Chapter Text
The journal Dipper had found had all sorts of creatures and critters and magic that lives in the woods around Grunkle Stan’s lab. It was amazing!
Every page was filled with different critters and weird things Mabel and her twin noticed roaming around the town. And most of the information proved to be useful or incomplete in some entries, which pushed her brother to fill in all the gaps he would find.
The one about the gnomes and their weakness wasn’t complete and proved to be a challenge when her first crush and summer boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of them. They were all real jerks too and wanted to turn her into their new queen. Ewww.
Granted becoming a queen sounded like a dream come true for any young girls, but that wasn’t what Mabel was looking for. She wanted a real summer romance, not a life long commitment.
Fortunately, Dipper had driven to her rescue, literally since he borrowed the shack’s golf cart to reach deep down in the middle of the forest. He managed to free her, but even then the gnomes had chased them all the way to the lab. The only thing that stopped the amalgamation the little men had formed was the clearing around Stan’s lab.
As soon as they burst out of the tree line, the gnomes had stopped and scattered back into the woods, screaming in terror about something big and dangerous chasing them if they got too close.
“Next time you come deep into the forest, we’ll show you what the proud gnomes are capable of!” Jeff, the one with the brown beard, had shouted before scrambling away.
The twins had stood proudly over them as they ran away with fears. Mabel attributed their reaction to them believing in Stan’s story about a monster escaping the woods. She believed there was some truth to their great-uncle’s tall tale. Her brother still had his doubts since Stan was well known to tell lots and lots of lies in their family, but wanted to find that mysterious creature nonetheless.
The fact that the gnomes were scared just proved to him that the shack must be in the monster’s territory.
They agreed to look further into it during their summer and headed inside, after giving each other an awkward sibling hug after the life-threatening experience. Their great-uncle had both given them a gift from the gift shop, for good measure after seeing the state they were in.
Dipper had chosen a new hat, since his last one got eaten by the gnomes and Mabel took a grappling hook. The perfect weapon to explore the woods and search for a monster. She could see her twin was slightly jealous and blew a raspberry at him.
Once back in their shared room in the attic, they agree to start monster hunting the next day. Both were excited except…
Stan had other plans for them.
“Good morning, knuckleheads.” He greeted them both as he entered the kitchen in his boxer and white tank top. “You two know what day it is?”
“Happy anniversary?” Dipper said tentatively.
“Mazel Tov!” Exclaimed Mabel enthusiastically as she raised her hands proudly into the air.
As an answer, Stan whacked the back of Dipper’s head, not enough to hurt him, but strong enough to dislodge his cap momentarily.
“It’s a family fun day, genius.” He said and went to the fridge to get some milk. “We’re gonna go out and do some … bounding type activities.”
“Grunkle Stan, is it going to be anything like our last family activity?” Dipper asked skeptically.
Mabel shivered despite her colourful sweater and the summer heat as she remembered how cold the jail cells had been during that night. “Never again.” She whispered.
Their great-uncle rolled his eyes. “Oy, have a little faith, please.” He drank a bit of milk from the cardboard and sat at the table with them. “Nah, it’s nothing like that. It’s gonna be some good old family bonding time. Now who wants to put on some blindfold and get into my car?”
“YAY!” Both Mabel and Dipper exclaimed at the same time, until Dipper’s common sense kicked in and he added, “wait what?”
Before they knew what happened, the twins were rushed inside Stan’s car with blindfolds on. The trip was fast, but their uncle drove recklessly if the way the car swayed left and right was any indication.
In a few moments, and a few busted fences probably, they were thrown out and their blindfolds were taken off to reveal…
“The lake?” Asked Dipper. “What are you playing at old man?” He put his hands on his hips, in a poor attempt to look intimidating.
Before them, Stan stood proudly in some old fishing gears, complete with the netted hat and cargo short. He even wore a white t-shirt under his fishing vest, a shirt that revealed old gnarly red scars running up his right arm. Their uncle usually kept them hidden under his coat and never explained where he had gotten them, besides the story he gave to the tourists. Still he proudly raised his arms and motioned to the lake behind him.
“It’s fishing season and I thought we could all go on the lake together.” Behind him stood a hasty put together fishing boat complete with some poles and casting nets.
Mabel looked at their great-uncle, how happy he looked standing straight with his gear, even if it showed that nasty scar. Going to the expense of spending money, she hoped but doubted, on this trip. It warmed her heart and so she turned to her brother.
