"HELP! SOMEBODY?! ANYBODY?!"
Dipper's cries for help had gone on for a solid minute. Knowing the bus to Gravity Falls would be arriving or departing at any moment, he didn't have the time to wait around any longer for help. He continued to try and pull his arms and legs apart from one another with his own strength in an attempt to break the ropes apart, but his struggles to free himself were to no avail.
Frustrated, he slumped back against a tree. Thinking over Tracey and Quattro, he couldn't recall himself ever being nearly as malicious when he was twelve as they were, considering they were basically exact copies of himself at that age, mentally and physically, but made of paper. He also found it kind of humiliating that he was overpowered and outsmarted by two younger clones himself. Almost as if he learned nothing from his last run-in with them.
"Think, Dipper. There's gotta be some way to get out of this," he told himself. "Think of yourself when you first made those clones. What did you know then? What have you learned to do since then?"
He thought for a moment. The night of the party when he made the clones in the first place was near the beginning of that summer. So he thought of everything that he had done later that summer. Everything he had learned to do. The people who had taught him things. Who probably knew best about getting out of tied-up situations?
Stan.
Of course. With Stan's extensive criminal history, he must've gotten out of many of these situations before. He had been handcuffed and arrested for his crimes several times, even referring to some of these experiences occasionally in front of him and Mabel.
Dipper began to remember one of Stan's said experiences. He shared an incident where he had been arrested for one of his scams. He had said that the cops had to pull over a speeding driver and he was left alone in the back of the cruiser. While no one was looking, he took his cuffed hands behind his back and brought them under and over his legs. While he was still cuffed, he had managed to get his arms in front of him again and was able to manage himself a bit better as he made his escape from the car.
"That's it!" Dipper figured out, the memory fresh in his head again.
He had never done it himself before, but he had a good idea of how to do it. He knew it wasn't an original idea by Stan himself, but exposure to the idea came straight from him.
He pressed his back against the tree and tried to lift his rear off the ground by pressing his restricted legs against the dirt. Once in position, he brought his arms underneath his leg. He sat on the ground again and placed his hands against the back of his feet. Then he slid his hands out in front of him as he lifted his feet.
"Yes! Haha! Thank you, Stan!" Dipper shouted gratefully at his success.
With his hands in front of him, he promptly began to untie the ropes wrapped around his legs. Once untied, he stood up from the ground and stretched each leg out. He then looked down at his hands, which were still linked together by rope.
Now, how am I gonna get out of this?
He looked around at his surroundings, searching for anything that might be able to aid him. Eventually, he spotted a tree stump with some sharp protruding edges. He quickly walked over to it and rubbed the ropes on his hands back and forth against the sharp edges with a sawing motion. He could feel himself cutting through the ropes little by little the more he sawed.
A few seconds later, he felt the ropes cut loose, freeing his hands. He rubbed his wrists from the discomfort of the constrictions but smiled at the fact that he had managed to successfully free himself on his own. His face then went serious once he remembered the current stakes. He ran toward the light outside that barely illuminated the dark woods he had stood within.
As soon as he stepped out of the woods, he immediately spotted the bus station across the street from him. Needing to know what time it was, he dove a hand into his pocket for his phone. However, he quickly realized it wasn't there.
"Where's my phone?" he asked aloud as he began to pat himself down for it. He then narrowed his eyes with growing annoyance. "Tracey and Quattro…"
Coming to terms with the fact that the two had stolen just about everything but the clothes on his body, he simply brushed it to the side, only letting it reinforce his want to get back at them once he got the chance.
He looked at the street in front of him, seeing that there were too many cars passing by, forcing him to have to wait before he could cross. Just as he leaned against the traffic light post, he noticed a bus pulling into the station. He squinted and was able to quickly catch the destination sign on the front of the bus, which read 'Gravity Falls'. Upon reading the sign, his heart dropped. He frantically pressed the 'Push for Walk' button as rapidly as he could.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!"
Eventually, the light changed and the red stop indicator changed to the blue walk indicator. Dipper quickly ran across the street and up to the front of the bus station as fast as he could.
"MABEL!" he shouted as he ran up to the station, hoping to somehow get Mabel's attention by calling her name from afar. "MABEL! WAIT UP!"
"THERE HE IS!" a voice called out.
Dipper stopped running as he turned his head to the side of the station, eyes widening once he noticed that it was the same crowd of people from Hermanos Brothers that had chased him before. They were still grouped together and had obviously noticed him.
"GET HIM!" a woman in the crowd shouted. As commanded, the crowd began to run after him yet again.
The crowd was basically in front of Dipper, and so there was no way he'd be able to keep running toward the station without getting intercepted. Despite wishing he didn't have to run away again, he knew he still had to try and escape them.
However, as soon as he turned to run, he immediately bumped into someone and fell back. Looking up, he noticed a police officer.
"Sorry, officer!" Dipper quickly apologized as he stood back up. However, as he tried to run past him, the officer grabbed him by the arm.
"Where do you think you're going, son?" the police officer asked, raising an eyebrow. "You think I don't know who you are and what you've done?"
As the crowd caught up and reached the two, Dipper felt his face pale. "Look, you guys don't understand! It sounds crazy, but there are these two kids who both look exactly like me when I was twelve that are pretending to look like an older person who stole and crashed all your cars! He's inside that station! If you follow me, I can show you guys!"
"I think we've heard enough, kid," the officer dismissed. "We've been looking for you for days. When we got the call from someone saying that you were actually running around town in pure daylight for once-"
"THAT WAS ME! I CALLED THEM!" a random man in the crowd cut off.
The officer cleared his throat and pretended to not hear the man. "Anyways, when we got the call, we knew this was our chance to finally catch you once and for all. And so it looks as though we have. You're going to jail, son."
With their apparent justice served, the crowd began to cheer. With his last bits of hope completely destroyed, Dipper sighed defeatedly. He couldn't run anymore. The bus to Gravity Falls had already pulled into the station and Mabel would be going back with Tracey and Quattro in his place. And he knew there was nothing he could do about it.
"Transfer bus to Gravity Falls!" the bus driver announced as he opened the bus doors.
Mabel grabbed her bags and stepped onto the bus, with Waddles following right behind her. The bus driver noticed Waddles and raised an eyebrow.
"Hey kid!" he called out to Mabel. "What's with the pig?"
Mabel turned back to the driver. "Oh, he's my pet pig, Waddles! You see, I got him back at a fair held by my Grunkle-"
"Kid, I mean why's he on my bus?" he cut off.
"Oh, well, how else is he gonna come with me to Gravity Falls?"
"Pigs ain't allowed on my bus."
"Alright, no problem," Mabel sighed, picking Waddles up and walking to the front of the bus. "But I'm not responsible for my Grunkles hunting you down when they find out you forced me to leave him behind."
The bus driver raised an eyebrow. "Are you threatening me?"
Mabel stepped outside of the bus with Waddles and turned back to him. "The only person threatening you is yourself, mister."
The way Mabel spoke to the bus driver was very static and almost monotone, which was oddly intimidating. He didn't quite understand what Mabel was implying exactly, but he wasn't really in a place of wanting to potentially find out either. He wasn't getting paid enough for it.
"Erm, you know what? Never mind, you can bring the pig on," the bus driver casually allowed, not daring to look at her again.
Mabel smiled as she stepped back on the bus with Waddles. "Smart choice."
The bus driver glanced back at her as she walked down the bus aisle. He turned back to the front again and gulped fearfully.
