A/N:

Now, you guys must be wondering - who will be the next person to join me, Dipper and Mabel on this next quest?

Well the picture says it all XD

Okay, time for the story! :D

*Story*

Me and Loo were sat down in front of Tad. It wasn't usual that he was stern - he was usually happy and calm. He kept pacing back and forth in front of us. I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut in.

"Xelia, don't say anything." Tad said. He turned to look at us. "Do you know how worried I was? When I noticed you weren't in the van, I went out to look for you, but you were nowhere to be found!"

Me and Loo stared at the floor.

"We're sorry, Tad, it's just-" I started.

"Just what? That you thought it was fun to sneak off and... I don't know, possibly get eaten by a beast or something?" He sighed, and crouched down to our level.

"Just... don't go running off without telling me. You know that Gravity Falls can be a strange and dangerous place."

We were silent for a little while. "We're sorry." Loo and I said in unison.

"It's okay, just don't do it again. Now, you're lucky I'm not grounding you." Tad said. "In fact..."

He got up and searched through a bag. When he turned around, we saw he was holding fishing rods.

"It's fishing season!" Tad said with a smile.

Loo and I looked at each other with smiles, getting up from our seats and taking a fishing rod.

"I'll go pass these out to the others in the van. And how about after we fish we can head to the diner and have dinner there?" Tad asked.

"Um, that would be really cool!" Loo said happily.

"Thank you so much!" I said, hugging Tad. Hugs were amazing, and no one could stop me from hugging people. NO ONE.

"No problem." Tad said. "I love bread."

"I love bread too." I replied.

https://youtu.be/X2DUpDxFJyg

*Time Skip Even Though Time Is Dead*

We got out of our van to see the Gravity Falls Lake. Plenty of families and friends were on boats, teaching one another how to fish, and just having fun. That's when I noticed Dipper and Mabel with Grunkle Stan.

"Dipper! Mabel! So good to see you!" I said, running over to them. I remembered Tad telling me not to wander off without him and panicked for a half a second, before realizing I was still in his line of sight and it was fine.

"Oh, hey Xelia!" Dipper said with a smile. "I didn't know you were here."

"Yeah, well, our chaperone, Tad, decided that it would be fun to go fishing togeth-"

We were interrupted by an old man with a long white beard, wearing a cowboy hat. He had a band-aid on his beard for some reason.

"I seen it! I seen it again!" He said, pushing people out of the way so he could get onto the beach.

"The Gravity Falls Gobblewonker! Come quick before it scrabdoodles away!" He said. I was confused, and thought the guy was either insane, drunk, or on drugs. Either way, I didn't want to interact with him at all.

He started doing a jig for some reason, even though from his words he was supposed to be scared, which only made me want to stay away from him more.

"Aw! He's doing a happy jig!" Mabel said with a laugh. The old man heard and ran up to Mabel, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"No! It's a jog of great danger!" He said, before what I'm guessing was the life guard of this place headed out of his cabin on the beach with a water sprayer and the old man cowered.

"Hey, hey!" He said angrily, squirting the old man in the face. "Now what did I tell you about scaring my customers? This is your last warning, dad!"

"But I got proof this time, by gummity!"

So, curious to see what proof he had, everyone at the beach that wasn't on a boat already headed to the docks as the old man pointed out a broken boat.

"Behold! It's the gobbledywonker what done did it! It had a long neck like a gee-raffe, and wrinkly skin like - like this gentleman right here!" The old man said, pointing at Grunkle Stan while he was removing earwax with his finger.

"Huh?" Grunkle Stan said, but the old man continued.

"It chopped my boat up to smitheroons! It shim-shammed over to Scuttlebutt Island!" The old man said, pointing at a small island in the lake that was surrounded by fog.

"Ya gotta believe me!" The old man said in desperation, pulling on his son's arm. The two police officers there started speaking.

"Attention, all units." Officer Blubs said. "We've got ourselves a crazy old man."

