Hey dipper, hate to break it to you, but you're focusing on the wrong problem.
Anyways.

Thanks to everyone for the reviews! I appreciate the compliments! Glad you like the story!

Matt: Actually that's gonna be the conspiracy part of this Gravity Falls 'episode'. You'll never hear it from me who the mystery donator was. At least not in this story. ;P
Love the idea of it being Vlad, but I can't put too much detail into the origins of the headstone (or rather how it got there) now without drawing away from the story too much.
And no, sadly Gideon will not be making an appearance. If he had, it would've been before this chapter, because this is where it starts heatin' up. Literally.

Keep the reviews comin guys! Each one makes me smile.
*Cue Sam gagging*

Questions without answers

We left the Mystery Shack around 9 o'clock, and no sooner did the door shut, before…

"Danny…"

I knew it was coming. We hadn't talked about it since it happened. "How much of that was you back there?"

I looked to her. "Jazz, I'm only responsible for the temperature drop." I scratched the back of my neck, suddenly uncomfortable. "And besides, I couldn't really help myself. That thing sent chills down my spine…"

"Dude, you sent chills down all our spines." Tucker chuckled. "I guess that's what happens when you freak out a ghost with an ice core though."

"What exactly was going on in there?" Sam asked.

"I honestly don't know." I began. "Well, you saw how that thing sucked at the lights, right?" They all nodded slightly. "And you didn't see the black firey aura surrounding it?" They shook their heads no. "Then you didn't feel the heat either?"

"What heat? All we felt was the cold from you." Jazz piped up, obviously confused. Before I could explain what I meant, she spoke up. "Wait-a-minute, that sent off your ghost sense, right? And only you could see the flames?" It was my turn to nod. "Well then it has to be a ghostly artifact of some kind. Did it feel malevolent?"

"Jazz, it's a rock. How could it feel malevolent?" I asked as sarcastically as I could manage. It wasn't that it felt malevolent or evil at all, it felt like a void. Like a void that would suck up anything that touched it and burn it to nothing. There was no consciousness, just….a slight feeling of empty-ness. Like it was missing something, or there was only a part of it there.

"Then why did you grab my arm like that?" Tucker asked me, rubbing his wrist for emphasis. "That hurt!"

"Because." How do I describe that? That the fire you couldn't see could've potentially burned you and dragged you into a pocket-space of darkness? That barely makes any sense! "Because I had a really bad feeling about it. And with my enhanced senses, you know I know these things. Who knows what it could've done!"

"He's got a point, Tuck. It could've burned you or something." Sam backed me up. Did she get the same feeling off it? How could she have known that? "Danny did say there was a firey aura that we couldn't see, and it's not like ghostly things we can't sense haven't hurt people in the past." Oh. That's how. Of course she wouldn't have gotten the same feeling, she's just a perceptive person.

The brain of a C-student strikes again.

"Wait wait, back it up. I thought you said it was sinister?" I looked at Jazz with a dumbfounded look on my face.

"Yeah, Jazz, I'm just going to tell Dipper and Mabel I'm half-ghost and it rubbed me the wrong way. How else could I have told them to stay away from it?" I waited for her to say something. When I realized she wasn't going to, I continued. "Whatever it is, it's bad news, and I couldn't exactly explain that whatever it is might not even effect humans."

"You don't think it could effect humans?"

"I don't know what to think." I sighed. "It's not like anything else I've ever felt before. And it's obviously ghostly in nature if my ghost sense went off. None of you even felt the heat, or saw the flames. Maybe it's like Freakshow's staff or something."

"Or maybe it's just not concentrated enough for humans to sense." Sam offered. At this idea, we all stopped walking and looked to her. "Well, he does have better senses than all of us, and it was removed from a haunted graveyard." She paused. "Maybe whatever was haunting this thing was uprooted, and Danny's sensing the residual aura or whatever, left behind from being tethered to it for who knows how long?"

