Hi guys! Sorry for the late upload! I got caught up in an extended-AP-review-turned-surprise-birthday-party.
Speaking of which, I have a bunch of AP tests coming up in the next couple of weeks— my first being this Tuesday— so if I miss an upload date I'm sorry! I should be fine (I try to be ~5 chapters ahead of the one I'm posting) but Idk how the testing situation is going to affect me this year. Last year I was so stressed that I had sleep paralysis nearly every night lol.
Hope you enjoy this week's chapter! Share, vote, and comment if you can; it's always appreciated! :D
-Cipher
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Y/n and the twins had learned the hard way that Stan's idea of a "family fun day" wasn't that much fun at all. It wasn't the first time they had a bonding-type of time together— well, if you could call a night in the county jailhouse a "bonding" experience. The trio was just grateful that it wasn't counterfeiting or anything else illegal today.
The lake was filled with the townspeople. Boats littered the glittering water, and playful shouts rang out from boat to boat as families celebrated their catches. It was actually a rather beautiful day; a nice breeze grazed the water and offered solace in the otherwise scorching day. The sun was nestled high in the sky, and clouds barely did so much as tickle its curves. As much as the trio hated to admit it, it was a great day to spend on the lake.
But, after the experience of having Stan— who was practically blind, as the kids learned in the middle of the ride— drive them to the lake blindfolded, all they really wanted was a nice day to themselves to help cope with nearly facing death. Not fishing on a tiny boat that rivaled the quality of the creatures in the shop.
"The 'Stan-o' War?'" Y/n asked, eying the boat suspiciously. It was barely floating on the water, and the motor Stan tied to it was close to falling off. There was no way that boat could fit all four of them without breaking halfway from the piling dock.
"Yep! Made her myself," Stan boasted, slapping it's hull proudly.
Y/n flinched, ready at any moment for the boat to fall apart and drop Stan into the lake. "Yeah," she laughed nervously, "I can see that."
"Speaking of craftsmanship," he continued, reaching into a fishing pouch tucked underneath his seat. "I made you three these! Pines Family Fishing Hats!" He threw three bucket hats to the kids, each with their names sewn onto the front.
Y/n's brow raised as the twins eyed each other. The colors of the letters were all over the place, and she wondered if he had taken them from Mabel's craft kit. The stitching was everywhere— cross stitch, ladder stitch, stitching she didn't even know the name off— it was just like the exhibits in the shack. He needs to take lessons from Mabel.
But, despite this, Y/n couldn't help but smile. Especially when she noticed that it was her name sewn on the front, and not Squirt. It almost made her feel like she belonged.
Mabel and Dipper's hats were the same, and while Mabel was silently criticizing the stitching on a much more expert level than Y/n had, Dipper was wondering how Stan managed to sew letters backwards without noticing anything wrong.
"Come on, kids," Stan said, "the fish aren't going to wait for us! It's just gonna be us four on this boat for 10 hours!"
"T-ten hours?!" Dipper stuttered, as his two sisters paled.
"Yep! I brought the joke book!" Stan sang, revealing the small red book from his life jacket.
"Oh hell no," Y/n muttered under her breath.
The trio glanced wearily at each other, silently wondering who was going to sacrifice their dryness first and join Stan in the boat. Well, in reality, it was between Dipper and Mabel. Based on the look on Y/n's face, it was obvious that she was going to milk the excuse that she "couldn't get her cast wet" for every drop it had.
"There has to be a way out of this," Mabel whispered to the two of them.
"Oh come on! Don't make me get out and force you three. I will; don't test me," Stan said, making an attempt to get out of the boat.
Before he could make it onto the dock, the four heard the loud and panicked call coming from shore.
"I seen it! I seen it again!"
The four looked back, as a surprisingly spry old man scampered his way across the shore. He weaved through townspeople, sometimes shoving them out of the way as he gesticulated wildly and danced around restlessly. He was surprisingly destructive, almost purposely knocking down tables and running into people to gain their attention as he kept making high pitched yelps.
The man was perpetually hunched over, walking on the soles of his bare and bandaged feet. He looked like a scarecrow: his long white beard flowed the length of his thin body and dragged along the ground and he wore dark brown overalls covered in patches and a matching farmer's hat. His beady blue eyes looked in two places at once, and were glazed over into a thousand-yard stare. He ebbed closer.
