Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Gravity Falls. Any resemblance or mention to existing properties is part of the fic, a reference, or just something that I thought would be cool to include.

Chapter 1: Welcome Back to Gravity Falls

"And over here, we have-" the tour ground to a halt as the chubby, suited, energetic Jesus Alzamirano Ramirez, owner of the Mystery Shack, noticed a pair of technically-teenagers hop out of a parked bus, immediately start intermingling with the nearby crowd, and asking around, probably wondering where Soos himself, or perhaps the Stan Pines twins. After all, the kids probably had no idea that the two of them weren't yet due to arrive until a week after they had, since they were still probably wrapping up whatever anomaly they had discovered in the Arctic Ocean.

Whatever. Soos never asked about it, since he was sure that his old boss and his brother probably didn't want to dilvulge any sensitive intelligence, for fear of attracting unwanted attention. It wasn't like he understood half of it, anyway. After all, he was a handyman, not a scientist.

However, running the Mystery Shack had always been a dearly held dream of his; even if he never voiced such desires within earshot of the grumpy old conman known as Stanley Pines. Even though he had Melody and his new hire, that was still only three people to look after a rotting, old tourist trap that barely let them get by.

It was the best thing that ever happened to the man-child that was Soos Ramirez.

Six months had passed since Mayor Tyler had passed the "Never Mind All That" act, and the younger Pines twins were due to start the first days of their summer. Unsurprisingly, they urged their parents to let them go to the quiet town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, even if it took a little more convincing to let them stay at a cabin with a man they hadn't met before, rather than the untrustworthy family that was their Grunkle Stan.

Mabel always wore one of her trademark sweaters, and this one was no exception, if the glitter and knitted Rubik's cube embroidered on the front was any clue. She also seemed to have foregone a skirt, and now sported a pair of dark blue jeans, with a matching pair of navy high tops adorning her feet.

Dipper, on the other hand, wore a plain navy blue t-shirt under a red windbreaker: a inverse on the colors he had somehow sported the entire summer prior. He too had also worn a pair of blue jeans today, and wore a pair of identical shoes to Mabel's. His head was adorned with Wendy Corduroy's lumberjack hat, which, if Soos knew him well (which he did), had probably never left his line of sight through the entire eighth grade.

They had both grown a bit, at least half a foot each, with Mabel probably taking the lead due to her extra millimeter's head start. They both looked like proper "teens" now, and would likely avoid the Dusk 2 Dawn convenience store, no matter how friendly they were with the owners' spirits.

"Hey dudes!" Soos broke out of his "Mr. Mystery" persona for but a second to greet the ki- teens. Don't wanna make that mistake again.

"Soos!" Mabel and Dipper Pines exclaimed at once and simultaneously. Soos wondered if it was a twin thing when they did that.

"Sorry about having to leave you hangin', dudes," Soos replied, "I gotta take care of a few more tours for the day before I can show you your rooms. But while you wait, I know someone who will handle things 'till I get back."

"Melody?" Mabel was curious as to how the two were running things with only Wendy to man the booth, since they were down four workers, as Mabel and Dipper were at school, and the Stans were somewhere off in the Arctic Ocean punching giant squids in the face. Soos shook his head.

"Nah, bro. Got a new hire. Should be fixing up that broken ice cream machine she's been workin' o-"

"-ICE CREAM?!" exploded Mabel, not even giving Soos anymore luxuries such as finishing sentences. "Sorry Soos, Mabel's gotten an addiction to ice cream over the school year." Dipper quickly explained, simultaneously trying to calm Mabel down... to no avail.

"Sorry to disappoint you Mabel" Soos began with difficulty, not wanting to enrage the obviously vicious icecream craving savage. "The ice cream machine was broken when I got it, my new employee has been trying to fix it."

"I'LL FIX IT! I WILL GIVE FREEDOM TO ALL CREAM FLAVORED ICE! WHERE IS IT?!" shouted Mabel, posing in a theatrical demeanor attracting the strange looks of some of the Mystery Shack's tourists.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting something?" Mabel blinked before widening her eyes in realization, letting go of her dramatic stance.

"That's right! Waddles!" Mabel's favorite (okay, only. But that didn't mean that he wasn't the best pig in the world) pet pig hopped out of the bus, completely oblivious to the seething glare that the driver threw his way, and waddled over to the siblings.

"So who's this 'one-who-works-on-icecream-machine'?" Quizzed Dipper, offering a grin as the hog reached them.

"Look for a 'Shack cap, a shirt with a rose on it, and red headphones. You might have to get her attention first, though. She loves her rad jams." Soos air guitared for a second to emphasize his point with "rad jams".

Dipper and Mabel shared a look before shrugging. Feeling he needed to avoid an awkward silence, Dipper flipped his sister's long locks out from behind her over onto her face.

"Last one to the 'Shack has to give Grunkle Stan a foot massage when we next see him!" Dipper took off like a speeding bullet towards the old wooden home, leaving Mabel in the dust.

