Before I start, I want to say Happy (late) Holidays and Happy (early) New Year!
Quick question for any future stories I might write: Would you prefer to read one long chapter or three short ones if, either way, they'd have the same content? Please answer in the comments!
Dipper's POV:
A dark shadow settled over Gravity Falls. The sky was alarmingly dark. A large wrecking ball crashed through the Mystery Shack, destroying it. I woke up from my nightmare, screaming.
"I just had a horrible dream that Gideon stole the deed to the Mystery Shack, and kicked us out, and... we all had to move in with Soos' grandma?" I thought aloud, recalling my nightmare.
Bringing me back to harsh reality, Soos sat up beside me and said, "That was no dream, dude."
Reality sucked. The shock of it made me scream again, waking everyone up including Soos' grandma.
"Shh. Por favor," she said softly, turning on the light, then the TV.
The room was small and matched my definition of a cutesy grandma Livingroom. The room was lined with pictures of Soos on an old wallpaper, like any proud grandma. Soos and I shared an old pop-out sofa bed and next to us, Soos' grandmother occupied an antique recliner. In front of us was an old television, resting on a wooden table. Y/n, Mabel and Stan were on the floor, in individual sleeping bags.
"Uh, sorry, Abuelita," I apologized.
Mabel climbed out of her watermelon-themed sleeping bag and skipped over to Abuelita. "Oh, Soos, your grandma is so adorable! And her skin is old lady soft," she marveled, massaging her skin. "Haaaahhh!"
"Mabel, quit being creepy! The news is finally on," Stan interrupted, pointing to the TV.
The screen showed Shandra Jimenez in front of the Mystery Shack. "In a movement that has all of Gravity Falls buzzing, child psychic Gideon Gleeful has taken surprise ownership of the Mystery Shack, previously belonging to area shyster, Stanford Pines." A photo appeared of Stan in a devil costume, surrounded by fire.
"That picture's taken out of context," Stan grumbled, scratching himself.
The screen returned to Shandra who was now standing with Gideon. "Now that you have the shack, what exactly are you planning to do with it?" She asked, then lowered the mic down to Gideon's height.
The camera went to a close-up of Gideon. "I have a big announcement to make today, and I'd like to cordially invite all the good people of Gravity Falls to join me. Free admission to anyone who wears their Gideon pins! It's my face!" He smiled, holding up a pin replica of himself.
I sat at the end of the recliner and directed my gaze to the floor. "I just can't believe Gideon beat us. Normally I'm able to save the day. This is all my fault."
"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself." Y/n threw off her sleeping bag cover and sat down beside me. "There is no way this is your fault."
I lifted my head and realized something was different. Her eyes. They had lost the fire they used to have. She would never admit it, but I could tell she was blaming herself for this. Bill was the same malicious demon before he met Y/n and would've continued to be whether he met her or not. I just wish she'd realize that.
What really concerned me was why Bill even bothered getting to know Y/n. For so many years, he pretended to be her friend. What was his motive?
"Don't worry, Dipper," Mabel piped in, interrupting my thoughts. "Looks like Mabel's going to have to be the hero of the family now. I'll defeat Gideon with my grappling hook!" she said excitedly, pulling out her grappling hook.
"Mabel, no offense, but that grappling hook has literally never helped us once," I admitted.
"Not true!" she protested.
"So you lost the Shack," Soos confessed from across the room. He was sitting on the floor in nothing but his underwear, a small car track sat in front of him. "Look on the bright side, dudes! Now you get to live here with me, Soos! Hey, anyone want to play race cars? They're out of batteries but we can make pretend," Soos offered as he accidentally spit 2 candies from his mouth. "Would that be a new low if I ate that? Haha I'm just kidding, I'm totally eating it!"
Looking frustrated, Stan announced, "We gotta get the Shack back." That's one thing we could all agree on.
It still felt like I was dreaming. I wished I was dreaming.
Slowly, everyone got ready. Soos' grandma had a small home, definitely not meant for 6 people to share. Things we're kinda cramped. No one really said much but Y/n was especially distant, distracted by her own thoughts. I wanted to talk to her, but I didn't know what to say. I mean, what do you say to a person going through what she is? Someone she'd trusted for all her life turned out to be... maybe sometimes silence is better than words.
When mid-afternoon approached, me, Y/n, Mabel, Stan and Soos put on black trench coats and fedoras then made our way to Stan's car. Stan stepped on the gas, and with that we were off to the Mystery Shack to find out what Gideon's big plans were for the shack. In all honesty, dressing so spy-like would really only make us stand out in a crowd, but our faces were covered, so I guess it would work.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mabel pulling something out of her pocket. Then, without warning, she slapped a beard on Soos, a mustache on Y/n, then a mustache on herself.
I looked at Y/n who was more startled than surprised. She'd gotten used to Mabel's randomness, but she still smiled. It was good to see her smile.
"Thanks, Mabel," She said happily.
"Yeah, thanks girl dude," Soos agreed.
Before Mabel could respond, the car came to a jerking halt. No surprise with Stan at the wheel.
"Alright," Stan began, "Plan is we break in and punch that little troll. It's legal to punch a child, right?"
"As much as I want to punch Gideon, unfortunately not," Y/n replied. "Let's save that for next time."
With that, the five of us got out of the car. A barbed wire fence lined the shack, but we got around it rather easily when Gideon's guards were distracted. When we got in, we stayed in the back to avoid getting caught. We got there just in time, just before Gideon announced his plans.
