Oh yeah… the next morning.
It's been over a week since I fell from the sky and my reality decided to completely ignore all laws of logic. And surprisingly... I'm starting to get used to it.
Which was a bit scary in itself. I had gradually come to terms with my new reality and had basically unified my life on earth and what I knew about the real Rimuru from the Cardinal World and accepted it together as my past.
I was sitting on the wooden steps outside the Mystery Shack, leaning against the railing, watching the morning bustle. The sun was slowly rising above the trees, the air was crisp, and everything felt… calm. "This part of the day feels suspiciously normal," I muttered.
"START!!!" I suddenly heard from the hut and I headed there.
When I reached the kitchen I saw Dipper and Mabel holding a syrup bottle resembling some slight Victorian-looking people above their mouths and shouting at them "Go for it sir syrup!" I moved closer and I moved closer and leaned against the fur while trying to understand what exactly I was watching.
Dipper and Mabel stood facing each other, both leaning back, a bottle of maple syrup over their heads, waiting with complete determination for gravity to decide their fate. The syrup slowly slid down… reluctantly… as if it wasn't sure if it wanted to be a part of this either.
"Go ahead, Sir Syrup!" Mabel encouraged her bottle as if it were her personal knight.
"This isn't about luck," Dipper muttered in concentration. "It's about technique."
"It's about faith!" she immediately countered.
I just watched them for a while.
Then I sighed. "...I won't even ask."
They both turned to me at the same time.
"Rimuru!" Mabel beamed. "You're right on time! It's the SYRUP RACE!"
"I guessed that," I nodded. "The question is… why?"
Dipper downed the bottle and wiped his mouth. "It's tradition."
"It's a competition!" Mabel added.
"It's unhygienic," I added.
"It's FUN!" Mabel concluded.
…fair enough.
"And where is Stan?" I asked.
"Here!" a voice called from behind me.
I turned around just as Stan flew past me, started talking to us, "Good morning kids, do you know what day it is today?", after which Dipper and Mabel started guessing, "Is it our anniversary?", "mazel tov?", so I decided to add, with a smirk on my lips, "Monday?"
Stan looked at us with a frown, "No, it's a public holiday, so we'll close the shop and go hang out. And you newbie, you're coming with us." When I wasn't even given a choice, I just got in the car with them and went on a trip.
After about thirty minutes of Stan's terrible driving, we finally all arrived at the place and surprisingly, all of us. Since we, Dipper and Mabel, were blindfolded, we waited for Stan to untie them for us, "Okay, okay, open them!"
When I opened them I immediately remembered what was going to happen, the whole episode came back to my mind as if I was watching it right now, which is actually not that strange, it wasn't that long ago "hahaha" I laughed quietly and Dipper turned to me slightly, which didn't take long because Stan spoke "Ta-da! It's fishing season!"
There was literally no enthusiasm here, even though Stan tried to convince us that the whole town was here, he even gave us hats, but I still had the nickname "the new one" on mine, I've been there for over a week and he still doesn't remember my name, jesus, and to make it even worse, he brought a book of 1001 jokes with him! "Oh my God…" was my only reaction to that, I'm probably not the only one who knows how absolutely awful these jokes are, before we could continue our conversation, the local lunatic McGucket ran in and threw tables around and pushed people away "I saw it! I saw it again!"
"There's a monster in the lake, come see it before it disappears!!!"
Then he ran in front of Mabel and started to squirm strangely "Yeeee… the old man is dancing", the moment she finished saying that he grabbed her by the arms "No, it's cramps!" Then McGucket's son probably came out of the cabin, who finally sprayed him with a spray bottle "Hey, hey! What did I tell you about scaring the customer? This is your last warning, Dad!"
"But this time I have proof, damn it!" McGucket then led everyone to the dock and showed them the wrecked ship. "LOOK! That water monster did it! It had a long neck like a giraffe! And wrinkled skin like... like this gentleman here!" and pointed at Stan
Stan didn't look very friendly after that, "What?" And McGucket continued, "She ate my ship to pieces and then she moved to the Isle of Words! YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME!" Then Sheriff Blubs came up to him and started shouting loudly, "Attention all troops! We have a crazy old man here!"
