PREVIOUSLY

Amazingly, there hadn't been much talk after Dipper's little outburst of Danny being such a freak. Dipper being nice was only a mask, and he hoped, no, he wanted Danny to know it was just an act that would drop. He wanted answers or he would bump up the measures.

But now, there would be something scarier than what any of them had ever experienced.

The Gravity Falls forest at night.

"Wow... The sunset in Gravity Falls is really prett-" Danny stopped mid-sentence and turned pale. A shiver went up through his spine, like it had been the entire day, except it felt stronger this time. It was his reminder that this was not a normal forest, and the sun setting was not a particularly good sign. "...Wait. Sunset?"

Dipper quickly came to the same conclusion as Danny did. The forest was a spooky place, not to be wandered about late. He was very close to punching his new halfa 'friend', actually. All he had done since he was here was frustrate, confuse, and steal from him. Now look! They were lost in the forest here because Danny hid his map from him! Grrr... There wouldn't be any time for anger now! Teamwork was the key to surviving whatever horrors they were going to overcome here. "We shouldn't be out here at night. I've never camped out here, and I really don't want to," Dipper said, looking around the forest cautiously.

Mabel pressed her cheeks together and lowered her voice to a bad impression of Dipper. "Ooh, look at me, I'm Dipper, and I'm going to get eaten by horrible mo*voice crack*nsters!" Wendy, Soos, and she laugh. Her brother moaned.

"Haha, that's pretty good," Soos remarked. "But, we're still totally going to get eaten, dude. This place is infected with creatures and horrible things!"

"Oh, right." Mabel still tried to fulfill her role by keeping the mood light, but was admittedly scared out of her wits.

"We need to find a cave," Dipper said, scanning the area... "There!" He pointed at a little opening into a mountain. "Let's go, before anything gets us while we're defenseless. We'll need to set up a fire. Did anyone bring any food with them?" Danny smirked at the thought of being defenseless. Pretty funny, right? I mean, it was, considering he could destroy someone with a ray coming from his finger.

"Hmm... If I had, I would have brought an infinite pizza slice. That'd be a really good thing to wish for!" Soos said. (remember, this is before Blendin's Game...)

And so, everyone began thinking of food... It's not like they were starving to death, but they were still pretty hungry and grumpy from the fight. The only food they had really brought was Danny's beef jerky.

"I should have brought some pancakes my dad had won. Sure, they're old and soggy, but so is Stan, and you guys love him."
"Maybe some nice peanut butter and sap sandwiches would do us well... If we had bread, or peanut butter, for that matter."
"Sap would make really good syrup for the pancakes..."
"These berries aren't poisonous, right?.."
"Monster meat is only worse for you than normal meat in Don't Starve, I think."
"I wouldn't mind a few mutated frog legs right now..."

"Please, stop talking about food," Danny groaned. The ghost and Cipher fighting of the day had really drained him. "That fight was exhausting... I really just want to rest up..." That statement was a lie, because he knew he would end up being stuck on watch for most, if not all, of the night. As they all neared the cave, it was clear that something in there was staring at them. Three pairs of glowing, yellow eyes batted at them from inside. Danny felt weird, like his ghost sense should have been going off right about now. Instead, he just felt... cold. The shivery feeling that had been following him around his entire trip in Gravity Falls came out in a mutated ghost sense, which would be more of a monster sense, I suppose. A white wisp of air came out of his mouth. It had a faint smell and taste of a mint. "Huh...?"

Dipper noticed the little wisp of air, as well. "...What was that? It didn't look like you were just breathing out cold air... Is it a ghost power?"

"Ooooh, do I smell... mints?" Mabel commented, licking her lips. "It doesn't look like we're going to get to brush our teeth tonight, so if whoever has the mints wants to share, ya girl Mabel is right here, you know..."

"...I'm not sure what that was. It felt like my ghost sense, except more like I was being tickled when I exhaled," Danny replied after a few seconds. That's weird. Is it a new ghost power? Doesn't seem like it's doing much... "It can't mean anything good, though... I'm going ghost!" He began to transform into his ghost half, but midway through paused and looked at all the shiny eyes of his new friends staring at him. The rings that had made it to his calves and his shoulders started to make their way back to their origin to turn him back into a human. "...Know what, I can do this as a human." Everyone sort of just... blinked... at that.

"What's wrong?" Wendy asked, tilting her head in a confused manner.

