It was just your typical summer day for the Pines twins.

"Are you ready, bro?" Mabel asked as she held out her 'Sir Syrup'.

"I'm always ready," Dipper replied as he held out his 'Mountie Man'.

"Then you know what this means."

The twins were holding a competition to see who would be the first to get a drop of syrup in their mouths. In the end, Mabel won. She did choke on the syrup, but it was worth it.

Dipper started to read the magazine. He found something that excited him.

"Mabel, look at this," he said as he showed the magazine.

Mabel gasped in excitement. "Human-sized hamster ball? I'm human-sized."

"No, this." On the next page was a 'Monster Photo Contest'. The prize money was 1000 dollars. "We see weirder stuff than that every day. We didn't get any photos of those gnomes, didn't we?"

"Nope, just memories."

That's when Stan came into the room.

"Good morning, knuckleheads," he greeted. "You two know what day it is?"

The twins didn't know what day it was.

"Happy anniversary?" Dipper guessed.

"Mazel tov!" Mabel guessed.

Stan hit Dipper in the head with his newspaper.

"It's family fun day, genius," he said. "We're cutting off work and having one of those, you know, bonding-type deals."

Dipper had a bad feeling about this. "Grunkle Stan, is this gonna be anything like our last family bonding day?"

Dipper and Mabel thought back to the day Stan taught them how to make counterfeit money and got caught by the cops.

"The county jail was so cold," Mabel stuttered.

"Alright, maybe I haven't been the best summer caretaker," Stan admitted. "But I swear, today we'll have some real family fun. Now who wants to put on some blindfolds and get in my car?"

"Yay!" both kids cheered.

Play Gravity Falls Intro Music

A bus stops in the small town of Gravity Falls. Dipper and Mabel get off the bus. In front of them is the town's star attraction, The Mystery Shack. Their great-uncle, Stan, invites them inside.

The twins look around the shack. They're both curious about everything.

Later, the Pines investigate a strange footprint with four toes instead of five. None of them realize they're standing in a much larger footprint.

DIPPER

Dipper looks around a cave holding a candle for light. He comes across a strange skeleton that scares him. He drops his candle, getting rid of his only source of light.

MABEL

Mabel stands in a room wearing a purple sweater with stars, her name, and a rainbow. She plugs an outlet into her sweater, causing it to glow.

STAN

Stan tells the twins, Wendy, and Soos a scary story. Soos and the twins are terrified while Wendy is completely unfazed. However, none of them notice the scary creature behind them.

WENDY

Wendy sits in front of the cash register, minding her own business. She doesn't notice the nearby jar of eyeballs turning to face her.

SOOS

Soos spins around the living room wearing multiple jewels on his clothes. Mabel shines a flashlight, and the light reflects off of the jewels creating a beautiful lightshow.

Dipper and Mabel lay in their room. Mabel reads a girl magazine while laying on the floor. Dipper reads a journal while laying on his bed. After a second, everyone and everything begins to float off the ground. Dipper is the only one who notices something off.

End Intro

One Cruel Summer

Chapter 2

The Legend of the Gobblewonker

Dipper and Mabel were blindfolded, so they had no idea where they were going. This made Dipper feel uneasy.

"Grunkle Stan, are you wearing a blindfold?" he asked.

"No," Stan replied. "But with these cataracts, I might as well be. What is that, a woodpecker?"

Dipper then felt the car hit something. This made him scream.

After what felt like hours, the trio finally reached their destination.

"Okay, open them up," Stan ordered.

Dipper and Mabel removed their blindfolds to see Stan wearing fishing gear. Above him was a banner.

FISHING SEASON OPENING DAY

"Ta-da, it's fishing season!" Stan announced.

"What are you playing at, old man?" Dipper asked, still suspicious.

"You're gonna love it," Stan assured. "The whole town's out here."

For once, Stan wasn't lying. The whole town really was out there on the lake.

Wendy and her family were among the many families and friends out there. Her dad was showing her and her brothers how to fish "like a man".

He managed to get a fish with his bare hands. He then started to wrestle with it. The boys cheered, "Dad! Dad! Dad!"

Wendy just rolled her eyes.

"Grunkle Stan, why do you want to bond with us all of a sudden?" asked Dipper.

