Author's Note:

I made a few changes to the beginning of Epode 4 of the first season. I decided to go a different direction and wanted Dipper to meet Bill differently than Ford. So instead I have Bill mention that Gideon Summoned him.

Sorry for the change but I didn't want Dipper's backstory to be the same as Ford's original one so I'm changing it up. Trust me it will make since later.

Thanks for reading and please review.

-Yours Truly, RoxieDivine

Bottomless Pit! (Part 3)

(Back To Present Time…)

The group of friends were still falling through the bottomless pit.

"Seriously guys." Stan said. "All this happened this week." He lectured. "Stories are supposed to be unbelievable."

"Those were." Mabel insisted. " I mean Magic tonics. Ria winning at something. Where did you get this stuff?"

Stan ignored her. "Here, I'll tell you a real story. It's called 'Stan Wins the Football Bowl.'"

(Inside Stan's Imagination….)

Stan was running across a football field. He made a touchdown everyone cheered.

"Stan Pines!" A football player said. He walked over with the rest of the team. "I used to think little kids couldn't accomplish anything. But you taught me and my gloating friends a lesson."

Another guy pushed over a giant trophy. A woman was sitting on top of it.

"Here's your football trophy, Stan!" The woman said.

"Thanks, beautiful woman!" Stan smiled. "But I couldn't have done it without my sidekick, Footbot."

A robot stood to the side, kicking its legs.

"Thank you for building me, Daddy," the robot said. Stan laughed as the robot ran over and fireworks went off behind them. "I love you, Stan."

(Back to Reality…)

Ford, Heather, Fids, Ria, and Mabel booed as the story ended.

"What? That was a great story!" Stan folded his arms. "I even threw in a talking robot for the kids."

"Yeah, I'm gonna tell a non-terrible story," Heather said, taking the glow stick. "It's called… Truth Ache!"

(Earlier Yesterday…)

Ford, a notebook in his hand as well as a pen, walked through the gift shop from outside. Danny sat at his station, scrolling through his phone.

Beside him Heather was trying to sale some t-shirts. "Sorry but I don't think that's your color." She answered honestly to a woman who was trying one on.

"…Well if I'm being perfectly honest, it would make a great gift for the gal." Stan said catching their attention and held up a necklace with gold at the very end. It was pretty simple as the loop was probably made with a string they'd sometimes find under a floorboard, bookshelf, or anything else that hadn't been touched in years. The "gold" woven into it might have just been spray-painted rocks.

The price tag taped to it was absurd.

A man just a bit older than Danny took the necklace from him. "Oh! So, you really think she'll like it?"

"I guarantee she will!" Stan answered with a sharp nod. "What girl could resist genuine gold and unicorn hair?"

"Thanks, man!" The man ran off to the cash register, where Danny sat up and started to ring the item.

As it didn't have a barcode, he typed in the number on the tag.

Ford put away his notebook and stuck his pen behind his ear. "Stan!"

Stan, who currently ate a shard of chocolate, turned to him as Ford approached. "Hey, Ford!

What's up?"

"You know as well as I do that's not gold," Ford pointed out. "Or unicorn hair."

"Ms. Pines told us to be honest about our sales." Heather added.

"Yeah, like it's doing her any good." Stan said. He gestured to the cash register that Danny currently has open. Inside was a mountain of cash. "That lovely pile is thanks to me." He said. "I think I finally found something I'm good at."

"Swindling?" Ford asked.

"Grauntie Mabel show cases fake monsters." Stan pointed out.

"And everything is labeled 'Believe at your own risk.'" Heather argued. "Ms. Pines doesn't know how to lie to save her life."

"What's the big deal?" Stan shrugged. "Besides, he's happy."

"You lied to his face." Ford reasoned.

"Sometimes, you have to lie. For the greater good," Stan pointed out. "Like just now."

Ford crossed his arms. "Really?"

Fidds ran into the gift shop. "Oh, there you are! Hey, Guys "

Stan turned to him. The chocolate was behind him, now. "Hey, Fidds!"

"Have you seen my chocolate bar?" Fidds prompted. "I think I misplaced it or somethin'. I swore I put it on the table, though."

Stan shook his head. "Uh, nope. I haven't seen it. Did you ask Grauntie Mabel? Maybe you put it in a wrapper, and she thought it was trash or something."

Fidds nodded. "Oh, I didn't even consider that. Thanks, Stan" With that, he ran off.

Stan smiled at Ford. "See? Greater good!"

Ford scoffed and stalked off.

Ford sat in his bed. Gompers sat next to him. He rubbed Gompers' head. "You know, Gompers, I never really realized how often Stan lied until we came here."

"I'm really surprised Stan can get away with it… ugh." Heather screams as she walks in. "I hate liars! I wish he could go just one day without lying."

Gompers bleated.

