Chapter 9: Scary Schemes and Stan's Hospitality
"No." Stan slammed the door on Danny, Sam, Tucker, Norman, Agatha, Dipper, Mabel, Randy, and Howard's well-rehearsed puppy dog faces. Dipper clenched his fists and bang avidly on the door of the mystery shack. It was still raining softly, and the porch wasn't big enough for all of them.
"Stan the convention is in RUINS! They need a place to crash until we find the Fentons! Please!" Dipper yelled desperately. There was silence.
Mabel grandly pushed her way to the front, indicating with flourish that the master of getting inside had arrived. She smiled gently, and then opened her mouth at the door.
"GRUNCKLE STAN, YOU LET ME AND MY FRIENDS INSIDE THIS HOUSE RIGHT NOW OR I WILL NEVER TALK TO YOU AGAIN! I WILL CRY MYSELF TO DEATH, DROWN IN MY TEARS OF SADNESS AND LEAVE WADDLES TO YOU IN A LEGALLY BINDING WILL!" she yelled. The rest of the teens had covered their ears, and were staring at Mabel with expressions that ranged from Awe to horror.
Footsteps were heard on the other side of the wooden door. Stan peeked out at the shivering, torn clothes and the exhausted and mildly haunted faces. He turned to Mabel.
"1, I have no idea who any of these people are-"
"You've known me for three days now-"
"Shut up, Norman. And 2, since when has a legally binding contract stopped me?" Stan finished.
"Tax returns?" Randy offered.
"Jury duty?" added Sam.
"Arrest warrants?" supplied Dipper. Stan glared. Then his expression softened as he remembers what had happened today. He normally would NEVER take in strangers, but….
I'm gonna regret this, he thought to himself. Inside his mindscape, a room labeled 'bad decisions to blame Mabel for' came into existence.
"Fine. Come in. But everyone stays in the attic and not in the shop! Understood!?" he conceded. The teens nodded with enthusiasm, and shuffled inside.
Dipper had thought it would be weird having Norman camp in the attic. But the scene before him was downright inconceivable.
Sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows littered the floor. Agatha's storm had taken out several nearby power lines, so an assortment of candles dotting the walls and shelves provided dim light. The teens were lounging in a circle on top of them in the middle of the room, chip bags, colas and vending machine food scattered around them. Mabel sat on her bed, and Dipper and Norman on his. Agatha was floating a few inches of the ground nearby, staring out the window forlornly. Dipper noticed she stayed close to Norman's side. In the floor circle, Danny and Sam sat next to each other, with Tucker on Sam's left and Randy on Danny's right. Howard closed the circle off, his back to the tall window.
Despite the cozy and calm atmosphere, the air was rigid with tension. Danny and Randy both had their hero complex in full drive, and were already trying to break down the events of the day and Agatha's cryptic warning.
"I think it's obvious that we are dealing with an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it crisis here!" declared Randy. Several heads nodded in agreement.
"I hope my parents are okay. I need to find them." Said Danny. Sam gently put her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sure they're fine Danny. It was really only our section that got hit like a warzone. Everyone else just fled." She said.
"Yeah, dude, their probably back at the hotel worried for us!" said Tucker offhandedly. He was trying to get his ipad to power back up. Dipper thought it was great and all that people needed to find their parents, (and they needed to find Soos) but he sensed there were more pressing issues that needed discussing.
"What I want to know," he began, "is what the ninja of Norrisville and the Phantom of Amity Park have to do with all this." Dipper saw Danny tense, but he didn't care. His town was just attacked!
"Yeah, Norman, didn't Phantom carry you in or something?" asked Howard. Now Norman was tense. If he said anything about what happened in the woods, he would reveal Danny. He glanced at the Halfa. Danny gave him a guarded look.
"Yeah, see, that ghost and I, well-"he started.
"What Ghost?" asked Howard. Norman glanced at Agatha, as did Danny. Howard saw a window. "What are you guys looking at?"
Norman looked at the group in surprise. He and Danny were the only one who could see Agatha. Huh.
"There's a ghost by the window. Agatha. She's a friend of mine." Said Norman. Howard looked unconvinced.
"I don't see her." He said.
Sam looked at the window confused. "Neither can I. and we see ghosts all the time in Amity." She muttered. Norman sighed.
"I can see her because that's what I do. I can see the dead." Said Norman softly. Randy and Howard looked at him like he was crazy. Dipper sighed.
"It's true. It's why his dad shipped him up here: so he could meet other crazy people." Mabel said. Norman frowned, but Danny and Randy felt sympathy.
Danny turned to Norman. "In Amity, people see ghosts all the time. Why can't we see her now?" He was careful not to give away that he could still see Agatha as well.
"All the ghosts that appear in Amity Park are powerful spirits." Sam surmised. "Agatha must only be visible when she's at full strength"
"I wouldn't call fear induced anger and malic a strength." Argued Norman. Agatha smiled at him. Sam looked thoughtful.
