It seemed like it was just going to be a normal day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the town was bustling, and Stan just crashed his car into a parking sign.
Soos was sitting in the passenger seat while Sammy and the twins were sitting in the backseat, understandably shaken up. "M-Mister Pines? Maybe next time, I could be the one who does the driving instead?," asked Sammy. "Kid, you're a hard worker and I like ya, but if you think I'm gonna let you drive around my beautiful car, then you're out of your mind," said Stan. "Anyway, here we are, the Summerween Superstore!" He gestured to the store that they just 'parked' in front of. "Wait, Summer-what?," asked Dipper. "Summerween!," said Stan, taking out a calendar and showing it to them. "The people of this town love Halloween so much, they celebrate it twice a year. And wouldn't you know it, it's today!" Dipper stared. "Do you always carry that calendar in your pocket?," he asked. "Yes," said Stan after a pause.
"Summerween? Something about this feels unnatural," said Mabel. "There's free candy!," said Soos. The twins stared at each other in excitement while Sammy couldn't stop a smile from forming on his face. In no time at all, they burst into the store, acting as though they owned the place. "TO THE COSTUME AISLE!," the twins cried, running down the aisle. Soos was immediately enamored by some plastic skulls that spoke every time he pushed their heads down. "I'd lend you a hand… but I don't seem to have any!," one of the skulls spoke in a creepy voice after being pushed down by Soos. "Haha, this guy tells it like it is," Soos laughed. One of the workers saw what was happening and scowled. "Sir, could you please stop pushing that?," she asked irritatedly. "Ma'am, make these heads less hilarious, and you got yourself a deal," said Soos. Meanwhile, Stan was trying to get his hands on as many scary decorations as he could. He usually didn't like spending too much money - or any money, for that matter - but for Summerween, he'd gladly make an exception. He picked up a barrel of fake blood. "Ha ha!," he laughed. "When the children come to my door tonight, they're gonna run away screaming from Stan Pines, Master of Fright!" He turned around to face a baby. "Boo," he said, causing the baby to start bawling. As this was going on, Soos was still pressing as many of the talking skulls as he could, while the twins knocked over a pile of jack-o-melons. The only one who wasn't trying to cause any trouble was Sammy, who was trying and failing to keep the peace.
Having had enough, the worker took out a walkie talkie. "Have the police come and eject the Pines family from the store," she spoke into it. Suddenly, Stan ran up to her with the barrel of fake blood over his shoulder, holding something in his hand. "NOT TODAY!," he yelled, throwing it down, which created a cloud of smoke that momentarily blinded the worker. "MY EYES!," she screamed. Meanwhile, Stan, Soos, and the twins made their escape, though Stan didn't forget to leave her a couple of 'Stan Bucks', slips of fake money that had his own poorly drawn picture on them. "...And they leave me behind. Of course," Sammy sighed. He walked up to the worker with a nervous smile on his face. "Heeey… sorry about that. I'll pay for this whole mess myself, alright?" However, he spoke too soon. Right outside the store, Stan crashed his car into a giant inflatable decoration before driving away. "...I'll pay for that too," said Sammy. The worker just stared back at him with unnervingly dead eyes. "I hate Summerween," she growled.
After jogging all the way back to the shack - he needed the exercise, anyway - Sammy gave the family a light scolding for causing unnecessary chaos in the store. Eventually, it was nighttime. Dozens of kids in Gravity Falls have already come out of their houses in costumes, ready to fill their containers with delicious treats. While Dipper, Mabel, and Soos were hanging out downstairs, Sammy was alone in the attic, trying on his new costume. After putting it on, he looked at himself in the mirror, and with a satisfied nod, went downstairs to join the rest of the group. As he entered the room, the others turned to look at him. "So…," said Sammy, spinning around to show off his new Halloween costume, "...what do you guys think?"
"It's pretty cool," said Dipper. "Except…" "We have no idea who you're supposed to be," said Mabel, voicing everyone else's thoughts. "I'm John Watson!," Sammy answered with a big smile. While Dipper nodded in realization, Mabel and Soos were still confused. "Who?," the two of them asked in unison. "John Watson!," Sammy repeated. "He's Sherlock Holmes' partner. I know that Sherlock is the more famous of the two in pop culture, but I don't think the character of Watson gets nearly as much attention as he deserves. Look, I even got his bowler hat, his suit, his mustache, and his monocle! Actually, I'm pretty sure Watson isn't even supposed to have a monocle… but it still looks pretty good." He turned towards Soos. "That's a pretty good costume, Soos. Are you supposed to be a wrestler?," he asked. "Nope. I'm a superhero, dude!," said Soos. Sammy nodded, then looked at the twins. "Don't tell me yet. I want to guess. Let's see…" He squinted at them. "Mabel is dressed as Mabel… and Dipper is dressed as Dipper! Did I get that right?" Mabel laughed at Sammy's rather lackluster joke while Dipper rolled his eyes but still smiled nonetheless. "Silly Sammy, we're not even wearing our costumes yet!," Mabel giggled. "But trust me, once you see us with our costumes on, we're gonna blow your minds!" "Yeah!," cheered Dipper, giving Mabel a high five. "Dude, I've never seen you guys so pumped," said Soos. Mabel took out a memory book and proudly showed them photos of the matching costumes they wore growing up. "Well, back at home, me and Dipper were kind of the kings of trick-or-treating. Twins in costumes, the people eat it up," she boasted.