He ran to a rather bulky man, grabbing onto his shoulders. Y/n noticed a mop of bandages around his right hand; not a cast per say, but rather a garment loosely bonded to his arm.
"The Gravity Falls Gobblewonker! Come quick before it scrabdoodles away," he shouted, before quite literally tossing the large man aside and breaking into a wild dance.
"Aw! Look at that happy jig!" Mabel cooed.
"No!" The three kids jumped when the man lunged at Mabel, grasping her shoulder. Y/n pulled her away quickly, instinctively shielding her and Dipper behind her.
"It's a jig of grave danger!" He yelled.
"I'm sure it is buddy, but I'm going to have to respectfully ask you to jig dangerously somewhere else, please," Y/n said, eying the man cautiously.
Before the old man could respond, a younger man ran up from behind the three. He pushed past Y/n and the twins, holding a spray bottle.
He wore a green and beige uniform; presumably from the fishing supplies cabin that stood at the edge of the lake.
"Hey, hey!" He yelled, spraying water at the old man. "What did I tell you about scaring away customers," he said, adjusting his green cap over his eyes. He shifted anxiously under the watch of the crowd, spraying the man with the water. "This is your last warning, Dad!"
Dad? Y/n thought. Yeesh, she cringed, pitting the younger man.
"But— but I got proof this time, garshdonnit!" The old man whimpered.
From beside Y/n, the twins' eyes widened. The older girl let out a silent huff; she could already tell what they were thinking.
The twins had found out about a Supernatural Creature contest at breakfast, and they were determined to find something good enough to win the cash prize. They were still buzzing with excitement from the gnomes; a little "Gobblewonker" seemed like an easy catch to them.
The old man scattered back up to the dock, and cautiously the crowd of anxious fishers followed behind. Even Stan, who had eventually made his way back onto dry land, was trailing behind the twins.
"Behold!" The man cried out, pointing down to a small vessel cracked in two. Splinters and pieces of wood littered the surface of the water, and the boat was taking on water quickly as it began to disappear into the depths of the lake.
"It's the Gobblywonker that done did it," he continued, as a slight murmur started to run through the crowd.
The man's son winced, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to further pull his cap down over his eyes.
"It had a long neck, like a giraffe! And wrinkly skin, like— like— like this gentleman over here!" The old man continued, pointing over to Stan. He grunted in reply, not paying attention.
"It chomped my boat to smitheroons, and shimshamed over to Scuttlebutt Island," he motioned his bandaged hand into the distance. From within the hazy fog that sat atop the water, the dark outline of a small island was barely discernible.
"You gotta believe me!" He finished, clinging onto his son's arm.
From besides the dock, Durland and Blubs pulled up in the police boat. They eyed each other before turning back to the waiting crowd.
"Attention all units," Blubs said, holding back a smirk. "We got ourselves a crazy old man!"
From behind the Pines, the crown started laughing, teasing the old man before leaving altogether.
The living scarecrow looked heartbroken, and Y/n and the twins eyed each other knowingly: this wasn't the first time something like this has happened.
The man's son shook his head in disappointment, disappearing into the dispersing crowd before anything else embarrassing could possibly happen.
"Awwww donkeyspittle," the old man said, waddling off the pier dejectedly, followed by the sounds of dying laughter.
"Damn," Y/n muttered, feeling embarrassed herself. "That was rough."
"Well, that just happened!" Stan announced in an awkward segway. "But now that that's over, let's untie this boat from the dock and make way into the lake!" He waddled back onto the Stan-O' War, fumbling with the tie holding it to the pier.
"You guys!" Dipper hissed, turning to his sisters. "Did you hear what that old guy said?"
"Awww donkeyspittle!" Mabel mimicked.
"No no no! Not that!" He fished out the magazine from his vest, flipping it to the contest page. "If we can get a picture of that thing we'll win the contest and split it between the three of us!"
Y/n hummed under her breath. She definitely wanted to find this thing, if not for the money then to prove that the old man was right. It didn't sit right with her that the entire town was mocking him. He was obviously... troubled in some way. It almost made her wonder; he had a son, so there was a point where things were going right for the old man, so what happened? Where did it go wrong?
"Imagine," Dipper continued, shaking Y/n from her thoughts. "$333.33 each!"
Mabel gasped; "$333.33 each?" Her eyes glazed over.