Everyone started to laugh, except for our group. That wasn't funny at all. I felt bad for wanting to stay away from him earlier - it's easy to jump to conclusions. But... maybe he went insane because no one would take him seriously, and would just continue to laugh at him?

Either way, being laughed at was not fun, and made you feel dumb. I should know from experience. Multiple times. By my own family members. Specifically my parents. Oh gosh, I'm rambling again.

"Aw, donkey spittle! Banjo polish..." He said, walking off the docks and towards the beach while everyone else continued to laugh.

I frowned. I felt bad for him.

"Well, that happened." Grunkle Stan said. "Now let's untie our boat and get out on that lake!"

I eyed the small boat and then our big group. I opened my mouth to say something-

"Do you smell smoke?" Mabel cut in.

After a moment of sniffing the air, I actually did  smell some smoke. My sense of smell was weak, so the smell must've been strong for me to smell it.

I turned around to see that Lexist had somehow managed to get her shirt to catch on fire.

I immediately rushed over to help, but I was panicking.

"Uh, Lexist, just, uh - stay calm! We'll fix this!" I yelled, not knowing what the heck to do. While Lexist was patting the fire with her hand really quickly to try and put it out, I searched around for a way to help her and spotted a bucket, and then looked at the lake.

I sprinted for the bucket, grabbing the handle as I ran, filling it up in the lake and then sprinting back-

Stitches. My worst enemy when it comes to running.

And not the medical stitches, the stitches that is a random pain in your side when you run for too much at speeds that are too fast for your body.

I doubled over, but I was used to it and still tried to run towards Lexist to dump the water bucket on the flames.

After agonizing pain, I finally splashed the water all over Lexist. But her shirt was completely messed up and charred.

"Ooh...  that doesn't look too good." Dipper said with a wince.

"Don't worry! I'll make a sweater for you!" Mabel said happily.

"OH MY GOSH! THANK YOU!" Lexist yelled out joyously. "Can it have multi-colored bricks?"

"No problem!" Mabel replied cheerily.

So she got through her pockets, got a bunch of different yarn balls and needles, and set to work, literally sitting on the sand.

"Oh, uh... Mabel, maybe we should do it on a boat?" I said. "There, um... might be crabs or something. I don't know if crabs even live in this part of the world but they could..."

I quickly shut my mouth before I started rambling. I was so prone to rambling I could ramble in my own mind. (A/N: A certain dream demon is gonna be annoyed XD)

"Okay, sure!" Mabel said with a grin. She got up from the floor and dusted herself off.

"So are we all gonna be on one small boat or something, or-" I started, but then I heard some honking and Soos came with his own big boat.

"What's up, dudes?" He called out.

"Soos!" Dipper and Mabel yelled out in unison, heading over to his boat.

"I got this big boat over here. You could use it if you want to!" Soos said.

"Wow! Thanks, Soos!" Mabel said with a huge grin. She turned towards me and Lexist.

"So we have this amazing plan of snagging a photo of some Loch Ness Monster that old guy from before mentioned, over on that island to win a competition and get a prize of one thousand dollars! Wanna come with?" Mabel said.

"It's the Gobblewonker, Mabel." Dipper said, but she ignored him.

"Um... Don't you think that we already had the adventure of a lifetime with the gnomes? I don't know about you, but I'm not so keen on going on another life-threatening adventure-" I replied.

"You're such a baby Xelia!" Mabel interrupted. "And that adventure wasn't life-threatening, they just wanted to marry me!"

"They literally chased us in some giant form of themselves and picked me up up by the shirt high in the air. I think I have the right to be traumatized if I do say so myself." I said, closing my eyes while fighting hard not to ramble.

When I didn't get a response back, I opened one eye and saw Mabel and Dipper already talking about how they were going to take the picture. I sighed and opened my other eye, watching as the others climbed aboard the boat.

Tad put a hand on my shoulder. "Why the long face? We're having a fun fishing trip together."

"Well, it's just..." I sighed again. "I feel really stupid for being a bit paranoid around this place. I mean, I love this place, but I've lived in the same place for years and I've... well... never moved anywhere else. At all."

