Dipper tore down the stairs, pulling a t-shirt over his warmer, long-sleeved one. "Grunkle Ford! Grunkle Ford, have you seen Mabel?"

Ford stuck a finger in his ear, wincing at Dipper's loud voice. "No, I haven't seen her all morning. Which means I need you to—"

"Sorry, Grunkle Ford, but I gotta go find Mabel — see ya later, bye!" Dipper ran out the door and slammed it behind him before Ford could stop him. Thumping his way down the porch steps, he ran from the Mystery Museum into the town of Gravity Rises.

"Mabel's probably in the woods somewhere," he said to himself. "But it's easier to start around town, right? Gah, I shouldn't have let her just run off like that." She'd been gone for at least an hour.

Dipper shivered and quickened his pace. Why did it have to be so dang cold in this town? He liked playing in the snow, but in this weather it was no fun being a kid who always wore shorts. He ran down the mostly empty streets, scanning for Mabel.

A flash of movement caught the corner of his eye. Dipper skidded to a stop and backtracked a couple steps, turning to the source of the motion. Then he gasped loudly. A boy about Dipper's age was sitting in a tiny alley between two buildings — and there was a lizard on his shoulder.

A smaller girl sat next to the boy; the pair jumped at Dipper's loud gasp and turned to look at him. "Uh, hi," the boy said. His voice was surprisingly deep.

"Hi!" Dipper said. "Is that a pet lizard?"

The boy grinned. "Yep. His name's Fred." His face fell a bit. "I really should be getting him home, but. . ."

"But what?" Dipper asked.

"None of your business!" the girl exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Compared to Dipper she was small; compared to her friend she was tiny.

"Hey, Candy, chill," the boy told her. "He's just asking." He got to his feet as well, brushing dirt off his pants. "I'm Greyson," he said, extending a hand to shake Dipper's.

Dipper gave him a fist bump instead. "Dipper Pines! I get my name from my birthmark, look!" He lifted up his bangs to show the Big Dipper birthmark that sat proudly on his forehead.

"Woah, cool!" Greyson said. His deep voice resonated in a way that a tween boy's shouldn't be able to, but his larger girth seemed to be partly responsible. "I wish I had a cool name like that. Candy goes by Candy because—"

"He doesn't need to know that!" Candy yelped. Her eyebrows drew together. "Dipper isn't actually your name, is it?"

Dipper shrugged. "Well, no. It's a nickname. But it's a cool one, isn't it?" He grinned at Candy.

She didn't seem impressed.

"Sure," she said. "Well, I think — get down!"

Next thing he knew, Dipper was pulled into the alleyway by a tiny girl with deceptive strength. He tumbled past her, landed in the dust with a small moan. Candy leapt over him to get deeper into the alley while Greyson crouched next to him, shooting him a sympathetic look.

"What—?"

Greyson clapped a hand over Dipper's mouth, shaking his head. Dipper pushed the hand away and gave the boy a confused look.

"I thought I saw something, over here," a voice said from the street. Dipper could hear footsteps growing closer. He opened his mouth to whisper something, but he was once again cut off by Candy giving him a threatening glare.

"Where are you hiding, freaks?" a different voice said. Well, Dipper thought, that wasn't very nice. Was the voice talking to Candy and Greyson?

"Over here!" another voice called.

Suddenly, Dipper felt himself being pushed forward, and he looked back in alarm to see Candy shoving him. Greyson started frantically shaking his head, but Candy looked determined. She pushed at Dipper again. It was like she was wanting him to go talk to whoever was out there. Dipper shrugged and started for the entrance to the alleyway.

He exited to see a group of four boys headed towards him. "Hey there!" he said, waving. "Looking for anybody?"

"Who are you?" one of the boys asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Name's Dipper Pines!"

"As in, Stanford Pines?" another boy asked.

"Yep, he's my great uncle!"

A third boy rolled his eyes. "Seen any freaks around here?"

"Nope, just some new friends. I have a birthmark, though, that — Hey!"

The fourth boy looked back and forth between Dipper and Dipper's pointing finger. "Don't point at me," he said, sounding offended.

"I know you!" Dipper said. "You were at—"

The boy turned his nose up with a swish of his white cape. "Well, I'm certain you know of me, but you certainly don't know me. I'd never be seen with riffraff like you."

A couple of his friends chuckled.

Dipper frowned. "But you were at the warehouse when. . . Gideon, right? That's your name?"

"Gideon Northwest, of course," Gideon replied, folding his arms. Dipper could see the blue amulet on his chest, where it fastened his cape. That amulet had magical powers, if Dipper wasn't mistaken. "You must be new in town if you don't even remember my name."

"Well, yeah, Mabel and I are just visiting our Grunkle for the winter. But, dude, you showed up when—"

"Felix, Vincent, Marius, don't you have some freaks to find? I bet they're around here somewhere, and this kid is just a decoy." At that, the three boys grinned and started for the alleyway.

"Wait—" Dipper started, but Gideon grabbed his arm.

"Listen, kid, I was not at the Pleasure warehouse that night, got it?"

"But you were!" Dipper replied. "You stopped Mabel and me from smashing Pacifica's amulet!"

"Yeah, and you're welcome," Gideon replied. "If you'd succeeded, she would've made your life miserable. But, as far as anybody is concerned, that night didn't happen."