"She's thinking about the cheaper mini-hamster ball model, isn't she?" Y/n said, waving a hand in front of Mabel's face.
"Definitely. That's Mabel for you."
"You think she's including the two neon guys from that show she watches?"
"It wouldn't be a Mabel Daydream if it wasn't," Dipper said. He snapped his fingers by his sister's face.
She shook her head as she came back to. "Dipper. Dipper. Dipper. Yes. We're doing this. Right now. My hamster life-style awaits!" She said, a determined glint burned in her eyes. "I am 1,000,000% on board with this!"
The twins looked to Y/n, who just nodded. It was a perfect opportunity for her: there was no stopping the twins from looking for this thing, that was for sure. Especially now that they could use it to win that contest. So, she would have to follow them around to make sure they didn't get into trouble anyway. But now she can get a cut of the money? And prove to the town that the old dude was right? Yeah, that sounded pretty cool.
"Grunkle Stannnnnnnn," Dipper sang, slinging an arm around the sitting man, who was still struggling with the knot that held his boat to the dock.
Stan's eyes narrowed, and he let out a suspicious hum before letting Dipper continue.
"Well, there's been a slight change of plans," Dipper said, steepling his fingers and pointing to the boat with pursed lips. "We're thinking about taking the boat over to Scuttlebutt Island and looking for that Gobblewonker."
From behind Dipper, Mabel started chanting. "Monster hunt! Monster hunt!"
"What do you say, Big Guy?" Dipper asked awkwardly, motioning for Mabel to stop with a wave of his hand.
"Hold your horses there, kid. Now why—"
The sound of a horn cut through the lake, and the Pines looked back to see a large boat pulling up to the dock behind them.
Mabel gasped. "Soos!"
Sure enough, the Shack's Handyman was manning the vessel, equipped with a life jacket that was much too small for him.
"Heya dudes!" He greeted, leaning over the hull of the boat. "Did I hear you guys say something about a monster hunt?"
"How did you hear that—"
Mabel laughed loudly. "Oh, you know it!" She cheered, reaching up to give Soos a fist bump. The two made explosion noises and Y/n smiled slightly.
"You dudes could totally use my boat for that. It's got all of the boat stuff: a steering wheel, chairs— you know. The good stuff," Soos said, patting the hull of the "S.S. Cool Dude."
The boat was surprisingly well kept, but Y/n figured that was probably because it was in the hands of a repairman. The vessel had several Soos-modifications: the controls seemed to be harbored in what looked like to be the head of a truck, and a lucha libre figure was fastened to the tip of the boat to act as a figurehead.
"Woah woah woah," Stan said, standing up.
Y/n winced; she really was just waiting for the boat to just drop Stan into the lake.
"Do you three really want to waste your time going on some 'epic' monster hunt, or do you want to spend it learning how to tie knots and skewer worms with your good Ol' Great Uncle?"
The trio eyed each other, looking back to the two ships.
"Well," Mabel said to her siblings, "When you put it that way..."
"You know, Soos is giving us a pretty persuasive Robot Dance," Y/n pointed.
"So it's settled then, right?" Dipper asked.
"Totally."
Stan smiled, convinced the three would be content with handling worms and listening to his Yuckum-Ups until he heard the whirring spin of an engine and the kids' shouts getting farther away.
"We made the right decision!" Mabel yelled from Soos' boat, helping Y/n get on board, seeing as Soos took off a little too quickly. He was as eager to start the monster hunt as the twins.
Y/n could barely hear Stan yell out to them, his dying, "Ingrates!" being drowned out by the rushing wind and parting waters.
"Yeah," Y/n mumbled, "the right decision." She felt a little bad for leaving Stan out there on the lake, but she wasn't just doing this for herself or the money. Someone had to keep an eye out on the twins. They'd have plenty of time to bond over the course of the summer; they were staying with him, after all. Besides, not only was she trying to help the twins find the Gobblewonker (all while keeping them safe), imagine the look on all the townspeople's faces when they'd see that old guy was right!
Justice for that old guy makes up for ditching Stan, right? She wondered, trying to ignore the fact that she replaced one sad old man with another.
Soos stopped the boat little ways from Scuttlebutt Island as Dipper called for a meeting at the center of dock. As he pulled out the journal from his vest, Y/n inhaled sharply. The one line of code echoed in her head.
Yeah, she decided. It'll be fine. This isn't just about proving the old guy right.
