Yeah, okay, so. Few things. 1) hopefully you could all assume this but: I am writing this after the show but for some reason I felt like having Stan keep the Mystery Shack. IDK, it just felt right. I just love Stans rip off deals and stuff. 2) not much happens in this chapter even though it's longer... it's more for the building of relationship between characters and stuff. 3) I was working on this a lot. Like, I was in New York City (i don't live there so it, yeah, I'm considering it a vacation kind of) for the weekend with my friends and in the drive there I pull out my laptop and like 'nope, I'm writing, goodbye now'. So I know this isn't the best chapter... I realize that, okay? I just need to start somewhere with this story. 4) I was too lazy to proofread this chapter... I usually don't anyway but I try to skim through chapters usually... not really... I'm lazy. If my spelling and grammar annoys you... sorry man. So, I hope you enjoy!

"Hey, thanks for letting me hang!" Coal smiled at Mabel, "I'm so use to having to be super mature a sophisticated because of my job… it gets quite annoying and feels really nice to just let loose without anyone judging you!" They were sitting on the wooden floor in the center of attic, aka: Dipper and Mabel's temporary bedroom for the summer. Despite Dipper's lack of trust towards Coal, she was hitting it off really well with Mabel.

"Well, of course! Your job sounds boring. I mean, not letting you be a kid? That sounds like the worse!" Mabel replied.

"Technically I'm not a kid anymore." Coal gave a small chuckle, "It's still an honor, though, to be in my position." She paused, "Really, besides the fact of having to act like an adult for work, I'm a normal kid. Sort of… okay, actually not really. I'm nothing special either, I just take the normal, advanced classes,"

"That's kind of an oxymoron." Dipper noted from his bed, where he was deep into some kind of book. "'Normal, advanced'." Coal swiped a little glare at him, although his eyes weren't parting from his reading, then continued.

"and I'm not super artsy either. Most people either have the super smart side of life or the other end of the spectrum and are super artsy. Me? I'm just in boring in between. My only talent is writing, and not the creative stuff."

"Well, you're really good at it!" Mabel chimed on a more positive noted.

"How would you know that? You've never seen me write." Coal rolled her eyes with a smile.

"You have to be good if you are a reporter at the age of fourteen! I also wouldn't put nerdy stuff past you."

"Nerd? Oh, heck yeah I'm a nerd! Just not in the smart way."

"You're smart enough to get into advanced classes."

"Lots of students get into advanced classes."

"But you pass them easily?"

"Well, yeah but-"

"Ah!" Mabel cut her off, "You're smart enough in my book!"

Seeing no point in arguing anymore, Coal succumbed and said, "Thanks Mabel." There was a small moment of silence before Coal changed the topic. "So… this is your second summer in Gravity Falls?"

"Oh, yeah! You should've seen our first summer here! There was once this time Dipper and I found a- OW!" A book suddenly slammed Mabel in the head. She looked over at the direction it came from, Dipper. He had a stern look on his face and was motioning for Mabel to shut up by swiping his hand in front of his neck. "Um. I mean, yeah, it's fun here." Mabel said with disappointment. "How about you? What's it like were you come from?"

"Meh. Nothing special. I've got a fairly normal life… in a way." Coal gave a quick giggle at the end.

"Okay, okay. Tell me about your school." Mabel leaned in, her way of small talk.

"Well at least I can say I have a few friends. Nice guys and all."

"Oh? Oh? Guuuuys?" Mabel grinned. Coal rolled her eyes again.

"Wow Mabel, I've only known you for like, a day and a half and I think I've already got a good feeling for the kind of person you are."

"People tell me I have a special personality." Mabel flipped her hair. "But seriously," Her voice was not serious, "any cute guys at your school? Huh? Huh? Anyone you like? Come on! You gotta tell me!"

"Are you always like this?" Coal laughed nervously.

"She is." Dipper mumbled from his corner. Both girls ignored him.

"So?" Mabel probed.

"No one." Coal crossed her arms.

"Not even someone a little, little bit?" Mabel asked. Coal glanced away for a moment. "AH- HA! YOU DO!" Mabel yelled.

"Oh my gosh, calm down. Okay, fine maybe a little bit."

"And?"

"Well, I like him a little bit. He's in most of my classes so…" Coal shrugged like it was no big deal, and it wasn't. But Mabel wasn't satisfied, she frowned, wanting more.

"Come on! Tell me more! Details!"

"He's nice and funny."

"Wow. Just, wow." Mabel sighed. "What does he look like? Tell me more of his personality? How do you feel about him?"

