Dani's POV
Dipper was still recovering from his wounds from Rumble so he decided to have a lazy day. Mr. Pines and Mabel also thought it was a good idea. He also invited me over and the four of us spent our morning watching reruns of Ducktective. Mabel was hanging upside down off the coffee table while Dipper and I were sitting on the back of the yellow chair behind Mr. Pines. I sneaked my hand towards Dipper's and touched it with my pinkie. He noticed this and chuckled, snaking his palm into mine.
I smiled and turned my head back to the TV. "You've gone too far this time, Duck-tective!" the constable declared.
"Quack quack, quack quack quack quack," Ducktective responded.
I scooted closer to Dipper and he threw his arm around me. I was about to lay my head on his shoulder but was soon disturbed by the ring of the doorbell. I jolted my head up as I watched Mr. Pines stand up and adjust his tie, walking to the door. He opened it and loudly greeted, "Welcome to a world of mystery!"
"Stan Pines?" we heard a deep voice asked.
"The tax collector! You found me!" Mr. Pines yelled and came running back into the living room, a cloud of smoke behind him. Dipper and I jumped off the chair and stood to the side with Mabel as Mr. Pines tore off a painting from the wall, pulling out a duffle bag. He then started frantically patting down the stone wall. "Aah... uh... which one of these is the trap door?!" he panicked.
A man in a business suit walked into the living room. "Mr. Pines..." he said. "I'm from the Winninghouse Coupon Savers contest, and YOU ARE OUR BIIIIIIG WINNER!" Behind him, walked in a cameraman with two women holding a giant check that read '10,000,000 dollars' and balloon.
Mr. Pines looked at them in shock as the two women threw confetti over him. "My one and only dream, which was to possess money, has come true!" he beamed.
The twins turned to each other and smiled. "We're rich! I'm gonna get a butler!" Dipper said.
"I'm gonna buy a talking horse!" Mabel added. I gave her a side look.
The man reached inside his coat and pulled out some sort of contract and a pen. "Just sign here for the money," he told Mr. Pines.
Mr. Pines smiled and gladly took the pen from his hand. "You bet!" he chirped and signed the document.
Just then, we heard the sound of something tearing and looked over to see Gideon burst through the check. Gideon?! "Ha! Stanford, you fool! You just signed over the Mystery Shack to Lil' ol' me!" he declared, taking the contract from Mr. Pines and started doing a victory dance. The twins and I gasped while the rest of Gideon's crew except for the man in the suit all left.
Mr. Pines just smirked and pointed to the contract in Gideon's hand. "Uh, might wanna take another look there," he said.
Gideon just smiled cheekily and read over the contract. "' The shack is hereby signed over to..." he read and his eyes widened, "'SUCK A LEMON LITTLE MAN'?!" The twins, Mr. Pines, and I all laughed at him. Gideon growled and ripped the contract in half. "How dare you! I am not a threat to be taken lightly!" He lifted his arms, gesturing for the man in the suit. "Come here hon', I need your arms." The man then picked him up by his arms. Gideon glared at us and pointed an accusing finger. "I'll get you, Stanford Pines! I'LL GET YOU ALL!" And with that, the man backed out of the shack with Gideon still in his hands.
The four of us just stood there until I spoke up, "Wanna see what else is on TV?"
"Yeah, okay."
"Yeah, alright."
"My favorite part's the theme song."
---
Later throughout the day, Mr. Pines decided to head off and take a nap so the twins and I started playing a few games here and there. I was starting to get tired of playing so I tapped out. We were currently sitting on the floor of the gift shop as Soos was restocking the shelves. I had my back against Dipper's shoulder as I read Wuthering Heights, occasionally watching the twins as they played chess. I was into a really good part of the book but stopped when I heard Mabel say, "Little guy to black space nine!" and looked over at their game.
"It's a pawn, that's not your color, and stop stealing the tiny horses!" Dipper scolded.
I looked over at Mabel to see she had all the knights in the pocket of her sweater. "They like it better in here," she defended. "Don't you babies?" She then nayed to pretend the horses were responding.
I chuckled at her. "You are a rare one, Mabel Pines," I told her.
I saw Dipper move one of his chess pieces and knock over Mabel's king. "And... checkmate!" he chirped.
"What? Boo!" Mabel whined.
Dipper took out a notepad that kept score of the different games we played. He marked a tally under his name on the 'Chess' page. Mabel had 0, I had 15, and Dipper had 85. He takes winning too seriously. "Ooh! Dipper wins again!" he cheered. I playfully rolled my eyes and chuckled at him. He gave me a playful glare and scrunched his nose which made me giggle.
"Yo, Mabel?" we heard Soos ask and turned our heads to see him standing on top of a ladder. "Can you pass me that brain in the jar? The lady one?"