Her eyes locked onto the journal, the sun's light running across the six-fingered hand as he opened it.
I may not take the journal away, but I still have to make sure the twins are safe.
◑ ━━━━━ ▣ ━━━━━ ◐
"THESE FUCKING BEAVERS!"
"Y/n!" Mabel gasped, struggling to shake off the small animal currently chomping on her wrist. "Language!"
"SORRY," she yelled back, tossing three beavers over the side of the out-of-control-ship before they could rip up her hoodie. "DON'T REPEAT THAT. Please."
The mammals were scattered all over the boat, and currently Dipper and Soos were still struggling with their beaver foes, meaning that no one was driving.
Normally, the beavers wouldn't have been too much of a nuisance. But when you're being chased by Gravity Falls' own Loch Ness monster and going way above the local water's speed limit backwards, everything suddenly becomes a lot more life and death and any minor inconvenience can shed 20 or so years.
The four had found the Gobblewonker on complete accident, and at this point they almost wished they hadn't. It was the size of a small ship— a little bigger than the S.S. Cool Dude— and colored a sea green and littered in scales. It's large head had a long snout with gleaming yellow eyes, floppy dorsal fins running down it's head and neck. It's large fins helped it keep up with the speeding boat, and it's tail looked big enough to completely rip through the vessel if given the chance.
Y/n lunged at the controls, grabbing the wheel and tossing it frantically in her hands. She had never driven a boat, but she didn't have time to think about whether or not her driver's permit would be of any help.
"Of course we had to drive into those fucking beavers," she cursed under breath, panicky. "At least we didn't pick up that chain saw."
She managed to turn the boat forwards, and cranked up the engine speed. The boat ripped through the waters, skipping on the lake as the group made their frantic get away.
Dipper finally got rid of the beavers sitting on his head, and was currently trying to pry the few that were eating at the boat and throw them overboard. Soos was still struggling with the beaver that clung to his face and was running around the deck in circles repeating: "Ow. Ow. Ow." Mabel struggled to catch up with him.
The four were covered in dirt and water, and pines from the trees the monster toppled back on the Island were twisted in their hair.
Y/n was lucky enough to not have her cast wet, but practically everything else was drenched from slinging Dipper over her shoulder after he fell into the water when the Gobblewonker appeared. If she wasn't freaking out, she would be loudly complaining about her soggy socks.
"Y/n!" Dipper yelled, running to the front of the boat. In the back, Mabel and Soos were struggling with the beavers still. "There's more boats up ahead!"
"You gotta be kidding me," she grumbled. As the fog lifted, Y/n could barely make out the three small boats sitting calmly on the water. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the wheel tightly, grinding her teeth. "This better work," she mumbled under her breath.
Y/n tossed the wheel to and fro, managing to weave through the small vessels. From behind the speeding boat, the Gobblewonker followed just under the surface of the water, it's glowing yellow eyes barely visible under the depths of the lake.
As it passed the boats, the wave it traveled in threw them into the air, tossing the fishers into the lake and causing water and fish to rain down from above.
The Gobblewonker burst through the waters, thrashing wildly with its neck at the boat.
"TO THE RIGHT!" Dipper yelled.
Y/n took a hard right, swinging the wheel back in order to level the boat and keep it from capsizing.
The monster swung again at the boat, this time it's neck sweeping across to hit the control room.
"DUCK DUCK DUCK!" Mabel yelled.
Y/n dropped to the floor in a squat, her breath hitching in her throat as the red wood that enclosed the control room was ripped away from the vessel, taking some lingering beavers with it. Splinters rained down around her.
She couldn't help but wonder if the twins had gone through a similar escape with the gnomes the other day.
Y/n turned back to the deck, glad to see that everyone was already back on their feet. Except Soos, who was still battling the lone beaver.
"Y/n! Watch out!" Mabel yelled, pointing ahead.
Y/n whipped back forward, paling at the sight in front of them.
"WHY ARE THEY TAKING GLASS ACROSS THE LAKE? ESPECIALLY LIKE THAT?" She cried, gripping the wheel. There were a few other choice words she had for the two men that were transporting the glass pane, but she had to bite her tongue before her sailor's mouth made itself present in front of the twins again. There was no time to swerve around them; the only way was through the middle.
"Get behind me!" She called back, shielding her face with her arms as the boat barreled through the pane.