Gideon stepped towards his announcer's stand. "Ladies and gentlemen! Today I am delighted to announce my plans for the former Mystery Shack," he declared as his father, Bug Gleeful wheeled over his plans under a tarp. "I give you... Gideonland!" He yanked off the brown tarp, revealing a miniature theme park, all centered around Gideon.
The five of us gasped in horror.
"We're gonna turn this dirty ol' shack into three square miles of Gideon-tertainment. And introducin' our new mascot, Lil' Gideon Jr.!" Gideon proclaimed. He walked over to his dad who lifted a cloak to display... Waddles in a Gideon costume! "Boom, he's a pig!"
"Waddles! You monster!" Mabel cried.
"All right, that's it!" Stan demanded, ripping of disguise. Gideon had officially taken things too far. Stan pushed through the crowd, plowing a path for the rest of us to follow. Only after we ran up onto the stage, I realized Soos didn't follow. The four of us climbed onto the stage. Mabel kicked down a cardboard Gideon, Stan took his place behind the podium and me and Y/n stood beside him. All eyes were on us.
"Listen up, people. Gideon's a fraud!" Stan declared, his voice loud and raspy. "This kid broke in and stole my property!"
"Arrest him, officers!" Mabel insisted.
"Yeah!" me and Y/n agreed in unison.
Gideon walked up from behind us and pulled the deed out of his blue suit jacket. "Such accusations! Mr. Pines, I recall you gave the property to me. Look, here's the deed right here!" he proclaimed, holding the deed up so everyone could see.
From the crowd, Sherriff Blubs, a short, pudgy man with dark skin spoke, "Well that's all the proof I need to see."
His partner, Depute Durland quickly agreed. "I love you, Lil' Gideon! Sing them funny songs!" He said in a high-pitched, red-necked accent.
It didn't surprise me that no one believed us. Gideon had the whole town rapped around his little sausage-like finger.
Suddenly, me and Y/n were yanked back by a pair of large, muscular hands.
"Hey!" Y/n protested. But it was no use, Stan and Mabel were held back too.
The men who had hold of us were two of Gideon's goons, both of which I doubted had an IQ of over 50.
Gideon climbed up the stairs of the podium to reach Stan's Hight. "Now get off my property, old man!" he demanded, slapping a Gideon pin on Stan's suit.
"I'll show you who's the old man!" Stan retorted, just as his hearing aid began acting up. "Ow, my hearing aid! Ow!" he complained.
And with that, we were carried off the stage.
"Thanks for visiting Gideonland, friends!" Gideon announced. "Don't come back, I don't care for y'all."
Gideon's guards carried us to the entrance and threw us out. We picked ourselves up and recollected by the fence. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, Wendy came over and delivered some bad news. Since she no longer had a job, her dad was going to force her to work upstate at her cousin's logging camp. I didn't like her like I used to, but she was still a good friend and I didn't want her to leave.
After a few moments, we headed back to Soos' grandma's. No one was really sure what to do, so we distracted ourselves with mindless TV. Not Stan though, he was making a phone call in the kitchen. I could hear him speaking but at such a quiet tone that I couldn't make out what he was saying. Stan never quieted his voice. It made me nervous.
Gideon's POV:
The crowd had dispersed as night fell. I could hear the construction workers building my theme park outside. The Mystery Shack was mine. Finally, everything was going my way.
I glanced at the fireplace mantel and viewed a Pines family photo, featuring Dipper, Mabel, Y/n and Stan. I picked it up and examined it before I threw it in the fire. A laugh escaped me as I watched it burn. The only Pines member I cared for was Mabel but her dumb brother and friend had turned her against me.
Now that the room had been removed of that wretched photo, I could now focus on a more important manner. My journal, journal #2. I had come to possess it a couple years back when it caught my eye at a rickety street sale. An old, grotesque woman who resembled a witch had set up a vendor cart down the street from the Tent of Telepathy.
(Just thought I'd include this, as most probably didn't know who I was referencing.)
The cart looked as if it would fall apart at any moment. The display was an odd collection of disorganized entities Most people went out of their way to avoid the cart of ominous objects. Fools. That day, I walked over to the cart and picked up the journal in my hand and scanned through it. It spoke of the paranormal and magic within Gravity Falls. I knew it would be of use to me, so I demanded the woman sell it to me. Instead, she just gave it to me. She claimed that the cost was in owning the journal. She warned me of the contents of the journal but that only increased my desire to own it. I put the journal in my suit jacket as I walked away. I looked back to see that the women and her cart had vanished. I haven't seen her since then.
I opened the journal to it's bookmarked page only to be interrupted.
"I've been meaning to ask you, boy. Shouldn't you be celebratin' Gideonland instead of stickin' your head in that there book all day?" My father asked.
"Father, have I ever told you the true nature of this book?" I asked him suspiciously, certain that I hadn't.
He shook his head.
"It was written many years ago by a brilliant unknown author who learned secrets too powerful for one man," I began. "He hid his journals where he thought no one would ever find 'em. Because he knew that if the journals were ever brought together, they would unleash a gateway to unimaginable power," I declared, imagining myself ruling the town of Gravity Falls. "Codes and maps had led me to believe that the other book is buried somewhere on this very property, and I intend to find it!
"So that's why you wanted the Mystery Shack," he realized.
"That's right, father, it's time to begin the search for the other journal!" I confirmed, brandishing my shovel.