Mystery Kids: The Darkness Within

Part Two

Frost coated the ground Ashland Oregon. Inside the Pink Palace, Coraline Jones had just hung up after talking to Dipper and was now waiting for Wybie to pick her up. For once, she was glad her parents had left her alone in the house while they were gone for the week. They had mentioned they would be back in five days to another conference. Even so, Coraline had no means of transportation due to the fact that they had taken the only vehicle at the house, making it nearly impossible to go anywhere.

That begged the question. How was Norman and Neil supposed to get to Oregon from Massachusetts? The last time they all had gone to Gravity Falls, they had gotten in deep trouble with Norman's parents, since it had been her decision to leave the car in the first place... It's a wonder that Norman wouldn't be allowed to go on another trip there, especially since they had nearly gotten killed.

Groaning, Coraline rubbed at her temples. She knew the incident wasn't completely her fault. Raz and Lili had been the ones that had gotten them involved.. Then again, if it wasn't for Raz and Lili, they wouldn't have met Dipper and Mable and formed The Mystery Kids... Or maybe- .

Coraline was jolted from her thoughts as a loud knocking came from the front door. Coraline slowly rose from her seat on the couch and went to answer the door. Wybie Lovat had been in process of knocking again, when Coraline opened the door. Wybie, hand still raised to knock stood a bit awkwardly.

"Um... H-hey Jonesy..." He muttered, nervously scratching his neck.

"There you are!" Coraline said. "Took you long enough."

Wybie opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off.

"In any case, my parents are gone for the week so we should be fine."

Wybie closed his mouth again as Coraline gathered her things.

"Jonesy, don't you think we should let them know what's going on?"

"And risk them saying no?"

Wybie was about to speak but stopped again.

"Now come on!" Coraline snapped. "Let's get going already!"

Wybie hesitated but nodded, knowing Coraline's mind was set l. After gathering all the necessities on the back of Wybie's Hurley, they soon headed off to Gravity Falls.

—

"...But Dad!?" Norman shouted, trying to get his father to see sense.

"No buts!" His father Perry snapped back. "Do you remember what happened last time?"

Norman looked at the floor, slightly shamefaced as he remembered perfectly well.

"You left the car when I SPECIFICALLY told you all to stay put!" Perry continued.

"There was a reason why we left the car!" Norman tried to reason.

"I don't CARE, Norman! You disobeyed my orders to stay put and there are consequences."

Norman scowled.

"Sorry Norman! But you're still grounded until I say when you've learned your lesson!" Perry said, making the decision final.

Norman slumped over on the couch as his father left the house to go to work.

"Now what am I going to do...?" Norman thought glumly. "The others will need my help... But I can't do anything if I'm stuck here..."

"Too bad you're grounded," Courtney said entering the living room. "Now I have to watch you while Mom and Dad are doing whatever it is their doing..."

Norman sat up straight as an idea came to him.

"Courtney! You could help me get to Gravity Falls! We can take your car while Mom and Dad are at work!" Norman grinned as he turned towards his sister.

Courtney scowled.

"What!? Don't drag ME into this! This wouldn't have happened if you listened to Dad in the first place...!" Courtney countered back.

"Courtney! This is important! Something horrible is happening in Gravity Falls and they might need my help!"

Courtney glared daggers, not wanting to get in trouble just because her brother was having nightmares. She soon relented and sighed in annoyance.

"Fine.. I'll take you and your friend on your stupid trip... But you owe me BIGTIME if I do this for you..."

Norman frowned, not really liking where this was going.

"Name your price, Courtney..." Norman slightly groaned.

Courtney grinned deviously.

"Okay, first off... You will do whatever I say and be my personal servant for two weeks..." She replied with a sly grin. "Also, you will do all of my algebra homework... Since your much smarter at math than me."

Norman scowled, turning his gaze toward the window in thought. He turned back and saw Courtney starting to leave, thinking he didn't want to take the offer.

"W-wait!" He shouted.

Courtney stopped and glanced back a bit smugly.

"I-it's a deal..." Norman relented after a moment.

His sister grinned.

"Great! Now go get your stuff and let's go..." Courtney said and also got her own stuff for the trip before they got in the car to go and pick up Norman's friend Neil Downe.