Tad smiled.

"Gravity Falls can be dangerous and strange, yes, but I'm sure it's mostly just your brain being in a defensive mode, since you're in a new area. You'll get used to it, and eventually you won't be so paranoid. Just relax and keep cool." Tad said. He ruffled my hair and I followed him on board Soos' boat.

The only boat I'd ever been in was Disneyland's boat ride with the song 'It's A Small World After All' playing in the background, so I wasn't too familiar with riding aquatic vehicles. But I don't remember being seasick, and I wanted to take Tad's advice with relaxing, so I took a deep breath and hoped for the best.

As we got further away from the docks and into the lake, Tad started passing out fishing rods to us when Mabel get a megaphone.

"Hey, everyone! Me and Dip Dop are gonna go on an epic quest to take a photo of a monster to get a one thousand dollar prize! First two people who raise their hand will come along with us!" Mabel yelled.

I still felt squeamish about going on another adventure, and had automatically decided in my mind not to raise my hand. But then I remembered Tad's words, and Mabel calling me a baby, and before I knew it, my hand was raised.

Lexist had been the first to raise her hand, and I had been second. The others had raised their hands, but had been a bit too slow and so hadn't been able to join us. I felt a little bad, but it was every man for himself.

"Great! So Xelia and..." Mabel trailed off, waiting for Lexist to say her name.

"It's Lexist." She said.

"Xelia and Lexist will be joining me and Dip Dop! Soos will sail us there while the rest of you guys start fishing!" Mabel said happily. I noticed Grunkle Stan looked angry and was storming towards Mabel and Dipper.

I'm guessing Grunkle Stan wasn't too happy with the idea of the two of them running off taking pictures of monsters with adult supervision. Or maybe it was because they weren't spending time fishing with him? I didn't know, and it's best not to assume.

I turned to look at Lexist. She was wearing the sweater Mabel knitted for her earlier while Soos was sailing away from the docks - apparently she could be quick at knitting when she wanted to be.

"Excited to take a picture of the Gobblewonker?" I said with a nervous grin. Despite having chose to go on this adventure, I was really nervous.

"HECK YEAH! Whether today's a Myth Buster or X Files day, I don't care. Lets do this! Also, why did that old guy have a band-aid on his beard?" Lexist asked.

I shrugged, and then Tad came over with a concerned look on his face.

"Um... Xelia, when I said that you should be more relaxed... I, uh... I didn't mean you should be this relaxed-" Tad said nervously.

"Now look who's the one all paranoid?" I joked. "But in all seriousness, relax. It'll be fine. Usually when I panic about stuff it tends to be way less intimidating once I'm actually doing it, and by the time it's over I'm left wondering why I panicked in the first place."

"But... right now you're not panicking-"

"Hey Xelia, Lexist! I need to tell you about the disposable cameras before we head onto the island." Dipper cut in as he came over and practically dragged us away.

"We'll be fine!" I called over to Tad as we walked on the other side of the boat.

Soos, Mabel, Lexist and I were all seated as Dipper paced back and forth in front of us.

"All right, if we want to win this contest, we've gotta do it right. Think - what's the number one problem with most monster hunts?" Dipper said, and suddenly I felt like I was in a classroom.

"You're a side character and you die in the first five minutes of the movie." Soos said immediately. Then he started panicking. "Dude, am I a side character? Do you ever think about stuff like that?"

"All the time, Soos. All the time." I replied with a grave expression.

"No, no, no... camera trouble." Dipper said. "Say bigfoot shows up. Soos, be bigfoot."

Soos got into a pose that looked like bigfoot.

"There he is! Bigfoot!" Dipper said, acting. "Uh oh! No camera! Wait, here it is! Ah, no photo - you see, you see what I'm doing here?"

We all nodded in agreement.

"That's why I bought seventeen disposable cameras! Two on my ankle, three in my jacket, two for each of you, three extras in this bag, and one under my hat." Dipper said, lifting his hat up for us to see before putting it back on.