Dipper suddenly stood up which caused me to fall on my back. "Oof!" I exclaimed.
I sat up and rubbed the back of my head, shooting Dipper a glare as he volunteered, "I got it."
"Thanks, but Mabel's taller," Soos corrected.
"What? No, she's not," Dipper said. "We're the same height. We've always been."
"Better check again, dude," Soos said. Dipper's eyes widened.
I stood up along with Mabel and had the twins stand back to back. Dipper took his hat off as Soos handed me a tape measurer. I measured their heights and my eyes widened. I sighed and gave the measurer back to Soos. "Yep, she's got exactly one millimeter on you," I told Dipper.
"What?!" Dipper exclaimed. The twins stepped away from each other Dipper put his hat back on.
"Woah, don't you see what's happening, Dipper?" Mabel said in disbelief. "This millimeter is just the beginning. I'm evolving into the superior sibling! Bigger! Stronger!"
"Like some kinda alpha-twin!" Soos added.
"Alpha-twin! Alpha-twin!" Mabel cheered.
"C'mon, guys, nobody even uses millimeters," Dipper retorted. "It only makes you taller than me in Canada."
"Does height even really matter?" I asked the twins. "I shorter than both of you."
"Y'know Dipper," Mabel said, ignoring my comment, "I've always wanted a little brother. Who knew I already had one? Haha hahaha! Yeah!" I huffed and crossed my arms.
Then, Mr. Pines walked into the room in his pajamas as he rubbed his eyes. "I was awoken by the sound of mockery," he stated. "Where is it? Show me the object of ridicule!"
"I'm taller than Dipper!" Mabel informed.
"By ONE millimeter!" Dipper added.
"Hey, hey, don't get... short with your sister," Mr. Pines teased then laughed. I was just as fed up as Dipper at this point.
"Now Grunkle Stan, I hope you don't think little of him," Mabel jibed.
"Haha! Ya! And, and uh... he's short!" Mr. Pines finished. He and Mabel just laughed together.
Soos looked concerned. "Dude, maybe you should lay off a tiny bit," he said carefully.
Mr. Pines laughed and slapped his back. "Ha! 'Tiny'! Soos is in on it now!" he said. Dipper just huffed and stormed off.
"Dipper!" I called for him but he just kept walking.
"I—I didn't mean that," Soos tried to explain.
Mabel just waved him off. "Dipper will forget," she said. "He's got a 3... 2... 1..."
"SHORT-TERM MEMORY!" Mabel and Mr. Pines chorused then laughed.
"POW! We are on FIRE!" Mabel exclaimed and she high-fived her uncle. He ended up pulling his hand back in pain. "I high-five hard."
I growled at them. "I can't believe you two!" I hissed and they turned their heads towards me. "Making fun of his height. I'm the shortest person in this room! How do you think all these 'jokes' make me feel?"
Mabel shook her head and rested her elbow on my shoulder. "Oh, Dani, Dani," she said. "We're just having some 'family teasing'."
I turned my head away and moved her arm off of me. "Well, it's not funny," I stated.
There was a pause before she said, "Come on, we didn't mean them. We were just trying to get under his skin."
"I mean, you've got a little sister. You understand, right?" Mr. Pines continued.
I looked up at him then at Mabel and sighed. "I guess..." I said. "But can you just dial the short jokes back a little bit? For me?"
Mabel smiled. "For you."
"But only a little bit," Mr. Pines grumbled as he walked off. I just playfully rolled my eyes as Mabel giggled.
---
A while later, I decided to look for Dipper to see how he was doing. I searched through the Mystery Shack but couldn't find him. I walked into the gift shop to see Mabel sitting on a barrel, talking to Soos at the counter. "I've been buying big clothes; I'll grow into them," she explained to him.
I walked up to them and asked, "Hey, have either of you guys seen Dipper anywhere? I can't seem to find him." They shook their heads. Just then, the door's bell rang signaling that someone had walked in. I looked over and smiled when I saw it was Dipper. "Dipper!" I beamed and ran up to him, embracing him in a hug. "I was looking everywhere for you! Are you... okay?"
He chuckled. "I'm fine now, just went for a little walk," he said. "You guys notice anything different about me?"
Soos leaned over the counter and looked at Dipper. His eyes widened. "Holy hotsauce!" Soos exclaimed. "You've grown an extra millimeter!"
My eyes widened as well as Mabel shouted, "Wh—wh—what?!"
She quickly got out of her seat and I moved aside to let Soos compare the twins' heights. Dipper smirked. "What can I say, sis? Growth spurt," he said confidently.
"Yeah, well mine happened first," Mabel stated. "I'm gonna be taller in the end. It's science, Dipper."
"What? But we're the same height now," Dipper argued.
"Alpha-twin! Alpha-twin!" Mabel chanted, pointing to herself.
