WARPED
Chapter 13
Hazelle didn't know if she was in the monster hunt mood anymore.
Strolling into the woods with Dipper, Mabel, Jocelyn, and Lucy, Hazelle was apprehensive about everything now. Searchfortheblindeye had been their only known chance back home, and now it was going haywire! If they couldn't go back the way they'd came, how were they going to get back at all?
As Hazelle's fingers nervously tangled around with the hairbands around her wrist, she shot Lucy, who was walking along the side of their path rubbing her temples, an anxious look. So this was how Lucy had been feeling the whole time they'd been in Gravity Falls. Hazelle knew Lucy didn't mean to be so sour—she never did, really. Lucy's positivity was a trait rarely seen; Hazelle had decided a long time ago that Jocelyn probably zapped it all up, being the optimism-magnet she was. She was just looking at their situation logically: really, they should've been spending every waking moment searching for a way home. They didn't belong in Gravity Falls. It is a TV show, Lucy's declaration from earlier rang.
And yet, it wasn't, for Hazelle and Jocelyn. Jocelyn loved Gravity Falls just as much as Hazelle did—Hazelle was just quieter in her disbelief that they were really there. It was much more than a TV show to them, and this adventure wasn't breaking their bond with it in the slightest.
Dropping into the world of her favorite cartoon was sure to make her a little selfish. She wanted to stay as long as possible and enjoy as much as it as she could. But they couldn't stay forever.
Lucy's bad attitude was keeping Hazelle grounded, as much as she hated it. They couldn't stay forever. But a little bit longer wasn't a crime, was it? How much damage could they do in an alternate reality in just a couple days?
"When we find the squash, we should make it into a pie," Mabel was saying as they trudged through the woods. "Then we can give it out to the people of Gravity Falls! And then they, too, can know its powers!"
"Mabel, this thing might be poisonous," Dipper warned.
"Emotions are the worst poisons in the world," Jocelyn said. "But what if the squash's emotions cancel out people's bad emotions and make them eternally happy?!"
"WE HAVE A DUTY TO OUR PEOPLE," Mabel yelled.
"WE WILL BAKE THE SQUASH INTO A PIE!" Jocelyn joined in.
Hazelle slapped a hand to her forehead. We may actually destroy this place, she thought weakly.
"You good, Hazelle?" Dipper asked, slowing down to walk next to her.
"Yup." Hazelle blew some curls out of her face. "Just a bug. So where do you expect to find this thing anyway?"
"Well…" Dipper pointed to the squash's page in Journal #3. "According to the journal, the squash's seeds are known to have warts on them, for apparent future generations of pumpkin men. And I heard from Tyler once that there's this creepy old pumpkin patch at the edge of the woods. Creepy plus pumpkin will hopefully equal emotional squash."
"That's solid math," Hazelle agreed, nodding.
"I asked Stan about it once, but he just blew me off, like usual." Dipper scoffed, smacking the journal with the back of his hand. "It's all right here! I don't get why he doesn't believe me."
"Maybe it's best he doesn't," Hazelle said. "He doesn't seem like the monster hunt type."
"He's definitely not." Dipper grimaced, as if imagining cranky Grunkle Stan trekking through the woods with them. "Augh, but I dunno."
"Besides," Hazelle went on, brightening, "you've got us! We make a pretty sweet monster hunting crew, if you ask me."
"Yeah, but how long will that last?" Dipper frowned. "You guys have to go home eventually."
"Eventually is not now." Hazelle flashed two thumbs up. "So use us while you have us!"
Dipper smiled, fingers dancing across the cover of the journal. "I plan on it."
There was a bit of silence, the only sound their sneakered feet against the woodsy grass, until a grumble rang out.
"Ugh, that was my stomach," Mabel complained. "I should've grabbed something from the vending machine before we left."
Hazelle froze.
"I thought Grunkle Stan said it didn't work," Dipper said, eyebrow raised at his twin.
"The traditional way doesn't work, no. But the Mabel way works!"
"You sent a squirrel in to get stuff, didn't you?"
"Mr. Nuttynuts is a sure-fire plan!"
As they went on, Hazelle couldn't stop the overwhelming excitement from buzzing in her bones. The vending machine! Stan's secret portal! That was their way home!