"Impressive," said Sammy, observing the photos with interest. "I hope you two knock it out of the park this year." "Well, you dudes better be careful out there," said Soos. "It's a night of ghouls and goblins. Not to mention…" Suddenly, he turned off the lights and shone a flashlight in his face, "...the Summerween Trickster!" "The Summer-what-what?," asked Mabel, prompting Soos to explain further in a spooky voice. "The Trickster goes door to door, so the legend goes, eating children who lack the Summerween spirit." "Ooh, spooky!," said Sammy as he pretended to shiver. "Well, you don't have to worry about us," said Dipper, eating a piece of candy. "We've got spirit to go around." Suddenly, he started coughing as Soos turned the lights back on. "Are you okay, Dipper?," asked Sammy, patting him on the back. "Ugh! Yeah, I'm fine," said Dipper. "But what is this stuff? I've never even heard of these brands." He took out one piece of candy after another, naming their weird brands. "Sand Pop? Gummy chairs? Mr. Adequate-Bar?" "This is all cheap-o loser candy!," cried Mabel. "Well, leave it to Stan to buy the cheapest candy that he could get his hands on," sighed Sammy. "Quiet your discontent, children, lest the Trickster overhear," said Soos, still speaking in that spooky voice. "Your cape is caught in your fly, Soos," said Dipper, picking up the bowl of candy and walking towards the window. Soos looked down and saw that Dipper was indeed right. "Touche…," he said, eating a gummy.
A while later, Mabel's friends, Candy and Grenda, came over to the shack. Mabel was dressed as a jar of strawberry jelly, Candy was dressed as a giant piece of candy, and Grenda was dressed as a witch. While Candy and Grenda were being reacquainted with Sammy, Stan came into the room dressed as a vampire. "Grunkle Stan, these are my best friends, Candy and Grenda," Mabel introduced them. "I am so sweet I could eat myself," said Candy.
"Hello, Mr. Pines!," said Grenda. Her deep baritone voice was immediately noticeable to Stan. "You got a cold, honey? Something wrong with your voice there?," the conman/vampire asked. "What do you mean? Why would you say that?," asked Grenda, who seemed genuinely confused. Stan just waved his cape and walked out of the room. "Is Waddles coming with us?," asked Candy. "I wish he could, but he's got some very important meetings to attend!," squealed Mabel. Waddles then walked in with a little brown suit attached to his chest to make it look like he was about to go to work. "File these documents under 'I', for 'I have a curly tail!'," Mabel said jokingly. Candy, Grenda, and Sammy laughed. "I don't know how you made that pig even more adorable than before, but somehow, you found a way," Sammy said with a chuckle.
"What about your brother?," asked Grenda, causing Mabel to become excited. "Oh man guys, just wait until you see Dipper's costume! It's amazing!," she gushed. Then, they heard Dipper's footsteps walking down the stairs. "Here he comes now!," she gasped.
Dipper finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, only… he was not wearing the costume that Mabel had given him. "That is a very good Dipper costume," Candy said while nodding with approval. Mabel, on the other hand, was bewildered. "What the hey-hey bro-bro, where's your costume?," she cried. "Look, I can't go trick-or-treating. I'm… uh, really sick," said Dipper, before he started coughing in a way that couldn't have been any more fake. "Must have been that bad candy. Go on without me," he groaned, falling to the floor dramatically. "Fight through it, man! Where's your Summerween spirit?," asked Mabel. Then, there was a knock at the door. Dipper went to answer it, and opened the door to reveal an incredibly tall and lanky man standing on the porch, holding out a large bag. He wore stitched up clothing, appeared to be wearing a tall hat, and his face was hidden in the shadows. "Trick-or-treat," he said ominously.
Dipper, however, was more annoyed than intimidated. "Dude, really? You're a little old for this, man. Sorry," he said rudely. "But wait, I–," said the figure, who couldn't even finish his sentence before Dipper slammed the door shut. "Dipper, that was just rude," Sammy said with a frown on his face. "Yeah, why'd you close the door?," asked Mabel. "I told you, guys, I'm just not feeling it tonight," said Dipper as he faked another cough. "Still, there was no need for you to do that," said Sammy. "That guy just wanted some candy, even if he is a little… older than the other trick-or-treaters." "I think a little trick-or-treating will make him feel better," said Mabel.
"I'm not trick-or-treating!," groaned Dipper. Suddenly, there was another knock at the door. Dipper opened it, only to reveal the same mysterious man from before. "Look man, just go to another house!," said Dipper, slamming the door shut again. "Dipper!," snapped Sammy, fed up with his attitude. "What's gotten into you?" "Yeah, where's your Summerween hospitality?," asked Mabel. The man outside started pounding on the door. "I'm not getting that," said Dipper, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Alright, then I'll do it," said Sammy, walking to the door. "And at the end of the night, you and I are going to have a little talk together, Dipper."
He opened the door and looked up at the man. Goodness, he seems much taller up close, he thought. And I can't see his face at all. "I'm really sorry for my friend's rude behavior just now, sir," he said out loud. "So what kind of candy would you like? We have chocolate bars, some candy corns, jelly–" "SILENCE!," the figure suddenly yelled, pointing at Sammy while his other fist was shaking in the air. The wind blew harshly outside. "You have insulted me! For this you must pay… with your LIVES." The figure leaned forward into the light, finally revealing his face. He was wearing a little smiley face mask, but somehow, it made his appearance even more unnerving. "Aww, what a cute little mask!," said Mabel, who was not at all frightened by this mysterious stranger. "You're a funny guy, aren't you?" The man suddenly walked into the room, his hat nearly touching the ceiling. "Funny, am I?," he asked. "H-hey, hey!," cried Sammy, taking a step back. "You can't just come in here like that!" The man turned towards Sammy and sniffed the air. "What's that I smell?," he asked. "Vegetation, and… a little bit of gunpowder. You must have been to some exotic places, haven't you?" Sammy gasped and took another step back, his eyes growing very wide. H-how did he know that?!, he thought in alarm.