"Eh. I know he doesn't like me back. Once I tried to fool myself into thinking he liked me but I know that was just lies, deep down I know he doesn't and deep down even more I think there is still a little hope." Coal paused. "Did I really just say that?"

"That's a run on sentence." Dipper pointed out.

"CAN I PLEASE KILL HIM?" Coal seethed.

"OW!" The same book thrown at Mabel was now chucked back at Dipper, except harder due to Mabel's stronger arms.

"I'll take care of it later." Mabel promised. Dipper sunk into his bed a little out of fear, knowing he would loose a physical fight with is sister. "He can be an idiot, I know. Do your best to ignore him."

Wanting to change the subject again, Coal randomly put in, "So, Mabel, I'm going to check out this one spot in Gravity Falls. Some weird activity has been picked up on my radar."

"You have one of those radar thingies?"

"Meh. I get a lot of cool tech through work. Anyway, I was planning on checking this area and I was thinking it might be a good idea to have someone who knows this town come along." Coal winked. Mabel's eyes started to light up and she was about to agree when a very loud 'ah-hem!' came from Dipper. He was giving Mabel another warning glare and suddenly her face fell a little.

"Oh yeah, I'd love to but I already promise Dipper I'd go with him to check something else out. Sorry. I've kind of bailed on him too many times already and I just really should go with him." She explained.

"It's okay. I get it, you're super close and that's really cool. I have an older sister and we are kind of close, but not nearly as close as you two. Trust me, I get it, enjoy the moments you have. It's pretty awesome." This time Coal gave reassuring wink and Mabel smiled. "Well, I should head out while I actually have some daylight." With that she walked out the attic door, went downstairs, and headed out the door.

…

The small waterfall gracefully cascaded over the rock ledge. This was the place. The secluded river in the woods. No one was here and it looked like no one ever had been. The water splashed down into a 20-foot wide stream that slipped and bent around trees and disappeared into the dark forest. This was the spot Coal was looking for. It really looked quite natural and normal. Over grown vines, thick trees, and cracking rock.

By now it was a few hours past noon, maybe around 4 o' clock, and the sun was still giving a strong light, but it was quickly dimming. 'Snap.' Coal whizzed around at the speed of light.

"Who's there?" She called out due to the sound of a snapping twig. "Or possible, what's there?" She mumbled under her breath. Nervously, her eyes darted around until they landed on a large stick. She snatched it up, it was thick enough that her finger tips couldn't touch when she wrapped her hand around it. Then, stepping out of the shadows… Dipper. "Oh." Coal dropped the stick, anticlimactic. Following behind, Mabel was stumbling and tripping over organic rubble. "What are you guys doing here? Did you follow me?" Coal's face scrunched up in confusion.

"What? No! What are you doing here?" Dipper tried to sound accusing and condescending but his normal high, squeaky voice came out.

"Uh, duh? This is 'the sport' I wanted to check out."

"Oh, right."

"This is were we wanted to look at too!" Mabel jumped forward. "This is like 'woah. Cra-azy.'" She made a silly face that no one could describe in words. Suddenly, Mabel let out a gasp, "We could investigate this place together!" She clasped her hands together. Coal gave a disapproving glance at Dipper but then looked at Mabel's impossible to resist, excited face.

"I'm not so sure that's a great-" Dipper tried to say but couldn't finish.

"I don't see why not." Coal shrugged, cutting off Dipper. Mabel clapped and skipped over to the river. Coal followed. "So, what exactly are you guys looking for?"

"It was this thing in one of Dipper's books. There's a lot of cool, abnormal stuff in that book!"

"You don't say?" Coal was suddenly intrigued.

"Yeah! I think he said that-" Mabel smiled, not thinking about her words.

"You know what, Mabel? Let's stop there." Dipper quickly said, "It's nothing really." He briskly walked passed them. Immediately, he pick up rocks, turned them over, looked under then, searched under leaved, brushed away dirt, and busily paced around. Deep in thought, he mumbled to himself.

"What is he looking for?" Coal whispered.

"A water wisp." Mabel whispered back.

"A what?"

"A water wisp?"

"What?"

"Uh, a water wisp." Mabel started to get concerned.

"No, I know what you said, but what is it?"

"It's… you know, I don't really know." Mabel pondered in her head. "Dipper was saying something about it. All of his geeky stuff and that." She picked up a thin, smooth rock and chuck out onto the water. It bounced off the surface once before plopping into depths. Coal gave it a try but the rock just plummeted into the river.

