Gravity Falls: Once More

by Absolute Rift

Four years after their faithful summer of weird, Dipper and Mabel finally return to the legendary town of Gravity Falls. Despite having new adventures and mysteries to take on, they are still tailed by the challenges that come with navigating teenage life. With friends and enemies, both new and old, the Pines must prepare themselves for whatever awaits them. (S1 done, S2 ongoing)

60. Cause and Effect: Part 2

Thud! Crack!

The wood of wrecked painting frames broke apart further as they were tossed as a collective bunch onto the grassy ground outside of the Shack. Between the piles of frames were already torn pieces of art resembling Mabel's features. A shadow came over the pile that belonged to Mabel herself, who stood by hovering over her mess as she panted, all while a fire continued to burn bright in her eyes.

After a moment, she turned right around and stomped her way back toward the Mystery Shack's gift shop entrance. Another brief moment later, she emerged back outside with another armful of her destroyed art from the museum. She repeated her path back to the same spot on the ground where she threw her first batch and carelessly dumped her second batch of framed art and sculpture pieces, growing the pile. Of course, that was not the end of it, and she looped her way back toward the Shack with echoed silent rage to do the same thing yet again.

Also outside, yet off to the side and out of her way, Dipper, Stan, Ford, Soos, and Ryland all stood together, simply watching with matching concern and a reluctance to interfere.

They had no idea what her goal was or how this, of all the reactions, was her main resolution. Perhaps she was simply too angry to think properly. Or maybe this was just her way of physical release rather than something more dialed back like squeezing a stress ball or more reckless like setting the whole Shack on fire. There was some admitted relief in the fact that she wasn't doing something like the latter. However, that didn't mean what she was doing instead was particularly less concerning.

"Welp. She's angry," Stan simply remarked.

"Shouldn't we, like… intervene?" Ryland carefully suggested. "Stop her before she hurts herself? Or us?"

"Jesus, kid, you have no survival instinct," Stan said, shaking his head. "Here's a quick lesson on women - never meddle with their rage. Soos can back me up on this."

"Wait, what?" Soos innocently questioned.

"In situations like this, there's only one thing men like us can do to fix things," Stan continued.

"Lord knows I'm dying to hear this," Ford said with an eye roll in preparation for his brother's follow-up.

"It's simple," Stan claimed. "All we gotta do… is get her a puppy."

A silence ensued as all the boys except Dipper just stood still, glancing between one another after the suggestion was made.

"So does anyone here have money for a puppy?" Stan asked, breaking the short silence.

"Not with my current paycheck," Ryland said under his breath.

"I can make pretty adorable puppy eyes," Soos pitched. "But less like a cute labrador and more like a constipated pug. If that helps."

Stan could only pay him an odd stare following that reply.

Ford stroked his chin while pondering ideas. "I could theoretically design an advanced robot puppy within a few hours. The question is whether or not I should give it laser eyes…"

As the boys had their discourse, Mabel soon emerged from the Shack once more with another load of wrecked paintings held in her arms. With another grunt, she once again added to the growing pile of her destroyed art. Her hands gripped her knees as she bent forward to pant her heightened frustrations off.

However, from the side, she could feel a shadow come over her as someone approached. She turned her head to see Melody, standing beside her while holding Waddles out in her hands.

"Here you go, sweetie. Maybe this will help?" Melody offered with a kind smile.

With a quick gasp, the fire in Mabel's eyes was immediately extinguished by the sight of her big, fat, adorable pig with little arms being held up to her. She immediately accepted Melody's peace offering and snatched Waddles from her grasp, hugging him tightly as her rage settled.

"It does. It helps a lot," Mabel nodded with her face pressed against Waddles' mid-hug. "Thanks, Melody."

As the exchange occurred, Stan, Ford, and Soos continued to stand distantly watching in another awkward silence for a moment.

"Ohhh… Right. The pig. Of course," Ford realized.

"Psssh! I would've thought about that eventually!" Stan said while folding his arms.

"Man, she's good at this," Soos said while gazing at Melody with proud, loving eyes. "I just know she's gonna be a great mom someday."

Ryland had made his way down from the porch to approach Mabel himself, calmly patting her on the back with slight caution. "You good now, babe?"

"Absolutely… Waddles hugs can fix anything," Mabel nodded while continuing to tenderly hug her pig. "In fact, I don't even remember why I was even mad!"

"Well, that's great to hear!" Dipper said as he awkwardly stepped up to her. "Maybe now, we can clean all of this up and-"

"Wait-" Soos suddenly chimed in. "I thought it was 'cause Dipper's friend, Derrick, destroyed the entire art exhibit you spent a whole day bleeding yourself dry over for that jerky art dude who was gonna pay you big time for it. As well as stealing your portrait…"

His eyes started to catch everyone's faces, which were all turned toward him at that moment with mostly growing irritation, as though he had completely butchered things. Glancing over at Mabel as well, he could sense that the glass had cracked in her head and she was fully aware of the situation once again.

"...of… Waddles…" he awkwardly finished. "Wow, I need to get better at reading the room."

While staring ahead blankly, Mabel held Waddles off to the side in Dipper's direction. "Hold Waddles, please."

The eerie calmness in her voice while she said that was worrisome to Dipper, but he simply followed her command and took Waddles from her grasp.

She then turned back around, taking a few steps toward her pile of ruined artwork on the ground, and dropped to her knees. From the pile, she picked up a large wooden piece from one of the destroyed frames. Examining it for a few seconds, she then gripped it tightly before hacking it down on the entire pile, whacking it hard. Each swing was paired with a loud, angry grunt as she went to town, much to everyone else's resumed concern.

"Okay, Mabel, come on!" Dipper said as he put Waddles back down to the side. "That's enough! I mean, you're just ruining your own work!"

"It's already ruined," Mabel angrily emphasized with further whacks. "Can't ruin what's ruined with more ruin."

"Well, you are, so stop it. Okay?" Dipper said as he grabbed her by her shoulders and lifted her back up to her feet. "Look, I know you're upset, and you have every right to be, but this is too much, even for you."

"AAAAGH!" Mabel screamed frustratedly as she stuffed her face in her hands. "I'm sorry, I just… I can't BELIEVE this! That… freaking jerk! That jerky, jerky jerk! He destroyed my hard work and took the painting I loved most! This was supposed to be my big break, and he ruined it! He always ruins EVERYTHING!"

With the long piece of the painting frame still in hand, she turned to the side and aggressively tossed it overhead like a javelin. The piece managed to pierce into a nearby tree that Gompers just happened to be standing by, driving him to bolt off running in fear.

Despite just being lifted back to her feet, her legs began to tremble as her rage started to wear her down, causing her to collapse to her knees again. Her rage descended into gloom as all she could do was stuff her face in her hands as she did everything in her power to not just have a complete breakdown. Not that anyone else would've judged her for it, as they all looked upon her sympathetically.

"Poor kid…" Stan said with the shake of his head.

"Geez… I didn't know Mabel was capable of having this kind of hate in her," Melody said.

"I just don't get it. I've met Derrick, and he always seemed like a cool dude to me," Soos said. "I just never understood why he and Mabel hate each other so much."

"It's been like that since middle school, but it's never been this bad," Dipper said. "And it all literally started because they both bumped into each other on accident, and Derrick spilled his soda on Mabel's sweater."

"UGH! Don't you DARE start with that again!" Mabel shouted, shooting up to her feet again before marching up to Dipper. "I always HATE it when you act like that's the main reason! It's not! There's always been so much more to it than that, and you know it!"

---

[One Week After the First Day of 8th Grade]

A sewing machine coated in blue glitter specs sat on top of a dresser beside a bunch of small candles of different scents, each of which were lit at once.

Right in front of it stood a headless dress mannequin that displayed a bright and very glittery blue blouse. Thirteen-year-old Mabel Pines circled the mannequin, closely inspecting each stitching and sewn edge while pulling on it wherever needed to reduce wrinkles. While she did this, Waddles was sleeping on the floor beside her bed, while a fat, fluffy British shorthair cat rested on the top of her bed.

Knock, knock, knock.

Mabel glanced over her shoulder toward her closed bedroom door as she continued to inspect her blouse. "It's open!"

Her door opened up behind her as Dipper gripped the handle, entering the room. Right behind him followed another boy with scruffy dark brown hair, mellow eyes, and his hands pocketed within his dingy dark gray hoodie. He began to glance around the colorful room curiously, making a slight face as he eyeballed Mabel's very extroverted decor of boy band posters, stuffed animals, varieties of handmade crafts and art, and dozens of other Mabel-istic embellishments.

"Hey, Mabel," Dipper waved.

"Hey-hey, Dippity Doo-Da," Mabel greeted back as she looked up at him.

Both Dipper and the boy suddenly made similar faces as a bunch of overpowering scents hit their noses at once.

"Uhhhh… what's that smell?" Dipper asked. "Orrrr… smells? It feels like I smell like raspberry, lavender, coconut, and charcoal all at once."

"Probably!" Mabel nodded before gesturing toward her several lit candles to the side. "Those are just some of the scents from the seven candles I bought for my room. The other three scents are cinnamon, Christmas cookies, and lawn shavings!"

"And… why do you have all of those lit at once?"