It made sense. It definitely fit the empty feeling I got from it. It could've been the leftover loneliness from the ghost that was stuck to it or something. Like how my parents described ghosts as a leftover consciousness.

When nobody said anything, Sam spoke up again. "Like a poltergeist." When we exchanged confused looks, she sighed and continued again. "A poltergeist is a being generally created from intense negative emotion. Rage is a good example; and they're usually manifested when that emotion is released all at once. Like, if someone was angry and wanted revenge for something, if that anger wasn't allowed to dissipate, that anger will build and can take form, and their current consciousness could imprint on the poltergeist, causing it to haunt a specific person, place or thing. They're often mistaken for ghosts, too." For a moment I wondered when she'd learned all this until I realized. Duh. Sam's a goth, this is her thing.

And then it clicked.

"So whatever ghost that could've been trapped by the gravestone, could've left behind it's aura of say….loneliness?"

Sam nodded. "Any negative emotion can in theory create a poltergeist. Not sure if that counts for ghost emotions, too, but who knows? Maybe it's just built up emotion that will dissolve over time."

Jazz nodded. "She's got a point. His ghost sense went off, but it obviously wasn't a ghost, right? Maybe he's just sensing the ghost that was there because it was there for a really long time."

"And the heat could've been from a fire core." I added.

It all made sense and yet it didn't. It didn't quite feel right, but it did make sense. To an extent.

That intense loneliness could've created a void in the ghost, an emptiness that imprinted on the grave when it got released, and in it's attempt to fill the void, that emptiness would've sucked in the light; but it should've sucked in the heat too. Light and heat go hand in hand. Fire creates light, light creates heat, . But it didn't. It radiated heat, it didn't suck the heat from the air around it like it should've.

And on top of that, a ghost's core shouldn't imprint. Consciousness would make sense, but a core? Once the core is removed, whatever power it generates is removed as well, and on top of that, most ghosts can control their core. It wouldn't be a subconscious thing.

Then there was the other feeling. Like whatever it was, wasn't all there. Yeah, I guess that could've been part of the imprinted emptyness, but something tells me it has nothing to do with it.

I wrote it off for the night. We'd continued walking after the fire core comment, all just assuming we were right and that the 'poltergeist' would dissolve on it's own if given the time. I wasn't convinced, but I also wasn't in any hurry to spend what little vacation I had out hunting a mystery beast. Gravity Falls was used to this kind of stuff, and there were hundreds of ghost hunters gathered in one place. If it turned out to be anything big, someone's equipment was bound to pick it up.

Right?

The next day we went to the Mystery Shack to collect Dipper and Mabel and head to the gates of hell itself; the convention tent. Wendy and Jazz stayed at the shack, and I wished I could've too. A ghost walking into a hall filled with armed ghost hunters? Not what you'd really call fun.

"So, Danny." Dipper spoke up suddenly. He was quiet since we got there, eyeing me carefully when he thought I wasn't looking. "What's your opinion on zombies?"

"Zombies?" I paused to think. "They're cool, I guess. Depends on how they're portrayed in movies. Sometimes they're scary, other times they're just pathetic."

"And witches?"

"I dunno, I guess it depends on the kind of witch." He raised his eyebrow at that, and I explained that "In every movie they've got different powers, brew-based, wands, books, all these different ideas on how to cast spells and stuff. Different alliances and goals. And then there's the zombie witch." I thought that would get some sort of smile or laugh or something, but nothing. He just looked away, probably thinking again. I must be losing my touch.

"Wizards?"

Wizards? What the heck? Is this mythological Monday or something? Well, disregarding the fact that it's a Wednesday.

"What is this about?" I finally asked. Dipper looked startled.

"W-What do you mean?" He asked suspiciously, obviously caught off-guard with the question.

