The next morning Mabel was yet again the first one up. This time she slept in their room. And by their it meant half of Dipper's room and half of her own since Stan split it up.(Dipper, again, was not too thrilled about that). She was about to go poke him awake like she usually would with her parents, but he didn't seem all that comfortable with her yet so she pushed off that idea. It wasn't about until half an hour later that the 12 year old boy yawned and sat up, blinking then squinting at the watch on his arm. 9:30am. He looked over at the bed across from him to find it empty. 'Where'd she go?' He thought quietly before shrugging, not caring that much and walking down the creaky, old stairs. As soon as he entered the kitchen, she found his sister there...with some sort of weird sparkly drink that had multicolored plastic dinosaurs in it. No joke. It looked like a gnome from the forest barfed rainbows into the cup she was holding.

"Hey, Dipper!" She grinned and walked over, showing off her drink of sorts. "Wanna try some MabelJuice?"

"...MabelJuice?" He questioned, blinking his tired eyelids. "What's even in that thing? It looks like if coffee and nightmares had a kid."

"Welll..." She inhaled a deep breath before starting to explain what was inside. It sure was sugary and..interesting for that matter. He could see the empty sugar sack on the counter if he peeked over her shoulder.

"...No thanks, i'm fine." He said at the end of her ramble before sitting down in one of the old wooden kitchen chairs. He quietly ate a banana. He didn't feel all that hungry for whatever reason...but then again he wasn't hungry most of the time. Most of the time it was himself forcing himself to eat because half the time he wasn't hungry. Something caught his eye in this morning's paper however. He rose his head upwards to see what it was, and what it was, was an ad for a monster hunt contest. Whoever could bring back a picture of a real supernatural creature would win 1,000 dollars. Jackpot.

Mabel shrugged and put her pitcher of her drink into the fridge on a shelf. She took the glass she had been trying to give her brother and sat down with it. She then drank it. How is it even possible for one to drink that much sugar and not be on a sugar high? And to top it off, she had some of the sugary cereal she had found yesterday. After a couple minutes Grunkle Stan walked into the kitchen, stretching his arms out. "Morning you knuckleheads. Know what today is?" Dipper blinked. Out of all days today was....oh no. He gulped. Fishing season. Mabel grinned and went on to shout out some random answer however since she had no idea what was ahead of them. The preteen went to try and answer but of course his great uncle just butted in and answered for him. "I'll tell you later, but first! Who wants to put on some blindfolds and get into my car!"

"YAY!" Mabel shouted loudly, throwing her hands up in the air.

"No thanks." Dipper grumbled out with a frown.

The next thing he knew he was shoved into a old, smelly car with a blindfold over his eyes. This was just perfect. Sure, Mabel didn't know, but he knew, and he knew well enough that it was bad. Every time he was forced to go it was full of bad jokes and wet aquamarine creatures. With a groan as he heard the car start up, he let his legs dangle off the carseat rather than hug his knees. Then they started moving. Mabel was grinning while her twin was frowning still. The car made all kinds of twists and turns and even bumped over stuff. He knew well enough this is how he drove and the scary part was he wasn't even wearing a blindfold, so imagine how bad it'd be if he did wear one. He shuddered at the thought. It was too early to be getting into the normal everyday shenanigans that happened. Mabel was blabbering on about something but he didn't hear any of it. The 12-year-old boy kept trying to yank off the cloth around his eyes but always got caught. Suddenly, the car jerked to a stop, sending Dipper's face into a car headrest.

"Alright, everyone out!" Stan barked with enthusiasm as he himself exited the mobile. The kids scrambled out of the car, using their hands to find their way around, or in Dipper's case, following his sister's loud voice. They managed to stumble out without falling and stand by the machine on wheels. "Alright...take 'em off!" His nephew, with pleasure, yanked off the cloth and stared at the sign in front of them with hatred. Mabel pulled off hers as well and gave a confused look. "Ta-da! It's fishing season!"

"Fishing season?" She asked with confusion.