"Because since bringing Waddles from Gravity Falls, Mom has been complaining about my room smelling like pig, so I figured there's no way she'd be able to tell the pig smell with seven different other smells clouding my room at once."

Dipper had no immediate logical response for her. Not that any of his own words could counter pure Mabel logic, which this was only the finest example of.

Her eyes then finally glanced beside him toward the other boy. "And who's this you brought here?"

"Oh, right. This is my new friend I was telling you about," Dipper replied, gesturing toward the boy. "Mom said I could bring him over, so I thought I should properly introduce you guys. Sooo… Mabel, this is Derrick… and Derrick, this is Mabel, my twin sister."

Derrick glanced back and forth between the two multiple times at that moment. "Twins, huh? I don't see it."

"I know, right?" Mabel nodded with a smirk. "It's like one of us got all the charm while the other got all the nervous sweats. HAH!"

"There is zero correlation between those two things," Dipper claimed, not as amused.

"And only you'd know that," Mabel clapped back before offering her hand out toward Derrick to shake, which he accepted. "Mabel Pines - the cooler twin! Pleasure to…"

Amidst their handshake, both of them paused as they each seemed to catch the same feeling of familiarity as they looked one another in the eye. Their looks at one another became noticeably weirder rather than amicable, much to Dipper's growing worry.

"Wait a second… have we met before?" Mabel asked as she squinted her eyes at him.

"Nope!" Dipper quickly moderated. "You two have never seen each other before. This is a first-time meeting. We're starting now. Nothing before matters."

Derrick continued to scan Mabel's appearance from head to toe as the familiarity continued to eat at him. However, the memory soon came floating back to him as he looked on at her.

"Hang on… you're the girl who ran into me and made me spill my soda last week!" he said, pulling his hand back from their handshake.

Mabel gasped at the reminder. "And you're the one who spilled soda all over my sweater!" She paused as she processed his words. "And wait… that was you who bumped into me!"

"Oh, great…" Dipper annoyedly remarked under his breath.

"Pitt Cola ruins the yarn I use! I couldn't get that stain out so I had to trash the whole sweater!" Mabel continued.

"That apple sweater?" Derrick recalled. "Doesn't seem like a major loss to me."

"Excuse me?" Mabel questioned, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Woah, hey, man!" Dipper jumped in, glaring at Derrick. "Mabel works hard on her sweaters. Don't be a jerk."

"I'm not! I didn't mean anything by it," Derrick defended, raising his hands. "I'm a simple man with a lot of opinions and a big mouth. I just say what's on my mind. I don't mean any offense… unless I explicitly tell you that I mean offense."

Mabel raised an eyebrow at his justification, unable to pinpoint his level of genuineness.

"Look, can we just move past the whole soda thing?" Dipper asked, stepping in between the two. "I was hoping you two had forgotten about it, but seeing as you haven't, can't we just look at it as a simple accident and move on? I mean, is it really that deep?"

Mabel and Derrick each exchanged glances with one another again before looking to the side somewhat awkwardly.

"No. I guess it isn't," Mabel admitted. "I can always make another sweater anyway. In fact, I already did the other day!"

She bent down and reached a hand under her bed, quickly snatching out and presenting a brand new yellow sweater with a red apple on it - nearly identical to the one she had worn on the first day of school.

"So, in actuality, I guess there really was no loss!" she continued cheerily.

"Well, except for my soda," Derrick remarked. "But I guess I can always swipe… I mean… buy another one."

Mabel once again paid him an odd look following his words, which he didn't return in any capacity. However, despite not loving his pettiness, she wanted to move past things just as Dipper suggested. As such, she clapped her hands together with finality.

"Okay, there we go! Making progress! A new beginning! We love to see it!" she declared before turning her attention back toward the mannequin. "Anyway! Check out what I've been working on!"

Dipper walked over to the mannequin and examined the top. "Is it… another sweater?"

"Actually, no! It's a blouse!" she corrected.

"Have you ever made a blouse before?"

"Nope! But I've decided to expand my horizons and let my wings fly beyond the streets of Sweater Town into new uncharted, fashion-designing territory! And I'm killing it!" She looked back at the blouse with a bit of uncertainty. "I think. I'm definitely killing my hands here."

"Hey, well, for a first effort, it seems to be coming along really nicely so far," Dipper complimented as he looked it over.

Derrick squinted at the top critically as he shrugged. "Meh. I don't really care for how sparkly it is."

"And I don't really care for that opinion! But hey, not everything is for everyone!" Mabel bluntly replied without phase, prompting a less appreciative face from Derrick. "By the way, Dipper, I need some help lifting Mom's sewing machine over here. The loads of glitter I used for the blouse kinda-sorta messed mine up…"

"What? Mom and Dad just got you that thing for our birthday a week ago!" Dipper said.

"And I'm surprised it even lasted a week."

Dipper stared at her silently for a moment. "I'm not funding the replacement."

"Fiiiine. I guess I'll wait till the holidays," she accepted. "Just help me bring the other one here."

As she skipped out of the room, Dipper let out a somewhat irritated sigh as he began to follow. He looked over his shoulder back at Derrick. "Just wait here a second, man."

Leaving Derrick on his own in the room, Dipper walked behind his sister much less enthusiastically as they ventured across the house toward the supply cabinet across the master bedroom.

Mabel opened the door and looked immediately at the sewing machine on the shelf located right above their heads. It was in arms reach, but with her height and the machine's weight, she knew it was smarter to have Dipper help her than risk dropping the whole thing on her head. The alternative was asking their mom to get it for them, but then she'd had to reveal how her new machine got ruined and she didn't feel like unpacking that can of worms right now.

"Seriously, how do you ruin a sewing machine with glitter?" Dipper asked her as the thought lingered in his head. "Like, how much glitter did you even use on that blouse?"

"I don't know if I should answer that."

"You probably shouldn't."

"Anyways, let's lift this baby up together," Mabel said as she got on one side, reaching both her hands to grab one end of the machine. "On three. One…"

Dipper followed suit and did the same, grabbing onto the other end. "…two…"

"…three!"

SQEEEEEEE!

Just before either of them committed to lifting the machine, both of their heads quickly turned back in the direction of Mabel's bedroom, from where they heard Waddles' loud, horrific squeal.

"Waddles?!" Mabel questioned with immediate concern. "Waddles!"

Her attention shifted away from the sewing machine as she sprinted back toward her room, with Dipper following right behind her.

"Waddles!" she shouted as she ran back through her open doorway, from which she noticed her cat sprinting out. "Is everything o-"

She cut herself off with a gasp as she looked in the room, putting her hands over her face in shock.

Right in front of the doorway, Waddles lay on the floor quivering fearfully while his floppy ears covered his eyes. Across the room, however, Mabel's eyes darted at Derrick, who was holding up her newly made blue blouse right over all of the lit candles on her desk. The entire blouse was covered in flames as Derrick continued to hold it up by the top of the sleeves, staring back at her like he had been caught in the act.

"My blouse!" she screamed in horror.

Dipper finally caught up behind her, entering the room to catch the same sight that she did. His eyes widened at Derrick. "Dude!" he shouted condemningly.

Derrick could only stand by awkwardly with the flaming blouse in hand as he looked between the two, not having any visible idea how to respond.

"Uhhhhh… it was the pig's fault," he claimed, eyes pointing back toward Waddles across the room.

As the situation lingered and settled in with her, Mabel's hands dropped from her face and clenched into fists as she began growling through her gritted teeth. All the while Dipper stood right next to her, glancing between the two with preemptive feelings about where things looked to be going next.

---

[Present]

"Okay, yeah, that was… a bad look," Dipper admitted, awkwardly looking off to the side with slight reluctance.

"A bad look?!" Mabel repeated. "He set my first homemade blouse on fire! After saying he didn't care for it!"

"And he said later on that it was an accident! Which it could've been! I mean, c'mon, we didn't actually see him deliberately set it on fire."

Mabel pinched the bridge of her nose. "I can't believe you're still defending him."

"I'm not defending him! Maybe he did do it! I'm just saying… maybe he didn't…"

"That's defending him!"

"Okay, but what if it really was an accident? That can't be the only other reason why you hate him!"

Mabel narrowed her eyes. "Fine! You want more then? I'll give you more!"

---

[9th Grade, Fall 2013]

In the halls of Piedmont High School, a fourteen-year-old Mabel stood in front of her open locker, grabbing a book for her next class. However, her attention was grabbed by a bunch of male voices, with one of them particularly sticking out to her. She held onto her locker door and sneakily peeked her eyes to the side of it, locking on to a group of male gym rats conversing with one another down the hall.

One of them, however, was a tall, slim, and tanned boy with short, sandy brown hair and a suave smile.

And he certainly had Mabel's heart thumping as she distantly stared at him while her mind went wild.

Oh, boy… Jacob J. Jacobson… He's soooo tall... No duhhhh! He plays basketball! And he was TOTALLY looking at me earlier in geometry class. And as everyone knows, that's high school language for being totally into someone, obviously. Now I just need him to… look at me again…

She slowly leaned her body backward while keeping her totally-not-creepy wide-eyed gaze on him from behind her locker, allowing herself to become a bit more visible in hopes of reaching his peripheral. Nameless passersbys in the hall who noticed her paid her strange faces, weirded out by what kind of looked like her trying to snap her own back in half. Not that she paid any of them any mind, as none of them were a hot, tall, dreamy basketball-playing stud named Jacob J. Jacobson.

