Greetings, prospective readers! Welcome to the official relaunch of The Monster I Could Become! Before we start, I'd like to go over why I decided to rewrite this project. You see, I came to realize that the story started at the wrong point of the series, when Ford came out of the portal. Problem with that is this: there are only a few weeks left of summer and/or episodes left of the entire series, and I had a ton of things I needed to cover in that timespan, I needed to deal with Time Baby and his goons (doesn't exactly help that Bill vaporizes him during Weirdmageddon either) and my big bads on top of Weirdmageddon and Bill Cipher, but I also needed Dipper and Mabel to be there while these things were happening, so that meant that I either needed to find a way to keep Dipper and Mabel in Gravity Falls after summer ends or I'd have to do nine months worth of filler before the Mystery Twins returned. So, in the end, I decided to just say screw it, and see if I could tweak things a bit with a rewrite. Which bring us to the here and now. The timeline in this incarnation diverges during the events of Dipper vs Manliness, so that'll give me ample time to set up my conflicts as well as Alcor X Wendy, or as I call it, Wencor, not to mention provide a decent challenge for setting up Dipper X Pacifica aka Dipcifica before the events of Northwest Mansion Mystery. Anyways, I've babbled long enough. Let us begin anew!

Chapter One: I Am The Future Dipper

Over the past few millennia, Gravity Falls had gone from a sleepy little town, to a vast and sprawling metropolis, the kind to rival Coruscant from Star Wars. Unfortunately, it was far from perfect. Poverty ran rampant around the city. Many a poor soul had been sent to the Globnar Arena to be punished for their simple misdeed of stealing a bit of food, just to ensure their family could survive another day.

And at the center of all of this madness was the tyrannical oversized infant known as the Time Baby, who was powerful enough to rival Bill Cipher at the height of his power... well, that is, before the events of what was known as the Transcendence.

Not even the Time Baby knew exactly what happened during the Transcendence. All anyone knew was that it had resulted in the appearance of a vast array of creatures, the kind you'd hear about in fairy tales or spooky campfire stories, the deaths of Bill Cipher and a twelve year old boy, and the creation of... him.

Nobody knows who the dream demon known by names such as the Dreambender, the Twin Star, or as he is more commonly referred as, Alcor, truly was. Some say he is actually the twelve year old boy who died during the Transcendence, having absorbed a portion of Bill Cipher's power. Others say he's a fusion of Bill Cipher and the boy. Others still say he doesn't exist. But, all anyone knew for sure was that the Time Baby wanted him brought before him, apparently out of fear that Alcor, rumored to be even stronger than Bill Cipher himself at the height of his power, might one day challenge and defeat him.

And so, Time Baby sent a team of his greatest warriors into the Mindscape with one mission: capture Alcor, and ensure his everlasting reign.

Although Alcor, who was all too real, initially tried to fight off his attackers, he quickly came to realize that Time Baby truly was playing for keeps and had equipped his warriors with some dangerous and powerful equipment. Powerful enough to take him down without a problem.

So, with no one to turn to, Alcor had no choice but to run for it, with the Time Baby's soldiers hot on his heels.

Eventually, though, Alcor found his back against the wall with nowhere left to run. So, he had no choice but to use his newest and most dangerous power, and attempted to create a feedback loop in order to dimension hop to who-knew-when or where, barely escaping the grasp of Time Baby's forces.

But, where did he go? What became of him when he got to where he was going? Did Time Baby know where the Dreambender went? Well, let's find out, together...

...

Gravity Falls, Oregon-Year 2012.

It was almost closing time at the Mystery Shack, a run-down cabin that had been converted into a tourist trap by its owner, Stanford Pines. However, before Mr. Pines could close up shop, there was one thing he had to take care of: a particularly frustrating customer who couldn't seem to make up his mind on what he wanted to buy.

"I like to get my Christmas shopping done early. Do you have anything that's in the spirit of the season?" Tyler Cutebiker asked Grunkle Stan.

"Uh… how about these crystals?" Grunkle Stan, who was an old man in his late fifties clad in an old fashioned suit with a ribbon bow tie, brown dress shoes, thick glasses, and a maroon fez with what looked like a gold fish of some kind on the front, said as he grabbed the bowl containing the supposed crystals.

Tyler chuckled. "Looks like broken glass," said Tyler, giggling as he spoke.

"What are you, a cop?" asked Grunkle Stan as he put the bowl away, glaring at Tyler as he darted off to look at some new thing that had apparently captured his attention. A second later, the gift shop door opened, and through it walked Stan's great-nephew, Mason Pines, nicknamed Dipper, and Stan's great-niece and Dipper's twin sister, Mabel Pines.

