2 Chapter 2: Planning

Dipper's P.O.V

The conversation with the gnomes was extremely productive.

Not only did they promise not to bother Mabel anymore, but as a bonus, they will come to help me if needed.

Before leaving, they also agreed to give me some gold.

"Mabel, I have bad news for you," I said in a calm tone.

"Where's Norman?" she asked, looking behind me, surely searching for the "teenager".

"Norman is gone and he won't be coming back," I replied quickly in one line since she seemed to want to start worrying.

"What did you do to Norman, Dipper?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at me.

Looking at her current behavior, I can only conclude that it is inevitable to inform her about the supernatural side of this town.

"Anyway, you'll find out sooner or later," I declared with a sigh.

"Mabel, you need to know that this town is not normal and Norman isn't normal either," I began before calmly explaining the truth about Gravity Falls without, of course, telling her everything.

At first, Mabel reacted childishly, thinking that I had chased Norman away because I was "jealous" of her and that I was just making excuses.

But luckily for me, I had my "magic" flashlight to prove my words.

I reduced the size of the armchair to make it bigger than the original, not only for her but also for future convenience.

"So if I understood correctly, I was in love with a group of bearded gnomes?" she exclaimed, making a clearly disgusted expression.

"Yes, that's exactly it, but thanks to your brilliant big brother here, you didn't lose your first kiss to a gnome. Hahaha," I said, laughing a little.

"Thank you, Dipper," Mabel said, taking me in her arms, which I admit surprised me a bit.

Although I had many memories of Dipper being hugged by Mabel, this was my first hug with her personally.

"But you didn't tell me how you knew about Norman or how you got that magic flashlight," she said, looking at me with a face that couldn't hide her growing curiosity.

I wanted to keep the information about the journal to myself, but unfortunately, sooner or later, Mabel will also find out since Uncle Stan has one, but also Gideon who unfortunately will have an unhealthy obsession with Mabel.

"Anyway, if you're aware of everything, you'll be less oblivious," I told Mabel my true thoughts before going to retrieve journal number 3 from where I had hidden it.

That's how I spent a good part of the afternoon explaining to Mabel various places she shouldn't go and places she should beware of.

"This town is really extraordinary Dipper, and what if we went to see unicorns?" Mabel asked, overexcited, making me a little regret my previous actions.

"Mabel, I'm telling you there are dangerous areas in the woods, and the location of the unicorns isn't safe either."

I could only try to dissuade her to avoid finding myself surrounded by minotaurs or other strange beasts.

...

"Tell me, Soos, wouldn't you like a better life?" I asked my uncle's most faithful employee.

"Let me think, umm," he said, putting his hand on his chin.

"Not really, even though my salary isn't really right. Mr. Stan treats me correctly, and that's rare around here," he replied after thinking.

"I understand, but with a better salary, you could live at your own place and not at your mom's, and you could also buy video games," I said enticingly, using all of Soos's weaknesses.

I had no choice; I was too young to buy any real estate to build my base in Gravity Falls.

I needed an easily manipulable adult, and I preferred to avoid using the subliminal messages CD to manipulate someone.

I'm not a saint, but I prefer to avoid tampering with other people's free will.

"I would like that, but no one appreciates my services except Mr. Stan around here," he said, slightly discouraged.

"Hey, I have an idea," I said, approaching him.

"What if we opened an all-purpose repair business together? After all, you're good at that," I declared, pretending the idea had just occurred to me.

I just needed a place outside this house full of triangles that allowed Bill Cipher to watch me.

Especially since I had to create a lot of gadgets from the One Piece world to prepare for my future multiversal journey.

"It sounds like a good idea, Dipper, but we don't have any money," Soos declared with a gloomy air.

"I'll take care of it; you don't need to worry. But for now, don't quit this job, okay?" I replied, shaking his hand to conclude our agreement.

"Okay, Dipper, I'm with you," he said with a happy smile on his face.

"Otherwise, we can go play video games," I asked since I didn't know the location of certain places in the town very well yet.

So leaving with Soos would be easier than walking randomly asking for directions, and I needed to recruit this potential future ally.

"Yes, good idea, anyway, I've been done with my shift for a while," he replied before putting away his tools.

...

Things went smoothly for me since not only did I get to have fun playing with Soos, but I was also able to find and buy GIFfany's game.

"Although I can personally develop an AI, I am currently unable to create one similar to GIFfany, who clearly has supernatural properties," I mentally said, carefully observing the CD during the evening that contained Soos's future ex-girlfriend.

I put it in a box away from any electrical or computer devices to avoid any incidents before having a good little conversation with GIFfany.

For now, I need to learn more about Earth technology and later study the supernatural technology of this town to create something that could possibly help me a great deal against Bill Cipher.

After all, Bill Cipher can only influence this world via memes or more simply through the spread of information linked to him, hence a triangle or pyramid.

So controlling the internet will help me greatly in order to prevent or restrict his influence in this dimension or at least in this town.

...

"Wake up, Dipper, a beautiful day awaits us!" Mabel declared, bouncing on my bed early in the morning.

"Why are you so excited?" I asked as I got ready for the day.

"I want to go on an adventure and discover more fun things about this town," Mabel enthusiastically replied.

Any normal person would be wary or feel in danger when faced with the unknown, but Mabel is clearly different.

This will be an important quality for the upcoming events I will have to deal with her.

"Sorry Mabel, but I'm going to build two or three things in Uncle Stan's garage, so I'll be a little busy today," I explained in an apologetic tone.

"Oh! You want to create something you saw in the journal?" she asked with big kitten eyes.

"Yes, sort of, and don't worry, I'll make something for my favorite little sister," I said, pinching her cheeks to tease her before leaving.

Now it's time to gear up to face the horrors of this town.

Author's Note: Now the story really starts with Dipper using Vegapunk's knowledge to create useful tools for his future conquest of Earth.