Summary:
In which our Mystery Kids meet and adorable friendship building ensues
As it turned out, the hill behind the statue was much steeper and more unkempt than it seemed from afar, something that Dipper and Mabel quickly discovered as they began to scale it. There was no defined path along the forested incline, and so the twins tried to create their own as they hiked straight up it. And for the most part, they managed to keep to that straightforward, unofficial path, except for when Mabel strayed from it for a brief instance to chase after a squirrel that she claimed was "impossibly cute".
"Come on, Dipper!" Mabel called back to her brother, noticing that she had taken the lead as they got closer to the top of the hill. "Hurry up! I wanna meet those magical ladies Soos was talking about!"
"H-hold on!" Dipper exclaimed breathlessly, practically running to keep up with Mabel's pace, which, considering they were on a relentlessly uphill trek, was certainly starting to wear him out. "I… I'm on my… way!" His exhaustion getting the better of him, Dipper finally had to pause and catch his breath as he doubled over, clearly overwhelmed by the thick summer heat of the afternoon.
"Seriously? You're tired already?" Mabel asked with a teasing laugh as she leapt up onto a nearby rock and grinned down at him from above. "See, this is what happens when you spend all your time with your nose in a dumb book instead of out having fun like I do! You're out of shape!"
"No, I'm not!" Dipper protested amidst recovering, though Mabel was as privy to his embarrassment over his lack of stamina. "This hill is just a lot… steeper than I thought it would be!"
"Yeah, whatever you say, slow-poke," Mabel said with a good-natured laugh. "I guess I'll just have to put you on the 'Mabel Pines Approved Work Out Plan'! When paired with ten packets of sugar each morning, it's guaranteed in pump you up with endless energy, or your money back!"
"You've been spending too much time with Grunkle Stan," Dipper said as he laughed at Mabel's unique brand of humor, finally pressing on as he caught up with her. "So, do you really think a group of magical women live up here?" he asked her as they edged closer to the top side by side.
"I hope so!" Mabel exclaimed with a hopeful grin. "That would be so cool! Way cooler than my 'boyfriend' turning out to be a bunch of gnomes, at least."
"And hopefully less unexpectedly dangerous," Dipper added, remembering how they had almost been bested by the clan of little men the previous day. "But even if these women aren't real, I'm sure we'll find something interesting up here. It only makes sense considering how weird this town's turning out to be."
"Heh, you're the weird one, you dork," Mabel joked, giving her brother a small punch on the arm.
"Not any weirder than you are," Dipper retorted with a smirk, watching as his point was mutely proven by Mabel finishing up the impromptu craft project she had been working on for the past several minutes, a shish kabob composed of pinecones, leaves and mushroom caps all skewered on a long stick.
"We're both weird!" Mabel proclaimed enthusiastically, swinging her "nature kabob" around for fun. "That's what makes us so great!"
"Yeah," Dipper agreed with a small laugh, taking pleasure in his sister's effervescent personality and how it bolstered their already impeccably strong sibling bond. However, the warm sentiments between the twins were soon broken as a strange rustling in the nearby tree line caught Dipper's attention.
"Mabel, did you hear that?" he asked, his tone suddenly tense as he placed a hand on his sister's shoulder in order to get her to stop walking. After all, they were treading on unknown territory and though it could very well be nothing, Dipper believed it was always better to err on the side of caution instead of throw it to the wind.
Mabel poised an ear towards the forest and listened intently for a moment or two before scoffing Dipper's concerns aside. "What? You mean the wind?" she asked, having heard the rustling as well, though she didn't believe it to be anything important. "Or maybe it's that adorable squirrel again! I bet he wants another hug!"
"After how you nearly suffocated him last time, I highly doubt that," Dipper said with a frown. "But I'm serious, Mabel. That rustling was too loud to be the wind."