"The whole town's here! You're gonna love it!" He showed the crowd of people on the lake in boats with rods. Whatever his idea of fun was, was definitely boring. "It's just going to be me, you on a boat for 10 hours!"

"Grunkle Stan, we do this every.single. year." The preteen boy groaned out with boredom on his face. "Don't you want to change it up or something?"

"We ARE changing it up. Mabel here, has never been fishing with us before!"

"Yeah, and i'm pretty sure she doesn't want to." He rolled his eyes while looking at his sister. "Do you?"

She gulped. She hated choosing, especially between two people she loved even though she barely knew them. "I...well....maybe..?" She answered with an indecisive look on her face.

"There was hesitation there." He pointed out while frowning. "See? Nobody wants to be stuck on a boat for 10 hours with the torture of listening to horrible jokes the entire time."

"..There was jokes?" She asked as Dipper then pulled out the '1001 Yuk 'Em Ups' book. She gulped again. "I think i'll skip it."

"I know what'll cheer you sad-sacks up!" Stan spoke before plopping two very poorly-made hats on top of their heads, thinking they'd change their minds. "Pines Family fishing hats! That's-that's hand stitching y'know."

"There has to be a way out of this..." The boy grumbled under his breath. No way and no how was he going to go through this again like every single year.

"I SEEN IT!! I DONE SEEN IT AGAIN!!" A old man's voice shouted out as soon he came into sight. He looked like a hillbilly with overalls and a messed up hat on his head. While he ran through the whole festivity, he was knocking over everything in sight. From tables to food. "THE GRAVITY FALLS GOBBLEWONKER!! Come quick before it scrabdoodles away!"

"HEY! What did I tell you about scaring away customers? This is your last warning, dad!" A man shouted at him as he came out of a store, squirting him with a squirt bottle as if he were a cat.

"But I got proof this by gummity!!" He said back while trying to shield himself from the flying water that was being sent his way. The son gave a look before he stopped squirting. The old man then ran over to the wooden dock and pointed to what looked like a very torn up boat that was now just scraps of wood floating in the water. "BEHOLD! It was the GobbleWonker that done did it! It had a long neck like a geeraff and wrinkly skin like...this here fellow!" He pointed to Stan, who was picking the wax out of his ear.

"Eh?" He asked confused, staring at the old man with the white beard, having no idea what was going on.

"It smashed my boat to smitheroons and shimshammed over to Scuttlebutt island! YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME!" He shouted at everyone, hoping some would take his side.

"Attention all units! We got ourselves a crazy old man." A police officer who was in a boat on the lake with what looked like to be a deputy. Everyone laughed at the white-bearded man.

"Aw, donkey spittle..." The man muttered, sighing and trudging off, muttering other old-timey words.

Dipper stared as he saw the old guy walk away. Something dawned on him. Mabel had that journal, and just yesterday she had tried to go for a mystery hunt...they could totally win this $1,000 dollars. He turned to his sister. "Did you hear what that old guy said?"

"Awww donkey spittle!" She repeated the dialogue they had heard minutes ago and gave her arm a swing while even mimicking his voice.

"No, the other thing. I saw this ad in the paper earlier before Grunkle Stan kidnapped us and brought us here. Want to know what that ad was?" He asked with the slightest enthusiasm in his voice. Scratch that. There was definitely enthusiasm.

"Uh...was it for a giant hamster ball?" She grinned.

"No! Well...yes there was an ad for that, but that's not the one i'm talking about. I'm talking about the one where if we snag a photo of the GobbleWonker, then we can win 1,000 dollars! And even split it 50/50!"

She gasped. "Thats two 50's!"

"Imagine what you could do with 500 dollars."

Mabel seemed to zone out for a minute, and during that time when she zoned out...she had this huge brace-filled grin that was plastered on her face by the end. That was a good sign. "Dipper, I am one million percent on board with this." She replied back with seriousness in her voice.