Then, a short and chubby kid dressed as a pirate walked up next to the man, blissfully unaware of the tense situation he just walked into. "Twik-owr-tweet! My name is Gorney," he said. Suddenly, the man grabbed Gorney by the head and lifted him up with ease. Then, to everyone's shock and horror, his mouth opened impossibly wide, revealing razor sharp teeth, before he swallowed the kid whole. "Remember meeee!," Gorney cried before disappearing down the monster's gullet. Everyone else screamed in terror. "Gorney!," Grenda cried with her hand outstretched. "There's only one way for you to avoid his fate," said the monster, tapping Candy on the head. "Don't touch her!," Sammy hissed, tensing up his shoulders. The monster stared at him for a while as Candy hugged Dipper for comfort. After a really tense silence, the monster continued. "I need a treat. If you can collect 500 pieces of candy, and bring it to me before the last jack-o-melon goes out…" He took out a jack-o-melon and blew out the candle within. "I will let you live." "Five hundred treats in one night? That's impossible!," cried Dipper, shaking from head to toe. "And what if we refuse?," asked Sammy, trying not to sound afraid. "What if we decide not to play along with your sick game?" "Then you and the little kiddies will die," said the monster. "And I am starving. It's been so long since my last meal…"
Sammy tensed up again and moved himself in front of the children. "Do not be so tense," said the monster. "I won't eat any of you. Yet. Not as long as you play along with my game." He went outside, still facing them. "The choice is yours, children. You must trick-or-treat… Or DIE. Bwahahaha." Then, the monster jumped onto the roof. Sammy and the others ran outside and looked up, just in time to see him crawl out of sight like a giant human spider.
"Oh my gosh Mabel, do you know what this means?," Dipper asked fearfully. "I do," said Mabel, before a grin appeared on her face. "It means you have to come trick-or-treating! Yay!," she cried, shaking Dipper. "Who was that guy?," asked Candy. "It must be the legend that Soos told us about," Sammy said grimly. "What do we do, what do we DO?!," cried Grenda, shaking Dipper even harder than Mabel did. "Girls, stop," Sammy said sternly. "You'll give him a migraine if you keep shaking him like that. Okay, first thing's first. We need to make a plan."
Just then, Soos decided to make an appearance. "What's goin' on out here, dudes?," he asked, walking out of the shack. "I heard a ruckus. Hehe. That's a funny word. Ruckus." "Soos, a monster is making us trick-or-treat or else he's gonna eat us!," cried Dipper. "I got a picture!," said Candy, taking out her phone. Sammy had to wonder how she was able to snap a photo of the monster without any of them noticing. Soos took one look at the picture and leaned back in fear. "The Summerween Trickster! Oh man, dude, you guys are in crazy bonkers trouble," he said nervously. "You've seen him before?," asked Sammy, his eyes wide. "Well… no," Soos admitted. "But I imagine that's what he'd look like!" "How are we gonna get that much candy in one night? There's no way!," cried Dipper. But before any of them could start panicking again, Mabel stood up on a box and clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Listen up, people. Now some might say that being cursed by a blood-thirsty holiday monster is a bad thing," she said. "It kind of is a bad thing, Mabel," sighed Sammy. "I even wet myself," Grenda proclaimed proudly. "Maybe so," said Mabel. "But that monster messed with the wrong crew. With Candy's spirit, Grenda's strength, Dipper's brains, Sammy's kindness, and… Soos here, we'll get 500 pieces of candy and have fun doing it too, even if it takes all night!" Everyone else but Dipper cheered, their morale bolstered by her speech. "To the streets!," cheered Mabel.
"All night? But-but I'm sick, remember?," said Dipper. "Dipper, what's worse: getting eaten by a horrifying monster, or coming trick-or-treating with us?," asked Mabel. "Well…," said Dipper, unsure on how to answer that. Sammy cleared his throat loudly to get his attention, then gave him a stern glare. The preteen gulped nervously, then looked back at Mabel with a nervous smile. "Getting eaten, I guess…," he said. "Great! Now come on!," said Mabel, dragging Dipper by the arm. As everyone else followed after them, Sammy began to wonder why Dipper was pretending to be sick when he was so excited to go trick-or-treating with Mabel earlier, and if it had anything to do with the orange flier that he's seen him carrying around…
Once they got to the town, almost everyone was getting in the Summerween spirit. The Corduroys, minus Wendy, were dressed as vikings. "For glory, my children, CHARGE!," roared Manly Dan as he and his sons burst into someone's home with a battering ram.
Even the two cops, Blubs and Durland, were getting in on it. They were dressed as each other and constantly complimenting each other's costumes. "You make a great me," Blubs said to Durland. "No, you make a great me," said Durland. "No, you do," said Blubs.
Meanwhile, Sammy and the kids were about to visit their first house. "I don't understand why we can't just buy our candy and be done with it," Dipper complained. "That sorta takes the fun out of trick-or-treat-or-die," said Mabel. "I'm trying to take the DIE out of trick-or-treat-or-die," Dipper retorted. "Nobody's going to die, okay?," said Sammy. "Let's go to Susan's first." The group walked up to Lazy Susan's house and rang the doorbell. "Trick-or-treat!," they all said once she opened the door. Her good eye immediately landed on Sammy, and a large smile appeared on her face. "Timothy! Hiya! It's good to see you!," she said happily.
"Again, it's Sammy, not Timothy," Sammy chuckled. "Happy Summerween, Susan." "So is everybody in costume?," asked Susan, pointing to each of them as she tried to guess what their costumes were. "Mustache man, chimney sweep, elephant man, squeegee, ant farm!" She stopped at Dipper. "Oh and what are you supposed to be?" "Uh, actually, I'm not dressed up as anything. We're, we're kinda in a hurry, here," Dipper said impatiently. "Oh. I see," said Susan, narrowing her eyes. Sammy wasn't sure if she was offended by Dipper's attitude, or if she just didn't like that Dipper wasn't wearing a costume. Whatever the reason may be, she gave each of them only one piece of candy. "Enjoy!," she said, slamming the door closed.
