Chapter 9 Round One Goes to Gideon, Norman
Not again! Norman screamed. He was locked onto the metal board again, and this time, there was no waking up. The man was prepping the drill and he asked,
"Why are you screaming? Oh I remember!" The drill activated, the man walked over to Norman. The sharp point of the drill came closer and close to Norman's forehead.
"No!" he screamed. The man began to cackle and the drill went through.
"No… No!" Norman's eyes shot open and he swung his arm to slap whatever had been breathing on his face.
"Hey! Watch it!" it said rubbing its cheek. Norman blinked in the bright sunshine, his vision cleared.
"Oh man. Where are we?" he asked sitting up. Raz sat next to a new fire, a stick floated over the flames. Dipper was rubbing his cheek where Norman had slapped him.
"Good morning Norman, next time could try to not slap Dipper when you wake up?" asked Raz chuckling. He pulled the stick out of the fire; a cooked squirrel was speared on the end.
"Breakfast is served." Raz tore a leg off the barbequed squirrel and handed it to Dipper, he handed the other leg to Norman. Norman cautiously took a bite, it tasted like chicken but with an aftertaste like ferns.
"This is good." he mumbled through a mouthful of squirrel.
"How'd you learn to cook this?" asked Dipper as he also chowed down.
"Well bite when you're on the run for like, two weeks, swallow, you need to learn how to cook some rather odd things." Raz replied. Norman noticed that Raz wasn't wearing his jacket or gloves; only those orange goggles. He took another bite of squirrel, what was he getting himself into? A psychic secret agent whose enemy is a brain stealing dentist and every psychic villain on the planet, and a detective whose enemy has access to magic items; maybe Agatha was right, maybe these two were trouble.
"Norman, dude. You realize that I can hear everything you're thinking of right?" said Raz looking at him.
"Well could you try not to? It's kind of rude." said Norman swallowing the last of his squirrel.
"Raz, don't you think we should tell him what we found in his mind last night?" asked Dipper, fanning himself with his hat.
"Well shouldn't he want to know first?" replied Raz throwing the stick into the flames.
"I do want to know, what did you see?" asked Norman.
"Well, first of all, your mind looks like Blithe Hallows during a zombie apocalypse, all the censors are zombies, and, do you have a problem with acrobatics structures?" said Raz curiously.
"No, well, yeah. In third grade we did an acrobatics unit. We were doing the balance beam, it was my turn. I got half way across before a ghost appeared. It was the first ghost I'd ever seen so I was scared. I started freaking out, and from that day on, I was a freak."
"That explains it; well we did see the nightmare you were talking about. The man is Loboto, and he's messing with your head." said Raz gravely.
"Wait does that mean he's here? In Blithe?" asked Dipper, speaking for Norman.
"Yes, and what's worse is that… I was told on the way here that Loboto is working in tandem with Gideon. I assume both of you can assume what will happen next then." Norman was scared now, Loboto wanted to remove his brain, Gideon would want revenge on Dipper, and Loboto would try to take Raz's brain as well, not to mention the craziness that will happen in town when people start losing their brains. The boys sat there in silence, the wind rustled the trees nearby, animal chittered in the forest, but the boys were silent.
"We have to stop them." said Norman, he didn't want to but he had to.
"You're right; they'll probably take the girls first. Then we'll follow the bait, and wham! They win." said Raz pulling on his gloves. Then Norman remembered something.
"Oh no! My cousin's in town today, they'll go after her too!" he cried rushing to get ready.
"We got to move, NOW!" cried Dipper as the trio took off into the forest.
The trees were in his way, branches whipped his face, Norman had to run, or the girls might be gone. The trees ended a road that cut straight through the forest. A sleek black limo was slowly cruised by, the window opened, and who should be inside? The smug, psychotic, evil, psychic con that was Gideon G. Gleeful.
"Hello Dipper Pines, would you mind introducing me to your friends?" he said, an evil grin playing on his chubby face.
"No I won't, we have to get home. So see ya'!" said Dipper continuing to run. Norman just followed, he ran beside Raz.
"He knows that we know about his plans." said Raz thought.