"Change of plans, Grunkle Stan. Mabel and I are taking that boat to Scuttlebutt island, and we're going to hunt down that Gobblewonker!" The preteen boy said with his arm around his uncle's shoulders, trying to bribe him.

"MONSTER HUNT! MONSTER HUNT!" Mabel started cheering, pumping her fists in the air.

Suddenly, a horn honked behind the twins and Stan and soon a boat drove up(and a lot better looking than Stan's). Soos pulled up in his own boat with a smile. "You doods say something about a monster hunt?"

"Soos!! Man, am I glad to see you." Dipper let out a sigh of relief. "Can you help us? Possibly, maybe give us a ride to that island over there?" He gestured to the island that was in the distance with his thumb and a hopeful look on his face.

"Sure, dood! My boat has all the things a boat needs! Chairs, deck, steering wheel, normal boat stuff." The man-child patted the side of his boat with a smile, proud of what was inside.

"All right, all right, let's think this through. Ya kids could go waste your time on some epic monster-finding adventure, or you could spend the day learning how to tie knots and skewer worms with your Great Uncle Stan!" The other man said. "So whaddya say?" He had a confident look on his face.

"MONSTER HUNT!" They both shout with no hesitation. Mabel runs off to the boat and her brother follows behind, but only to yank her back.

"Hold up. You CAN'T go monster hunting like...that." He observed her with a frown. "You need actual gear if you're going monster hunting. And not just gear. You need a look."

"....A look?" She asked confused.

"A look." He repeated back then grabbed ahold of her arm, starting to yank her away. "Soos, we'll be right back!" He shouted while walking away.

"MAKE SURE YOU BRING SUNSCREEN, DOODS!" He shouted back.

As Dipper started dragging his sister and himself off through the dirt path, she followed and watched the two adults go out of sight. The next thing she knew, she was dragged into a GoodWill and was following her brother around in the store...and they stopped in front of a 'used' sign also in front of a bin with used clothing. "Alright, like I said earlier, if you're going to be a monster hunter, you've got to have a look."

"Well, i've already got that covered!" She exclaimed, smiling and showing off her navy blue sweater that had a leopard with sunglasses on it.

"No, I mean a look that tells people you mean business!!" He grinned and showed a fist off. "Like what i've got!" The preteen then proceeded to show off his outfit.

"Hey, what's more businesslike than a leopard with sunglasses?"

"I can think of a few things." He responded back then turned around and started to dig through the bin. "How about like, a jacket? Something besides a huge fluffy sweater."

"Listen, Dip, we've only known each other for a few days, so i'll let you off the hook this time. But first rule of Mabel? The sweater STAYS." She frowned and gave him a look.

"Fine, but you're gonna overheat...Hey, what about this?" He dug out a vest from the bin, observing it. "It's big enough to fit over a sweater..and it's got POCKETS!!" He grinned, liking the clothing piece he had found.

"But does it have personality?" She bent down and looked at it.

"You can decorate it or whatever, I don't care." He rolled his eyes.

"Hmmm...." She observed it again then nodded. "Okay! This looks alright."

"GREAT!" He grinned and snatched her arm again and dragged her to the checkout counter, placing the clothing on the counter. He dug out some cash and began to count out the amount so he could pay the cashier. Mabel, standing beside him, was looking around, not missing a chance to see things. She spotted a bowl of small little pins inside it. There was this shooting star one that caught her eye. It looked almost just like her sweater! It even had the aqua-green, orange, and purple little outlines on the yellow star.

"WAIT! Dip, can we get this too?" She begged as she pulled out the pin with a smile. "Pleeease?"

He stared at the little object she held with her fingers and blinked. He then looked at the cashier and Mabel and let out a mix of a sigh and a very small groan. "...How much would adding the pin be?"

"It's 99 cents." They responded back.

"..Fine." He sighed and pulled out a couple more dollars to add onto the pile he had for the vest. They exchanged the cash and the clothing and clothing item. After collecting all his change back, he stuffed the rest in his pocket and handed Mabel her bag as they started walking out. "Here."