Dipper was clad in his usual outfit, which consisted of a dark blue vest with an orange shirt underneath, a pair of grey shorts, black and white tennis shoes, and a blue and white baseball cap with a blue pine tree on the front. Mabel, meanwhile, had braces in her teeth and wore one of her hand-knitted sweaters (this one green with a mushroom on the front), a pink skirt, and black shoes.

"Grunkle Stan, can we go to the diner?" asked Mabel before grabbing her stomach. "We're huuuuuuuunnnnngggrrryyy…"

"Huuuuunnnnggggrrryyy…" added Dipper, likewise grabbing his stomach before he and his sister started slamming their stomachs into each other.

"Sure, as soon as this yahoo makes up his mind," said Stan, pointing at Tyler.

"Do you have this in another animal?" Tyler asked, pointing at a fish display on the wall.

To Hell with this, thought Grunkle Stan before looking back at the kids. "I'm fine locking him inside if you are."

Mischievous looks on their faces, Dipper and Mabel nodded. The three Pines quickly made their way out the door and blocked the entrance with a long piece of plywood before hopping into Stan's car and driving away.

…

A few minutes and several near-collisions later, Dipper, Mabel, and Stan arrived at Greasy's Diner, Gravity Falls' local family restaurant. As they made their way to an open booth, the trio passed familiar faces such as Wendy Corduroy, who Dipper had a massive and somewhat creepy crush on, and her father, "Manly Dan" Corduroy; Old Man McGucket, the local kook who just so happened to be one of the most ingenious robotics engineers that Dipper had ever seen, which admittedly had him thinking there was more going on between McGucket's ears than lunatic hillbilly nonsense; and Sheriff Blubbs and Deputy Durland, the former of whom was scarfing down pancakes while the latter timed him with a speedometer gun.

Finding an empty booth, Dipper and Mabel sat down, followed by Stan who picked up the menu and started to look at it before a waitress with grey hair and one eye that seemed to be permanently closed for some reason approached them.

Stan shot the waitress his most charming smile. "Lazy Susan, there's my little ray of sunshine. Where were you yesterday?" asked Stan.

"I got hit by a bus!" said Lazy Susan with a big smile.

Stan laughed loudly. "Hilarious!" he said.

"Thank you!" said Lazy Susan before she laughed as well.

"You do split plates, right?"

"Maybe…" said Lazy Susan before pulling up her closed eyelid and closing it again. "Wink!"

"Great! We'll all split a one-fourth of the number seven, a free salad dressing for the lady, and a small plate of ketchup for the boy!" said Stan, tipping his hat as Lazy Susan walked away.

"But, Grunkle Stan, I want pancakes," said Mabel, pulling on Stan's suit sleeve.

"With the fancy flour they use these days?" said Stan, scoffing as he spoke and throwing up his arms. "What am I, made of money?"

A second later, Stan realized that a $100 bill had found its way to freedom from inside the sleeve of his suit. "Tap, tap," Stan said as he tapped the cash back into his suit, while Mabel looked disappointed.

Looking outside their booth, Dipper caught sight of something. It was a sign that advertised free pancakes for anyone who could beat a manliness tester.

"Don't worry, guys," said Dipper, cracking his knuckles. "Pancakes are on me! I'm gonna win some by beating that manliness tester."

"Manliness tester?" said Stan, raising his eyebrow and desperately trying not to crack a smile.

"Beating?" said Mabel, likewise raising her eyebrow and trying not to smile.

Ultimately, their attempts were in vain as both Mabel and Stan burst out in hysterical laughter, pounding their fists on the table.

"What? What's so funny?" asked Dipper, feeling that he was missing the joke.

"Oh, no offense, Dipper, but you're not exactly Manly Mannington," said Mabel, her smile as wide as a mile.

"Hey, I am too Manly… Manny or whatever it was you said," said Dipper defensively.

"Look, kid, face the music. You got no muscles, you smell like baby wipes, and let's not forget last Tuesday's… incident, eh, Disco Girl?" said Grunkle Stan, a smug look on his face.

Mabel let out a snort of laughter at this. "You were listening to girly Icelandic pop sensation BABBA?" she giggled.

"No! I wasn't! It-it's not important!" stammered Dipper. "Come on, you guys, I'm plenty masculine! You see this chest hair?" said Dipper before he revealed that he had exactly zero chest hairs, much to his sister and uncle's protests. "Ugh, man."

As Stan and Mabel continued laughing, Dipper had had just about enough of his family's taunting. "All right, family of little faith! Prepare to eat your words! And a plate of delicious pancakes," said Dipper as he climbed out of his seat and made his way towards the manliness tester, with every head in the diner following him as he passed.

"All right, Dipper, time to manhandle this… manhandle," Dipper said as he reached the manliness tester. "And a-one, and a-two…"

"Quit stallin'!" yelled Grunkle Stan.