And to her luck, her shameless attempt at attention-seeking worked, as his eyes darted in her direction, catching her gaze. She didn't dare look away and held eye contact despite her wide eyes growing even wider.

Oop! Bomb planted… Bomb planted!

Even though she looked like a paralyzed deer caught in the headlights, that didn't seem to deter Jacob from his curiosity. A slight smile grew on his face as he began making his way over, much to the butterflies in Mabel's stomach.

Aaaaaaand he's walking up to me. Ain't no defusing now!

Mabel knew she had just under ten seconds before Jacob was in front of her. And to her, that was more than enough time to give herself one final fix-up before engaging with him. As such, she stuck her head into her locker and dug an arm deep inside, fishing her hand around. She then pulled out a pink perfume bottle that looked like it was caked in glitter and rhinestones.

Better use some of the good stuff. A few sprays will do… Or a few hundred…

Without hesitation, Mabel popped the perfume cap off with her thumb before spraying herself as many times as she possibly could within the next few seconds, reaching every pulse point on her body, clouding her entire presence with a pink, glittery mist.

While she sprayed, Jacob soon reached her, standing on the other side of her locker door. He pressed his hand against the lockers as he suavely leaned against them before proceeding to clear his throat.

"Hey. Name's Jacob," he smoothly greeted. "And you're, uhh… Mabel, right?"

SLAM!

Mabel suddenly slammed her locker door shut, startling Jacob, before immediately pressing her entire backside against the lockers while hugging a textbook to her chest like she was the leading love interest in some overly cheesy high school romance movie. With a wide smile, she flashed her braces while batting her eyes seductively at him as her glittery perfume aura continued to slowly dissipate around her.

"Who, me?" she playfully asked while fluffing her curls with a hand. "Yeah, the name's Mabel. Which conveniently rhymes with 'You can have me if you're able.' Wink."

She physically winked at the same time she finished her line, which returned Jacob to his own pickup mode following her initial startle.

"Heh. Well, speaking on that…" Jacob began with a suggestive smile. "I was actually wondering if maybe this Friday, you and I could take my car up into the hills together and-"

At that moment, there was a sudden coughing fit that broke out just beside the two from a passerby who came to a stop. As Mabel looked to the side, she quickly recognized the passerby was actually Derrick, who continued to cough violently for a good moment as he stood in the center of the hall.

"Oh, GOD! That smell! It's burning my eyes!" he shouted, eyes tearing up. To his left, he finally spotted Mabel, to which he made the connection. "Is that YOUR perfume?! Are these sparkles?! Your perfume is sparkly too?! What the hell do you own that ISN'T sparkly?!"

"Uhhh… Derrick…?" Mabel acknowledged while trying to hold her closed-mouth smile in front of Jacob. "We're kiiiiind of in the middle of something here…"

"Wait, what?" Derrick asked while rubbing his eyes before glancing up at Jacob, who suddenly looked uncomfortable. Glancing between the two and realizing what was going on, Derrick's eyes widened in shock. "Wait… Jacob? Jacob J. Jacobson? You're asking HER out? You've GOT to be kidding me. I thought you were better than this, man!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Mabel asked, narrowing her eyes at him as her smile wiped away.

Riiiiiing!

The school bell rang through the halls at that moment, momentarily pulling the three's attention. As it finished, Jacob began to awkwardly shuffle his feet backward while he rubbed his neck with unease.

"You know what? Forget what I said. This… this was a mistake," Jacob said while slowly backing away from Mabel with an almost guilty look on his face. "I'll, uh… I'll just be on my way…"

"Wait, what?! No!" Mabel desperately called out to him as she watched him walk off. "There's no mistake! It doesn't even have to be a date! We can just do geometry homework together! But, like, for real! I'm actually down for that!"

Despite her cries, Jacob continued to just head off down the hall without looking back at her once. Mabel's visible disappointment in that moment then evolved into anger as she redirected her focus back toward Derrick, who continued to stand by innocently.

She wanted to go off on him right then and there, but the bell had already rung, and the last thing she needed was a late-for-class penalty to add to her already soured mood. And so she quickly opened her locker and grabbed another book before slamming it shut yet again.

"Thanks a lot!" she bitterly said before storming off in the opposite direction down the halls, leaving Derrick on his own as he stood with a confused face.

"You're welcome!" he called back to her before coughing and hacking again as he got caught in the glittery perfume trail she left behind. "Ugh… freakin' sparkles…"

---

[10th Grade, Fall 2014]

In front of a wall of lockers, Angela, Sammy, and Gretchen stood beside one another conversing as several other students passed through the halls.

"So yeah, that's how my weekend went," Angela told the others glumly.

"Oh my gosh, Angela… I'm so sorry for your loss," Sammy replied remorsefully.

"Yeah, that's absolutely terrible," Gretchen seconded.

"I know…" Angela nodded. "I'm gonna miss that hair curler."

"Hey-hey, girls!"

The three girls turned around to spot a fifteen-year-old Mabel skipping over toward the group, seemingly more gleefully than usual. As she stopped in front of them, she went ahead and flashed a wide, perfectly white smile for them.

"Notice anything… different about me?" she prompted them.

"Okay-okay, let's see…" Sammy began as she started analyzing Mabel's appearance from top to bottom. "We got the cute new rainbow-buttoned turquoise top, a cute new kitten jean patch, cute new matching bow, aaaaand-"

Gretchen gasped as she pointed a finger at Mabel's smile. "MABEL, I CAN SEE YOUR TEETH!"

"Gretchen, I was literally about to get to that," Sammy said with slight annoyance while folding her arms at her.

"Sorry."

"Anyways…" Sammy then proceeded to gasp herself. "MABEL, YOUR TEETH!"

"That's right, girls! No more braces!" Mabel nodded cheerfully while continuing to smile away with her newly straight teeth. "I finally got them removed yesterday. Now I remember what it feels like to have a mouth that loves me again!"

"That sounds like what Gretchen said back when she got her headgear removed last year," Angela mentioned, glancing over at Gretchen.

"The heaviness just… stopped," Gretchen recalled while feeling her cheeks. "Everything felt so free…"

To the side, Mabel opened up her locker, pulling the door all the way open to look at herself in a mirror inside. "Just look at these beauties! I can't stop smiling! I've always had an amazing smile, but now? It just feels so… powerful. Watch this!"

She turned around and noticed an older male teacher with a receding hairline passing wearing a suit and tie and a satchel.

"Heyyyy, Mr. Randall!" Mabel called out to him, prompting him to stop in the middle of the hall. "Just wanted to say that your tie is looking extra on point today!" She then winked and flashed her bright white smile right at him.

For a brief moment, Mr. Randall had no visible reaction, but soon enough, he suddenly grew a smile himself. "Wow… Thank you, Mabel! You say that to me every day, but for some reason, this is the first time I feel like you actually mean it!"

"Does this mean I can get an extra day to start… I mean… work on my essay?" Mabel asked, maintaining her smile.

Mr. Randall tapped his chin for a few seconds. "You know, normally, I'd say no, but you and your smile have put me in too good a mood to refuse! Take the extra day!"

"Thanks, Mr. Randall! You're the best!" Mabel called out, waving at him while he continued making his way back down the hall. She then turned back to her friends with a smirk, witnessing their awestruck faces.

"Teach us your ways…" Gretchen pleaded with wide eyes.

"No kidding," Sammy nodded. "I have a presentation due in psych class tomorrow, and I haven't even started. Can you use your smile to get me an extension too?"

"Girls, girls... we shouldn't be trying to use our bestie's supreme new smile power now. We should be celebrating it!" Angela exclaimed. "Your new smile really is wonderful, Mabel. Quite chic if I must say so myself."

"How can teeth be chic?" Gretchen asked.

"Because I say it can be, Gretchen."

"Fair enough."

"Thanks, Angela! But I'm absolutely down with sharing my smile powers with my friends! I mean, with a smile this perfect, the possibilities are endless!" Mabel said, continuing to admire her smile in her locker mirror. "All I gotta do now is preserve these expensive babies as they are for as long as I live! Which just means nightly retainer usage… But other than that, nothing will get in my way!"

Sammy suddenly let out a gasp. "Mabel, get out of the way!"

At that moment, the girls suddenly ran to the side while looking off in another direction. Too distracted by herself in the mirror prior, Mabel was immediately confused by their reaction and continued to stand in place despite the warning.

However, as she stood, she began to hear an apparent wave of student commotion that seemed to get louder and closer. Raising an eyebrow, she turned her head over her shoulder, watching as some students let out quick screeches and yells while others looked to dodge out of the way from the center of the hall.

Then, there he was - Derrick Mendez, for whatever reason, riding on his skateboard at god knows what speed with no chance of slowing down.

And she just so happened to be standing right in his way.

By the time she noticed him, it was already too late to change her fate. And the only thing she had time to do in that final moment was let out a gasp… right before his elbow met her open mouth.

WHAM!

---

In the nurse's office, Mabel sat in a chair, miserably holding up a crumpled bit of tissue paper to the top of her front teeth. Her eyes looked straight ahead across the office, where she happened to notice herself in a mirror.

Though she really didn't want to, her curiosity got the best of her, and so she pulled the tissue paper away from her mouth.