“I think he really wants to spend the day with us.” She whispered in her twin’s ear.
They exchanged a look, an unspoken conversation passing between them. Dipper opened his mouth to say something when a shrilling voice screamed over by the deck. They turned to see an old man, probably older than Stan, running down the deck, shoving bystanders left and right. Some even fell into the water.
“I’ve seen it! I’ve seen it again!” He kept screaming until he came to a stop in the middle of the crowd, not before knocking a few other people over.
“The Gravity Falls beast! Come before it skitters away!”
He started to do a little dance, slapping his hands on his tights in a somewhat rhythmic beat.
“Aww, he’s doing a happy gig.” Mabel chimed.
The old man turned to her, a look of horror on his face. The first thing the young teen saw was his huge nose right in the middle of his face surrounded by a long clean white beard. He wore old overalls, with patches on the knees. It looked worn-out but clean at the very least in Mabel’s eyes. The man also had a green shirt with the Gravity Falls wildLife logo on the sleeves. He raised a finger in the air.
“It’s not a happy gig! It’s a gig of doom and danger!” He screeched with a high-pitched voice. He pointed toward the lake, his finger shaking. “I saw fresh tracks right over there! It’s the beast! It’s come closer!”
A middle-aged man, with an impressive nose and a thick mop of hair came running toward them. He wore a cap over his eyes and had the same outfit as the old man before them.
“Dad, what did I tell you about spreading those rumours?”
The twins stared at them and the old guy. “Dad?!”
Not paying them attention, the one with the white beard just pointed to the shores near the forest.
“But it’s true! It’s true! I’ve got the proof!” He shouted.
Not skipping a bit he sprung to where he had pointed, the twins and half the town present on his heels.
“Behold!” He pointed to some smudge mark on the sand. “It’s the dang beast that done it!”
The small crowd that had gathered all gasped in awe at the multitude of paw prints near the shore. Some whispered about the beast coming close to the lake. The paw prints looked quite big and fuzzy, Mabel immediately imagined the creature to be adorable. Or a bear now that she looked at it. Either way, she would knit a perfect sweater.
A laugh from the mass brought her back to the shore and she turned to see a stout little policeman chuckling from the side of the crowd.
“Attention all units, we have a crazy old man who saw beavers at the lake.” Said a big policeman nearby, a smug smile under his thick sunglasses and even thicker moustache.
The crowd laughed louder and the old man shrunk in shame, avoiding everyone’s eyes. His son stood at the end of the gathering, dipped his cap and walked away. His father walked away moments later in a different direction.
Stan coughed and looked away. “Well, that happened.” He suddenly became very interested in untying the knots of a small boat docked near them before climbing in.
Dipper turned to her sister with an excited smile. “Mabel, did you hear what that old man said? Those prints didn’t belong to any beavers! The beast must’ve come close to the lake to feed or … or something!” He rambled excitedly.
Mabel opened her mouth to join in on the delight when Stan clapped his hands together and smiled brightly at both of them. “Now that’s out of the way, ready for hours of fun on a boat?”
“Hours?” Dipper whimpers, excitement gone.
Stan’s smile only got wider. “I got the joke book!” He pulled out of his pocket a small red book.
Mabel gasped in horror and turned to her brother. “There has to be a way!”
Two honks from the lake got their attention as they saw Soos arrived on a boat that appeared to be more gaffer tape than wood. The handyman still looked proud of his work. He waved as he brought his boat to the shores.
“What’s up dudes?” Soos asked with a bright smile showing his buck teeth as he raised his hand in greetings.
“Soos!” Mabel exclaimed and rushed to the side of the boat and slapped his hand.
Dipper smiled at his sister as he ran next to her. “Mabel, do you know what this means? With Soos’s boat, we could explore the shores of the lake and get a picture of the Beast of Gravity Falls and prove its existence once and for all!” If Mabel didn’t know any better, she could have sworn his eyes became bigger with his excitement back.
The handyman laughed, “Oh dude, you could totally take my boat for that! It’s got a steering wheel and normal boat stuff.”
“Ah come on! Wouldn’t you rather spend the day learning how to tie knots and skewer worms onto hooks?” Stan waved his eyebrow as if he was trying to sell them something.
Dipper raised an eyebrow. “Will you be navigating close to the shore? Or…” Dipper looked and spotted a few trees covered in mist on an island that seemed to be in the middle of the lake. He smiled and pointed “Near that mysterious island?”
