Summary:
Something weird is happening at this convenience store...
"Go! Go! Go! Go!" They all chanted, cheering Thompson on. Steven tried to shake the bad feeling in his stomach, and focus on the present, but he just couldn't. Something scared Dipper. But maybe he just got jumpscared by a falling ice bag? Or he slipped on something? Nothing seemed off, other than Dipper's energy. Steven focused on Thompson. Wow, he was really bad at this game.
Steven started to calm down, convincing himself that everything was okay. He laughed as Thompson failed spectacularly at Dancy Pants Revolution.
"Whoa! Guys! You might wanna see this."
They all looked to see Robbie looking at something behind the front counter. When they got over there, Steven saw two chalk outlines, both of something human. He felt another pang of anxiety, but he pushed it down. This had to be a prank someone pulled by some another trespassing group.
"Woah! So the rumors are true," Lee said.
That didn't help with Steven's anxiety.
"Dude, I dare you to lie down in it," Robbie said.
"Good idea," Lee said, nudging Nate, "Go lie down in it."
Nate chuckled, "I'm a dead body! Look!"
But before he had the chance to step into the chalk outline, Dipper stepped forward.
"Wait!" He said, stopping Nate, "Maybe let's not do that."
"This guy's scared!" Lee teased
"All I'm saying is, why tempt the fates? I mean, what if this place really is…haunted?"
Everyone booed. Well, except for Steven.
"Dipper," Steven got on his knees and placed a hand on Dipper's shoulder. "You saw something, didn't you? What did you see?"
"I…" Dipper looked past Steven before closing his eyes and forcing the words out. "I saw a floating brain and eyeballs in the ice freezer! There, happy?"
There was a brief moment of silence that was broken by Tambry
"Status update: Trapped in store with insane 9-year-old."
"Hey-" Steven started but Dipper cut him off.
"I'm not a 9-year-old!" he started walking backwards towards the chalk outline before falling into it. "I'm 13! Technically a teen!"
The temperature dropped to the point where Steven could see his breath. The chilly air sent a shiver up his spine as he saw the chalk outline glow green. The power went out, plunging them all into darkness.
"Woah!"
Steven turned to see Wendy pointing to Tambry's phone, which was no longer in her hand, and instead on the ground, no Tambry in sight. Dipper picked up and read the text on the screen.
"Status update: Aaahhhhhhh."
The old box tv that was probably used for surveillance turned on, and the sound of static flooded the room. On the screen, was a grainy Tambry Banging on the screen, begging to be let out.
"Tambry! Tambry!" Wendy called.
"Can you hear us!" Dipper shouted.
She didn't respond.
Behind steven, Nate and Lee started to freak out.
"What are we supposed to do?"
"I don't know, man! I don't know!"
Robbie turned towards the group, "Let's just go already!"
'But- Tambry!" Steven pointed towards the screen.
"We'll figure that out later! We need to go," Robbie said.
"Thompson!" Wendy called.
Steven turned and saw Thompson was still playing Dancy Pants Revolution.
"Wait!" He said, "I've almost got the high score!"
Suddenly, he glowed green, before dissolving into a cloud of smoke. They all watched as he reformed on screen, trying, and failing, at dodging the direction arrows.
"Forget him!" Robbie yelled, "Let's go!"
"But-" Steven started, but was cut off by the doors slamming shut.
Wendy tried to open them, but to no avail.
'Guys, it's locked!" She said, trying in vain to open the door
"Stand aside," Steven said, bubbling his fist. He punched at the glass, hoping to break it, but it bounced off like it was rubber.
"Move!" he heard Robbie yell.
He turned to see Robbie holding the cash register, about to throw it at the door.
"Wait!" Steven said, but he was too late. Robbie chucked the register, but as it came into contact with the door, it disappeared.
As it zapped out of existence, the whole store began to light up a ghostly green, bathing them all in an eerie light.
"Wait!" all eyes turned to Dipper as he pulled the Third Journal from his vest. "Whatever is doing this has to have some kind of reason. Maybe if we could just figure out what it is, then they'll let us out of here."
"'Ooh! They'll let us out of here!' Yeah, that makes a lot of sense," Robbie mocked.
"Guys, he has a point, have none of you watched ghost hunting shows?" Steven said, siding with Dipper.
"Yeah," Wendy agreed, "Ghost hunting shows. He definitely has a point."