About fifteen minutes ago, she was admiring her perfectly white and braceless smile. Fifteen minutes later, it was replaced by a frown with a bloody gap where one of her top front teeth used to be.

She pressed the tissue paper back to the gap before glancing down at her other hand, where her lonely tooth rested.

"Awww, man… Seriously?" she said sadly to herself with a slight tooth whistle.

"H-Hey Sparkes…"

Mabel glanced directly to her left. Sitting in the seat beside her was Derrick, who sat holding an ice pack to the back of his head while looking at her with dilated pupils and a noticeably disoriented smirk.

"S-Sparkles…" he repeated with a slight slurring in his speech. "I-I just realized… Y-Your teeth aren't sparkly anymore… W-When did that happen?"

The nurse had mentioned something about Derrick having gotten a concussion with the impact the collision brought to his head. Perhaps, the fact she didn't get one herself meant she was a bit luckier in comparison, but she sure didn't feel lucky.

Still, there wasn't even any use chewing him out while he was in this state, but that didn't stop her from narrowing her eyes in annoyance as she continued to sit and stare at the wall ahead.

---

[10th Grade, Spring 2015]

A chemistry class was divided into two rows of wide desk stations that stretched to the back of the room, with an aisle between them. Dipper and Mabel each sat on the aisle seats of two separate stations that sat right across from one another, with Dipper writing down on an assignment paper while Mabel folded her same assignment paper into a small crown, which she happily placed upon her head.

"Alright, class," the chem teacher began from behind her front desk. "For this lab, everyone will have to break into pairs."

Mabel gasped, causing the little paper crown to fall from her head. At that moment, she looked up to see that others in the class began to split up into pairs at each desk station, with some moving desks to be with preferred partners.

From her seat, she then leaned over the middle of the aisle toward her brother. "Dipper! You know what this means?"

Dipper looked up from his paper and smirked slightly. "I'm guessing… Science Twins?"

"Science Twins!" she echoed excitedly.

Just as she stood up from her seat to walk toward Dipper's station, she was stopped as the chemistry teacher stood right in front of her.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Pines, but I'm afraid there won't be 'Science Twins' today," she told her bluntly. "Not when 'Science Twins' means you copying all of your brother's lab answers…"

"Whaaaaat?" Mabel said disappointedly. "Well, if we're lab partners, why wouldn't we have the same answers?"

"Sharing lab results is one thing. Letting your brother do all the work while you just jot down his results… is another."

"Hey, I don't let Dipper do all the work! I've helped!" Mabel defended before looking over the teacher's shoulder at her brother. "Tell her, Dipper!"

Dipper awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck as he mentally contemplated a response. "Uhhhh… yeah, I mean… she's held a beaker before…"

"You see? I've held a beaker!" Mabel repeated.

The teacher gave her a look. "Well, what about a bunsen burner?"

Mabel raised an eyebrow. "Whose buns are burning?"

"Precisely my point," the teacher remarked with an unsurprised face. "Anyway, for this assignment, I'll be pairing you with Derrick Mendez."

"WHAT?!" Mabel yelled as her eyes went wide.

A few seats behind her in the back of the classroom, Derrick himself jolted awake in his seat with a snort at the sound of her yell. He glanced around tiredly as he tried to pull his thoughts together.

"Wha…? Is it time to leave yet?" he asked, his eyes struggling to stay open.

---

In the back of the classroom, Mabel sat beside Derrick at their desk station, each of them visibly unenthused. A set of chemistry equipment spread out on top of the desk, including goggles that neither of them wore at that moment.

Sheets of instruction paper lay in front of each of them. Mabel attempted to read over her sheet while sitting bitterly, but Derrick just continuously glanced around the classroom in confusion.

"So what're we doing?" he asked her. "Did I miss anything? I haven't been in school for a week."

Mabel shot him a questionable look. "Since when were you even in this class? I've never seen you here before."

"That's 'cause I usually skip this class to do graffiti in the school bathrooms."

"Wait, that was you who's been drawing all those huge…" She stopped herself, choosing her words in class carefully and appropriately. "...things?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm hilarious," Derrick said, smirking at the thought. "But anyway, they finally caught me and had me suspended for a week. Now that I'm back, I have to actually 'stay in class' and 'pay attention' and 'get good grades'. And well… I've only done one of those things so far. So yeah, what're we doing?"

"We're doing a lab," Mabel simply said as she returned her focus back to the lab sheet.

"Informative as always, Sparkles," Derrick said with an eye roll.

"Look, I'm used to doing my labs with Dipper, and he usually knows what he's doing. But the teacher put both of us together today, so…"

"Seriously? Is that supposed to help either of our grades?"

"Can you just help me work on this?" she asked while examining all of the lab equipment. She picked up a pair of tongs from the table, pressing them together with uncertainty. "I don't know how to use most of these… science-y tool-y thingies."

Derrick examined the various tools and equipment on the table for himself. His eyes then fell upon a flint striker, which he leaned over and grabbed with his hand.

"Oh, I've used one of these before," he said. "They create little sparks to start fires when you squeeze them fast. You see?"

Holding the striker out to Mabel for her to see, Derrick squeezed the striker's handle. The striker's flint scraped against its steel, quickly igniting a bunch of sparks that flew against the left side of her hair, which almost immediately set it on fire. Both of their eyes bulged in surprise as the flames lit up on her hair.

Though Mabel was very aware of what had just happened, she had no immediate physical reaction. Instead, she sat completely still in her seat as she stared ahead, completely petrified.

Derrick was similarly petrified for a moment as her lack of reaction brought little reaction from him as well. Instead, for a good moment, he simply stared at her hair with his own wide eyes, just before others in the class sitting ahead of them soon began to notice the sight of him holding the striker right beside her.

His shoulders dropped with growing dread. "Oh, I am so getting suspended again…"

---

[Present]

Dipper stood by awkwardly as he processed the memory of that class just as Mabel described it. "Man, you and Derrick have a bad history with fire, huh?"

"That's not the point!" Mabel scolded. "The point is - Derrick sucks!"

"Okay, okay! So maybe you guys have always had a bunch of rough moments together, b-but-"

"But?" Mabel repeated questionably. "But what, Dipper? This friend of yours broke into the Shack, destroyed all of my work, and then ran off with one of my paintings… after EVERYTHING he's already done to me over the years… and you're still on the fence? If it were anyone else, you'd be on my side!"

"I am on your side!"

"Oh, really?"

"Really!" Dipper nodded quickly. "But these were just a few really bad instances. You're acting like he does stuff like this literally all of the time when he doesn't. I mean, you two seemed to mostly get along okay on the Fourth of July, did you not?"

"Pfft… yeah. Because one decent day totally invalidates every other bad day," Mabel sarcastically remarked with an eye roll.

"Like I just don't get it then. You were able to make up with Pacifica after she treated you badly. You denounced rivalries and said they were stupid!"

"And they are! I haven't gotten involved in any other petty rivalries since Pacifica, not here nor back home. Heck, earlier this year, I became friends with my last ex's new girlfriend because I'm just that not-petty!"

Dipper shot her a look. "You guys went and popped the tires of his car together."

"Okay, but that was after he cheated on her too. It was totally justified," Mabel defended. "Again, that's not the point! Rivalries ARE stupid! But the difference with Pacifica is that back then, you didn't like her either. But Derrick's your best friend. Which means whether I like it or not, I have to put up with him when he's around, and back home, he's always around!"

"We've been over this! His home life's not great, and he doesn't like staying at his place!"

"But does he always have to come over to ours?"

"You act like you never bring your friends over!"

"Well, which of my friends hates your guts for no good reason?"

"Um, Angela? She's quite literally said before that she hates my guts for no good reason."

"She's just saying that 'cause she likes you!"

Dipper's eyes widened. "Wait, does she?!"

Mabel folded her arms as she looked to the side. "Well, no, but I've been manifesting it."

As the two argued, Stan, Ford, Soos, Melody, and Ryland continued to awkwardly listen over the entire exchange as they stood off to the side. Stan particularly appeared entertained by their back and forth for a moment. But as the conversation progressed, his face slowly grew uninterested and even annoyed as the topic degenerated to him. As such, he took a few steps forward and stood between the two.

"Okay, I was actually enjoying the fight for a good bit there, but now this is just getting stupid. So allow me to step in here to try and act like an adult for once," he interjected. "Look, Dipper, as a reminder, your so-called best friend just ruined your sister's art collection and stole one of her paintings. But instead of sticking up for her, you're defending him."

"I'm not defending Derrick! I'm not!" Dipper passionately insisted. "I just don't get why he'd do this!"

"Well, it seems pretty clear to me," Stan said. "I mean, look. Part of me feels for the kid. I know I'm a jerk. I've also had my fair share of bad grades, skipped classes, and drawn obscenities on school property. But I ain't ever picked on someone else without good reason. And from what I gather here, this kid has no good reason to be constantly egging on your sister the way she says he's been over the years. And you still sticking up for him after the fact is a bad look on you. Especially after today."

"Look, I never denied Derrick has his problems, but you guys also haven't gotten to know him like I have. He's more than this bad guy you think he is," Dipper continued to reinforce.