Everyone but us and his son mocks McGucket and points fingers at him. His son just shakes his head in disappointment while McGucket walks away with his head down.
McGucket finally got offended and left and we slowly got ready for the boat, and Mabel and Dipper tried to convince Stan to go to Cowards Island to take a picture of Loch Ness, but at that moment Soos rushed up and started honking loudly "Hey guys, did you guys say anything about hunting the monster?"
"Hello, Soos" We all greeted him collectively
"You can use my boat for the hunt. It has a steering wheel, seats, just normal boat stuff." Soos offered, but Stan didn't look pleased. "Okay, okay, let's think about it. You kids can waste time on some epic monster-hunting adventure, or you can spend the whole day learning to tie knots and spear worms with your great-uncle Stan!"
The three of us turned to Soos doing the robot dance in the ship, and then back to Stan in his leaky old ship, probably the difference in comfort alone made it all easier for us.
When we were already sitting in Soos' boat, Stan spoke to us, "So what do you say?" The twins drive off laughing with Soos, and I sit in the back, heading towards the island and. I leave Stan behind.
After we set off for the Island and turned around on Thursday for a detour for sunscreen and then back, Dipper walked back and forth on the boat right in front of us and started talking to us, "Okay. If we want to win this contest, we have to do it right! Think about it. What's the biggest problem with most monster hunts?"
And Sooss immediately started guessing "You're a supporting character and you're going to die in the first five minutes of the movie. Dude, am I a supporting character?! Do you ever think about things like that?" Which threw Dipper off "No, no, no. Camera problem! Let's say Bigfoot shows up. Soos, be Bigfoot?" And Soos slightly expanded his character to look more like a bear than a Bigfoot and Dipper continued his demonstration "Here it is! Bigfoot! Oh, no, I don't have a camera! Wait, here's one! But oh, no film! See? See what I mean?"
I immediately react like a good partner "Yeah, if you're stupid, you should be prepared for anything, like a broken camera, there's no film, etc." My reaction surprised Dippro, even though it surprisingly brought a smile to his lips. "Right, I'm glad someone understands," but a second later he probably completely understood what I said and immediately said "HEY!"
Then we continued the lecture again, "That's why I bought 21 disposable cameras! (points at them and counts them) Two on my ankle, three in my jacket, four for each of you, three spares in this bag, and one... under my hat! There's no way we're going to miss it. Okay, everyone, let's try out the cameras!"
Soos took the camera and took a picture of himself, and because of the flash he got scared and threw it into the water. "Ah, oops" I watched with a smile where this was going "Twenty" Unfortunately Dippra somehow got derailed and continued "See? That's why we need backup cameras."
A bird had just flown over Mabel and she threw another camera at it "Yikes bird" I, who was watching, tried to hold back my laughter. Dipper stood on the deck and tried to keep order, even though it was clear from the start that this was going to be a fight "Okay guys, I repeat – don't lose your cameras!"
Soos immediately stopped and blinked. "Wait... lose the cameras?" "NO!" Dipper blurted out. "Dude, I just threw two away," Soos announced, completely calm. "Seventeen," I said, as I continued to watch the situation fall apart even faster.
Dipper immediately turned around. "Stop counting down! I know we still have—"
CRACK.
One of the cameras ended up crushed in his hand. And I just calmly remarked, "Sixteen." Dipper gave me an irritated look, but before he could say anything, Mabel spoke up. "So what's the plan? Throw more cameras overboard or what?"
"NO!" Dipper blurted out. "Okay. You and Rimuru will be on patrol, Soos will drive, and I'll be the captain."
Mabel immediately said, "Why you, captain? What about Mabel, huh?!" and started chanting. "Ma-bel! Ma-bel! Ma-bel!"
