AN: I thought the idea of Ford being friends with Jack&Maddie&Vlad was too nice to ignore, but I didn't think properly about how the timelines worked out. (And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kids… aka earlier guest and sub phantom and maybe somebody else because I haven't had time to read all the reviews yet) Canon is on a holiday, just like the characters, and in this fic Ford has consequently only been missing for 20 years. (Which means he finished his portal when the Wisconsin U people finished their proto-portal.) I've made a very minor change in phrasing the last chapter to reflect this. There is no need to go back and reread it. Thank you for picking up my slack.

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Tracking the Thief

Dipper sighed deeply.

He still felt sort of bad about how he'd run off the day before, when Wendy's cousin had asked about his nickname.

'This is why I barely have any friends.'

The thought was a depressing one, but he wasn't about to show some stranger his birthmark. Enough people had made fun of him because of it already.

"Bro-bro? Are you still in here?" Mabel peeked her head into the attic. "You need to let this go."

"I could have said something cool, been all mysterious about or something. I should have... I could have... I... Aargh! Why is it so hard!? Anything would have been better than panicking and running away!"

"Dip-dop, you're not cool."

"Wow, thanks Mabel. That really cheered me up." Dipper rolled his eyes.

"I mean it. You're sweaty and awkward and a huge nerd, but that's fine. Isn't it?"

"It's just... it's like I don't even know how to talk to people outside of monster hunts." Dipper flipped over in the bed so that he was fully turned towards Mabel.

"Oooooh, I know!" Mabel jumped in excitement. "We'll take Jazz and Danny on a monster hunt!"

"I can't solve all my problems through-"

Dipper's protests were interrupted by the sound of breaking glass.

"Monster hunt! Let's go!" Mabel pulled on his arm and Dipper was secretly happy to be dragged along. Even if Mabel was mostly doing it to cheer him up.

Danny took a final sip of soda before dumping the empty cup in the trash. He may or may not have used his ice-powers to keep the drink cold for longer.

The arcade was... not that different from the one back home. The games in Gravity Falls seemed to be slightly more dated, and the dancing game was out of order, but there was a nice retro feel and zero ghosts of technology trying to take over the world. It was good enough for Danny.

Danny texted Tucker to make sure there weren't any ghosts of technology trying to take over the world back in Amity Park.

Jazz had run off to the library at first opportunity, leaving Danny to play against the computer in a kind of fun, if very pink, racing game called Sugar Rush.

Danny musings regarding how useful cookies would be as wheels were interrupted by loud, angry groaning from around the corner.

'Curiosity half-killed the cat.'

Danny ignored his own advice and walked over to find the source of the noise.

He wasn't all that surprised to find a teenager.

The teen was clad in a black hoodie and skinny jeans. Black haired that looked like it was dyed. He looked more emo than goth, but Sam probably would appreciate his aesthetic in either case.

His disposition needed work, though.

"You OK?"

The teen looked up at Danny's question, eyes narrowing in some sort of weird challenge as he sized Danny up.

"I keep losing to the AI. Take player two."

Danny shrugged, maybe if he lost a few rounds on purpose the other teen would lighten up.

There were shattered pieces of glass from the broken window strewn throughout the kitchen. On the table, bits and pieces of Mabel's latest art project were still a chaotic, glittery mess. There were tiny claw marks all around, but Dipper couldn't say from what.

"It's not here?" Mabel's voice rose a couple of octaves as her wide eyes took in the scene.

"What were you making?" Dipper moved with caution, worried that the art thief was still hiding in the Shack somewhere.

"I was bedazzling a sweater. It's completely covered in pink glitter."

"Well, then. It's time to solve another crime." Dipper puffed his chest up with pride as he remembered the case of the headless wax figure. They'd find the sweater, because it was important to Mabel. "Mystery twins?"

"Mystery twins."

Dipper walked around the kitchen with his hands held behind his back. "First, we scour for clues. I'll need a magnifying glass, I think I have one in-"

"Or we could just follow this trail of glitter."

"That works too."

"Loser! Loser! Loser!" Robbie, who'd introduced himself in the middle of their second game, was dancing a weird victory dance, which mostly just consisted of him wiggling his hips awkwardly from side to side and pointing at Danny.

Danny was seriously regretting letting him win.

Still, the endless chants of 'loser' weren't actually that mean spirited. They were... almost friendly teasing that had escalated beyond control. That didn't make them less annoying. Danny was gonna kick Robbie's butt the next round. No more mercy.

Robbie was smiling in an irritating way as he walked over to get a soda from his back-pack, only to stop and let out a small shout.

Practiced reflexes allowed Danny to be by Robbie's side in seconds, fast enough to see a small black animal scurry away, carrying a silver and green cylinder in its mouth.

"My Thermos! What was that!?"

"I don't know, but it stole my mp3-player!" Robbie threw his arms out and practically growled in frustration.

Danny nodded decisively before setting off. "Come on then, let's follow it!"

As they ran, he kept getting small glimpses of the thing. It was the size of a raven, the colour of a raven (aside from what looked like pink glitter), it even flew like a raven. Still he suspected it wasn't a raven, since birds generally didn't have scales.

Despite Mabel's previous suggestion, the twins hadn't actually stopped their hunt to go ask the Fenton siblings to join them.

As their journey led them to parts of the forest Dipper had never been in, he was beginning to question that decision. Having back-up would have been nice.

They seemed to be going towards one of the mountains. The white summer clouds seemed to be touching the top of it.

Dipper flipped through the Journal to see if it had any information regarding thieves who had tiny claws and lived in mountains. However, he wasn't finding anything valuable. Cave trolls didn't have tiny claws. Maybe the Author hadn't met whatever it was they were chasing, or maybe he'd written about it in one of the other two Journals, maybe Dipper simply needed more to go on. Either way, it was making him worry.

Something moved in the undergrowth and Dipper moved slightly to the left to stand more in front of Mabel.

A black creature, moving fast enough that Dipper couldn't make out any details, flew out of the bushes, closely followed by two more humanoid figures. The first of them, a blur of white and blue, made a desperate jump in order to catch the small animal, but only managed to land on his face with his hands helplessly outstretched above his head. This caused the other pursuer to trip over the first one, creating a big pile of limbs and hurt.

It took a second look for Dipper to realise who the two actually were.

Mabel smiled and happily said "Danny!"

At the same time, Dipper frowned and growled out "Robbie."

The two teenagers pulled themselves out of their pile. Danny smiled back at Mabel. "Hi. You didn't happen to see where that thing went, did you?"

"What was that? Why were you following it?" Dipper directed his questions to Danny, since there was no way Robbie would answer him.

"I have no idea, but it stole my Thermos."

"A Thermos? Why would you even-"

"It's... special. I really need to get it back."

"Why?"

"I have food allergies and need to make sure I always have something I can eat on me." The words came way too quickly, Dipper could tell that Danny was lying. He let it go with nothing more than a suspicious glare. He'd find out what was so special about the Thermos when they found the thing.

AN: I'm having a hard time writing Mabel (I love her, but I really can't put myself in her shoes) and I guess that's just another good reason to rewatch old Gravity Falls episodes.