Ford then took his own step into the conversation, walking up next to Stan. "I understand you must have developed a deep-rooted friendship with this boy, Dipper, but what I don't understand is how you can continue to back him up after he's displayed such open hostility toward Mabel. Especially when last night's events appear to continue that trend. After a certain point, things are simply just unacceptable."

"And I agree!" Dipper nodded. "I've also told him numerous times to lay off Mabel, and he usually listens!"

"Until he doesn't…" Mabel bitterly added.

"I get it. A lot of those things you mentioned were bad, but he's also told me they were accidents!" Dipper said to her. "I mean, do you really think he lit your blouse or hair on fire on purpose?"

"Even if he didn't, he sure never apologized for doing any of those things!" she mentioned.

Dipper began rubbing the back of his neck uneasily as he tried to figure out a response. "Okay, w-well…"

"Geez, I don't know, dude," Soos chimed in. "An accident's one thing, but never apologizing is another. And if that's the case… maybe Derrick really isn't as cool a dude as I thought."

"Yeah… as much as I like to try and give folks the benefit of the doubt… this guy is making things really hard right now," Melody seconded. "A simple 'sorry' is the least he could say for any accident."

"I… agree," Ryland hesitantly thirded. "And look, I kind of like Derrick. We've talked a few times and heck, I even stole a bunch of records with him - not that that was my idea. But I can't stick up for someone who's been treating my girl like this."

"And that's everyone," Stan concluded before turning back to Dipper. "Sorry, kid. I know he's your friend and all, but I think that's something you're gonna need to reconsider."

Dipper lowered his head as he turned away from them. "You guys don't understand... It's not that easy…"

"Of course it ain't. Losing a friend is never easy," Stan nodded. "But that's life, kid. Over time, you go through all sorts of friends and very few of them, if any, actually stick around. Especially not the ones that ain't right for ya. Besides, I'm sure you got plenty of other friends back home who you can talk to instead."

"I don't."

Stan raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I said, I DON'T!" Dipper shouted as he turned right back toward everybody again. "Derrick's the only friend I have back home! He's the only real friend I've had since we came back from Gravity Falls! The only real friend I've had back home EVER!"

There was some pain in that admission. Confessing to some of his few other friends and extended family that he only had one actual friend back home in the town he'd spent his life growing up in. He already felt bad enough for himself about it. Sharing it with others only made him feel like more of a loser than he already felt like he was.

Like… how could he? How could he only have one friend back home? He was less than a year away from finishing high school. Surely, after all this time, he would know more people or be part of more circles. At least have some other nerds to talk to because surely he wasn't the only one of his type in the whole school, right? So why didn't he have any?

What was wrong with him?

He figured that might've been what the others were thinking. As he panted his frustrations away, all they did at that moment was stare at him following his outburst. All of them had faces of either surprise or some level of sympathy as if he had just begged for them all to feel bad for him.

That was the type of attention he hated though. So as his panting slowed and he calmed down, he held his head up high again as he looked back at the others.

"Before Derrick, Mabel's all I ever really had growing up in Piedmont. She's always been way better than me at making friends though. On the first day of school after our summer here, she made a bunch of new friends. But on that same day, I met Derrick. And despite his troubles, we get along great. He's like… the brother I never had. I know he's not perfect, and I've always hated that he could never get along with Mabel. But when you're someone like me who has such a hard time making friends, the few friends you make end up meaning so much more than you could possibly imagine. That's not easy to just throw away."

Despite his sympathy, Soos continued to look on at him with continued uncertainty. "I feel you, dude, but… what he did to Mabel's art last night-"

"I know it looks bad!" Dipper insisted. "And I'm not even saying he's innocent. I just don't get why he'd even do this. We were literally talking yesterday, and I told him he was doing better! So why he'd go around and do something so horrible the very next day just makes no sense to me."

His eyes suddenly widened.

"Maybe there's a paranormal explanation for this! Like… maybe he was possessed or… being mind-controlled. Or maybe it wasn't even him at all! What if it was a ghost that looked like him? Or the surveillance picked up some kind of weird camera mirror clone? Or maybe the Shapeshifter laid an egg at some point before it died and its kid is out for revenge!"

Ford's eyes lit up at the last suggestion. "Lord, I sincerely hope not."

"All I'm trying to say is there has to be a proper explanation for this, whether he's guilty or not," Dipper continued. "And for as guilty as he does look right now, we should try to get the full story first. I mean, with all the weird stuff that happens in this town, maybe this situation falls under that. Isn't it worth investigating at the very least?"

Mabel stood firmly in place with her arms folded while looking at him. Her whole body language had remained resistant to any type of defense or excuse Dipper seemed to make on Derrick's behalf. She still had plenty of reservations about said defenses and excuses too.

But her face began to shift reluctantly. She pursed her lips to the side while her eyes momentarily avoided his - like she was internally struggling to resist. A big part of it was visible guilt over the fact her brother really didn't have any other friends back home compared to her. She knew Dipper always had his struggles in the social department, and for as much as she hated Derrick for what he had done to her over the years up to that point, perhaps there was a point to be made that she may have been pounding the gavel too early on him.

Did she really believe she was? Not really. Was there any actual evidence that they were dealing with the supernatural? Not really. But was it worth investigating anyway for genuinely certain results?

"C'mon, Mabel. Isn't this what we're here for?" Dipper asked. He slowly held out his fist to her with the slightest look of hope. "Mystery Twins?"

Mabel glanced down at his fist and then at his face. Despite her extreme hesitance, she let out a sigh as she dropped her arms.

"Fine. Mystery Twins," she accepted while softly bumping her fist back against his.

Dipper gave her an appreciative smile in return. However, she then narrowed her eyes at him as she took a stern step into his space, catching him off guard.

"But I'm telling you right now - guilty or not, I'm getting my painting of Waddles back from him," she assured. "And so help me… he better not be guilty…"

---

Before doing anything else, Mabel had changed from her presentation attire into a more comfortable combination of jeans and a blue sweater with an olive branch on the front. From there, she joined Dipper in Soos' pickup truck as they drove from the Shack to Chambrot Drive. Dipper parked the truck on the curb right in front of the two-story cottage where Derrick resided.

"Alright, here we are," Dipper said as he unclipped his seat belt. Before opening the door to get out, he turned to his sister. "Do I have to remind you to try not to lose your head right away?"

"The only head that's getting lost is his after I pull it off," Mabel threatened while clenching her fists.

"Ehem…"

Mabel sighed, rolling her eyes. "But only if we find out that he did it…"

"That's a conditional I can live with," Dipper accepted before opening the car door. "Come on."

The two both stepped out from the pickup truck, joining one another on the sidewalk. They looked up for a moment, acknowledging that the day itself had gotten remarkably less sunny as the afternoon progressed. The sky had been painted over with gray clouds that spelled impending showers. The mental hope was getting to the bottom of everything before it started, but somehow, that wasn't looking likely.

Mabel then turned her head to the side, only to be unexpectedly uplifted by the surprising sight of Lazy Susan passing by in her usual Greasy's uniform.

"Oh, hey, Lazy Susan!" Mabel called out with a cheery wave. "Heading off to manage the greasiest diner in town again, I imagine!"

Lazy Susan paused in the middle of the sidewalk and turned back toward her. However, as Mabel looked at her, she immediately caught on to her very apparent downcast frown, shifting the cheery tone she was initially aiming for.

"Oh… hey there, you two," she gloomily greeted. "Another day… another irremovable pie stain…"

"What's wrong, Susan?" Mabel asked with concern. "Is Grunkle Stan still ignoring your voicemails? I'm going to have to have a long talk with him about the ethics of ghosting…"

"Oh, no," Lazy Susan shook her head. "I just think I lost my mother's pearl necklace. I was looking all over my house for it this morning and couldn't find it anywhere."

Mabel gasped sadly. "Oh no!"

"Aw, man…" Dipper said sympathetically.

"Ya know, it's funny because I misplace things all the time, but somehow, I've always managed to keep that necklace around for decades. But now…" Lazy Susan then let out a dejected sigh as she hunched over. After a second though, she forced her usual smile and attitude back on as she stood up straight. "Ah, well! Nothing that a day of inhaling cooking fumes can't fix. See you later, kiddos!"

She continued making her way back down the sidewalk while the twins watched her. Her forced positivity was as apparent as her sadness was prior.

Mabel shook her head. "Poor Susan…"

"Combined with the past memory erasure, I don't know if that job is doing her head any favors," Dipper remarked as her parting words stuck with him.

As much as both of them wished they could help her, they already had their own situation to worry about. They returned their focus ahead to the cottage, with Dipper leading the way up to the front door. He let out a deep sigh while holding a fist out toward the front door.

"Alright, here goes nothing…" he said with slight dread.

Knock, knock, knock.

Mabel folded her arms as they began waiting. "I bet he's not even home. He probably knows we're coming for him."

"Well, if he took your painting, where else is he gonna go? You think he's gonna carry that around with him all night?"

"I wouldn't think so. But I also wouldn't think he'd have any good reason to take my work in the first place. Especially after destroying most of it…" she bitterly reminded, which Dipper had zero good response to.

There was then a click at the door as it began to unlock. As it opened, Mr. Mendez's jolly old self stood right before the two with the same friendly old-man smile he was known for.

"Ahh, Dippy and Mabel!" he happily greeted.

"Hey, Mr. Mendez," Dipper greeted.

