The Return to Gravity Falls

by EZB

Mabel and Dipper return to Gravity Falls three years after their life-altering summer vacation spent with their Grunkle Stan, to find that Gravity Falls never stops being, well, weird. As the twins encounter old friends and reconnect with the supernatural inhabitants of Gravity Falls, new dangers lurk just outside of the knowledge of Uncle Stanfords old journals.

22. S1Epilogue & S2Prologue: Recap & Reunion

The storm had finally come to Gravity Falls. Perhaps it was the arrival of Summer that warranted such an active, vocal thunderstorm. The folk in Gravity Falls knew well enough to press their luck. Things had been weird, lately, after all. The entire populace had, two nights ago, all inexplicably forgotten to go to bed. Since then, the townsfolk of Gravity Falls had been cautious. This cautious behavior did not infect one building in the woods. The Mystery Manor was quite unphased by the weirdness that had happened recently. As the thunder rumbled and the sky flashed with arcs of lightning, a new tenant in the Mystery Manor stood very still.

Mabel Pines eyed a t-shirt hanging off a wrack within the Gift shop. "Maybe… this one?" she asked, holding out a t-shirt with a graphic of a question mark stamped over a flying saucer.

Her companion, Dipper, snorted. "Sure, if you wanted to make it easier for people to know Yuki's not human, instead of harder."

Mabel hummed. "Besides," she added, feeling the fabric, "This isn't nearly as comfy as some of the other stuff here."

Standing just behind them, eyeing the twins as they perused through third-rate quality t-shirts, was Uki-Dohth. Yuki, as he was called by the twins now, wore borrowed clothing from Dipper: a pair of swimming shorts and sleeping shirt. The Xabvri was, at best, mildly uncomfortable. In the two days since Stanley Pines had been convinced to let the alien stay, Yuki had established himself to be a timid person with the patience to match Soos. He ate little, stayed out of their way, and the night before had asked if he should gain a wardrobe. This had spurned Mabel to his defenses. The following morning since, they scooped through the Gift shop, ready to pillage and pilfer any of Stanley's merchandise for Yuki.

Yuki commented on the shirt. "Perplexing. The one spaceship that did crash is the one most modeled as the 'alien' craft," he noted.

"Oh?" Dipper turned to Yuki. "You know about the aliens that crashed with flying saucers?"

"Oh yes," Yuki nodded, "Quite the delinquents. Relied too heavily on drones. Their work was, ah, subpar at best."

They were not alone in the gift shop. Even as rain scared away most potential tourists, Wendy Corduroy sat at her post. She was, as always, reading into her choice of magazine, her feet kicked up on the wooden counter. She had been quick to accept Yuki's presence, and was happy to warn the twins if she spotted Stan coming. Thus far, the alarm hadn't been sounded.

Dipper had looked at her for a moment. That red hair still just swept him away. Mabel nudged his ribs. He spun to his sister, who snickered at him. Pink in the face, Dipper reached out for a hat, and found a beanie. He lifted it up, examining it's comfort and utility over style. He turned to Uki-Dohth. "How about this one?"

"To mask my cranial extensions?" Yuki asked Dipper. He took the hat, and slipped it on. Yuki pursed his lips, frowning. "I am uncertain. I shall dwell upon it," he said, and handed it back to Dipper.

"Suit yourself," Dipper shrugged, pulling it around his own head. A mirror nearby allowed Dipper the chance to see himself, and he nodded. "Yeah. Not bad," he said.

"Here!" Mabel whipped around to Yuki, holding a humble pair of shirt and pants. "Try those on quick, before Grunkle-Bunkle finds out."

Yuki stared at her. "Who?"

"Just go!" she cackled, pushing him towards the hallway. Yuki rushed out, worrying under his breath. Mabel sighed as she watched him flee. "They grow up so quick."

Dipper snorted. "He literally does not," Dipper reminded her, "He said he was eighty already-" Mabel responded by slapping a sticker onto his forehead. It was a book with cartoonish limbs and a happy face, with sunbeams shooting out from its sides. The words 'Glow-it-all' surrounded it. Dipper examined it, and asked Mabel, "Did you always have that around, waiting to use it on me?"

"Pfft," Mabel blew a raspberry, and pulled out her roll of stickers, "I always keep my Dipper stickers on standby. We have the summer together, and I'm going to need to make sure I'm always ready to smack you with one or two, hehehe."

Peeling off the stick from his face. Dipper took a seat by the wooden island, laying himself with his back against it. Idly he took out his phone. Mabel strode over as Dipper said aloud, "Hope she calms down."

Mabel hummed. "She will. Dad said he'd expect that he wouldn't see me till the end of summer, so I think she'll settle."

"I had a job," Dipper groaned, scratching his neck as some small guilt skittered across his skin. "She's really covering for me."

"And you got another one!" Mabel cheerfully told him, "Helping Grunkle Stan open his expansion. That's all sorts of cool-fabulous! Coolabulous!"

Wendy, without moving her eyes off the magazine, scored, "Six point five."

Mabel snapped her fingers. "Drat. Fabulool?" she tried again. Wendy hissed and shook her head. Mabel sadly whined, "I'll discover the secrets of Fabucoolous."

"Oh," Wendy nodded, "Closer. Seven point six."

"Yes!" Mabel cheered.

Dipper snorted. He slid the phone away, deciding to deal with his mother's disappointment another time. He looked up, craning his head against the wooden platform. Spotting the ends of the worn, dirty boots, Dipper asked Wendy, "Hey, not that I don't like you hanging out, Wendy," Dipper started.

"Oh, great start," Wendy chortled.

"He means it!" Mabel declared, "Trust me. Especially considering it's about you-"

Dipper shoved his sister to the side, who went crashing into a stand filled with Mister Mystery shaped plushies. Dipper cleared his throat, "Anyway, I was gonna say," he asked the redhead as he stood up and faced her, "Why are you here today? There's basically no one around, and the storm's all rough."

"Yeah," Mabel grumbled as she pulled herself out of the pile of Mister Mysteries, "You biked here. Through rain! That's pretty rad."

Wendy lowered her magazine, eying the twins. "Looking for answers with the mysterious Wendy Corduroy?" she playfully inquired. The twins giggled, and she lowered the magazine, blowing out a puff of defeated air. "Honestly, guys, I just can't stay away! This place just pulls me in, like a big, nasty bear-hug," she growled, and reached over to the twins, pulling them into a bone-crushing hug. As Mabel cackled, Dipper gasped and forced out his best attempt at a casual laugh. She lowered the twins (Dipper red in the face) and explained, "But really, I just would rather be here."

While Dipper saw stars, Mabel asked, "Is home really not the hangout spot?"

Wendy rolled her eyes. "It never was, Mabes. When dad the boys were gone, it's tolerable. When everyone is inside, it's a zoo! Axes, weights, competitions to build homemade flame-throwers," Wendy listed, and scrunched her face in exhaustion, "If I have the choice to be anywhere right now, it's here."

"Woof," Mabel shook her head, "They need a woman's touch."

Wendy snorted. "Yeah, tell me about it. Not a lot of good I do," she admitted, "I'm to much a dude-girl to really help level them out."

Dipper eyed Wendy. "Really? But you're smart. You'd figure it out," he told her.

"Aw," Wendy was taken aback, and looked to Dipper like he had just handed her flowers, "Dude, that's sweet."

Mabel giggled. "Playboy."

Dipper was about ready to try his next shot at his sister, but a voice from the hallway beckoned the three to turn. Yuki was standing in the doorway, wearing, what was possibly, his first ever set of clothes. "Am I presentable?" he asked, displaying himself like a model, his arms out to the side.

Mabel ecstatically cried out and ran to him, grasping his collar and hopping up and down. "Yuki! You look so cuuute!"

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Oh boy," he said to Wendy, "Mabel's going after the newest male addition to the crew." Wendy chuckled at the comment, and Dipper felt like the smartest man alive.

His sister glared at Dipper, and shook her head. "Nope!"

"Really?" Dipper asked, cocking an eyebrow. Mabel nodded, and Dipper did a double-take. "That genuinely surprises me. I mean, Yuki isn't exactly bad looking, is he? He's patient-"

"And smart," Wendy added, "That's a big plus for some."

"And sweet," Dipper reminded his sister.

"Oh," Wendy nodded to Dipper, "Sweet earns big points."

Mabel patted Yuki on the shoulder, who's cheeks grew a deep shade of pink through his dark-tanned skin. Mabel explained, "Sorry, love-addicts," she told her brother and Wendy, "But Mabel doesn't date anyone who she saw as an enemy once. No matter how much of a heartthrob they are! Sorry, Yuki," she apologized to the alien standing next to her.

"Oh, goodness," he told Mabel, "No apology required! I am overjoyed to understand that I am, ah, as you would say, a heartthrob," he quoted, "But I must spend my focus learning to acclimate. Humans are nuanced mysteries to me."

Mabel jogged on the spot. "Ohhh! That'd work with ladies in the future," Mabel told him with a gentle shove, "Women love to think that men consider them mysterious."

Yuki smiled, only slightly concerned with Mabel's prior shove. Suddenly he frowned, and gasped. "Oh!" he declared, standing to his fullest height as he thought of something. "My friends," he asked the three before him, "I have a mystery myself!"

Mabel ran to Dipper, pulling on her brother's sleeve. "He has his first earth-side mystery! So many big steps in one day!" she told him.

Dipper, bonking Mabel on the forehead for a snooze button, calmed her. "Okay," Dipper faced Yuki, "What's the mystery?"

Yuki approached the three, taking with him a globe to examine. "Well, the mission of the Fershul initially was to identify the source of the strange energies. It greatly pains me to admit," he explained, looking on the globe at the location of Oregon, "But my mission remains incomplete. I know not what the sources of energy were; not the one three years ago, nor the one thirty years before that!"

If there was a money question, it was certainly that one. Dipper re-iterated, "You want to know what happened?" he asked.

Yuki shrugged. "I would. In the short time since my banishment, I have been unable to shake the feeling of total, encompassing failure," the alien scientist deflated as he said this. Both Wendy and Mabel whined at Yuki's clear defeat.

"Oh, man, don't say that about yourself."

"Yuki, you're not a failure!"

Dipper eyed the two. Feeling a bit hot in the face, he said to them, "Just pointing out that when I feel this way, you two just kind of poke me until I stop."

Mabel sneered at her brother. "Well, duh, Yuki is a space fluff-ball, and you're an earth fluff-ball. You can take it, toughie," she said, and poked his belly.

The girls giggled and Dipper rolled his eyes. He was not entirely sure how to best argue with his sister here. Avoiding further derailment, he decided to contextualize her excuse as a compliment. Dipper looked back to Yuki. "Well, Uki-Dohth, maybe it's about time someone told you about what happened."