After that, the kids looked into their bags and were disgusted by what they saw. "One piece of black licorice?," said Grenda. "Circus peanut! This is loser candy," said Candy. "Four pieces of candy?! This is gonna take forever!," groaned Dipper. "Dipper, I don't want to point any fingers, but Susan is usually a kind and well-intentioned woman, even though she's a little weird at times," said Sammy. "If she's given us this little candy, I wouldn't be surprised if it's because she was put off by your sour attitude." Dipper just huffed and crossed his arms.
"We've gotta up our game, Dipper. You gotta put on your costume," said Mabel. "I told you, I'm not up to it, Mabel!," groaned Dipper. "Oh, really?," said an eerie, familiar voice. They all looked up and saw the monster sitting on top of a lamppost, watching them. He climbed down onto Soos, who was paralyzed with fear, and took a piece of candy from his bag, observing it closely. "I've seen better," he said. "What are you doing here?," asked Sammy, trying to remain calm. "We still have more time left." "I know that, child," said the monster, towering over him. "I was just keeping an eye on all of you. After all, it would be a shame if you couldn't fulfill your quota because one of you wasn't pulling their weight." Upon saying that last part, he looked directly at Dipper. Sammy scooted in front of him to block his view. "Well, there's nothing to see here," he said. "Come back when we actually have the 500 pieces of candy you want." "Oh, I will," said the monster. He took out a jack-o-melon and blew it out. "Tick tock," he said before doing a backflip and jumping behind a house. Only when he was out of sight were they able to start breathing again. "So what was that about being too sick to wear a costume?," Mabel asked Dipper cheekily. Dipper sighed and kicked a rock, but begrudgingly agreed.
The group ran back to the shack so that Dipper could put on his costume. As Sammy, Soos, Candy, and Grenda waited downstairs, Mabel walked down the stairs with a grin on her face. "Introducing, for the first time in public…" Just then, Dipper walked down after her dressed as a jar of peanut butter. "TADAH! Peanut Butter and Jelly!," cried Mabel. "Awwwww!," cried the rest of the group, enamored by the adorable sight of the twins and their matching costumes. "I will make you internet famous," said Candy, taking a picture of him on her phone.
"Hey! Erase that! Let's just get this over with, okay?," sighed Dipper, clearly not happy with any of this. "Over with! Over with!," the others chanted. The only one who wasn't chanting was Sammy, who was staring at Dipper while the gears in his head were turning. Something was definitely going on with him, but now was not the time to delve into it. So the group went back to town to get some more candy. They stopped in front of a house and rang the doorbell. "Do you really think this will make a difference?," asked Dipper. Then, the door was opened by one of the large bikers at the bar that they went to earlier. The twins immediately did their little dance. "Hat a ta tah, tah tah ta… TWIIIIINS!," they sang. At first, it didn't seem like the biker was impressed. But then, he looked up with a smile, and a single tear fell down his face. Then, he dumped the contents of his entire bowl into their bags. The twins smiled at each other, then ran off with high hopes. "Let's get that candy, guys!," said Dipper, seemingly excited about going trick-or-treating for the first time. After that, with each house they went to, it was success after success. Nobody could resist the twins' charms, so they got way more candy than they ever did before. At one point, they went to a house, and the door was answered by Toby Determined. "Hello," he said. Everyone except Toby and Sammy screamed. "What a horrible mask!," cried Mabel. "That's just my face," Toby said, then put on a green monster mask. "This is a mask. Roar!" The kids and Soos couldn't help but giggle in relief while Toby sighed in disappointment. Sammy made sure to stay behind for a few moments and apologize, of course.
As they were trick-or-treating, more and more jack-o-melons were blown out, causing them to grow anxious. Fortunately, they were able to collect enough candy to fill up an entire wheelbarrow. Mabel quickly began counting the pieces of candy they had so far.
"498, 499. We did it!," cried Mabel, as the others cheered. "All we need is one more piece of candy," said Mabel. "And it's only 8:30. Perfect timing!," Dipper said happily, checking his watch. "Mwah! And your cough went away too!," said Mabel, hugging him.
So he's worried about being late for something. I wonder what…, thought Sammy. "Well, I'm glad it's finally over," he said out loud. "Dude, I'm gonna go around and grab the truck. Soos, away!," said Soos, running off like he was a superhero. "Last one to the last house is a pair of wax lips!," Mabel giggled as she and Candy ran off. "Not me! Nooo!," cried Grenda, running after them. Sammy looked down at Dipper and smiled. "Did you have fun tonight?," he asked. Dipper thought about it for a moment, then smiled back. "Yeah," he said. "Believe it or not, I actually did have some fun, even though our lives were technically in danger." "That's good to hear," Sammy said, before his warm smile was replaced with a concerned one. "Do you mind telling me what's really going on, then?," he asked. Dipper's eyes widened in shock. "H-huh?!"
"Maybe you had Mabel and her friends fooled, but not me," said Sammy. "I know you're not really sick. So why are you pretending that you are? Why were you so against going out to trick-or-treat when you were actually excited about it earlier today?" Dipper stared up at Sammy, then sighed heavily. "I guess it was kind of dumb to think you wouldn't notice," he said. Sammy placed his hand on Dipper's shoulder. "You can tell me, Dipper. I'll understand."
Dipper thought about it for a moment, and was about to tell him everything when he suddenly spotted a van coming towards them from the other side of the road. His eyes widened when he saw Wendy and Robbie sitting in the front. "Oh, no," he murmured. Confused, Sammy looked behind him just as the van pulled up next to them. While Robbie just stared ahead and ignored them, Wendy opened her window to talk to them. "Hey Sammy! Hey Dipper!," she said. "Hey, Wendy," Sammy greeted her with a smile. "Oh hey, Wendy. What's up?," Dipper asked nervously. Sammy glanced down at him and was surprised to see that he wasn't wearing his costume anymore. And now that he thought about it, where did the candy go?