It shattered almost instantly, and pieces flew into the air. Y/n took the front of it, wincing as tiny shards of glass scraped at her hands and cheeks.
The boat continued to rip through the water, the Gobblewonker still hot on their tail, maneuvering swiftly under the guise of the lake.
Y/n finally opened her eyes, right as the boat entered a narrow trench. Up head, the group could hear the rushing of a waterfall.
"Oh no," Y/n mumbled, her hands fumbling around the control panel in an attempt to find a break. "Guys, unless you can tell me there's some hidden path I can swerve into, then we're going to crash full speed into a damn cliff!"
The twins looked around desperately for any cave they could possibly fit the boat into. Dipper flipped through the journal.
"T-the falls! Go right to it! I-I think there might be a cave behind there," he sputtered.
"'Might be?'" Mabel yelled.
"I hope you're right! Brace yourselves—!"
Soos and the twins screamed, covering their eyes as Y/n simultaneously cursed the universe and prayed to anyone that would listen.
S.S. Cool Dude broke through the glittering waterfalls, and seconds later the crew was violently thrown from the vessel onto a sandy shore.
Y/n hit the ground hard, and she was sure that she had swallowed at least a small pail's worth of sand and sediment. Dipper, Mabel, and Soos landed close by, in no better conditions.
Mabel was up first, followed by her brother, and then Soos. The trio had to help the dazed and coughing Y/n to her feet.
"Huh," she laughed nervously, as it was the only thing she could think to do. "It appears we're still alive!" She spat out more sand.
"Looks like you were right about that cave, little dude!" Soos, who was now beaver free, cheered, nudging Dipper.
Before they could celebrate further, the Gobblewonker broke through the falls, its loud roar shaking the hidden cavern. Water splashed down around them as the monster glowered from above.
Soos grabbed the twins and pulled them closer to him as Y/n instinctively jumped in front of the trio.
She was just as terrified as the rest of them, but in that moment, the fear that burned within the fibers of her being turned into something else.
As Y/n stared into the glowing eyes of the beast, a rushing calm passed over her and a familiar warmth settled in her limbs. Something was ready to burst forth within her, and as the monster lunged forward—
"Wait," Mabel gasped, pointing to the mouth of the cave. "It's stuck!"
Y/n's gaze flickered from the creature. Sure enough, it's wide body was much too big for the cavern. It was pulled back, head slamming into the wall as debris fell from the ceiling.
The adrenaline burning in her veins died down abruptly, and she suddenly felt weak and cold.
"Oh thank God," she breathed out, a shudder running down her spine. Now that there was no immediate threat, the achiness in her bones was magnified tenfold, not to mention a dull searing pain in her hand.
"Ha ha, yeah!" Dipper laughed victoriously. "Wait," he paused, "it's stuck?"
He broke away from the group, running up a steep escarpment bordering the mouth of the cave. Mabel and Soos followed him, and Y/n took the chance to do the most appropriate thing: fall flat on her back and try to process just how she was still alive.
The achiness in her bones subsided; she was left with her drumming heartbeat and—
"Ow," she hissed, as a pain shot down her wrist.
Y/n grabbed her right arm, pulling back the sleeve. Her heart dropped; the inside of her palm was bleeding.
Under normal circumstances, she would have blamed it on the glass. There were thin scratches on her knuckles, and she could feel a thin streak of blood running down her cheek, little ways under her left eye.
But this was anything but normal: it was the scarred flame that was bleeding. Despite the blood trickling down the irregular shape, the figure was unmistakable.
"Holy shit," she whispered, a cold sweat dripping from her brow.
Before she could inspect any further, a loud metal thud rang out in the small cavern.
A stalactite had fallen as the Gobblewonker struggled, and it had hit the creature's long snout.
The creature's movements stopped suddenly, and a loud whirring stuttered from within it. It's yellow eyes flickered, and it slowly fell into the small pool motionless. Electricity crackled from it's head, running along it's scaly length.
"What the—" Y/n asked, stumbling to her feet.
The twins and Soos were just as confused. Dipper returned the disposable camera to his vest, carefully dismounting the cliff edge.
Y/n met him on the bank of the water, only feet away from one of the Gobblewonker's large fins. However, up close, they looked less... fishy, for a lack of a better word.
Dipper jumped first, landing on a fin with a loud bang. Y/n followed. Dipper reached down and touched the side of the beast.
"That's cold," he said, retracting his arm immediately.