"Oh yeah? Something tells me I've got another growth spurt comin' on right now," Dipper said, shooting Mabel a glare before walking off.
I sighed. "You two are seriously still arguing over your height?" I asked.
Mabel glanced away. "Yes," she said nonchalantly. "Now come on, I can tell Dipper is up to something." She grabbed my arm and started dragging me out of the room and the stairs. She continued to drag me until we made it to the door to her bedroom. Mabel aggressively swung the door open, shouting, "Give it up, Dipper!"
I walked in as well and gasped when I saw Dipper. He so much taller now, basically towering over me. "What happened?!" I exclaimed.
"Y'know, puberty and stuff," Dipper said casually.
I backed away from him, slightly uncomfortable. "I'm... not sure if I like this, though," I confessed. His height was starting to give me PTSD.
"This doesn't make any sense," Mabel said. "Just a second ago you were—WAIT A MINUTE! This is some kinda magicky thing. Isn't it? Was it a wizard or something?" She walked over to another door in their room. "There's a wizard in this closet, isn't there? ISN'T THERE?"
"What? No!" Dipper retorted.
"You're telling me that there is not a wizard in this closet. You're telling me that if I open this door right now—"
"Fine! Open it!" Dipper shouted.
Mabel swung open the closet door, revealing nothing a few jackets hung up and a chair. She paused before shooting Dipper a glare. "An invisible wizard! REALLY, Dipper?" she accused.
Dipper and I exchanged a look. "Uh... Mabel," I faltered.
"Do not doubt me, Dani!" she exclaimed. She then turned to the empty closet and waved her arms. "Does he only respond to incantations? Excpecto wizzarium! Wizle! Wizar—"
"It's not a wizard!" Dipper yelled, cutting off his sister. He turned around and grabbed something off the shelf behind him, presenting us with a red flashlight with something tied to the end of it. "I grew myself using this magic flashlight!" he confessed.
Mabel stopped what she was doing and turned around, looking at the flashlight. "Lemme see that thing!" she demanded, causing Dipper to scream.
She ran up to try and grab it but I pulled it out of Dipper's hands, holding it far away from the twins' reach. "Neither of you is going to use this thing, you hear me?" I exclaimed. "Your height shouldn't matter, what should matter is your love for each other. You're brother and sister, you shouldn't be fighting, you should be embracing each other's accomplishments and—"
"Get her!" Mabel yelled, cutting me off.
I screamed and ran out of the room, the twins chasing after me. I ran down the stairs, through the shack, and made it outside before immediately being tackled by the twins, making the flashlight fall out of my grasp. Something must've triggered the flashlight since it turned on, shining a blue light on a caterpillar and making it grow to be enormous. It crawled away and on top of a car, crushing it. "Huh?" we questioned. Mabel pushed Dipper off of her and he landed beside me. I stood up, brushing the dirt off my clothes before extending a hand towards him to help him up.
We looked over at Mabel to see she had picked up the flashlight. She turned it on and shined it on her hand, having it grow bigger. "Ahh!" she screamed and dropped the flashlight.
Dipper and I walked over to her and he picked it up. "It's okay it can shrink things too," he informed. He turned the top of the flashlight and shined it on her hand, returning it to normal size.
There was a pause before Mabel shouted, "Normal hand karate chop!" and slapped the flashlight out of Dipper's hand. She picked it up and ran off with it.
"Hey!" Dipper exclaimed, running after her
"Guys, seriously, come on!" I added, chasing them.
Mabel quickly whipped around and pointed the flashlight towards us. I ducked, causing Dipper to take the blow. She shined it on him and his head grew much bigger. The weight of his head was too much and he started falling backward, crashing into the shack's pillar. She then looked over at me, ready to blast me but I had enough. I growled and ended up tackling her, taking the flashlight and shrinking her head. Both of the twins looked at me and started charging towards me. I panicked and quickly changed the heads back to normal before they both tackled me. All three of us had the flashlight in our hands, trying to take it from each other.
"Give it back!" Dipper demanded.
"Learn to love your heights!" I shouted.
"Never!" Mabel yelled.
We struggled against each other, but the flashlight ended up flying out of our hands and landing in front of someone I wasn't expecting. Gideon! "Curse the Pines family! Curse Stan! Curse Dipper! Curse—" he was shouting but cut himself off when he saw the device. He picked up the flashlight and examined it closely. "My, my, what delightful manner of a dohickery is this?"
Mabel put her hand up as to 'whisper' to us. "Maybe he didn't see us use it and doesn't know it's a magic flashlight that can grow and shrink things," she said.
But, it turned out that Gideon was standing right in front of us and heard what she said. Dipper and I shot her a look. "Really?" we chorused.
Gideon started messing with the flashlight by turning it on and off. "Flick, boop, woo hoo hoo," he giggled. But then pointed it towards us.