"Are you comin' to the party?," Wendy suddenly asked. "Wait, party?," asked Sammy, turning to face her. "What party?" "Oh, did Dipper not tell you? Me and Robbie are heading to a party right now," said Wendy. "Dipper said he'd come with us. Right, Dipper?" Sammy looked down at Dipper, as all the little things he noticed tonight started to make sense.
"Uh, yeah. T-that's what I said," Dipper said with a forced smile, which Wendy didn't seem to notice. "What are you two doing out here, anyway?," asked Robbie. "And what the heck are you wearing?" "Oh. I'm, uh… I'm John Watson," Sammy answered. The two teens stared at him blankly. "You know… Watson? Sherlock Holmes' partner? 'Elementary, my dear Watson?' You know that quote?" Wendy and Robbie just glanced at each other. "Alright… cool," Wendy said. "You wanna come to the party with us, Sammy? It's gonna be off the chain!"
"Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to decline," Sammy chuckled. "Me and Dipper were just trick-or-treating with–" "No, we weren't!," Dipper cried out in a panic. When the others stared at him in bewilderment, Dipper cleared his throat and tried to play it cool. "I-I mean, we weren't doing that. Trick-or-treating is for little kids, anyway. See, I was just on my way to the party, and I decided to stop and watch the trick-or-treaters. I like watching the trick-or-treaters. Reminds me of when I was a kid." He wiped his nose to make himself appear more mature. He had no idea if it worked or not. "Right… so why is he wearing a costume if you guys weren't trick-or-treating?," Robbie asked while gesturing to Sammy. Panicked, Dipper froze and glanced up at Sammy, his eyes begging him for help. Sammy sighed. "I was trick-or-treating with Mabel and her friends," he said in a slightly flat voice. "I saw Dipper on his way to the party and decided to have a chat with him. That's all." Dipper gave Sammy a grateful smile, but when Sammy didn't return it, that smile vanished. "Ok, then. You're coming to the party, right Dipper?," asked Wendy. "Definitely, definitely," said Dipper, nodding enthusiastically. "Cool. See you there. Bye, Sammy!," Wendy said as Robbie drove his van away. "Later, guys," said Dipper, waving after them.
Once the van was out of sight, Dipper breathed a sigh of relief, which turned out to be short-lived. "You're going to a party?," asked Mabel, who had returned with Candy and Grenda just in time to hear everything. "Well, hey, I–," Dipper stuttered, only for Mabel to throw the piece of candy she got right in his face. "That's why you were acting so weird and trying to hurry us!," Mabel yelled angrily. "You're not sick at all! So if it wasn't for this crazy monster, you were gonna ditch me! On our favorite holiday!" "Ooohh," Candy and Grenda said in unison.
"What happened to the Dipper who used to love Halloween?!," cried Mabel. As Dipper tried to explain himself, Sammy suddenly remembered something very important. "The candy! Dipper, where's the candy?!," he gasped, causing Mabel, Candy, and Grenda to gasp in horror. "Relax, relax. I left it right here. Behind this bush," said Dipper, pushing aside a nearby bush, only for his face to turn pale at what he saw. "Oh no," he said. The others crowded around him and, to their horror, saw that the wheelbarrow full of candy had fallen into a creek, and most of the candy had been washed away. "What did you do?!," yelled Mabel. "Well, I–pch, I–!," Dipper stammered, unable to say anything in his defense. "Mẹ kiếp!," Sammy couldn't help but curse. He tried to stay calm. "Okay, okay… it's not over yet. We can still salvage this!," he said. "We'll just scoop up what's left of the candy, then go to more houses. There's still time!"
"Uh, I don't think that's possible," Grenda said nervously. The others looked around and realized that Grenda was right. "Oh no! All the jack-o-melons are out!," cried Mabel. And sure enough, the whole neighborhood was dark. Not a single jack-o-melon was lit.
"Look!," said Dipper, pointing at a dim light in the town dump. It was Old Man McGucket, and in front of him was the last jack-o-melon that was still lit. "Ehehe! Good night!," he cackled, about to blow it out. "Stop!," shouted Mabel. "What?," asked McGucket. The group ran towards him and surrounded him, each of them shaking their heads while talking over each other. The old man was confused and overwhelmed by what was going on. "Eh? What's happening?," he asked, looking around at them in confusion. Seeing how bewildered he was, Sammy quickly put a stop to the chaos. "Everyone, QUIET!," he ordered, his voice projecting so much authority and power that everyone else immediately stopped talking, staring at him in shock.
"We're just overwhelming this poor man," said Sammy. "Let me handle it." He knelt down in front of McGucket and placed a hand on his shoulder. McGucket eventually snapped out of his confusion, and his eyes brightened when he recognized the person in front of him. "Why, if it ain't Sammy!," he said joyfully. "It's been a while! You haven't visited the dump as frequently as you used to!" "Yeah, sorry about that," Sammy said sheepishly. "A lot of things happened during these past few weeks… but listen to me! You can't blow out that jack-o-melon."
"Eh? Why not?," asked McGucket. Sammy took a deep breath. "Because… we're being hunted by a cannibalistic monster who said we had to give him 500 pieces of candy before the last jack-o-melon goes out, or he'll eat us, and as you can see, we don't have 500 pieces with us, so if you blow that out, the monster will come and eat us all," he said quickly.