Yuki stood up, tall and willing to hear. "Yes? Who might that be?"

"Me!" Mabel declared proudly.

"Mabel, no," Dipper glared at her, "I know the facts."

"But I make the stories actually fun."

"Uh, Stronghold lord?"

"Fine," she spun to Dipper. "Roshambo?" she suggested. Dipper scowled, but moved his hands before him. The twins quickly engaged in a gambit of rock-paper-scissors. To Dipper's growing frustrations, he lost. Mabel cheered, "Woowoo! Alpha twin! Alpha twin!"

"So, uh," Wendy looked to the twins, "Mabel, love you dude, but I kinda want the details too. I missed out a bunch of crazy stuff last summer you never told me about. Maybe you two back each-other up?" she suggested.

The twins looked to one another, carefully studying their qualities. After a careful examination, the two put out their hands, and shook on it. They would, for the time being, be allies. Yuki took a seat on the steps leading inside the building, his eyes wide and sparkling. "This is my first human-told story," he said as he watched the twins with careful steadiness, "You have my full and undivided attention."

Mabel snickered, and then took a dramatic lunge, weaving her hand through the air. "Long ago,
she began her story, in her best deep narrator voice, "In the time called 'the eighties'," she started, "There was a man named Grunkle Ford."

Wendy watched the story, recognizing the name like a bad memory. Stepping to the side to look at Yuki, Dipper cleared his throat, "Ahem, Stanford Pines."

Mabel inserted the correction quickly, "Grunkle Stanford Pines. He was known as… an egg-head. But he was the best egg-head there was! Because he was smart, super-smart, and weird," Mabel said as she stepped around, and wiggled her fingers, "He had more fingers than most, just like his braincells."

Yuki nodded, reaching idly over for a post-card to write on. Once he held it, he withdrew a mechanical pencil from his pocket, and started taking notes. "Egg-head," Yuki noted.

Mabel went on with the story. "He was determined to search the glove for weirdness. He was totally into that stuff!

"Like Mabel with anything more than five grams of sugar per serving," Dipper snorted.

Undeterred, Mabel continued. "He found himself in the forests of Gravity Falls, Oregon. He made himself a big portal, and-"

"Woah, wait, stop," Dipper stepped up to his sister, waving his hands about, "You're missing a big step there."

Mabel spun on her heel, hands at her hips. "What? No I'm not."

"Yeah, you are," Dipper told her, "He didn't make it on his own. Who'd he have around at the time?"

Mabel frowned, scratching her head. "Oh. Wait, are you sure?" she asked.

Wendy sighed. She then lifted her head up to the ceiling, and loudly called out, "Hey, Boss! There's someone here with loads of money and nowhere to spend it!"

From inside the building, something delicate and fragile crashed. Distant floorboards bent and buckled. Charing out and leaping over Yuki, who shrieked and ducked low, was Stanley Pines, quickly dressing himself in his Mister Mystery outfit. He scanned around, breathing heavily as he sweat through his layers like he just ran a marathon. His eyes found no one with cash, and then spotted the four gathered.

Grunkle Stan groaned. There was no free money. "You," he pointed to Wendy, "Don't play that sort of game with me. My heart can only take so much disappointment."

"Sorry boss," Wendy shrugged, "It was important."

"Huh?" Stan eyed the twins, "What? What's going on?"

"Fact-checking," Dipper told him firmly.

Stan nodded. "Right." He pointed at Dipper. "You spent an unhealthy amount of time trying to hide your babba sing-along time." As Dipper went beet red and Mabel laughed, Stan turned and pointed to her. "You can't get over the fact that every animal doesn't want you to squish your face into it."

Mabel gasped. "That's a lie and you know it!"

"No!" Dipper scowled as Stan cackled, "We want to know about, uh, when you came to Gravity Falls with Grunkle-"

"Ford."

Stan had finished the last word of Dipper's sentence. Saying it aloud, Stan might as well have been talking about some sort of apparition he had seen. He looked between the twins, Wendy, and then realized that Yuki was there. He groaned. "Oh, catching up the stray?" Stan grumbled, but walked over and leaned on the counter where Wendy still chilled at. "Okay," Stan shrugged, "Whaddaya wanna know?"

"Who helped with the portal?" Mabel asked. "Dipper says it wasn't just Ford."

"And he was right," Stan pointed at Dipper. The 'younger' twin smirked as Mabel pouted. Stan added, "Yeah, it was him, me, and McGucket."

"Right," Dipper agreed, "You joined them later, after you had hit rock-bottom."

Stan let out a heavy sigh. "For that point in my life, yeah. The real rock bottom came afterwards, kid," the old man let out a two-ton sigh. Cleaning his glasses, he explained, "I was running low on cash, and states to try scamming, so I called my brother outta desperation."

"Ah, inquiry; scamming?" Yuki asked.

Stan waved a hand, "Unimportant." Yuki lowered himself; displeased, but still curious. Stan continued, "Yeah. He answered. I tell you guys what, though," Stan studied his glasses carefully, seeing his reflection in the rims, "I wasn't sure I could do it. The moment I heard his voice, all I could think of was how things had been when we last spoke."

"Which wasn't banana-sundae great," Mabel muttered. Yuki, across the room, scribbled down and muttered 'Banana-sundae'.

"No, kiddo, it was more like dumpster fire sundae," Stan explained. "Anyway, I did call him. I swear, he spent thirty minutes straight just telling me of all things crazy, amazing, stupid things he had accomplished, and I was wearing a shirt I hadn't cleaned in two weeks."

"That's nothing for Dipper's record," Mabel snorted. Dipper glared daggers at her, but Mabel winked back, unthreatened.

"So, I took my car up to my brother," Stan said, "And we, well, chased monsters. We figured things out. Sixer wrote in his journals, McGucket built things to help, and I punched stuff hard. Honestly," Stan chuckled, "We all made one heck of a team."

"A few years into it all," Stan sighed, rubbing his face, "McGucket had an incident with the first test of Ford's portal. Fell into it, and just never was himself again. Guy ran off without another word, and refused to talk to us anymore! Wouldn't say what he really saw in there. I… I already had suspicions at that time," Stan growled, "Ford hadn't been telling me everything. I was getting tired of being let in the dark. He always was telling me it was too dangerous for me to know, that the 'details' and 'delicate nature' of his work were too important for me to muck up."

"Didn't you ruin his high-school project?" Dipper asked.

"Unimportant!" Stan barked. "Point is that I was tired of it all – tired of being his lackey and tired of the secrets. I finally rounded on him, and demanded he explain what was really going on with the portal. He said… ugh," Stan scratched his arm, looking away from the twins, "He said 'I was lucky that he even let me into his home after how he ruined his life'."

Yuki stopped writing a note. "Oh, goodness Stanley," he gently gasped, sympathy ebbing from him like a gentle mist, "Such an awful thing to hear from family."

Stan shrugged. "Well, I wasn't taking it anymore. I had saved Poindexter's life a dozen times by that point, and he was still holding my one big-screw up over me! We got into a fight. The portal turned on. And… Ford got sucked in."

Yuki jolted. "Aha! That must have been it!" he said, scribbling without looking to his notes, "Thank you, Stanley! I understand! A prototype, trans-versal, portal device!"

"Keep it down with the geeky words," Stan warned him. Yuki sheepishly nodded, but added an extra note. Stan continued with his story, "So, without anyone left, I just sort of took over. I spent thirty years trying to do two things: turn Stanfords house into something I could make money out of, and figure out how to turn the portal on to get my brother back."

"Stanford Pines?" Yuki asked, "You mean to say that Stanford didn't return from the portal?"

"No!" Stan barked, "he was gone! What part of sucked in don't you get?"

Yuki yelped and dropped the pencil. "Apologizes! It was stated that this 'McGucket' interacted and returned from the portal, so… apologizes," he added once more.

"So," Stan looked to the ceiling, "That's how I spent thirty years becoming Mister Mystery. All while looking for-"

"The journals!" Dipper cried out, whipping out the old, worn journal he kept closely inside his vest.

Stan stared at Dipper. "I seriously can't believe you still keep that under your arm. It must smell like a locker room now."

Mabel, captain of the 'SS Make Fun of Dipper' gladly added to the tangent. "A locker room filled with geeks."

His sister and grand-uncle laughing, Dipper made a mental note to let their next incident with the paranormal get a little more dire before helping them. Resenting the comment and choosing to ignore it, Dipper explained, "You see, Yuki," Dipper started, and Yuki held his pencil at the ready, "The journals were notes Ford left behind! He had three, all of which contained his studies of things going on in Gravity Falls. When things started going sour, he divided the instructions on how to operate the portal between each Journal, for safety!"

"Which he certainly missed telling me," Stan grumbled, "I only had the one he dropped before getting portal'd. The other two were gone."

"I found the third one," Dipper proudly displayed, holding out the cover of the beaten-up book, "While putting up signs. I uncovered a false tree, and discovered a difficult puzzle, and quickly solved it. It revealed the sealed storage compartment it was hidden in."

"Fascinating," Yuki nodded, scribbling notes.

"Not how I heard it," Mabel poked her brother, "You just flipped switches until something happened, and-"

"Anyway," Dipper avoided his sister's prods, weaving around them, "I didn't really know what I had my hands on. To me, three years ago, it was evidence of weird, crazy things happening. I knew there had been stuff going on, and it was proof of that! So, it and I became inseparable."

Using her old dramatic voice, Mabel dramatically added, "Hence, the smell."

"Wow," Wendy said, catching the others, "I didn't realize you found it out in the woods. I thought it was just something you two found in Stan's old collection of stolen junk."

Yuki worriedly asked, "Stolen?"

Stan barked out a laugh. "If I had that book, trust me, it would have been tucked away, someplace much safer."

"Like the basement?" Mabel asked.

"No, a safe," Stan corrected her.

"So began mine, and Mabel's, summer of adventure," Dipper explained, holding the journal out to let the light catch the golden, peeling hand. "We did a lot that summer. Honestly, I could write a whole book myself about the crazy stuff that we came across," Dipper explained.

Yuki, taking notes still, asked, "Why not?"

Dipper looked stunned. "What?" he said in a hollow voice.

"If you have newer information than the journal," Yuki said as he earnestly encouraged Dipper, "You aught write your own material, to better hone, detail, and complete the assessments of the 'weird'."

Dipper looked floored. He stared at the note-taker, and his gaze slowly lowered to fixate on the old journal. He quietly muttered, "I could write… my own journal?"

"Welp," Mabel quickly stepped in front of Dipper, "Since you broke my bro, it's Mabels turn to explain things! And I'm going to focus on what mattered!" she said, pulling out her pink sunglasses from nowhere, "The fun!"

"Debatable," Stan chortled.