"This is gonna be great," Stan replied. "I've never had fishing buddies before. The guys from the lodge won't go with me. They don't 'like or trust' me. Here, I even made these. I made them myself." Stan handed the twins fishing hats. Their names were poorly stitched onto them. "It's just gonna be you, me, and those goofy hats on a boat for ten hours. I brought the joke book."

"Oh shit," Dipper muttered. "There's gotta be a way out of this."

As if to answer his call, a crazy old man came from the dock. He had a bandaged right arm, caveman clothing, a brown, torn-up hat, and a long white beard with a band-aid on it.

"I seen it again!" he screamed, running around like an insane man. "The Gravity Falls Gobblewonker! Come quick before it scramdoodles away!"

He then started to dance. This didn't go unnoticed by the twins.

"Ah, he's doing a happy jig," Mabel smiled.

"No!" the old man shouted. "It's a jig of grave danger!"

That's when a lifeguard came out of the nearby shed.

"Hey, hey!" he shouted as he sprayed the old man. "What did I say about scaring my customers? This is your last warning, Dad."

"But I got proof this time, by gummity!" the old man yelled. He led the group to a damaged fishing boat. "Behold! It's Gobbledywonker what done did it! It had a long neck like a gee-raffe, and wrinkly skin like…" He pointed at Stan. "This gentleman right here."

Stan was too busy cleaning out his ears to listen. "Huh?"

"It chopped my boat up to smitheroons!" the crazy man continued as if Stan was paying attention. "It shim-shammed over to Scuttlebutt Island! You gotta believe me!"

"Attention all units," said the nearby sheriff. "We got ourselves a crazy old man."

Everyone started laughing at the old man, with a few exceptions. Stan had no idea what was happening, the lifeguard shook his head, disappointed, and the twins felt bad.

"Well, that happened," Stan remarked. "Now, let's untie this boat and get out on that lake!"

"Mabel, did you hear what that old dude said?" Dipper asked excitedly.

"'Aw, donkey spittle!'" Mabel imitated.

"The other thing, about the monster. If we can snag a photo of it, we could split the prize fifty-fifty. Imagine what you could do with five hundred dollars."

Dipper could tell Mabel was staring off into space again, likely imagining getting her hands on that human-sized hamster ball.

"Mabel!" he snapped her back to reality.

"Dipper, I am one million percent on board with this," Mabel replied.

"Grunkle Stan, change of plans," Dipper told Stan. "We're taking that boat to Scuttlebutt Island, and we are gonna find that gobblewonker."

"Monster hunt! Monster hunt!" the twins cheered together.

The crazy man from earlier joined until the twins stared at him. He backed away.

Before Stan could even say no, Soos showed up with an even larger boat. The 'S.S. COOL DUDE'.

"You dudes say something about a monster hunt?" he asked.

"Soos!" Mabel cheered.

"What's up, hambone?" Soos asked as he fist-bumped Mabel. "Dude, you could totally use my boat for a hunt. It's got a steering wheel, chairs, normal boat stuff."

"Alright, let's think this through," Stan said. "You kids could go waste your time on some epic monster-finding adventure, or you could spend the day learning how to tie knots and skewer worms with your great-uncle Stan."

The twins didn't need to think twice about this. They went with Soos, no questions asked.

Dipper stood in front of the boat heroically.

"Hoist the anchor!" he ordered. "Wave the flag!"

Soos raised the anchor, while Mabel waved a flag that she made.

"We're gonna find that gobblewonker!" said Mabel. "And win that photo contest!"

"Do any of you have sunscreen?" asked Soos.

"We're gonna go get sunscreen," said Dipper.

"Yay!" Soos and Mabel cheered as they turned around.

Once they got the sunscreen, Dipper paced around the boat.

"Alright, if we want to win this contest, we've gotta do it right," he said. "Think, what's the number one problem with most monster hunts?"

"You're a side character and you die in the first five minutes of the movie," Soos suggested. "Dude, am I a side character? Do you ever think about stuff like that?"

"No, no, no," Dipper replied. "Camera trouble. Say Bigfoot shows up. Soos, be Bigfoot."

Soos started to act like Bigfoot.

"There he is, Bigfoot!" Dipper acted overdramatically. "Oh no, no camera! Oh, wait, here's one!" Dipper took out a small camera. "Ah, no film!" He started speaking normally again. "You see what I'm doing here?" Mabel and Soos nodded. "That's why I bought seventeen disposable cameras. Two on my ankle, three in my jacket, four for each of you, three extras in this bag, and one under my hat. There's no way we're gonna miss this. Alright, let's test our cameras out."