"Oh, hey! I forgot, I like this guy!" Mabel realized, lightening up. "Heh! He remembers my name better than yours."

"I swear he's doing this on purpose at this point," Dipper claimed.

"I just learned about the weather channel, and I've been watching it nonstop!" Mr. Mendez said while walking back inside toward the living room. "You two are free to come in and watch it with me if y'all would like. Apparently, it's gonna start raining soon. How suspenseful!"

"We appreciate the offer, sir, but we came by to talk to Derrick," Dipper said as he and Mabel followed inside. "He's upstairs, right?"

"Derrick?" Mr. Mendez repeated. "Oh, no. That boy's been out since early this morning."

"Wait, what?" Dipper said, surprised.

"Told ya," Mabel remarked.

"Where did he go?" Dipper asked.

"To the skate park, he said. Something about needing to handle some important business," Mr. Mendez continued.

"What kind of important business?"

"Beats me," Mr. Mendez shrugged. "But it seemed urgent. Boy was out all night and then this morning, he was in and out again in a rush."

"Out… all night?" Dipper repeated, growing slightly uneasy.

"Wait, so when he came back, did you see him bring anything inside with him?" Mabel asked. "Like, maybe a painting or something…?"

"Nope! Not that I saw!" Mr. Mendez said.

"Well, do you know where he went last night?" Dipper asked.

Mr. Mendez tapped his chin as he thought about it. "Huh… Come to think of it, he did say he was going to get the mail. Which is really strange… because when he came back this morning, I didn't see no mail!"

Dipper blankly stared at him for a moment. He then looked at Mabel and whispered, "I'm not sure this guy's the best person to ask questions to."

"Anyway, I just figured Derrick wanted to take his skater board this morning and hang out with all the other cool kids skating and riding around on their wheelie cycles and pogo sticks," Mr. Mendez continued. "I just hope he remembered to wear a helmet!"

"Huh. But what would Derrick be doing at the skate park? He doesn't even ride his skateboard like that," Dipper said while thinking over everything.

"Well, it sounds like we know where we're checking next. Come along, Dippy," Mabel said before grabbing Dipper by the wrist and pulling him along with her back toward the front door. She then turned back inside for a moment. "Thank you, Mr. Mendez, you charming, adorable old man! And don't worry, we're going to go find your grandson and make sure he's wearing a helmet!"

"Please do!" Mr. Mendez waved at them as he walked back to the front door. He then began to think to himself again as his cheery old smile slowly shifted away. "Hmm... Come to think of it… that boy Derrick has been seeming off since last night after…" He squinted his eyes skeptically. "Huh…"

Mr. Mendez then closed the door without further word while the twins were already making their way back toward the pickup truck. Just as they were leaving, they could feel the bits of drizzling rain begin to hit as the warning sign before the downpour really started. As such, they sped up their walking and hopped right back into the truck.

"Alright. Off to the skate park we go," Mabel declared, buckling her seat belt.

"You think he's even still there?" Dipper questioned. "I mean, Mr. Mendez said he left in the early morning. It just turned noon, and now it's about to rain."

"No harm in checking anyway. What if he is still there handling his 'important business'?" She suddenly gasped. "What if it's a drug deal?"

"Oh, please…" Dipper said dismissively with an eye roll before starting the truck.

"I'm serious! I mean, what if he's…"

Mabel stopped herself as she looked off to the side, something in her peripheral vision catching her attention. Her sudden cut off prompted Dipper to look in the same direction.

Just a house down and across the street, the two noticed Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland standing in front of an elderly man, who stood next to a fancy vintage convertible with a clean bright blue paint job. However, as nice as the car looked, one thing was very apparent - it was missing its front left tire.

The elderly man looked to have been mid-conversation with Blubs and Durland, explaining the situation to him while Durland jotted in his tiny notepad.

"I just don't know what happened," the man said. "The car had four tires yesterday, then we woke up, and now there are only three. And I'm pretty sure that a car is supposed to have four tires. Not three!"

Blubs turned to Durland. "You writing this down, Durly?"

Durland shook his head. "Nope. But I drew a turkey!"

Durland turned his notepad around for Blubs to see. Right there on the page was an earnest, dedicated, yet poorly sketched hand turkey.

And yet, Blubs took his sunglasses off in apparent astonishment. "What a work of art… and a mighty fine drawing too, Durland."

"Awwww, Blubs…" Durland said as his face flushed red.

"EXCUSE ME!" the elderly man barked, rattling the two. "I AM MISSING A TIRE!"

"My apologies, mista," Blubs said, putting his sunglasses back on. "We'll file a case and start our investigation immediately."

He and Durland then walked back toward their parked sheriff cruiser on the curb as the elderly man returned his focus to the lost tire on his car. Back across the street, Dipper and Mabel continued to silently spectate from the truck.

"Geez… looks like a lot of people are losing their things today," Mabel remarked.

Dipper nodded. "Yeah… sure looks like it…"

Mabel didn't catch on to Dipper's noticeable apprehension as he looked on at the situation. A bad feeling began to sit with him that he wasn't fully ready to speculate over. But he still held hope at least that he wouldn't have to.

Nonetheless, he put his hand on the gear shift and put the truck in drive. Just as they departed the curb and continued their way down the street, the drops of light drizzle that fell upon them grew heavier until they became the first drops of pouring rain.

---

The drive from Chambrot Drive to the town skate park wasn't too long, but it was long enough to the point where the rain showers had finally come down. If the twins needed to exit the truck's roofed interior for any reason, they were certainly to be drenched within seconds. For the moment though, there was no reason to get out yet. They had only just reached the skate park, with the truck pulling up to the side of the concrete walkway that surrounded the park itself.

Mabel hadn't been there since Ryland's BMX tournament, and last she remembered, it was packed with kids and teenagers with an entire bleacher arrangement. But now, those bleachers had been long since removed and there was seemingly no one around. Their truck also appeared to be the only vehicle in the vicinity.

Nowhere in sight was there even the slightest sign of Derrick, not that the rain washing over the windshield made it any easier to tell. But at that moment, Dipper was pretty confident that they were the only ones there at the park.

"Aaaand no one is here," he remarked. "And if he was here, we definitely missed him. Great."

Mabel pressed her hands against the passenger window, squinting as she attempted to look through the glass as rain dripped down the other side of it. "Maybe there's still something around here worth investigating! Some clues or something! Maybe even drug deal-related clues!"

"Would you knock it off with the drug deal stuff? Derrick's not that type of guy."

"But he is the kind of guy that would destroy someone's whole art collection and then run off with one of their paintings, right? Just to make sure we're on the same page…"

Dipper shot her a look. "You're not gonna rest until you know he's guilty, are you?"

"Hey, you and I saw the exact same camera footage. Even if it was glitchy, what I saw was someone who looked just like Derrick walking out from behind those curtains with my painted picture of Waddles. That looked pretty guilty to me. But noooo! Maybe it was a ghost! Maybe it was a clone! Maybe it was literally anything but what it really was, which you don't wanna admit!"

"This is Gravity Falls, Mabel! You're acting like none of those other things are even possible!"

"They are possible! But be real, Dipper! You don't actually believe any of those things happened! You're just coming up with excuses to save your friend from me whooping his butt. As far as we know, there's probably no bigger picture than the one we saw."

"And what if there is?"

"Then prove it, and I'll admit I was wrong!" she told him directly. "But if I'm not, then at the very least, I want you to do the same for me!"

"And I will!" He then raised an eyebrow at her implication. "What, do you think I won't?"

Mabel looked at him for a moment before crossing her arms and turning her body away from him in her seat. She stared out the passenger window with a sudden lack of spirits.

"I feel like you would've done it by now…" she said quietly.

Dipper frowned. "That's not fair, Mabel. And you know it. I already know what Derrick means to you, but you don't seem to get what he means to me. These past four years, he's been right there by my side."

"And I haven't?" she questioned, turning right back toward him. "I've been by your side for almost seventeen years!"

"That's different!"

"How? Just because we're siblings?"

"I mean, yeah, basically!" Dipper nodded. "We see each other everyday and we still hang out a lot, but come on, let's not act like we're always there for each other like we used to be."

"What do you mean? When recently have I not been there for you?"

Dipper gave her a look. "Uhhh… numerous times? Heck, the reason I even ended up meeting Derrick in the first place was because you couldn't even save me a seat at lunch like you said you would."

Of course, Mabel recalled that circumstance vividly. Letting him down that day was not her proudest moment, and the idea that her inaction indirectly led to Dipper meeting Derrick that day only soured her more now knowing what events had transpired because of his involvement since then. It was her fault though, and she knew that.

Still though, a reference from nearly four years prior wasn't exactly her definition of recent.

"But that was the start of eighth grade! That's not that recent."

"Fine! Sophomore Homecoming then!"

Mabel's eyes widened. The look on her face was one that said she knew exactly what he was talking about. Not only that, but also like she wasn't sure how to argue. Dipper caught her look and knew he had stumped her with that one.

"Do I need to say more than that?" he asked.

Mabel continued to sit in silence for a few seconds more, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly as she tried to find the words she wanted to say. "Well, I-I… I thought… You told me-"

"Look, I'm not even blaming you or trying to say you should've been there then or every other rough time," Dipper cut off. "My whole point is just that Derrick has been there for me during some of my darkest moments. And that's no fault on you for not being there, but at least understand what that means to me and why that makes all of this so difficult. He's my best friend, Mabel."

