"Bill?" Danny asked, surprised.
The yellow triangle circled around the halfa twirling his black cane in his hands. "DP! Hello. How's it been? Long time no see."
Danny rolled his eyes. "We saw each other four days ago Bill."
"I know, but it's felt like forever since I've seen my closest friend." Bill tipped his top hat.
"We are not close friends. It is more like I tolerate hanging out with you because. You. Won't. Leave."
Bill flipped upside down. "Awe, you don't mean that. I know you love me." Bill landed on Danny's head.
"Sure." He swatted the demon away from him. "Get off of me." He grumbled. After trying and failing to get the triangle-shaped demon off of his head he sighed and sat down on a rock. "Fine, what are you doing here, Mr. Dorito?"
"Can't a demon pop in to see his hybrid friend every once and a while?"
Danny looked up at the air above him with a disbelieving look. He couldn't see Bill from this angle. "Yeah huh, and I'm Santa Clause."
Bill sighed. "Fine. I've been watching you." He floated up off of Danny's head as a bunch of eyes appeared around circling Danny. "Well ever since you entered the town that is." The eyes all suddenly shut, leaving behind clear air. "I saw you met PineTree and Sixer. So... whatcha think?"
"You mean the hunters that were going to experiment on me? You know, sticking someone in a trap and calling them evil is a great first impression." Danny crossed his arms.
"I know! And they thought you were a demon." Bill rolled onto his back while floating in the air laughing. "It was too funny."
Danny rolled his eyes. "Okay, so why were you watching me?"
"I was bored," Bill said. "And besides I had to hang around you for a while until you left enough ecto energy in the air for me to actually have a form in this dimension."
"You are using my shredding ectoplasm to make yourself a body." The halfa questioned. "So you're a leech?"
"I am not a leech." Bill said angrily, his body changing to a more reddish color. He quickly changed back to his normal color to continue the conversation, calming himself down. "I'm just a demon following around my halfa friend so I can hang out with him." Bill suddenly disappeared from view and the demon's voice spoke up in Danny's head. "And I can chat in here if it makes you feel better."
"Bill, get out of my head." Danny responded annoyed within his own mind.
"Oh come on DP. It's not like I can get into any of your memories from here… For some reason…" Bill popped back up in front of Danny in the real world. "You got any fancy spells going on, DP? You don't trust me?"
Danny stood up and started walking further into the forest, Bill floating in the air next to Danny's head. "No, I am just getting better at protecting my mind from things like mind control. And that includes mind reading. And to answer your second question, No I definitely don't trust you."
Bill mock gasped. "DP, how could you." He put his hand over the middle of his -chest?- "That hurts me right here." He flew in front of Danny's path. "After all I've done for you?"
"You haven't done anything for me, Bill. And I am kinda busy at the moment, I need to figgure out what Clockwork wants me to do." Danny rubbed his forehead. "Dude never tells me anything." He grumbled.
"Good old Stopwatch. Do you think he misses me?" Bill put his hand directly under his eye as if it was his chin.
Danny scoffed. "Doubt it."
Bill chuckled.
X
Danny walked around the forest for a while longer contemplating his next move. Trying his best to ignore the demon. Bill on the other hand having fun chatting with his friend about all of the things he had done since he had last spoken with the halfa. Mostly involving blood and possessing which Danny was not really a fan of.
Suddenly they heard a girl crying out somewhere in the forest. "Get away from me! Tiny pests. Ahhh!" Danny and Bill whipped their heads around to look in the direction of the scream. Bill rolled his eye and started lounging back in the air.
Danny without a second thought started running in the direction of the cry. Bill sighed and started following behind. "Goody goody." He grumbled.
Danny ran through bushes and flowers before hiding behind one of the tall trees to survey the situation, just far enough away that he wouldn't be able to be seen or heard. There was a girl with long brown hair and was wearing a pink sweater with a shooting star logo on it. She was armed with a tennis racket and swiping it at what seemed to be the gnomes he had seen earlier that day. She looked about maybe 11-12.
A gnome jumped up and grabbed onto her ankle as she batted another one away that was jumping for her head. The gnome that Danny recognized as the leader of the pancake napping earlier walked out more in the open. "You will marry us and become our queen whether you like it or not!" He demanded
"Eww, gross. Never." The girl tried to shake off the gnome that was gripping onto her leg. "Ahh."
Danny's eyes flashed green in anger. He was about to come out of his hiding spot when Bill flew in front of him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you DP." Bill warned with a cheery voice.
Danny stopped for a second looking back at the yellow demon. "Why? She needs help."
"Just saying." He shrugged. "Shooting Star is friends with those hunters that you hate so much."
Danny glanced at the girl and then back at the dream demon. "That shouldn't matter. I'm going to help."