With that little nudge, Dipper grabbed onto the handle and squeezed as hard as he could. Slowly but sure, the light began to make its way higher up the meter until it finally reached "man," only for Dipper to let go and cause the meter to fall all the way back down to "wimp."

A small card popped out of the bottom of the machine, which Dipper took. On it was a picture of a baby in a diaper and the words, You are a cutie patootie!

"Oh, what?" said Dipper before chuckling and stammering a variety of excuses, only to be bumped aside by Manly Dan, cracking his knuckles. "The thing's rickety man, you shouldn't even-"

Before Dipper could finish his sentence, however, Manly Dan had pressed his pinky against the manliness tester's handle, and caused the entire machine to explode, sending pancakes flying onto everyone's plate, or in Dipper's case, his head as the entire diner cheered.

"Yeah!" cried Manly Dan. "Free pancakes for everyone!"

Dipper, however, noticed that Stan and Mabel were still laughing at him. "I need to get some chest hair and fast," said Dipper before he bolted towards the diner's exit, only to trip over a beaver who popped up in a hole in the floor. "I'm fine! Everything's fine!" said Dipper as he ran out the door.

...

Later that day, as he made his way through town, Dipper was constantly muttering under his breath about his frustration at having humiliated himself at the diner.

"'Not manly enough,' Stupid diner, stupid lumberjack," muttered Dipper angrily, only to get sprayed with a powerful jet of water from behind, causing the boy to turn around and get blasted in the face with water.

As it turned out, the water was coming from a destroyed fire hydrant. Standing nearby was Sheriff Blubbs and Deputy Durland. "Another hydrant destroyed. It's a gosh-dang mystery," said Blubbs.

"Wanna take off our uniforms and spin around in circles?" asked Durland.

"Quit reading my mind," said Blubbs.

As the two idiot cops ran around shirtless in circles, Dipper backed up to get out of their way and ended up walking directly into a random lady.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm looking for the mailman," the lady said.

That seemed to push Dipper over the tipping point. "What, are you saying I'm not a 'male' man, is that what you're saying?" Dipper said. "Is that what you're trying to say? I'm-I'm not male, I'm not a man, is that- is that what you're getting at?"

"Are you crying?" the lady asked, a little unnerved by Dipper's behavior.

Dipper, however, said nothing and ran off into the forest, crying in frustration at not being manly enough.

That needs to change immediately! thought Dipper as he ran deeper into the forest. So lost in thought and anguish was Dipper that he didn't see where he was going, and ended up tripping over something.

"Argh! Stupid rock!" growled Dipper as he pulled himself up, turning to see the rock he'd tripped over.

Only to find that it wasn't a rock, but rather a person who seemed to be around Wendy's age and height, and was clad in an old fashioned black suit and a black ribbon bow tie, which was damaged in some places, and black dress shoes. Lying nearby was a black top hat with a yellow stripe near the base.

But, it was the guy's face that truly sent shivers down Dipper's spine. He had brown hair in a similar haircut to his own, and generally looked like an older version of himself.

"Oh, man… try to create a feedback loop and look what happens… huh? Where the heck am I?" asked the creepy Dipper clone, in an what could only be an older version of Dipper's voice, which sounded as though it had a certain something in it, like you could immediately trust the guy who was using it, and that it could talk you into doing anything. The Dipper clone opened its eyes, revealing them to be black where the whites should be and bright yellow where the brown should be, sat up, and looked around a bit before groaning again. "Gravity Falls? In the past? AW, COME ON!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa wait a minute, what are you talking about, guy? Are you from the future or something? Are you, like, my great-great grandson or something?" asked Dipper.

The Dipper clone, wincing as it sat up, looked at its clawed hands as though it couldn't believe what it saw... almost like it hadn't seen a hand before, before it proceeded to pinch itself. "Ow! Bill was right, pain actually IS kinda funny," muttered the doppelganger.

"Hello, Earth to look alike? Mind answering the question?" asked Dipper.

"Huh? Oh, you mean if I'm your descendant? Well, you see, about that… I am the future Dipper. Name's Alcor. Alcor the Dreambender, Reigning King of Chaos, Ruler of the Mindscape and Dark Lord of Fear," said Alcor, producing a business card bearing those exact words and holding out his hand to Dipper. As Dipper reached up to shake it, however, Alcor quickly jerked his hand away.

"Word to the wise and to you, kid. Never shake a demon's hand, especially if the hand's attached to a dream demon, like myself, and definitely not if you haven't read the fine print of the deal," said Alcor.

"Oooooookaaaaaaaayyyyy... but, what do you mean you're the future?" said Dipper a completely confused look on his face, causing Alcor to chuckle.

"Oh, come on, are you really being this dense, Dipper?" said Alcor, a slightly amused look on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"I am the future… Dipper," said Alcor, speaking slowly and carefully, as it to imply something.

