"Wakey, wakey, sleeping beauty!"

Danny's eyes abruptly snapped open, before a green blast erupted from his hand in the direction of the sound. Danny heard a loud surprised yelp by his side. He sighed, running a hand through his already messy hair.

"Flames between, Cypher, how much times I need to tell you not to sneak up on me when I'm meditating?"

Bill extinguished a small green flame on his top with two fingers.

"Well excuse me, but you weren't moving for, like, five HOURS."

"Well, it's just the technique...now wait a second...you were watching me for five darn hours?"

"Seven," Bill muttered, before regaining his composure. "Your furry pets almost got me twice. That's not very nice. Wow, step aside Shakespeare, a new poet has arrived!"

"'Not very nice' is spying over me," Danny got up from a small carpet and fixed his clothes, consisting blue torn jeans and black T-shirt. "And for the note, they are not my 'pets', they are just friends who let me stay with them."

"You mean worshipping you?" Danny stopped on his tracks for a moment, before shrugging.

"I guess that too. So, is it time to go?"

"Yeep. I hope you..." Danny situated a duffelbag on his shoulder, "packed your belongings. When did you..."

"That's called duplication, my friend, duplication."

"No, that's called lazyness."

"Call it whatever you want," Danny put on the black jacket as Bill situated on his head again, and opened the door.

It was a peaceful day in FarFrozen. If not for the typical black and green abyss in the sky, this village, inhabited by a race of huge ghost yetis, would have looked like typical countryside somewhere in Canada or Iceland. Some small kids were doing snow activities, while adults were doing their casual business. All of them, however, cheerfully greeted the ghost teen. Of course they will.

He is their hero and protector. Even if FarFrozen tribe was not the one to be messed with, as they were the most powerful users of an Ice Core, no one was willing to attack them after Phantom started to live there. It was beneficial for Danny as well. Vlad would have searched all across the Human World for him, but yeti ghosts were really protective of their hero. So they protected each other.

It was unbelievable how much his life had changed in only half of the year. Back then his biggest concern was not to fail the latest exam due to the lack of sleep and time for studying. Now he had plenty of time. And most of it he spent either in books, trainings or meditation. The last thing was for keeping his psychic in check, this technique was taught to him by Clockwork in order to avoid horrible depression and repeating the same mistakes. One mistake held inside Fenton Thermos was enough.

Danny couldn't leave without saying goodbye. And most of the folk were in the Mess Hall at thatbtime. Why was it called like that? Well...

"Duck!" Danny did as was told. But Bill still sat on his head, and he hadn't had a possibility to avoid being hit by a medium-well fried steak. He yelped loudly in surprise and Phantom had to choke his laugh. Bill was floating in the air with a deadpan expression and the steak slowly slipping down and falling on the floor, leaving a brown line.

Ah, food fights, that was mostly the reason Danny often just took the food and ate at home.

"Great One!" Phantom turned to the side and grinned. There was a tall ghost with a hand made entirely out of ice and dressed in blue and yellow robe.

"Morning, Frostbite," Danny said, before looking at Bill, "You ok, dude?"

"Besides being hit by a piece of a dead cow, I'm fine," he summoned a handkerchief and wiped the fat line from his body.

"That wasn't a cow," Frostbite said with a raised eyebrow.

"Then I don't want to know what the heck that was, Fluffy," Frostbite narrowed his eyes and Bill hid behind Danny's back.

"You are allowed here only because Great One lets you, don't forget about this, Cypher."

"Got it," Frostbite nodded, before smiling again and looking up at Danny, noticing a dufelbag over his shoulder.

"You are planning on going somewhere?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah, the rest of the summer I'll spend in a god forgotten small town in..." Phantom looked at Bill, who was sitting on his head again. "Where exactly is it?"

"Good ol' Oregon," Bill answered. Frostbite's eyebrows shot up.

"In a Human World? Great One, are you sure about this decision?"

"Yep, just imagine, Bill will be coming twice rarer."