"Then we have to be there now!" Dipper's thoughts screamed. Norman looked over at Raz; the orange levitation ball had appeared under his feet. He looked left and saw Gideon's limo speeding past.
"Grab hold!" cried Raz grabbing Norman's arm. Norman grabbed Raz's shoulder, and Dipper grabbed the other one. Raz jumped, carrying Dipper and Norman with him. They landed on the roof of the limo with a Thud! Norman held on to the plastic racks on the roof, Raz started pulling himself across the roof; he motioned for Dipper and Norman to follow.
"What the?" screamed Dipper as an area of the roof slid open underneath him. A man pulled himself out and onto the roof. This guy was tall and very strong, Gideon's body guard.
"Get them!" called a voice from within the limo. The man began to walk across the hood of the limo without any trouble at all. Norman looked back at Raz; the boy was clutching his head.
"Raz! Little help here?" asked Norman as he crawled away from the bodyguard.
"Can't! Kinda busy trying to keep the car from flying off the road!" he replied; sure enough, an orange hand was gripping the front of the limo.
Dipper reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pocket knife and a flashlight. He tossed the flashlight to Norman who barely caught it. The man was nearly to Dipper, whose only weapon was an inch long blade. Norman looked at the flashlight, then he noticed the diamond tied onto the front; one side had a piece of pink tape on it, the other side had a bit of blue tape.
"Norman! Use the light! Pink side!" screamed Dipper scrambling to avoid the bodyguard. Norman clicked the switch; a pink beam glowed through the crystal and over the body guard. The man began to shrink quite rapidly. Norman held the beam until the man was small enough that if Dipper let go of him, he'd go flying off the roof!
"Nice job Norman!" called Dipper as he threw the tiny man back into the limo. Just then Raz managed to snap out of his concentration long enough the scream, "Watch out!" and then the limo swerved. Norman clung onto the rack as he was tossed about; he saw that Dipper was doing the same, while also holding onto Raz. Norman reached out, he could almost reach Raz's leg, just a little more. Then suddenly a glowing green hand grasped Raz's leg and pulled it over to Norman. Agatha poked her head through the roof; she smirked and said, "I told you so."
"Yeah, you did. Mind spooking the driver?" said Norman smiling at his friend.
"Sure thing!" she saluted and disappeared through the roof.
"Hold on!" he screamed to Dipper. The car swerved again, screams erupted from within the limo. Blithe Hallows was coming into view, and the limo was swerving left and right.
Now I know how that zombie felt when he was hanging onto the roof of the van. Thought Norman as he clung to the rack and Raz's foot; the limo stopped, Gideon leaped out of the car and began running towards town.
"Dipper! Grab Raz and come on!" cried Norman letting go of the rack and clambering down the hood. He caught a glimpse of the inside of the limo, Aggie had set multiple things on fire, including the driver's head, and she'd torn up the seats and turned the radio on high. Norman continued running after the boy in the blue tux, his street came into view. Mabel, Lilly, and his cousin Coraline all sat on Dipper's front porch; Mabel screamed and pulled the other girls inside.
"Gideon!" roared Norman.
"Oh, it's you ghost boy." said Gideon turning around. A turquoise medallion glittered around his neck, Norman held up the shrink ray.
"Oh that's merely a toy dear Norman. This is a weapon." Gideon grabbed the medallion and lifted his hand. An arsenal of rakes and shovel appeared behind him, Norman scowled. Then he flipped the crystal on the ray and pointed it at himself. Norman began to grow, soon he was the size of his house, and he was big enough to crush Gideon.
"Hah!" he reached down and grabbed all of the floating rakes and shovels. Gideon smiled evilly and took something out of his pocket. It was a whistle, Norman raised his foot to stomp on Gideon and Gideon blew the whistle. A massive headache tore through Norman's skull and he screamed. He used the light and quickly shrank himself back to normal size, and he lay there on the concrete, his head exploding with pain.
"Nooo!" screamed Dipper, finally arriving with a mentally exhausted Raz. Gideon blew the whistle again, and Dipper collapsed, clutching his head. Raz rubbed his eyes and took off towards the house, Gideon was inside. Norman could barely hear screams, screams of his family and friends. Raz was now inside, the sounds of psi-blasts and crashing objects joined the screaming. That was all Norman heard before the pain grew to a new amount of ferocity and he blacked out. But the last thing he heard was maniacal laughter.