"I'm not sure if this is a good idea..." Dipper muttered.
"And what about the co-captain?" Mabel quickly asked.
"No," Dipper said firmly. Meanwhile, Mabel wriggled slightly and accidentally dropped one of the cameras overboard. "Oops..."
Dipper just ruffled his hair. "Fine! Co-captain exists."
Soos immediately volunteered, "Can I be a co-captain?"
"As co-captain, I approve!" Mabel said seriously. And I just sighed. "This is going to be a long day." Dipper then took a breath and tried to get back to the plan. "Okay. Our main task is to lure the monster out with this." He pointed to the barrel of fish food. Soos immediately leaned over. "Permission to taste?"
"Permitted," Dipper said. "Co-permitted!" Mabel added. "Co-captain AsiStant approves the permit!" Soos said, scooping up some of the mixture, tasting it, and immediately grinning. "Dude… I don't know what I expected." I laughed lightly along with Dipper and Mabel. "Oh, Soos…" Dipper sighed.
After a while of sailing and constantly throwing fish food, they arrived at a small island in the middle of the lake. Soos immediately leaned over to the sign. "Dude, look at that." he covered part of the sign. "Butt Island." Mabel burst out laughing. "Soos!"
Dipper didn't pay much attention to it though. "Okay, focus.", "Hey!" Mabel turned to Dipper. "Why aren't you laughing? Are you scared?", "Pff, me? No!" Dipper started.
At that moment I quietly walked behind him and shouted. "Baf.", "AAH!" Dipper jumped. I just looked at him and said. "He's definitely scared." Soos laughed, Mabel too. "But seriously," I continued after a moment, "we've been here for twenty minutes and nothing."
And just at that moment, a deep growl sounded from afar.
Everyone fell silent. "...It was nothing," Dipper tried.
"What was that?" Mabel asked. "Was that your stomach?" and turned to Soos. "No," Soos replied proudly. "My stomach normally sounds like a whale."
Mabel leaned over and listened. A deep, oceanic sound came from his stomach. "Wow..." Mabel said, moved. "That's... majestic."
Just then, a possum rushed out of the bushes, grabbed Dipper's lantern, and disappeared. "Hey! Our lantern!" Dipper shouted. "We won't see anything now!", "Dude... maybe it's not worth it," Soos said cautiously.
But Dipper immediately turned around. "Isn't it worth it?! Imagine what if we actually find that monster!"
As we continued deeper into the forest, Soos started beatboxing and Mabel immediately caught on to the rhythm.
"My name is Mabel, it rhymes with table..." she began rapping.
Soos joined in. "Dude, we should write this down."
Dipper suddenly called out, "Guys, guys, guys! Can you hear something?"
A deep, wet growl came from afar, floating over the surface of the lake like something that shouldn't be there. A flock of birds immediately shot out of the reeds and disappeared into the mist without hesitation, as if they knew exactly that this was not their problem.
"This is it! This is it!" Dipper exclaimed excitedly, then gripped the camera tighter and without hesitation led the group forward. The fog thickened, the water splashed softly at the shore, and the entire lake seemed to be holding its breath.
The foursome continue walking through the fog. Soos suddenly stops the group when he spots the silhouette of a lake monster. They all quickly hide behind a log.
And Dipper tells us all to "Get our cameras ready!" We each took a picture and at that moment Mabel says "This is going to be EPIC!" and Soos just nods enthusiastically
But when the fog lifted, it revealed a shipwreck in the shape of a monster with a bunch of beavers, which Soos started taking pictures of. I turned to Dipper, who just said disappointedly, "Well... so much for the contest."
As Soos continues to take pictures of the beavers posing for him, Dipper looks down sadly and says, "What are we going to tell Uncle Stan? We left him for nothing..." Dipper throws a rock into the lake and sighs. The rock he's sitting on suddenly starts shaking. "Hey... guys, can you feel it?"