Y/n knocked on the side, the same hollow metal sound from earlier reverberating throughout the cave. Upon further inspection, the Gobblewonker's scaly form was flat; the scales once thought to protrude from it's skin nothing but details expertly painted on.
"It's metal," she said. "Is— is this a robot?"
Dipper started to climb the side of the creature.
"What's wrong?" Mabel called from the top of the cliff, slowly making her way down with Soos trailing.
"I think this is a robot," Y/n called back, as Dipper disappeared to the other side of the Gobblewonker.
"Hey guys," he called back suddenly, peeking his head over. "Check this out!"
The three climbed up to Dipper, who was sitting in front of a small hatch.
They all looked at each other.
"You guys ready?" Dipper asked.
With a unanimous nod, Dipper took a deep breath before grasping the wheel placed on the center of the hatch. With a few turns, the small door opened with a hiss and puff of steam.
As the steam cleared, the four were able to peer down into the inner workings of the Gobblewonker.
The familiar sound of southern muttering reached their ears, until finally the four heard "Ahhhh banjo polish."
The old man from earlier looked up from a control panel nervously.
"You have to be kidding me," Y/n grumbled, eyes wide.
Dipper sputtered incoherently, arms waving.
"Y-you?" He asked finally. "You made this? W-w-why?"
The old man looked away, embarrassed. "Well, I... I, uh... I just wanted attention," he confessed.
"Yeah and I didn't want to have another near-death experience, but here we are!" Y/n growled.
"I still don't understand," Dipper said.
"Well," the old man started, changing demeanor completely, "first I just hootinadied up a biomechanical brainwave generator, and then I learned to operate a stick shift with my beard! And then it was a matter of shimmidaddlin' the—"
"Okay, yeah," Mabel cut him off, confused as the rest of them. "But why did you do it?"
"Well, when you get to be an old fella like me, no one ever pays any attention to you anymore. My own son hasn't visited me in months! So I figured I'd catch his fancy with a fifteen ton aquatic rob't!" He started laughing, before ending in a sad sigh.
Y/n was still bitter, but she handed it to the man; she was petty enough to do something similar if she was in a similar situation.
Not to mention that the robot was incredibly crafted. This man was a genius, once you got past his odd persona.
But, Y/n thought, if he's capable of something like this, how did he end up the laughing stock of the town? Where did it go wrong?
"In retrospect," the old man continued, "it seems a bit contrived. You just don't know the lengths us old-timers go through just for a bit of quality time with our family."
Y/n hissed, and Dipper and Mabel sighed as they took out their bucket hats.
"We really done goofed, didn't we?" Y/n muttered under her breath, taking out her own from her hoodie pocket. She ran her hand along the messed up stitching. She ended up with two sad old men, one of which was family... sort of.
"Oh wow. It looks like the real lake monster is you three, huh dudes?" Soos asked, laughing awkwardly. Y/n sent him a glare and he immediately backtracked. "S-sorry, it just— boom! Popped into my head there," he finished nervously.
"So," Mabel said, "did you ever talk to your son about how you felt?"
"No sir, I got to work straight on the rob't! I made lots of rob'ts back in my day," the man said, a slide show starting with a press of a button. "Like when my wife left me and I created a homicidal pterodactyl-tron," a newspaper article appeared of said incident. "Or when my pal Ernie didn't come to my retirement party and I constructed an 80-ton Shamebot that exploded the entire downtown area!" He broke into mad cackling, and suddenly Y/n wasn't as sympathetic as she was this morning.
This man is a literal crackhead.
"Welp! Time to get back to work on my death ray!" And with that, he disappeared back into the belly of the beast, grabbing a drill and a saw.
"Do any of you kids have a screwdriver?" He called, reaching his hand up.
"Nope. We're done here." Y/n announced, getting up and grabbing the twins by the scruff of their life jackets.
"Well, so much for the photo contest," Dipper sighed as Y/n dragged them back down to land. Soos followed behind them.
"We still have one roll of film left," Mabel said meekly.
"Then there's only one thing to do with it," Y/n interrupted, giving the twins and Soos and knowing smirk.
"Yeah!"
"But first," Y/n pointed to the S.S. Cool Dude, which was stuck in a sand dune. "We need to get that boat freed."
After a lot of pushing— to get both the vessel and Gobblewonker freed from the cavern, the group carefully boarded the boat and took a slow start back to the lake.