"Don't say 'voila' before jumping over the canyon, DP. You hadn't won our bet yet."

"So HE is involved in it?" Frostbite glared at Bill, crossing his hands. Danny raised his hand.

"Look, Frostbite, I REALLY appreciate your worry, but I'll be fine. Vlad will never search for me there, and the GIW are disbanded since I blew up the portal and ghosts stopped coming there," Frostbite's look softened, but he still was glaring at the demon on top of Danny's head. The tribe Chief then sighed.

"Very well, we will watch over your house and call you if something happens."

"Thanks, Frostbite," Danny smiled, outstretching his hand, which Frostbite eagerly took in strong grip and shook. "I mean it," they heard a loud sneeze by the side.

"Oh, sorry," Bill threw away the handkerchief. "Such a drama!" Danny sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Come on," he grabbed the floating dorito's hand and carried Bill after him.

-Later-

It wasn't hard for Bill to do some mumbo jumbo and make a portal where needed. They were near a road. A huge forest of thick trees was surrounding them.

"Bill," Cypher turned to him, "Let's get the details how it will be done. You win only if Pine Tree states what I am right into my face. Got it?"

"Jeez, no need to be such a bureaucrat, maybe you need a five written copies of agreement?" A stack of paper appeared in his hands.

"I'm just making sure you won't cheat. You know I hate when someone does that," Bill rolled his eye.

"I hope you brought anything useful in that bag," Danny put it on the ground and unzipped it. "You must be kidding me."

"What? I brought useful things."

"Yeah? Why do you need an ectogun, you have one built in!" Bill threw up his hands in exasperation.

"BUT I can't shoot by myself in public. And Fenton Thermos can be useful, too," Cypher then noticed something under pack of clothes. Something oddly familiar...

"WHAT THE..."

"What is it?" Phantom asked.

"Why, pray tell, YOU HAVE THE JOURNAL IN YOUR BAG!" He took out the red book with a golden six-fingered hand on cover and glared at Danny.

"It's a copy," he shrugged.

"What?"

"Being friends with Ghostwriter can be useful. You told me about the journals so much, and since I came here, I need to know about all the creatures living in that town. GW has a copy of every written thing in existence, starting from Valentines letters, ending with the first version of Bible. He lend me a copy of the journal." Bill was still glaring. "Relax, dude. I swear Pine Tree will never get it. Once I'm done I will return it to Ghostwriter, okay?"

"You are lucky I'm forgiving person, DP," Bill deadpanned and returned the book. Phantom may be as tricky as him, but he ALWAYS keeps his promises. Unlike him. Danny put it back in the bag and zipped it close. "I just got a thought...Do you have any money?"

"Ehm, where do you expect me to get them? I live in a frozen wasteland!" Bill eyepalmed, before yelping in pain slightly.

"Okay, okay, just keep calm, Cypher," he muttered, before sighing, "Eh, what would you do without me?" He snapped his fingers and a black wallet appeared in the air and fell in Danny's hands. "Expenses are on me, you will never run out of money. Nice to have a rich demon buddy, right?" He winked. "Alright, you may go now, I will be close by, watching, like usual. And remember, reality is an illusion..."

"The universe is a hologram," Danny continued with a smirk.

"Buy gold!" Bill saluted him, before dissapearing.

Phantom flipped the bag over his shoulder and looked around for any sign where to go. It was a morning at the moment, and Danny's stomach started to grumble. He should have eaten in FarFrozen. For a while he just stared at the sky, it was the first time in half year he had seen the blue sky of Human World.

Danny decided to just walk down the road until he will find out the way. His sensitive hearing suddenly caught an engine's rumble. He looked back and saw a car moving his way. He got an idea, maybe a driver will show the way. Danny waved his hand in front of the car and it stopped near him. The window opened, revealing a childishly looking guy in a cap and a green T-shirt with a...question mark. Danny remembered Bill's explanation of the nicknames. He said that question mark was on the T-shirt. Oh, Danny and his luck.