Quattro and Tracey, still disguised as Dipper, walked onto the bus. Quattro held a bag in his left hand while holding Dipper's phone directly in front of his face with his right hand. Tracey walked down the bus aisle somewhat clumsily as he stumbled and failed to maintain proper balance. Quattro was too distracted by the phone to notice Tracey's poor walking. Eventually, they reached a seat on the other side of the aisle from Mabel and sat down. However, Mabel was paying more attention to petting Waddles instead of their odd walking.
After a brief moment, the bus driver closed the doors and began to drive out of the station. Mabel looked up and around the bus, realizing that she and 'Dipper' were the only ones on board.
"Weird. There were more people on our last bus," she said as she turned to Quattro. She noticed that he was still staring at the phone. "Hah, you're really getting into that phone now, aren't you, Dipper? What happened? I thought weren't a phone guy."
Quattro turned to her. "Are you kidding me? This is the best thing I've ever seen! I can't believe these things actually exist! How do they make these things? How can they do so much? I mean, we went from the flip phone to this? How amazing is that?!"
Mabel raised an eyebrow. "Um, you know smartphones have been around for a while, right?"
"I mean... yeah, of course they have!" Quattro said. "It's just now... I actually have one! And it's cool, ya know?"
"Why are you suddenly impressed?" Mabel asked. "You used to gloat about how you've gotten your hands on like... super-duper advanced alien tech or something with Grunkle Ford."
"Grunkle Fort?" Quattro questioned. "You mean Grunkle Stan?"
"What? No, I mean..." Mabel started, confused. "Did you hit your head when you went to Hermanos Brothers?"
"Um… maybe I did? OOF!" Quattro suddenly exclaimed as though someone had just punched him in the stomach. "I mean, no! Duh! Of course I know who Grunkle Fort is! I'm not crazy!"
He turned back to his phone, leaving Mabel with a confused look on her face.
"Oookay then," she said before turning away from him. She looked out the window as the bus continued to move slowly out of the station.
As she looked out the window, however, she noticed some commotion going on outside. There was a large crowd of people cheering beside a police car. Right next to the car, she noticed what looked to be two officers handcuffing a teen boy and putting him into the back of the car. She squinted her eyes and analyzed the incident as closely as she could from the bus. Soon enough, the teen boy looked up at the bus, giving Mabel a clearer look at his face. Her skin grew cold at the realization.
Dipper?!
To her, it couldn't have been, but the boy looked exactly like him, minus his hat. As he looked on at the bus, however, he seemed to notice her. His eyes widened as he began to yell something directly at her, but she couldn't hear anything with the windows shut and the bus engine running loudly. Although it didn't take a genius to see he looked to be calling out for her help. As he kept trying to shout at her, the police began to force him into the cruiser, shutting the door behind him. From that point, the bus had driven far enough to a point where Mabel couldn't clearly see him or the rest of the commotion any longer.
She stopped looking out the window and stared straight at the back of the bus seat in front of her. Unsure what to think or what to do, she glanced over at the Dipper she thought was with her, who was still just playing on his phone. She took mental note of his strange appearance again, contrasting it to the other Dipper's appearance, which looked far more like the brother she knew, despite lacking his hat. On top of everything, 'Dipper' had been acting very suspiciously and strange since he came back from Hermanos Brothers. She then narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.
The bus came to a stop at the side of a curb. The bus doors opened as the driver stood up from his seat. He looked back at the two down the aisle.
"My shift's over," he said. "Y'all just hang here a sec for the new driver."
The driver stepped off the bus, leaving Mabel and 'Dipper' by themselves. The two sat in silence for a moment, Mabel glaring at her supposed brother as he paid no attention to anything but his phone.
"So, uh, funny story..." Mabel began, grabbing Quattro's attention. "I was just staring out the window while the bus was driving and I saw these police guys and, you know, they just happened to be arresting this one guy and that one guy just happened to be a guy that looks almost exactly like you except without the get-up and it's kinda funny because it looked like he was screaming at me for help, and I gotta say that he really did look a lot like you but that can't be because you're right here on this bus with me, so that means I'm probably just seeing things, right?"
Quattro stared at Mabel blankly for a good moment. His eyes glanced around the bus somewhat nervously before looking right back at her.
"Um, yeah..."
The two stared at each other for a good few seconds in silence before Quattro directed his attention back to the phone, although his face held a blank expression that read as somewhat anxious. Like he knew she was onto him.
"Yeah, I thought so," Mabel said calmly, glancing to the side. "So what are you gonna miss the most about Piedmont?"
"Oh, uh, you know," Quattro began, visibly trying to think of answers. "Mom and Dad, of course. Um, video games, books, and uh... high school, is it? Yeah, high school! Definitely gonna miss those... trigonometry textbooks...?"
"What about Derrick?" Mabel asked casually. "I don't know about you, but I know I'm gonna miss him. Soooooo much."
"Oh, uh, Derrick…" Quattro repeated nervously. "Cool guy, cool guy... Yeah, sure, I'll miss him too."
"LIAR!" Mabel screamed as she leaped from the other side of the bus and tackled Quattro, pinning him up against the window. "You don't know who Derrick is!"
"W-what?! Yeah, I do!" Quattro attempted to defend.
"No, you don't! And if you did, the real Dipper would call me out for saying I miss him. Because the real Dipper knows that I HATE Derrick! And so, you're not my real brother! WHO ARE YOU?!"
"Get off me!" Quattro demanded. Tracey assisted from below by kicking Mabel off and back to the other side of the bus. Tracey stood the two up, and Quattro got into a fighting stance. "You're losing it, Mabel. I'm your brother! Look! Isn't my face and voice enough prOOF?"
As his voice cracked again, he immediately covered his mouth, much to his dismay. Mabel recognized a voice crack when she heard it though.
"I knew something was weird when your voice suddenly became squeaky again!"
She lunged for a punch, which Quattro blocked. Tracey walked forward for Quattro to throw a punch back, but Mabel pushed him down the aisle of the bus. The push, however, sent Quattro flying off of Tracey's shoulders, taking the trench coat along with him, ruining the disguise as Tracey was unveiled from beneath. Both clones were now separately revealed to Mabel, much to her immediate confusion and surprise.
"What the…?" she asked, eye twitching.
Tracey turned back toward Quattro, who was lying on the floor of the bus with the trench coat covering him. "Way to go, wise guy! I knew I shouldn't have let you stay up top after the bus station exchange!"
"Like you would know that she hates Derrick," Quattro said, tossing the trench coat to the side.
"Two little Dippers? Well, that explains the prepubescent voice," Mabel snickered.
"Laugh it up. Now you have to fight two of us instead of one," Tracey said, readying himself for a brawl as Quattro joined right beside him.
"Fine by me. It's not like Dipper has ever been the most physically challenging. Much less younger Dipper," she said, cracking her knuckles readily. "I'll enjoy giving you both a good sisterly butt-kicking for old time's sake."
Tracey and Quattro jumped up at her, but she quickly punched the two back with ease. Quattro was pushed back against a bus seat, while Tracey was punched all the way to the front of the bus. Mabel then grabbed Quattro by the throat and held him up.
"Tracey!" Quattro choked. "Help me, man!"
Tracey pulled himself off the bus floor by pulling the gear shift down. He then jumped and grabbed onto Mabel's leg. Unbeknownst to him, however, he had put the bus in drive when pulling the gear shift, and they began to slowly move forward.
"I'm excited about my first day back on the job, Dave," a man said to Dave as they both walked down the sidewalk.
"Yeah, but I gotta warn ya, Paul," Dave said. "There's this girl on there with a pet pig. Now ya know we can't allow pets, but this girl... she's scary. Says that if her pig ain't allowed, her Grunkles are gonna git ya. Whatever the hell that means. I wasn't taking chances with that one though."
"Gee Dave, when did you become afraid of your own passengers?" Paul asked, chuckling.
CRACK!