"Hey, no *ptoo* fair!" Mabel spat a few times before flipping her hair back into its rightful place and dashing after her brother, determined to regain the distance she had lost, falling ito his trap.

"..." Soos was voiceless for a moment. It warmed his heart that the two hadn't changed a bit in the way they interacted with each other. Shaking his silly emotions off for the time being, he returned his attention back to the tour group he had stalled with his new summer charges and immediately shifted back to Mr. Mystery.

"And here we have a rock. But it looks like a face. But is it a rock, or is it a face? It's the rock-that-looks-like-a-face rock. Any questions?"

"Does it look like a rock?"

"No, it looks like a face."

"Is it a face?"

"It's a rock that looks like a face!"

The wooden door slammed open with a bang as Dipper looked inside. It was a mess, with haphazardly placed furniture and gift shop things being put in so many random places that it was surely against some local governmental regulations. It looked just like summer home sweet home, but the leaky pipe in the roof that neither Stans had ever bothered to bother Soos about fixing was completely dry, and the place lacked any mold, mildew, or cobwebs anywhere, which was a first for the old tourist trap. Dipper figured that he could ask Soos about it later.

"Hey, Mabel," Dipper said, turning on his heel before crossing the threshold, "Looks like you're gonna give Stan that massa-" He was abruptly cut off by Mabel, who crashed into him, and the two teens simultaneously fell to the floor with a crash.

"Nope, don't count on that, Dippington!" Mabel jumped off of her brother before things could get awkward. "Now neither of us has to give our Grunkle a massage. Imagine the horror if we had to!" Both twins cringed inwardly as they both experienced a flashback to more traumatic times.

The previous summer...

"Kids!" Grunkle Stan sounded like he was having a bad time. Mabel and Dipper looked up from their current activities, worried as to what their Grunkle could possibly be so anxious-sounding about. "I have a serious problem here, and Soos ain't here to fix it for me!"

The twins shared a look. What could Soos possibly offer? The 'Shack was closed, and there wasn't anything catastrophically combusting or exploding, so what did Stan want?

"I need you to scratch myself in two places at once!" Mabel and Dipper simultaneously froze up. The only thought that ran through their heads was a resounding nooooooo...

"I'll never be able to look at a backscratcher the same way ever again."

"You and me both."

They finally got a good look around the gift shop. Other than one or two shoppers, no one paid the dynamic duo any mind. Melody was manning the counter, and she gave them a wink as she helped the current customer, Mayor Tyler, decide between a Puma shirt and a Panther shirt. It seemed that some things didn't change at all in the time they left the 'Falls. Soos' girlfriend gestured with her thumb to a third employee, whose legs could be seen poking out from under the ice cream machine.

Mabel, with a reinvigorated need for freezing sugary ice, bolted towards the machine for any bit of ice cream it could offer rather than the newcomer underneath it. Dipper nodded a thanks to Melody, who had already gotten reengrossed into a heated debate with Tyler over the ethics of Pumas versus Panthers. Dipper made his way over to the vending machine, noting how the employee was hard at work, surrounded by power tools, and had a...

"A blow torch?" Dipper was surprised, as even though he knew what a blow torch was, and that it was obviously being used, as the crackling and smell of something burning in the air was evidence enough, he was dubious as to its validity so close to something so wooden as the rickety old floors. He gave a pointed look back to Melody, who shrugged helplessly.

Mabel, who needed a cold treat in a bowl now, tapped the right leg on its thigh a few times to get its owner's attention. She soon slid out from underneath the machine, being ferried out by a small scooter platform.

True to Soos' word, the petite girl wore a black t-shirt with a stylized red blooming rose emblem and a 'Shack cap, along with a pair of faded brown cargo work pants, stained black in spots with what was presumably oil, and steel-toed work boots. She wore a pair of expensive-looking headphones on her head, which were adorned with the same red rose emblem as her shirt.

In her hand was a blue propane blow torch, which she quickly shut off, probably for fear of burning the old house down, and removed her headphones, which could be heard faintly blaring some sort of electric guitar chord progression, or something. Neither twin was exactly proficient in music beyond karaoke.

She was older than both of them, that much Dipper could tell. A little older than Wendy had been the previous year, definitely. She had a pale complexion, black hair highlighted red at the tips, and gray eyes. No, they weren't grey, they possessed a lighter sheen than that. Silver, probably, then. It was unusual, but probably not unheard of somewhere in the world.

"Hey, What's up?" her voice was high-pitched, and gave off an air of innocence when she spoke.

"Heyo! I'm Ice Cream Pines, and I need Mabel!" Mabel was overly energetic, a little more than usual, since the aspect of icecream was in question. Seeing that he needed to once again save someone from Mabel's all consuming dependancy, Dipper spoke up "Sorry, she's Mabel, and I'm Dipper."