"Yo, dude, wassup," Question mark said cheerfully. Danny snapped out of his stupor, shaking his head.

"Hey there, sorry to stop you, but do you know which way is Gravity Falls?"

"Oh, of course I do, I live there! We can even go there together!"

"Thanks for the offer, pal, but I don't want to bother..." the door near the driver opened.

"Dude, there is ten miles to the town," Danny's eyes widened. 'Bill, you son of a...' he thought, "Come in, I don't mind company at all." Question mark continued. Phantom sighed, before shrugging.

"I guess," he got into the car, closing the door, and together they continued the way.

"I'm Soos by the way."

Danny felt relieved to call the guy by name and not by Bill's nick. "I'm Danny. Danny Fenton."

"Are you a tourist? If you are, go visit Mystery Shack, I work there. There is a lot of strange and weird stuff..."

"I'll think about it," Danny said. "If you live in that town, then why are you here?" He asked. Soos pointed on the back seat. Danny saw a few boxes with lightbulbs.

"Mr. Pines said to buy lightbulbs, and they were cheaper in nearby town, so he told me to go there. My turn for question, how did you get that creepy scar?" Danny turned to Soos and raised his eyebrow, cut in half by the named scar.

"Creepy?"

"Yeah, you look like you are a ninja assassin sent to kill some bad guy," Danny chuckled in amusement at the strange assumption. He then looked out of the window.

"It was an explosion," he answered, "Piece of metal flew at me and left a reminder," Soos felt that that was a touchy subject.

"I heard that some girls like the guys with scars," he tried to cheer the ghost boy up, but in result somehow saddened himself. Where exactly he had found that information, Danny didn't know and didn't want to know.

The rest of the road went quiet, since Soos didn't know what to talk with that weird kid, while Danny was fully in his memories. The road passed by, and Phantom's stomach grumbled again. Soos finally found a topic for conversation.

"Oh, I know just the place for you to eat. They have the best pancakes!"

Danny had to admit, he liked this guy. Soos reminded him about his father, they both being always goofy and thinking about food.

-Later-

"Here we are, dude," Soos stopped.

Danny got out of the car and saw a giant log with a sign 'Greasy's Diner' above it. Yet another reminder of his home, absolutely not thrilling na,e for a restaurant with tasty food. Hopefully they don't have a hazardous secret sauce. Underneath the main sign bearing the diner's name was a smaller sign with the slogan "We have food." Close by was a wooden pole with a light hanging from it, and a banner on one side that simply said "Eat."

"Thanks for the ride, pal," Danny said.

"No problemo, dude," Soos drove away.

'I see you have already made a friend,' Phantom heard the familiar voice in his head.

'Get out of my head, Bill.'

'Well, sorry, you yourself said not to show up in public,' Danny sighed.

'Just don't try to get inside my mind,' he threatened.

'I wouldn't worry about that, your mind is the toughest nut to crack that I've seen.'

'I take that as compliment,' Danny said dryly.

He took his way inside the diner. It was what you expect from it. Nothing unusual, especially for a diner with such an interesting architecture. Tables, bar stand, yep, absolutely normal. Danny just took the place near the window and stared out of it. He heard a cough and turned to its source. There was a past middle age woman, with a closed left eye and gray hair.

"Hello there, I'm Lazy Susan and I will be serving you now. What do you want?"

'Take pancakes!' Bill shouted in his head.

"Ehm...pancakes..." Danny said weakly, he hadn't even seen the menu yet. "And coffee, no matter which one."

Susan nodded and walked away. This city is full of weirdos, isn't it?

'Yeah, DP, you are probably the most normal guy here, and you are a ghost.'

'Stop it already! Don't you have anything better to do?'

'Alriiight, I'll go search for a pawn to play with,' Bill said sadly.

Danny sighed, leaning back in his seat. His eyes fell on his bag. Well, while he was waiting...