The two men paused and looked up at the slowly moving bus. Right above them, they saw Quattro's face slammed against the window. The men watched in shock before Mabel pulled Quattro back and threw him aside.
"Ya see? I told ya. She scary," Dave reiterated.
"Wait a minute! There's no driver on that bus!" Paul quickly realized as he started to panic. "That bus is loose! We needa get help!"
Dipper sat in the back of the police car, feeling helpless after everything that had happened to him already. His hands were once again constrained behind his back, and while he had already gotten out of that bind once today, there was an officer in the front passenger seat of the car and the last thing he wanted to do was provoke a worse response from the cops for an attempted escape. Unfortunately, this wasn't Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland he was dealing with.
The other officer stood outside, checking in with the crowd and filing various reports for all the car theft and damage that Tracey and Quattro had caused that Dipper himself was now taking the blame for. Once the cop finished, it would be straight to jail.
He looked outside the window, where he could still see the bus that Mabel and his clones were on begin to drive away. He had seen Mabel on the bus when it passed him before and had tried to call out to her, but he wasn't quite sure if she was able to identify him or not. What could she have done anyway? Try to tell the police it wasn't him and that it was a pair of clones pretending to be him? Would probably just get her thrown in the cruiser with him and neither of them would reach Gravity Falls. But instead, she would be heading there with a pair of imposters while he'd be sitting in a cell. Not exactly how he expected his first day of summer to pan out.
"Holy...!" the officer inside the squad car suddenly shouted.
Dipper looked over, confused. The officer then stepped out of the car and ran up to the officer outside. The window was rolled down, so Dipper moved over to try to listen in on them.
"Listen here- we just got a report that a bus in the area on its way to Gravity Falls has been seen mobile without the attendance of a driver," the first officer alerted the other.
Dipper's eyes widened. He then looked back at the bus through the other window and saw that it was moving at a slow and steady rate, but noticed it was still moving among the curb instead of a lane. As he looked closely at the back window, however, he noticed that something was actually going on inside the bus. He squinted his eyes as they suddenly landed upon Mabel, gasping as he saw her pinning a clone's face against a window.
She knows.
Realizing she was fighting the clones, he knew she had to have realized that they weren't him. Though from the looks of it, he wasn't confident any of them knew that the bus was mobile.
To his luck, as he looked around the cruiser, he soon saw that the keys to the handcuffs were left behind in the front seat of the car. This particular cruiser didn't have a cage in the back, which meant he had easy access to the front. He looked over to the side and noticed the two officers were too distracted talking to one another, completely unaware of him being left alone in the car.
Huh, maybe these guys really are as bad at being cops as Blubs and Durland are.
Making use of the open opportunity, he pressed his back against his seat and pressed his feet against the back of the front passenger seat. Just as before, he slid his arms underneath his rear and then legs, bringing his arms in front of him once again. He quickly dove into the front seat and grabbed the keys, swiftly unlocking the handcuffs and freeing his hands- another practice Stan had taught him and Mabel plenty that finally came into use.
Never thought Stan's criminal teachings would help me twice in one day, but here we are.
Tossing the cuffs and keys to the side, he looked back at the police and the surrounding crowd, who were all still distracted. Realizing they were all on the left side of the vehicle, he opened the door on the right side of the car and snuck out, silently closing the door behind him. He kept his head low as he crept off, trying his hardest not to be seen as he crossed the street.
Upon reaching the other side, he got himself into a safe position that was out of sight from the police. He looked back over at the bus, which had driven too far off for him to catch up on foot.
"Great. How am I gonna catch up to that thing?"
As he looked around the town, he noticed a small car dealership on a nearby corner. He scanned a lineup of the various cars, ranging from old and used to new and fancy. As he went down the line, something caught his eye at the end.
"Ah-ha! Perfect!" he said with a growing smile.
A car dealer was standing beside a nice-looking SUV as he spoke to a pair of potential buyers.
"And there we have it! So with all of that said, let's talk price. How do y'all feel about, errr, let's say $25,000 for this here SUV? The coffin in the backseat included for no additional charge!" the dealer offered the customers.
Before either of the customers could say anything, Dipper ran up to the car dealer, intervening. "Hey man, my sister is on a runaway bus fighting two younger clones of myself, and I need to catch up to it and rescue her. You think I can borrow that to catch up to them real fast?"
"Well, actually kid, I was about to make a sale on this beauty to these people right here, so I don't think I can do that for you, unfortunately," the dealer told him.
"Oh, no, I was actually talking about that."
Dipper pointed beside the SUV, to which the dealer raised an eyebrow as he turned his head only to realize he was actually pointing toward an ordinary golf cart.
"Oh, that old thing? Yeah, sure, why not?" the dealer said before tossing a set of keys over to Dipper.
"Wow, thanks!" Dipper said. "There isn't, like, a catch or anything, is there? Like, I don't know, that was just surprisingly easy."
"Nah, no catch. I just naturally trust strangers pretty easily, for better or worse. Mostly worse," the dealer casually admitted.
"Oh, alright then," Dipper accepted, having no idea how to respond further. "Well, thanks again!"
"Anytime, kid!" the dealer waved.
With the keys in hand, Dipper ran up to the golf cart and got into the driver's seat. Even though it wasn't the Mystery Cart, a large sense of familiarity came over him as he started it up. Stomping on the gas, he started gaining speed as he began driving off down the road after the runaway bus.
Although he was still somewhat shocked at how easy getting the cart was, he was just happy that something finally worked in his favor today.
Mabel threw Quattro across the bus aisle, sending him tumbling numerous times until his face was left planted against the floor of the bus. Tracey was thrown right after, his whole body splatting against the windshield like a swatted fly before falling right beside Quattro.
"You want some more?" Mabel taunted. "Gotta say, for a two-on-one, you guys really aren't putting up that much of a fight."
"Well, maybe things would be going differently if my partner wasn't such a useless noodle-armed idiot!" Tracey shouted angrily as he turned to Quattro.
"Who you calling noodle-armed, Noodle Arms? We are literally physically identical!" Quattro reminded him as he weakly lifted himself onto his knees.
"Maybe physically, but definitely not mentally! Were you printed with wide-ruled paper or something?" Tracey jeered.
"Why are you always picking on me, man?" Quattro asked, growing hurt. "I thought we were in this together!"
"And I thought for a clone just like me, you'd be a lot less of a screwup!" Tracey scolded. "You are so easily distracted, you blew our cover, and you can't even back me up properly in a fight!"
"Yeesh," Mabel said, spectating their dispute. "And I thought Dipper and I had bad fights. This right here is just unhealthy."
"Shut up!" Tracey shouted.
"Man, you're even touchier than the real Dipper was at twelve. I wasn't sure that was possible!" Mabel snickered.
As Tracey gritted his teeth at Mabel angrily, Quattro stood up. "Tracey, man, you need to calm down! She's right, man. You're always so angry for no reason! I mean, we've been side by side for four years, yet lately, you've been nothing but a hothead! Have you forgotten why we're doing all this? Traveling the world?"
"Why would I want to travel the world with an incompetent moron like yourself?" Tracey scolded angrily. "I'd be better off on my own!"
Amidst his anger, Tracey then forcefully pushed Quattro in the chest with both of his hands, quickly knocking him under the bus steering wheel. He then tripped and fell hard onto both the brakes and gas pedal. His position and pressure snapped the brake pedal off while pressing down on the gas pedal, instantly increasing the speed of the bus.
The sudden jump in speed caused Mabel to shriek as she fell backward onto the floor. Waddles squealed as he slid on his bottom to the back of the bus. Tracey quickly grabbed onto a metal bar, struggling to maintain his balance as the speed kept climbing up.