She gave a small smile as she pulled out the pin then the vest. "Thanks for getting the pin."

He glanced over at her and then looked back ahead. "Yeah..no problem." Mabel pulled on the vest and clipped the shooting star pin onto it with a small smile. That was more like it. "Did you bring your bag with the journal in it?"

"Yeah! ..Well not exactly."

Dipper sighed. "Take it we need to make a stop on the way back to the lake?"

"Yeah." She responded back with a bit of sheepishness in her voice. "That's a good plan."

~

With the bag over her shoulders and sunscreen on Mabel(Because Dipper claimed he didn't need it.), the two were back at the lake and ready to get a move on with the monster hunt.  Dipper, while he was there had grabbed a bag as well...and it was full of cameras. "You doods ready for this?" Soos grinned with his oddly gopher-shaped teeth.

"Definitely!" Dipper replied back and hopped onto the boat.

"YEAH!!!" Mabel grinned and hopped onto the boat as well.

"Nice vest, dood." The man-child said, complimenting her vest.

"See? Told you the look counts." Her brother rolled his eyes, giving the 'I told you so' look at her. As soon as they got back onto the water, Dipper started to pace after a bit. "Alright everyone, i've been on a good amount of monster hunts, but I have never been on one that relates to a sea-monster, so this is how it's gonna work. Answer me this: What goes wrong on most monster hunts? Think about the number one problem."

"The side character dies in the first 5 seconds of the movie!" Soos shouted out. "Dood, am I a side character..? You ever think about stuff like that?"

"No, no, that's not what I mean, man. I'm talking about camera trouble. Say BigFoot shows up. Soos, pretend to be BigFoot for a minute." The man turned around then gave an imitation of the big creature. "Oh, look! There's BigFoot!" The 12-year-old boy gave a fake gasp then began to feel around in his jacket. "Aw, no camera! Oh wait! Here's one!" He pulled out a camera from his jacket. "Aw, no film. See what i'm getting at?" The "audience members" nodded and let the boy go on with his speech. "That's why I brought 17 disposable cameras! Two on my ankle, three in my jacket, four for each of you, and four extras in this bag!" He exclaimed proudly. "There's no way we're going to miss this."

"Question: Can we test them out?" Mabel asked.

"I...guess. But be careful to not waste the film." Soos nodded and took a picture...of his own face. The flash probably blinded him, explaining why he screamed and tossed it into the water. "See? Exactly my point. This is exactly the reason why I bought more than just one." He handed over an extra camera to his best friend. A seagull flew above the crew, actually quite close to Mabel. She yelled and threw the camera at it...and it landed in the water. The 12-year-old boy frowned. "Okay, can you try not to lose the cameras?"

"Lose the cameras?" They asked in unison.

"DON'T."

"Dood I just threw two."

He grumbled and slapped his hand on his forehead. "13, we still have 13 cameras lef-" He heard a crunch underneath his foot and winced...then lifted up his shoe to reveal a smashed camera. "12. We have 12 cameras left."

"So what's the plan?" His twin asked while...holding a camera over the edge of the dock of the boat. "Throw more cameras overboard?"

"NO." He shouted out with wide eyes before sighing and rubbing his temple. "Alright, here's how it's gonna go down. I'm captain, Soos is the driver, and Mabel you can...be lookout or something."

"Whattt? Can't I be captain?" She whined, her eyes pleading.

"That doesn't sound like such a good idea to me." He huffed and responded back, folding his arms.

"Then how about co-captain?"

"There's no such thing as co-captain!!"

"Whoops." She then gave a small smile and threw overboard a disposable camera.

"WAIT!" He shouted right as she threw it into the water. The kid shot a glare then let out a groan. "Fine, fine be co-captain. I don't care."

"Can I be associate co-captain?" Soos asked, looking at Mabel.

"As co-captain, I authorize that request!"