"There's no way we're gonna miss this." He said confidently.

I silently nodded but I was too busy worrying about the monster we were heading to. Scuttlebutt Island was really foggy, and we'd need a lantern to see. The last time I'd been in thick fog was when I was in first grade. I was lucky my dad memorized the way to school, otherwise we'd be in a car crash. I could have died...

And seeing as no one knew their way around this island, I was feeling pretty scared. Well, we weren't in a car, so it wasn't as dangerous, but there was still a monster, so it would be as, if not, more dangerous than a car crash.

I was worrying so much about it that I wasn't paying attention to Soos and Mabel throwing away cameras from confusion. Dipper was obviously not thrilled about it.

And no one even knew I was worrying. For one - I'm very easy to forget about, seeing as everyone at school ignores me and cuts me off while I'm talking, as if I'm invisible. And two - I have a very good poker face, which means my resting face is very neutral and no one can really tell if I'm heartbroken or furious or joyful or really freaked out, unless I force it onto my face.

After that, I volunteer to be lookout while Dipper and Mabel start arguing about captain stuff.

We set off towards the island slowly while the others were fishing and having a great time. I slowly started to regret raising my hand - I'd never gone fishing before and had always wanted to try. Maybe there would be time after the monster hunt?

The fog surrounding Scuttlebutt Island was thick, and as we started to sail closer I felt an ominous chill down my spine. I could easily be made uncomfortable.

And a few minutes later, the boat arrived.

I steeled myself as I headed onto the island with Dipper, Mabel, Soos and Lexist.

Dipper held his lantern out into the thick fog of the island, and I made sure to stay really close to the group. I didn't want any chance of getting separated from the rest.

We arrived at a sign saying the island name.

"Dude, check it out." Soos said, holding out his arm to cover 'scuttle'. "'Butt Island'."

"Soos, you rapscallion!" Mabel said, and giggled. Mabel noticed Dipper wasn't laughing and began to tease him of being scared.

I was confused by that because... well, I thought I seemed more scared by the way my shoulders were up, the goosebumps on my arms, and just how I fiddled with my fingers. I guess it's either because Mabel sees it more fun to tease Dipper instead, or my poker face makes all of the things I was doing seem like a normal thing I do.

Or maybe it was because I have some weird tendency to be ignored. Helps with my social anxiety, but since I don't have very much of it, it kinda just leaves me in the dark most of the time.

But enough about me. Wait I can't say that since this story is in my perspective. Wait I'm breaking the fourth wall. WAIT I'M RUINING THIS CHAPTER-

We heard growling. I froze, my skin paling.

"Dude, did you guys hear that?" Soos asked.

"W-what was that?" I asked, forcefully making a frown so that others could actually know I was scared by looking at my face.

Dipper had dropped his lantern when that roar had come, and squirrel had come and snatched the lantern from the floor before we could do anything.

"No! Our lantern!" Dipper said. He squinted his eyes through the fog. "Agh, I can't see anything..."

"Welp, we're dead." Lexist said with a shrug.

"Dude, I dunno man - maybe this isn't worth it." Soos said.

"Yeah, maybe we should just head back to the boat..." I said, agreeing with Soos.

"Not worth it? Guys, imagine what would happen if we got that picture!" Dipper said.

So I listened to him and started to imagine it.

We'd probably have the money split evenly between us. Wait lemme just search up... 1000 divided by 4...

So we'd have $250 each. I'd probably use that money to buy video games. Sure, video games were cool, but risking your life for them? I felt like the only sane person here. Wait what am I saying, no one is sane.

Like I've been saying since I was six - everyone is weird in their own way.

Our friend group just so happens to be weird in an insane way.

"I'm in!" Dipper yelled.

"Me too!" Mabel cried just as loud.

I sighed. "Okay then..."

"All right dudes, I'm comin'!" Soos said, and we all ran into the fog.

*Another Time Skip Even Though Time Is Dead*

I was trying to start up a conversation to distract myself from the eeriness of the island.

