The Green Flash

Chapter 2

-3: Dipper-

Dipper Pines limped along the sparkling shore of the crystal beach. He could feel the sunburn. The dry mouth. The sweating problem. The strain in his left leg that just kept getting worse. He still felt lucky, to have escaped that monster with nothing but some scraps and a sprained leg. But that thing was still... out there, wherever "here" was. Flown away into the light orange sky, screaming.

Dipper shuddered. All of this... all for that stupid book! Deep down, logically, he knew he could find a way home. It made statistical sense; ever other supernatural scrape he'd gotten into he'd found a way out of. But in his heart, he was devastated with anxiety. What if he never got home? Never saw his family or friends again? Mabel, Stan, Wendy, Soos, Mom, Dad... could it be a possibility he would never see them ever, ever again?

He sank into the sand, feeling tears creep into the corners of his eyes. Angrily he blocked them with his arm, his vision blurring, but, wait...

"Awah!" Dipper gave a wordless cry as the water in his eyes evaporated so he could get a better look at the precious civilization that lay before him. Aching, he got to his feet and hobbled towards the faint outlines of restaurants, stores, people...

He paused. What if it wasn't... people? What if this was alien world, an alternate universe, some kind of non-earth where the inhabitants ATE people instead of being people?!

He spotted a few obvious people at a little hut, ordering what looked like fries. Ok. It was people. Fear shrugged out of Dippers way and he continued his slow march towards what he hoped would be some kind of help.

He approached the "Beach Citywalk Fries" hut. A kid with goofy yellow hair was manning the business, and Dipper found the immediate lack of adults a bit disorienting.

"H-Hello," his voice broke as he approached the fry stand. "Can you get me, like, a glass of water or something?" Dipper leaned hard on the little stand where you made orders, realizing how bad he must look to this kid, who, incidentally, was keeping his distance. "Also," he called, "Where uh, am I?"

"Beach Citywalk Fries" the kid replied, narrowing his eyes. "Do you have... any... money? It's a dollar charge for the cup. Dad's rules..."

Dipper couldn't even think. "Where am I then?" He asked again, annoyed. He had just fallen out of a different place and possibly time and space, no, he didn't have any money.

"Beach Citywalk... you're in Beach City, how do you not know that? Anyway," the kid said, shifting his eyes, "Don't tell anyone I told you this, but if you go over to the Big Donut they'll give you free water, im sure."

"Un, Thanks?" Dipper replied, not hiding his aggravation. Desperation, actually. He was amazingly thirsty, and now all he wanted was some fresh water.

The Big Donut was, at least, easy to find. Empty, too, he discovered, as he opened the doors and limped inside. It was blissfully air-conditioned.

"Hello, Welcome to the Big... Whoa." A young women with poofy blonde hair looked unusually shocked to see a costumer enter her restaurant. "Hey, kid, are you ok?"

"Ya, dang, what happened to you?" A lanky young man with some weird looking ears raised his eyebrows at Dipper with a sneer.

Dipper was reminded of Robbie, his heart sinking. He collapsed into the nearest chair, and asked pathetically "Do you have any water? For free?"

The blonde grabbed a large water bottle from a refrigerated machine and, amazingly, came over to Dippers table with it, sat down, and pushed it towards him. He drank with abandon, only after a few gulps did he realize that the two store clerks were regarding him with the same caution as one should regard a wild animal.