"I mean, you're at a ghost convention, and you haven't asked a single thing about ghosts to the one person here who actually knows anything about ghosts." This earned a couple of annoyed grunts from my two best friends, temporarily distracted from their own discussions, and probably would've earned a third if my sister had been there. "In fact you're asking about everything but ghosts, what gives?"

He sighed, and looked relieved. Apparently I had been digging in the right direction but missed the gold and dug up a rock instead. "Just wondering." He replied nonchalantly. "Here in Gravity Falls we get a lot of weird stuff like that, so I just wanted to know what people outside of town thought of these things."

I raised an eyebrow then shrugged. Wizards? Witches? Zombies? Something tells me that he's not just asking these questions for small talk. Does he think I'm a zombie or something? That's different.

And dangerously close to my real secret. This means he doesn't think I'm human. Great, now I have to be even more careful around him. I internally scowled at that thought.

"What about Loup-Garous?" The interrogation continued, successfully breaking me from my inner turmoil.

"Loowhat?" I was beyond confused. "We already passed the bathrooms." That got Mabel laughing and I heard a chuckle or two from Sam, while Tucker was just as confused as I was.

"A Loup-Garou is a French werewolf, able to shift on demand and fully conscious." Sam explained. "Also, you're the expert on ghosts here." She playfully jabbed my arm. "You answer Mabel's bazillion questions, I'll talk werewolves to little bear."

That got a chuckle out of me. "Fine, fine. Just don't corrupt the poor kid. I doubt goth-rehab can take anymore." I joked as we walked out of a tent and into a ghost-hunting firing range. Perfect. Just what I need. To accidentally get shot by weapons that have no effect on humans.

I lagged back a little, and Mabel noticed and lagged with me, while Tucker and Sam took this opportunity to practice their aim without drawing any suspicions. Dipper went with them, much to my relief. His questions were starting to worry me. Did he think I was a werewolf or something? What the heck did I do to make him suspicious?

"Aren't you coming?" She asked me.

"Nah, if these people are anything like my folks, then knowing my luck, I'll just end up getting shot." She giggled and we walked over the a nearby bench that was pretty far out of the way of any targets. If somebody wanted to shoot me, they'd have to try pretty darn hard. "What about you? Aren't you going to shoot?"

"I was thinking about it, buuuuuuuuut, why would I need to shoot a ghost weapon when I have a.." She dug into her bag and pulled out a… "Grappling hook!"

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Where the heck did you get a grappling hook?"

"Grunkle Stan let me have it. Apparently the Mystery Shack sells them."

"Better not let Sam see that, or you might not have it for long." I warned.

"Don't worry, I'll just pull a Batman before she grabs it." She said aiming the metal claw towards a tree overhanging the targets.

"So. Does that make Dipper Alfred?"

"You better believe it." She said with a huge grin.

Which I returned with a grin of my own. "And here I thought you were the older one."

"Well fine. I guess he's Robin then. Eitherway he's my slave." We both laughed at that, and then sat in a comfortable silence for a bit.

Which I then broke. "What's with Dipper?" I asked as he looked back to watch me for what had to be the tenth time since we sat down.

"He seems to have gotten this crazy idea about you, and thinks you're some weird thing." Her eyes seemed to light up. "You're not a Vampire, are you?" She asked excitedly.

I chuckled nervously, "No, can't say that I am."

"Oh well." She seemed to give up on that.

"Can I ask where he got that idea?" Hopefully I can figure out what got him suspicious in the first place and avoid doing it again in the future.

"Nowhere really, just a bunch of little things. The allergy to Blood Blossoms, your reaction to the rock thing Grunkle Stan bought, and then he went off on a wild tangent involving all sorts of things that made pretty much no sense at all. I think he's just paranoid after the whole, my-boyfriend-is-a-bunch-of-gnomes thing." She started to laugh. "I mean, he thought you were a ghost! How ridiculous is that?"

"R-really ridiculous haha." I tried not to sound awkward, and either I succeeded or Mabel ignored it. He already guessed at me being a ghost? I'd better keep my guard up around him. I know he already dismissed the idea, what with the whole French werewolf incident, but better safe than sorry.