The rock sank under the water and Dipper fell into the lake. So I quickly pulled him out. The silhouette of Loch Ness flashes and floats away. Dipper's mood immediately changed "This is it! Come on! This is our chance!"
While Dipper continues to take pictures, It's Me along with Soos and Mabel begin to back away. "What's wrong with you?"
"Dipper... Let's go... Now...!" I shouted at him, but he kept going "It's not that hard, okay? Just aim and press. Like this!"
Dipper turns around and finally notices that the Loch Ness is standing right in front of him. The monster roars on all fours and is about to eat Dipper, but I quickly push it away and start yelling at everyone, "RUN!!!!"
We all started running, chased by the monster.. While running, Dipper drops the camera. "Camera!", Dipper wanted to go back for it, but Mabel and I grabbed him and dragged him further.
We ran back to the boat, jumped in and started to drive away, but it kept chasing us, so thanks to the diary we turned it into a waterfall. In the passage to the cave the monster got stuck and Dipper remembered the last camera he had under his hat and started taking pictures of the stuck monster
Then Mabel asks him, "Do you have at least one good one?" and Dipper replies, "THEY'RE ALL GOOD!"
The monster kept roaring, but suddenly a rock hit it. Its head dropped and there was an electric sound. Which surprised us all and me and Dipper stepped closer and touched the monster's side.
Dipper tapped the body, "metal?" I asked, acting unsuspecting, Dipper eventually climbed all the way up."Hey, guys! Come check it out!"
We all went up to it and found the handle, turned it and steam came out. The trapdoor opened and inside sat Old McGucket.
Dipper started to think, "What— You— You?! You built this? W-w-why?" McGucket replied.""Well, I... I just... wanted some attention.", Confused Dipper still continued the conversation"I still don't understand it.", McGucket "First I made a biomechanical brainwave generator, and then I learned to drive with a gear stick with my beard!", Mabel suddenly asked "Okay, yeah. But why did you do that?"
McGucket "When you're as old as I am, no one pays attention to you anymore… So I thought I'd get some attention with a fifteen-ton water robot! It seems a bit forced in retrospect. You just don't know what we old people will go through to spend some quality time with our families…"
Mabel "So have you ever told your son how you feel?"
McGucket continued, "No, I went straight to building a robot! I've built a lot of robots in my life! Like when my wife left me, I built a killer pterodactyl-tron, or when my buddy Ernie didn't come to my retirement party. And I built an eighty-ton ROBOT OF SHAME THAT DESTROYED THE ENTIRE CITY CENTER! Well, time to get back to work on the death ray! Don't any of you kids have a screwdriver?"
Dipper takes out his camera and takes a picture of him. "Well, that's it for the photo contest." Mabel asked. "You still have one movie left." I said. "What do you want to do with it?"
(Time skipe)
Right now, Stan is steering the boat back to shore and sighs in defeat when he suddenly hears the click of a camera. He sees us approaching him in an extremely damaged boat.
""What the hell kids? I thought you were playing "Spin the Bottle" with Soos!", Dipper immediately responded "Well, we spent the whole day looking for the "legendary" dinosaur."and Mabel continued "But then we realized that the only dinosaur we want to spend time with is right here."
"Spare me the pity! I had a great time without you! I made friends, talked to my own reflection, even had a conflict with the lake police! Now I have to wear this ankle bracelet, it will be fun." Stan didn't show his joy, but he clearly had it.
""So... there's probably no room in that boat for four more, huh?" Dipper asked promptly. Stan looks at us wearing the hats he gave us and smiles with a sigh.
At the end of the day, we took a picture with our camera, which ended up falling into the water...
(Hi, today I really stuck to the original work, and as you can see, it didn't turn out very well. That's why I want to inform you that from the next chapter it won't be as "perfect" and accurate as the original. I think it will be better that way, because then I wouldn't enjoy the writing and probably you wouldn't enjoy the reading, but I'd appreciate your opinion. Thank you for your understanding, have a nice rest of the day -M.)