Chapter Text
“We’re almost there!” Dipper could hear Mabel’s exuberance as she raced ahead of him. Dipper was also excited, but no one could match Mabel’s enthusiasm. The Mystery Shack, or Mystery Hack for the S had fallen off, was just ahead of them. After a long, mundane school year Dipper was looking forward to the craziness of Gravity Falls. “Huh,” Dipper noted. “The S fell to the ground completely this time.”
Mabel sighed dreamily. “It’s just as we left it. Decrepit and falling apart.” Dipper nervously eyed the goat in the front lawn. One of these summers Dipper would prove it is a demon of some kind. “Nothing seemed to really change. Unfortunately,” Dipper added under his breath, still looking at the goat.
“Oh quit being such a Debbie-Downer Dipping Dot! We’re finally back in Gravity Falls. We have so much to DO! We gotta go to go see Soos and Wendy and Candy and Greta and Grunkle Stan and Great-Uncle Ford RIGHT NOW.”
“Oh-Yes!” Dipper mentally slapped himself. Their Grunkles had made time to be here this summer during Dipper and Mabel’s annual visit instead of tracking down and dealing with paranormal occurrences. The twins hurried inside and were greeted by loud party poppers, airhorns, a french horn (someone likely misunderstood the instructions, Dipper guessed.) and blinding lights flickering on. Dipper could not stress this enough, they were brighter than stadium lights. He stumbled back, temporarily blinded and deafened by a town's worth of noise.
“WELCOME BACK PINES TWINS!” Dipper opened his eyes to see-oh. It was a town’s worth of people. Mostly. There were people missing, because the entire town couldn’t fit into the Mystery Shack, but Dipper digresses.
“SOOS!” Mabel squealed, wrapping her arms around the handyman turned owner of the Shack. Dipper stepped forward to join them when he felt his hat get taken. He turned around, grinning. “Hey Wendy!”
“What’s up Dipper?” Wendy held up the pine tree hat from the first summer. “Looking for something?” Dipper jumped up to grab it, doing so successfully and putting it on his head. “Of course I was. It’s tradition.” He straightened the cap, then looked back at Wendy. “How was college?”
Wendy grimaced, and Dipper knew hew in for it. “Sucked. I considered dropping out eighteen different times the first week alone.”
“Oh yeesh,” Dipper said, wincing. “Sounds miserable, but hey. Least you’ve graduated now.”
“Heck yeah I did.” Wendy grabbed Dipper into a quick sidehug, then released him. “Nice seeing you again Dipper. See ya on the flip side.”
Dipper laughed. “I suppose so.” He bade a quick good bye and made his way over to Soos. Dipper had grown out of his crush on Wendy, and she was now the cool older friend who could drive and legally vote. Nowadays his tastes are different. An image of long golden blond hair flashed through Dipper’s mind, and he flushed. Shaking such thoughts away, Dipper dragged Mabel off Soos because she was STILL hugging him. Mabel shot a scandalized look at him before going off, likely to find Candy and Greta. “Hey man, how’s the Shack going?” Dipper asked, turning back to Soos.
“Pretty good, pretty good. I’ve been able to really expand the business this year.” Soos blushed, looking away slightly. “Melody’s been a lifesaver with all of it.”
Dipper snickered. “Sounds like someone’s down real bad.”
“Hey. it’s better than how you acted around Wendy your first summer here!” They both laughed, and talked for a while more. Alas, everything eventually comes to an end, and Soos and Dipper’s talk was no different. They exchanged their farewells, and Dipper scanned the room for any familiar faces. He said hi to Tad Strange and Toby, before spotting a familiar head of hair. Well, two. Dipper made his way towards them, grabbing Mabel on his way. Locking eyes, Mabel and Dipper nodded. “GRUNKLES STANFORD!”
The two older men turned towards their voices, faces lighting up. Dipper ran into Great-Uncle Ford’s awaiting arms, squeezing him tightly. “I’ve really missed you guys.”
Ford chuckled, pulling back from the hug. “Same here kid.” Dipper looked up, glancing at Mabel and Grunkle Stan to see them engaging in their own catch up.
