Crap, Mabel thought.

Dipper's gonna kill me.

Mabel immediately set up an emergency meeting in the living room. Wendy was seated rather uncomfortably in the faded yellow recliner.

Dipper paced the room while muttering things to himself. Mabel's ears caught a few of the words;

Trust no one

She's just a kid

Too young

Mabel looked down at Wendy, who was staring nervously after Dipper, waiting to hear and see his reaction.

Dipper finally stopped pacing.

Mabel finally let herself breathe (she hadn't realized that she had been holding her breath)

"First, tell me, what did you see?" Dipper asked with his hands folded behind his back.

Mabel couldn't help but roll her eyes. Her brother could take these things a little too far. Of course she understood why he was so paranoid, but sometimes she wished he'd tone it down a bit. Mabel could tell that Dipper was making the poor girl uncomfortable.

"I saw Mabel...chasing a-" Wendy's face turned pink, "-a gnome, or whatever."

Dipper sighed exasperatedly, then glared at his twin "How could you let this happen, Mabel?"

"Why are you blaming this on me?!"

Dipper always blamed everything on her.

"Did you not just hear our witness tell her side of the story?" Dipper replied irritably.

Mabel crossed her arms with a disgruntled sigh. "How about you explain to her what's going on. You're scaring her."
                
I'm not scared, Wendy thought stubbornly.
                        
Dipper shook his head slowly. Where was he going to begin to explain any of this to the kid. . . Dipper reached a hand into his jacket and pulled out a journal. He held it for a second as if he were about to offer someone a piece of him, as if he were unsheathing a sword. 

"Wendy, what I'm about to tell you, you can't tell anyone."

"What about Soos?" she asked.

Dipper paused. It would make sense to tell Soos. He sighed- he felt like he had done a lot of sighing today.

"Mabel, can you get Soos in here?"

Mabel rolled her eyes. Again. She had the tendency to roll her eyes a lot, especially when it had anything to do with her brother. She left the room, leaving Dipper to explain everything to Wendy on his own. The awkwardness that had settled was so thick, you could probably suffocate. It was overwhelming.

Dipper gripped the journal tighter as he approached Wendy, knelt down to her height, and held it out to her.

"Gravity Falls isn't what it seems."

                        .  .  .  .  .  .  . 

                      
Awesome.

This had to be the best day of Wendy's life. Ghosts, zombies, monsters, gnomes. It was all real. Wendy felt like laughing out loud. It was all real.

At first she didn't believe Dipper, but that only lasted a few seconds until she remembered that she had actually seen a gnome with her own eyes an hour before.

"You have to promise not to tell anyone," Dipper said gravely. "It's important that this town maintains its normal to weird balance. It's like that saying,  'ignorance is bliss'."

"So, does this mean I can go on like, mystery hunts with you guys?" Wendy said excitedly. It was like a dream come true. Hunting the paranormal alongside Dipper like in those sappy teen novels and movies.

Dipper looked taken aback. "...well, um-"

"Dipper!" Mabel yelled, slamming open the door so hard both Dipper and Wendy leapt to their feet in surprise.

She gripped the doorway for support. She was out of breath, "It's Soos, he's in trouble."

"Is it the gnomes again?" Dipper asked, tucking the journal back in his jacket.

Mabel nodded.
                           
Ugh. Gnomes. Dipper hated them. They were like pests, and the woods were seeping with them. There was no telling what kind of trouble Soos had gotten in.

"I'm sorry, kid, but this is too new for you, just stay here and we'll take care of this."

Wendy clenched her fists and hesitated to shake her head in protest. Maybe she didn't know a lot about gnomes, she just found out they existed just a few moments ago, but she was ready, she had to help.

"Please let me come! I can do this!"

Dipper shook his head. "I'm sorry, maybe some other time." He walked out of the room and finally broke into a jog when he left the house.

Wendy exhaled and slid down in her seat. She didn't understand. She could handle a few gnomes. They were like a fifth of her size!

After a minute of silent debating, Wendy finally decided that she was going to help, wether Dipper liked it or not.

. . . . . . . .

Wendy grabbed a shovel, a baseball bat, and hopped into the golf cart after snatching the keys from a hook in the storage closet. After cranking the golf cart she found that it was out of gas.

Wendy desperately peered around the parking area of the Mystery Shack until she spotted a kid and his shiny red dirt bike. She sprinted towards him and said, "Please I need to borrow your bike, it's an emergency!"

The kid shifted the sucker he held in his mouth in consideration, then shook his head.

"Please!" Wendy pressed, trying to hold onto her patience (whatever was left of it, that is)

The kid shook his head again.

That was it, that was the last straw.

Wendy clenched her fists and proceeded to shove the kid off the seat of the bike, hopped on and furiously pedaling as fast as she could.

"Sorry!" she called over her shoulder to the kid, who was now laying on the ground sobbing with his sucker stuck to the front of his overalls.