It was around this point in the conversation that my friends decided they were done with shooting crudely painted pictures of my face, aka the target, and returned to bless us with their presence. And I couldn't mentally thank them enough. I mean, what would I have done if Mabel continued that little thought and asked 'Wait, you're not a ghost, are you?'

We walked through the rest of the tents set up, spotting several ghost themed booths including but not limited to, Ghost Bingo which spelt out Ghost and the hole punches used to punch the cards were shaped like tiny ectoguns; Name that Specter, consisting of a menagerie of ghosts from popular media; and the ever popular Burn the Tail off the Ectoplasmic Scum! Where you had to blindly fire a weapon towards the moving ghost shaped piñata. Luckily, that last one was secured behind Plexiglas.

We stopped at a couple vendors where Mabel and Dipper spent away buying T-shirts (a sweater in Mabel's case), and cute souvenirs that they could easily fit in their pockets. Sam and Tucker bought some trinkets too, little ghost goblets and pendants and beer coozies and stuff. With their bags cleaned out from yesterday's excursion at the Mystery Shack, it provided them with more room to fill with absolute junk.

The only thing I got was a tiny wisp keychain light. The little guy was obviously green, one of the blob ghosts only sporting a head, arms and tail. His eyes and mouth being the lights, and the power switch was the tail. Not that I needed a flashlight or anything, I mean, I had a few built in, but still. It was kinda cute.

And it was at that moment I thought to grab another one for Danielle whenever I saw her. Hers was orange. I'm sure she'd like it.

Not long after the vendors, we stopped for some food; the hotdogs sporting the ever appetizing, green ectoplasm-ketchup, the mustard was, somehow, white, and the relish stayed the same because it was already green. The bun was dusted with flour to give it that natural ghost glow.

Sad to say, I wasn't impressed. Once you're attacked by real ghost hotdogs, imitations just don't live up to it.

We all got hotdogs and hamburgers, save for Sam, who naturally opted for a more vegetarian diet, consisting of a veggie burger and fries. Pretty much all green with the ghost-glow flour. And of course Tucker got four hamburgers, combined them and made a 'super burger' as he called it.

It was really just an excuse to eat four patties and not the buns.

After the food and a trip to the restrooms, we headed toward the exit, taking real care not to be spotted by my parents while we snuck past their seminar.

Turns out we wasted two hours there. Who knew?

Leaving out a small hole in the rear of the massive tent, we ended up pretty far out of the way of the road, and we were still trying to regain our bearings and figure out what direction to go, when… "AHHH! A SIGNAL!" And there goes Tucker.

We tried to keep up, which wasn't all that hard considering it was Tucker who we were chasing, and I almost bumped into him when he stopped.

"Huh? What?" He said tapping on his PDA and turning it over in his hands. "The power just shut off! This thing had a full battery, what gives?!"

A shiver went down my spine, and my ghost sense went off. I started looking around for the source of the ghost but didn't see anything. Apparently my behavior was very suspicious because Dipper questioned it.

"What are you doing?" He asked, successfully drawing the attention of everyone in the group to me, just as my ghost sense went off again. Great, if he didn't see it before, he definitely saw it now.

I opened my mouth to speak as if I didn't notice the blue wisp, when a low growl from off in the distance cut me off. We turned around to face the noise, and watched as darkness began to close in from the woods to our right. Some of the plants began to shrivel up, like the very life force was being sucked out of them. It was then that I noticed that it was silent except for our breathing. No birds. Nothing.

The universal sign for something really bad is about to happen.

It was getting hard to tell that it was only five O'clock by the way the darkness hung from virtually everything, mutating the landscape into a horrid arena of death and darkness. The smell of burnt foliage and hair crept it's way through the trees in a way that seemed suffocating, as if it were thick smoke, and not just a scent.