Stan turned toward the island. “No way. That’s the worst part of the lake to fish. You wanna go where the water’s the deepest … or near the other’s beat so you can just steal their catch.”
Mabel’s twin just sighed in annoyance and glanced alternatively at the handymen’s and their great-uncle’s boat. She herself felt torn.
Despite their last family bonding activities, they never really got to know their great-uncle. He never came to any holidays, always saying he had important work, which their grandfather assured it was a common thing for him, but still. Spending the day with him would allow them to know him better.
On the other hand, adventuring on the lake with her brother and maybe encountering something new and exciting sounded more fun. There weren’t any places like this near their home, they couldn’t pass up the opportunity. She turned to her brother and they both smiled before jumping into Soos’s boat.
“Monster hunt! Monster hunt!” They cheered.
“There are no monsters in these woods!” Stan thundered.
They got silent quickly and turned to Stan. Dipper frowned.
“How can you say that after seeing the paw prints on the shore?” Dipper shouted back. “Grunkle Stan, you make a living telling this tall tale about how one of your experiments went wrong and escaped and yet you keep saying there are no monsters?”
Stan crossed his arms and glared at Dipper. “Because I’ve lived here for thirty years and have never seen one! Bears, yeah there are a couple, but nothing resembling any sort of monster.”
The pre-teen held Stan’s stare. “That man said he saw it!”
“What! You’re gonna take the words of a half-insane hillbilly over my own!”
Dipper frowned defiantly. “Yes, I am.” He turned away. “Soos, take us to that island!”
Stan glared a few more moments before deflating. “Make sure they don’t get hurt, Soos.”
The handymen glanced between Dipper and his boss before grabbing the wheel of his boat and slowly steered it away. “You got it Mr. Pines. Don’t worry, nothing bad will happen to these kids!” He saluted.
Stan shook his head and went back to his own boat, untying the knots.
Mabel smiled as their own vessel got farther from the shore, but couldn’t help but feel sorry for their great-uncle. He looked a bit sad, alone on his boat. As she put on a safety vest and handed one to her twin, she promised to make it up one way or another to Stan. She turned to her brother with a bright smile.
“Let’s go catch that monster!” She cheered.
“Well, that could’ve gone better.” Mabel sighed.
They had safely made it to scuttlebutt island. Found the gobblewonker. Got chased by the gobblewonker. They had barely made it to the boat only to run into a beaver dam. The little critter, arguably adorable, had attacked them and chewed their boat. They only managed to escape it all by driving through a secret cave behind the waterfall they only knew about because of the journal Dipper had brought. It did save their skin.
As they were finally catching their breath, the whole cave got rocked as the gobblewonker charged the entrance. The trio swirled around, prepared to run or fight or anything to not be eaten when…
“It’s … it’s stuck!” Exclaimed Dipper.
Her twin was right!
The group stared in awe as the gobblewonker trashed and growled trying to extricate itself. Its front legs and neck had managed to pass, but its sides were too wide and prevented it from coming anywhere near them. Despite its desperate effort to reach them, it wouldn’t budge.
“Now’s the time to take that picture!” Mabel cheered as she looked at her brother.
“And prove Grunkle Stan the beast of Gravity Falls is real!” Dipper padded his vest, looking for something and started to panic when he couldn’t get his hands on it.
Mabel frowned for a moment until she remembered the fifteen or so disposable camera Dipper had divided between Soos, herself and him. She smiled and walked up to her twin.
“Boop!” She said as she lifted his cap from his head to reveal the last remaining camera they had.
Dipper’s smile only grew wider as he grabbed it and got as close as he could to the gobblewonker while still out of reach of its gigantic jaw. He ran up a small ledge to get above it and flashed the camera as many times as he could.
Mabel and Soos joined him shortly.
“Are there any good ones?” She asked him eagerly.
“They’re all good ones!” He answered happily.
“Aw dude, that’s awesome!” Soos added as he patted his head.
Their cheers were cut short when a rock from the ceiling got loose and landed heavily on the gobblewonker’s head.
Instead of howling in pain, the monster just stopped moving altogether. Sparks came out near the impact of the rock. The whole cave suddenly became quiet. Mabel could swear she smelled oil and gasoline all of a sudden.
They all stood there, frozen in place. The head became wobbling and crashed on the ground with a loud clang. It made a horrible sound, it reminded Mabel of metal scraping against metal. Even its eyes sort of turned off. She expected them to just close, but it was as if the light literally went out of them.