Mabel rushed over and took a seat next to Yuki, who only flinched a little. His trust in the twins had grown significantly since their willingness to take him in, and his understanding of Mabel's antics grew. It was a slow, confused process, but he knew that she wouldn't intentionally harm him. She nudged his shoulder, "It was the summer of romance, fashion, and occasionally being possessed by hostile creatures beyond mortal cant!"

Yuki, who had been taking notes, stopped at the last big note. "Pardon?"

"Oh, don't worry," Mabel laughed at his big, fearful eyes, "I was only possessed by some angry ghosts. They're gone now," she added, and despite her best efforts, shivered, "Undead are really bad news, buddy," she told Yuki with a dark look.

Wendy, looking uncomfortable, cleared her throat. "Maybe let's not talk about undead, or that night? Still trying my best over here to, uh, forget that. Of all the things I was present for," she mumbled.

"Sure!" Mabel cheerfully agreed, bouncing in her seat. "Dipper and I were just ready for our first summer romance. Let me tell you, Yuki," she wrapped an arm around his shoulder, and painted a picture of the world before him, "Sometimes nothing sticks, but you get a taste of love. There's love everywhere, if you know where to look. In the eyes of a stranger, under the sofa, in a gas-stations-" Wendy and Stan wretched at Mabel's last listing on where one can find 'love'. Mabel cackled, "Just making sure you're listening."

Stan looked to Wendy. "I'm outta the loop: does bleach work on ears?"

"It does a lot more than clean them out," Wendy told him.

Dipper, having been shaken from his self-reflection, looked around. "Wait, what did I miss?" he eyed Stan and Wendy. "By looks of things, Mabel just said something way gross."

"Always the keen detective," Stan grumbled.

"C'mon Mabel," Dipper whined, "We're trying to tell Yuki about what happened, not gross him out with your weird details."

"He's not grossed out!" Mabel grinned, and eyed Yuki, "Are you?"

Taking notes, he muttered, "Gas-stations."

Mabel, perhaps realizing the path she was setting Uki-Dohth onto, leaned over and quietly said, "That was a joke, buddy. You wanna probably just, you know, erase that one."

As Yuki complied, uncertain to what he was misunderstanding from the conversation, Dipper stepped forward. "I think I'll take over the details of last time."

"No way!" Mabel shot up, hands at her hips, "If you do, you'll miss out on all the awesome not-mystery related things we did! Like film our miniseries!"

"Okay, that was cool," Dipper admitted, "Maybe we should do another one?" he muttered, and Mabel's eyes started to grow with wonder. Dipper cleared his throat, "But those can wait for later! This is what Yuki needs to know, not every little detail about last summer."

"Ah man," Wendy grumbled, "Just when I was going to be fully caught up."

Mabel pouted. "But I wanna tell the story."

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Mabes, you're going to go way off-tangent."

"And you're going to get too stuck on why you had to time-travel over a dozen times to the same point in time," Mabel crossly said.

"Wait," Wendy stared at them, "You two time-traveled?"

"That's a new one for me," Stan rubbed his eyes, staring at his grand niece and nephew. "And over a dozen times? What's up with that?"

"Uh," Dipper slowly looked from Stan to Wendy. He barely met eyes with her, and then spun about, facing Mabel. That topic was not one he was interested in explaining. Instead, he focused on his cross sister. "Okay, so we both want to tell it, but we're coming at different angles. How do we reconcile this?"

"We need a neutral party," Mabel mused, "Someone who's been there for most of it, but is kind of a weird mix of our perspectives."

"Yeah," Dipper nodded, thinking, "Someone who's both smart and capable, but silly and child-like."

The twins looked at each other simultaneously. "A man-child," they quietly agreed.

Stan overheard them. "Oh, that's an easy fix." He cleared his throat, and then bellowed, "Soos! Gift shop!"

Huffing and puffing his way through the building, Soos barged into the scene. He hadn't seen Yuki, and tripped right over the small frame. Slamming down before the twins, face planted, Soos' muffled voice called out, "Here, mister Pines."

Yuki, eyes shimmering with concern, asked the handyman, "Are you well?"

Soos, pulling his face free from the wooden floor, chuckled. "Ah, yeah, totally dude," he stood up, plucking splinters from his face, "You get used to how the Mystery Manor expresses it's love to you." He pried out from his eyebrow a particularly large splinter. "Ah, yeah," Soos said, biting down on his lip as he withheld tears, "Its hugs are prickly and deep, like Minster Pines."

"Anyway," Stan barked over, "The kids need someone to explain last summer to Yuki. Go for it," Stan told him.

"Oh, dude," Soos rounded on Yuki excitedly, removing his last splinter with a small, 'ow', "That last summer was eleven outta ten on the crazy scale! I mean, the first really big thing that happened was Gideon Gleeful stealing the Mystery Shack."

Stan's attitude simmered. "Gideon," he growled.

Yuki repeated, "Gleeful?"

Unable to refrain himself, Dipper jumped in. "Yeah! A scheming liar who made his business pretending to be a psychic. He just planted spy-equipment in all his merchandise so he knew what to say that felt telepathic!"

"And he used his cute looks for evil!" Mabel shouted. "To think I even gave him any chance at all! Ugh!"

Yuki nodded, and took a quick, pointed note. "This gleeful should be avoided."

"Ah, yeah dude," Soos nodded, "Turns out he had one of those journals too!" he pointed to the book Dipper had, "And was using it to get some actual crazy stuff, you know? But he contacted a demon, built a giant robot of himself, and then tried killing the twins and me. Crazy times, am I right?"

Yuki seemed less capable of taking notes at this point. He looked down to his postcard, covered with scribbles in his native language of Urlin. There weren't many more spaces to write on. "I think," he muttered, "I shall have to process this by memory for now on. How did you all survive such an encounter?"

"Easy!" Mabel cheered. She spun around, and lifted her fist into the air. "With my grappl-" she gasped. Eyes wider than they had been all day, she leapt past Soos and over Yuki, vanishing deeper into the building. "Be right back!" she called back to the rest, as her disappearance heralded the sounds of glass breaking and wood splintering.

"Sweety," Stan called after her, "Keep your destructive search to the first floor, please."

"So yeah," Soos shrugged, "Dipper and Mabel beat Gideon up bad, and got him arrested. Then Mister Pines got all three books, and sorta figured out how to use the portal again?" Soos asked, eying his employer.

"Yeah, something like that," Stan shrugged, "I'm kinda smart myself, you know. Wasn't that hard."

"Oh, of course you are," Soos nodded, "You're world famous after all!" Soos' compliments washed over Stan like waves against a rock. The elderly grump crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, despite some amount of joy etching itself on his lips. Soos didn't notice, nor did it seem he cared to notice: it was his truth. He turned back to Yuki.

Soos wove the story, "So, boom; a few weeks after a bunch of wild stuff, like being turned into a zombie, going into Mister Pines brothers bunker-"

"Was there for that!" Wendy declared, "Wait, can I tell a story for once?" Soos nodded and happily stepped aside for Wendy to speak to Yuki. "Aw, dude, it was rad! So, like, Dipper and Mabel think they know where the entrance to one of the writer of the journals bases is, right? We get in-"

"With Wendy's skills," Dipper added.

"Psh, whatever," Wendy waved away the compliment, "And inside is this freaky, underground, apocalypse shelter. It's got some wild safety codes that try to kill us, and inside is this insane shapeshifter, who tries to pretend to be the author!"

"A shape-shifter!" Yuki gasped, "Fascinating! You must have quickly befriended it, as you had with me," Yuki told Dipper.

Wendy and Dipper hissed. "Yeah," Wendy shook her head, "Not much luck there. He tried killing us the moment we figured out he wasn't the author. Took a full one-eighty and went nuts. He even tried to become me!"

With great urgency and rapidity, Dipper added, "Which nothing strange or unusual happened due to that!"

Wendy laughed. "C'mon man, it was sweet."

"What was?" Stan asked.

Wendy eyed the room. Perhaps it was the terrified expression Dipper had that eased her desire to express everything that happened. She shrugged. "Uh, its just that Dipper easily told us apart. Knew exactly which Wendy was me and which one wasn't. He's got some wild sixth sense for the weird."

The other occupants all gasped and nodded at Dipper, who went pink in the cheeks. His eyes sparkled as a smile grew. He silently thanked Wendy, who made a zipper motion across her lips, and she tossed away the slider. Dipper mimed her back, feeling all manners of weird fluttering insects inside his stomach.

There was a loud 'Poosh!'. Something angled, with three prongs, and attached with a long cord, shot into the room and wrapped itself along the ceiling beams. Before anyone could note this sudden appearance, Mabel zoomed into the room, holding the end of the gun-like device. Hanging from the ceiling, she roared, "Grappling Hook! It always saves the day!"

"We're past that," Dipper idly told his sister, "We're past the bunker and shapeshifter."

"Oooh," Mabel eyed her brother, "Did you talk about how you told Wendy-" Fate took Dipper's side this time. The wooden beam budged with Mabel's weight, and she was shaken off, hitting the ground with a loud thump. As Dipper laughed, Mabel groaned.

Soos decided to continue after Dipper's laughter subsided. "So, yeah, weird stuff kept happening, sure. But nothing quite took to cake like when we thought Stanley might be some evil-genius trying to destroy the world!"

"To my credit," Stan held out his hands at the accusations, "I didn't tell no-one about the portal. Kept it secret the entire time! So, I understood why everyone freaked out when they found."

Wendy grumbled. "I'm gonna just tune out here. Soos called me about this at three in the morning and explained literally everything."

Yuki, who was muttering the phrase 'didn't tell no-one', shook his head and spoke to Soos. "So, a guess warranted, Stanley was successful in activating the portal, which was the second signal of chrono-energy."

"Yup! And out came Mister Pines brother," Soos said.

"Finally got Ford back," Stan said, leaning on the wooden counter as he looked quite tired as he explained himself. "Thirty years of feeling like an idiot, thirty years of guilt, and it finally paid off. Sure, it wrecked the portal and threw the town into a pile, but whatever."

Yuki smiled and nodded. "My hypothesis was correct. Gravometric energy lingered! It aught have been the force unaccounted for!"

"Sure, whatever," Stan shrugged. "Anyway, Ford's back. He… he hugged me, and said he was excited to be back!" Stan said, sinking into himself, "And I was an idiot. I should have known something was wrong."

"That… is incorrect?" Yuki asked timidly, "That your brother was pleased?"

Stan rolled his eyes. "Yeah! Poindexter was a lot of things, but the guy had an ego the size of the Mystery Manor! He would have tried scolding me, or heck, I thought he might punch me. I was too happy to have finally finished the portal to care."

"We were all fooled," Dipper acknowledged, rubbing his hair through his beanie, "Especially me. I wanted to be Ford so badly. I finally met the man who wrote the coolest books ever. And he seemed everything I wanted to be and more."