"Oh... Uh, just think I can get along with being a human for this..." He gave a cute little half-smile.

"You can feel free to transform in front of us anytime... It's cool." Wendy laid her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "We won't think you're a freak." Danny missed Jazz for a moment, and felt the same comfort from this red-head as had from his big sister.

"...Thanks." Danny still didn't feel very comfortable, so he just went on ahead in his weaker form. "Don't worry about me, worry about yourselves. Whatever sense just came out of my mouth isn't good news, I can tell you that much." He walked up into the cave first. He had never recognized one of his only weaknesses was saving himself in front of others, but the group had already come to start to realize it.

Danny's hand lit up with an ectoplasmic light, filling the entire cave with an eerie, green light. The pairs of yellow eyes were revealed to be some sort of three-headed hydra bat, except instead of tiny little bat paws, each hand/foot was the size of a basketball when you added on the length of the razor-sharp claws. It jumped onto Danny's face and began its attack. "AHHH!" Danny screamed, shutting his eyes. The creature was able to slice a quarter of the way into his arm before he turned intangible. The poor creature was flustered and swiped at him a couple of more times, which would have made Danny chuckle if he wasn't human and that seriously hurt a ton. With the group distracted on getting the bat, he transformed into PHantom. "..Ow..." He blasted the creature with his ectoplasmic hand ray, stunning it. "What is this thing?!"

"It's a hydra bat!" Dipper shouted in response, trying to recall what to do in the situation a hydra bat attacked. "Grrr... If I still had my JOURNAL-Ah!" The boy ducked. The hydra bat, as he called it, had recovered and lunged at him. He rolled on the ground away from where the monster had pounced, quickly glancing back up to see his beloved hat was being poked at by the demonic bat. Danny shot his ectoplasmic rays at it, but there was hardly any stun this time around.

"I can't keep blasting it! Do you have any idea how I can stop it?!" Danny directed this at Dipper, but was open to any suggestions.

"Uhh... Bats have sensitive lungs!" Soos blurted out, proud of his random knowledge.

"That gives me an idea!" Dipper said, in thought. "If you can the thing to breathe in any amount of poison, it will die!"

"I can't shoot poison out of my hands!" Danny stopped for a moment and tried... Nothing. Darn! I could really use a new ghost power... "But... I know what I can do!" He shot icy beams, the color of his normal eyes, at the hydra-bat and froze it. It dropped to the ground in a big chunk of ice.

"...You have ice powers?!" Wendy said, mouth dropping wide open. That was so... COOL, don't you think?! HAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAH AH AHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAH AHA AHHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH AA AH HA HAAH AHAH

YOU GET IT

BECAUSE

ICE IS

wait for it...

COOL

hahahahaha

that was a proud moment

...ANYWAYS

"I really didn't expect that..." Wendy admitted, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Heh, well, there's more where that came from... But I think we'll be good for the rest of the night..." Danny said, looking down at himself. Jumpsuit, silver boots, the important DP symbol, and silver gloves... Everything seemed so familiar to him, and probably to Amity Park. Here, though, he was still probably passing the Unknown Villain stage, where absolutely nobody who he was, and those who did know planned to destroy him, except his closest allies. He transformed back, a bit embarrassed at his current state, actually. He always felt like the odd one out, regardless of the circumstances, and their displayed actions towards him were definitely no help. So much for that comforting moment, Wendy... Guess I am still a freak in your eyes. Ah well, guess I'm used to it now. "Time to sleep?"

Dipper, assuming that Danny would take first watch, volunteered. "I'll take first watch!"

Danny wanted to take first watch, but he felt uncomfortable with Dipper. He seemed like a completely capable KID. That was the half of it! That KID was figuring things out much too quickly and being way too nosy for his own good. He didn't feel like being bombarded with questions for the time being, because there would be more than enough of that to go around back home when he got back. Danny trusted Clockwork when he told him that he would take care of his friends and family, but there would still be a lot of story to tell Sam and Tucker. Jazz would probably be excluded from his entire story, because he knew that there would be too much confusion... AND QUESTIONS! Danny debated whether to volunteer, until everyone just sort of... Looked at him. It was a really strange look, like they were expecting him to, and that was probably because they were. Dipper, more than anybody. They all knew they would be safer with this neon green fighting machine watching their backs. "...FINE! I volunteer as tribute. I'll take first watch..." AND probably every OTHER watch... Hmmph.