With the wind blowing through her fiery hair, Wendy sped off across a trail through the woods. The wheels would occasionally bump over rocks, almost causing her to steer off course.

After a minute or two she recognized Dipper and Mabel running alongside each other just a couple of yards away.

Mabel spotted Wendy first, then notified Dipper, who's jaw dropped in surprise as she surpassed them. The two began to try and catch up with Wendy, calling out for her to stop and go back to the Mystery Shack.

Wendy ignored them and followed her gut instinct, which was to get to Soos.

Wendy upped her speed, leaned down so she was almost level with the handles, and pedaled even harder. The trail grew more narrow until it sloped down into a cave-like clearing with tiny crystals embedded in the moss and rock walls.

Wendy didn't recognize this place, even after having lived in Gravity Falls her entire life.

She skidded to a holt and listened for any shouts or cries for help. She didn't hear any, but she heard giggles and laughter instead.

Huh?

Wendy hopped off the bike and crept around the edge of the moss-covered rock until she found a clearing with a giant oak tree in the center. The gnomes had Soos tied to the tree. One of the gnomes with a dark orange hat was curiously poking him in the stomach with a stick. Soos just laughed and exclaimed, "stop it, that tickles!"

The rest of the gnomes were surrounding Soos while holding their own sticks and broken off pieces of bark like swords and shields. They must've been guarding Soos, but for what reason, exactly?

"Alrighty fellas, remember the code word for if you see the Pines Twins?" one gnome with a brown beard asked. He was standing before the army of gnomes like a drill Sargent. This gnome must've been the leader. Wendy suddenly realized that this gnome was in fact the gnome Mabel had dealt with earlier, Jeff.

"Shmebulock." a gnome with a grey beard and crossed eyes suggested.

Jeff narrowed his eyes. "Incorrect."

Another gnome raised his hand.

"Yes, Carson?" Jeff said.

"Would it be "jam"?"

Jeff smacked his face in irritation with his tiny arm, "guys, we've rehearsed this! For the last time, the password is-"

"HEY BUTT-FACES!" Mabel exclaimed as she bursted through a row of gnomes with her leaf-blower. Dipper was standing behind her, wielding a shovel.

"Impossible!" Jeff gasped. "How did you find our hiding place?"

"This is literally your only hiding place," Dipper said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Fair point," Jeff agreed.

"What are you doing with our friend?" Mabel demanded.

"He's our hostage," Jeff explained, "and we'll only release him if you agree to marry me."

Dipper and Mabel groaned simultaneously.

"Dude, we've been over this." Dipper said, "She's not going to marry you. We all know that we're gonna defeat you, you're gonna retreat into the woods whilst rebuking us, then it all repeats."

The gnomes began murmuring amongst themselves in thought of what Dipper said.

"SILENCE!" Jeff shouted, his voice echoing off the cave-like walls. The sea of gnomes obediently fell silent.

"He has a point. . ." one last voice spoke up.

"SHUT UP, JASON!" Jeff snapped, turning to face his army, "I'm tired of loosing! GNOMES OF THE FOREST- ATTACK!"

Wendy expected only a small group of the tiny creatures to scratch at Dipper and Mabel's ankles or something, but instead she watched in surprise as they were engulfed in a tidal wave of screeching gnomes.

Wendy ran onto what was now the battlefield, trying to quickly formulate a plan and put it to action. Though she actually had no idea what she was doing, she wanted to try to help in any way possible.

"Wendy! Over here!" Soos yelled from the tree.

Wendy kicked some gnomes out of her way before jogging over to him and quickly untying his ropes.

"Hey, she's trying to free the prisoner!" a gnome exclaimed, alerting several of the gnomes around him. They turned towards Wendy and Soos, hissing and growling menacingly as they approached.

"Come on!" Wendy said, pulling at Soos's shirt in order to quickly guide him through the chaos.

The two hopped onto the bike and disappeared into the trees. Soos was awkwardly clinging to Wendy's waist as he said, "but wait- shouldn't we go back? They need our help!"

"We can't go back, we can't fight off those things, we don't have any experience. We're just kids!" Wendy exclaimed, trying to focus on the trail so they wouldn't veer off course.

"Please! We gotta help!" Soos said pleadingly.

"We don't even have a weapon."

"We have a dirt bike," Soos suggested.

Wendy pulled on the breaks and paused in the middle of the trail. She had an idea. Soos was right.

Maybe a dirt bike was a pretty good weapon. . .

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

"I can't hold them off much longer!" Mabel called out to Dipper after whacking away a few gnomes with her leaf-blower.

They were back to back, surrounded by gnomes in all directions. It was like they were multiplying, never had they seen so many of the creatures in one place.

"They've got us surrounded," Dipper gulped (as if it weren't obvious)

"Great, then we can attack from any side!" Mabel replied sarcastically.