Mabel, finally standing up and dusting herself off, put a sympathetic hand on Dipper. "I gotta give Dipper and Stan credit," she said, "Ford was convincing. He shooed away the government agents, he fought monsters, and he was weirdly nice all the time. I, I dunno," Mabel shrugged, "There was something about the way he always acted around us that made me think something was going on."

"I remember that," Wendy nodded solemnly, "You and Dipper really started drifting apart when you thought he wasn't being honest."

"Well, yeah," Dipper mumbled, "Ford was everything I wanted to be, and Mabel was telling me not to get close. I thought she was just being jealous of me spending time with Ford."

"No, bro," Mabel gave Dipper a small shove of affection, "I was heckin' scared."

"Well, turns out," Stan furthered the story, "Ford was doing a lot. He was never around, and we all thought – well, maybe not Mabel," Stan gave Mabel a nod, "That he was just doing his usual thing of chasing weird stuff."

"Ah," Yuki nodded, "But he was not?"

"No," Stan shook his head, "He was doing some serious damage to town. First thing he did was turn McGuckets memory eraser into a memory altering gun. He then started using it on the government agents that were sticking around."

"Oh no!" Yuki gasped, "To what purpose?"

"Control," Dipper growled.

Stan explained. "Turns out he was on a mad quest for control. He wanted everyone on his side. I guess he thought everyone at home was already on his side, because he didn't consider using it until we started realizing his plan. But he used it on the mayor before he died, made himself mayor, and changed all the laws in Gravity Falls to make himself the last official mayor. He wrote in law that no one alive can legally try to cast their own name in for votes."

"Uh," Yuki stared at him, "Surely that isn't correct."

"No," Dipper assured him, "It's still in effect. There isn't a mayor in Gravity Falls. Rules don't change anymore."

Yuki eyed the group before him. "But, if the rule stated that no living person may put their own name in the voting process," he explained, "Why not put someone else in the name?"

The five froze. Soos looked like his focus took him miles away. Wendy squinted at Yuki like she had never seen him before. Stan looked furious, his eyes bulging and red. Dipper clapped his face with his hand, groaning. Mabel eyed her brother, and muttered, "Wow, we really dropped the ball on that one."

Stan heatedly defended their honor. "We were under serious pressure, okay?" he snapped at Yuki, who recoiled. Stan added, "Not like we were thinking of how to best out-wordplay my brother. Especially me, who was just happy to hear him promise me that I'd never have to pay taxes again. That's still got me mad that he didn't do that before the end," Stan grumbled.

"You still don't pay taxes," Dipper reminded him.

"Nope!" Stan proudly barked, "But it would have been legal, which is way less to worry about."

"But isn't refusing to pay taxes illegal?" Yuki asked Stan.

He glared at the alien scientist. "I dunno, Uki-dohth," he snapped back, "Is it legal to keep an unlicensed, illegal alien?" Yuki's mouth glued shut. "Thought so," Stan sneered.

"But things were getting weird," Soos decided to continue his story, "Cus we all thought Mister Pines Brother was just helping us out, you know? Really got tricked bad. Then, Mister McGucket kidnapped Dipper and Mabel!"

"What?" Yuki gasped.

"Well," Dipper held out a hand, "To be fair, he was still recovering from dealing with long-term memory erasure. He thought Mabel and I were possessed by Bill Cipher."

"Ah, you mentioned," Yuki said to Mabel, "Forces beyond mortal cant?"

Mabel scowled, and a look between Soos, Wendy, and the twins was silently exchanged. "Yeah, Bill," she said, "Billiam Cipherous."

"No, no," Dipper shook his head, "Just Bill Cipher. Don't give him a cool name."

"Turns out," Stanley Pines explained, "When my brother went into the portal Cipher was waiting for him. My brother had been so used to me being at his side that he didn't know what to do and defend himself. He got captured, and twisted. He spent thirty years being programmed as Cipher's personal agent. All because of me-"

The twins turned to their elder. "Grunkle Stan," Mabel said sweetly, wrapping her arms around his shoulder in a soft hug, "You can't say that!"

Dipper nodded. "You didn't know what the portal even was. None of it was your fault."

Yuki firmly nodded. "A deceiver is, and always shall be, at fault when one is deceived. If we place the fault upon the victim, the perpetrator shall continue their cruelty. You clearly are not to blame, Stanley."

Stan barked back at Yuki, "I don't want the sympathy, Dohth!" He still turned, wiping at his eyes. As the twins stepped back from him, Stan continued, "So, wouldn't you know it, everything Ford was doing was orders from Cipher. When we finally found out what was really going on, he had half the town under his control."

"Only a few of us were left to stop him," Dipper stated proudly, standing at his tallest. "Everyone you see here, plus McGucket, and a few others."

Mabel listed off, "Pacifica Northwest and Robbie Valentino."

Wendy quietly, sourly muttered, "Ah, Robbie."

Dipper, in similar fashion, muttered, "Ah, Pacifica."

Yuki eyed the two. "I believe I detect dissatisfaction at their mentioning."

Mabel shrugged, quietly telling Yuki, "Old flames."

"Old… flames?" he asked.

"It means they dated," Soos eagerly and loudly explained.

Dipper scowled. "Ugh! It was for, like, two weeks! It was a dumb mistake, okay?" he called around the room.

"Well, moving on from that drama bomb," Stan said to Yuki, "Sixer figured out we were planning on stopping him. So, he sic'd the entire town on us. We had a siege on the Mystery Shack! But the twins, along with these two," he pointed a thumb at Wendy and Soos, "Grabbed Ford. They dragged him back to the shack. A whole battle started, and we tried separating Bill from him."

"But we were running out of time," Dipper glumly said, "And Ford decided to activate the portal. He got downstairs. We followed. We fought, and he tried altering our memories."

Stan chuckled. "It was going well for us, to be honest. Soos and the other brats upstairs were holding off the teeming masses, but the kids and I were pasting my brother to the floor. But Dipper's right, we were outta time. The portal was fixed, and turned into something else. Ford had fixed it and made it into a new kind of portal."

Yuki's eyes widened. "Non-spatial portal?" he asked. All but Dipper looked at him with great uncertainty.

Dipper nodded. "Bingo. He made a portal to, as he described, nowhere. A place without time. Without real space. The beginning and end. He was saying how he could use it to finally get what he wanted. I think the reading for what the portal led to was 'source input', actually."

"I begged Stan to stop," Stan quietly surrendered, "And it sorta worked! Well, for a moment. Stanford, my real brother, not the monster he had become, told me that he had to stop all of this, that it had to end. The last thing he really told me… was thanks."

Yuki's mouth dropped open. "You cast him, and the demon, into the portal? A portal that led to nothingness?" Stan slowly nodded. Yuki shook his head. "I can't imagine that kind of sacrifice. To lose someone to a place without time is… horrible. I am so sorry, Stanley."

"C-Can it," Stan sniffled, facing away from Yuki, "Not like he left me any choice, right?"

"No," Yuki agreed quietly, "I suppose not." He stood up, dusting off his pants, "This does explain much regarding you all," Yuki spoke around, looking to each of the inhabitants of employees of the Mystery Manor. "You are resilient as you are from great obstacles. Your perseverance explains how two adolescents were able to infiltrate our ship," Yuki smiled at the twins.

Soos shrugged. "So yeah, that's how we saved the world from mister Pines evil twin brother from taking over the world with mind control for reasons we can't comprehend," Soos explained.

"I must thank you all again," Yuki said with a bow before the five, "For the willingness to divulge. Explaining such traumatic events takes effort."

"Honestly," Dipper shrugged as he looked to Mabel, "It kind of felt good to tell someone after all this time. We couldn't just go around telling everyone the whole story."

"Like you wanted to," Mabel happily teased him. She eyed Yuki, adding, "Now we can all say we had a chance to get it out of your noggin!"

"Speak for yourself," Stan grumbled, and leaned off the wooden island. "Well, I'm going to go and pretend that this all never happened. Coping mechanisms, and all," he told the lot.

Dipper stepped before the departing elder. "Grunkle Stan," he asked, "Can I, uh, have the rest of the journals then? I… I think I want to try what Yuki was saying."

"What?" Stan eyed him.

Dipper explained, "To make my own journal, I need to see the original contents. I can summarize, or correct details that were misunderstood."

Stan pocketed his hands. His eyes narrowed as he studied Dipper. Some debate quickly flared inside Stanleys brain, arguing with himself over something. He eventually bobbed his head for a small nod. "Sure kid. I'll get the other two for ya."

Dipper beamed. "Thanks!"

"Yeah, yeah," Stan snorted, rubbing Dipper's beanie, "Keep your shirt on. And you!" he rounded on Yuki, who shot out of his way, "You don't say a word of this to anyone! As far as you're concerned, until I say otherwise, this goes with you to the grave!"

"Y-Y-Yes sir!" Yuki nodded six times. Stan left in a huff, grumbling under his breath. Yuki, avoiding the wrath of the elder, wiped sweat from his brow. He told the twins, "Thank you for informing me of all of this. I am happy to know, only now, of the interactions you had with demons."

"Oh, sure!" Mabel beamed.

Dipper cocked an eyebrow. "Why only now?" he asked.

"Oh," Yuki timidly laughed, "Directive eleven of biological examination: hostile incorporeal entities are to be purged," Yuki explained. The twins gaped at him, and he waved a hand. "Calm thyselves! Spiritual entities are not considered incorporeal entities. However, 'demons' as you call them, are sufficiently dangerous. The Animus would have been easily controlled by such a creature," Yuki shuddered.

"Wait," Dipper asked him, "What would have happened if your people found out about Bill Cipher?"

"Ah," Yuki looked like he was stepping through a minefield, "You see, the Toldori would have become involved." The twins both 'ooh'd' at that. Yuki nodded, "Yes, you understand."

Soos asked, his hand raised, "What's a told-tory?"

Mabel answered quickly, "Alien saber-toothed cat warriors."

Soos nodded. "Ah, cool dude. Well, I'm going back to fixing all the windows. Yell if you find out something weird or stuff. Hey, Yuki," Soos asked the alien, "You wanna learn how to install windows?"

"I do," Yuki admitted with a taste of apologies, "But I am to take courses in modern English from the twins," he explained, "Since my learnings are mildly outdated."

"Alas," Soos shook his head, "I am alone again," and Soos stepped away.

Mabel reached for her brother and Yuki. "C'mon, you dorks," she giggled, "Let's go teach Yuki how not to sound like he's from the Renaissance faire. Ah," she dreamily added, "One day I shall go."