The bus soon started moving down the lane at an uncontrollable speed. Drivers in its path quickly caught notice of it behind them and drove to the sides quickly to avoid it.
"What the...? Why are we moving? I thought we were parked!" Tracey asked, holding on for his life.
"Uh, guys?" Quattro alerted, pulling out the broken brake pedal from under below. "We have a bit of a problem."
Tracey's eyes bulged. He looked at the buttons and switches at the front of the bus and saw a yellow handle that read 'PULL TO APPLY PARKING BRAKE'.
"Quattro, quick! Pull the emergency brake!" Tracey called out, pointing to the handle.
Quattro looked up at the yellow handle and steadied himself on the ground with the steering wheel, unintentionally pulling it down to the right. In response, the bus began to slowly steer toward the right side of the street, hitting the sides of some of the parked cars on the curb. However, it soon evened out to the middle of the street as Quattro let go of the wheel. He reached his left hand over to the yellow handle and grabbed it.
"I GOT IT!" Quattro announced, pulling on it. At the same moment, the bus hit a speed bump really quickly, causing Quattro, Tracey, and Mabel to all lose balance and fall over on the bus yet again. At the same time, Quattro's head violently smashed against the brake handle, instantly breaking it off as well.
Tracey looked back over at the brake as he tried to regain his balance again. His eyes grew fearful once he realized it had broken.
Quattro rubbed his head as he looked back at the broken brake as well. "Aw, c'mon, man!"
The regular bus brake pedal that Quattro had first broken slid over to Tracey, who grabbed it and quickly crawled over to the front of the bus where Quattro was.
"Quattro, get on the seat and keep this bus steered! Make sure we don't hit or run into anybody!" he commanded. "I'm going to try to reconnect the brakes so we can slow this thing down."
"Got it!" Quattro affirmed before climbing on top of the bus seat.
Tracey quickly dove underneath the wheel and took out a set of tools stored in his vest. He laid them out beside the broken brakes and began to get to work. Quattro stood himself up on top of the bus chair and gripped the steering wheel. Despite barely being able to see out the windshield due to his height, he tried to keep the out-of-control bus centered within the streets and avoided any pedestrians and cars in the way.
Mabel stood up from the bus floor, trying to balance herself on one of the chairs at the back of the bus. She turned behind her and noticed Waddles shaking fearfully in the back corner.
"Waddles! Don't worry! I'm coming!" She shouted as she tried to make her way over to him by steadying herself among the chairs. She eventually reached him and wrapped her arms around him comfortingly. "Don't worry, Waddles. Everything's gonna be okay!"
However, at that moment, she wasn't actually sure if everything would be. She had no clue if the clones knew what they were doing, but given the circumstances and her lack of a license, she felt as though she wouldn't know much better anyway. Though, that still didn't help the uneasy feeling she had of not knowing what was going to happen next. All she could think to do was keep holding onto Waddles and make sure that no matter what happened, she was there for him. He was about all she had left at that moment.
"MABEL!"
She raised an eyebrow at the call of her name before then hearing a series of honking noises coming from the right side of the bus. She stood up and looked out the window, spotting a speeding golf cart right beside the bus. She gasped once she noticed it was the real Dipper driving the golf cart. Somehow, he was managing to maintain a surprisingly fast speed in it to keep up with a speeding bus.
"MABEL!" he called out again, continuing to honk the golf cart's horn.
Balancing herself among the seats, she walked up to the side door at the back of the bus. She pushed it open and held on tightly to a metal bar inside, trying her hardest to ensure that she didn't accidentally fall out.
"DIPPER?!" she called out to him. "But I thought you were-"
"Long story!" he called back to her. "Mabel, you need to stop the bus!"
"Uh, yeah, about that..." Mabel began, glancing over to the front of the bus. "The, uh, two tiny yous broke the brakes and are at the front trying to control the bus!"
"Well, looking ahead, this road leads to a dead-end! If this bus doesn't stop, it's gonna plummet into a river! You're going to have to jump on the cart with me!"
"What?! Are you crazy?!"
"It's the only way!" Dipper exclaimed, well aware of the presented danger. "You gotta do it! Grab Waddles and jump on!"
"You expect me to be able to hold Waddles and make a ten-foot jump from a speeding bus over to you?!"
Dipper's eyes glanced around, looking straight forward and spotting the railing that blocked off the river about a mile ahead at the end of the road. At their current speed, that wouldn't take long to reach. But knowing the extremity of his plan to get Mabel to jump across from the bus to his cart, he knew he needed to think of an easier solution for her quickly.
He suddenly made a hard left with his steering wheel and collided the cart against the side of the bus. The golf cart and the side door of the bus were touching side to side, closing the gap for Mabel to jump, yet not exactly eliminating all traces of danger. She looked at Dipper as he tried to hold the cart against the bus door. He looked back up at her.
"MABEL!" he shouted, his face sweating bullets as he was seen visibly struggling to keep the cart against the bus. "GRAB WADDLES AND GET ON! NOW!"
Though still hesitant, Mabel nodded compliantly. Her trust in her brother largely outweighed any trust she had in the clones fixing the brakes in time. As such, she jumped to the back of the bus in a hurry, still trying to hold herself steady as she grabbed onto the top of the seats.
At the front of the bus, Quattro was still trying to keep the bus under control. He suddenly noticed the railings ahead.
"Tracey! We're about to hit a dead-end, and we're gonna hit it fast!" Quattro warned. "Is that pedal almost fixed?"
Underneath the wheel, Tracey was drilling the pedal back in place. He clenched his teeth together fearfully. "Almost done! Just keep it steady!"
"Right," Quattro nodded. "I suppose a steady death would be better."
"Shut up! Just focus on the road!" Tracey shouted back at him.
In the back of the bus, Mabel held Waddles against her chest as she walked back toward the side door. She stood right beside the open door, preparing to jump on. Waddles started squealing loudly in fear, appearing to be very well aware of the current stakes thrust onto him. As such, she hugged him against her chest even tighter.
"I know, Waddles!" she told him. "It's gonna be okay! I hope..."
"C'mon!" Dipper called out frantically, sweat continuing to drip down his face. "I can't hold this thing forever!"
"Alright, here goes nothing!" Mabel called back.
Her heart was racing at the thought of what she was about to do. She freed one of her arms from holding onto Waddles so she could reach out to one of the poles of the golf cart, using the rest of her strength to keep Waddles pushed against her chest with her other arm, making Waddles even more anxious. She shut her eyes as she grabbed the back pole of the cart. She opened them again, looking straight down beneath her, realizing the speed at which the two vehicles were driving. She gulped, shutting her eyes tightly again.
"MABEL!" Dipper called out alarmingly.
Without further hesitation, she lept from the bus onto the side of the cart, holding on as tight as she could. As soon as she was off the bus, Dipper pulled away from it and stomped on the brakes of the cart, progressively slowing down from their insanely high speed.
Mabel opened her eyes as they began to slow down. Dipper slowly put more emphasis on the brakes until the cart eventually came to a complete stop. The two looked forward at the bus as it continued to speed off. Mabel felt as though her heart was racing at a few million miles per hour. But despite all her previous fears, she smiled exuberantly.
"WOOHOO!" she cheered as she placed Waddles on the ground. Dipper stepped off the cart, and she immediately ran up to him and hugged him tightly. "WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT!"
"Hell yeah, we did!" Dipper cheered back, feeling the adrenaline flowing through him just as much.
Mabel put him down and started punching the air excitedly before punching him in the arm. "I can't believe you actually pulled that off! I could've sworn I was gonna die!"
"That's why you should always have faith in your brother," Dipper gloated as he rubbed his knuckles against his shirt in a playfully egotistic manner.