The Journal was interesting to read. There were different strange creatures, starting from gnomes and ending with Manotaurs (Danny had a serious laugh at this, earning confused looks from the other customers). Oh, there was even a page about Bill. Avoid at all costs...never trust him...Danny snorted, like he hadn't known that before.

"Here you are," Susan handed him a plate and mug.

"Thanks," Danny said, putting away the Journal. "Can I ask you a question?"

Susan nodded. "I will be in this town for a while. Is here any place I can stay?" She hummed in thought, putting a hand on her chin.

"Our only motel is in repair," she pointed out of the window at the half destroyed building, which oh so conveniently was standing on the opposite side of the road. "You should have seen what happened here a while ago, there was a giant robot!" Danny raised his eyebrow but didn't comment. "Anyways, I think you should go to Stan Pines. He is such a sweetheart, and surely he will find a room for ya if you pay him enough."

And here is that Pines again. Why does he have a feeling that he will regret coming there? When did he have a choice, though?

'You never had a choice.'

'GET OUT!'

-Later-

After his starvation problem was solved, Danny started to search for a solution to his housing problem. A little detective game was required for that. Soos said that he was working in Mystery Shack, and spoke about Mr. Pines like he was his boss. So, since it was time for almost every place to be opened, Danny guessed that he should search for him there. It wasn't hard, the first bypasser he asked showed him where to go.

The shack was huge. One side of the sloping roof had the Mystery Shack name (The "S" in "Shack" having fallen off, hopefully without killing anyone), and the other had a small platform with a cooler. What. The roof with the "GIFT" sign also had a weather vane that had the letters W, H, A, and T, along with a question mark, and Danny wondered about the reasons of such strange design.

Shrugging to himself and recalling that he had seen weirder stuff, Danny went to the door and opened it.

Before he could take a good look on the inside, someone grabbed his hand. Phantom resisted the instinctive urge to punch or blast the one who did it.

"Welcome to the Mystery Shack, boy!" It was an old man in a black suit, glasses and a red fez with yellow...either pac-man eating circle or a fish. Wait...a fez...The man carried the stunned teen to the side. "Tell me, do you have a nickel?" Danny blinked, before taking out a nickel, which he had from the charge after breakfast. The Fez took the nickel with a grin, before removing a cover from some construction. It was a small copper statue of a prospector, who held a sieve in his hands, asking for nickel. His face gave Danny a depressive thoughts about inevitability of death.

"Say hello to Old Goldie! And look, he wants to greet you, too!" Stan put the nickel inside the machine.

It started to stirr, and it went well for a short while, until its eyes started to pop out, the machine let out a soul freezing scream, and oil filled its mouth and spilled over, covering its lower parts and the floor. Danny stared at this scene with wide eyes.

'Holy Pits of Hell! That was the most terrifying thing I have seen!' Bill yelled in Danny's mind.

'No arguing here,' Danny answered, gulping slightly and staring in the empty eye sockets. Stan also stared at that thing, humming in thought.

"Should have twisted the bolts better," he muttered. Danny snapped out of the stupor, shaking his head.

"Are you Stan Pines?"

"Yeah, what do you want."

"I need a place to stay for night," Danny answered.

"This is not a hotel, kid."

"Hm," Danny opened his wallet and dug in it, "President Franklin doesn't seem to agree with you," he grinned, showing hundred dollars bill. Stan stared at it hungrily, "You should respect the others' rights for a warm bed, Mr. Pines," he changed his voice, speaking as the president on the bill.

"Ugh, fine, now give it to me," Stan snatched the bill. "Soos!"

Soos came out from behind the shelf. "What's up, Mr. Pines...oh, hey dude, you are here!" He said once he saw the ghost boy.

"Yeah, yeah, hugs and all that," Stan said, waving his hand, "For how long you said you are staying?"

"For the rest of the summer," Danny could see a dollar sign in Stan's eye not covered by an eyepatch.

"That will cost you..." Phantom took out money without saying a word.

'Damn, DP, you will make me bankrupt!' Bill groaned.