"Oh! Soos has told me all about you guys!" the girl jumped up from her position on the floor, dropping the blow torch on the ground with a dull thud. "I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose. I assume you've gotta be tired from your trip, right? I'll get your luggage." Ruby tore out of the room, faster than the twins could see, and returned momentarily, leading Waddles inside, carrying...

Both their bags in one hand, and their backpacks in the other?! That stuff weighed a ton, and each twin had needed help carrying those bags onto the bus in the first place, and here was a teenage girl carrying all of them like it was nothing?! The Pines were speechless and frozen in their spots, but before they could incredulously ask how the girl was carrying the items so effortlessly, she spoke once more.

"You'll be staying in the rooms you were in last summer, so I think you know the way there," she marched up the stairs without so much as being slowed by the extra baggage, with Waddles the pig in tow.

The twins shared another look before they followed, Mabel leaving the icecream machine behind, forgotten. Dipper looked around to see if anyone else saw her unsettling speed, and sure enough, a few awestruck customers noticed Ruby's ascent. Also a not-so-awestruck Melody, who by now was used to Ruby's antics.

The attic door shuddered open with a ear-splitting creak, as it had gone without use for quite some time. Ruby sauntered in, and dumped the bags in the middle of the room. Mabel immediately ran inside and started hopping up and down on her mattress, while Dipper walked in, trying to keep his cool and not let it show on his face how much he missed the cramped old space.

He was entirely unsuccessful.

"You guys are going to have another great summer, I just know it!" Ruby cheerfully reassured Dipper, having misinterpreted his excitement for anxiety. Dipper nodded meekly in response. "Come on, it's probably not changed much in the town, but-"

Ruby froze up and turned to face out the window. It was getting a bit dark out; Dipper wasn't quite sure as to what her purpose was when she looked outside.

"I gotta go guys," Ruby said, her voice taking on urgency and purpose. "I use that old break room as my room, so if you need anything, just leave a note there." She walked out of the attic, pulled out a strange-looking smartphone from her pants' side pocket, quickly dialed a number, and put it up the her ear. The twins could hear her saying something to Soos - something about going on break for a "G" situation - on the way out.

"Wonder what that was all about," Mabel said eventually, shattering the silence.

"Dunno *yawn* but we better get our stuff put away and ready for the rest of the day. I'm beat." Dipper was incomprehensibly exhausted, and wanted nothing more than to curl up underneath the blankets of his bed once he finally got covers on it. He would think about the mysterious new employee later. The twins set to work, and soon got their stuff into their rightful places, finally getting some sleep.

Dipper's Journal

June 22, 2012,

Mabel and I finally got back to the 'Falls, and we met Soos and Melody. They seemed to be just as happy as ever, and looked like they were doing well in the old 'Shack.

It looks like they hired someone new - a girl. She seems like a nice enough person, about Wendy's age, but it feels like she's keeping something hidden. We've only talked for a little bit, but even so, it feels like we know less about her than we really should. She's really fast, and really strong.

Looks like Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford are going to be coming back next week, and they've probably taken care of whatever they needed to do in the Arctic Ocean. I hope that they'll have brought some kind of souvenir for us.

We still need to figure out what's changed around here, and I'm sure that Ford will help us figure out what we need to know about everyone, including Ruby Rose - the new employee of the 'Shack.

Dipper finished his journal entry, and was about to click off his reading light when a resounding boom rang out from outside.

That sounded like a gunshot, thought Dipper. He decided to catch some sleep, albeit deeper under the sheets than before. He stole a quick glance at Mabel, who was deeply dreaming, unaffected by the gunshot, with Waddles at the foot of her bed, similarly unfazed.

As he was finally nodding off, he heard the 'Shack door faintly creak open and close with a soft pop, startling him awake immediately, as if he had taken a cup of Death Wish brew coffee. Careful as to not rouse his sibling, Dipper reached under his bed and withdrew a wooden bat: a precaution he had started to take ever since the apocalypse known as Weirdmageddon had arrived last year. He opened the attic door and slowly crept his way down the stairs in order to check out who had gained entry into the summer home.

AN: Hello, this is kind of my first attempt at this sort of thing, so please rate and review, yadda, yadda, yadda, and all that good stuff.

This is my first entry on this site, and my first fanfiction overall. I had my beta reader/editor help me out with a few things, and he was a great help with this stuff.

Also, the ice cream addiction thing was his idea. If you loved it, great! If you hated it, let him know in the reviews.

Until next time.

Edit: Also, if you're wondering when a new chapter is up and running, you'll have to wait for my beta reader/editor to get the next chapter up and running. He makes the changes that you will sometimes see in the story itself.

The process goes like this: I send him a few chapters and he will review and edit them accordingly. He sends it back to me and I do one last check before posting it. It's rough, but I hope it'll get the job done. If you notice any spelling or grammar errors, that's likely him, since I am extremely OCD about my own grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

I know, waiting is killing me as well, too.