"Of course. I had a lot of faith in you getting me killed back there," Mabel chuckled as she rolled her eyes.
"Okay, that's not the kind of faith I was talking about."
Mabel then gasped at a sudden realization. "Wait! What about all of our stuff?"
Realizing that they had completely left behind all their bags on the bus, Dipper's eyes grew big. "Oh, well, yeah, that's kind of something to worry about," he admitted. "But I mean, at least we're alive. That still counts for something, right?"
"What about your tiny copies?"
"Pfft, after everything they've put us through?" Dipper asked, crossing his arms carelessly. "Trust me, they're the least of my concerns right now."
"TRACEY?! THE BRAKES?!" Quattro nervously exclaimed to Tracey as they neared the railings at the end of the road.
"GOT IT!" Tracey shouted as he finally fixed the brakes. He laid himself back and pushed down on the pedal as hard as he could with his foot.
The bus finally began to slow down as the brakes began to screech against the asphalt of the road.
"You did it!" Quattro cheered. "We're slowing down!"
"HA! That's how it's done!" Tracey laughed victoriously.
The speed of the bus had been insanely high before, and despite the active brakes, they were still moving at a dangerously fast speed. Quattro tried to look outside through the windshields, but couldn't see how close they were to the railings anymore.
"Wait, we're slowing down, but I think we're still gonna hit the railings!" Quattro warned.
"What? Really?" Tracey pushed harder on the brakes, slowing the bus a bit more. "Quattro! Get down or you're gonna-"
CRASH!
Before he could finish his sentence, the bus collided straight into the railings, and Tracey flew back down against the bottom of the bus seat. However, the impact was not hard enough to break through the railings. Despite the massive whiplash, the bus was finally at a stop.
Tracey opened his eyes, not feeling any motion going on within the bus. No falling. No speeding. It wasn't completely still because the bus was still running, but it didn't feel like it was moving forward anymore.
"I-I think I did it!" Tracey said as his face lit up happily. He grabbed a roll of duct tape from his vest and taped the brake pedal down, ending the slight feeling of movement that had persisted after the impact. "Quattro! We did it! The bus is stopped! We survived!"
Hearing no response from Quattro, he looked up at the bus seat from under the wheel and didn't see Quattro standing there as he had before.
"Quattro?" Tracey called out, confused.
He emerged from underneath the wheel and looked up at the seat and around the bus, verifying that Quattro was nowhere to be seen. He turned his head toward the windshield and saw a giant hole in it directly in front of the driver's seat. His eyes bulged.
"Oh no..."
Tracey ran out of the bus and straight up to the railings that the bus crashed into. He looked down below and was immediately horrified at what he saw. Beyond the railings was the edge of a small cliff that led straight into a riverbank. At the bottom, Quattro was in the water, slowly dissolving.
"OH MY GOD!" Tracey cried out in horror.
"TRACEY!" Quattro called back from below, reaching his hand out to him as the lower half of his body dissolved in the river.
"QUATTRO! NO!" Tracey called back, reaching a helpless hand back out to him.
"IT'S TOO LATE FOR ME, TRACEY!" Quattro told him as the water reached the middle of his torso. Dissolved pieces of his lower half began spreading in the water around him.
"NO!" Tracey cried in denial. "THIS IS MY FAULT! I'M SORRY, QUATTRO! I'M SORRY FOR EVERYTHING!"
While Tracey stood at the railing, Dipper pulled up to the scene in the golf cart with Mabel and Waddles. They parked and stepped out of the cart and slowly walked up closer to overlook the scene.
"GO ON, TRACEY! TRAVEL THE WORLD WITHOUT ME! FULFILL OUR DREAM!" Quattro shouted as his body kept dissolving. The water then began to rush over what was left of his head and arms, slowly dissolving the rest of him. "DO IT... for meee…"
Quattro had dissolved completely in the riverbank, with Tracey left standing at the railing with his hand still reaching out below as if he was still there.
"Quattro…" he managed to let out.
Despite his inability to shed tears, he began to sob. He dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands as he wept and mourned the loss of his lifelong friend.
Dipper and Mabel looked on at Tracey sympathetically for a moment before glancing over at one another.
"So you feel terrible for him too, right?" Mabel asked.
"I mean, what can I say? It sucks," Dipper said in agreement. "He basically just lost the only friend he's ever had. Even if I am peeved at everything they did, this is still pretty messed up."
"Yeah..." Mabel nodded. She looked back over at Tracey, who was still sobbing. "What should we do now?"
Dipper tapped his chin contemplatively. "I think I have an idea."
He walked up closer to Tracey but maintained a respectable distance. He then cleared his throat aloud, causing Tracey to take his face out of his hands and look up at him. His eyebrows narrowed angrily.
"Oh, it's you," he said apathetically. "Well, you clearly saw what happened. Are you here to finish me off too?"
"Uh, actually, no," Dipper replied.
"So what? You came here to gloat?" Tracey asked, standing up angrily. "Be all like 'Haha, look at me. I'm still here! I escaped your trap! Hahaha!'"
"Geez, man! No! I'm here to say that I'm genuinely sorry for your loss," Dipper told him.
Tracey stared at him, unconvinced. "Really? After everything we put you through, that's all you gotta say. That you're sorry?"
"Look, man, I'm not thrilled about everything that happened before, but you just lost your best friend. The last thing I want to do is make you feel worse than you already do," Dipper said, genuinely sympathetic.
Tracey's hostile stance loosened back into a somber one. He hung his head and arms down sadly. "Quattro was all I had. He was like my brother. All these years, we stuck together. But lately, I've just treated him like garbage. I belittled him, controlled him, and scolded him more than I ever have. More than I ever should have."
"Yeah, you were pretty nasty to him," Mabel agreed as she walked up to the two.
Tracey sighed. "You're right. I mean, you saw it yourself. I have been pretty nasty to him. And karma has punished me for it."
Dipper walked up to Tracey and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Hey man, maybe we can help you out?"
"How?"
"Well, if you promise to lay off the tricks and not betray us again, we can go back to Gravity Falls together, get you the parts you need for your hot air balloon, and maybe if the old copier's still around, I can even make you a new clone to be with going forward."
"A new Quattro?" Tracey looked over to the side and thought about it. He scanned Dipper from top to bottom and shook his head. "No. It wouldn't be the same. However, I'll gladly take the hot air balloon parts. But, how exactly are we gonna get to Gravity Falls now?"
Before either Dipper or Mabel could think of an answer, the sound of sirens began to blare behind them. The three turned around and saw that there were police cruisers in the distance driving up to them.
"Oh, great. The police are coming," Dipper remarked sarcastically, beginning to panic. "They can't see me! They'll probably arrest me again if they do! We gotta move!"
"Move where?" Tracey asked, frantically glancing around their surroundings. "We're at a dead-end! And if you're suggesting we jump the railings, that is NOT gonna go well for me..."
Mabel looked at the ground and noticed her and Dipper's belongings and bags scattered around the outside of the crashed bus. She saw several of her sweaters pouring out of her large luggage. Beside it, she noticed the trench coat that the clones had used when pretending to be Dipper.
She walked over and picked up the trench coat and a sweater from the ground, eyes lighting up. "Guys, I have an idea!"
Three police cars and two ambulances soon pulled up to the crashed bus. Officers exited the cruisers and approached the crash. At the same time, paramedics exited the ambulances and prepared the backs for any possible injured people.
Some of the officers searched around the interior of the bus, while others remained outside. Some looked around the area and noticed the many sweaters, dresses, and outfits scattered on the ground.
The police chief looked up at one of the officers inside the bus. "Any survivors?"