"So… what? Do you think it's some huge, scary monster or something, waiting in the woods to gobble up two kids for dinner?" Mabel asked, her tone jokingly overdramatic as she picked fun at her brother's usual paranoia. "Well, to be honest, you'd be dinner. I'd be desert 'cause, like I said earlier, ten packets of sugar a day!"
"Come on, Mabel, this is serious," Dipper stressed, somewhat aggravated over how Mabel liked to play things like this off unserious way. "What if there really is something in there?"
"I'm sure it's nothing," Mabel said with an unconcerned shrug. "It's probably just-" She was abruptly cut off, however, by the sound of a startled shout breaking through the trees nearby.
"Lion, wait! Where are you going?!" the unknown, yet concerned voice called out from the woods closer to the cliff face. However, before either Dipper or Mabel had a chance to react to it or even wonder who it was, they were both taken by complete surprise to see a large pink blur emerge from the thick woods. And even more surprising was that, in the brief millisecond in which it was rushing straight towards both of the twins, this blur was actually, beyond all explanation, a large pink lion.
Both Dipper and Mabel let out simultaneous cries of shock and fear upon seeing the pastel beast that was racing for them at a frightening speed, neither of them having ever anticipated encountering a lion of all things in the woods of Oregon. What they failed to see in the midst of their panic over possibly being mauled by this monster were the two figures mounted upon its back, both of them holding on for dear life as their ride inexplicably trailed off their original downhill course.
Regardless, the lion was undeterred as it bounded towards the frightened twins, viewing them as little more than unwarranted trespassers on its turf. Though Mabel had quick enough reflexes to leap well out of the lion's path before it could pounce on them both, Dipper was not so lucky. Before he could escape out of its range, the pink beast pounced upon him, knocking him to the ground with little effort. Mabel gasped in fear and worry upon seeing her brother be taken down, and Dipper was in a state of absolute panic as he desperately tried to wriggle out from underneath the lion's heavy paws pressed against his wrists. The lion growled and barred its deadly teeth as it glared down at its catch, and while Mabel was more than ready to leap into action to try and save her brother despite her fear of the strange creature and Dipper was ready to accept his fate at the maw of this pastel beast, a miraculous intervention prevented both of these things just in time.
"Lion! Stop that!" the same youthful voice that had preceded the lion's appearance called out disapprovingly. "What have I told you about attacking people? It's rude!"
Dipper was both immensely relieved and admittedly confused as the lion thankfully did as it was told and backed off, allowing him to finally release the anxious breath he had been holding in throughout this near-death experience. Mabel didn't hesitate to rush to his side and help him off the ground, though the lion continued to keep them both in its distrustful gaze as it upheld its tall, prideful posture.
"Hey, are you guys ok?" one of the two people who were seated on lion's back asked as they both peeked around the beast's magnificently poofy mane, finally allowing the twins to see that they were actually kids, both about their age. Sitting closer to the front was a young boy with a somewhat stocky build, short, bushy dark brown hair, wearing jeans and a dark pink shirt bearing a star upon it. His wide, innocent eyes were filled with concern as he frowned at the twins, while at the same time petting the lion's neck soothingly in order to calm it down. Behind him sat a girl who looked to be just a bit taller than the boy, with darker skin, weight-length dark brown hair, clad in a simple white top and teal shorts, a pair of maroon-framed glasses perched upon her nose.
"Um… yeah…" Dipper said a bit breathlessly as him and Mabel exchanged a look of equal bewilderment upon seeing a kid only about as old as they were tame such a savage beast. "Thanks…?"
"You're welcome!" the boy replied with a cheerful smile. "Sorry about that though; Lion can get kinda… overprotective sometimes…" He let out a slightly embarrassed laugh at this, giving the beast an affectionate pat on the head, though the lion simply brushed the gesture off boredly.
"This is your lion?" Mabel asked, her eyes wide with amazement as she quickly broke out into an excited smile now that the pink beast had calmed down to the point of it being harmless. "You're so lucky! And he's so cute!"
