"Ohh…my head…"

Dipper Pines opened his eyes as he tried to shake away the grogginess that seemingly overcame him. He slowly sat up, with every joint of his body throbbing in pain, and analyzed his situation.

"Where am I?" he asked himself. Dipper looked around to see that he was in the middle of a grassy meadow hidden within what appeared to be the Gravity Falls Forest.

"How the – how did I get here?"

The more Dipper tried to reminiscence about the last few hours, the more that his head pulsated in pain. He let out a cry as he held his hands against his throbbing temples. Dipper raised his head upwards to see that the sun was shortly setting alongside the orange sky, down into the treetops of the lush, green woods.

"Ugh…it's getting late," Dipper moaned, rising up to his feet. As he stumbled forward, the boy started to lose his balance. Dropping to one knee, Dipper took a few seconds to regain his strength. While resting, he glanced down to see that his stubby hands appeared to be moving blurs!

"WHOA…"

Dipper rubbed his eyes, trying to regain his clarity. He looked ahead to see that the natural beauty of the Oregon wilderness was blanketed was a form of haze.

"Something's not right…" Dipper rose up again, carefully pacing himself step by step. Even though he'd hated to do so, he figured that the fastest way back to the Mystery Shack was through the forest. After a few minutes of trying to locate the main path leading back home, the confused pre-teen found himself hopelessly lost.

"This is crazy; I know these woods like the back of my hand…" He attempted to laugh away his rising nervousness with a few, forced chuckles, "Heh, I must of hit my head a lot harder than I thought…I think…"

With that moment, the last ounce of light exited the Gravity Falls Forest, leaving the slightly-stunned child alone in the pitch black.

"Oh, come on! I don't even get a bit of moon light!" He aimed his vision to see that the thickness of the treetops prevented any form of shine from illumining the area around him. Dipper staggered around in the darkness as a glow started to form from the most unlikely of places.

Dipper gasped in shock as a faintly purple fog had risen up from the forest floor. As the mist swirled around his ankles, he traced the oddity with his eyes back to the source.

From in between the distance covered with towering trees, Dipper could make out what appeared to be a black shadow, almost blot-like in shape, growing in structure. As the form moved closer, the young detective was paralyzed in fear as two pure white eyes stared him down.

A moment later, arms and legs grew outwards as the glow extended upwards into figure of a head. He narrowed his eyes to discover that the creature was anything but! Dipper was left speechless as a giant of a man stood before him!

The dark being, reaching almost as high as the trees surrounding him, sported a trench coat that draped down to his black boots. A morbidly striped tie stuck out in front of a ruined purple dress shirt. The man removed his ringed Stetson hat, revealing a head full of stingy, dark brown hair. Dipper quivered as the stranger addressed him:

"Young one…" the man's deep voice shook the normally-peaceful countryside. "Your time here is at an end." He extended a purple-gloved hand to the shaken child. "Come…" he beckoned. "Come with me to the other side…"

Dipper instantly started to backpedal away from the sight, "Wait, WHAT?!" He put his hands up in an effort to create some distance. "What are you talking about?"

"Come…" the mysterious being took a few steps in Dipper's direction.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!"

A sneer spread across the goateed face of the sinister individual. He snatched one of Dipper's arms, nearly knocking him off balance.

"My young friend…you speak as if I am giving you a choice in the matter…"

"NO!" Dipper shrieked as he dragged his feet. "NO! LET ME GO!" Left with no other option, Dipper planned a swift kick to his kidnapper's midsection. The pre-teen cried out in pain; it was almost like kicking cement!

"Uggh!" the otherworldly captor lost his grip on his prey. The mere surprise of Dipper's tenacity caught him off-guard.

"You dare…attack me?!" The monster motioned a clenched fist against his throat. "You will pay for such insolence!"

Without looking back, Dipper sprinted further away into the darkness, desperate to find any means of escape. He reflected on what his pursuer had claimed.

"What did he mean that 'my time was at an end?' Could he – why would he think that I was –" A horrific thought echoed through Dipper's mind. He shook away the negativity. "It can't be! It just can't! I mean, I'm here! I'm still here!"

He turned around to see if he was still being chased, "And besides, I think I would know if I had di-"

*CRASH*

Dipper was knocked instantly on his keister! It felt as if he had run right into a brick wall. He gazed up, failing to see the rising purple fog coming from underfoot.

The creepy stalker was standing before him! His demonic smile deepened.

"You can run, dear child…" he taunted. "…but you can never hide!"

With a burst of adrenaline, Dipper rose to his feet in a split second. In distress, he started to back away from the threat until he felt his sneaker slip through the soft ground.

"Huh?"

Dipper looked over his shoulder to see that he was teetering over a deep, yet lengthy hill. An idea quickly formed in his mind; Dipper knew that he probably was not faster or stronger than his nemesis, but chances were that he was smarter.

"Hey!" Dipper waved his arms in the air erratically. "Hey! I'm right here, you giant jerk! You want me so bad, then come and get me!"

With a low growl, the giant bent back, and amazingly (at least, in Dipper's perspective) pounced towards the boy with a single bound.