"Yeah, right. I'm sure the ghost just wants to talk about its feelings," Lee said.
Just then, Lee was outlined in green light and floated into the air before dissipating into smoke. They all watched as he reformed on a box of cereal, screaming.
"Okay, Okay. I'm with you, kid. One hundred percent, man," Nate said, taking off his hat and wiping the sweat off his forehead.
From behind the counter floated Mabel, outlined in green light, her eyes fully white. A voice that was not hers spoke from her mouth.
"Welcome!" it said in a deep, echoey voice that ran a shiver down Steven's spine.
"They got Mabel!" Dipper screamed.
Steven stood in front of Dipper and Wendy, ready to… do something, he just wasn't sure what.
"Welcome to your graves, young trespassers!" the voice laughed.
"We're super sorry for hanging out in your store!" Wendy said in a shaky voice.
"Yeah, can we just go now and leave forever?" Dipper asked frantically.
They all waited anxiously for a response from the ghost. After a moment., it spoke.
"Well… okay. You're free to go," It said.
The doors opened and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
"But before you leave," the Mabel-ghost floated over to a hot dog roller machine, "Hot dogs are now half off. I know it might be crazy, but you gotta try these dogs!"
"Uh, that's cool man, but-" Before Steven could ask for the ghost to give them Mabel back and free all of their friends so they can part ways and never come back ever again, Nate and Robbie screamed and booked it to the doors.
Right as they reached them, the glass doors slammed shut, causing Robbie and Nate to crash into them head first.
"Just kidding about the hot dog sale!" the ghost shouted.
"Then why-" Again, Steven was cut off.
"Just let us out of here already!" Nate yelled, Robbie holding him back from charging the ghost. Well, Mabel.
"I don't like your tone!" The ghost chided.
Mabel glowed brighter, and Nate floated into the air, outlined in green.
"No! No! Aah-!" Nate's scream was cut off as he too dissipated.
They all watched as he reformed as a hot dog in the hot dog roller.
"It begins!" The ghost announced
The last remaining teens felt weightless as gravity seemed to reverse, and Steven found himself falling onto the ceiling of the store as if it were the ground.
"Welcome to your home for all eternity!" The ghost said.
Bags of chips, appliances, and ice began to fly all around them. Steven, Dipper and Wendy dodged the random objects, trying to not get a face full of slushie machine. As Dipper and Wendy dived into the compartment of the soda machine, Steven saw Robbie out cold, and tried to run towards him, but the ghost stopped him.
"You're not like the others," It said in a curious voice.
"Yeah," Steven summoned his shield, "I'm an adult!"
He pushed the ghost aside with the shield, offering a small 'sorry!' to Mabel. He managed to get to Robbie and bubbled them both.
"Oh? An adult?" The flying bags of chips settled, "how old did you say you were?" the ghost asked.
"Uh," Steven looked at Robbie then back at the adult. "Eighteen?"
"Still technically a teen!" the ghost roared, and the chaos continued tenfold.
Just then, Steven saw Dipper crawl out of the cabinet towards the ghost.
"Dipper! What are you-?" Steven began to say, but was cut off by Dipper
Why does everyone keep cutting him off tonight?
"Hey, ghost!" Dipper yelled.
The ghost's attention turned towards Dipper, spinning Mabel's head 180 degrees to face him before her body followed suit.Dipper glowed, outlined in green as he rose from the ground.
"I've got something to tell you!"
Steven watched as Dipper floated higher.
"I'm not a teenager!" He shouted at the ghost.
Steven watched as the flying debris settled, and Mabel stopped glowing green. He breathed a sigh of relief. Two apparitions appeared next to Mabel, one holding her by the hair. It was an elderly couple. They both had name tags label 'Pa' and 'Ma'
Pa laughed, "Well, why didn't you say so?"
He let go of Mabel and she fell into a pile of snacks with a cut off scream.
"How old did you say you were?" Pa asked.
"I'm…" Dipper looked at the soda machine, and Steven realized Wendy was poking her head out. "I'm 12, technically not a teen."
"When we were alive, teenagers were a scourge on our store," Ma explained.
"Always sassafrassin' customers with their boomy boxes and disrespectful short pants!" Pa huffed.
Sassafrasinin'? Steven thought.