"Well, as first captain, I say our main order of business is to lure the monster with this." Dipper gestured to the barrel full of some sort of substance, but it was labeled as 'Fish Food'.

"Permission to taste some?"

"Permission co-granted."

"Permission associate co-granted." The man-child responded back and put his hand into the barrel, grabbing a fistful. The twins watched and waited to see what would happen as he stuffed the stuff into his mouth. Moments later he stuck his tongue out and gagged then wiped his tongue off with his hands, signing that it tasted bad.

"Oh, Soos.." Dipper started to laugh as well as his sister.

When he was done having his little session of getting the nasty taste out of his mouth, he went back to being the driver and started steering the boat into place. After a bit, fog began to swarm the place. Dipper, the captain, was the one looking out and trying to see through the fog while Mabel was playing ventriloquist with a pelican.

"Hey! How's it going?" She asked the pelican with a grin before starting to mock a different tone that was supposedly the pelican. "It's going awesome! Bow bow bow bow!"

"Mabel, leave that thing alone." Her brother scowled with his hands on his hips.

"Aw, I don't mind none!" The pelican said. She then switched her voice to go back to normal. "Hey, look, i'm drinking water!" She went back to the pelican again and started drinking water from a waterbottle. "Twinkle twinkle little-" She choked on the water mid-sentence and coughed, causing the bird to fly away.

"Aren't you supposed to be lookout?"

"LOOK OUT!" She shouted and threw a volleyball at his arm.

"HEY!" He shouted back while huffing and rubbing his arm. "Not that kind!"

She laughed at herself and his reaction. "Seriously though, i'm on it." The boat suddenly jerked to a stop, making her brother stumble forward. He caught the railing before he could actually fall. "LAND HO!" She shouted...a bit too late. "See? I'm a lookout genius! Hamster ball, here we come!" The girl grinned and hopped out of the boat, her feet landing on the sand with a 'thump'.

The trio disembark and start to walk off into the foggy woods, where it was nearly impossible to see anything at all. Dipper is leading the group while gripping their only source of light, a lantern, in his hand. Soon they come across one of many trees that has a huge sign that reads 'Scuttlebutt Island'. Soos and Mabel take a break and stop in front of it.

"Dood, check it out." He then grinned with his oddly shaped teeth and removed the 'Scuttle' part of the sign with his hand. "Butt Island!"

"Soos, you rapscallion!" She laughed and waved her hand then looked at her brother, who was not laughing and was being serious, checking things out with wary eyes. "Hey, why aren't you laughing? Are you scaarrreeddd?"

"Psh, yeah right." He responded back. "I've been on a lot of monster hunts, and I mean a lot. Why would this one be any different than the rest?"

"...You're totally scared." She booped his head.

"NO i'm not-ACK MABEL!" He kept trying to shield himself from her "attacks" but it was no use. After a minute...two minutes of poking, a loud roar was heard from somewhere, and it shook the ground.

"Dood, did you guys hear that?" Soos walked over and Mabel stopped poking him.

"Was that your stomach?" She questioned as she walked over to him.

"Nah, my stomach usually sounds like whales."

The 12-year-old girl walked over to the man and put her ear to his stomach, indeed hearing whale noises. Her eyes widened. "Woahhhh. So majestic!"

A possum scurried by and grabbed the lantern right out of the boy's hand unexpectedly when he wasn't looking and ran off somewhere. The kid gasped and squinted. "Ah, man, I can't see anything.."

"Doood, I dunno, man. Maybe this, uh...maybe this isn't worth it." Soos said beside him.

"Not worth it? Can you just imagine what'll happen if we snap a photo of this guy?" He imagined himself as the brave Indiana Jones who got an interview and award...and somehow Mabel in a pink hamster ball bursted through the wall and interrupted the interview. He shook his head out of fantasy land and smiled. "I'm in!"

"ME TOO!" Mabel shouted with a grin, running off with her brother into the fog.

"Alright, doods, I'm comin'!" The man-child shouted before chasing after both.