"So... did I ever mention I can beatbox?" I asked.

"Wait, you can beatbox?" Mabel asked.

"No way dude! I can beatbox too!" Soos said. "Hey, what if we made like, a song or something dudes?"

"That's an amazing idea Soos!" Mabel said.

And then here we are at the present.

"My name is Mabel! It rhymes with table! It also rhymes with glable! It also rhymes with schmable!" Mabel said.

"Dude, we should be writing this down." Soos said.

Feeling at ease, I had forgotten where we were and just assumed we were in a foggy part of the forest near the Mystery Shack.

"Guys, guys guys! Did you hear something?" Dipper asked. Everyone went quiet and I remembered where we were. The uneasy feeling in my gut returned.

"This is it! This is it!" Dipper said excitedly. I mentally prepared myself to run.

Mabel and Dipper started walking forward, playfully punching each other with excitement.

Lexist waddled over there like a penguin. And despite being a pretty fearful, I let out a little chuckle. It was too quiet for the others to hear, but you readers know. ;)

Um! I mean! Uh! Why do I keep breaking the fourth wall?! D:

Ahem... anyway.

I got out a disposable camera to take a picture, since I still wanted Lexist and the twins to be happy with the prize.

Soos grabbed a nearby big stick that was very conveniently pointy at one of the ends... like some tribal spear.

Through the fog we saw a silhouette of what we assumed was the gobblewonker. We all hid behind a nearby tree log with our cameras ready.

Lexist was balancing the disposable camera on her nose, making her go cross-eyed. But teh camera slid off her nose and she caught it in mid-air.

I stared at her intensely and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You are now the Chosen One." I said. Then we all laughed.

The noise was a bit too loud, and the the fog cleared up a bit to show...

...that the silhouette was not the Gobblewonker, but actually broken ship remains that were inhabited by a bunch of beavers.

"Aw! So cute!' I said, hurrying over to pet them.

In my free time, I like to do my research on how to make different animals like me(other than watching youtube videos and writing chapters on wattpad, lol).

When we'd first arrived in Gravity Falls, we'd seen a part of the forest with a bunch of birch trees. We'd all agreed we felt like we being watched while in the area, but I decided to grab a piece of the tree's bark in case I spotted any beavers to feed them.

Weirdly, that's where Tad Strange had found us and hurriedly ushered us away from the birch trees. I didn't really know why.

Anyway, I got out the piece of birch and held it out to a beaver. It came over and took a bite from it, then snatched the rest of it out of my hand to eat.

The way to befriend most wild animals is to give it food, and keep doing that everyday. If you stop, you break the friendship.

"But... but what was that noise then?" Dipper said, disappointed. "I heard a monster noise..."

We heard it again. And it turns out a beaver was using a chainsaw.

"Sweet! A beaver with a chainsaw!" Soos said, taking a picture of it while I was petting the beaver I'd fed.

"Maybe that old man was crazy after all." Dipper said.

"He did use the word 'scrapdoodle'." Mabel said, just as disappointed.

Meanwhile, Lexist was climbing on top of the wooden thing and T-posed. The beavers gathered around her, even the one I was petting.

"I am the beaver queen." Lexist said, and Soos, Lexist and I laughed. Dipper and Mabel were still disappointed and sighed.

I put my hands on Dipper and Mabel's shoulders.

"C'mon guys, I'm sure you guys can do it next time. For now let's head back to the boat. Maybe we can still have time to fish with the others." I said. Dipper just walked away and sat on a rock while Soos was taking pictures of a beaver.

Lexist got down from the wooden thing and the beavers, seeing that the T-posing was gone, went back to their usual business.

"Um... Dipper? I said that we should get back to the boat. Not... not mope on a rock." I said. He sighed, seemingly ignoring me. I was starting to get annoyed.

"What are we gonna tell Grunkle Stan? We ditched him over nothing." Dipper said, throwing a pebble into the water.

"Well... we have beaver pictures, and that butt island sign joke, right? Plus we can give him an apology, and then go fishing together! It's that simple!" I said, just as we all felt the ground shake.