"I was never really good at that." Coal laughed. She went to pick up another. It was the perfect skipping stone. It fit right into her palm and flawlessly flat. A white streak squiggled through it, making it different from the other pebbles. She tossed it, expecting it to be another fail. It hit the water with a tiny plink but instead of sinking it just layed on the surface of the stream. Just hovering there. Coal blinked, rocks don't float. She turned to Mabel to see if she was seeing this too but Mabel was busy searching for another stone. Coal looked back but the rock was gone. 'Huh? That was impossible, I'm seeing things.' Coal convinced herself. Yet, Coal was also a little curious. She bent down to find another stone. The first thing she saw scared her at first. Staring right back at her was a perfect rock with a white line zig-zagging through it. 'Okay, maybe there are two rocks that are both perfect and have the exact same design… and shape… and texture… and color.' With caution, Coal picked up the replica. She glanced around to garentee there were no other rocks like this. After a good take of the scene, she was certain this one was a stand alone. Once again, she cast it out. Thankfully, it sank like normal, but maybe one more throw wouldn't hurt for practice. Coal looked down at the rocks below her and… it was there. The perfect rock with the white streak. Starting to freak out, Coal swiftly grabbed it and chucked it, not even trying to get it to skip. She looked down, it was there again. She hurled it out. Again and again, it kept reappearing and again and again she flung it out. Throw, reappear. Throw, reappear, Throw, reappear. Coal started moving faster and faster.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Mabel gave Coal a curious look. Coal froze.

"Nothing." She said trying to sound casual as she pitched the stone once again. She furious looked around. "Oh thank goodness!" Coal sighed and sat down. "It's gone."

"Um, okay?" Mabel was just flat out confused.

"Nevermind. It's not important." Coal breathed. Suddenly, Dipper skidded over to them, making a pile of grit rain down on Coal. He scribbled words down on a notepad and kept looking at something in the river. Coal and Mabel walked to his side to see what he was so excited about. In the middle of the stream, a small section of water was bubbling. "Bubbles? So what?" Coal wasn't very impressed. As if on cue, the very same pepple that was haunting her flew out of the water and hit Coal in the arm. "Ow! Sorry." She rubbed the mark it left.

"You know it's not alive." Mabel stated.

"What?"

"The river? You apologized to it. It's not alive.'

"No. I know. I was… just nevermind!" Coal rolled her eyes. "OW!" Another stone flew out of the water and smacked her arm in the exact same spot. She grasped it. "Where the hell are these coming from?" Coal didn't like to curse a lot. Anyone else in the world wouldn't care, the word 'curse' didn't even exist for them, but to Coal it made her sound less mature and just like another loose lipped teen. She felt like a clean dialect would make her sound more sophisticated. She only cursed when she wasn't thinking, was angry, or in this case, in pain. By the look on Mabel's face she knew she shouldn't have slipped, even if it wasn't really that bad, around her. "Sorry," She mumbled. After a second she felt the need to add, "I was talking to you that time, Mabel." Before anything else could be said, yet another stone soared out of the water. "Dipper! What the" she paused for only a split second, "heck is this?!" Again, a rock shot out, this time followed by another more quickly. Quicker and quicker the strange stones came until they were coming out on rapid fire. The three curled down to shield themselves. "Dipper! Answers! NOW!"

"I… I don't know!" He admitted.

"I just wish this would stop!" Mabel wailed. Once again, as if on cue, the shower ended as quickly as it started. She peeked out from under her elbow, once seeing the calm scene, she stood up and dusted herself off. She went over to help he brother up and then Coal, but Coal got up on her own and started backing away from the two.

"Okay, I don't know what kind of demons you two are but someone is going to tell me what the hell just happened." Coal's voice was threatening and demanding. Mabel winced at the word again but Coal didn't feel the slightest guilt right now. "Someone better start talking! I came here for a story and I'm going to get one. A detailed one! This witchcraft is going to be expose whether anyone believes it or not! I'm- WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THAT?" Coal yelled, pointing behind the twins. Dipper and Mabel whipped around to see a small, orb like thing floating midair. It seemed to be made purely out of water, or some kind of liquid, and it flickered around like it was dancing to an unheard music. The entire thing was glowing and pulsing like a beating heart. Dipper's eyes widened and smile broke onto his face.

"A water wisp." He exhaled.

"A what?" Coal said.

"A water wisp, didn't we already go through this?" Mabel asked.

"No! Yes! Ugh! I know what you said it was but what is it?" Coal fumed.

"It was created by some odd, unnatural burst of energy that happened in or around this river." Dipper explain, "But I don't know for sure, that's why I want to see if I can get answers."