"You do remember how he nearly killed me just a few seconds ago, right?" Dipper asked giving his sister a skeptical frown as he opted out of joining her in getting closer to the large pastel creature. Though the lion initially growled as it watched Mabel get closer, but upon being admonished by the boy yet again, it was quick to refrain and begrudgingly let her get close enough to stroke its luxurious mane.
"Aw…" Mabel gushed as she pressed her face into the lion's mane. "He's so soft too! Like a walking cloud of cotton candy, but with teeth!"
"I know, right?" the boy asked with a wide grin as both him and the girl slid off of the lion's back. "He makes a great pillow too!" he exclaimed with a laugh as he gave the pink beast another friendly pat. "I'm Steven, by the way. You've already met Lion, of course," he said, giving a smile to his pink companion. "And this is my friend, Connie," he said, referring to the girl beside him.
"Nice to meet you!" Connie greeted politely. "Even if it was by accident."
"I'm Dipper and the girl losing herself inside your, uh… lion's mane is my sister, Mabel," Dipper said, grinning in slight amusement at Mabel, who was still completely enthralled by Lion's silky fur.
"So SOFT!" Mabel exclaimed to prove her point, even if her words were muffled as she continued to press herself into the pink beast's mane. Unlike before, Lion had come to simply ignore the presence of both twins as he stoically sat down, closing his eyes in an attempt to resume the rest that it had been begrudgingly roused from thanks to Steven.
"So what are you two doing up here all by yourselves anyway?" Connie inquired curiously.
"Yeah," Steven added, wondering the same thing, considering the fact that it wasn't often he encountered anyone on the hillside. "The only thing up here is the temple, and if you wanted to go there, then there's a much easier way than climbing up the hill, you know."
"Temple?" Dipper asked, his interested peaked.
"Yeah, the temple!" Steven said, throwing his arm out towards the cliff face, or rather the statue itself. "It's where me and the Crystal Gems live!"
"Crystal… what?" Dipper asked, however, before his question could be properly answered, Mabel finally broke free from Lion's mane, taking in a deep breath to reclaim lost air.
"Too… much… softness…" she exclaimed between heavy breaths, having nearly suffocated herself amidst the pink giant's warm, velvety fur. Regardless, she was still enchanted by the now-very relaxed pink beast as she proceeded to give him an affectionate scratch on the ear, which Lion readily accepted.
"Whoa!" Steven exclaimed excitedly as he looked to Mabel with stars in his eyes. "I love your sweater! It's kinda like my shirt!" he said, pointing to the article of clothing in question and showing that Mabel's sweater was somewhat similar to it their dark pink color and their star designs, though the sweater bore a shooting star to be precise. "Well… kinda…" Steven said with a shrug.
"Yeah, I guess it is!" Mabel agreed with a wide smile. "I'm glad you like it! All of my sweaters are handmade by yours truly. You know, if you really wanted one, I'd be more than happy to make one for you, free of charge!"
"Oh yeah!" Steven exclaimed enthusiastically. "Maybe you could even make matching ones for you and me! Or me and Connie! Or all four of us!"
"Oh my gosh!" Mabel practically squealed with joy over the prospect of getting to design so many new sweaters. "That sounds so awesome! Then we could all be sweater buddies!"
By this point, both Mabel and Steven were completely caught up in their overactive imaginations concerning this matter, and though both Connie and Dipper were mildly amused by this, the former was ultimately the one to break it up in favor of more practical concerns. "Wait, wait, wait," Dipper said, interrupting the sweater-centric conversation as he looked to Steven. "A minute ago you said something about… Crystal Gems? Who are they?"
"Oh, right!" Steven said, still smiling as he was always eager to talk about the Gems to anyone who would listen. "The Crystal Gems are Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and me! We use magic from our Gems to fight monsters and protect humanity and stuff."
"So… the rumors about magical guardians living up here are actually true?" Dipper asked a bit skeptically, unsure if Steven was actually being serious or not.
"Believe it or not, they are," Connie confirmed with a small smile. "Steven's proof of that."