"Nothing here, chief," the officer replied as he looked around. "Bus is practically empty. But there are some opened bags here. There must've been someone on this bus."
"Gah!" one of the officers outside the bus cried out.
"What is it, rookie?" the chief asked, running up to the panicked officer.
"Well, we have a... pig...?" the officer replied, spotting Waddles sitting beside the bus. Waddles gave an innocent oink as he looked up at the officer.
"Wait!" a voice called out.
Next to the bus was a large bush, where a person walked out from. That person was actually Mabel, who sat on top of Dipper's shoulders, the two wearing the clones' large trench coat. However, due to their teenage heights, the trench coat fit them considerably smaller than it did on the clones. Dipper's legs popped out from the bottom of the coat, while it managed to cover Mabel along with his face and torso. To top off the attempted disguise, Mabel tucked her hair back down the neck of the trench coat and wore a piece of duct tape above her upper lip to mimic a mustache. To sum up, the two appeared as one very tall man wearing a very short trench coat.
"That's my pig!" Mabel told the officer, attempting some sort of deep, masculine voice. "We are the only survivors of this crash."
"The only survivors?" the chief asked, raising an eyebrow. "What happened to everyone else?"
"They died," Mabel bluntly said.
"Then, where are the bodies?" another officer asked.
"Look, I don't know the details, man. They're just dead. They're gone. Just... trust me on this," Mabel shrugged, breaking out of her masculine voice.
The officers stared at her with somewhat unconvinced looks. The chief himself looked at the two suspiciously. Realizing she was on the brink of getting caught, Mabel began to sweat nervously.
"Alright, I lied! My baby survived too!" she admitted, pulling out Tracey from behind her back, who was wrapped up in a bundle of her own sweaters, resembling a wrapped-up burrito baby. He looked extremely unamused.
Tracey's reveal caused the chief to perk up. "Aw, what a cute little fella." Mabel was surprised by how the chief was actually buying her act.
"This is incredibly demeaning," Tracey uttered unenthusiastically, but not loud enough for the chief to hear.
The chief appeared serious again and stood up straight as he looked forward at Mabel. "Sir, we need to get you and your child to the hospital immediately."
"Uhh..." Mabel panicked, glancing around, trying to think of a way to get out of the situation. "No! That's not necessary! We're fine! No pain or injuries! Also, we're allergic to hospitals and will probably die if you put us in that ambulance."
"Are you sure?" the chief asked, still somewhat concerned.
"Absolutely," Mabel nodded. She then glanced over at the bus. "But if you don't mind, could we get some help getting someplace else?"
It was early in the evening. The sun was close to setting, yet Soos, Melody, and Wendy still stood at the Gravity Falls bus stop. Soos paced around anxiously. Melody and Wendy had particularly concerned looks as well.
"I don't get it. They should've been here by now!" Soos said as he paced.
"Soos, man, maybe the bus is just late," Wendy said, trying to calm him down.
"Five hours late?" he questioned.
"Honey, it happens," Melody added. "Not often, of course. But it happens. I mean, my family vacation to Paris went through a thirty-eight-hour flight delay once. Imagine bathing and spending a night at an airport. Not fun."
"I don't know," Soos said, hanging his arms down with uncertainty. "What if something bad happened to them? What if, like, a pair of clones tried to replace them and that led to a series of events that ended in their bus crashing?"
"Soos, you've been reading way too many clone saga comics," Wendy told him.
"You're right. Guilty as charged," Soos admitted. "Although, I've always thought of how cool it would be to go against a clone of myself. I mean, c'mon. Doesn't that sound cool?"
"Of course it sounds cool!" Melody enthusiastically agreed. "You know, I've always wondered if I could actually beat myself in a fight."
"Yeah, they say that a fight with yourself would only go on forever because of how equal you two are. But I don't know, dude. I feel like I could kick my own butt pretty good," Soos said, thinking about it.
"Exactly!" Melody nodded. "It almost sounds fun! Almost..."
"Yeah, about that..." Wendy intervened, raising her hand. "Fought against me before… well, sorta. Either way, would not recommend."
"Oh yeah, I remember that day!" a familiar voice called from behind.
Soos, Melody, and Wendy turned around to spot a disheveled Dipper and Mabel walking up to them with their bags as Waddles followed behind them.
"Yeah, and I'm still trying to forget about that day…" Dipper said, shaking his head as he recalled the mentioned experience.
"DUDES!" Soos shouted joyfully as he ran up to the two and hugged them tightly.
"Soos!" Dipper and Mabel said happily despite Soos' warm embrace preventing their ability to breathe.
"I can't believe you guys are actually here!" Soos said, growing emotional. "I've missed you dudes so much that I almost don't wanna let go!"
"We've missed you too, Soos!" Mabel nodded.
"But, please let go!" Dipper pleaded as both their faces began to turn purple. "We... can't... breathe!"
"Whoops!" Soos exclaimed, promptly letting go of the two. "Sorry, dudes. Really hard to control my excitement right now."
"It's alright, Soos," Mabel said, smiling as she rubbed her throat. "We're happy to know your bear hugs are as bold as we remember!"
"A Soos never changes his ways," Soos told her, putting his fist to his chest. "But wait, why didn't you guys show up on a bus?"
"Oh, we ran into a few... setbacks," Mabel began to explain. "It's a long story, but we ended up getting driven by a nice police officer who parked us a couple of blocks back and so we came rushing over to the bus stop because we knew you guys would be waiting here for us!"
As Mabel and Soos conversed, Dipper continued to stand on his knees as he rubbed his throat with his hand, trying to soothe himself from Soos' blood-constricting hug. He noticed a shadow suddenly cast over him. Turning around, he looked up to see Wendy standing before him. He immediately noticed her change in wardrobe compared to the last time he saw her, now sporting a sleeveless red flannel top with a dark gray shirt underneath. His old pine tree cap still sat strong amongst her head after all this time.
"Well, so much for 'See you next summer', huh?" Wendy asked him with a frown.
Dipper stood up in front of her, unsure of how to respond. He did remember the note that she handed him before he left Gravity Falls last time that said she'd see him next summer, but it was more than obvious that they were well beyond 'next summer' at that point.
"Well, I mean... you see, it's a long story…" he began to stutter. "There was Cuba, then Mabel's appendix, then Soos told us about termites, then..."
The more he spoke, the bigger Wendy's amused smile grew until she couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"I'm just messing with you, man!" she chuckled, playfully punching him in the shoulder. "Who cares how long it's been? I'm just stoked to see you again! I mean, look at you! You're just barely taller than me now! Puberty did you some solids, huh?"
Dipper chuckled, making note of the fact that he now stood about an inch taller than her as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Not always. Thankfully you never had to witness my freshman and sophomore year acne."
"Ah man, tell me about it," Wendy said with a smirk as she folded her arms. "Thankfully, it gets a bit better. But looking at you two now, it seems like you guys already figured it out."
"Wendy!" Mabel suddenly cut in as she pulled her into a warm embrace.
"Mabel!" Wendy exclaimed, returning the embrace with one arm. As the two pulled apart, Wendy glanced at Mabel's outfit. "Woooo! Look at you, girl! Way to dress better than I ever did back in high school."
"Aww, you! At least you still have being the coolest person on the planet going for you!" Mabel told her. "And unlike Dipper, at least you can still hold onto a hat for four years."
Dipper's eyes lit up anxiously as he began to pat the top of his head with his hands, realizing he wasn't wearing his bomber hat after everything that had ensued earlier that day. "My hat! Oh no! I must've left it behind on the bus!"
Mabel started laughing, much to Dipper's confusion. She then dove a hand into her backpack and took out the bomber hat. "Naaahh, I found it and picked it up when cleaning up all of our stuff from the pavement." She walked up to him and improperly planted the hat on top of his head. "Just wanted to get a dorky reaction out of you."