The twins escorted Yuki from the gift shop, eager to help Yuki adapt to current English. Left behind was Wendy, who had leaned on her elbow as she watched them leave. There was a wistfulness, or envy, that was deep in her eyes. After a moment, perhaps realizing she was still watching the hallway, she sighed and kicked her legs back up on the counter. Half-way through reaching for the magazine, she paused, and looked out at the windowed door that led outside.

She quietly asked herself, "Wonder how the boys are doing?" She snorted, and took the magazine to her face.

---

End of season one Epilogue: Recaps.

Go get a water. A drink. Stand up, or stretch. Blink. I dunno, take a moment to profess your undying devotion to the powers of the yellow triangle.

Did you do any of that? If you did, go on to the Season 2 Prologue: Reunions.

---

She always left the windows open in her apartment. The bothersome honks and beeps of passing vehicles and shouts of pedestrians had not affected her in a long time, even in her deep meditation. They, in some ways, were part of her path towards mastery. If she could easily overcome such distractions and mild irritations and still find stillness, then her mind would continue to find discipline. She was a teacher, a student, and a warrior; all in one body and mind. Who was she, you might ask? She was called Arline Hirsh.

This woman lived alone in the large corner apartment in bordering lands of San Francisco and Piedmont, California. She was just leaving her shower. A toned, lean, but muscular body was concealed in fluffy towels and a nice deep-orange bathrobe. Her golden hair was wrapped up in a bun above her head, drying off in the constraint of her towel.

Blue eyes peered around the large, open, and mostly furniture-lacking studio apartment. No real walls divided the space from a kitchen, living space, or bedroom. Only a pair of doors led elsewhere: one to the hallway leading out, and the one into the bathroom that she had just emerged from. A large collection of pillows and blankets were tucked away messily by a corner. A single yoga mat and pillow rested in the middle of the floor. Those blue eyes spotted them, and the woman sighed.

"I'll be there in a second," she told the pillow as she stepped over to one of the few obstinate pieces of furniture, a very large wardrobe. Her reflexes were incredible as she grabbed away the towels under her robe and switched them out for working out clothing all in the blink of an eye. She had slipped them on somehow without even removing her robe. Now dressed and comfortable, she stretched her arms above her head, letting out a strained sigh. Her hands cracked their knuckles, displaying a variety of scarring along the fingers and back of the hand. Otherwise, her skin looked quite soft.

Next to her was a small table, where a plate with blue salts rested, and a pile of matches. Resting underneath the table was a pair of leather arm-bracers. Heavily worn down and scorched, these pieces of armor had a scratched plat of metal along the sides. Arline Hirsh's scarred hands lifted up the plate, and carried it over to the middle of the room, where she rested herself down with the matches and salts. Sitting on her meditative pillow, she looked to her scars in the dim light pouring in from the afternoon light.

"So many fun times," she murmured to herself. In her eyes, the scars reflected back like memories. Most were almost glassy and faded with time, but a few were sharper looking and thinner. She lowered the hands, putting away a melancholy and instead picking up determination. "Time to practice," she muttered.

One hand took a scoop of salt. A single match was held by the other. She held the match between her fingers, and then placed it before her face. Her eyes closed, and she focused on something, deep in her mind.

The match, held aloft, smoked, and then lit.

She knew what she had done without even looking. Smiling, she lifted the other hand above the burning match and poured the salts through the fire. The blue minerals sizzled and grew in color, steaming as they fell back onto the plat on the floor, where their bright color spread to the other salts slowly, providing a gentle blue glow.

Arline Hirsh never opened her eyes as she lowered the match and stuck it, safe end first, into the tip of the pile. The flame itself warped and the color changed. The fire was elongating to become a stream of soft green light, trailing out of the strange match. It was then and only then that she sighed, and let her hands fall to her cross-legged knees.

It was finally time to meditate.

She sunk into her mind. She started falling far away from herself. Perfectly upright in her physical stance, the woman started falling away in darkness that was scattered with bursts of light and patterns beyond comprehension. She was in her world, the world that was safe and comprehensive. A place where she did not need to think and could simply be safe.

She felt the tell-tale signs of her meditation working. The room was less and less there to her, fading further away in the trance she slunk into. She was catching less and less of the noise outside, and fell more and more at ease. She was afloat now, suspended on nothing. Her natural energies, her peaceful thoughts, they all elevated her on the sea of stars and lights. There was a cosmos surrounding her like dancing nebulas of rainbow coalitions. It was beautiful, breathtaking, and she did this every single night.

"Arline."

Her eyes dotted open as she gasped. That was new. She never heard a voice while meditation.

Not just any voice, though.

"Master?" she stood up, in a realm of pure white. She stood from her spot and rose to a single dot in the far distance. Black in color and the size of a grain of sand, the image in the horizon called to her.

"Arline."

"Master!" she took off running. The person calling her was someone from long ago, in her past. Someone special.

Someone she thought had died.

Her feet carried her further than physically they should have. She was whipping across the white realm of between consciousness and sleep, running towards a man in an elaborate attire. As she grew closer, she finally could make out his form.

The figure wore a black cloak and hood, which billowed despite the lack of wind. Wrapping around his shoulders and arms was the makings of a clearly tailored, custom, black and deep, dark crimson red leather trench-coat. Tucked under both the cloak and jacket was more dark fabrics, a shirt and pants of some sort. This figure marched towards the woman, footsteps echoing across the infinity. What crowned the appearance at was the mask.

It was silver, and prominently without features: no nose, or eyebrows. It showed outlines of the jaw and two open holes for the eyes to peer out. They eye-holes however did not allow anyone to see inside; dark as night and quite sinister.

This intimidating figure did not dissuade the woman from running over and wrapping her arms around him. She laughed happily, leaping onto him. Her hug might have felled a lesser person, but this was no ordinary person. His only response was what sounded like a few chuckles from under the mask. She let go, and her grin turned into a scowl.

"You!" she shoved him back.

He gasped, stumbling away. His cool, deep, dark voice cried out, "What?!"

"You were alive!?" she slapped his chest.

Her slap did little to pain him, but he seemed to take emotional damage. "I – would you – Arline – Stop it," the master grumbled as she began to bat him with her hands. After a moment, he stopped resisting, and watched her beat his form. After a flurry of blows, each less forceful than the last, she held back, panting. He asked, "Feeling better?"

She scolded, "Over ten years, you, you jerk! I thought you've been dead forever! And now you're not all of a sudden!?" she pointed at the mask. The head leaned backwards, avoiding the tip of the finger. She glared at him, "You'd better have a good explanation for not telling me."

"Well, I have two," he brushed his clothing down with gloved hands.

"Three," she warned him, "And I won't smack you around more."

"Arline," the being said, trying to instill some calm into the woman. "I was being tracked by the warlock," he told her.

This did little to stun the woman. "So?"

"So," he said as a man with his tank of patience running on fumes, "If he knew I was teaching apprentices, clearly, he would have come to use you all against me. I couldn't let you be involved in this war, not before you all were older and more prepared."

She sighed and rolled her eyes, lifting a single index finger. "Okay, one. What's two?" she asked dejectedly.

"You needed to grow on your own terms," the master told her, putting hands in the pockets of his duster jacket. She scoffed and spun away, walking from him. "Arline," he called after her as she paced back and forth, "You know it's true. You all needed a chance to learn on your own. There comes a point where someone needs to figure out what to do with themselves, and not be told."

"I... ugh!" she pointed at him angrily again, "You are such a 'mystical choices' kind of jerk, you know that!?" She snapped. He sighed and nodded, which seemed to only anger her further, "And do you know how much it hurt to hear you had been killed!?" She demanded of him heatedly, getting closer. He nodded again. She added, "Or how much it hurt to see all the students, my friends, fall away without your guidance!?"

If the cloaked figure had planned a response, it stalled after her outburst. Maybe he was hurt, or maybe a bit stunned. She was upset, and breathed heavily, staring at the emotionless mask. Finally, it quietly restated, "I can't be their teacher forever, Arline, just like I can't be yours."

Her eyes glistened and she pouted. "Whatever," she growled as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You're still a jerk."

From the smallest of concessions, the cloaked figure seemed to ease. He pointed up, making the point of, "A well-meaning jerk who probably saved all your lives from a tortured fate." He walked around to her, his tone lightening. She stared at him as he walked around to face her. There was, though the anger fading, pain still in her gaze. This master of hers seemed aware, and let out a tangible, heavy sigh. "Arline," he quietly spoke to her, a gentleness in his deep voice, "I am sorry. I know what I did hurt you."

Her tightly crossed arms shifted. Perhaps it was more comfortable to stay angry. She was, after all, a woman of flame. Arline looked up to the mask of her master, and something told her of the sincerity. "I... I believe you," she admitted, and let her arms drop down, relaxed. Rubbing her temple, she admitted, "I can't be mad at your forever."

"People have been," he told her with a wiggle of his finger.

She chuckled. "Fair," she warranted him at least one admittance. With a softer face and a weight out of her stomach, she said to him, "I think two is okay." Her master let out a small laugh. Poking his chest, she asked him, "So then, what's going on? I take it this is not just a 'Hi! I'm actually alive, not dead' sort of dream you're causing, is it?" He nodded, and turned away, his cloak flourishing behind him majestically. She spluttered, waving away the offending cloth as it whipped near her nose. "Watch it. That stupid thing almost hit my face."

"Stop complaining," he said to her, "I need to show you things."

"Oh joy. Back to teaching me, huh?" she asked as she caught up with him.

He turned to face her, the soulless looking mask gazing into her. "No," he declared. Even with its visage entirely blocking out his ability to emote, she stared worriedly at him. She remembered his voice, and what that tone meant. It was a solid statement: a truth. Yet there was something in what he said that put her on edge. Something bad was happening, or had happened. He wove his hand into the air, and added, "The warlock has an apprentice."

From the white nothingness nearest his hand, a shimmering frame of shadowy tendrils spun, revealing an image. There, a pale blonde man stood, frozen in a moment in time, looking worriedly around from a dark desk with various tomes and books strewn out before him. He had icy blue eyes, and wore the expression of a man who had never smelt anything other than roses in his life.

Arline approached the image. "That's the apprentice?" she asked, and eye'd him further. "He looks… young."

The shadowy being nodded. "His name is Graupner Kinley. He has, as far as I know, taken the title of Warlock for himself while he travels. He's been studying under the arms of him for a few years. Magical prodigy. From what I have gathered, he can't speak much."

"Why?"

"The same reason he's out and about," The master said, and looked at the young man named 'Graupner', "Spoke out against his old man, and got slapped with a curse. The more he talks to people, the more pain builds in his vocal organs. I think he'll get it undone should he complete a mission tasked to him."

"Yikes," Arline snorted as she stared at him, "That's what you get for messing with that nutjob."

"Truthfully, he might be worse than his master," The master of the paths told her, "He's something of a spoiled prince. He's vicious, uncaring, and dedicated to his cause. Watching him for a while, I can safely say that he's in this study for power. He isn't afraid to use what he knows, damning consequences."