"Aw, yeah, well…" Steven began a bit bashfully, giving Connie an embarrassed grin. "I'm only half magic. My dad's a human, but my mom was a Gem. See?" To show the twins what he meant, he lifted his shirt up a bit to reveal the rose quartz gem upon his navel.
"Whoa…" both Dipper and Mabel said in equal awe upon examining the pink gem.
"Unbelievable…" Dipper muttered in amazement upon realizing that the gem was actually real and not just a decoration.
"Sparkly…" Mabel whispered with a stunned expression, her eyes reflecting the shine of Steven's gem as it glistened in the afternoon sun. "What does it do?"
"The Gems tell me that my mom used to use it to do lots of stuff," Steven said as he lowered his shirt once more. "But… I'm still learning how to use it. So far I've used it to make a shield and a bubble. In fact, the bubble was how me and Connie met!"
"Uh… yeah," Connie said with a slight laugh at the memory of their initial meeting a few months ago. "We got trapped in it for several hours and we nearly drowned at the bottom of the lake. Other than that, it was a pretty good day."
"Plus, we beat a giant worm monster and saved the town!" Steven added proudly.
"Heh, yeah, this town has some weird stuff going on in it," Connie said, knowing that the aforementioned worm monster wasn't the only anomaly that her and Steven had encountered in Gravity Falls since their meeting.
"Finally! Someone else notices how strange this place is!" Dipper exclaimed, excited that he was not alone in thinking that Gravity Falls was a noticeably odd little town. "I've been saying that since we got here. We've been here less than a week and already we've faced off against a bunch of gnomes stacked together into a giant monster."
"I learned a valuable lesson there," Mabel said with a joking frown. "Never go out with gnomes in disguise."
"Oh, you guys met the gnomes?" Steven asked with interested, having encountered the little men in the past since he'd lived in Gravity Falls all his life and had plenty of time to casually happen upon its stranger facets. "Yeah, they can get a little crazy when they don't get what they want… One time they stole my donut and I spent all day chasing them down to get it back! The weird thing was they didn't even want to eat it; they wanted to use it as a wheel for the little gnome car they were building. It was actually kinda cute, even if I never did get that donut back…"
"So you two have only been in Gravity Falls for a few days?" Connie asked inquisitively. "Did you just move here?"
"No, we're only here for the summer," Dipper clarified. "We're staying with our Great Uncle Stan down at the Mystery Shack."
"Wait, Mr. Pines is your uncle?" Steven asked with a gasp of surprise. "That's so cool! The Mystery Shack is one of my favorite places in Gravity Falls, along with the temple… and the lake… and the Big Donut… and Funland Arcade… and Greasy's Diner… and-"
"I think they get it, Steven," Connie interrupted with a giggle. "What a coincidence, though. We were just on our way down to the Mystery Shack before we ran into you guys."
"And we were on our way up here to check out the giant eight armed woman!" Mabel said, referring to what her and Dipper now to knew to be some sort of temple thanks to Steven. "Isn't that crazy? It's almost like... fate, or something!"
"Or it was Lion just going through his rebellious stage," Steven said with a laugh as he playfully pressed his hands against the sides of his companion's fuzzy face. Lion retaliated to the sudden interruption from his standing nap however with a simple long lick, soaking Steven's face in salvia and causing him to recoil in slight disgust. "Aw, Lion!" Steven exclaimed as he pushed Lion away, chuckling along with Connie, Dipper, and Mabel over the pink beast's ornery behavior. "Gross!"
The four kids continued to laugh over the humorous scene, none of them thinking too much about the comradery and roots of friendship that had just been planted between them all. And another thing that none of them would have ever thought to think about was that Mabel had, in a way, actually been right in joking about fate being the thing that had brought them all together. None of them could have known, upon that innocent, seemingly accidental first meeting upon the hillside on that early summer's day, of the adventures they would have, the challenges they would face, the mysteries they would solve, the magic they would discover, or the bonds they form together.
After all, the summer had only just begun.