Dipper adjusted the hat straight on his head as he turned back to Wendy, who smiled warmly upon seeing the hat on his head. She made no further comment, but her smile said enough. Similarly to how he felt seeing his old pine tree cap still in her possession, he could tell she felt the same about seeing her old bomber hat still on his head. And with that similar respect, he smiled back at her.
"Dipper, Mabel, you dudes remember Melody, right?" Soos called out as he approached them with his arm around Melody. "Remember that one time at Hoo-Ha Owl's? With the psycho video game chick that was trying to kill all of us?"
"Hey guys!" Melody greeted, waving her hand to them.
"Wait, I remember!" Mabel said as she realized who she was. "Soos, isn't this your lady-friend?"
"Heh, that's right, dudes," Soos nodded. "Melody and I are still tight after all these years. She's been running the Shack along with me and Abuelita."
"Soos talks about you guys a lot," Melody told them. "It's gonna be so cool to finally witness all the awesomeness he's said about you two firsthand. Ya know, without getting attacked by a living video game this time."
"Well, hopefully, our next few encounters include substantially fewer video games attacking us," Dipper told her.
"So, I guess Melody is the new worker here at the Mystery Shack then?" Mabel assumed. "Cool! That's a change I can absolutely get down with! And more ladies around the Shack is a good thing in my book!"
"Haha, yeah. Though, not sure if I would call Melody new, dude," Soos said, scratching his head. "She's been working with me almost since I took over the Shack."
"What?" Mabel asked, confused. "But I heard Candy came by recently and saw someone new working at the Shack."
"Oh! You're probably talking about Ryland," Wendy realized. "Soos just hired him a few months ago."
"Oh right!" Soos remembered. "He's at the Shack right now actually. We could go meet him, but I thought you guys might want to take a drive around the town first. See what's changed and all."
"Spoiler alert- nothing much," Wendy told them candidly. "The wood is worn, the air is musty, and people are probably losing their minds a bit more, but it's still the same old Gravity Falls you remember for the most part."
"That's oddly comforting," Mabel said with a pleased smile.
"You know, as nice as a drive around the town would be, I'm honestly exhausted," Dipper admitted, hunching forward tiredly. Mabel nodded in agreement. "You think we could just head back to the Shack, Soos?"
"Of course, dudes," Soos told them. He suddenly lifted both twins and placed them on each of his shoulders, holding onto the two so they wouldn't fall off. "Anything for the two best dawgs on the planet."
Dipper and Mabel laughed as Soos carried the two on his shoulders on their way back to the Shack. Waddles ran up and walked beside Soos, with Melody and Wendy smiling as they followed behind, bringing the twins' luggage along. The twins glanced at one another and shared similar expressions of sincerity. All that could be said is that it felt good to finally be back in Gravity Falls.
The door to the Mystery Shack gift shop opened up and Mabel dashed inside, with Soos, Dipper, Melody, Wendy, and Waddles following behind normally. Mabel spun around in circles as she glanced all around the shop excitedly.
"Wow! It's almost like nothing's changed at all!" Mabel said eagerly. "It's just as I remember it!"
"Of course! I decided to make sure I honor the legacy that Stan left behind with the Shack. I mean, why fix what ain't broken?" Soos explained.
"I guess that's one way to look at things," Dipper said, examining the Shack himself. "But if it were me, I would've really shaped this place up. You know? Put some real, interesting attractions up. Maybe take some inspiration from Great Uncle Ford and put a more scientific spin on the place."
"Dude, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have you back, but that idea just reminded me of what a huge nerd you are," Soos said, putting a brotherly hand on Dipper's shoulder.
"So where's this Ryland-fellow?" Mabel asked somewhat nervously, unsure what to expect from the new member.
"Probably hanging out somewhere in the back. Or asleep," Wendy assumed. She turned toward the museum and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Yo Lando! We're back!" She turned back toward the twins. "You guys are gonna love him. Ryland's like the only one who's kept me sane around this place since you two left. Seriously, he's such a cool and chill guy."
"Like there's anyone that could possibly be any cooler than you are," Dipper said, not entirely convinced yet.
"Yeah, I agree with Dipper," Mabel nodded. "He might be cool, but I don't think there's anything that'll make him top you in my eyes."
Ryland suddenly popped out of the museum, immediately spotting Soos, Wendy, and Melody. "About time you guys got back. I thought you guys were supposed to be back like four hours ago?"
"The dawgs were kinda late," Soos told him. He pointed him in Dipper and Mabel's direction. "But they're here now."
"Ryland, I'd like to introduce you to some of the greatest people on the planet," Wendy began. "Meet Dipper and Mabel Pines."
Ryland looked over at the twins and flicked his hair back. Dipper gave him a friendly smile as he waved at him.
Mabel, however, just stood still and stared at him, mouth agape. Her eyes began to sparkle as she simply looked on at him, and she could feel her skin turning cold. To her, time had slowed down, and one of her favorite 80s pop-rock songs played in her head like a cheesy rom-com as she watched him flick his long blonde hair back while looking over at her.
He looks like if Xyler and Craz had a teenage son named Dreamboat...
Dipper walked up to Ryland, offering his hand to shake. "Nice to meet you, Ryl-"
Mabel suddenly shoved Dipper to the side, pushing him to the ground, and stood in his place, offering her own hand for Ryland to shake. "HI, I'M MABEL! SUCH A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU! ALSO, YOU LOOK LIKE YOU SMELL LIKE THE OCEAN!"
Ryland was put off by Mabel's sudden brashness by pushing her brother to the side. Nonetheless, he dismissed it, smiled, and casually shook her hand. "Nice to meet you too, Mabel!" He looked down at Dipper, who was lying on the floor in pain. "You as well, Dipper."
"Gee, thanks," Dipper said while giving Mabel an irritated look as he sat up, grabbing onto his left arm in pain.
"I'm actually about to head home for the night, so I'm glad I got the chance to meet you guys real fast before I left," Ryland told the two. "Soos and Wendy have said a lot about you guys, so I can't wait to work with the both of you."
"And I can't wait to work with you," Mabel said flirtatiously with a giggle. "It's always great to work with and get to know new people!"
"Uhh, yeah! Agreed!" Ryland said with a smile but remained completely oblivious to Mabel's flirtatious advances. "Anyways, I better get going. G'night, guys!" He walked past the two and out the gift shop door.
"'Night, Ryland!" Soos and Melody returned.
"'Night, Lando!" Wendy called back.
"'Night, Ryland! It was a pleasure meeting you!" Mabel called back cheerfully with a wave as he left the Shack.
With her hands sitting on her waist, she smiled as she stared at the door. Dipper finally rose from the floor beside her, still holding onto his hurt arm that she had so violently shoved. He gave her an annoyed glare, but she paid no notice to it.
"I have a feeling this is going to be a great summer!" she said enthusiastically.
Upstairs in the attic, Dipper and Mabel were fixing up their room, with Waddles sitting comfortably on top of Mabel's bed. Having spent the past two hours unpacking and then freshening up, the two were just about resettled back in their bedroom. Granted, they were settled in a different way than they were last time considering the years that had passed, but the comfort felt all the same.
There was a knock on their bedroom door behind them. They turned and saw Soos standing at the doorway in his pajamas.
"Hey dudes," he waved. "Just checking in on you two. Making sure you're settling back in all good."
"Yeah, we're settling in just fine," Dipper told him, sitting down on his bed.
"Yep!" Mabel agreed. "Apart from the dead rats I had to clean out from under my bed and the strong smell of cheese, it all-in-all feels just like it did last time we were here."