"No no no—!" the twins and I tried protesting but it was too late. Gideon had already shined the light on us and shrunk us down so we were three centimeters tall. Mabel and I held Dipper in fear as we look up at giant Gideon. He bellowed a laugh then placed a jar over us. When went to slip a lid underneath, we tried to escape, but he shook us into the jar. He then made his way away from the Mystery Shack.
I turned to the twins, pure fear in my eyes. "This can't be happening..." I breathed.
They glanced at each other then each of them threw an arm of my shoulders as we slid down the edge of the jar, taking a seat.
---
The twins and I just sat in fearful silence as Gideon continued to make his way to our unknown destination. Then we felt Gideon make a sudden stop after we heard what could be Mr. Gleeful ask, "Say there, son, what's in your jar?"
We felt Gideon tap the jar, making us jump since it sounded so loud. "That's my widdle secret!" Gideon said in a fake 'cute' tone. We heard a crowd awe him and he giggled. He then began walking again and we heard him breathe, "Mouth-breathin' fools..." The twins and I finally turned around and looked through the jar to see we had entered what looked like to be the inside of his house. There was a woman in the corner who looked petrified and was vacuuming intensely. Poor thing... "Mother," he quickly greeted in a sour tone. We eventually made it upstairs and up to his room where he dumped us out on his desk. "You three!" he growled at us.
The twins and I scurried to huddle together in protection. "What are you going to do with us?" Mabel asked scaredly.
Gideon laughed. "Why Mabel, I wouldn't hurt a hair on your itty-bitty head—" he said, petting her hair with his finger, "if you agree to be my queen!"
Mabel pushed his finger away. "We live in a democracy! And never!" she yelled.
"Maybe you'll change your mind after THIS!" Gideon growled and picked up Mabel by the back of her sweater.
"Mabel!" I hollered, reaching for her, but Dipper pulled me back.
Mabel flailed and kicked, trying to get out of his grasp. "No! I will fight you until the day I—" she exclaimed but stopped and gasped when she saw the bag of candy Gideon was holding. "Gummy Koalas!" He dropped her inside the bag and she immediately started devouring one of the gummies.
Gideon then looked down at Dipper and me angrily. Dipper stepped in front of me protectively. "As for you two..." he seethed and used his lamp desk to shine in our eyes. "Tell me. How exactly did you come upon this magic item? Hmm? Did somebody tell you about it? Did you... READ about it somewhere?"
Dipper looked down at his vest and opened it slightly to peek at the journal. He then looked to his left to see an airhorn that was close to me. He gave me a look and I knew exactly what he was thinking. I nodded. "Lean closer and I'll tell you!" Dipper whispered loudly to Gideon.
Gideon leaned down closer to us so the airhorn was right next to his ear. "Well don't mind if I—" I then cut him off by pressing on the airhorn as Dipper covered his ears. "AAAAAAAH!" Gideon screamed and backed up, whacking the lamp desk away. "Grrrrr! I COULD SQUASH YOU RIGHT NOW!" Dipper pulled me close as I could feel even more fear coursing through my veins. Gideon then looked down at his fist and relaxed. "Steel yourself, Gideon. You can use them. You can use them..." He sucked in a deep breath and walked over to his makeup station, picking a phone and dialing some number. He combed his hair quietly before someone finally picked up on the other end. "Stanford Pines," he growled into the phone, "listen to me very closely. I have your niece, nephew, and Daniella Perkins. Hand over the deed to the Mystery Shack right now, or great harm will befall them!" He paused. "This is Gideon, by the way." There was muffled laughter and talking on the other end. "I have them in my possession! You don't believe me? I will text you a photo!" More muffled talking. "But—" I assumed Mr. Pines hung up since Gideon started panicking, "Hello? Hello? Arrgh!" Gideon growled and threw the phone at the wall near Dipper and me, smashing it into pieces.
The bits of phone flew everywhere and one-piece flew towards Dipper and I but we jumped in different directions to avoid it. I tumbled backward, about lose my balance and fall off the edge. "Ahh!" I yelped and Dipper immediately ran over and grabbed me before I could fall. I took a deep breath, glancing behind me. "Thanks," I said to Dipper. He nodded.
"Wait," we heard Gideon say, bringing our attention back to him. He then broke out into a burst of evil laughter. "What am I doing? I don't need ransom! I have THIS!" he exclaimed, holding up the flashlight. "I'll shrink Stan and take the Shack for myself!" He then turned to the twins and me, hatred in his eyes. "You'll be helpless to stop me. And if you step out of line, SMASH!" He picked up wooden dolls of me, Dipper, and Mabel and aggressively pulled off their heads. They landed in front of us and I gasped, holding onto Dipper and burying my head in his shoulder. I could feel him pet my hair in comfort.