Pa continued "So we decided to up and ban them. But they retaliated with this newfangled rap music."
"The lyrics, they were so… hateful!" Ma shuddered, "It was so shocking we were stricken down with double heart attacks. That's why we hate teenagers so much. Don't we, honey?"
"But, they're my friends. Isn't there anything I can do to help them?" Dipper asked.
" there is one thing. Do you know any funny little dances?" Pa asked.
Dipper looked back at Wendy and Steven, "Uh… is there anything else I can do?"
"NO!" Pa roared, turning red, and wreathed with flames.
"Okay, okay, okay! Um, well… I do know…" Dipper paused and sighed, "The lamby-lamby dance. But, uh, but, I can't really do it without a lamb costume." Dipper quickly added.
Pa snapped and Dipper was in a lamb costume.
"Oh! Well, there it is."
Steven watched as Dipper took a deep breath.
"Well, who wants a lamby, lamby, lamby? I do! I do!"
Dipper did a little hop before continuing.
"So, go up and greet you mammy, mammy, mammy. Hi there! Hi there!"
Dipper started to do a little march in place.
"So march, march, march around the daisies!"
"Yes! Yes! More! More!" Pa cheered.
'Bro's lost in the sauce,' Steven thought.
"Don't, don't, don't you forget about the baaaaaaabyyyy," Dipper finished.
"That was some fine girly dancing, boy," Pa said, "Your friends are free."
The doors to the store swung open.
"Well, I don't think you have to worry about us coming back, so…," Dipper said.
The two apparitions disappeared, as did the green light in the store. Steven watched as a bag of chips lifted off the ground next to him and fell towards… the ground. Suddenly, Gravity was reverted back and everything came crashing down. Snacks, glass, and soda now lay strewn on the tile of the store as they all fell back to the proper ground. Robbie had landed on top of Steven, and was starting to stir.
"What… happened?" He asked.
Steven licked his index finger and poked his forehead.
"Dipper handled everything," He said.
He popped the bubble that he and Robbie had been sheltered in and walked over to help Dipper stand up. The rest of Wendy's friends crawled out from under shelves and appliances, all back in human form. None of them seemed hurt.
"What… what happened after everything went crazy?" Lee asked.
All eyes fell on Wendy.
"You are not going to believe it. The ghosts appeared, and Dipper had to-" Wendy looked back at Dipper, who looked a mixture of ashamed and embarrassed. She cleared her throat. "And, um, Dipper just grabbed a bat and started beating the ghosts down left and right. And then the ghosts got all scared and ran away like a couple of little girls. It was insane."
"Yeah," Steven chimed in, "I saw the whole thing too. Absolutely kicked their butts."
Wendy turned towards Dipper and did the same zip and flicking motion that she did about Steven's mom. And Dipper did it back.
________________________
"Well, I'm probably scarred for life," Wendy said and they started piling back into the van.
"Welcome to the club," Steven muttered underneath his breath.
"Yeah," Dipper said, getting into the van, "that was pretty crazy"
"Think I'm gonna go stare at a wall for a while and rethink everything," Wendy said.
"Yeah, I'm gonna call my therapist," Steven laughed awkwardly.
"After tonight, I might need me one of those. Hey, next time we hang out, let's stay at the Mystery Shack, okay?"
"Agreed," Dipper and Steven said in unison.
_____________________
Steven couldn't sleep. He decided to take a nap once they got back to the Shack. They had been out all night, and he needed at least a little bit of sleep before his shift that day. The night had been fun… until it wasn't. Another wacky adventure in Gravity Falls. Another dangerous adventure. These weren't problems he could solve with his gem powers, and it's making him feel a little… helpless. He didn't know if he was okay with that. Feeling helpless. But he can't just run away from his emotions. That's something his therapist told him. He needs to feel it and let it pass. Things had worked out in the end anyways. But there wasn't anything he could do to help. Dipper Was the one that saved all of their butts. But maybe that's just how it goes sometimes. Steven can't always be the savior. He has been for so long now, it's okay for other people to step in and be the main character for once. He was tired of it. Maybe, things will be okay. Dipper has a good head on his shoulders, coupled with that book, he seems like he'll be able to get past everything. Yeah, Dipper can handle himself. Steven yawned. The long night was starting to catch up to him, and his eyelids grew heavy until they inevitably closed, plunging Steven into a deep sleep.