"Woah! What was tha-" Dipper said, but then the rock he was sitting on was gone and he fell into the water, and Soos and Mabel hurriedly helped him up while me and Lexist just stood there awkwardly.

"Okay, but c'mon guys, we should seriously be heading back while we can before we get lost here or something." I said, but then in the water we saw the very monster we came searching for.

The Gobblewonker.

Upon setting my sights on it I felt uneasy and wanted nothing more than to run back to the boat and fish with the others.

"This is it!" Dipper said, pulling out a disposable camera from his jacket. He turned to the others. "C'mon, this is our chance!"

Lexist pulled out her disposable camera and stepped forward with a grin. Her beavers followed her as she took some pictures.

"Okay guys, seriously. If we want to take pictures, fine. But we need to be at a safe distance. There's not telling what that monster could do if it gets too close!" I said, walking in front of Dipper and Lexist. I could see Soos and Mabel backing away, apparently thinking the same way I was.

"Foolish mortal. It cannot do anything to its superior." Lexist said, outstretching her arms as the beavers climbed on. I nodded, letting Lexist do her thing. She was our group leader after all.

That made me think of the two others who weren't able to come to out field trip - Moonstone and Star.

Star was my childhood friend - we were neighbors and had always been the best of friends all our lives. It helped that our parents were friends too.

And Moonstone. We both like gacha - or at least, Moonstone used to. I remember a time we were doing a gacha collab but then completely forgot about it...

I was sad that they hadn't been able to join us on our vacation together in Gravity Falls, but it wasn't like everyone could come.

"Dipper, you already got the picture - lets just go-" I said, realizing that now wasn't the time for that.

"Come on guys! Think about the prize we could get if we entered these pictures to the contest! We'd win for sure and get to buy whatever we want! Think about it - 250 dollars for each of us!" Dipper said. "Well, I mean, assuming Soos doesn't want a share in the money."

"The payment has already been fulfilled in beaver pictures." Soos said, taking another picture of one of Lexist's beavers.

"Don't worry Soos bean, you can take as many pictures of these beavers as you want!" Lexist said, stretching her arm out towards his shoulder so that the beaver on her arm could crawl up to his shoulder.

"Well, Dipper, 250 dollars is just 94 dollars in my home country's currency, so..." I said. "I mean, I could afford VR. I have  always wanted to play..."

I was lost in thought for a moment as I usually am. My head was almost always up in the clouds, so often that I was actually starting to think I might have some sort of daydream disorder. It's always so hard to focus because of that.

(A/N: I do actually have a daydream disorder, it's called Maladaptive Daydream Disorder. Basically I have frequent realistic daydreams, and if someone or something pulls me out of one I get the urge to finish whatever that something or someone wants and then just get right back to the daydream. Don't worry, it isn't harmful - but it sure is annoying. Just thought I'd let you guys know.)

Anyway, I forced myself out of my thoughts like I always do and found that Dipper was waving his hand in my face.

"Hello? Anyone there?" He said. I pushed his hand out of my face.

"Sorry, I do that a lot." I replied sheepishly. "But still, the answer's no. I'm not going to risk my life just for some money."

"Suit yourself, but the rest of us are getting that prize money." Dipper said with a determined stare.

"Uh huh. Like I'm not gonna try and stop you so you guys can be safe." I retorted.

We both stared each other down. In the background Mabel and Lexist were just T-posing with the beavers.

I walked in between Dipper and the Gobblewonker, who was currently swimming through the murky depths of the water.

"I'm not letting you risk your life just for a photo contest, Dipper. We can win it a different, safer, way." I said stubbornly.

"But this might be the only chance we have! And we're... super... close...." Dipper said, but then looked up as a shadow started to hang over me. I was too focused on the argument to care.

"Yes, I know we're super close, but it isn't worth it if we're going to get hurt, or worse - dead. It's pretty simple." I said. "Now, let's all go back to the boat-"

I felt something breathing down my neck. I turned around with a glare to see what it was, thinking it was maybe just a rude beaver, but instead I saw a long, scaly, soaking wet neck. I looked up to see the Gobblewonker.

