glimpse of those damn books. Thirty years and they were now in her backseat.
"You know," Dipper said. "All this time, I thought I needed the journals. That they defined me and we're the only things I had going for me. After today, I think I'm actually pretty great on my own. Maybe I don't need them."
"Then maybe I could take a gander, if you don't mind?" Clare asked, nonchalantly.
Dipper looked nervously at her aunt. "Um, ok. I don't think they're going to be of much use to you. But…just be careful with them?"
"Trust me kid, you won't even know they're gone. I'll get them back to you ASAP."
This is it. After all these years, she was going to reactivate the portal.