I heard Gideon laugh evilly before he was interrupted by his father shouting, "Gideon! The ice cream truck is here!"
"Oh! Coming!" Gideon giggled and began running out of the room but stopped and turned to us. Dipper and I backed away slightly when he set down a cage on the table, a chubby hamster inside. He opened the cage and the hamster crawled out. "Guard them, Cheekums. I'm coming!" Then, Gideon ran out of the room panting.
Dipper cautiously walked up to Cheekums and held out his hand behind him for me to give him something. I looked around and spotted a Q-tip, picking it up and placing it in his hand. He carefully poked the hamster with it and it just squeaked in response. Dipper then threw down the Q-tip and the two of us ran up to Mabel who was still in the bag of Gummy Koalas. "We've gotta get out of here and save Stan!" Dipper exclaimed.
"I know!" Mabel responded and put the head of a gummy in her sweater pocket. "I will see you later.
I tapped my chin in thought. "Okay, how are we going to do this? Gideon's got magic and, like, a zillion inches on us," I explained.
"On the bright side, at least Mabel and I are finally the same height again," Dipper added.
"Actually..." Mabel trailed off as she looked at her brother. His eyes then widened.
I groaned and made my way over to the edge of the table. "Seriously, you two, we don't have the time for this," I grumbled. "Alright, maybe we make some sort of zip-line using the threads of Mabel's sweater, but that would mean she would have to make the ultimate sacrifice. I don't know, what do you guys think?" There was no response. "Guys?" I turned my head around to see the twins had pulled out a ruler and had their backs to each other, measuring their heights. "Guys!" I yelled, trying to get their attention.
Dipper groaned. "You're still taller?" he asked Mabel, ignoring me. "Arrgh! How did this happen?"
Mabel shrugged. "I guess it's another mystery," she said cheekily.
Dipper sighed and placed his hat back on his head, walking over to join me. "Just another reason we've gotta get that flashlight back," he said.
"Cheekums, to freedom!" I heard Mabel yell and Dipper and I turned around to see she was sitting on Cheekums back. "To freedom!" she hollered and patted him but he just squeaked. "Oh, you're just a big old dummy-dum!"
I gave her a look before noticing something off to the side. It was one of Gideon's hairbrushes that was littered with strands of his pure white locks. "I have a better plan," I said. "Instead of using Mabel's sweater threads, we'll just use the strands of hair in Gideon's hairbrush to make a rope and we'll just climb down."
"Wait," Mabel spoke up, eyes wide, "you wanted to use my sweater as an escape plan?!"
I smirked. "Well, if you weren't too busy with the whole measuring thing and listened to me, you would know," I sassed. Mabel just huffed and crossed her arms.
"Let's just go and do Dani's plan, alright?" Dipper said. Mabel and I nodded to him and the three of us sprang into action. We quickly gathered up all the strands we could and worked together to form a long rope of his hair. Dipper threw it over the edge of the table and began climbing down, then me, then Mabel. We all made it down and pulled down the rest of the rope and disposed of it to hide any evidence. "Let's go," Dipper said and the three of us raced downstairs.
We ran towards a boot and climbed inside, hiding from the Gleefuls who were sitting in the living room. We peeked our heads out of the top to listen in on their conversation. Gideon and Mr. Gleeful were sitting on the couch as Mrs. Gleeful was still vacuuming behind them and the flashlight rested on the coffee table in front of them. Gideon had finished a tub of icecream and licked his hands. "Clean me!" he ordered and Mr. Gleeful pulled out a cloth, wiping Gideon's face. "Father, could you give widdle old me a ride to the Mystery Shack?"
Mr. Gleeful pinched one of Gideon's cheeks. "Oh, I'd love to, sugarpot, but I have a heck of a lot of cars to sell, I do!" he cooed and started tickling Gideon. "I do!"
Gideon started laughing loudly. "No, no," he retorted and started to grow furious, "NO, DON'T TICKLE MEEEE! NO!" He took the empty tub of ice cream and angrily threw it across the room, hitting the wall behind us. My eyes widened and I grabbed Dipper's arm in fear. "NEVER!" Gideon yelled at his father who looked ashamed. "Never tickle me! What have I told you? What have I told—look at me—what have I told you?!"
"Ticklin' is no laughing matter..." Mr. Gleeful said shamefully.
Gideon patted his father's cheek. "There we go," he said.
"Do you still need a ride?" Mr. Gleeful asked cautiously.
"I'll just take the BUS!" Gideon snapped. He stood up and stomped towards the door but knocked over a lamp table before kicking down the door and leaving.
Mr. Gleeful leaned back on the couch and sighed happily. "Precious memories," he said.
The worried Mrs. Gleeful continued her fearful vacuuming. "Just keep vacuuming. Just keep vacuuming..." she muttered.
"Oh my..." I breathed.