It roared, and I almost pooped my pants.

"RUN!!" We all yelled in unison, and we charged away from the Gobblewonker. It chased after us.

Dipper quickly took a picture, but then dropped his disposable camera.

"The picture!" He yelled, running after it, but Soos quickly picked him up to stop him.

"It's not worth it, dude!" He said.

The Gobblewonker roared and knocked down multiple trees, and we jumped over the fallen logs in a panic. But I soon got stitches in my side and tripped over the tree. I tried to get up but because my stupid body was used to running fast, it was too exhausted and slow.

I looked up to see the Gobblewonker getting closer. I closed my eyes and screamed-

"GET AWAY FROM MY FRIEND YOU DINGUS!!"

I opened my eyes to see Lexist and her beavers attacking the Gobblewonker, along with...

"Moonstone?! Star?! You came to Gravity Falls?!" I asked, shocked.

"No time for that right now! Let's go!" Mabel said, and she helped me up along with Star.

All of Lexist's beavers were knocked aside by the Gobblewonker's tail.

"NOOOOOO!!! BEAVERS!!" Lexist called. The Gobblewonker roared and Lexist gave the monster a death stare.

"You shouldn't have done that." Lexist said menacingly.

We ran out of view, so we never saw what she did to the Gobblewonker.

We arrived at the boat and quickly climbed aboard, and the others were confused as to why we were so panicky.

"What's going on guys? Why are you so scared?" Tad asked.

"Uh, well, we may or may not be being chased by the Gobblewonker that old guy from earlier was talking about..." I said with a nervous laugh.

We heard another load roar from the Gobblewonker, this time much more ferocious than before. Lexist ran quickly on to the boat.

"Oh, Lexist! You're okay!" I said, running over to her.

"Of course I am." She said.

"What did you even do to the Gobblewonker anyway?" I asked.

"I called him names like 'fish giraffe' and 'rip-off of the Loch Ness Monster'. I'm suprised it could actually understand English, and was even offended. Those insults are priceless, but super hard to actually get offended by." Lexist said.

"...Hard to get offended by? I don't even want to see what your version of an insult that is easy to be offended by." I said.

Soos started steering the boat away from Scuttlebutt Island, and we began to all sigh in relief. Tad was exactly thrilled about us going on another dangerous adventure, though. He pulled me aside.

"Look, Xelia, I know this place is dangerous and it's hard to keep out of that danger - but this is the second time you've gotten in another life-threatening escapade." Tad said. "I told you this before. Please?"

I sighed. "I can't help it, Mr. Strange. This place is... well, mysterious. And I'm a curious person. Plus I think this adventure thing might be addictive because-"

He gave me a stern look and I sighed.

"Okay, I promise I'll try to keep out of danger." I said.

"Good." Tad said. He gave me a small smile and patted my shoulder, before walking away with his fishing rod and joining some of the others who were fishing.

Some of them were playing a card game called UNO. I loved that card game, it was my favorite and I was really good at it too. I used to play it all the time when I was little.

But before I went over to join them, we heard another load roar, much loader this time.

I looked and saw it was the Gobblewonker again. It was still chasing after us.

"Uh, guys?" I called. "The Gobblewonker is still chasing after us!"

The Gobblewonker was a really fast swimmer. Soos immediately sailed the boat as fast as possible, but we were heading right towards a waterfall.

Dipper took out the journal we'd found before and began flipping through it. "It's been a while since I've seen that." I mumbled.

"Uhm, Soos, keep going! I think there might be a cave behind the waterfall!" Dipper said.

"Might be?!" Mabel asked, and we all screamed as the boat crashed through the waterfall and landed in a cave, just as Dipper said.

The crash made my head throb, but we were all mostly okay. I got up groggily and shook my head.