Soos tested his camera. He held it the wrong way. He flashed himself, then accidentally threw his camera in the water.

"You see, this is exactly why you need backup cameras," Dipper said unfazed. "We still have sixteen."

Right as he said that, a bird came down. Mabel impulsively threw her camera at it.

"Fifteen," Dipper corrected himself. "Okay guys, I repeat, don't lose your cameras."

Right as he said that, he punched a camera by accident. He started to get agitated.

"So what's the plan?" asked Mabel. "Throw more cameras overboard?"

"No!" Dipper snapped before calming himself down. "Here's the plan. Mabel, you'll be lookout. Soos can work the steering wheel. I'll be captain."

"Why do you get to be captain? What about me?"

"I'm sure that's not a good idea."

"What about co-captain?"

"There's no such thing." Mabel threatened to drop another camera. "Fine! You can be co-captain! Now, as first captain, our number one order of business is to lure the monster out with this."

With everything in order, the trio headed for the island. Mabel started playing with a nearby pelican.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing lookout?" Dipper scolded.

"I am," Mabel assured. Right as she said that, the ship ran aground. "See, I'm a lookout genius? Hamster ball, here we come."

As the trio explored, Soos got distracted by a sign. It read, 'Scuttlebutt Island'. Soos covered the 'Scuttle' in 'Scuttlebutt', making the sign say, 'Butt Island'.

"Soos, you rapscallion," Mabel laughed.

That's when the trio heard a noise.

"What was that?" asked Dipper.

Mabel turned to Soos. "Was that your stomach?"

"No, my stomach normally makes whale noises," Soos replied.

Mabel listened to Soos' stomach. It did make whale noises.

"So majestic," she said.

That's when a possum showed up and took the lantern. Now, they were unable to see in the thick fog.

"I don't know, dudes," said Soos. "Maybe this isn't worth it."

"Not worth it?" Dipper reacted. "Soos, imagine what would happen if we got that picture!"

Dipper fantasized a reality where he got the picture and became the most popular man on Earth.

With that, the trio continued.

After walking around the woods for a while, they heard a growl. They then saw a bunch of birds flying away.

The trio made it to the source of the noise. They got their cameras ready.

It wasn't a monster. It was just a bunch of beavers.

"Then what was that monster noise?" Dipper wondered.

As if to answer his question, they heard the noise again. It was a beaver activating a chainsaw.

Maybe that guy was crazy after all, Dipper thought to himself. He did use the word 'scrapdoodle'.

Dipper sat at the edge of the pond and continued to think. He started to regret ditching Stan over something that turned out to be nothing.

Then he started to see vibrations in the water. He backed away from the water and looked around cautiously.

After a while, he noticed something swimming in the pond. He took out his camera and started taking pictures.

Dipper turned around to see Mabel and Soos backing away.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

When he turned back, the creature was right at him.

The trio ran in the opposite direction. The monster chased them.

Dipper turned back to get another picture.

He then tripped on a tree root. He dropped the camera. He tried to go back for it, but Soos grabbed him.

"If it makes you feel better, I got a ton of pictures of those beavers," said Soos.

"How the hell would that make me feel better?" asked Dipper.

The trio got onto the boat. Soos backed away and tried to head back to the dock. The monster still chased them.

Mabel started throwing cameras at the monster in an attempt to fend it off.

"Mabel, what the hell are you doing?" Dipper yelled.

"Don't worry, I got one left!" Mabel assured.

Mabel tossed the camera to Dipper. Dipper just barely caught it. He was about to get another picture with it when he noticed it wasn't right.

"Cracked lens?" he yelled. "God dammit!"

After being chased for a while, they were heading towards a waterfall.

"Which way should I go?" Soos panicked.

Dipper skimmed through the journal before he found the answer. "Go to the falls! There might be a cave behind there!"

"Might be?" Mabel asked.

Thankfully, Dipper was right. There was a cave on the other side of the waterfall.

The monster stuck its head through as well. It reached out to eat the trio…

Thankfully, it was stuck.

This was the perfect opportunity. Dipper looked around for cameras. Thankfully, there was one more in his hat. He took multiple pictures.