"Come on!" Dipper said and Mabel and I followed him, climbing out of the boot and racing towards the doggy door. We climbed through it and made our way to Mr. Gleeful's auto shop parking lot. "We need to get higher."
"Yeah, especially you, 'cause you're short," Mabel teased Dipper.
"Mabel!" Dipper and I chastised.
I then looked upward and spotted a green blow-up discount dollar above the auto shop. "Up there!" I exclaimed, pointing to it to get the twins' attention. We ran towards it and climbed up to reach the top and looked down to see Gideon sitting with Lazy Susan at the bus stop.
"What cute little thing are you off to you cute little cutie-face?" Lazy Susan asked Gideon.
"I'm gonna annihilate my archenemy's entire family," Gideon replied in a 'cute' tone as he swung his legs back and forth.
Lazy Susan looked at him worriedly. "Oh okay..." she said weakly, "yaaay..." The bus eventually pulled up and Gideon stepped on before it drove off towards the shack.
"He's heading to shrink Stan!" Dipper said worriedly.
Mabel leaned down and hugged the discount dollar. "Oh flying discount dollar, if only you could fly us back to the Mystery Shack," she said.
I took a look at the ropes that were holding up the balloon and got an idea. "Maybe it can," I said with a smile. I reached down and pulled out my emergency pocket knife from inside my boot.
"Y—You have an emergency pocket knife?" Dipper asked in awe.
I smiled. "Of course I do! You always need a backup, never know when you might need one."
Dust of pink started to form on Dipper's cheeks. "You're perfect..." he breathed.
I could feel my face heat up and I cleared my throat, saying, "Thank you," before opening the scissor part of the multitool device and snipping the ropes. The balloon dollar then shot up into the air and the twins and I managed to maneuver it around.
"Yaaay!/Wooh hoo!/Alright!" we all cheered.
"Down there!" Dipper shouted and he and Mabel pushed down each of the balloon's wings to make it fly lower and follow the bus Gideon was in.
"Yeah!" we chorused.
"To the Mystery Shack!" I hollered, standing up on the balloon and striking a mighty pose but it turned out to be a mistake when the balloon leaned in the wrong direction and I started to fall forward. I yelped before I realized Dipper had caught me in his arms.
"Careful there, sweetie," he said with a smirk. I blushed embarrassed and the rest of our ride, I sat by his side. We eventually made it to the shack, crashing the dollar balloon into the shack's totem pole. We climbed off the balloon and onto the top of the totem pole. "We're just in time," Dipper said, pointing to Gideon's arriving bus.
"But how are we going to stop him?" I questioned.
Dipper joined in as he and I thought about what to do when suddenly a woodpecker landed between him and me and started pecking at Dipper's head. "Ah shoo ah ha ah!" Dipper panicked as he tried shooing the bird away. I started trying to help him get rid of the creature but it only began pecking at my head as well. We both yelped in pain.
"Leave that to Mabel," we heard Mabel say. Once we were able to get rid of the woodpecker, Dipper and I turned to Mabel to see her looking down at a rope that led to the shack's roof.
Dipper and I caught our breaths and recovered ourselves before Mabel told us her plan. We used the rope as a zipline and landed on top of the shack's roof just above where Gideon was about to enter the door. "I'm comin' for ya, Stanford!" he announced.
Mabel then took out the rest of her Gummy Koala from earlier and dropped it down, making it land in Gideon's hair. "I'm sorry, gummy friend," Mabel apologized in a whisper.
"It's for the greater good," Dipper reassured and I nodded, placing my hand on her shoulder.
Gideon took notice of the gummy. "Ugh! One of those infernal Gummy Koalas has gotten into my perfect hair!" he complained, trying to get it out but also dropping the flashlight in the process. He walked over to a mirror and started fixing his hair. "I can't defeat Stan looking like this." He pulled out a can of hairspray and started wildly spraying his hair. "Woo! Woowee!"
The twins and I climbed off the roof and slid down the wooden pillars, running towards the flashlight. Mabel set it up before jumping on top of it. "Quick, get in front and I'll re-grow you both," she told Dipper and me.
We did as she said but Dipper hesitated. "Wait, you're gonna grow us back to equal height right?" he asked Mabel.
She and I groaned. "Dipper! That doesn't matter right now," Mabel exclaimed.
"Well if it doesn't matter, why don't you just do it?" Dipper shot back.
I growled, fed up. "AWWW! Why you acting so weird?!" I snapped. "Why can't you just accept that Mabel is a little bit taller than you?"
"Oh, I'm acting weird?" Dipper defended. "Mabel's the one who keeps calling me names and stuff!"
"Oh, what?" Mabel spoke up. "You mean like little—"
"Don't say it!"