"I guess it's all included?" Danny asked. Stan seemed to contemplate the decision.

"Hm...as long as you don't cause any trouble."

'Ha! As if!'

'Speak for yourself, Bill,' Danny responded. "Got it."

"Anyways, Soos, show him the way to that old bedroom kids found a while ago," Stan walked away probably to put the money in his vault and swim in them.

"C'mon dude, that is a very good room."

Soos went through the 'Personal only' door and Danny followed. Through the pretty cozy looking living space and upstairs. Soos stopped near one of the countless doors.

"Here you go, dude. Put your stuff there, feel like at home," Soos looked at the wall clock. "Oh no, sorry dude, I need to go!" He ran downstairs.

'Where did he go?' Danny thought.

'Probably trying to get a girl,' Bill answered.

'Alright, first of,' Danny entered the room and shut the door, leaving his bag near it, 'Get out of my head'.

Bill materialized in front of him.

"And second, you were spying on them, weren't you?"

"I already told you about predestined fate! I think I'm allowed to look after my enemies," Bill crossed his hands. Danny shrugged, sprawling on a bed. "Too sad they removed that funny carpet," Bill continued, looking at the empty floor. "Well, I have some things to do, so don't lose until I come back!" Bill disappeared.

Danny sighed. Now...how to entertain himself? He wasn't in the mood for anything from his usual hobbies list. Danny's eyes fell on the wallet, and he grinned.

Souvenir shopping! Yay. There sure was a lot of things to look at. Of course, this weird small statues of weird animals were not real, Danny could smell all this glue for a mile. But. He should buy a few just for the fun of it, he picked one most peculiar one - half-badger half-squirrel. Danny almost let out a gasp by looking at one certain stand. It can't be...

"Awesome!" Phantom whisper yelled. He never thought he will see something like this again. He was holding a Dumpty Humpty cap. It was his favorite group! He couldn't stop a grin from appearing, especially after he took it on and glanced in the nearby mirror.

Grabbing all the stuff he picked, Danny went to the counter. There was a girl, sitting with her legs on a table and her face hidden behind the magazine. Phantom coughed.

"Excuse me, can you ring me up?"

"Sure thing...Wow, it's a lot of junk, man," the girl sized the huge pile of stuff, that it hid Danny's face.

"Passes in genes, I guess," Danny shrugged, almost dropping everything he was holding. The girl helped him to hold it, before picking the stuff on top and ringing it.

"Dumpty Humpty, huh?" She asked, ringing the cap.

"Yeah, they are, like, the best group out there!" Danny said excitedly.

"Really? Good to see someone thinking the same way as you," the girl smirked. "Totally it will be thirty dollars and forty six..."

Now she got a look at the one who she was talking with. Messy black hair, tied in a low ponytail, lean built and a scar over the left white eye. But the healthy one, though...

Danny meanwhile saw a nice looking girl with long red hair, green eyes and cute freckles over her face. She was barely younger than him, maybe for a year. However, he realized that he was staring. She however, did not.

"Hey, you ok there?" He asked.

"O-oh, it's nothing. It's just your eye, it's REALLY blue," Danny smirked.

"Well, people keep saying that. My bud says that's because my soul is as cold as ice, but I think he was just sad I ate his chips. Couldn't do anything with myself, I was hungry," the girl had a laugh at this.

"You seem like a funny guy, hey, actually my friends and I are actually gonna be hanging out after I finish my shift. Wanna come?" Danny raised his eyebrow.

"Are you sure you should be asking a total stranger?"

"My name is Wendy Corduroy, yours?"

"Uh, Danny. Danny Fenton," Wendy smirked.

"There, now we are not strangers. So what do you say?"

"Well..."

"Oh, c'mon, we will give you a five star tour around the town..."

'My dear goodness, I was gone for half an hour and you already got yourself a girlfriend? You are unstoppable, DP!'

'Bill, get lost.'

"Okay, I don't have anything to do, anyway."