Gravity Rises (S1)

FE: Part Five

Dipper thought he was getting the hang of this whole ice skating thing. He'd only fallen down a couple times — and the one that made Mabel laugh didn't count. She looked so funny falling down that he just had to laugh, and it messed up his balance. So, obviously, it was Mabel's fault.

He skated around the lake, falling down every once in a while but not wanting to slow down. He had places to be! Well, not really — but what was the fun in taking it slow? Ford skated by himself like he was lost in thought, and Melody hovered over Mabel to make sure she didn't hurt herself. It was Dipper against the world on this cold, hard ice.

He fell again, and he couldn't help but laugh. This was so awesome.

Hey, what was that?

As he got up, he could see from a new angle. He caught a strange bit of motion in the corner of his eye. It looked like. . . like something was under the ice.

Dipper skated over, trying to be fast without falling down. It didn't work, and he ended up spinning on his butt until he was right above the object. He peered through the ice. A dark shape moved through the water. It was coming closer — it was coming right for him! He scrambled back as the shape bumped against the ice, making it shake beneath his feet. Was it trying to break the ice? Was it trying to drown him?

He decided to call for backup. "Melody!"

It only took a moment for Melody to skate over. "What is it, Dip?" she asked.

"There's something under the ice!"

Melody crouched down. "Careful, it's trying to break it!" said Dipper.

"Break it?" Melody asked. "Maybe it's trapped!"

Dipper crouched down next to her. The shape was getting farther away, probably so it could rush at the ice again. "What is it?" he asked.

"I don't know," Melody said. "Maybe if it got closer. . ."

It started for the ice again.

Dipper instinctively grabbed onto Melody's shoulder, bracing himself for the hit. The shape crashed against the ice, and Melody gasped. "It's a seal!"

"A seal?"

"Dipper, we have to break the ice!"

Dipper nearly protested, but the look on Melody's face said that this was serious. She pulled one of her skates off, not even bothering to untie the laces. Kneeling on the ice, she started banging the ice skate into the frozen lake, trying to help the seal break it. "C'mon, Dipper, help me out!"

"We're not gonna fall in, are we?" Dipper asked.

"No, we'll be fine, but that seal will freeze to death!"

Dipper wasn't sure if the creature under the ice was a seal, but it didn't deserve to die either way. He pulled his skate off and joined Melody in hitting the ice.

The seal hit its nose against the underside again. This time, it cracked. "Melody, what if we break the whole lake?" Dipper was trying not to show how worried he was, but he did not want to fall into the water under there.

"We won't; that isn't how this works. We'll just help the seal make a hole so that it can break out." Melody slammed her ice skate blade-first into the surface, and the cracks grew larger. "All right, I think that's enough." She grabbed Dipper's arm and pulled him back, getting out of reach of the cracks.

The seal started for the surface again. Dipper gripped Melody's arm tightly.

The ice shattered with a deafening crack, like a deadly mixture of a gunshot and breaking glass. Dipper covered his ringing ears. The seal burst from the water and landed on the ice on the opposite side of the hole. Its shiny fur glistened with water droplets and shards of ice.