"Heh, yeah. I totally wasn't using this room as a storage for my cheese sandwiches," Soos said nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "Anyways, I'm gonna hit the sack. If you dudes need anything at all, just shout out for me or Melody."
"Thanks, Soos!" Dipper and Mabel shouted in unison.
"You don't get the credit you deserve, Soos," Mabel said. "Someone should award you with a million cheese sandwiches!"
"Man, if that isn't living the dream, then I don't know what is," Soos said as he looked up with a strong gaze. "You know, it's crazy to see you guys so much older now, and yet, after all this time, it's like you guys haven't changed a bit."
"Well, you know what they say," Mabel began. "Growing old doesn't mean we gotta grow up."
"Preach it, hambone," Soos said, hitting his fist against his chest. He waved to the dudes once more before walking down the hallway. "Goodnight, dudes!"
"'Night, Soos!" the two waved back.
Mabel turned back toward her bed and then turned to look around the room. "Welp, I'm unpacked."
"Me too," Dipper said, looking around the room as well. "I can't help but feel like I'm forgetting about something though."
"I swear I did a thorough check inside and around the bus for all of our things," Mabel said, raising her hands defensively.
"No, not that," Dipper said, shaking his head. "I have all of my stuff. But it feels like we forgot to do something."
"I don't know," Mabel said, thinking about it herself. "Are we?"
Suddenly, their attention was drawn to the sound of a pebble hitting the glass of their triangle-shaped window above. They looked up at it, and sure enough, more pebbles were being thrown at it. The two stepped up onto the night desk below so they could reach the window and look outside. As they did, they spotted Tracey angrily shaking his fists in the air as he looked at them from below.
"Oh, right," Mabel said, glancing over at Dipper. Remembering what they had forgotten to handle, the two walked away from the window and out of the room.
Tracey sat on a rock, head placed in his hands as he waited for Dipper and Mabel to show up. A moment later, the two walked out of the front door of the Shack carrying a bunch of different materials and supplies. Tracey stood up and walked over to them.
"Where have you two been?" Tracey asked with great annoyance. "You told me to wait close to the Shack when we got dropped off. That was, like, what? Three hours ago?"
"Relax," Dipper told him. "After leaving me tied up in the woods, you're lucky we're doing this for you at all."
Tracey knew he couldn't argue there. Mellowing out, he sighed with visible guilt. "You're right. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it. Here," Dipper said, dropping the materials on the ground along with Mabel. "Just what you needed: rip-stop polyester and nylon, Palembang canes, stainless steel, propane tanks, one of Stan's old burners, and one of Mabel's sewing machines."
"You're lucky I always bring a spare with me," Mabel said unhappily as she pointed a finger at him.
"Gee, guys," Tracey said, looking at all the materials on the ground. "I don't know what to say. I don't deserve this."
"No. You don't," Dipper agreed, crossing his arms. "But we're giving it to you anyways. And from this point forward, we hope we never have to cross paths with you again."
"And just to be prepared, we've decided that we're carrying an emergency bottle of water on us at all times," Mabel added, with Dipper nodding in acknowledgment. "Not just for hydration, but for clone-killing purposes!"
"Alright, alright. I got it," Tracey said, picking up the supplies from the ground. "I promise I won't ever get myself involved with you guys again. This will be the last time."
"Good," Dipper said. "Anyways, with that out of the way, we do want to wish you good luck on traveling the world."
"Yeah, for as much as we promise that we'll kill you with water if you do us wrong again, we do hope that, you know, you don't actually get yourself killed," Mabel said earnestly.
"Thanks, I guess," Tracey said. "This was a long-time dream for me and Quattro, but now that he's gone, it's up to me to fulfill it. It'll probably take all summer to build this, but it's not like I got any other plans."
"You sure you don't need any help?" Dipper asked, looking over the large abundance of supplies.
"I'll be fine. It's probably for the best that I do this on my own anyway," Tracey told them. "But thank you, guys. For everything. And again, I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused. I can only hope that the next time you two do happen to hear from me, it's when I'm calling out from the skies."
"Well, again, try not to fall in a puddle or something," Dipper chuckled. "This stuff's too expensive to go to waste."
"I'll try my best," Tracey nodded. He began to walk back into the forest while he held all the materials in his hands. "Farewell, old friends. Thank you for everything once again."
Dipper and Mabel waved goodbye to Tracey as he turned and walked into the forest with the hot air balloon supplies. Not much less than a minute later, he had disappeared into the dark night of the woods. The two stopped waving and continued to just look on at the forest.
Mabel turned to Dipper. "Do you think he'll actually manage to make that thing?"
Dipper yawned. "Who knows? I'm tired. C'mon, let's go get some sleep."
He turned around and walked back inside the Shack, with Mabel following right after him, closing the door behind them.
Dipper and Mabel walked back into their bedroom. Waddles was still asleep in Mabel's bed, completely undisturbed. She lifted her covers and placed herself underneath before covering herself up again, closing her eyes. Dipper placed himself underneath the covers of his bed and leaned over to his lantern to shut it off.
"Goodnight, Mabel."
"Goodnight, stupid."
Dipper chuckled softly as he shut off his lantern, leaving nothing but the dim moonlight to illuminate the room. He laid himself back in bed, getting himself into a comfortable position before closing his eyes.
He lay there silently for a minute before his eyes opened again. He turned himself over to his other side and looked at his table. Beside his lantern, he spotted his journal. The one Mabel had given him around the end of their last summer in Gravity Falls. He had forgotten all about it until the previous night when Ford reminded him over video call that he was excited to see what he had written down. After that call, he had just found it buried underneath a pile of forgotten junk in his closet back home. He had just thrown it into his suitcase to take along with him and didn't think much else of it.
Glancing over at Mabel, he saw she was already fast asleep. He knew she was tired and wasn't willing to risk disturbing her. He grabbed his journal from the table, as well as a pen and his phone. He buried himself beneath the covers and turned on his phone screen. Besides contact with family and friends, the only other thing he knew he would regularly use his new phone for was its flashlight for late-night reading.
He turned on the phone's light and it illuminated the covers. He pointed it toward his journal and found the pine tree symbol on the cover. He opened the book up to the first page and there was a bunch of greeting words such as 'Hey there!', 'What's up?', and 'Yo, what's going on?', but they were all scribbled over or crossed out. He turned the page and found just about every page after to be completely blank. He flipped back to his first page with all the written-out introductions.
"Wow..." he whispered to himself.
His first and only page was nothing but an attempt to simply start his journal, but he had never gotten around to actually writing out a complete page. It looked as though he had just given up.
And rightfully so, as he recalled there being nothing interesting about Piedmont, no matter how hard he had tried looking around for weirdness there. Piedmont was just not a place for weirdness the way Gravity Falls was, and so he found nothing to catalog. Maybe he could've just turned it into a private journal about his life, but it's not like he lived a particularly exciting life back home that warranted an entire book dedicated to it.
He then thought of it as an opportunity. A chance to give this journal thing another crack. Now that he was in a place far more interesting and weirder than Piedmont ever was. Now that he could find far more things to actually catalog. Now that his life had become somewhat interesting to talk about again.
He could've ripped out and crumpled up the first page from the book, but didn't, for it was history and he knew it deserved to be preserved even if it wasn't necessary. Instead, he flipped to the next page and raised the tip of his pen to the top.
It was time to start his own story.
RK, JUDYLWB IDOOV! LW LV JRRG WR EH EDFN!
As this fic goes on, I guess I should warn that the chapters themselves will get longer and longer while I keep the three-part episode formula. So I suppose it's up to you, the reader, to decide whether you're into making that journey or not.
-Absolute Rift
(Chapter updated as of February 8, 2024)