"Okay, so that's why we can't see her. She's still here, right?" said Randy. Norman nodded. Randy continued "So I get that much. Why did she try to kill the Ninja?"
Agatha huffed. "I didn't mean to! I WAS TRICKED!" her eyes lit up and her voice filled the room. Everyone except for Danny and Norman looked around frantically for the disembodied voice. Danny raised his hands.
"NO! No! It's true!" everyone settled back down. Danny continued. "There's a jerky ghost in our town that overshadowed that Ninja guy and made him say things to upset her. Whatever it was worked, because she nearly destroyed him." Silence fell over the room. Agatha turned back to the window, her head hung in guilt. Randy shuddered at the memory of the Ghost inside his body, pushing his soul out of the way.
Howard broke the silence.
"Why would a ghost try to kill the ninja?" he asked.
Danny's face darkened. "The ghost didn't." he turned to face Randy and Howard. "You're psychotic town Mayor did."
Randy felt his face redden with anger. Of course McFist was behind this.
"That Jerk!" he said.
Tucker looked up from his ipad. "How did Plasmius know what to say to Agatha to upset her? And how do you know it was the Norrisville mayor behind the attack?"
Danny and Norman exchanged glances.
"Um… McFist kinda kidnapped us because he somehow knew Agatha would get really mad if something happened to me." Norman said. "I was the first friend to her in 200 years."
"I bet Plasmius told her." Growled Danny.
Howard's face lit up, as if he'd just realized something.
"Hey Danny! Where were you? I saw phantom drop Norman off, but you were nowhere to be found." He said.
Danny rubbed his neck nervously.
"Yeah, he uh… he let me off at the edge of the woods. I went to search for my parents for a bit…but then I came back when I saw the lightning stop."
Howard stared at him blankly.
"What a wimp- OUCH!" Randy roughly elbowed Howard in the shoulder, glaring at him. Danny stared, annoyance plastered on his face. Sam grinned at the irony.
Dipper pressed on.
"That explains almost everything…what did Agatha's message mean?"
"Why would a ghost help a murderous ninja killer?" asked Sam.
"You mean a sorcerer." Said Randy.
"Yeah a sorcerer-WAIT! There's a SORCERRER trying to kill the ninja"
"Ugh, Has NO ONE heard the legend?" the teens shook their heads.
Randy took a deep breath.
"Legend says that 800 years ago an evil sorcerer rose to power. He preyed on the weak and vulnerable and turned them into monsters that wreaked havoc everywhere. Then a ninja came and sealed the sorcerer under what is now Norrisville high. The ninja protects the town and its people from the sorcerer ever rising again." He finished.
"So that's why he called you a prison guard…"Danny muttered.
"WHAT!" cried Randy. Danny looked up and said "Nothing!" quickly. Randy looked startled.
"Okay, so, an evil sorcerer…"Sam continued. "Agatha said 'said the sorcerer would wake up by Phantom's hand." She glanced nervously at Danny, who had taken to studying the wood patterns on the floor. "We can only assume that that means this sorcerer guy is going to try and what is it? Stank?" Randy nodded. "Stank Phantom so he can escape?" Mabel paled and fell face first into her pillow, sobbing.
"They can't do that to phantom!" she cried. She lifted her face and glared accusingly at everyone. "He does totally gonna this sorcerer guy up and EVERYTHING"S GONNA EXPLODE!"
Randy looked a little deflated. He thought over all of what Agatha had said. She had said Danny would be rewritten…creepy…and be a pawn to the Fist. He assumed the 'Fist' was Mcfist. Wait, but if McFist wanted to use Danny as a pawn, and the sorcerer planned to rise by Danny Phantom's hand…no way.
Randy looked at Danny in Awe. Dipper saw his expression and knew what was coming. He subtly leaned closer to Mabel, ready to hold her back.
Danny caught randy staring. "What?" he asked.
Randy looked at him like he was staring at his savoir.
"Agatha said that you, Fenton, would be rewritten as a pawn to the 'Fist'. McFist, to be exact. And Phantom is who the sorcerer plans on using to break free. You are a supposed to be a pawn and Phantom is supposed to do a very pawn-like thing."
"Those chess lesson are paying off" said Howard, wiping invisible tears off his cheek. Randy rolled his eyes.
"Thanks Howard, not during my revelation speech. Dude…are you DANNY PHANTOM?"
Yeah. In most cases it's REALLY OBVIOUS that Fenton is Phantom. And these guys need to be prepared. Seriously I have this beautiful evil scheme in mind and I'm just itching to set it into motion.
Three words to serve as hints for future chapters. Those three words are:
Gideon, Bill, Stankage.
That's all I'm saying. Please leave a comment or review. Also, if any one saw or watched the Gravity Falls ComicCon panel, Mabel's fan fiction is referenced. Ha.
Au revoir!