There was a sudden yell, then the gnomes began to scatter in various directions. Wendy and Soos were driving straight through the hoard of gnomes, clearing a path out of the clearing to escape. 

Soos was carrying a grappling hook and using it to whack gnomes out of the way whenever they came anywhere close to the bike.

"Hurry up and get out of here!" Soos shouted.

Mabel shared a questionable look with her brother as they ran ahead of Wendy and Soos through the path they had cleared.

Wendy began to pedal after them, the gnomes closing back in until the path behind them was once again engulfed.

One gnome jumped on Wendy's head and began furiously scratching at her face. She screamed and the bike began wobbling back and forth, "Agh! Soos! Do something!" she cried out.

Soos nervously shooed at the gnome, which didn't seem to help the situation at all.

"Punch it or something!!" Wendy yelled, she was now blinded with the thing clinging to her face like a parasite.

"Oh, you mean like this?" Soos accidentally punched Wendy in the face, which proved to be affective as the gnome was knocked to the ground.

"Whoops! sorry, Wendy!" Soos apologized sheepishly.

"It's fine, thanks." Wendy said, trying to ignore the stinging pain from the scratches on her face along with the pain from Soos's hit.

The Mystery Shack came into view, Wendy stopped the bike and jumped off. Soos followed behind her as they hurried to catch up with Dipper and Mabel. They were standing so they were facing the forest, the direction from where the gnomes would be coming any minute now.

"What are you guys doing?!" Wendy exclaimed.
"why aren't you inside? It's safe in there!"

"If we hide then we'll never be able to end this," Dipper said, keeping his eyes on the trees ahead.

Dang It. Why does he always have to sound so wise?

Wendy considered pulling Soos inside with her where it was safe, but then decided that it seemed better to stand with Dipper and Mabel, like a real Mystery Hunter.

As they stood side by side, Soos timidly grabbed Wendy's hand and clutched it tightly as the gnomes began spilling out from inside the woods.

"This is your final warning!" said Jeff, "marry us now or you shall feel the wrath of the gnomes!"

There was a long silence followed by Mabel's brief answer, ". . .no."

The gnomes began to charge, but Mabel held up both hands in surrender. Dipper, Wendy, and Soos did the same.

"I want to call a truce," Mabel said calmly.

"What?" Jeff gasped.

"We'll leave you alone if you leave us alone. Go find someone else to be your queen or whatever." Dipper added.

Jeff was at a loss for words as he glanced at his army with a raised eyebrow.

"This isn't some. . . trick, is it?"

"No, all we want is a truce. Everyone wins." Mabel said.

"Oh. . . that's actually a pretty decent idea, I can't believe none of us thought of it before. . ."
Jeff thought to himself, then stuck out a hand.

"It's a deal!"

Mabel shook it.

Jeff turned to his army and clapped his hands before saying, "You heard the humans, let's get out of here."

The gnomes followed his command and marched back into the forest. They disappeared just as quickly as they had arrived.

Soos was still clutching Wendy's hand, but she didn't try to pull away.

"You okay?" She asked him with a small smile.

"Yeah," Soos said breathlessly, "I'm fine."

                        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .
                           

"You deliberately disobeyed me," Dipper said to Wendy with hardened eyes and sternness in his voice.

Wendy shrank back in her seat, she couldn't meet his eyes.

Everyone was sitting in the living room, which seemed to automatically be the place for any sort of meeting nowadays.

"But it was awesome!" Soos said, his eyes lit up with excitement.

"You were amazing!" Mabel added, "where did you even find a dirt bike? Back in the day Dipper and I only had the golf cart and we didn't look nearly as cool as you two."

Dipper grunted in disapproval of Mabel's praising. Mabel frowned at him.

"Lighten up, Dipper. She saved our butts back there."

"She ignored what I said, she could've been seriously injured or even worse!" Dipper bellowed.

"But I'm fine," Wendy said, though it didn't sound very convincing considering all the scratches on her face.

"See? Wendy's perfectly capable of handling this stuff!" Mabel said, "admit it, there's no telling what would've happened if she hadn't shown up."

Dipper crossed his arms and clenched his jaw in defiant silence. His eyes darted down so he was staring at his sneakers. Mabel was right, but he didn't want to admit it.

". . . I guess," he mumbled, "I guess I owe you an apology, Wendy."

Wendy shifted in her seat looking suddenly very attentive.

"Thank you," he said, finally looking her in eyes. Dipper smiled his crooked smile,

"Welcome to the team."

"What team?" Soos cut in.

Mabel smiled broadly as she answered,

"The Mystery Hunters."

A/n:
Wow *wipes brow exhaustedly*
that took me forever! I had a bit of a block but I'm happy with the way it turned out!

Please leave any feedback/critique in the comments (keep it friendly) and stay tuned for the next chapter which is a parallel to Legend of the Gobblewonker!

~Cath