Through the fog and with no light, it sure was hard to see where they were going, but they kept going anyways. Soos and Mabel were making some sort of band while Dipper was actually trying to focus and look around. They were beatboxing about her name and the rhymes that went along with it or something. But that's when a noise rang out that sounded like a large growl. A huge flock of birds fly away overhead as the sound got louder. "GUYS! This is it!" the 12-year-old boy hissed out with a grin. "Get your cameras all ready!" Everyone looked down and clicked on their disposable machine. "Ready....GO!"

Soos yells and jumps over the log they were hiding behind, holding his camera in front of him as he runs toward the silhouette, snapping photos at random. The twins follow him, but as they get closer, they discover the silhouette was the remains of a wrecked boat with beavers living on it. The boy's shoulders drop as well as his mouth. The large growling sound rings out again...but it's revealed as a beaver holding a chainsaw, which Soos happily takes pictures of. He continued to take pictures of it, acting as if the beaver was a supermodel.

"What're we gonna say to Grunkle Stan..? We ditched him for nothing." Dipper spoke to himself, sitting on a rock. He threw a stone as he spoke. Just then the water rippled, messing up his reflection. "..Hey, did you guys feel that?" Another vibration. Something hits the rock and causes it to sink, getting the preteen completely soaked. He let out a sharp gasp and swam out as quickly as possible. The GobbleWonker's silhouette was seen swimming around underwater. His eyes widened as he stood on the ground again. "This is it!" Nobody made a move except him. "What's wrong with you guys? I thought we were in this together."

"...Dipper....you....move." Mabel spoke as the monster started to rise from behind him.

He still didn't notice. "What's wrong with you? It's not that hard, alright? All you gotta do is point and shoot! Like this!" He yanked out a camera and turned around...following the long green neck..all the way to glowing yellow eyes. It was the GobbleWonker. And it was right in front of his face. It roars and he stares in shock before backing away slowly. "RUN!!" He shouted and started to run, as well as Mabel and Soos.

Trees fell frontwards and crashed, blocking off some paths. One more crashed...and it was headed towards Mabel. Dipper let out a sharp gasp before speeding up and running right into her, causing her to be safe from the crash. They tumbled and got a few scratches but luckily landed back on their feet and caught up with Soos and the boat. The beast roared and snapped at the preteen boy, who jumped out of the way. Breathing fast, he ran towards the boat and jumped in, hitting the floor. He got himself back up and helped Mabel get in as Soos got in himself while the monster was right behind.

"Let's get outta here, doods!" Soos shouted as he ran to the steering wheel, backing up and then beginning to drive.

"Alright...this is it." The little monster hunter said to himself as he took out the camera he had earlier. It must've been an unlucky call because it had cracked lenses. "Cracked lenses?! Soos! Get a photo!" He gasped as he saw his friend throwing cameras out into the lake. "WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!"

"Oh! I still got one left! Don't worry, dood!" He shouted back at the boy as he threw the one and only disposable camera left...but he aimed wrong and it hit the wall, sending the remains into shattered pieces. The GobbleWonker let out a roar and began to climb into the water, chasing the gang. The boat zooms past Stan, who gets soaked with the huge wave the boat made while swerving.

"SOOS!! BEAVERS!" Dipper shouted aloud, trying to get him to stop from crashing into the pile of wood and beavers that were in front of them..but it didn't work. Beavers fly everywhere. One bites the boy's arm, some got on Mabel's head and many landed on Soos's face, causing him to stumble away from the steering wheel. "MABEL! TAKE CARE OF THE BEAVERS! I'LL GET THE WHEEL." He shouted after he got the creature off of his arm. She nodded fast. The boy rushed over and grabbed ahold of the wooden wheel and thrashed it one way, and it turned that way. They drove through glass and the GobbleWonker knocked off the top part of the boat. Luckily he dunked in time so he didn't get hit. Right ahead was a Waterfall. He gulped. "MABEL! FLIP THROUGH THE JOURNAL TO SEE IF THERE'S A WAY OUT OF THIS!"