Black fire crept towards us, along the ground; burning more brightly around the tree trucks and certain areas in the path, which seemed to look like thick claws in the dirt. I can't describe the flames as anything but pure darkness. You could see it clearly despite everything being near pitch black. And the heat radiating off of them was immense, the closer they got, each burning footstep that approached, closing the ten feet between us and the shadowed form that could now be seen in the center of it all, burned hotter and hotter.

The form seemed to stop for a moment, and it lowered what I assumed was it's head as the black flames broke from it enough to reveal two bright white orbs which didn't radiate any light at all, as if they too absorbed any light except that which they contained. Staring, judging. As if they could sense me, see me, but didn't exactly know what to make of me.

Eyes.

Sam shakily latched onto my arm, and I didn't notice beforehand, but I was shaking too.

Suddenly, the orbs grew brighter, and a blast of heat exploded towards us, rushing over us, threatening to burn us, as the heat got hotter and hotter, I released a wave of cold which began to swirl in the air and fight the oncoming heat wave. Sam only gripped my arm tighter as the two elements fought fiercely around us, to the point where everything felt like we were getting burned. Like the air was so hot it was cold, or it was so cold it was hot.

It was getting hard to breathe now, like the heat was steadily increasing, growing more powerful. And then it stopped. We sat there, staring into those mesmerizing white orbs for minutes, hours; it seemed like forever. Watching. Waiting.

Finally, the beast went to step it's front claws forward, fire licking at the daggers that adorned each limb. I knew this was it, if I backed down now, it would attack.

And I couldn't let that happen.

I matched it. Shifting into a better stance, and lifting my right foot to step forward. Mimicking it.

It's eyes seemed to narrow a fraction as the air around it began to swell, the heat returning little by little, but not as intense as before, passing over us in waves and the darkness that surrounded us seemed to buckle and swirl. The fire leapt higher, and joined the current that was now sweeping around us in the sweltering darkness, which went towards the monster ghost and in one fell swoop disappeared with it. Leaving us alone in the dim lighting of the forest. The entire area was shrouded in a grey-ness, which eerily resembled fog, and the unmistakable smell of sulfur now hung in the air.

The path the flames had walked was still singed dark black, and thick burn marks were seen every several feet, from where it's claws had blackened the earth.

We stood there for several minutes, before any of us dared to move. I released a breath, signaling to the others that it was definitely gone.

Relaxing a little, Tucker collapsed in the dirt, eyes still wide. "W-What was that?" He asked shakily, barely above a whisper. This thing, no. This ghost got to all of us. And I was powerless to stop it.

"I. I-I don't know." I murmured back, before turning my attention to Sam who was still shaking and holding onto my arm for dear life. "Sam?" I spoke a little louder. "Sam, it's gone now."

Her grip tightened and her eyes widened, "I-I have an- an idea." She spoke, as if she didn't hear me at all. "Of what that was." She paused.

"And it is in no way good."

Danny's POV because shutup.

I wanted it to be in Dipper's at first, but then I also wanted to get across that the boy who fights like, dead-everything is scared of a monster. To show how truly terrifying these things are.

And before you start pestering me about how Mabel and Dipper weren't in the beast's first appearance, they were.

The reason you don't hear about or from them is that Danny is so focused on the best that he completely zoned out on everything. The only reason Sam even registered is because she literally latched onto him.

Seriously, you ever been scared? Ever notice how other people don't really register on your radar when things like that happen? That's what this is.

The aftermath is next chapter, as well as the creature's unveiling, which will reveal a bit more of what happened while Danny was all fear-induced concentration.

Contest to guess the mystery beast is over.

Also, I hate how HTML strike is forbidden on fanfic.

FIRST YOU TAKE INDENTING, NOW YOU TAKE STRIKE. YOU MONSTER, HOW MANY OF OUR FREEDOMS WILL YOU STEAL?!
/shutup

Until next time!