The boat was in absolute shambles; the kids couldn't move too much or else the boat would probably disintegrate into the water. Y/n was genuinely surprised it could hold all four of them; she found herself yearning to be on the Stan-O' War.
The engine was probably fried from the strain she had put on it during their escape from the mad old man— or Old Man McGucket, according to Soos. The boat moved at a crawl at best, and it took them nearly 10 minutes to find Stan's boat skipping across the lake.
It was late evening, and the sun was dipping below the cliffs that enclosed the lake. The water caught the setting sun's light and glittered softly, and a comfortable warmth fell over the lake. The sky had turned from blue to a light pink, and the baby clouds from earlier looked like cotton candy soaring across a sea of rose.
"Hey," Dipper called out once Stan was in earshot. "Over here!"
Stan looked up from the boat, coming to the stop as the S.S. Cool Dude hunkered to a pause next to him.
Dipper fished out the last camera from his vest, flashing a picture of Stan.
"What the— kids? I thought you three went to play spin the bottle with Soos," he said, narrowing his eyes.
Y/n paused for a moment. "Do— do you know what spin the bottle is or—?"
"Well, we spent all day trying to find a legendary dinosaur," Dipper explained, ignoring what Stan had said.
"But in the end," Mabel continued, "we realized that the only dinosaur we want to hang out with is right here!"
Stan scoffed. "Save your sympathy! I've been having a great time out here by myself. Making friends; talking to my reflection; I had a run in with the lake police. I gotta wear this ankle bracelet now, so, that's gonna be fun." He lifted his leg to show the kids.
"Stan," Y/n couldn't help but laugh, too tired to think of what he could have possibly done to warrant an ankle bracelet of all things. "You're the only person I know who could still somehow take a day on the lake and commit any sort of crime."
Stan didn't laugh, and instead crossed his arms and turned away, pouting.
The four shared nervous glances. They really did fuck up, didn't they?
"So," Dipper ventured, "I guess there isn't room on that boat for four more?"
Grunkle Stan looked back towards the group, surprised to see the three kids wearing their Pines Family Fishing Hats.
"So, uh, you knuckleheads ever see me thread a hook with my eyes closed?"
"Five bucks says you can't do it," Y/n snapped back playfully. "Come on Stan; you already lost one bet this morning, so don't make any promises you can't keep!"
"Five more says you can't do it with your eyes closed plus with Mabel singing at the top of her lungs!" Dipper said, jumping onto the Stan-O' War.
"I like those odds!" Stan said, helping Mabel and Y/n on board.
Y/n helped Soos on board at the right time: the S.S. Cool Dude was slowly succumbing to the lake.
"Woah," Stan said, pointing to the two older passengers. "Soos, what happened to your shirt? And what's with that cut on your face, Squirt?"
The twins, Y/n, and Soos shared a look.
"It's a long story, dude," Soos said.
Before Stan could ask anymore questions, Dipper took out the camera. "Everybody get together," he said, ushering the family to one side of the boat.
The group huddled together.
"Am I in frame?" Soos asked, as Dipper took the picture.
"What are we waiting for? Let's get this family fishing time started!" Mabel yelled once the picture was over.
The family cheered, and Y/n couldn't help but giggle.
After the day they just had, the Pines really just needed some family time on the water.
◑ ━━━━━ ▣ ━━━━━ ◐
The rest of the day was filled with nonsensical fun, sea shanties (suggested by Mabel and heavily encouraged by Y/n), and borderline illegal events. They hadn't spent more than a few more hours on the lake, but it was enough to create memories that would last forever.
The twins and Stan were still buzzing with excitement on the drive home.
"We told you that you couldn't thread the hook with your eyes closed," Mabel laughed. "We caught you cheating!"
"I won't believe it until I have photographic evidence," Stan replied.
"There's four witnesses that say otherwise," Dipper said.
"It's all hearsay!" Stan defended with a smile, looking at the kids through the rear view mirror. His gaze landed on Y/n, who was mostly quiet on the ride home.
"Squirt! I gotta hand it to you, I never thought you'd be the one to get this ankle bracelet off of me!"
Y/n smiled mischievously.
"Well, you and Mabel were the ones who brought Blubs and Durland over after you stole that family's fish. I just seized the opportunity I was handed."
"Y/n you jumped onto the police boat and stole a wrench to hack apart the bracelet." Dipper said.