"Did you get a good one?" asked Mabel.

"They're all good ones!" Dipper replied.

The twins hugged each other.

They turned back towards the monster. A piece of debris fell and hit the monster in the head. It fell to the floor. Its glowing yellow eyes turned black.

Dipper got a closer look at the monster. The harder he looked, the more… off, it felt.

He banged on the monster. He heard a metal clunk.

Dipper got even more curious. He climbed on top of the monster.

"Be careful, dude!" Soos yelled.

Dipper barely heard him. He noticed a knob on top of the monster.

"Hey guys, come check this out!" he called.

Once Mabel and Soos joined him, Dipper turned the knob. A hatch opened.

Inside the monster was a person. Not just any person, but the same crazy man from earlier.

"Old Man McGucket?" Soos asked.

Dipper turned towards Soos with a shocked look on his face. "He had a name this whole time?"

The crazy man seemed shocked and frustrated to see that he got caught.

"Banjo polish," he muttered.

"You made this?" Dipper asked. "Why?"

"I, I just wanted attention," McGucket replied.

"I still don't understand."

"Well, first I just hootenannied up a biomechanical brainwave generator, and then I learned to operate a stick shift with my beard."

"Okay, yeah, but why did you do it?"

"Well, when you get to be an old fella like me, nobody pays attention to you anymore. My own son hasn't visited me in months. So I figured maybe I'd catch his fancy with a fifteen-ton aquatic robot, and I would've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids and your dumb dude!"

"Hey!" Soos reacted.

"In retrospect, it seems a bit contrived," said McGucket. "You just don't know the lengths us old-timers go through for a little quality time with our family."

Dipper and Mabel realized that was exactly what they did to Stan. They both sighed, knowing, in a way, they were the real lake monsters.

"So, did you ever talk to your son about how you felt?" Mabel asked.

"No sir," McGucket replied. "I got to work straight on the robot. I made lots of robots in my day, like when my wife left me and I created a homicidal pterodactyl-tron, or when my pal Ernie didn't come to my retirement party, and I constructed an eighty-ton shame-bot that exploded the entire downtown area! Ha ha ha! Now, time to get back to work on the death ray! Any of you have a screwdriver?"

"Well, so much for the photo contest," Dipper sighed. "We still have one roll of film left. What do you want to do with it?"

Stan returned to the shore from a long, boring fishing trip. No kids, no friends, just him and the creepy fish bait.

That's when Dipper and Mabel returned.

"Kids, I thought you were playing Spin the Bottle with Soos," he reacted.

"We were trying to find a legendary dinosaur," Dipper replied. "But we realized the only dinosaur we want to hang out with is right here."

"Save your sympathy!" Stan yelled. "I've been having a great time without you, making friends, talking to my reflection, I even had a run-in with the lake police. Now I gotta wear this bracelet on my ankle, so that will be fun."

Stan did, in fact, have an ankle-bracelet.

"So I guess there isn't room in that boat for three more?" asked Mabel as she and Dipper put on their hats.

"You knuckleheads ever seen me thread a hook with my eyes closed?" Stan replied.

"Five bucks says you can't do it," Dipper betted.

"You're on."

"Five bucks says you can't do it with your eyes closed PLUS me singing at the top of my lungs!" said Mabel.

"I like those odds!"

With that, Soos and the twins got on the boat. Stan noticed Soos wearing a lifejacket with no shirt.

"What happened to your shirt?" he asked.

"Long story dude," Soos replied.

"Alright," said Dipper. "Everybody say 'fishing'!"

"Fishing!" Mabel and Stan said together.

Soos tried to get in the picture too.

"Am I in the frame?" he asked.

Only his fat stomach was in there. Dipper decided it was good enough. He took the picture.

A.N.

I enjoyed writing this chapter a bit more than I thought I would.

A part of me wanted to remove this episode and head straight to Gideon's introduction. The reason why I didn't was because this episode introduces McGucket, who would become an important character later on.

In the end, though, I still enjoyed writing this chapter, and adding some neat references to Scooby Doo and Owl House.

While I didn't skip this episode, I am gonna skip Headhunters. It was a fun episode, but it was mostly filler. There was the reveal that one of the wax figures survived and was hiding in the vents, but that didn't come back.

Anyway, that's all I have to say. Thanks for reading. Please favorite, follow, and review.