Arline groaned. "Great. So, we have the guy who ruined my life, who's in it for his mysterious goals, and now this jerk. Is the kid talented?" she asked.

"He's quickly mastered the abilities of telekinesis, and has a few other tricks up his sleeve. I don't need to explain how difficult it is," he turned to his student, "How hard telekinesis is."

She nodded and stared back at the man. "How old is he?"

"Eighteen, by my count."

"Only?!" she gasped. "Wow."

"Like I said," the cloaked figure told her darkly, "A prodigy. I think that's why he was picked up from our dear advisory: his natural skill. He has gone ahead and started taking his magical journey of corruptive powers to small towns in the northwest," the master wove his hands in front of the portal, and the image shook and shivered until new colors bled into sight. It showed a small, quaint town surrounded by forests and cliffs and mountains. There was a distant water-tower with a strange graffiti painted on it: either a mushroom, muffin, or explosion.

"Okay, one of these days you are going to show me how to do that," she said to him, nudging his chest with her elbow. When he shook his head, perhaps reacting to her jest, she asked, "Where's that exactly?"

"It's the town of Gravity Falls," the man told her with another wave. Then appeared more images of the town of Gravity Falls: A sight of what could be a town center, then majestic cliffs and waterfalls, a massive lumberjack statute. He added quietly, "It's a special area."

She frowned, something itching the back of her brain. "I feel like," she muttered, "I've heard of it before, from somewhere. What makes the town so special? The mountains have a lot of silver or something?" she asked with a small smile. The man turned to look at her. "Uh... what?" she asked when he remained silent.

That paused lingered. Before she had another chance to poke him further, the being finally answered with, "Nothing." She squinted at him, not entirely believing his word. Still, he explained, "The town itself is perfectly normal. Backwater, quiet, and insignificant. A perfect place to retire, honestly," the man turned to the image, "But... what hides in the forest is what makes the lands surrounding it so interesting."

"Uh... okay?" Arline shrugged. A long time ago, she would have pressed for more information from her master, but his cryptic and unclear words were almost always well chosen, and he did not like elaborating what he hadn't said.

"I want you to go there," he told her suddenly, "And counter Graupner's efforts."

"What?!" she spluttered, "Master, I've just settled down and gotten set up! I got an apartment, food, even a job-"

"Yes, I know," he told her, turning to face her fully, "You've been... teaching."

Electricity flew up her spine. She had hoped that her master hadn't discovered her side-hustle. "Ah," she trembled and looked away, "Well, you see, I wanted to-"

"Arline," his voice was quiet, but absolutely firm. She had done something bad, and he caught her at it. "I told you all that these are dangerous things to teach others without my guidance. What if someone you taught learned how to control fire and burned themselves?"

"I know!" she then reached over to him, putting an arm atop his shoulder, "I thought of that too! I'm only teaching the kids martial application. You know, how to fight and stuff. Nothing involving the pursuit of the higher mastery."

That mask showed nothing of a single emotion, but she was certain he cocked an eyebrow at her. "Oh?" he asked, just as quiet. She gulped. That was not the sound of the master she wanted to hear. He wove his hand again. The town faded, and someone inside the town was now focused upon. It was a young lady, maybe fifteen or so, with big brown eyes and a smile that could lift anyone's day. Arline groaned and put a hand to her face. She very well knew who that was. The master, having looked at the image of the girl, returned to looking at his own apprentice. "I take it she just stumbled upon the ability to meditate on the prime elements, did she?"

Arline was used to fire. Heat was her ally. Yet uncomfortable, searing, prickling sensations climbed her back as she felt the stares of someone she admired casting judgement upon her. Arline, a little dry in the throat, offered, "She... remind me of myself." Apologetically she looked to her master, puppy-dog eyes naturally battering away the emotionless glare from the mask. The man behind the shining silver mask sighed and looked back to the image.

"She's learning fast," he said, "About three weeks ago, she contacted fire itself."

"What!?" Arline gasped, a beaming smile on her face. "That's amazin- I mean," she corrected herself as her master glared at her again, "Ohhh bad, bad Arline. Sorry."

He faced her fully. He wasn't too much taller than her, but his presence spoke volumes about his thoughts on her attitude. She winced as he calmly said, "It's a miracle she didn't kill herself, or anyone around her."

"I know," she admitted, ruffling her own hair as she hissed, "I know! She spied on me a few times while doing meditation, and wanted to know how I was a ninja, or something," she explained. The figure before her buckled, perhaps refraining from a laugh. "See?" she pointed at him, "You try telling that kind of person to stop being nosey!"

"Fair point," the teacher told his pupil.

"So, why did she contact fire?" Arline inquired.

The masked head tilted to the side. "She needed help," he simply said, "Guardians of the woods apparently were being... obstinate with her," the master turned away, and wove his hand again. A framed image appeared, showing a scene in slowed down time. Several large beings of stone, wood, ivy, and mud were being tossed back from a A-framed building. A massive burning bird swooped down before them, blocking them from a large wooden building. Behind the bird were five people, one of which included Mabel Pines.

Arline smiled. "Mabel," Arline walked over to the image. She spotted the burns on her hands. "Oh no, sweetheart!"

The teacher spoke, "The situation was complicated."

Arline quickly spun to him. "How did–"

"–A phoenix respond to a girl with her inexperience?" He answered for her. "Well, it didn't. Not without a little nudge from…" he trailed off, and shifted himself.

Arline stared at him. She scoffed. "You did it, didn't you? You sent the phoenix."

He shrugged. "She called to fire, and fire... well, putting it gently, without that phoenix that girl may never have had the chance to use her hands again."

Arline cringed, her entire face scrunching. That ate at her terribly. "Damn it," she said, scolding herself this time, "If I had even slightly known she might pull something like that, I would have at least warned her of what could happen! I –" she caught the silent stares of her master and wilted. "I... I know," Arline nodded solemnly, looking to her own hands.

The master watched her for a moment, and then looked back to the picture. "Her brother also shows promise."

"Her... brother?" Arline asked, looking up from her hands. "I never trained him."

"No. But you, admittedly, trained the girl well enough where he is quickly picking up on the tricks of the paths just from her," the master approached his student with graceful strides, looking between the two pictures. As he walked next to her, he wove his hands to make another portal, this time showing a brown-haired teen who looked very similar to the young lady shown before.

Arline stepped closer, inspecting the sight. "So, that's Dipper," Arline stated as she looked over the teenager, "Mabel, my apprentice, she's told me about him. Smart kid."

"I don't need to remind you the danger, and accomplishment, for a girl to reach out for help like that. And all within a few years training," The master told her, "But what I do need to tell you is that now they will be in danger."

"What?!" Arline gasped. "How? Why?!"

"Same reason I took you, Nadan, Darren, Rin, all of them, out of the equation: our dear friend Sefu," he said in an amused, bitter tone. She scowled at the name, and he continued, "He isn't an idiot. He'll find them. If he doesn't, Kinley will. Without proper masking and training, they will be exposed to encounter the apprentice Graupner, and it may cost them their lives," the master warned Arline. She had begun to chew on her hair, worriedly focusing on his warnings. He sighed, and swatted the hair out of her mouth, "Focus, Arline, " he told her, "If you want to keep them safe, I suggest you go to Gravity Falls yourself and protect them."

She turned to sight of the twins. Mabel, and her brother Dipper, learning the way of the paths without guidance, was already a dangerous concept. Then again, so might be bringing to light another user of the paths. She turned back to her master, and quickly pointed out, "Won't that bring more attention to the town? My arrival could stir up the hive, you know. Wouldn't we want to take them away?"

"No," he shook his head. With a snap of his fingers, the portals began to expand and grown. Soon, Arline could see no end to the portal. The white void had been replaced. All that surrounded them was lush forest. Tall, red-barked trees dotted the landscape, and the air smelt of mushroomy earth.

Arline scowled. "Oh sure," she grumbled as she looked around herself, "He tells me 'Meditate to help focus your mind', 'untap the hidden powers we all have buried inside ourselves'. At what point, master," she growled, "Were you going to teach anyone how to do this? This is nuts. Like, am I even dreaming still?"

He chuckled, and turned, striding towards the denser area of the woods. "You're still dreaming. And no, you should go watch them."

"Why not? We could defuse the situation," Arline explained, chasing his stride.

His path was not an easy one to follow, but Arline did her best. He said, never turning back to her, "You are probably right. We could remove them from the situation, and they would, potentially, be safe. But you make the mistake in assuming they are the kinds of teenagers who want to leave."

Arline grumbled, "Yeah, sounds like Mabel, alright. Had to spend weeks convincing her not to just start kicking people in the chin for badmouthing her."

"And," the master added, pushing deep into the viny, tangled woods, "Because I want you nearby the real target. You see, the twins were not what was sought-after," he explained. He, and Arline following, strode through a seeming wall of vines and tangled thorns. Arline hummed, ripping her way through as she followed after a man who seemed as unflappable as shadow itself. Once through, she saw a meadow before her. The ground twinkled. Her master had turned, and held a hand out before the clearing, saying "But they did reveal something very, very important."

Her eyes focused on a dart dot about a hundred feet from her, in the direct center of the grove. It was like a small water-droplet of inky darkness. Her imagination ran wild as she stared at it. It felt wondrous. It felt… magical. "What is that?" Arline pointed, as a ripple of light shone around the grove, exposing countless jewels around four boulders.

Perhaps bored with it, the master stated, "A relic. A stone. You could even call it a dam."

"A dam?"

"Should Sefu find it," the master told her, "I fear he will be able to use something in the town to perform his ritual he has been working on for a hundred years."

The light that shone in Arline Hirsch's eyes darkened. The second time this name was mentioned, she visibly tensed. The skin of her fists tightened, the scars reflecting the mystical light of the forest around them. Through a clamped jaw, she declared, "So, I can finally fight him, huh?" she asked, seeking some sort of permission.

The master spun to her urgently. "You know the answer I'll give you."

At first, she scowled. She awaited a solid answer, a denial to her long, awaited taste of satisfaction. To her growing excitement, she received no such pains. She looked closely at the mask. Excitement flooded her mind, and her breath hastened. "You… you aren't saying no," she told him.

He shook his head. "Nor can I. I can't tell you to do anything anymore, Arline," the person said, and walked towards her. His gloved hands reached to her shoulders, grasping them fondly and gently. What thirst for violence Arline felt faded with this smallest of gesture. He softly explained, "You're not my student, anymore, Arline. You are your own person. You're always learning, and now you've begun teaching. Though I was harsh, you've done a wonderful job."

Arline's eyes swam, and she did her best from letting her chin and lip quiver. Those were words she had never thought she'd never hear in her life.