—

Raz Aquato sighed as he thought about the call from Norman that morning, which he was surprised that the call was able to reach all the way at the Whispering Rock campsite. He had thought that the wrist COM he and Lili had been given before they had met Coraline and the others had only reached certain distances. Then again, it must have a really large signal proximity. Raz soon figured it having to do with his and Lili's psychic abilities. They were both psychonauts after all.

Raz looked out over the horizon, watching the sky that was once midnight blue become a deep lavender as the golden sun ascended over the seemingly peaceful forest, painting the sky in mix of pinks and oranges. Down below, a light mist had began to disperse from in between the tree line.

He then heard a noise behind him and turned around to see his teammate and girlfriend Lili Zanotto walking over to him.

"Hey Lili..." He said, sounding listless.

Lili saw this as unusual, considering Raz was usually more positive. She sat down beside him on the large rock that overlooked the campsite.

"What're you doing up here? It's not like you to miss improvement training..." Lili mentioned.

"I've just needed to think for a minute..."

"Is this about the call from Norman?"

"Yeah... He said he had a... Vision or something..."

"I know Raz, I was there when he called..." Lili deadpanned.

Raz sighed.

"I just got to thinking... Why would we need to be called about someone going missing?"

"Raz, just because there isn't a super-villain involved doesn't mean it isn't suspicious..." Lili mentioned, a bit harshly.

Raz stared at her.

"Why are you so angry?"

"Because you always seem like you're moping around when before you acted like an airhead when we had been after Dr. Loboto!"

Raz didn't say anything back and looked away, remaining silent. Lili's expression softened a bit and she sighed a bit more gently.

"I'm sorry, Raz... I've just been thinking that this might be something darker than meets the eye."

Raz looked at her again and smiled gently.

"Don't worry..." He replied. "We'll find whatever is going on and take care of it... Even if it takes us the rest of our lives."

Lili smirked.

"Now you're sounding more like your cocky and macho self..." She replied, giving him a light punch in the shoulder.

Raz smiled and rubbed his shoulder.

"Heh... Yeah... C'mon, we should get going." Raz grinned as they both stood up. "We can use levitation..."

Lili looked off over the campsite, wondering if it would be a good idea to leave without telling the others. She then looked back to see Raz heading off to on his levitation. Lili took one meaningful glance at the scene below before she formed her own levitation and left, following close behind him.

—

Dipper looked outside and could see the sky growing dark. He looked at the nearby clock and let out a groan. The time was now 4:39pm. Dipper was becoming more frustrated as he sat near the window, 7doing absolutely nothing. He glanced over and saw Mable trying to add more buttons to her already gaudy and clunky sweater. Dipper rolled his eyes, not understanding how she could actually consider that as 'True Art'.

Dipper sighed and rubbed at his eyes. Why was he even bothering with trying to see what Mable was getting at with her thoughts? Mable was just being Mable... He couldn't fault her for being how she was, even if she got on his nerves.

Letting out another sigh, Dipper rested his head against the glass window. As predicted earlier that day, it had started to rain. He decided to head up to the attic that made up his and Mable's room. Maybe he could go through the mystery book and find something interesting to do.

Mable noticed Dipper leaving and looked down at what she had been working on. She finished replacing the new buttons on and slipping on the sweater again before heading up the stairs as well.

Dipper was already in the shared bedroom and reading through the book.

"There has to be something interesting here..." Dipper muttered to himself.

"Hi Dipper!"

Dipper yelled in surprise at the loud shout and fell off of his bed.

"MABLE!?"

"You're so jumpy!" Mable giggled.

"I was reading until you..."

He paused as he saw the book laying open on the floor. He picked it up with an aggravated grunt and looked at the pages that the book had landed open on. Dipper stared at the pages in shock and confusion.

"Dipper?" Mable asked, now confused.

Dipper pointed at the page that had caught his attention.

On the page was what looked like a teenager, or at least Dipper thought it was... But something seemed off about it... The face was white as if made out of pure bone and the eyes were round without any eyelids, at least there weren't any that he could see... And the mouth of the teenager was crudely cut into an inappropriate grin...

A/N: I've decided to combine two chapters to make them a bit longer.. I might do this from now on to make the story run a bit smoother.