"Maybe there's something in the journal." Heather aid.

"Hmm…" Ford took out his journal and flipped through it. A picture of a golden set of teeth on a tree stump stared Up at him. "Ah-ha! Truth Telling Teeth!" A look of wonder crossed his face. "The possibilities of this are endless. We should find them and study them!"

Heather nodded. "And I know the perfect test subject."

After quite a bit of searching, Ford and Heather had found the teeth buried in a box like the author had written.

"You think it will work?" Heather asked.

Ford nodded. "Yeah but..." he paused. He was starting to second guess this plan. After all, knowing Stan this would most likely backfire in Ford's face.

"What?" Heather asked.

"These teeth make the wearer tell the truth all the time." Ford tried to explain.

"Perfect!" Heather exclaimed as she took the teeth.

Later that night she quietly slipped into the boys room and snuck over to stan, who yawned. She took this opportunity to put the teeth on him. They fit very snuggly over his original teeth–they even shrunk a bit. Magical items were so weird.

She turned to leave to see Ford wide awake watching her.

"Do you always sneak inside the shack after hours?" He asked.

"It's not sneaking when you were given a spare key." Heather reasoned. "Besides, I sensed you were having second thoughts."

"That's because I know my brother." Ford whispered. "This will not end well."

Heather poked Stan's shoulder.

"Hmmm?" Stan looked up at her. "Wha…?"

"What happened to Fidds' chocolate this afternoon?" she prompted.

"I ate it," Stan answered. "Mainly because I have little to no concern about other people's possessions or feelings." He hesitated as he realized what he'd just said. "Huh. That's weird. That was strangely candid. Almost as if I am unable to lie. Well, good night." Stan lay back down and threw the blanket over himself.

"See." Heather said. "It works like a charm."

"Fine, but I tried to warn you." He said before turning over and falling back to sleep.

Heather shrugged and left; Ford was just being paranoid. This would teach Stan a good lesson on telling the truth, and they'd all be better for it, She just knew it.

(Later The Next Day…)

Ford strolled up to Fidds, who sat in the living room table fiddling with a broken phone. "Hey, Fidds!" Fidds stayed concentrated on a few of the wires inside of the small machine.

"Fidds?" Again, Fidds didn't seem to notice him. Ford snapped his fingers under Fidds's nose. "Fidds?"

"Oh! Hey, Ford." Fidds looked up at him from the phone.

"So," Ford sat down next to him. "-have you noticed anything different about Stan today?"

Fidds shook his head. "No. I haven't talked with him this morning. Why? Is he sick?"

"Nope." Heather exclaimed wearing a mischievous grin that would make even the most ruthless of villains shiver.

Ford held out the journal to show him a picture of the Truth Telling Teeth. "Heather thought he'd like to try them on for the day."

"What? That's a terrible idea!" Fidds gasped.

"It's great! Come on, he has to tell the truth now," Heather pointed out.

"I tried to warn her." Ford insisted.

"You helped me dig them." Heather argued.

"I wanted to study them for science." Ford reasoned. "Not pop them into a perpetuate liars mouth and watch as utter chaos ensues."

Fidds thought for a moment.

Stan walked through the living room. "Hello, Stan! I was wondering' something. How did stethoscope break? The one you said someone hit with a rock?"

"I hit someone with it." Stan shrugged. "I lied about the rock because I knew you'd only lecture me about how it was my fault, which it was. Also, I pretended to be Ford so that they wouldn't catch me."

"You mean that's why some lady was chasing me the other day," Ford huffed. "Yelling 'I'll tech you to hit my Johnny!"

"Well, I'm going to go to the bathroom without washing my hands." Stan said before walking off.

"Ew." The two Fords recoiled and watched him go.

Finally, Fidds recovered and looked at Heather. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"He'll be fine." Heather stated.

Later on, Ford found Stan in the gift shop.

"Oh, it's fake," Stan admitted.

"What?" A new person, this time a woman, held a box with a creature that had several faces on it.

"It's just an optical illusion." He revealed.

"Stan!" Ford shouted.

Too late!

"Why I never…" The woman placed the box down and stomped off.

"What happened?" Heather asked as she raced in. "Who slammed the door?"

"Stan revealed the secret behind the box creature." Ford told her.

"Ah Stan that was my best exhibit." Mabel whined as she walked in.

"I thought everyone in here knew the stuff was fake?" Stan said.

"Yeah they also know magicians are fake, you don't se people revealing their secrets." Ford reasoned. "It's not that they can do real magic, it's how they make it look real that holds the true mystery. Everyone like a good illusion, and you ruined our best one."

"It's lying bro." Stan said. "Lying is wrong."

Mabel looks at him as if he has grown a second head, she holds up a spray bottle labeled holy water and points it at stan as she backs away slowly.