He wasn't done. "I can't tell you to stop teaching others, nor would I. Our relationship isn't what it was a decade ago. If you want to do what I ask, I'll be very happy. But if you think this is too dangerous, and you want to stay the normal life, I will understand."

His offer was not one with flowers, comfortable beds, or fame. What she was going to be tasked to do, if it was anything like the old days, was dangerous, risky, and secretive. Arline smirked. "I'm in," she announced.

Though no smile could be seen, she was sure she could feel it. "Learn to be a better teacher," he urged her, "And I ask you, not order," he told her, "Go to Gravity Falls. Don't look for the fights, but protect the town. If you must fight, to defend and guard Mabel and Dipper, do so. But watch where the flame spreads," he warned her, his grip tightening only slightly, "For not all burns so easily."

His caution was not so easily lost on Arline. With a heavy breath, she patted his hand. "Copy that, Master. I won't just go looking to punch him in the face until he explodes, or whatever."

He sighed, a stunning relief emitting out from behind the mask. "Good," he exclaimed, "Good! Remember: watch the twins. Watch the town. Keep them save, and I will deal with the other forces of the warlock."

"Yeah. You take care of the jerk and his jerk-intern, or whatever," Arline chuckled.

"Remember, these two show promise. Instruct them and watch over them as best you can."

She nodded. Watching him raise one of his gloved hands, Arline blinked. There was a new thought that had come to her, one she had never thought she'd need to ask. "Hey!" she called, and he stalled from a motion. "What do I call you now, since you're not my teacher? I can't imagine master is going to work for you."

As before, she was certain he smiled. The mask, blank and silver, blankly returned her stares. "When this is all done, I promise you that you will know my name." He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers.

Arline gasped and opened her eyes.

She was back in the apartment. The fire had faded, and the ashes smoked a gentle trail of smoke into the air. Arline Hirsh turned towards a single simple clock on the wall. Only a few minutes had passed. She was sweating, and she felt herself slowly fall back. Thoughts buzzed through her head angrily as she tried organizing them.

She growled. "Ohh, he's lucky I'm not there to just start pommeling him! He was alive," she growled.

There would be time to scold him later. Now that he was alive in her world, she could slap him across that stupid mask at some point. He was right though: Mabel and her brother would need her help if the apprentice was at Gravity Falls. She would be needed; teacher Arline was called to war.

She stood up and ran towards a large duffle bag next to the wardrobe, and began to shove things into it. There was no time to waste. She'd leave as soon as she was ready.

As she hastily stuffed in several outfits, a dawning realization crashed on her. "Wait! That idiot didn't bother to tell me where Gravity Falls is!" She fell to her knees, and let out a pained moan, "Augh, come on! Why you gotta do me dirty like this?!"

---

"Ugh' c'mon," a beanie-wearing, brown-haired teenager grumbled. He sat upon a wooden floor. Before him was a crate-turned table, and a grid of black and red. His accomplice, a figure who seemed similar in age with significantly darker skin, and what appeared to be small leaves protruding from his hair, lifted a black chess knight and removed a white bishop from the board.

The opposing being of apparent teenager age, who had just moved a piece, announced, "Check."

The beanie-wearing teen scowled. "What?"

"I implore you: use your time wisely. Revise your strategy," the dark skinned, pinkish-purple eyed teen told him while shaking his head. They sat together in a gift shop. Between them, a fierce game of chess raged. It seemed victory, or defeat, was close at hand.

Dipper Pines scowled as he scratched his head through the beanie he recently acquired. His opponent watched him carefully, perhaps a tad worried despite his clear tactical advantage on the board. The room around them was a hodge-podge mess of hardly fitting planks of wood, all covered with various signs and posters encouraging guests to stop by and spend their money. They were, after all, in a world-famous location: The Gravity Falls Mystery Manor. Many more signs and posters laid against a wall, not yet nailed, or glued, to any surface. They had been abandoned as of yet, for tourist season had not begun.

As Dipper lowered his hands from the beanie while scanning the board, he found what he thought was an acceptable answer to his solution. Uki-Dohth, the stranded scientist-alien, had been challenged by Dipper to a small game of chess. It was a three-day crash course in learning how to play. To Dipper's dawning horror, it seemed he picked up too quickly. Once the Alien had grasped the rules, it had gone downhill from there. It was all the two had been able to do today, game after game of Dipper vs Uki-Dohth, or Yuki, as everyone was prone to calling him.

"I told you, I have this," Dipper responded darkly to Yuki, gritting his teeth as he hastily moved a rook.

Yuki made to point, but withheld himself. "Dipper, my friend," Yuki warned him, "By moving the rook-"

"I don't want your lectures!" Dipper huffed, leaning into the board, checking every possible outcome, "Move!"

"Very well," Yuki swallowed nervously and moved his queen, "Check-mate."

"WHAT?!" Dipper gasped, looking around, "No, that – that can't be right!" He pushed himself to a new angle and gasped. He had moved incorrectly. He let out a long, exhausted groan and flopped onto his back. "Why did I do this to myself?"

Yuki, distressed at Dipper's dissatisfaction, did what he did best. "I... I am sorry?" Yuki meekly apologized.

Dipper looked to him, laying on his back. "Well, you did it. Five in a row. I can't believe that. So much for me being the chess guy around here."

"Oh, Dipper, you certainly still are a skilled man," Yuki wove a consoling hand through the air, in attempts to mend ego. "My ability comes from experience, my friend. There was I played very similar to this, but with multiple boards and different angles of approach," Yuki assured him. He then extended a friendly hand of congratulations, "You mustn't be hard upon yourself. You calculate very well for one of your age."

Dipper eyed the gesture. Yuki had been only honest and caring since his arrival over a week ago. He never lied, and was certainly among the most ethically and morally minded souls Dipper had ever come across. If Yuki handed him a compliment, the Xabvri meant it. Dipper allowed a smile onto his face. He couldn't be mad at a person like Yuki. He pushed himself up and extended his own hand and-

"Just a few more minutes!"

Dipper and Yuki were both knocked aside as a fifteen-year-old girl with brown hair barreled past them, knocking aside all the pieces and then tripping on their arms. Mabel Pines slammed into the wooden floor, rolling aside and knocking over an entire display piece for post cards. The chess parts, the postcards, and possibly a few screws to the display piece, all fell aside, scattering the floor with clutter. She had become, in but a short moment, a true human cannonball.

From the floor, she groaned, "Owwww..." Once the commotion of falling debris' clatter came to a stop.

Letting the world stop spinning first, Dipper spat out a pawn. "Mabel," Dipper tried talking to her calmly as he lay on the ground, staring at the ceiling, "This is the ninth time. Calm. Down."

"I caaan't," she whined. Without regard for any prior injury she may have self-inflicted, she rolled on the floor. Wheeling closer to her brother, instead of reasonably standing up, she once again told him, "He'll be here in a few minutes!"

Dipper didn't look to his sister. "I know."

"Not a few hours!"

"I know..."

"Or a day!"

"I know."

"Or-"

"Mabel!"

The screen door that led outside swing open. "Hey, dudes," a new voice called about. Red hair under a thick hat, and enough chill-attitude to sedate a bear, Wendy Corduroy walked into the gift shop. She held her bag of magazines and collected mail from the mailbox. "Wanna- whoa," she spied the mess of bodies lying on the floor, "Uh, you're all good, right?"

Covered with several post-cards, Yuki coughed. "We are uninjured," Yuki replied as he picked himself up from the floor easily, and began to lift up the fallen pieces to the display, "Mabel is unable to contain her elation."

Choosing to remain grounded, Mabel rolled over to see her redheaded friend. "It's almost time, Wendy!" Mabel giggled on the floor. She proceeded to roll around in circles without hesitation, tangling postcards into her hair.

Eying her chaos, Yuki added scientifically, "I would call it a frenzy." They all watched Mabel spin in circles. He then concluded, "But, I suppose this isn't all that uncommon for Mabel, is it?"

"Actually," Dipper told him as he helped lift things up, "It sort of is. This is the most excited I've seen her in a long time."

"Same," Wendy nodded, as she took her sentry's post by the cash register, "Mabel is always on mode: hyper, but not like this," she added. To Wendy's example, Mabel would shoot up rigid-straight, and then fall face-first onto the ground, or fall backwards onto her back. With the rocking momentum, she would then reverse herself back upwards, to repeat this process. With concern, Wendy smiled and told Yuki, "She's going crazy."

A voice that bore gruff, capitalistic intent, and harbored family drama, called out, "Who's adding repairs to my gift shop?" Grunkle Stan walked into the room, followed closely by Soos, the Mystery Manor handyman. Mister Mystery was holding something behind his back. Soos was carrying two large paper bags at his side, presumably the same thing that Stanley held.

"No one. It's just Mabel," Dipper pointed his thumb over his shoulder, "Hitting the floor with her face."

"Oh. Sweety," Stan kindly asked the teenager as she continued to swat the ground with her forehead, "Please don't bend the floorboards with your face," Grunkle Stan reminded her firmly as he walked into the center room. "Or the back of your head. Or any part of your body. Don't break my house."

"Blah," Mabel declared as she lay on the ground, panting heavily, "My mind races, but my body is soft and weak. I... must... continue... excite... " Mabel, clearly unwilling to face the end of her energy, pulled her legs and arms into her chest. She became, once again, a ball. With a small "Whoop-whoop-whoop," she began to roll around the floor.

"Wow, I gotta say, that's kind of impressive," Soos commended her ability to remain in ball-form as she bounced around the floor.

"Okay, okay," Grunkle Stan rounded the remaining stable and sane members of the room to attention, "I know things have been kind of boring around here so far. You know, tourist season was just starting to kick into gear, and the building only finished a few days ago, I get it. But this is game time, kids!" Grunkle Stan announced with a proud wave of his free arm.

"Oh. Joy," Wendy rolled her eyes, "Work."

"Oh yeah!" Stan nodded slowly, eager for the cash to flow. "And if there's work, there's money!" Stan pointed to them, "And plenty of unsuspecting tourists waiting to throw their cash at us if we can show them the best case of fake supernatural wonders this side of the planet!"

This open excitement for scam-ery was not new for most present members. For the intelligent, but naive alien, it was a learning process. Yuki looked around worriedly. "I am uncertain towards my acceptance of my position in all of this," Yuki raised a hand as he spoke. "Isn't all of this dishonest?"

Grunkle Stan glared at him. "Shush. You don't get to say anything about this until you move out," Grunkle Stan quickly told him. Yuki lowered his hand and his head in rejection. Grunkle Stan continued, "So! We'll need to make sure we get as many signs showing where we are, and what we do and, of course, the most important sign of all-" he showed his hand, revealing a worn sign with the simplest words, "No refunds! Now, who wants to go out and put up all three hundred and fifty-one signs around the woods until every other tree points to this building?"

