The Apocalypse Is Now

Chapter 1 - The Apocalypse

The room was full of chaos. The Portal had dropped from its mount on the wall and fallen at an angle. Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Stan had dropped to the floor, stunned.

Dipper picked himself up, and his face was full of rage. By sheer luck they had survived, no thanks to Mabel or "Stan."

There was a swirl of energy from the Portal, and a muffled figure stepped through.

One of the Journals was on the floor. The figure picked it up with a six-fingered left hand and put it into his coat pocket, where there was a quill.

Dipper and Mabel stared, open-mouthed.

"What... Who is that?" asked Dipper.

"The author of the journals. My brother," said Stan.

The figure pulled off his hood and goggles, revealing a frowning face very similar to Stan's.

"Is this the part where one of us faints?" asked Mabel.

"Ohoho, I am so on it, dude," said Soos, and he fainted.

"I can't believe you actually did this, Stanley," said the Author. "I've been detecting activity in the region where I entered the other dimension, but I couldn't believe you would go all the way to opening it. The risk to this world..."

"I had to get you back, Stanford," said the man they had called "Grunkle Stan."

"Thanks, but it was a huge mistake. Who are these kids?" the Author asked.

"My grand-kids, Mabel and Dipper Pines," said Stan. "Your grand niece and nephew."

"Grand-kids?" asked Mabel. "You're our Grandpa and not our Grunkle?"

"I don't care who you are," said Dipper. "To me you're just a criminal that nearly destroyed the world."

"How bad is the damage?" asked the Author.

"It was only minor this afternoon. Just hot spots where gravity went weak," said Stan. "People were lifted up, stuff like that."

"The Portal looked unstable from my end. The longer you operated it the greater the risk," said the Author.

"It was an insane risk," said Dipper. "Mabel, why didn't you shut it down? Why did you trust this criminal instead of me?"

"I looked in his eyes and saw there was good in them," said Mabel.

Dipper responded with a bitter snarl, and turned his eyes away from her.

"Thank you for believing in me, Mabel," said Stan. "It means a lot to me."

"The government agents who arrested you, what happened to them?" asked Dipper.

"I got away during one of the gravity glitches," said Stan. "They chased after a taxi I paid to lead them away from here. We should have time to get out of here."

"I hope they catch you," said Dipper. "And put you away for life."

"Dipper, don't be so hard on our Grandpa," said Mabel. "He did it for his brother, our real Grunkle."

"One man. He risked the world for one man," said Dipper.

"I agree with you, kid," said the Author. "I'm not worth it."

"We need to get up and out of here before the elevators fail," said Stan. "They have their own back-up power system, but with all the damage we can't chance it."

They revived Soos enough for him to stagger out. The Author scooped up the other two Journals as they left.

When they got to the surface they found the Mystery Shack was a complete wreck. The merchandise in the Gift Shop was smashed. The floor was at a crazy angle. Power was out and pipes were broken.

"How are we ever going to get this fixed up?" asked Mabel.

"Right now we're not going to bother with that," said Stan. "We have bigger things to worry about. Gather up any of your stuff you want, quickly. We're going to the Bunker."

Dipper nodded, but secretly planned to get away as soon as he could to alert the law.

"How do you know about my Bunker?" asked the Author. "I kept that secret even from you."

"After I found out about the black-light secret writing, I went and checked it out one night," said Stan. "There's a good supply of food there. I ate a can of the beans and they were pretty good."

"So it was you who left that freshly-opened can of beans," said Dipper. "And probably the one who let the Shape-Shifter out."

"The Shape-Shifter is loose?" asked the Author in dismay.

"I thawed it out and talked to it for a bit," said Stan. "I froze it back up again."

"You probably did it wrong," said Dipper. "When we got down there it had broken loose from its cryogenic tube. We had to fight it and get it into another tube to freeze it again."

"How did you kids manage to beat it?" asked the Author.

"We've had a bit of experience," said Mabel. "We've fought gnomes, golf-ball-heads, zombies, you name it."

"Impressive," said the Author.

"Your Journal 3 helped a lot," said Dipper.

They went outside for a look around. It was like an earthquake. The car was overturned. Even the roads were buckled.

"This town will never be the same," said Dipper. "Look at the damage you did!"

"You think it's just the town?" said the Author. "With this much gravitational disruption there will be destruction like this world-wide."

"World-wide!?" said Dipper, his mouth falling open in shock. "But that means chaos. Civilization will break down."

"It's an Apocalypse," said the Author. "I don't think my brother will have to worry about the authorities coming after him for a long time, if ever. They'll have their hands full."

Stan said. "I've been preparing for this. Why do you think I stockpiled canned meat, and told people to buy gold? It's the only thing that will work as money in times like these."

"You brought this on the world to benefit from it? You're a monster," said Dipper.

"Will Mom and Dad be all right?" asked Mabel.

"I don't know," said Stan. "It isn't safe to try and get you home."

"Everything will be out: power, communications, you name it," said the Author.

"If we want to survive, we're stuck living with the worst villain in history," said Dipper.

"And his brother," said the Author.

"Yay!" said Mabel. "Camping out with our Grandpa and Grunkle."

"That's the spirit," said Stan. "It won't be so bad."

"Yes, it will," said Dipper.