After a moment of silence, McGucket grinned. "Well, that's all the explanation I need!," he said. "Of course I won't blow it out if you don't want me to!" The others were relieved to hear that, but then, they made an incredibly grave mistake: sighing in relief all at once…
…causing the last jack-o-melon to sputter out. "Uh oh," said Mabel. Then, to make matters even worse, they heard footsteps coming from behind them. Turning around, they saw the Summerween Trickster walking out of the shadows under a flickering light. "Knock knock," he said menacingly. Everyone stared at the monster with terror, none of them moving a muscle. Then, McGucket dropped the jack-o-melon, screamed bloody murder, and scampered away like a squirrel, disappearing from sight. "Perhaps it's better that he won't be joining us for dinner," said the monster. "Old people are too tough and chewy for my liking. But children, on the other hand…" He stalked towards them. "So children. Where's my candy?," he asked.
"I swear, we had all 500 pieces. Look, it's down there somewhere. We can still get it," said Dipper. The others nodded nervously, but the trickster was not fooled. "I'm afraid it's too late! That was your last chance." Suddenly, the monster grew to over twice his original height as he loomed over them. Dipper threw their last piece of candy at him in a last desperate attempt to ward him off, but to their shock, the candy slowly sank into the monster's flesh. Laughing, the monster grew two more arms that burst through the back of his shirt. "Go, go, go, go!," Dipper cried as the group ran past the monster, nearly dodging his extra limbs. But just as they made it out of the dump, Candy was grabbed by the monster and lifted into the air. Sammy and Mabel quickly grabbed each of her legs and tried to pull her down. But then, the monster grabbed the two of them as well. "Ahhh! Dipper!," Mabel screamed. "Mabel! Sammy!," cried Dipper before he and Grenda were also grabbed by the monster. "Let go of them!," yelled Sammy, trying his best to escape the monster's grip, but to no avail. The monster just laughed as he lifted them all into the air… before a truck came out of nowhere and crashed into him, causing him to literally burst apart into little chunks. Everyone was sent flying and fell to the ground, kind of rattled, but alive. "Ow!," Mabel hissed, clutching her elbow. "Mabel! Are you okay?," gasped Sammy, quickly getting up and running over to her. "I'm fine," Mabel muttered. "It's just a bruise."
"We're alive! Yeah!," Grenda cheered. The truck stopped, and Soos' head poked out of the window. "Woah," he said, staring at the mess he made. "Soos!," cried the twins, running up to him. "That wasn't like, a regular pedestrian, was it?," Soos asked nervously.
"It was the Summerween Trickster!," Sammy answered. "It would've eaten us all if you hadn't crashed into him with your truck. You saved our lives, Soos." "Yeah, thanks, Soos," said Dipper, breathing a sigh of relief. "Phew. I'm just glad it's over, right?," he asked Mabel. Instead of replying, Mabel glared at him before walking away from him with her nose up. She climbed into the back of the truck while Candy and Grenda, who weren't so happy with Dipper either, climbed into the front with Soos. Dipper stared at the back of Mabel's head with a sad look in his eyes, then looked up at Sammy beseechingly. Sammy sighed heavily. "I won't lie, I'm a little bit disappointed in you as well, Dipper," he said, "but… I'm not the one you need to apologize to." Dipper nodded sadly and climbed into the back with Mabel. Sammy climbed in after him, and noticed Soos giving him a concerned look through the rearview mirror. "What's going on with them, dude?," he whispered. "It's a long story, Soos," Sammy whispered back.
Nodding silently, Soos started the engine. "Did everyone remember to put on their seatbelts?," he asked. "Yes," everyone else said, except for Mabel, who just nodded as she was looking out the window. As Soos started driving home, Dipper noticed that Mabel was rubbing her elbow, which now had a nasty bruise. "Hey, are you okay?," he asked, only for Mabel to turn away from him. No matter what he said, Mabel completely ignored him. "I'll use my first aid kit to patch up your elbow once we get to the shack, Mabel," Sammy spoke up. "Thanks, Sammy," Mabel muttered, still looking out the window. The fact that she only responded to Sammy was not lost on Dipper, who sighed and looked down at his feet, knowing that the ride ahead was going to be a long one. Sammy gave him a pat on the back, which did little to cheer him up. But then, as unbelievable as it may sound, things went even further south than before.
As Mabel was looking out the window, lost in thought, she suddenly noticed pieces of black gunk flying past them. She looked back, and her confusion quickly turned into fear. "Uh, guys?," she asked in a frightened voice. The others looked back and saw, to their horror, the Summerween Trickster reforming from the flying pieces of gunk. His clothes were now gone, but his mask remained, and he was even larger and more bloated than before. The monster quickly ran after them on all fours, easily catching up to the truck. He leaped into the air and landed on the back of the truck, and immediately tried to claw his way in. Everyone screamed while Soos swerved his truck in an effort to shake the monster off. Through the chaos, Sammy noticed a telephone pole by the side of the road. "Soos, drive towards that telephone pole!," he ordered, pointing at it. Too scared to question why, Soos drove at it. "When I give the signal, turn to the left as hard as you can!," said Soos. As they got closer to the pole, everyone else in the truck was afraid that they were going to crash. Then, just when it seemed like the truck was going to crash, Sammy gave the signal. "NOW!," he yelled. Soos turned his steering wheel as far to the left as he could, narrowly avoiding the pole. The monster lost his grip on the truck due to the sudden change in momentum and crashed into the telephone pole. Everyone cheered, thinking they were finally out of the woods, but their relief was short-lived once they realized that they were driving straight towards the Summerween superstore. "Brakes! Brakes! Brakes!," Dipper cried, but it was too late. The truck crashed through the glass and into the store.
After they got out of the truck, Sammy frantically checked everyone else for injuries, but fortunately, nobody was hurt. Mabel saw the monster coming towards them in the distance and gasped. "We have to hide!," cried Dipper. Everyone ran deeper into the store. The kids were able to hide themselves in some empty shelves, while Soos and Sammy, who were too big to fit in them, hid inside of a costume rack. The monster soon arrived and peeked into the truck, then ripped off the truck's door in anger upon seeing that there was nobody inside.
