When You're a Mystery Kid

Thunder

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters featured here.

Norman shined the flashlight down the dark cave. He could no longer see Coraline, or Raz, or any of his friends who had dived into the darkness of the cave, spotting only the footprints they left behind on the cave's somewhat muddy surface. Though, if he held his breath, he could still barely hear their footfalls echoing through the cavern walls, growing fainter by the second. Just like Dipper thought, this unassuming cave stretched far deeper than people thought.

"Making good progress, Norman." Raz's voice crackled through the walkie-talkie. "How's it going with that net?"

Norman glanced behind him, where Dipper knelt down a few feet away from him, currently busy untangling the massive net they brought with them for this hunt.

"Looking good so far. We'll get it ready on time." Norman replied to the walkie-talkie.

"It better be." The walkie-talkie crackled again, this time with Coraline's voice. She sounded like she was trying to keep her voice as low as possible. "We spent way too long trying to track this thing. I don't want it slipping away now."

"We'll do our best, Coraline." Norman said. He hoped that sounded reassuring enough.

"Okay, radio silence from here on out. We don't want to spook this thing." Raz ordered. "Don't worry, guys. We'll catch this... nin-jan for sure."

"Ningen." Dipper sharply cut in.

Raz chuckled. "Right. Radio silence, starting... now."

The walkie-talkie crackled into silence. Norman pocketed it for the time being. He turned his flashlight off and put that in his pocket as well. He then walked over to Dipper to offer help with the net.

The Ningen was indeed their suspected quarry of the day. After hearing several rumors and reports of some sort of massive, white-skinned, long-limbed creature rising out of the river to lay waste to riverside lumber mills, a quick look at the journal singled out the Ningen as the most likely suspect. The Mystery Kids launched an investigation and deduced several probable locations that the creature could call home. Further investigation pointed the Mystery Kids to this very cave, and a plan was quickly devised.

Coraline, Raz, Mabel, Lili, Wybie, and Neil were to enter the cave and attempt to capture the creature by hand, while Norman and Dipper were to stay behind and set up a massive net at the cave's entrance in case the Ningen managed to slip by Coraline's group. Dipper wasn't happy with being left behind like that, but Norman was excited at the prospect of spending some time alone with Dipper. He never told anyone, especially not to Dipper, but he always liked talking, playing, or even just being around Dipper. He might have an idea why he felt that way.

Though, if there was one thing that bothered him about this plan, it was the fact that so far most Ningen sightings took place in the Antarctic Ocean. The chances for the creature to be found in an Oregonian forest was highly unlikely.

When asked, Dipper only offered a shrug. "This is Gravity Falls." He reasoned.

Setting up the net took a solid ten minutes and no small amount of effort, but working together they eventually finished their task. Dipper panted and Norman wiped the sweat off of his brow as they both took a step back to admire their work.

"Looks solid." Norman commented. Dipper hummed in affirmation.

Norman looked over at Dipper, finding his friend's face twisted into an annoyed frown. "You know, after hearing me say it at least a hundred times, you'd think Raz would know how to say 'Ningen' properly by now." Dipper grumbled.