“Are you going to be here the whole summer?” Dipper’s heart swelled with hope. He saw his great-uncle so little these summers compared to his first, and Ford had been trapped in another dimension for half of it. Great-Uncle Ford and Grunkle Stan would stop by occasionally to see them other summers, but never more than a few days. Ford smiled, melancholy. “Planning to be.”
Dipper grinned, hugging Ford again. “Oh. this is going to be the BEST summer!” Dipper looked up at Ford’s face, and saw it. Great-Uncle Ford had eyebags heavier than his guilt about Weirdmageddon, and his eyes were bloodshot. Dipper could feel his smile slipping, “Is something wrong? Is-Is h e back?”
Ford shook his head. “No, thank god. However, there may be a problem. Follow me.” Ford tapped Stan’s shoulder then pointed at the vending machine. The Pines made their way over to it. Mabel looked at Dipper, confused.
“Do you know what’s happening?” She asked.
“Not really. Great-Uncle Ford looked worried then he very ominously said that there might be a problem.”
Mabel sucked in a breath, looking at Dipper with fear in her eyes. “Is it-”
“No.” Dipper said immediately, cutting her off. “”Ford seemed certain that it was something else. Mabel let out the breath, relief evident on her face. The vending machine swung open, and they climbed into the basement.
Ford strode to the front of the group, gesturing to a handful of monitors and scientific equipment looking out at the wreckage in the portal room. They should really clean that up someday; it's been put off for way too long. “We picked up a unique energy reading on the Stan o’ War II a few months ago. It was weak, but Stan and I had nothing better to do, and it was as good a lead as any. We tracked the readings to Gravity Falls. The epicenter of all the readings, actually, is right in front of us.” Ford gestured towards the portal debris, then took a pause to turn on the equipment. “Stan and I have had a few theories about what might be happening. It could be a new type of energy, the town messing with our equipment-”
“Or radiation leaking in from another dimension through a weakened point of space and time, where an interdimensional rip has formed before.” Stan finished. “With the portal room having the strongest readings this seems to be the likeliest theory.”
“And if energy can come through, then bigger things might be able to as well at some point.” Ford said, glaring at Stan for interrupting. “So it’s imperative that we get a handle of this situation as soon as possible.”
“What do you need us to do?” Mabel asked, softly. Dipper nodded along, voice catching in his throat.
“We plan to capture some of the energy that leaks through during the next flare, to identify what it is, where it comes from, and how to seal it. Dipper, you’ll watch the monitors. Mabel you’re on button duty. When I say now, press the button. Stan’s going to make sure no one will interrupt us.” Ford said, motioning to where each of the things are. “I’ll be at the console.”
Dipper sat in front of the monitors, nerves alight with adrenaline. He watched the graphs for any minute change, but the readings stayed stable. Minutes slipped into hours, and Dipper began to feel the consequences of sleep deprivation. Not sleeping last night had come back to bite him. The others weren’t faring any better, nodding off to snap back awake before they began to slump again. Grunkle stan had fallen completely asleep at some point and was snoring. His snores were actually a pretty good tool to keep the rest of them awake. Dipper turned back to the monitor, eyes drooping, when the readings changed and began spiking. Dipper shouted, “The readings are flaring!” Everyone snapped into action. Stan jumped to his feet, wiping his eyes. Mabel straightened and kept her hand hovering over the button. Ford grabbed notes and began flicking switches and dials all over his console.
As Great-Uncle Ford fiddled with the console, the energy reached high enough levels to become visible. Blue and green lighting danced across the portal room, cracking with unmistakable power. Ford flipped a lid, slamming his fist down. On the walls of the portal room, two circular hatches opened. Ford yelled, “Mabel, now!” Mabel pressed the button and two clear domes shot out of the openings on metal supports, meeting together to encase the energy. “That should keep the energy contained and dampen its power. Once we ride out this flare we can study the captured energy.” Ford said, sounding exhausted but relieved.
“Ford, the energy is still increasing!” Dipper said in a panic as the spikes began becoming higher and higher.
“What?” Ford said, looking horrified. The lighting in the other room became more intense, coalescing into what looked to be a solid form. It got too bright, and Dipper had to look away. When Dipper looked back, he breathed out a soft, “No way.”
Inside the clear sphere lied an alien. A red and black, anthropomorphic hedgehog(?) wearing shoes and gloves for whatever reason. Dipper snorts. “What is my life?”