Dipper took a quick peek outside, then pulled his head back when the monster turned in his direction. "It's blocking the only exit. Everyone, stay quiet!," he whispered. "Oh, now you're worried about the monster. I thought all you cared about was Wendy," Mabel whispered bitterly, crossing her arms and looking away. "Mabel, you know that's not true," Dipper whispered back. "I just…" He shut his mouth when the monster got too close to their liking, then continued after he went away. "I felt like I was getting a little too old to go trick-or-treating." "That's exactly why we need to go trick-or-treating, Dipper!," sighed Mabel, looking at him with teary eyes. "We're getting older, there's not that many Halloweens left! I guess I didn't realize it was already our last one." Upon hearing those words, Dipper felt his guilt return with a vengeance. Mabel was right. They didn't have that many Halloweens left. For most of the night, Dipper had been assuring himself that there was always next year, never considering the possibility that there may not be a next year. Did he really want to spend the night at a party instead of hanging out with his twin sister, especially after knowing that they were growing up faster than he thought?
He was snapped out of his thoughts when the monster suddenly roared, reminding him of where they were. "We have to escape," said Candy. "What if it sees us?," asked Grenda. "If only there was something we could use to cover our bodies and faces with. You know, like a disguise of some kind," said Soos, not realizing where they were. But Sammy did. "Guys, we're in a costume store!," he whispered. "We're literally surrounded by disguises!"
Putting their escape plan into motion, Dipper and Mabel dressed up as little grim reapers, Candy and Grenda were hanging inside the costume rack, Soos was dressed like a gorilla, and Sammy had replaced his John Watson costume with a cardboard robot. As they all made their way towards the exit, they froze every time the monster got near them, pretending to be statues. "This way! Almost there!," said Dipper. They were so close to the exit. Then, upon realizing that one of them was missing, they turned around and saw Soos about to push down on one of the talking skulls again. "Soos! Stop!," cried Dipper. "Soos, don't you dare!," Mabel warned. "Sorry dude, today's been way too stressful. I need some levity," said Soos. "Soos, no!," hollered Sammy, but it was too late. Soos pressed down on one of the skulls… only for nothing to happen. "Oh thank goodness. It was out of batteries," said Mabel, sighing in relief. That relief was gone very quickly. "Soos, no!," she cried, seeing Soos opening a pack of batteries. "Oh, for goodness sake!," groaned Sammy, running towards the handyman. Soos saw him coming and doubled his efforts. He finally got the batteries out of their package and inserted them into the skull toy just as Sammy tackled him to the floor. Unfortunately, the skull flew from Soos' hands and landed on the floor head first, causing it to turn on. "No matter the score, I'm always a-head! Nyaha nyaha," it laughed. Although Soos was just tackled to the floor, he still laughed. "Hahaha! This cackling head's the voice of a generation!," he said. "Soos!," snapped Sammy, who was laying on top of him. All this ruckus was enough to attract the attention of the monster, who loomed over them with green saliva dribbling from his wide, gaping mouth.
Then, to the kids' shock and horror, the monster stretched his mouth even wider and swallowed both Soos and Sammy whole. "Sammy! Soos!," they cried. The monster turned to them and ran towards them on all fours, but the children were already prepared and took off their costumes, revealing toy weapons that they also found in the store. They surrounded the monster like an army of ants attacking a wasp, hacking away at his limbs with their weapons. As Grenda chopped off one of the monster's arms with a toy axe, bits of it fell into her mouth. "Salt water taffy? Gross!," she said. Dipper chopped off one of the monster's legs. "What are you–," he asked before a piece of it fell into his mouth as well. "Wait, it is," he said with surprise. "You really haven't figured it out yet?," the monster asked angrily, grabbing each of them and lifting them into the air. "Don't you recognize me? Look at my face! Look closely." The monster took off his mask, finally allowing the children to see his real face, and they were shocked by what they saw. What they expected to see was a disfigured face so terrifying that it would give all of them nightmares for years. Instead, they saw a face that had peppermints for eyes, red licorice for lips, candy corns for teeth, and a variety of other candies that covered his face.
"Loser candy!," gasped Mabel. "That's right!," the monster growled. "Did you ever stop and think about the candy at the bottom of the bag that no one likes? Every year the children of Gravity Falls throw away all of the 'REJECTED' candy into the dump. So I seek revenge on the picky children who cast me aside. I'm made of every tossed piece of licorice, every discarded bar of old chocolate with like that white, powder stuff on it. You know that stuff!"
"I hate that stuff!," Mabel cried in disgust, which only made the monster angrier. "No one would eat me. But now, I'm going to eat you," he said with a creepy smile, before slowly bringing Mabel closer to his open mouth. They all screamed and struggled, but no matter what they did, the monster's grip on them remained strong. As Mabel got closer and closer to the monster's mouth, she thought this was the end and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the worst. But then, the monster stopped. A pained expression appeared on his face. "What is that?," he asked, groaning in pain as his stomach suddenly seemed to rumble and swell up.