"...Don't tell Mom and Dad," she said finally.
The twins and Stan laughed.
"And kid," Stan continued, pointing at Dipper. "You caught your first fish today, didn't you?"
Dipper laughed sheepishly. "Learned from the best; what can I say?"
"Atta boy!"
The car pulled up to the shack, and the kids slowly piled out of the car. The events from today were finally catching up to them, and everyone was more sluggish than usual. It didn't help that night was slowly approaching and the sun had long since faded into the murky waters of the lake.
As Dipper and Y/n circled around the front of the car, the older girl stopped suddenly.
It might have been getting dark out, but Y/n was still as observant as ever, and the license plate had caught her eye.
Dipper stopped next to her, meeting her gaze to the plate at the bottom of the red convertible.
It read: "STNLYMBL."
"Huh," Dipper said, peering down at it, just as confused as Y/n was. "That's a bit... weird."
"Maybe he stole it," Y/n giggled slightly, trying to ignore the suspicion welling up inside of her.
"That sounds like a very Grunkle-Stan-like thing to do," Dipper laughed.
"What are you two looking at?" Stan asked loudly.
The two jumped, startled. Stan was standing behind them. His brows raised when he noticed Y/n weekly pointing at the car.
"Oh, I see," he said, smirking slightly. "You're admiring this beaut, aren't you?" Stan walked around to pat the hood of the car fondly.
"My 1965 El Diablo Convertible. Had it since I was about your age, Squirt," he said, pointing at Y/n. "I've traveled across the country in this, and she still works like a dream."
Well at least he didn't steal it, Y/n thought. But that still doesn't explain that weird license plate.
"Can you drive?"
Y/n jumped slightly. "I mean, I have my permit," she started. "But I've never really been behind the wheel that much."
"Then I'll teach you," Stan said proudly, leaning against the car.
Dipper grimaced. "Stan, you can barely see the road. You really think you should be the one teaching Y/n?"
"Relax, Dipper! I could teach a bear to drive!"
"A— a bear?" Y/n asked meekly.
"Huh, you know," Stan said, trailing off into thought. "That doesn't sound that bad; teaching a bear to drive."
"Please stop."
"Oh would you look at the time!" Dipper said, trying to stop Stan from continuing any longer with that train of thought.
"The boy's right," he said, guiding the kids to the shack. "If you're up for it, I'll give you some driving lessons, Squirt."
Y/n nodded, following behind Dipper and Stan into the shack, but not before taking one last glance at the car.
Something about that license plate just sat... wrong with her. Maybe it was her foggy brain jumping to conclusions, but there was just this nagging feeling in her gut.
She shut the door to the gift shop. She hadn't felt this intrigued by something since—
Y/n turned from the door, and was face to face with the vending machine. At this point, Stan and Dipper had disappeared into the living room.
"Oh my God," Y/n muttered. "I almost forgot about that..."
She took a few tentative steps towards the machine, her hand ghosting over the glass display case. A pit settled in her stomach. She reached for the keypad. Y/n wasn't sure of the code, but she wondered— if she thought back to last night— if she could remember the pattern Stan had input—
"Squirt!"
"Holyshi—" Y/n breathed out, jumping back from the vending machine.
Stan stood by the employees only door, scrutinizing Y/n.
"What's up with you and startling people? You nearly gave me a heart attack. Again," Y/n said, laughing nervously.
"What are you doing?" Stan snapped defensively, his brows raising.
Y/n paled for a moment. "Oh, I was just uh, thinking about grabbing a snack," she lied. "I haven't really eaten anything since breakfast."
Stan's tone changed completely as he looked almost offended. "You were going to waste money on a snack when I have food in the kitchen?" He laughed, grabbing Y/n by the shoulder and leading her into the living room.
"Did you get water in your head, Squirt? Or are you just crazy?"
Y/n laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, I... I didn't think of that."
"I can see that! For someone so smart, you really can be so dense. You, uh, almost remind me of someone," he trailed off, ending his sentence in a mutter.
Y/n looked back at Stan for a second, his face unreadable. The question on the tip of her tongue died in her throat.
But in that moment, something deep inside of her told her that somehow, someway, whatever was in the basement, and whatever the story was behind the license plate, didn't change the fact that Stan was a genuinely good man at heart, even if his hobbies included scamming the locals and committing various types of fraud.