"I'M TRYING!" She exclaimed while flipping through pages rapidly. Luckily she found the right page. "From what it looks like, it looks like there's a cave behind it! ...Maybe."

"MAYBE?!"

They all scream and the boat goes through the waterfall and into cave behind. Their boat crashes, sending them into the dirt. The all stand up, and turn around to see the GobbleWonker swim in after them and get stuck in the cave entrance.

"It's stuck!" Mabel exclaims with a grin.

"YEAH! WE DID IT!" He grins back at her. "Wait...it's stuck!" He started to feel around inside his jacket, and with a sigh of relief, he found one. The kid yanked out the camera and started to snap pictures. They did it! The GobbleWonker roars then gets hit by a falling rock, and with...sparks, it's head fell to the ground. "...What the hell..?" He questioned and frowned, sliding down a dirt hill and touching the monster, shuddering. Why was it so cold?

"What's wrong?" She asked from above, watching.

Dipper steps on the GobbleWonker and knocks on it. It makes a hollow metalic sound. He then climbs up the beast. "Careful, dood!" Soos shouted from where Mabel was standing.

"I got this!" He responded back, confidently. The 12-year-old climbs over it..then his head pops up moments later. "GUYS! Come check this out!" They look at each other then run over and soon the gang discovers a handle and turns it, causing steam to come out. They open the trapdoor causing more steam to come out. They discover the same old man from earlier inside controlling a machine. "Wha- Yo- You?! You made this?! Why?"

"Well, I...I, uh...I just wanted attention..." He responded back, taking off his hat and holding it in his bandaged hand(s).

"...I still don't understand."

"Well, first I just hootenannied up a biomechanical brain wave generator, and then I learned to operate a stick-shift with ma beard!"

"Okay, yeah. But why did you do it?" Mabel asked, rubbing her sweater-covered arm.

"Well, when you get to be an old fella like me, nobody pays any attention to you anymore. My own son hasn't visited me in months! So I figured maybe I'd catch his fancy with a fifteen ton aquatic robut!" He laughs like a maniac then sighs. "In retrospect, it seems a bit contrived. You just don't know the length us old-timers go through for a little quality time with our family."

"So, did you ever talk to your son about how you felt?"

"No, sir, I got to work straight on the robut!" A projector shows blueprints for the Gobblewonker on the trapdoor. "I made lots of robuts in my day!" He pushes a button and projectors shows a newspaper with a robot pterodactyl breathing fire on a town and the word 'chaos'. "Like when my wife left me and I created a homicidal pterodactyl-tron," He pushed the button again and projector shows a picture of a man. "Or when my pal didn't come to my retirement party," He pushed the button again and the projector shows another newspaper with a large robot terrorizing a town and the word 'disaster' "And I constructed an eighty ton SHAME BOT THAT EXPLODED THE ENTIRE DOWNTOWN AREA!" The old man then proceeded to laugh like a physcopath."Well, time to get back to work on my death ray!" He ducks into the Gobblewonker and construction noises can be heard from inside. He raises his bandaged hand in a grabby motion. "Any of you kids got a screwdriver?"

Mabel paused and took out her poorly-made hat by Stan that had her name on it. It was nice that he took the time to make those...and the fact he probably had to make it within a couple hours was even nicer.  "...Dipper...maybe we should've stayed with Stan...I mean, he was looking forward to this!"

He folded his arms with a frown..then bit his lip. "Maybe...but I do this every year."

"And isn't he happy when you go with him?"

"....Well...yes, but-"

"Then do what makes him happy. I know your own happiness is important too, but sometimes you can't always be revolving around yourself. Don't get me wrong, I know you don't...but maybe we should just do this..?"

His frown slightly went away and he let out a small groan. "I guess so..." He looked at his camera. "...Think we should still turn in the photo? Nobody will know the difference."

"That's lying!!"