Dipper was the first one to move forward and inspect the fallen beast. Carefully creeping up to it, throwing a few pebbles. Even from their vantage point, Mabel heard it reverberated all around them, it scared her a little.
“Dipper, be careful!” She warned her twin. Just because it wasn’t moving anymore it didn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous.
Her brother kept climbing until he disappeared on the other side of the gobblewonker. They could still hear his steps echoing around the cave, it sounded more mechanical than she would have imagined.
“Hey guys! Come check this out!”
Soos and Mabel exchanged a look before climbing down to where her twin brother had gone.
Mabel gasped.
“Oh dudes, this is freaky,” said Soos.
On the side of the gobblewonker was a valve thingy. The kind you would see on submarines or boats, not on the side of a lake monster.
Unless this isn’t a lake monster or the beast!
Her brother had already turned the valve and opened the hatch door. A cloud of steam erupted from the concealed room, blinding them temporarily.
“Aw banjo polish!” A voice from the hatch said.
The trio stared in awe as the steam cleared to reveal the old man from that morning trying desperately to start the machine he was sitting in.
“You?!” Dipper exclaimed.
The old man jumped at the sound of Dipper’s voice, swirling around to face them. He still wore the same vest and overalls, but he had ditched the wildlife shirt at some point. Old monitor screens crowded the small room he had been sitting in. An old banjo rested in the corner with the initials F.H.M. engraved in its side. He stared at them bewildered.
“You made this? But how?” Her brother asked the old man.
He glanced at them and his contraption alternatively, fidgeting with his fingers and beard. Mabel could see his mouth open and close a few times until he managed to settle his nerves.
“I just… I just wanted ta help a frien’!” he confessed sheepishly.
Dipper looked at his sister and Soos before glancing back at the old man.
“I still don’t understand..?” He started.
“Well, at first I thought about building a sort of helmet device that would protect the brain wave activity and help the degenerative effect to slow down! But I realized I didn’t know much about the brain so I started to think of something that could really help! I came up with the robot idea and decided to move it away from the woods to avoid the lumberjack that work down there and crowds. To a certain point. The idea was then to lure people at the lake so the woods would be safer fer my frien’…” the old man rambled on.
Mabel pinched the bridge of her nose. “But why did you do it?”
The old man looked sheepish and played nervously with his fingers. He looked at his contraption sadly.
“When you get to be my age, ya don’t have as many friends as ya used ta. So the few ones left are what matters most. I tried ta help a dear friend a long time ago and it didn’t end well. I couldn’t do anything so I figured I’d help them the only way I know how: building giant robots!” He laughed awkwardly. “So I assembled all the scrap metal I could find into an aquatic monster thingy that would get people to the lake and away from the woods! In retrospect I could’ve asked them if they needed any. You just don’t realize how some people mean to you until you lose them.”
Dipper and Mabel exchanged a look and sighed sadly. She suddenly felt really bad for ditching their great-uncle Stan earlier today. He was old and had just wanted to have some quality time with them. He had said so.
A small laugh to them made them jump and turn to see Soos, standing there with his half-destroyed shirt.
“Guess the real monster of the lake was you two dudes. Sorry it just sort of popped into my head.” The handy man said.
Mabel looked at the old man. “So … did you ever talk to your friend? Ever?” She asked.
“No ma’m I jumped straight to the fish robot! I’ve built a couple ones back in my days that didn’t work as well as this one!” He proudly tapped the hunk of metal he was sitting in. As in on cue, Mable heard a piece fall off on one side of the robot and crash on the ground. “Welp, back to work!”
The old man turned around, already forgetting their presence as he started to sew more pieces together.
Her twin pulled out his last disposable camera and sighed. “So much for finding the beast of Gravity Falls.”
Mabel rested a hand on his shoulder and smiled softly. “You still have one film left.”
“What do you have in mind?”
The little trio managed to reach Stan’s boat just as the last part of their own broke apart, jumping aboard.
“Kids? I thought you wanted to adventure in the lake?” Stan asked.
The twins smiled. Mabel was the first one to leap forward and hug her Grunkle. “We did adventure but…”
“We realized the only hairy beast we’d want to spend time with, is you.” Dipper finished.
There wasn’t any movement in the boat for a few seconds until Stan returned the hug and sighed happily. “Thank you, Pumpkin.” He whispered in her ear.
Mable giggled and tightened her hold on her Grunkle.