Then, to everyone's shock, including the monster, a hand burst out of the monster's chest, grasping at the air. The monster screamed in pain and dropped all of the kids. Then, after that hand came an arm, then a shoulder, then a head. It was Sammy, his face covered in candy and sticky slime, but otherwise unharmed. With a loud yell, he slowly squirmed his way out of the monster's torso, while the monster continued to scream in pain and vomit out jelly beans. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Sammy was able to emerge out of the monster's belly completely, carrying Soos under one arm and Gorney under the other arm. The monster, who was now split in half, collapsed to the floor, seemingly dead. Sammy dropped Soos and Gorney to the floor, then fell to his knees, breathing heavily. "Sammy!," the kids cried, huddling around him. Even though he was out of breath from literally clawing his way out of the trickster's belly, Sammy still managed a smile. "I think… I've had enough… Halloween… for one day," he said tiredly. Then, to his surprise, the kids all hugged him at once with tears streaming down their eyes. "We thought you and Soos were goners!," cried Mabel. "I actually thought we were going to die!," cried Dipper. "It was so scary!," cried Candy. "I wet myself again!," cried Grenda. They all continued crying and talking over each other, while Sammy tried to calm them down. "Hey. Hey, listen," he said softly, pulling them all into a group. "Do you really think getting eaten by a candy monster is going to stop me from being there for you? I'll always be there for you. That includes you two, Candy and Grenda." The kids were no longer crying anymore, but they were still sniffling. "You promise?," Mabel asked with wide eyes. Sammy gave her a comforting smile. "I promise," he said. Meanwhile, Soos and Gorney were watching them from the sidelines, still sitting among the remains of the monster. Feeling a bit guilty for not listening to them earlier, the handyman took a handful of candy from the monster and offered it to them. "You want some of this?," he asked. "It might make you dudes feel better." The kids shook their heads.
Soos shrugged and shoved the candy into his mouth. Suddenly, the monster woke up with a gasp. Sammy quickly hugged the kids protectively, but fortunately, there was nothing to be afraid of. Instead, the monster looked up at Soos with surprise. "Wait, you actually think I taste good?," he asked. "Uh, sure! You know," Soos said casually. To everyone's surprise, the monster started crying out candy corns. "All I've ever wanted is for someone to say that I was… good. I'm so happy!," he sobbed with joy, which made the scene a bit uncomfortable for them to watch. "Crying makes it a little weird, but, guess I'm still eating," said Soos as he took another bite of the candy. Then, he turned to face Gorney, who had been completely silent up until now. "'Sup, Gorny?," he greeted casually. "I've been twaumatized!," cheered Gorney.
"You know, Gorney's got a point," said Sammy. "The last few hours have been really crazy, so how about we all call it a night?" The others couldn't agree more, and after the group dropped off Gorney, Candy, and Grenda, they headed back to the shack. Upon entering, they greeted Stan, but were surprised to see Wendy at the table, cutting a jack-o-melon with a knife. "Hey Dipper," she said. "Wendy!," said Dipper, taken aback. "I didn't see you at the party. Where were you?," Wendy asked. "Uh… I-uh…," Dipper stammered, then saw Mabel's saddened face and quickly changed his tune. "I was trick-or-treating. With my sister," he said, giving her a side hug. A huge smile appeared on Mabel's face. "Yeah," she said, nodding her head.
Fortunately, Wendy was completely fine with that, which was expected. "That's cool. Did you guys have fun?," she asked. The twins exchanged looks. "It was… definitely a night that we wouldn't ever forget," said Dipper. "Ooh, ominous," Wendy said playfully, but didn't delve much further. "Anyway, how was the party, Wendy?," asked Sammy. "It was actually pretty cool," said Wendy. "Robbie was showing off this brand new phone he got." "Really?," asked Sammy while pretending to play dumb. "Yeah," said Wendy, nodding. "It was one of those fancy and insanely expensive phones, too. The model isn't even supposed to come out yet! It had face recognition, an AI that does whatever you tell it to, and even an app that predicts when the end of the world is gonna happen! It said it was going to happen in two months, though, so I guess it's not really accurate." "How did Robbie even get a phone like that?," asked Dipper. "He told us he saved up for it," said Wendy. "Wait… he did?," asked Sammy, frowning a little. "He didn't say that he… oh, I don't know… maybe got it as a gift from a concerned friend…?" Wendy gave him a confused look. "No, Robbie didn't say anything like that. He told us he just saved up enough money and… bought it. When we asked him how he bought it since the model isn't even on the market yet, he told us he got it from some seedy website, but he forgot what it was called."
"Oh, I see… well, good for him," said Sammy, trying to hide his disappointment. "Yeah, Robbie was really excited about that phone," Wendy continued. "He wanted to show us more of its features, but he had to go home sick because he ate a lollipop stick-first."
"Aw, man. We went to every single house, and we didn't even get to eat any candy!," groaned Mabel, glaring at their empty bags. "Candy?," said Stan, reaching behind the chair he was reclining in. "How's that for candy?" He pulled out two large bags filled with candy. While the twins were ecstatic by this surprise, Sammy was more suspicious. "Mister Pines, where did you even get that much candy? I thought you were staying in the shack for the entire night and scaring off treat-or-trickers," he said. "Eh, I was," said Stan. "Then a couple of brats left behind their candy after they were scared off by me, the King of Scares! Hahahaha!" Sammy rolled his eyes in amusement and said nothing more, deciding it wasn't that big of a deal.
Later that night, everyone was out of their costumes and sitting around the television, watching a typical black-and-white horror show. "And now back to the fear guy from Terror Town Street," the television blared. As they were watching the show, Sammy noticed the twins sitting together out of the corner of his eye. He saw Dipper place a bandage on Mabel's bruised elbow, and mentally breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that they had made up once again.
"You know, kids?," Stan suddenly spoke up. "I've been thinkin'. At the end of the day, Summerween isn't about candy or costumes. Or even scaring people. It's a day when the whole family can get together at one place and celebrate what really matters: PURE EVIL!" He started laughing maniacally, while everyone else followed suit, including Sammy. After the evil laughter had abated, Soos spoke up out of the blue. "I ate a man alive tonight," he said.
Everyone else stared at the handyman in shock. Both Stan and Wendy looked towards Sammy, waiting for an explanation. "...It's a long story," he said sheepishly.