He sighed and slid a hand down his face. "So that's the kind of person you are..." He took a minute and looked at his hat he stuffed inside his jacket. "So what you're saying is drop the contest and go hang out with Grunkle Stan instead?"

"That's exactly what i'm saying." Dipper looked at his hat and then the camera. He rolled his eyes but threw the camera down on the dirt and smashed it with one of his feet. Mabel grinned. "Thanks, Dip."

"Yeah, whatever."

~

Stanley Pines sighed and drove down the glowing lake that had the reflection of the sundown on it. The water was pink and orange and yellow. Looks like the S.S. Stan-O-War wasn't going on a trip with loved ones anytime soon. 'Well there goes that plan..' He thought to himself, sighing once again. It was a good try anyways...

"HEY!" Dipper's voice shouted as the 'S.S. Cool Dude' drove up. He took a picture of his uncle.

"Wha-? Kids? I thought you were off playing spin the bottle with Soos." He retorted with slight annoyance in his tone.

"We spent all day trying to find a legendary monster...which we did find by the way."

Mabel frowned and elbowed him. "But we realized, the only dinosaur we wanna hang out with is right here." She showed her hands at Stan, meaning it was him.

"Save your sympathy! I've been having a great time withoutcha! Makin' friends, talkin' to my reflection...I had a run-in with the lake police! Guess I gotta wear this ankle bracelet now, so that'll be fun." His voice dripped with a bit of sarcasm as he showed his flashing bracelet that was definitely on his ankle.

"So, there's no room for 3?" She gave a small, hopeful smile and plopped her brother's hat on his head and her own on her head.

The old man glared for a moment...but then his expression softened. "You knuckleheads ever seen me thread a hook with my eyes closed?"

A billion times. "Bet you 5 dollars you can't do it without poking yourself!" Dipper grinned and climbed into the familiar, old boat.

"You're on!"

"Five more bucks says you can't do it with your eyes closed, plus me singing at the top of my lungs!" Mabel joined in and climbed inside the boat as well.

"I like those odds!"

With one camera left, the twins had decided to save it and use it on this moment. "Alright, everyone get together!" Dipper said as everyone scootched closer together. He closed one eye and focused. "Everyone say 'fishing'!"

"Fishing!" Mabel and Stan say together, smiling.

Soos barely steps into the photo, his chubby stomach only showing. "Dood, am I in the frame?"

It turns out everyone ended up having a good time that day. Even if it was only for a couple hours, and Dipper had done this a million times before...he bonded a bit with his sister, and she somehow made it better, even though he won't admit it. Something was off, however. A small bump was felt, but nobody knew what it was. At the end when they drove their boat back to the dock, Soos climbed out and waved, and squished his 'little brother' in a hug before he hopped into his truck and left. As for Mabel, Stan, and Dipper? They went back in the 'Stanley-Mobile' and drove home, laughing and chatting about all the good memories that they made today.

"Alright you gremlins, time for bed." He gave a small smile and pushed them upstairs.

The two gave a small laugh and headed up the stairs. The 12-year-old boy went in what used to be his room as his sister went and changed in the bathroom. All he really did was throw off his jacket, boots, change his shirt and smooth down his hair. After a couple minutes, his twin walked into the room, tossed the journal which was in the bag still beside her suitcase and grabbed the scrapbook out of her suitcase, putting in all the photos they took today. Those included A picture of Mabel covering Stan's eyes while he peeks and tries to thread a hook; Stan reading jokes while Mabel and Soos laugh; Dipper holding his first fish; Stan posing with his hand in his vest; Stan and Mabel stealing fish from a girl and her grandfather; Dipper, Mabel, and Stan driving away from the lake police. She let out a small giggle. The first bonding they've really had since she got here.

"You going to sleep, or what?" Her brother asked, almost startling her.

"Oh! Yeah!" She put her scrapbook on the side of her bed and snuggled into her pink bedsheets.

Dipper then looked at her and flicked off the lantern. "...Night, Mabel."

She flipped over to face him and let out a smile.  "Night, Dipper."