Everyone settled into bed after eating their single slice of beef jerky for dinner. Dipper checked to make sure everyone was asleep an hour later. Once he knew for certain, using certain methods I'm not awake enough to make up/Google, he poked Danny with a stick. "Hey, watch it..." Danny responded, but it wasn't very forcefully. He was too tired for anything. He hadn't had this exhausting of a day in awhile. Dipper poked him again. "What do you want?"

"I have some questions," Dipper said, gathering his thoughts and deciding what would be the best to ask him in a precise order.

Danny groaned, looking at the ground and focusing on staying awake. "Ask your questions, and I'll decide if I feel like asking them or not," he growled.

That's probably the best I'm going to get out of him, Dipper decided. "...Well, first and foremost, I know it's pretty obvious-"

"What's your question?"

"Well, we're not out here looking for your family, right?... We were out there to battle Bill and the two foreigners-"

"-Vlad Plasmius and Skulker"

"-and I, for some strange reason, get the feeling that you really don't want to find them. I doubt they're even in the forest!"

"No, we're not here to find my family."

"Why? Did you bring us out here to be attacked? Why are we out here?"

"I need allies. I need to know the forest, and more importantly, I need allies. Before it happens..."

"What?! Before what happens...?" Dipper seemed like a scared little kid for a moment, kind of like he used to be before Gravity Falls.

"I... don't know if I can say. It's happening soon, and it means total global destruction!"

I've seen that before, in invisible ink in the Journal... "Come on, man! This is the fate of the world, at least let me know!"

"It relates to Bill... I don't think Clockwork would approve of me spilling..."

"Who's Clockwork?"

"I can't say... That's giving up too much information?"

"Well, I guess you're not getting my help, then. Information for an alliance, that's my price." Dipper knew he would get the information and that Bill was HIS problem, so eventually he would be teaming up with Phantom, no matter how much of a thief he thought the half-ghost was. "At least tell me where you're from..."

"I... well... I can't say that either."

"Do you even have a family?! Or friends?!"

"Of course I have a family! Of course I have friends!" Danny was genuinely offended! Come on, Dipper! :c

"Tell me about them!"

I suppose I could say something... Maybe it will satisfy his brain for the night and he'll let me rest... "Fine. I have a sister, Jazz. She reminds me of Wendy, to be honest. Caring, protective..." Caring didn't sound exactly right to Dipper, but he didn't interrupt this new flow of information. "My dad, Jack. My mom, Maddie. Then there's Tucker and Sam, my two best friends."

"Sorry... Your mom and dad? What do they do for a living?"

"Heh... Um, well funny you should mention that. They're actually the world's leading ghost hunters." Danny chuckled pitifully for his parents.

Dipper raised an eyebrow. Being obsessed with conspiracy and the supernatural, he was pretty sure he'd of known of Jack and Maddie Fenton. "I've never heard of them..." Then the stupidity of their jobs and their son clicked in his brain. "What? You're their... son? Ghost hunters... Are you the only one of your kind?"

"Well... No. Vlad Plasmius, he's what that nerd I dealt with a while back called a Halfa. Half ghost, half human. Two of a kind. It's a miracle my parents found out yet..."

"They'd understand, wouldn't they?"

"They've told me that they'd rip me apart molecule my molecule before, if that counts... While I was in my ghost form, of course. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz know my secret."

"Sam and Tucker, they're pretty cool guys?"

"Sam's a girl. It's short for Samantha, but... Don't call her that."

"...Even if I ever did manage to meet this girl from wherever you're from, why?"

Danny stared straight into his eyes. "Trust me, DON'T." He shyly backed out of his intense stare. "I'm done talking, for now. Let's just wait in silence, alright?"

Dipper nodded. Little did either of them know that the silence was about to be ruined... A shadow of a mysterious beast was becoming more and more apparent to Dipper's close watch on the forest. He prayed it would go away, but of course they wouldn't be so lucky...

Happy 2:19 AM. I said well too many times in this chapter, and probably the entire story. And I added too much dialogue. Tell me if you want less talking, because I like making them talk, mainly because it's easier to write. Adventure is fun to read, too. Whatever you guys want. Throw suggestions everywhere at me, I don't really mind. I just want you guys to read it and not cringe. Longer chapter because this one took a fricking MONTH to put out. Happy Summer. Please don't expect many more soon. I'm gone all next week, but this story will all be pumped out eventually. 'night