Dipper's POV
"This all stops... Now!" Just before my hand touched the red button, my so-called great uncle interrupted."Don't touch that button!" He pleaded, breathing heavily. "Dipper, just back away," he paused. "Please don't press that shutdown button, you've gotta trust me,"
"And I should trust you why? After you stole radioactive waste? After you lied to us all summer? I don't even know who you are!" I snarled at him.
Stan shook his head."Look, I know this all seems nuts, but I need that machine to stay on. If you just let me explain-" His watch beeped. "Uh-oh. Oh no! Brace yourselves!"
Suddenly an unknown force lifted us off the ground, defying the laws of gravity. We all shouted in terror. "T-minus thirty-five seconds," the timer announced. I was flung against one of the wooden support beams, and hung on as hard as I could.
"Dipper!" my sister yelled. I looked to her in alarm, and spotted her, by the shutdown switch, her foot caught around a cord. "Mabel! Hurry! Shut it down!" I yelled to her. She nodded and started to climb down to the button.
"No!" Stan yelled, and he launched off the wall. By now Mabel was about to press the red button. "Mabel, Mabel, wait! Stop!" Suddenly Soos rammed into Stan to stop him from getting any closer. My great uncle looked at Soos, surprised. "Soos, what are you doing?" He paused his speech to try and push Soos away. "I gave you an order!" Soos looked at Grunkle Stan apologetically. "Sorry Mr.Pines - if that is your real name - but I have a new mission now: Protecting these kids!" Stan scowled at Soos. "Soos, you idiot, let me go!" I couldn't take being helpless anymore. I launched myself off of the wooden beam to join the two. We fought for a bit. When I was able, I shouted, "Mabel! Press the red button! Shut it down!" Stan pushed me down. "No, you can't! You've gotta trust me!" Tears were streaming down Mabel's face- or rather, up her face. "Grunkle Stan, I don't even know if you're my Grunkle!" She sniffed. This seemed to delay the chaos a bit, and nobody moved, I just watched the most terrible sight I had ever seen, watching the most optimistic person I know, my twin sister, cry. "I wanna believe you, but-"
Stan's eyes widened. "Then listen to me! Remember this morning when I said I wanted to tell you guys something?"
"T-minus twenty seconds," the timer updated us. A new surge of power came to the three of us, and we were pushed against the wall. Mabel, however, was still by the button. Stan looked down. "I wanted to say that you're going to hear some bad things about me, and some of them are true. But trust me, everything I've worked for, everything I care about, it's all for this family!" I rose my voice. "Mabel, what if he's lying? This thing could destroy the universe, listen to your head!" Mabel took a short glance into the portal. Stan called out to her."Look into my eyes, Mabel. Do you really think I'm a bad guy?"
'No,no,no. Mabel, don't,don't you dare!' I said to myself.
I clenched my jaw. "He's lying! Shut it down now!"
"Mabel,please!"
'No,no, Mabel, you can't! Please don't pick him over me...' I thought.
"Ten, nine, eight-"
Mabel rested her hand over the button.
"Grunkle Stan..."
"Six, five-"
She raised her hand up.
'Please, please, Mabel. Don't do this to me.' I begged in my head.
She let go. "I trust you." She floated in front of the portal, which created quite a beautiful sight, but I has worse things to worry about.
"Mabel, are you crazy? We're all gonna-"
"One." The portal spun as fast as ever now. For a second there was only blinding light, then I think I lost consciousness. 'Am I dead?' I thought. Eventually, I felt my body hit the ground. So I wasn't dead. I woke up. I rubbed my head and looked at the damage all around me. The machine was on the ground, but still working. A figure stepped out, covered by a black robe and armed with a rifle. He stepped forward. He reached down, and grabbed Journal One. He put his six-fingered handprint over the six-fingered handprint of the book. I looked at Stan. "Wha- who is that?"
Stan looked straight at the figure. "The author of the journals." The figure pulled down the cloth covering his face that looked quite like Stan's. "My brother." We all let our jaws run slack. Mabel jokingly remarked, "Is this the part where one of us faints?" Soos raised his hand voluntarily. "Oh, I am so on it dude." He flopped over.