"Little Dipper..." a voice said from behind us. We turned our heads and gasped when we saw Gideon standing before us. He reached down and picked us up by the back of our shirts in one hand and picked up the flashlight in the other. "I dare say you would have defeated me if it wasn't for your little bickering!" Gideon said, waving us around a bit. Mabel and I glared at Dipper and he just looked down angrily. Gideon then turned to the shack's entrance and kicked open the door, walking inside. "The Shack is mine, Stanford Pines!" He pointed the flashlight towards the person in front of us who was wearing Mr. Pines' fez, turning it on and shrinking him.
"Noooo!" the twins and I cried out as the fez fell to the floor.
Gideon put the flashlight in the pocket of his blazer and walked over towards the fez. "Well, well, Stanford it appears I finally got the best of—" he stopped mid-sentence when he picked up the fez to reveal Soos was underneath it. "What?!"
Soos pulled out his normal hat from his back pocket and placed it on his head. "Alright, something's definitely different here..." he said.
Gideon growled and pulled out the jar from earlier, throwing the twins, Soos, and I inside. He shook it vigorously causing us to bounce around. "Tell me where Stan is!" he demanded Soos.
"Never!" Soos shouted. "You'll never find Stan: on the second door to the left down the hall." All of our widened at what Soos said and he seemed surprised as well. "Wait, why did I say that?"
Gideon put the lid on the jar and put it in his other blazer pocket. "Oh Stanford, I'm coming for ya!" he declared.
The twins, Soos, and I tried our hardest to break free. I pulled out my pocket knife and figured I could chip away the glass but after a few hits, it ended breaking my knife. "Oh, come on!" I complained. I then looked behind me to see Mabel was looking at Gideon's school ID through the glass. She and I angrily blew a raspberry at his picture.
We both took a seat beside Soos as he said, "I guess I kinda Soosed that one up, didn't I?"
I placed a hand on in shoulder. "It's not your fault, Soos," I told him.
"Yeah, I'm the guy who put together that shrinking device," Dipper admitted then turned to Mabel. "I guess it's just you kept teasing me Mabel, like all day. What was that all about?"
Mabel looked downcast before pulling the score sheet out we used this morning and tossed it to Dipper. "I guess it's that, you're like better than me at like everything, and you always rub it in my face..." she said. "Chess, checkers, ping pong. I guess I finally felt like I was winning at something for once." I placed my other hand on her shoulder.
Dipper looked ashamed. "Oh man, now I feel like a big jerk," he mumbled.
"Don't you mean a little jerk?" Mabel teased.
Dipper playfully groaned and he and Mabel laughed together. "Alright, I walked into that one," he said through laughs. "Are we cool?"
Mabel gave him a fist bump. "We're cool," she said.
"Am I cool?" Soos asked, holding out his hand.
Mabel fist-bumped him as well. "You're cool, Soos."
"Yes!"
I laughed at three of them but Mabel and Dipper looked at me sorrowfully. My laughter died down as I asked, "What?"
"We should apologize to you too, Dani," Dipper said.
"Yeah, we should've just listened to you from the beginning," Mabel added.
"Being short isn't... all that bad," Dipper confessed.
I gave them a smile but waved them off. "Oh, have your fun," I said. "You're siblings. It's in your blood to tease each other." Mabel and Dipper smiled back at me and I held out both of my fists and they gladly bumped them. I happily sighed. "Now that we're all cool, we should probably find a way to get out of this jar."
"Right," Dipper agreed. "I think if we all stack upon each other's shoulders we could probably push open the lid." The rest of us nodded. We eventually stacked upon each other where Soos was at the bottom, Dipper was on his shoulder, Mabel was on Dipper's and I was at the top. I kept pushing on the lid until it popped open. "Let's get back that flashlight before Gideon gets Stan," Dipper said.
The four of us finally climbed out of the jar and peeked our heads out. I then spotted the flashlight in his other pocket. "There it is!" I stated.
We climbed up Gideon's chest and up to his shoulder to the back of his neck. I watched as Mabel was seemingly caught in a trance by Gideon's hair. "Woah! His hair's so shiny!" she said, walking towards it.
But Dipper grabbed her hands and pulled her back. "No! Don't look directly at it!" he warned.
I then looked over to see Soos fall back on Gideon's neck. "His neck is really squishy!" he exclaimed. "Hey look, I'm making fat angels." I cringed in disgust.
"Ew! Termites!" I heard Gideon say. Then suddenly we saw his hand reach behind him. Dipper tackled Mabel and me before he slapped his neck, causing Soos to fall off Gideon.
"Tell my storyyyyy!" Soos yelled as he fell, landing in the shag carpet beneath us.
"Soos!" I exclaimed then turned to the twins. "You think he'll be okay?"
Dipper placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll be fine," he told me. "But for now, we need to get that flashlight back, okay?" I nodded.
