Here's Chapter Five! I just want to point out that this is all Season 1 artwork. There might have been some confusion there, so I'm just clarifying. Special thanks to DragonDude23 and Gift of the Dragon for bringing that to my attention. Now on with the chapter!

Chapter Five

Dipper couldn't believe it.

He never got a break. From the first week he had arrived here he had been experiencing the unexplainable. No one ever believed him, of course. And the people that did believe him didn't care at all. He was the only one who cared about staying alive.

"Uh, kid?" asked the large red creature that Dipper immediately classified as a dragon. "Are you ok?"

He squeezed his eyes shut. "Ok. Sure. Of course you can talk. Why not?!"

Mabel slowly approached the dragons. "Whoa. This is so cool! Dipper, isn't this cool?"

He sighed again. "Sure, Mabel. Why don't you take care of this, huh? I'm going back to bed."

"No!" She stopped him. "This is an experience we can tell around the fire when we're old and have kids of our own! Do you really want to miss this?"

"Frankly, yes. But I'll stay anyway. I don't want you to get into trouble on your way back."

She beamed and turned to the dragons. "Hi! I'm Mabel! This is Dipper! He's just grumpy because we see this stuff every day."

The short purple dragon frowned. "You do?"

Mabel shrugged and sat down. "Yeah. I mean, this is Gravity Falls. Don't you guys live here?"

They turned to each other. "No," said the red one. "We're... visiting."

"Oh, cool!" Mabel said. "So are we!"

The red dragon didn't seem to hear her. "So... you aren't surprised that we're here?"

Dipper realized that he was talking to him. He took off his hat and twisted it nervously in his hands. "Well, yeah. For once, Mabel's right- Gravity Falls is a geographical oddity. I just want a break from it all."

"Believe me," the red dragon said, "that's why we came here in the first place."

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "You came to get away from the magical world... yet, you're dragons?"

"Uh-"

"Never mind." Dipper turned to Mabel. "Now can we go?"

She groaned. "Fine. We need sleep for work tomorrow, anyway." She looked at the dragons. "See you around, maybe!"

The purple one shrugged and flew away, but the red one stayed. "I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"What exactly are you?"

Dipper wasn't sure he'd heard the dragon right. "Excuse me? We're humans, it's kind of obvious."

The dragon frowned. "Ok, then." With that, he flew away after the purple one.

As the twins walked back to the Shack, Dipper couldn't get rid of a nagging suggestion in the back of his mind. Why would he ask that? he thought. It's not not like we're magical whatevers that can transform into humans. What a strange question.

He tried to forget it, but he felt like there was something he wasn't taking into account. He figured he would remember it eventually.

When he got back to his room, he updated his progress in the journal, then fell asleep.

He woke up the next morning vaguely remembering a dream about cats. Huh. He put on his usual attire, then realized that Mabel was already out of bed.

He walked downstairs and saw that everyone else was already up. Even Soos and Wendy were there. They were in the kitchen, eating breakfast.

"Morning, sunshine." Grunckle Stan laughed at his joke. "Eat up. We've got a full day of work ahead of us, so get movin'!"

"Mornin', Dipper," Trixie said, handing him a plate of pancakes. "I saved these for you." She winked.

"Oh, thanks!" Dipper grinned and sat down at the table next to Jake. "Hey."

"Hey yourself," Jake replied through bites of pancakes. "Ready to run a tourist trap?"

"Ready," he said, "as always. Stan taught us all the tricks."

"I learned all those on my own. I'll be fine."

They finished up breakfast and opened the shop. Several people came in a few minutes later, and Dipper recognized a few of them. There was Manly Dan, who immediately bought an axe, but faltered when he saw the price his own daughter rung up. The Cute Biker was there, and when Manly Dan raged outside and started beating down a tree, he followed him with cries of "Get 'em! Get 'em! Ah hee hee hee!" And there was Robbie. Enough said.

After the crowds were gone and the Shack was closed, Dipper swept while Mabel organized the merchandise. Stan had let the guests go to their room early, so it was just the twins.

"So what do you think about last night?" Mabel asked.

"What about it?" Dipper responded. "Nothing out of the ordinary here in the ol' Falls."

"Speak for yourself. That purple dragon seemed cute. Do you think we'll see them again?"

"If we do, you can go. I'm good. Oh, and take your grappling hook with you."

"Fine. I'll leave you to your sweeping, then." She left.

"Don't let the stall door hit you on the way out!" he called.

"Ow! Darn it, Dipper!"

He smirked.

He swept behind the counter and was about to leave when something caught his eye.

It was a strange bracelet with an even stranger blue charm dangling from the end. It took Dipper a few seconds to realize that the charm was glowing faintly.

He remembered that Jake had been working the register earlier, so he left the shop to return it.

When he reached the guest room, he was about to knock when he heard a loud crash inside. Slowly and quietly, he opened the door.

Trixie and Spud were there, but Jake and Haley weren't. In their place stood the red and purple dragons from last night.

All in an instant it made sense. Why the dragons had been so surprised to see him and Mabel. Specifically him and Mabel. Why they hadn't expected them to know about the magical world. And why the red one had asked him what he was, as if there was a such thing as a shape-shifting human.

Jake and Haley were dragons.