"Umm, Jocelyn, Lucy, could I see you by this tree super quick?" Hazelle babbled.
The three girls left the Pines twins to bicker and went a few trees over, hiding behind the widest trunk they could find.
"That's it," Hazelle hissed as soon as they were alone. "Stan's portal! That's how we can get home!"
"Whoa, wait, hold up," Jocelyn said, waving her hands in front of her like a referee. "You're suggesting the portal? Stan's portal? The one from Gideon Rises? Are you crazy?"
"No, wait! That's perfect!" Lucy looked the most enthusiastic she had in days. "Tonight, when Stan goes to sleep, we can sneak in and try to use it to get home!"
"Tonight?" Jocelyn looked appalled. "We can't go yet! We just got here!"
"Ohhh no you don't!" Lucy jabbed an accusing finger at Jocelyn. "I went along with the whole 'let's enjoy it while we think of a way home' thing and now it's done! We know a way home now! We can't keep fooling around!"
"We know a possible way home," Hazelle clarified, beginning to pace. "But we need to map this out. This isn't an overnight thing, Luce. You saw the portal in Gideon Rises: it's extremely complicated, and we won't know how to use it without research and observation first. It could take a while to figure out how to use it without endangering this reality."
Lucy winced, like she was fighting back a migraine. Hazelle frowned at her. "Are you okay? You've looking like you're in pain since we got out here."
Lucy shook her head, like she was shaking some thoughts away. "I'm fine. I just—can't we just ask Stan if he can send us home? He knows how to use it."
"That might be a better idea," Hazelle admitted. "I don't want to mess with technology I don't understand, but we don't know why he has it or what he's looking for. And he may not be happy that we know about it."
"Last resort," Jocelyn decided, arms crossed. She was clearly not happy to be discussing going home so soon.
"If anything," Hazelle declared, heart pace quickening, "maybe we shouldn't go home."
"WHAT!" Lucy's shout made a cluster of squawking birds above them take flight into the blue, mid-afternoon sky.
"Not yet, anyway," Hazelle added hastily. "I dunno, guys. I just…I don't think we're here because of an accidental click of a mouse. I think someone sent us here for a reason."
"I thought it was Bill?" Jocelyn asked.
Lucy frowned and considered for a moment. "No, it—it wasn't Bill. If Bill wanted us here, he would've done it himself, not through really sneaky and mysterious ways."
Hazelle nodded, caught off guard by Lucy's apparent understanding of the dream demon. "So someone else brought us here. See, this is why I don't think we should go back. We're obviously…involved in something. Something dangerous. We shouldn't bring it back to our reality. We have to face it here, on its turf."
Lucy didn't look pleased, but she nodded all the same. "I guess you're right."
"I don't mind staying a little longer," Jocelyn agreed, biting back a huge grin.
"So I guess the goal for right now…" Hazelle squared her shoulders. "Is to be on our guard. And then tomorrow we can start investigating this whole thing."
"How do we do that?" Jocelyn asked, tightening her trademark braid.
"I think we should talk to Stan regardless," Lucy said. "We know he's involved in this somehow and I think he could help us understand the mechanics of portals. Then we can start narrowing down who could've brought us here."
"Agreed," Hazelle and Jocelyn said, nodding.
"Guys?" Mabel called. "What're you doing, making friends with the trees?"
"No, we're telling them to leaf us alone!" Hazelle called quickly, making Jocelyn and Lucy groan.
Mabel laughed. "Hazelle, you are on fire!"
"One more thing," Hazelle hissed to Jocelyn and Lucy. "Don't tell Dipper and Mabel. They can't know about Stan's portal. It could mess up the timeline Alex Hirsch has set up for the show and could cause a lot of problems. We have to let them find out on their own."
Jocelyn looked pained with the idea of keeping a secret from Mabel, but agreed anyway.
"AND…" Hazelle stuck out her hand, grinning at her friends. "We started this thing together, and we finish it together. Agreed?"
Jocelyn placed her hand over Hazelle's. "All in, bud!"
They looked to Lucy, who seemed to be fighting something back in her head. But with a sigh, she finally placed her hand in, paling from an apparent new thought.
"Agreed."