We crawled over to Gideon's other shoulder but stopped when we saw Mr. Pines was cornered by Gideon. "Grunkle Stan is doomed!" Mabel exclaimed.
"Not completely doomed! To his armpit!" Dipper declared.
Mabel and I exchanged a disgusted look. "Uh uh," we chorused, shaking our heads.
Dipper grabbed our heads and started pushing us down Gideon's clothing. "Just! Uh! Come on!" he struggled and crawled downward towards his armpit.
"So, why exactly are we going to Gideon's armpit?" I asked Dipper as we crawled.
"Because, he's ticklish, remember?" Dipper responded.
"Oh!" I said in realization. "Smart."
"I know, that's why I thought of it," Dipper said cockily. I stuck my tongue out at him as he chuckled. The three of us then looked at each other and gave a quick nod in agreement and we started tickling Gideon's pale white skin.
There was a pause before we heard Gideon laughing hysterically. We felt a thud and assumed Gideon had fallen over. We then felt movement and crawled out of Gideon's clothes just to see Mr. Pines pushing Gideon with his foot. "Up over the carpet, there we go, around the end table, and out the door," he said before kicking Gideon out the door, dropping the flashlight as well. The twins and I ran on top of Gideon as he rolled down the steps and jumped off before he could reach the bottom.
We ran back inside the shack and towards the flashlight as Mr. Pines, unknowingly aware of our presence, closed the door behind us. Dipper set up the flashlight and pointed it towards, Mabel and I. "After you two," he said. to us.
Mabel and I smiled at him. "It's okay, you can go first if you want to," Mabel said.
But Dipper suddenly shined the flashlight on us. "Whoa!" I said in surprise as we grew back to our normal heights.
Dipper then shined the light on himself and grew himself back to normal height. I stood aside as the twins stood back to back, measuring their heights. Mabel smiled. "Hey, you let me keep my extra millimeter!" she beamed.
"You earned it," Dipper said.
"Awww! Thanks!" Mabel chirped, throwing her arm over Dipper's shoulder. "Little brother!"
"Stop it."
I giggled at them before sighing and picking the flashlight up off the floor. "Well, I guess we should destroy this thing," I stated. "You know, so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands and junk."
"Seems like the smart thing to do," Dipper agreed.
I took the crystal off of the flashlight and handed it to Mabel. She then threw it on the ground and stomped on it, shattering it into pieces. "Die, die!" she shouted then smiled at Dipper and me.
Then something crossed my mind. "Wait, do you guys feel like we're missing something?" I asked the twins.
But before either of them could respond, we heard a familiar voice say, "There you dudes are!" All of our eyes widened and we looked down to see Soos, who was still small, standing in front of a message out of broken glass that read 'HELP SOOS'. "I've been trying to get your attention."
Mabel lifted her foot off the shattered crystal bits. "Glue," she said.
"Lots of glue," Dipper agreed.
"Um, I honestly don't think glue is going to fix the amount of damage you did to that crystal, Mabel," I added.
"Then what are we gonna do?" she asked.
I looked over to see Dipper pull out the journal from his vest. "Looks like we're gonna have to get a new one," he explained as he flipped through the pages. "Dani and I will head out and get the crystal, and Mabel, you stay here and hide Soos from Stan until we get back."
Mabel leaned down and let Soos hop onto her hand before standing up straight again and giving him a thumbs up. "You got it, Little Dip," she said and Soos gave a tiny thumbs up.
I suppressed my laughter as Dipper shot Mabel a quick glare. "Yeah, okay," he said before making his way out the door.
I giggled. "We'll be back," I said before following Dipper.
---
Dipper's POV
I guided Dani through the forest with the journal in one hand and her hand interlocked in my other. We walked in a comfortable silence as we made our way towards the crystals. There was a hill we had to slide down so I let myself go first then caught Dani as she slid down next. When she reached the bottom of the hill, her eyes widened in fascination as she got out of my grasp. "Oh my goodness!" she happily exclaimed as she rushed towards the glowing crystals, giving a quick twirl in excitement. "This place is marvelous!"
I chuckled as I walked up to her. "I guess so," I said and pulled out my pocket knife from my vest. I knelt down and opened the pocket knife, about to dig out a crystal but stopped when I looked over to see Dani admiring a giant butterfly that was resting on a tree. I couldn't look away from her. Her beauty caught me in a trance. She was a beautiful mystery. The more I explored, the more I found. Her smile was so infectious that she lit up my heart. Her eyes were so delicate and bright. Oh! I feel to stare at her eyes. I felt the warm feeling in my chest grow more and more, knowing this girl is mine. I watched as she looked over at me, grinning as she giggled. I shook my head, catching myself and my face heated up a bright red. I turned back to the crystal but paused when I realized something.
I'm in love with Daniella Ann Perkins...