Norman was shivering, where was he? A dull ache throbbed in his head. He opened his eyes, and was blinded by white light. His head ache grew worse as he blinked. When the light finally dimmed, Norman was able to look around. He was in a hospital bed and his head was wrapped in bandages. Dipper lay in the bed to Norman's right, his head was also wrapped in bandages, as was Raz's.
"Hey Norman. How're you feeling?" asked the psychonaut looking over at his friend.
"My head still hurts, what happened?" Norman asked rubbing his forehead. He looked over at Raz, whose left eye was swollen and black plus his left arm was in a cast.
"Well, after you and Dipper got those mega headaches, I went into the house to try and stop Gideon. But, when I went inside, I couldn't use my powers anymore! But Gideon suddenly had psychic powers! Mostly TK but still! He somehow managed to take my powers!" Raz was yelling now, Norman swore he could see steam rising from Raz's head.
"Raz, who took your powers?" asked a groggy Dipper in the next bed.
"Gideon, I think that the stupid amulet he was wearing was some kind of psitanium. Whatever it was, it drained me and enhanced his psychic ability."
"Yeah, I noticed that the amulet, when only I was there, allowed him to use TK." said Norman rubbing his temples.
"He had the amulet when Mabel and I first met him, but we destroyed it! Could there have been a second one?" Dipper paused for a moment to think about it then continued, "He also had that whistle, when he blew, and the person it was aimed at would get a migraine. I never read about anything like that in the book."
"Maybe Gideon had one of those books. Then he could've found the second amulet and the whistle without wandering around aimlessly." Norman suggested.
"Yeah, that's probably… OH NO!" cried Dipper face palming.
"What? What?" asked the others,
"He took the girls." Raz face-palmed, Norman was in shock. He got away with it? Why couldn't Lilly stop him?
"We got to call someone, get help." said Norman, he dragged himself out of the bed, and nearly collapsed onto the tile. He struggled, and got to his feet.
"Norman! What're you doing?" cried Dipper as Norman slowly made his way over to the shelf that held their bags.
"Calling for help." he replied unzipping his backpack. He pulled out his small red cell, and then grabbed Raz's and Dipper's cellphones from their bags.
"Dipper, you call your Grunkle Stan, Gideon probably took them to Gravity Falls. He knows that place really well. Raz, call the psychonaut headquarters and explain the situation." commanded Norman tossing them the phones.
"Well, who're you going to call?" asked Raz struggling to dial with one arm in a cast. Norman pressed a few buttons and said, "I'm calling the girls, they should have their cells. At least we'll know their okay." Norman began pacing across the room as the phone rang. Someone on the other end picked up, it was a voice that haunted Norman's nightmares.
"Hello? Who is this? Are you scheduling an appointment or-"
"Where are they Loboto?" yelled Norman.
"Who is this? Razputin if that's you, I'll have you know that all the little girlies are safe. But if one police officer arrives, three juicy little brains will be missing."
"You leave them alone!"
"Ta-ta my dear boy, make an appointment soon, I'm just dying to meet you." and he hung up. Norman threw the phone onto the ground, the screen splintered and cracked and the casing popped off.
"Whoa, Norman calm down, what happened? What'd he say?" asked Dipper closing his phone.
"He said that the girls are safe, but if we come with any reinforcements, their brains will be removed." said Norman gritting his teeth. Dipper climbed out of the bed and walked over to his friend,
"Don't worry, we can rescue them. I've got a shrink ray and numerous other weird things, a psychonaut is helping us, and you are good with ghosts. They can scare Loboto and Gideon out before we even get there! We can do this." Dipper tried to reassure Norman but it wasn't working, because Norman knew that without help they were toast.
"Well, the Psychonauts know the situation, and they know not to come until I give the okay. So, are we going to save the girls or not?" asked Raz climbing out of bed and wincing as he bumped his arm on the wall.
"We are," said Dipper putting on his hat.
"We can do this," said Raz pulling down his goggles.
"Let's go." said Norman.