The Gobblewonker tried to follow after us, but was too big to come through. It was stuck. It kept thrashing about, screeching, when a big rock fell from the ceiling from all of its thrashing and hit its head. It suddenly stopped moving, with a crackle of electricity and then it fell to the floor.

"Wha...?" I mouthed. Dipper, Mabel and all the others were confused too. Dipper and Mabel climbed off the boat and headed towards the monster for a closer look, and I made to follow them, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Tad and stopped.

I promised I would try to avoid danger, and I kept my promises. (A/N: When I was little I didn't, but shhhhhh)

While Dipper and Mabel were investigating the beast, the others seemed startled by the sudden adventure. They had been peacefully fishing, and to suddenly start moving, being chased by a best, was very jarring.

"Uh, Xelia, Lexist - was that you guys with those twins - Dipper and Mabel, I think you called them? You guys went with them to take pictures of monsters." Azzy said.

"Yeah. What about it?" Lexist asked.

"Well, maybe warn us next time? Like, just text us before you do that." Azzy said.

"Oh! Yeah, we understand." I said. "Next time we'll give you a heads up."

"Yeah, 'cause it was kind of startling!" Loo said with a nervous laugh.

"Don't worry, we'll text you guys in advance from now on. How about we all do that with every adventure?" Lexist said.

"Sure." Moody said, and I pumped my fist in the air. They all stared.

"Sorry." I said.

"No need." Emma said, pumping her fist in the air too. We all did it.

"Yeah!" We all said in unison, and then we started chuckling a bit.

Dipper and Mabel came back, looking a little guilty. They walked over to Grunkle Stan and began talking to him with their heads down.

I figured it must have been something to do with what they were arguing about earlier, at the start of the monster hunt, and left it at that.

Soon we'd gotten out of the cave and onto the docks, where we sat and began fishing for the rest of the time, talking and laughing about childhood experiences as the sun set. It was the perfect ending to our hectic day.

We all said goodbye to Soos, Grunkle Stan, Dipper and Mabel, and headed back to the motel.

After chatting for a bit with Loo, re-enacting the events on Scuttlebutt Island, and then we headed off to sleep.

Except I couldn't sleep. My eyes had grown accustomed to the dark, so I could see for the most part. I tried closing my eyes and turning to the other side (A/N: I sleep on my side) but it didn't work.

I eventually just got up and went to the bathroom. I used the toilet, and then went to the sink to wash my hands when for some reason I noticed the mirror was all fogged up, like someone had taken a shower. It had been hours since anyone had taken a shower, though, so I wiped a bit of the fog off and then I almost screamed.

I'd seen my normal reflection, but my eyes were tinted yellow and had slits for pupils. I blinked and it was gone.

"That was eerie..." I mumbled to myself. I was shaken. My heart was racing, and I breathed in and out to calm myself down. It was probably a trick of the light. It happened to me all the time.

After I dried my hands, I went to bed - but as I went to bed I saw a little bit of purple. I stopped walking and squinted in the direction I'd seen it, but then I shrugged and went back to sleep, still a bit uneasy after the mirror thing.

One thing was for sure - there was something haunting me in Gravity Falls. It was the only explanation I could think of.

And for some reason, I was able to sleep with that chilling thought.

A/N:

Oh my gosh, it's been so long! I'm so sorry for that! ;^^

I lost inspiration and motivation to write, but now that I'm back I'm going to make sure I upload somewhat regularly. Enough to at least let you know I'm active, lol.

And yes, Anonymouss0325 and WinterStarFragments are finally in the story! Moonstone (Anonymouss) wasn't active on Wattpad so I kinda didn't add her in so I could be faster with updates. And Star at the time had "left" Wattpad. But she's back now so yee.

Anyway, who wants to be the next companion of mine in Headhunters, the third chapter? Loo was mine in the first one, Lexist was the one in this one, so who's next?

I hope you enjoyed this new addition to this fanfic! Stay safe and well, and have a great day/night! :)

- Xelia

P.S. Do you like my drawing of Lexist in the Gravity Falls form? Plz let me know! :>

Word Count: 6542 words.