"Heather, can we talk?" Ford grabs her and Fidds and walks a little bit away from Stan who is now picking at a bandage on his arm.

"Look we admire your need for honestly." Ford began.

"But this has got to stop." Fidds added. "He's chased off all our costumers and Ms. Pines now thinks he possessed."

"He'll just be a liar again," Heather pointed out.

"Could it possibly be worse than this?"

Ria suddenly walks in "You know, A man was yelling at me outside of the shack about our fake gold necklaces, and how he wanted a refund, or he'd call the cops. But I told him we don't sell jewelry here."

Ford's eyes went round.

"Oh, yes." Stan nodded. "I sold those. I spray-painted a bunch of rocks yellow, glued them to some of those string-braids you have and sold them like real gold. I lied about the rocks being gold and I made the necklaces out of that braid string you threw away. Also, I stole a bunch of cookies from the fridge and broke the upstairs window with a golf ball when I was practicing," Stan agreed. "I just didn't tell you earlier because I lie a lot. Also, you are fat, and you should lose some weight"

Ford ran to Stan's side. "Stan! What are you do–I'm really sorry, Ria."

Tears streamed down Ria's face as she ran out the door of the Shack.

"Ria wait!" Fidds goes to run after her only for two police officers to come storming in.

"We have reports of someone selling fake gold." One officer said. "Show us this lying monster who would trick a man into buying the worst anniversary gift ever!"

"Yeah so we can lock them up!" the other laughed. "For good."

Stan goes to turn himself in and Heather panics and races up to the officers, grabbing their full attention.

"Stan no!" Ford tries to hold him back and finally with Fidds help they lock him in a nearby chest.

"Officers I know where the swindler is." Heather exclaimed.

"Can you describe him?" The first asked.

"He's big…and fat…and old!" Heather lied.

Ford gasped.

"Really?" The second officer looked unsure.

"And he's running around with no pants!" Heather went on. "And I saw him run off towards uh… the dinner! Yeah that right."

"Boxers?" The first asked hopefully.

Heather shook her head. "Worse."

"Oh no we got a code white." The officers ran out of the shack at the news and headed off to catch this imaginary crook.

Ford took a deep breath and sighed. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe he bought that."

"You're a terrible liar!" Fidds agreed. "those cops are just really stupid."

"Probably," Ford agreed.

"My stomach hurts." Heather admitted. "I don't know how Stan does it."

"Speaking of…" Ford turned to check on Stan only to se that he's out of the chest and on the phone.

"Hello police." He said. "I forgot to tell them about the time I…"

Ford suddenly bowled him over.

"Oof! Ford!" Stan wriggled out from under him. "What's wrong with you?"

Ford held his front half down. "Fidds!"

Fidds grabbed his legs. "Heather!" He shouts.

Heather took the Truth Teeth straight out of Stan's mouth. "That was a close one." She gasped.

"Told you, never try to teach my brother a lesson." Ford said. "It will backfire." He took the candid magic item from her and held it up. "We have to find someplace to get rid of these."

"I know what to do!" Heather declared.

Later, she set the teeth in a purple box and pushed it out into the Bottomless Pit.

(Back To Present Time…)

Heather smiled. "And I never saw those teeth again." The heavily locked purple box floated nearby.

"Oh! There it is." Stan pointed at it.

Heather took off her shoes and threw them at the box. "Die beast, die!"

"So that's why he said those awful things." Ria said looking relieved.

"We already know that story," Fidds pointed out. "I mean, we just lived through it!"

Ford gasped, "Wait! Do you see that?"

Below them, a circle of light was getting bigger and bigger.

"What is that?" Stan tensed as he stared at the light.

"Oh no!" Fidds squeaked.

"Where are we going?" Mabel stared down at the steadily approaching light.

"Not good!" Ford hissed through his teeth.

They screamed as they fell straight through the light and landed on the dirty grass by the Bottomless

Pit.

Gompers bleated and bounded away.

Stan rubbed his Head. "Where… where are we?"

Fidds pointed to the Mystery Shack. "We're back at the Mystery Shack!"

Ford looked at his watch, and then the sky. "I don't think any time has passed. It must be some sort of wormhole!"

"Whoa! That's–but that can't be real!" Mabel exclaimed. " And even if it is, no one is going to believe us!"

Ford looked up at him. "Maybe this is one story we keep to ourselves."

"Agreed."

The reply came from everyone else gathered.

Fidds looked up at the storm clouds. "We should get inside."

Ford nodded That's a good idea." He said and everyone ran back to the gulf cart.

Gompers jumped into fords lap as Mabel began to drive them back to the shack.

Stan watched as the dark clouds continue to close in, he couldn't help but get a sick feeling that those clouds were trying to warn him about something.

Almost as if Darker times were on their way…

He shrugged it off and turned forward not realizing just how right he really was.

-To Be Continued