Dipper ran back up to his family. Mabel had ice cream surrounding her mouth. He whispered, "Mabel! I need to tell you something about Ricky!"

She swallowed some ice cream and shivered at it's coldness. "What? That he's totes awesome?!" she said with big eyes.

"Umm, no. Something's not right. I read something about evil mermaids in the book, and I swear I saw a fin on him!"

"You've got to be kidding me. Every time I get a boyfriend, or at least find a guy I like, he's some sort of monster or just plain weird!"

"Im sorry Mabel."

"It's not your fault Dipper." she looked at Stan who was still entertained with his ice cream. "What are we going to do?"

"I'm not sure yet. All I know is 1) stay out of the water, and 2) stay AWAY from Rickey!"

"What's wrong with the water?"

"The book just said 'or else'. Let's not question it."

"Good idea." she said while looking at Rickey who was swimming laps. She didn't see a fin, but she didn't see any legs kicking either. An idea struck her.

"Dipper! I know what to do! All you need to know is that everything will be fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive!" she reassured.

"Well, you did get rid of all those gnomes, so, ok." he said and placed his hand on her shoulder. She smiled and headed towards the water.

"Hey Rickey!" she greeted the merman.

"Oh, hi Mabel. What's up?"

"Not much." she sat on the edge of the pool with her feet in the water, to show she wasn't scared. "I was just wondering, can you come out so we can introduce you to our uncle? I'm sure he'd be pleased to meet you!"

"Uhh, why doesn't he come down here. He hasn't been swimming yet."

"He doesn't want to swim though." she said. There was a long silence. "Come on Rickey!" she said as she took his hand and tried to pull him out.

"No! No!" he yelled. Dipper heard his and ran towards the pool. Stan reading once again.

"Why not?! Tell me the truth!" Mabel urged.

"No! I'll show you!" he said with an evil, pointy toothed smile. He yanked on Mabel and pulled her under the water. She screamed and Dipper dove in after her.

He couldn't see much through the muck, but he was able to follow the trail of bubbles left behind. They led to an underwater cave. When he entered, it was filled with air somehow. He gasped for breath silently and tried not to be seen. He made eye contact with his sister who was tied up with seaweed and tied to a rock. Rickey, or if that was even his real name, sat on a nearby rock. His tail was green and scaly. He had long pointy nails and pointy teeth. He must have transformed into his true self when he became angry. His back was turned to Dipper, so he swam closer to his sister. She mumbled something through the seaweed gag across her mouth. Dipper held up a finger to his mouth to say 'be quiet.' He hopped up and tried to untie his sis, but Rickey slithered over so Dipper had to get back in the water. Rickey began to speak. His voice was now more of a whisper and he held out his S's. Very snake like.

"Mabel, asss you may know, we mermaidsss and mermen are a rare ssspeciesss. Many of usss were killed during ssssome inconvenient circumstancesss. We have few of usss ssscattered around Gravity Fallsss, and I was asssigned here. We are sssearhing for a queen ssso our ssspeciesss will continue!" he explained. Mabel rolled her eyes and thought, 'Why am I always proclaimed to be a queen?!'

Rickey continued, "The watersss we inhabit are all like thisss." and he gestured to the surrounding area. "Thisss water is filled with a chemical that turns any human into one of usss after an hour. I wasss blesssed to be chosen to do it, now, it's YOUR turn!"