"We had nothing to do with any of this event. We're here to investigate, like you." Mabel added. Coal relaxed but only a little bit, maybe she could trust them. Her first assumption was that they were controlling the unnatural event… unnatural. Everything about this place waas freaking unnatural, what was Coal suppose to expect? Anything could happen. Coal sighed, what else could she do besides work with them? She needed a story, plus, she reminded herself, they didn't trust her when she first arrived… she just overreacted. Give them a chance, yes. "Okay, okay. So what do we do now?"

"Well they're absolutely impossible to catch, the only way we could get close to it is to befriend it." Dipper said.

"So, 'it' is alive with a conscience and feelings and stuff?"

"Yeah." Dipper barely payed attention to her question. "But getting on it's good side will be hard. They love messing with people and tricking them into lots of things. So, everything that just happened a minute age, probably this guys doing." He stepped forward and opened his mouth to speak.

"Wait," Mabel stopped him, "No offense bro-bro but you're too awkward for first impressions. If it's friends you need, then Mabel's the one for the deed!" She stuck a pose that was suppose to look heroic but failed horribly.

"That's the worse rhyme ever." Dipper blunty said.

"Yeah, yeah. What ever. Step aside." She shoved herself in front of Dipper. "Hi! I'm Mabel! This is my brother Dipper and this is Coal!" Mabel smiled and waved that the wisp. The water wisp continued to flicker around in the same general area, showing no change in emotion or reaction. Mabel coughed, "Well, um, if you wouldn't mind, we'd love to… meet… you." The wisp froze in place for a moment, but then flickered down to Mabel. "See? What I'd tell you!" Mabel said triumphantly to Dipper. Mabel took a step towards it but the second she did, it splashed into the water, vanishing.

"Ugh, no!" Dipper faced palm. "Start looking, maybe it'll show itself again." Coal was still very lost with all of this, but she obeyed and poked around the place. After a few minutes, Mabel called out.

"Hey!"

"What did you find it?" Coal asked hopefully. "No, but what did you do that for, Dipper?"

"Do what?" Dipper turned to face his sister.

"Through that stick at me! Was it because the wisp didn't listen to me? I bet you couldn't have done better!" Mabel said.

"Mabel, you're delusional ." Dipper stated and went back to searching. "Ow! Mabel! I said I didn't throw the stick at you!"

"Uh, I know." Mabel scoffed.

"Well then why'd ya throw that rock at me."

"Dipper, I did nothing. You're the delusional one." Mabel looked behind a tree. "Dipper! Cut it out! I didn't throw anything at you!"

"Guys…" Coal trailed off.

"I heard you!" Dipper bent down to look behind a boulder. "Cut it out, Mabel! I didn't touch you!"

"Uh, guys…" Coal tried to interjected again.

"Alright! That's it! I told you to stop and you did it again!" Mabel scooped up a twig getting ready to chucked it at her brother and Dipper grabbed a stick.

"GUYS!" Coal practically scream at the top of her lungs.

"WHAT?" They said at the same time, now they were both facing each other.

"You're both idiots." Coal crossed her arms.

"Why?" Mabel asked. Just then, two twigs glided up into the air. One launched itself at Dipper and the other at Mabel.

"That's why."

"Oh, that makes sense." Dipper blushed, he was the one who said the water wisp was a trickster. Why hadn't he thought of that? "Sorry Mabel."

Before Mabel could accept his apology, the wisp shot out of the water. It flew by Dipper. He slowly approached it, when he was about a foot away, it vanished and appeared by Mabel.

"Got it!" Mabel called, pouncing on it, but it was to fast. It disappeared and reappeared by Coal. She reached out her hand to grab it, but once again, it vanished. It kept doing this. Teleporting in front of them, behind them, a few feet away, above them, below them, by trees, next to rocks and foolishly the three kept trying to go for it. It kept this up for about fifty minutes until the three were worn out.

The wisp glowed in front of Mabel, she slowly stretched out hand but really lost the enthusiasm. It flickered to the river and spiraled downward into it.

"I'm pretty sure we lost it." Coal sat down, leaning up against a tree. Dipper ripped off the top piece of paper on his note pad and crumbled it up. Seeing this, Coal said, "But, uh, it's the experience that counts, right? That was kind of fun… in a weird way."

"Come on, Dipper, let's go back to the shack." Mabel said. Dipper sighed and stood up. Mabel and Coal started to walk off. Dipper looked at the river one last time. 'Gravity Falls,' He thought, 'I guess you have your reasons.'

So, it probably could've ended up better but I write for fun and having a handful of people enjoy my writing is just bonus. Anyway, thanks for reading! Tshcüss!