At the last second, Dipper threw himself downwards, just barely escaping the clutches of the man dressed in black. He could hear a deep scream stemming from over his shoulder. Clear of danger, Dipper stood back up and looked down the hillside, expecting to see his fallen chaser.

The bottom of the knoll was completely empty! The confused boy strained his eyes, trying to find any evidence of his enemy's departure.

"No indent in the ground, no muddy tracks…" Dipper mumbled to himself. "Absolutely nothing…" On a positive note, he noted that the creepy purple miasma that followed his adversary around had vanished as well.

"Okay…this is getting too weird, even by my standards…"

As if by fate, a shade of blue moonlight shone down upon the hapless sleuth, revealing a new, but narrow path.

"At last!" Dipper sighed to himself. "I have to hurry home! Maybe I can figure out who that was and what he wanted…"

After a few minutes of following various trails, more light came broke through the darkness clouding the Gravity Falls Forest. Dipper hustled faster for this could only mean that he was closer to his goal. Exhausted, he stopped to catch his breath, only to look up and smile upon the sight in the distance.

The Mystery Shack was within a striking distance! Dipper exhaled in relief, "Oh, the ol' dump has never looked so good!"

Dipper ran up to the porch to see that for some reason, the front door was left open. He hurried through and called out to his family and friends:

"Mabel! Grunkle Stan! Come quick! I think something weird's going on!" Left without a response, Dipper scuttled to the Gift Shop, only stopping in his tracks as he seen the lights shut off and everything somewhat neaten.

"Oh, that's right," Dipper remembered. "Wendy went on another trip with her family, so they had to close up shop a bit early." Upon reflection, he found it odd that while he could recall the trivial fact about his redheaded crush, he couldn't evoke what had happened to him only a few hours ago.

With his nervousness rising, Dipper ran to the kitchen. He dashed through the open doorway, only to find an empty, yet clutter-filled room.

"Great," Dipper bemoaned to himself. "Just great!"

Suddenly, the downtrodden boy could hear voices coming from the other side of the wall. He flew through the archway to see that his Grunkle Stan and co-worker, Soos, had just arrived home. Each were carrying two arms full of groceries.

"I'll tell ya, Soos," the old man ranted, "I love those kids, but they're eating me out of house and home! Just look at this bill!"

"Grunkle Stan! Soos!" Dipper greeted. "I'm so glad to see you guys! This weird guy was –"

"I hear ya, dude," Soos responded, cutting Dipper off. "Then again, Wendy does sneak a snack or two here and there. Appetite wise, she's like four or five Dippers or Mabels put together!"

"True, true," Stan groaned as he put the bags down, "but at the same time, it's a small price to pay to have her around to help keep an eye on the twins. Especially in Dipper's case; if it wasn't for Wendy, that kid would spend every day either with his nose in a book, or out in the woods analyzing animal droppings!"

Dipper smiled upon hearing his sweetheart mentioned by name, but kept in mind the importance of the matter at hand.

"Hey, guys. Don't mean to interrupt, but something happened – "

Soos let out a hearty laugh, "Yeah…" He inched closer to his employer. "Say, Stan," the gentle giant in green mused, "Between you and me, what do you think about…those two?"

"Huh?" The elder readjusted his glasses. "Oh, that. To me, the jury's still out on that one. There are just too many factors involved to make a judgment call. I mean, she could be just sparing his feelings. She may not be paying close enough attention when the kid gets all "googly-eyes" on her; after all, she's a nice girl, but she isn't exactly the brightest bulb out there…"

"HEY!" Dipper's protests went unnoticed.

"Or heck…" Stan took a second to give off a few chuckles of his own, "…she might be as scared of him as he is of her…"

Dipper was starting to lose his temper, "Do you guys think that this conversation might be better suited, you know, when I'm not in the same room?"

"Imagine that!" Soos joined in with Stan's laughter. "All's fair in love and war and such…" The two adults carried the bagged goods pass the shouting boy and towards the kitchen.

"Why aren't they listening to me?" Dipper asked himself. "They're treating me like I'm not even here…"

"Guys, wait, please!" the worried pre-teen asked. "Why are you ignoring me?! Was it something that I did?"

Both Soos and Stan continued on their way. Enraged, Dipper ran up to his great-uncle's side and reached out to halt him.

"Stan, wait a second! I need to –"

Dipper's mouth gaped open in horror as his hand literally went through his Grunkle's shoulder!

"No…" he cried out in disbelief. Still in a state of shock, he went to grab Soos's arm.

"Soos, please, I n – "

Once more, his arm went pass the man-child's burly limb. He could make out his own fingers on the other side of Soos's arm!

Dipper pulled back as nausea started to grow in the pit of his stomach. He turned to his side to see that he was standing in front of the mirror that Stan had stationed in the main hallway. Dipper's eyes shot open as he seen that there wasn't a reflection staring back at him.

Going into a full panic, Dipper started to hyperventilate. He held his arms up to his head as he rocked himself back and forth.

"None of this is making sense!" he stifled out. "I'm here, but I'm not here! What's happened to me?!"