Dipper began think over Alcor's words, but still could only shrug, coming up with a blank.

"Son of a- I don't remember being denser than a timetainium wall when I was you. All right, let's try putting it bluntly. I'm you from the future. Well… a possible future, more than likely."

At this news, Dipper began to freak out like he'd just been told he'd been invited to meet one of his heroes, or perhaps had just learned everything about the Author of the Journals himself.

"So, wait a moment... you're ME?! I don't understand! How do I, er, we, end up becoming a demon?! What happens to us?! What about Mabel?! Grunkle Stan?! And all the others?!" Dipper babbled on.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Good things come to those who wait... besides, haven't you seen the movies about time travel? Does anything good come from knowing about your future?" said Alcor.

"Well… yes… no… Gah, I don't know!" yelled Dipper at the look-alike. Alcor just busied himself… running into a tree.

"Man, it's good to have a physical form again. I wonder if I'm even stronger than Bill Cipher was when- whoops… need to be careful about what I talk about, especially in the present company. But, still, I wonder if I can actually have a family now… a normal-ish, human family… that'd be nice," Alcor muttered to himself, a distant look on his face.

"What are you talking about?" said Dipper.

"That's irrelevant, Dipper. Let's talk about you, for I sense that you have some serious emotional issues," said Alcor before snapping his fingers and causing a black leather office chair and a black leather therapy chair to appear out of thin air. "Sit," said Alcor, pointing towards the therapy chair while he sat down in the office chair.

Dipper, not having the slightest clue what was going, laid down in the therapy chair, which was surprisingly comfortable.

"Now, then, Dipper, what seems to be the issue? Remember, I'm you so I'll be able to figure it out even if you say nothing," said Alcor, summoning a notepad and a pen out of thin air.

Dipper heaved a sigh and began telling his counterpart all about his struggles with being manly, starting from the manliness tester incident all the way up to right before meeting Alcor. As Dipper talked, Alcor paid close attention, despite doodling on his notepad at the same time.

Once Dipper had finished talking, Alcor leaned forward into his chair and spoke. "Well, Dipper, I can safely say that I've been through exactly what you're going through. Although, in my version of today, I met these creatures called Manotaurs, and they taught me how to become their definition of a man. But, when they sent me on a quest to kill a creature known as the Multi-Bear, great guy by the way, I simply couldn't do it. In truth, he was the one who taught me how to be a man. You see, Dipper, a manliness tester can't tell you what kind of man you are. Only you, and those around you that help define you can tell you what kind of man you are. And from what I know about being you, you're the kind of man who does what he thinks is the right thing to do, even if nobody agrees with you and turns against you," the dream demon said with a small smile on his face, something that his younger counterpart returned.

"Wow. Thanks, man," said Dipper.

"Any time, Dipper. Now, then," said Alcor, dispelling the chairs, putting on his hat, making a stylized cane with what appeared to be an ebony horned sheep's head on the top appear out of thin air, and repairing his suit with a snap of his fingers. "I believe you have an old man and a twin sister who might be a little concerned about where you've wandered off to. And I need to discuss living arrangements with the old man as well. Shall we go to the Mystery Shack, Dipper?"

…

Several minutes later, we find Dipper and Alcor arriving at the clearing where the Mystery Shack was located.

"WOW, it's been awhile since I was here… maybe I can blow it up quicker this time?" Alcor asked himself, the fingers on his hand looking as though they were just itching to snap and blow the Shack to smithereens.

Dipper, for his part, was puzzled, and a little bit concerned. "When did we blow up the Shack?" he asked his future self.

"Spoilers, Dipper."

"Oh, right," said Dipper as he and Alcor reached the front entrance of the Mystery Shack and walked inside just in time to hear Mabel say something about how Soos was going to be playing Lazy Susan.

"I'm soft, like a woman," said the voice of Soos.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" asked Dipper as he and Alcor walked into the living room, causing Grunkle Stan, Soos (who was dressed up like Lazy Susan for some reason), Wendy Corduroy, and Mabel to look over at them and immediately adopt expressions ranging from confusion to surprised.

"Okay, maybe it's my cataracts acting up, but I think I'm seeing two Dippers over there, one of them looks like the normal Dipper, the other one seems well dressed, taller, and more teenager-y than normal," said Stan.

"No, Mr. Pines, I'm seeing two Dippers too," said Soos while Mabel nodded in agreement.

"And call me crazy, but the taller Dipper in the suit is kinda hot…" said Wendy before realizing what she just said and adopting an embarrassed sort of look.

"Well, this is getting weird," said Alcor, adopting his own embarrassed look. "I guess I should explain, but first, I'm gonna move in. Say, is that room where the evil wax figures used to be still open?"

And thus concludes Chapter One! If you liked what you saw here, then be sure to fav, follow, and review! And I'll see you guys next time!