Dipper narrowed his eyes. He generally liked people, but this Gideon was going too far. He pulled his arm away from Gideon's grasp. "As far as my sister is concerned, it happened. She's getting nightmares about what Pacifica did to her! In fact, I should be out looking for her, because she ran away this morning!"

"Not my problem. I didn't tell Pacifica to do what she did. Pacifica is insane, and I'm the only one who can stop her, so you'd best be grateful that I intervened. And, in return, you keep your mouth shut about all of it. Got it? No mentioning Pacifica, the warehouse, the amulets, nothing."

"I'm not just gonna lie about it."

"You don't have to lie about anything," Gideon replied, sounding exasperated. "Just don't say anything to people who don't need to hear about it."

"You sound just like Mabel," Dipper muttered, thinking of her silent crush on Robbie.

"Then maybe your sister is worth something. Aren't you supposed to be looking for her?"

Dipper wasn't sure, but he thought Gideon just insulted his sister. And that was not okay.

"There you are, freaks!"

Dipper turned to see Greyson and Candy being dragged out of the alleyway. Greyson was held by two of Gideon's friends, who looked exactly the same, while the third handled a thrashing Candy who looked like she was trying to bite him.

"Hey, what's going on?" Dipper demanded.

"Keep ahold of the little one, Felix," Gideon laughed. That made the other two Vincent and Marius. They must've been twins.

"Let them go!" Dipper said.

Vincent, or maybe it was Marius, shot Dipper a jeering expression. "We can't do that."

Marius, or maybe it was Vincent, grinned in a similar manner. "They're freaks. We have to teach them a lesson."

Greyson struggled against the bullyboys, who were about the same size as he. "Fred! I gotta get Fred, or he'll freeze!"

Dipper noticed Greyson's little lizard had fallen onto the cold street. Without thinking, Dipper dashed forward and snatched up the lizard, cupping it in his hands to give it warmth. "Let Greyson go," he told Vincent and Marius. "It isn't nice to call people names."

"It's tradition, Pines," said Gideon, sauntering up to him. "They're used to it."

Dipper almost clenched his fists, but then remembered he was still holding Fred. "You can't just—"

Felix yelped suddenly, dropping Candy and sinking to his knees. Candy landed on all fours, leaving Felix to moan and cover the tender spot in which she'd kicked him, and dashed towards the twins holding Greyson. What she lacked in size, she made up for in speed; with a battle cry, she launched herself at Marius, grabbing his arm and biting down. Marius screamed, letting go of Greyson and stumbling back. Greyson, with his arm now free, brought it around to punch Vincent in the gut.

Dipper watched in awe as, thanks to Candy and Greyson, Gideon's friends were incapacitated in a matter of seconds. "C'mon!" Candy yelled to Dipper, running away with Greyson on her heels. Dipper jumped into action and raced after them, looking back only once so he could shoot a triumphant grin in Gideon's direction.

"This way!" said Greyson, and he slid into a turn. "Do you have Fred?"

"Yeah," Dipper panted between breaths. "Yeah, he's here."

They ran for another block before Greyson made a hard right and dashed up the front steps of what Dipper assumed was his house. He threw open the door and ran in with Dipper and Candy behind him. Candy closed the door, and they all skidded to a stop in the entry way, breathing heavily.

"What. . . just happened?" Dipper asked, catching his breath. He held out his hands and offered Fred to Greyson, who had his hands on his knees.

Candy didn't look nearly as winded as her friend. "You distracted them for us, that's what happened. Thanks, Dip."

"Uh, you're welcome," Dipper replied, still not exactly sure what had transpired.

"Sorry you had to see that," Greyson said, slipping Fred into a tank nearby. "Those guys have been after me basically my whole life. But ever since Candy has started hanging out with me, we've been able to get away from them more often."

"What do they have against you?" Dipper asked.

Greyson shrugged. "I'm a fat kid with a lizard and a weird voice," he replied. "What else do they need?"

"That's stupid!" Dipper said. "Kids used to try to make fun of me for my birthmark, but it's way too awesome for that to work. And so's your lizard, and your voice."

"Really?" Greyson asked, blinking. "I. . . I've never thought of it that way."

"Well, it's true!" Dipper replied. He grinned.

Greyson grinned back.

"You're a cool kid," Candy said, giving Dipper a punch on the arm.

Dipper laughed, rubbing his arm. "Ow," he said through his smiling teeth. That was going to leave a bruise.

There was a beat of silence as the three new friends looked at each other and smiled. Then Dipper's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, I gotta go find Mabel!"

"Who?" Greyson asked.

"My twin sister. She went to go for a walk this morning, but she went into the forest, and she'd just had some nightmares, and she could be anywhere now. I gotta go find her. It was nice meeting you guys!" Dipper turned the doorknob on Greyson's front door before feeling a strong hand on his wrist. He looked back to see Candy. "What?"

"We're coming with you," Candy declared. "Don't want you to get lost too."

Dipper blinked. He was all for company; but if they went with him, they might find out about Pacifica and what she had done to him and Mabel. And Gideon said not to tell anyone.

Well, who cared what Gideon Northwest said? That jerk had tried to beat up Dipper's new friends! And besides, Candy and Greyson didn't have to find out. Dipper's face split into another grin.

"Great! Thanks, guys! Let's go!"

Finding Dipper's sister was more important than Gideon Northwest and his pride any day.