Wendy, quickest on the draw, started saying, "One, two, three,", and then put a finger to her nose, "Not it."

"Not it," Dipper put a finger to his nose as well.

"Not it!" Mabel mumbled from her ball as she scooted across the floor.

"Not it!" Soos declared, following the pattern.

They all slowly turned to Yuki, who eyed them all with a curious stare. "Ah... shall I say 'not it' as well? Or do I not belong to this secretive club?" he asked around.

"Congratulations," Stan walked up to him, and dropped the sign around his neck, "You'll need these as well," he took the bags from Soos and landed them into Yuki's open arms, who gasped at the sheer number of wooden plaques inside the bags, "And then you'll need the hammer and nails in the golf cart." Stan stared at the alien, who stared back in shock. "Well? Get going," Grunkle Stan ordered as he turned around, "And you all let me know if we get any lost tourists. We need to start scamming these shmucks before time rings out!"

"Sure thing, Stanley," Wendy nodded and put her legs up on the counter. Stan marched off and Yuki looked to all of them. Dejectedly, he sighed before lifting the bags up and starting to walk out. Yuki looked over his shoulder once more, his eyes swimming in fear and uncertainty.

Soos, forever with a sympathetic heart, called out, "Aw, I can't leave a bro hanging like that," and he followed Yuki. "C'mon dude, I can show you how to operate the golf cart!"

Yuki shuddered. "Ugh," he mentioned as they left together, "Combustion engines cause me fright."

As the two left the room, Wendy looked to Dipper. He felt only the smallest amount of judgement coming from her. "Look," Dipper explained as Wendy stared at him, "I don't feel particularly obliged to help Yuki when he can beat me at chess five times in a row." As he bent to pick up the chess board, Mabel rolled over it, flattening it back over the floor. Dipper snapped, "Mabel! Stop it, would you!?"

"Never!" she roared from her fetal-position ball of death. Through her one-woman demolition sphere, Mabel finally met an end at the hands of the wooden island counter. Crumpling to the floor, Mabel groaned.

Chuckling, Wendy leaned over the counter. "You alright?" she asked the twin. When Mabel blew a raspberry, Wendy asked, "Mabel, tell me you've tried something other than just standing around all day?"

"Uh... not really," Mabel admitted, "I just can't get it out of my head. You know? Time moves too slowly for me now!"

"Hm..." Wendy looked around the room, her green eyes scanning the contents of the gift shop, and then they widened upon spotting something. "I know what you need Mabel," she said with confidence as she pushed herself over the counter and landed before Dipper, walking past the boy of nearly equal height.

"Wendy?" Dipper asked as she strode towards the radio. His face grew red- she bent down and started fiddling with the knobs and buttons, tuning for the right station, giving Dipper a chance to examine a particular part of her body.

"Dipper," Mabel hissed quietly and kicked his leg after she noticed him staring for longer than a second.

"Ow! What?" he replied angrily, rubbing his leg as he blushed, "Whaaat? I... what?"

Music started to flow. Wendy groaned, and tuned the station. Again, and again she didn't find the station adequate. Music blared loudly, uncertain in origin but proud and resolute in its conviction. "Yes!" she shouted, and punched a hand into the air. Electric guitar strummed with a bouncy jaunt, and was soon joined by a triumphant saxophone. It was almost fan-fair like, if it wasn't for the clear bass and drums. This was old nineties alternative rock.

Dipper's ears picked up the piece. "Is... is this the Amazingly Amazing Brass-Stones?" Dipper asked with a few blinks.

Wendy decided to reply by singing along with the lyrics.

"Have you ever seen someone so nice and kind, so great you just could die?" she sung with the lead, a laid back but energetic voice, "Have you ever felt a need so dire? Or the urge to say goodnight?"

"No!" Dipper started to sing.

"Well!" Mabel popped up, finally on her feet again, entirely educated on the lyrics of the song.

Triumphantly, the three hollered, "IIII never could go without you!" with the main chorus, a powerful symphony of the entire band and an actual chorus backing them up. "But I had nightmares that I had! And it makes me wonder if I would! It makes me wonder if I-"

"Never had to let you go!" Mabel sang alone, pointing to Dipper.

"Could I do it to save us both?" Dipper gave it his best, and directed to Wendy.

She leapt over the counter, and lifted a broom end to her face, a mock microphone stand. "I sometimes freak out for us both," Wendy rocked on with her broom, dancing on the counter.

"That's the one dream that I had!" the three of them sang in unison, and each began their own dance. Mabel was cheering as she threw her arms above her head, spinning in circles as she let her hair do most of the movement for her. Wendy was doing an amazing job of rocking out with her broom-guitar on the counter, and Dipper did his best subtly notice her.

He was torn between the addictively good feelings of the music and just watching her. She seemed so happy and carefree, her red hair bobbing around her as she elevated her life, in manners both physically and mentally, by going nuts on the counter. He wanted to join her, dance around with her and go crazy, let himself unwind a moment. He could wait though. He didn't want to risk the counter falling down or anything bad like that.

"Dipper!" Wendy shouted as she leapt down and tossed the broom at him, "Give us a sick sax-solo!" He caught it with a moments fumble, yet wasn't a second off with his addition to their fun. He gave her his best air-sax, and the girls cheered animatedly. There was a power in his chest that just said 'screw it', and he kicked up his foot on the corner of the wooden island, displaying all the swagger he possibly could.

Over the laughter, over the music, Mabel's ears perked up. There was the grinding of gravel. Wheels churned along the driveway to the Mystery Manor. Mabel's eyes widened. Somehow, despite all the other noise of the loud music, they heard a truck door slammed shut.

Mabel hyperventilated. "Is... Is He-"

Mabel turned and sprinted out of the doors. Dipper and Wendy could have sworn Mabel had actually created a whirlwind behind her as she blasted her way out of the gift shop. They followed, not bothering to turn down the music.

As the three stepped outside, there was a dirty pickup-truck that had pulled up. "Mabel!" a middle-aged man called to her from the truck. He wore jeans overalls and a plaid button up, giving the cornsilk haired man the look of a farmer. "I have someone who wants to see you," he called as she slid to a stop, nearly splintering the wood beneath her heels. He opened the doors, and a particular noise drifted out: oinks.

Tears in her eyes, Mabel tearfully cried out, "Waddles!"

Mabel's outcry was followed by a loud squeal. Brown hair teenager and pink-skinned pig with a black circle over his eye ran towards one another. Waddles the pig, now four times his previous size, darted from the truck. Their reunion was a grand collision in the air, as Mabel caught the pig and landed in a roll around the ground, kissing and nuzzling the soft-skinned animal as it licked her continuously.

Smiling ear to ear, the farmer approached Mabel and Waddles. "Sorry for taking so long to get up here," the man told her as he rubbed the pig's belly. "Working the petting zoo has been a little busy. School was let out and it all went to muck. Seven different field trips just the other day!" he declared.

It mattered little to Mabel. Her soul-animal was here. All she could say was, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" As she let go of Waddles and clamped her arms around the midriff of the of the farmer. "Thank you so much, Mister Marshall!"

"Not a problem, Mabel," the man stood up and away from her, but not before rubbing the ears of Waddles one last time, "You be good, mister troublemaker, got it?"

"Well," Dipper sighed from the side as he and Wendy watched the blissful reunion with a girl and her pig, "At least now she'll have waddles to be excited with, right?" he suggested.

"Dancing wasn't a bad idea though," Wendy pointed out, and Dipper laughed.

"Well, I need to head out," Mr. Marshall stated aloud, "Drive back will take the rest of the gas tank. Take care you two!" he pointed to Mabel and the pig. He spotted Dipper and Wendy. "Good morning," he nodded to both of them. They waved back, and the man climbed into his truck, and started to back away.

Just as the car fully spun around, Grunkle Stan stepped out, rubbing his ears. "Yeesh. What's with the insane-o music?" he asked of the two. "And who was that?"

"That was the guy who Mabel had to trust Waddles to when we went back home," Dipper told Stan.

"Oh. Huh. Neat. What was he doing here?" he asked the two of them. Without any prior coordination, Wendy and Dipper simultaneously pointed to their right. Stan's gaze followed the both of their points. There was Mabel, with – oh, he saw him finally. His old eyes widened and he gasped. He saw the snuggling pig. "What. What? No... no... No! It's even bigger than it was before!"

"He grew up!" Mabel declared, spotting Grunkle Stan's disbelieving stares, "Like me and Dipper!" Waddles squealed delightfully, and Mabel cooed. "Aww, that's right! You remember Grunkle Stan, don't you?" she asked the pig, rubbing his big, fat cheeks.

"And no one felt like telling me the pig was coming back to my home!?" Grunkle Stan rounded on Dipper and Wendy, who both side-stepped away.

"Wasn't our problem, man," Wendy shrugged.

Dipper cleared his throat, not quite as brave as her. "What she said. Besides, he was fine last time," Dipper pointed out, "Now that he's bigger, maybe he'll be your guard dog."

"He'll be the lazy guard dog that eats all the food I store away!" Grunkle Stan bellowed angrily. "Or my magazines! Or my... ANYTHING!"

"Aww, that sounds adorable!" Mabel laughed as she scratched her loving soul-bound animal behind the ears.

Grunkle Stan's long cry for help echoed around the forest. It frightened a gnome having a squirrel bath. Somewhere in the woods, a flock of quails with question mark feather crests scattered, crying out, "Where? Why?" The echoing cries disturbed Yuki and Soos, who were busy trying to teach the alien the concept of 'hammer and nails'. With or without the cries of Stan Pines, the teaching was going, somehow, poorly.

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We're back everybody, along with the pig! :D Season two is under way!

So, what are your predictions guys? Anything in particular you guys expect, or want, to see happen? I'm all ears for the ideas. OH, speaking of which, remember to check out my other Gravity Falls story being written now- Strongholds and Serpents, based off Episode 8, of the same name. If you really, really liked all the fun possibilities of the gang with powers of fantasy characters, you should check it out.

Well guys, this is going to be a long season, with 20 episodes instead of 10, so expect the long haul. Basically, sometime around October this year is when season two ends and Season three picks up. Yup. Oh yeah. You just got yourself invested into a two year long series of events. Good luck.

So, quickly enough, sorry for the possible confusion the first half of the prologue may have caused you guys. There needed to be a little exposition and foreshadowing for the coming weeks ahead of us, else you all would be like 'whaaa' cus I know I'd be like 'whaaa'.

Anyhoo, I've talked enough. Next week, we begin with season two, episode one! Simply titled: 'Totally Real Paranormal Ghost Shows'. Gags, funs, scares, and a whole mess at the Mystery Manor on it's opening day! Be sure to tune in next Sunday! You know we'll be here!

No random death today! :p

-EZB

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