Mabel folded her arms while sitting back in her seat, head leaning off to the side. "I get it, Dipper. I do. But that's exactly what I'm getting at. I mean, are we not best friends too?"

Dipper opened his mouth to reply, but while looking at her, he noticed a movement out the window behind her. "Wait a second…" he said before pointing. "Look."

Mabel turned around as told and looked outside of the passenger window. Despite the raindrops dripping down the glass, they were able to make out the sight of a hooded person riding a skateboard into the park at that very moment. The person rolled into the center of the empty park and slid their foot against the wet concrete to a stop.

The person wore a backpack and an instantly familiar gray-striped hoodie with the hood up, which was doing the most it could as far as rain protection went despite already looking soaked. Still, if that wasn't already enough of a hint, the person turned their head just enough for the twins to be able to see Derrick's face and hair from a slight distance as he began to glimpse around the park.

"He's here…" Mabel stated, already narrowing her eyes.

"Get down," Dipper told her, ducking both his head and Mabel's down in the car just enough to hide a bit while still being able to see.

Derrick stood completely still in the pouring rain just looking over his surroundings for a moment. The twins couldn't tell what he was looking for or what he noticed exactly, but it didn't seem like he paid Soos' pickup much attention, if any at all. And they knew he knew what it looked like. After all, he had been in it before. But whether due to the downpour or whatever other possible reason, he just didn't seem to notice them.

After a moment of looking around, he eventually dove a hand into his hoodie pocket and pulled a mobile device out. The device itself as seen from the distance the twins sat from them wasn't instantly recognizable, but the easiest shot in the dark was a phone of some kind. Especially the way his thumb looked to tap on what seemed like a screen.

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "What the hell? Is that a cell phone?"

Derrick having a phone wasn't instantly abnormal or sinister on its own, but Dipper recollected him reaffirming his lack of a cellphone as recently as the Fourth of July. As far as he was aware, Derrick's phone was still back in Piedmont with his father. So what was he using right now?

Whatever it was, after a few taps on it, Derrick kicked his skateboard up, grabbing it and tucking it under his arm. He walked over to the side of the skate park, where seemingly nothing was besides a wall of surrounding forest trees. But that didn't seem to matter, as he continued to walk directly into the forest through the wall of trees, disappearing from the twins' line of sight.

Dipper rose his head back up, staring at Derrick's path curiously. "He's going into the woods." He pulled out the truck keys and popped the door open. "Guess we're tailing him on foot now. Come on."

He exited Soos' pickup, entering the pouring rain while shutting the door behind him. Mabel then emerged from the passenger side, inconveniently stepping into a mud puddle, which she shook off right after. Though they were not outside for even a minute, the rain already made itself very known to both of them. Dipper tugged down on his cap while Mabel yanked the back collar of her sweater over her head for the slightest bit of extra rain protection.

The two then grouped together closer to the edge of the forest outside the park, gathering a bit of protection from the showers beneath the trees. Dipper had kept a mental note of the exact part of the forest Derrick had entered, and so he continued tracing the forest edge until he and Mabel reached the exact spot they were looking for.

Once they reached that spot, they walked on through together, navigating the darker, muddier, bushier, and generally more uneven terrain as the objective became searching for where Derrick must've gone next.

As they wandered the woods for a good moment, however, a clearing in the forest began to become visible on the other side of some trees. As the two approached the clearing, Dipper suddenly held his hand out in front of Mabel, prompting her to halt in place as they stood behind a small grouping of tall trees.

"Stop here. Look," he told her quietly while gesturing ahead.

In the middle of the clearing ahead of them, they found Derrick once again. There, he just stood in place, seemingly waiting based on his stance.

He looked sleepless, with heavy bags under his eyes that neither Dipper nor Mabel remembered before. He still wore his backpack and held his skateboard under one arm while his other hand was holding the same device from beforehand, which he kept glancing back and forth from. This time, the twins stood close enough to him to better identify the device, which certainly looked like a type of smartphone, much to Dipper's continued confusion.

"He does have a phone," he noted quietly. "But he said his dad had taken his phone before he came here and that his grandpa couldn't afford another for him. So how does he have one now?"

"How else? He probably stole it like everything else," Mabel suggested.

"And what's he even waiting for? And why here?"

Mabel's eyes looked to the right of the clearing. "Looks like we're about to find out."

Ring, ring!

The ring of a bike bell pulled Dipper's attention to the right of the clearing as well. At that moment, another person rode straight into the clearing from a separate path on a bicycle, coming to a stop across from Derrick. The person was another teenage boy with soaked brown hair who wore cargo shorts and a dark blue shirt with a golden crown on it. His irked face was unfamiliar to Dipper, but all the more recognizably punchable to Mabel.

"Yuri…" she named aloud.

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "You know this guy?"

"Yeah…" she nodded. "...and he's somehow an even bigger butthead than Derrick."

Yuri hopped off of his bike, leaning it against the side of a tree. He then pulled out his own phone, glancing back and forth between it and Derrick as he approached him.

"You the guy?" he asked.

Derrick gave Yuri a weird look before glancing back down at his phone. "Wait, you're YuriDaGoat98?"

"Ya seem surprised," Yuri analyzed.

"I don't know. I was kind of expecting you to be like… an actual goat or… something like that."

Yuri raised an eyebrow. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Derrick shook his head. "Nothing, never mind. I guess I was just expecting someone a bit less… normal," he said, scanning Yuri's appearance again.

"Heh. Well, the ladies say I'm abnormally good-lookin'," Yuri said, arrogantly wiping his knuckles against his chest.

Derrick simply stared at him for a moment, completely unimpressed. "Oh, brother."

Equally unimpressed, Mabel leaned over to Dipper's ear. "For the record, I've never said that, and I doubt any other girl has ever said that about him either."

"Shhh!" Dipper hushed, redirecting her attention back ahead.

"Anyway, ya got the thing or nah?" Yuri asked.

"I got it. Just give me a sec." Derrick grabbed his backpack from over his shoulder and unzipped it before digging a hand through it. "What does someone like you even need one of these for anyway?"

"Believe it or not, I used to have one for a while. But then I lost it last month thanks to a buncha sore losers," Yuri said, clutching his fists at the thought. "Ever since then, I've been searchin' all over the market for another one of these bad boys. This app just so happened to be the only one where I could find it."

"I can't imagine how desperate you must be to have searched that deep online for something like this."

"Don't try me, boy-o," Yuri threatened, narrowing his eyes impatiently. "Do ya got the damn thing or not?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, boy-o," Derrick mocked. "And I told you to give me a sec. God…"

Yuri was visibly unappreciative of Derrick's attitude but continued to stand by passively while he dug through his backpack. From outside the clearing, the twins continued to stand hidden behind the trees while spectating their whole exchange.

"So far, this is looking pretty drug deal-y to me," Mabel quietly commented.

"Shut up…" Dipper replied, visibly irked by the running joke.

"How long you been doin' this gig anyway?" Yuri asked.

"Just started," Derrick blankly replied, still searching through his bag.

"Hmph. Seems like a lotta work."

"It's not so bad," Derrick shrugged. "It's only annoying when I gotta get a hold of certain things to sell. Like this tire I just sold. Wasn't nearly as easy a swipe as this was."

Dipper's eyes lit up. "A tire? Swipe?"

Mabel glanced over at him with a realization. "Dipper, that one neighbor of his was missing his tire…"

"I know…" he nodded.

"And this gig pay well?" Yuri continued.

"It pays enough. Or at least it will when I'm done," Derrick said just as his hand seemed to find something. "Ah, here we go. Just as advertised."

He pulled his hand out from the bag, taking out a necklace made of pristine pearls that he presented to Yuri, who smiled interestedly at the sight of it. Meanwhile, the twins' jaws dropped in disbelief while they watched from the sidelines.

"That's a pearl necklace…" Mabel realized. "But didn't Lazy Susan say she lost…?"

"...her mom's necklace…" Dipper finished with growing dread. "Yeah… she did. Derrick, man… you didn't…"

"We need to intervene," Mabel claimed, taking a step out from behind the tree.

"No!" Dipper said, quickly pulling her right back. "Not yet."

"What? Then when?"

"I'll say when," he assured, pointing back toward the clearing. "Just keep watching."

Yuri took the pearl necklace from Derrick's hand and inspected it. He then clutched his hand into a fist, gripping the necklace tightly while holding it up in the air with intent.

However, after a minute without any apparent event, a frown grew on his face.

"Well?" Derrick asked.

"Just as advertised, my ass," Yuri said, lowering his arm. "The hell is this? This necklace ain't magic!"

"The hell do I look like to you? A magician? Of course it's not magic."

"I was in the market specifically for a magic necklace." Yuri pulled his phone out and gestured toward it. "The app showed that you were selling one, and this clearly ain't one."

"Well, check the page again. Says nothing about the necklace being magic," Derrick said, showing Yuri his own phone screen. "You'd have known that if you actually read the damn thing. That is if you're even capable of reading."

"I can read just fine, boy-o!" Yuri barked.

"Then read the price, boy-o! Because that's what you owe me for it!" Derrick shot back, shoving the phone right in Yuri's face.

Yuri scoffed, carelessly pushing his hand away. "Ya think I'm payin' for this?"

"I'd sure hope you are." Derrick clutched his fists, growing more and more impatient. "'Cause if you aren't, then you're gonna give it back before I snag it back!"

"Ha! I don't think so, boy-o," Yuri refused, holding the necklace to the side to inspect it. "You already wasted my time bringin' me all the way out here for the wrong product. But I could probably still make a good buck off these pearls by takin' them for myself. I'd say you owe me that much."

WHAM!

The right side of Yuri's jaw was suddenly met with the violent force of Derrick's left fist, sending him planting down onto the muddy grass. Dipper and Mabel immediately let out shocked gasps in reaction from the trees they stood behind.

However, the red in Derrick's eyes had not faded. Immediately following his first punch, he got on top of Yuri on the ground and continued wailing on him, winding up every next punch that he continued to land upon the sides of his face. He continued to do so relentlessly for a moment with seemingly no remorse or desire to hold back, which was immediately apparent to the twins, who watched each thrown punch with tremendous unease.

"Okay, NOW we intervene!" Dipper confirmed.

Both on the same page, the two bolted from the trees straight toward Derrick, who began to wind up another first back.

"And I'd say you owe me THIS much!" Derrick said as he prepared to strike.

"THAT'S ENOUGH, DERRICK!" Dipper shouted.

Derrick didn't even have time to turn his head to see the twins before they both tackled him at once. He landed on his backside in the mud as each twin held one of his arms down.

"What the…?!" he questioned before glancing between both twins with even more confusion. "Sparkles?! Dipper?! What are you doing?!"

"Really?! Us?!" Dipper asked.

"Yeah, what are YOU doing?!" Mabel retorted. "That was a few more punches than Yuri actually deserved!"

Derrick's utter confusion with the two didn't last long. His aggression redirected toward them as he physically resisted their hold on him and yanked his arms from both of their grasps.

"Get off of me!" he demanded.

Yuri started scrambling back onto his feet in a panic, panting heavily. He turned to Derrick while slowly backing away, showing his newly bruised face with one eye struggling to stay open.

"GAH! Y-You're a freakin' lunatic!" he stuttered, voice scratchy and trembling. "How dare you-"

He cut himself off as his eyes darted from Derrick to Mabel on the ground next to him.

"Wait… Mabel Pines?! You're with this nutjob?!" he realized. "What am I sayin'? Of course you're with him! You're always hangin' around with freaks around here! Him, Ryland, Powder Hair…!"

"Get lost, Yuri!" Mabel dismissed. "This doesn't concern you anymore!"

"It concerns his money!" Derrick countered, shaking his fist at Yuri. "Hey, I'm gonna need you to pay up, boy-o!"

"I'm outta here!" Yuri shouted, bolting for his bike back by the tree and hopping on. "You'll all be hearin' from my lawyer! My dad's a lawyer! You'll hear from my daaaaaaaad!"

"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" Derrick called out, pushing the twins off of him to rise back to his feet. "YOU OWE ME!"

By the time he was standing again though, Yuri had already begun pedaling off down the same path in the clearing from where he entered. Within seconds, he was already out of sight, disappearing between the trees.

Derrick clutched his fists to the point of them shaking with rage before turning right back toward the twins. "GAHHH! What's WRONG with you two?!"

"What's wrong with us? What's wrong with you, man?!" Dipper asked. "Beating up another guy like that! That was uncalled for!"

"He deserved it!" Derrick insisted, marching right up toward Dipper. "He was about to pull a hit-and-run on me! And thanks to you, he did pull a hit-and-run on me!"

"Are you sure about that?" Mabel's voice asked from behind.

Derrick turned around, eyes widening upon seeing the pearl necklace dangling from the palm of Mabel's hand.

"The necklace!" he realized before suddenly reaching a hand for it. "Give me!"

"Uh-uh!" Mabel denied, holding the necklace back from his attempted swipe. "How about you tell us where you got this from?"

"That's none of your business."

"Maybe not my business. But I'm thinking it might just be Lazy Susan's business, wouldn't you say so?" Mabel asked while dangling the necklace in front of his face again.

His eyes grew large with the implied accusation. His lack of an immediate answer that followed only seemed to further suggest to both twins that he knew exactly what they knew.

Dipper walked right up to him. "Derrick… you stole that necklace?"

Derrick glanced back and forth between the two somewhat awkwardly. "I-I…"

His eyes fell upon Dipper once more for a longer moment, staring him right in his eyes. He looked like he already knew the answer, but was still clinging to the slightest bit of hope that he had another one instead. That failing hope made his disappointment all the more visible. This contrasted heavily with Mabel, whose eyes instead carried an intense fury against him, which wasn't anything surprising to him but still apparent.

To his left, anger. To his right, disappointment. And yet, he did not have the patience to deal with either at the moment.

"Look, I had a long night, okay?" he brushed off. "And I still got things to do, so I'm not really trying to get into all of this."

"So you did…" Dipper realized, now narrowing his eyes. "You did steal the necklace!"

Derrick turned away from him. "Dipper, I'm not doing this with you right now."

"And that's not the only thing you stole either, is it?" Dipper continued to press. "Like that phone? Or your neighbor's tire?!"

"Or my painting of Waddles?" Mabel added before getting right in his face. "What did you do with Waddles?!"

"Get away from me!" Derrick shouted, immediately backing away from her.

"Dammit, man! What's your problem?" Dipper asked strongly. "We literally talked about this last night! You said you were trying to get your act together! This is not getting your act together!"

"And you have no idea what I'm going through right now!" Derrick argued, pointing a finger in his chest. "I have been trying to get my act together, but things happened!"

"Like what?"

"I don't owe you an explanation!" He then turned to Mabel as he began storming off. "Or you! You guys aren't cops, no matter how much you wanna act like them!"

Dipper wasn't ready to let him get away like that. He speed-walked right after him, putting a hand on his shoulder as he tried to pull him back. "But we're friends, man! At least I thought we were!"

Derrick glared at him. "If you're really my friend, then you'll stay out of my goddamn way!"

He charged his arm back before thrusting it forward, his hand forcefully shoving Dipper right in the middle of his chest. It was completely unprecedented, sending him stumbling back a bit and almost causing him to fall.

Dipper's eyes remained on Derrick, watching as he grabbed his skateboard from the ground and ran out of the grassy, muddy clearing. He dropped the board back down on the same less grassy path Yuri had ridden before getting on top of it himself and kicking himself forward, skating away as fast as he could.

"DERRICK!" Dipper called out, trying to grab his attention again, but to no success.

Mabel ran right up beside Dipper, cupping her hands around her mouth in Derrick's direction.

"Well, I'M not your friend! So I'm coming for you and my painting of WADDLES!" she belted out passionately.

Her call received no more attention than Dipper's, if he had even heard it at all. He just stayed on his path, skating through the pouring rain before turning a corner and leaving their sight.

Where he was going next, neither of them had any idea. Pursuing him on foot in the middle of the rain wasn't an ideal option. Therefore, he had gotten away this time, and now they'd just need to find him again. But how they were to handle their next confrontation was the next step to figure out.

Huffing her rage off, Mabel then turned back toward Dipper. "So what do we do now?"

He heard her question, but Dipper's mind was too clouded to think of an answer. He couldn't stop staring down the path Derrick had gone down while the feeling of his hard shove was still felt in the middle of his chest.

All this time, he had been banking on the simple hope that Derrick would somehow be absolved from any suspicion for what had happened with Mabel's art collection the night before. Now, that didn't look possible anymore. As it looked, Derrick was responsible for that and even more, and all for reasons he still had no idea about.

He had put so much trust in Derrick bettering himself and walking away from petty juvenile crimes and theft. To not grow into another scamming swindler with an extended criminal background like Grunkle Stan, as much as he loved him. The night before, he told Derrick directly that he thought he was changing, and he really believed it when he said it. But now, he wasn't sure what he believed anymore.

Yesterday, they were two teens button-mashing away - hacking, slashing, and shooting their way through waves of virtual enemy hordes together - all without a care in the world.

Less than twenty-four hours later, Derrick had physically shoved him aside and told him to stay out of the way of his way while he stole innocent townsfolk belongings to sell on some type of online market.

The thing is- Dipper knew he couldn't just sit by and let that happen.

He just didn't think he'd have to lose a friend as a result.

---

Very late, but hope everyone is having a good New Year so far, or at least one that's tolerable or as least bad as can be.

I feel like I owe an apology every time a chapter takes me more than a month to post. But the past few months have been very busy for me for several reasons that are mostly out of the way now. This chapter being yet another behemoth length-wise doesn't help make things a speedy update either.

Still though, as some reaffirmation, I'm still hard at work on this whole thing whenever I'm able, and I'm no less motivated to finish this story in time. And it will absolutely take time if anyone is willing to give it to me.

My attempted goal for 2025 going forward is to aim for AT LEAST one chapter a month, though I'd like to post more than that whenever possible. Now, I obviously cannot and will not promise that because I know damn well how I've been with these updates so far already, but know that I am going to try my best, and if I can manage that, we're already moving at a much better pace at the very least.

Anyway, still one more part of this episode to go, and I hope it answers all of the questions I'm sure many still have based on these first two parts. Until then!

- Absolute Rift