Bill leaned back. "Fine, don't call on me when you are stuck to a dissection table having your insides ripped out." Bill laughed. He then put his hand on his forehead dramatically, and pitched his voice higher to sound like a little girl. " 'Oh no help me Bill. I'm in so much pain. I should have been nicer to you.'"
Danny waved away the demon. "Just get out of here while I deal with this."
"As you wish." Bill disappeared into thin air. But Danny assumed he was still watching, not like it mattered anyway. He quickly took his focus off of the dream demon and back on the little human girl. The gnomes were running around her with rope trying to tie her up.
Danny let the familiar cold rings of white light wash over him transforming him back into his ghostly alter ego.
X
A little while after Mable had tried to cheer Dipper up she decided she was going to go and try to hang out with her best friends. She knew there was no point trying to talk with Dipper again. Right now he was in his room reading through the journal over and over, trying to find some way to take down that weird creature he had found. He would just get mad at her if she went in.
When she opened the door her pig suddenly rushed out the door bolting for the forest. Mabel's eyes widened. "Waddles! Come back!" She yelled. She quickly grabbed onto a tennis racket that was leaning against the door frame and started to run after her pig. It wasn't like him to run away like this.
Dipper and Ford had said not to go into the forest without them. But who cares, this is Waddles we're talking about! She ran into the forest quite far, she was following the sounds of waddles squeaks, and hoof prints, when suddenly she was tripped by something. She looked back to see that it was a small piece of rope, each end was held onto by a gnome. Great these guys again.
She had tried fighting them off. But it was beginning to be no use. They had just started tying her up when she saw a flash of white light in the corner of her eye. Suddenly someone had landed in front of her standing in between her and the gnome leader Jeff.
"The lady said no, I think you should listen." He said menacingly, his voice sounded all echoey. She could only see his back. He had white hair and a black and white suit made out of some strange material. She couldn't see very well from her position on the forest floor.
"You again!" Jeff exclaimed. "Okay, listen here new guy. This is gnome business so stay out of it." He climbed up on a rock so he was a little higher up.
"How bout, no." The white-haired boy spun around and shot a single green energy blast near one of the gnomes on the ground causing them to jump back in surprise.
"Gnomes, attack!" Jeff yelled. All of the gnomes jumped in unison at the boy, attempting to dogpile on him. For some reason, the gnomes fell... through him? They all collided with each other and landed in one huge pile. The ghost stepped away from the pile and looked at the leader.
"My turn." He shot a couple blasts at some other gnomes who started to recover and jump at him again. One of them started biting his ankle. Suddenly the boy's eyes changed to a glowing blue colour and he shot a blue blast at the gnome freezing them in a solid block of ice.
Some of the other gnomes gasped. Jeff looked back and forth between the frozen gnome and the ghost. They knew they couldn't beat this adversary. "Gnomes, retreat!" The leader commanded. As they were running away he called back. "You will be our queen, someday!"
As soon as the gnomes were far enough away the ice around the one gnome suddenly disappeared and the small creature looked around in confusion. "You should go with your friends." The teenage boy suggested. His eyes suddenly flashed a bright menacing green. The gnome yelped and started to rush off into the forest.
The boy suddenly whipped around and un-tied Mabel's feet. "Are you okay?"
X
"Are you okay?" Danny asked. He was looking at the brown-haired girl. The girl looked up at his face and her eyes seemed to grow twice the size. It even looked like there were stars in them. Danny held his hand out to help her up.
She grabbed onto it and got up quickly. "I'm better than okay now." She said with a bright smile. "You're so handsome."
Danny's face blushed green as he started rubbing the back of his neck. His blush being green because of the ectoplasm making up his body. He nervously chuckled. "Thank… you?" He was not expecting this to be the first reaction.
Suddenly she was snapped out of her trance. Her features filling with panic. "Waddles!" She cried.
She started rushing off down the path of the forest. Danny quickly flew after her, stopping in front of her he grabbed her shoulders. "Who?"
"Waddles my pet pig, he's only the cutest, most adorable, nicest, pig in the world." She explained. "He ran out here and I was following him." She was panicking. "There are so many predators out there. This is like the time he almost got eaten by a dinosaur."
Danny paused for a second trying to think about the dinosaur comment before shaking his head side to side. "Okay, we will look for him okay." He said reassuringly. "My species are supposed to be good hunters. Let's test that theory."
It took about 10 minutes to find the small pig. He was eating the berries off of a random bush. He had no harm done to him. "Waddles!" The girl exclaimed happily. She ran over and enveloped the pig in a big hug. The pig didn't seem to show any emotion and it just kept eating. "You scared me."
Her eyes brightened up again as she rushed over to Danny with the pig still in her arms. She held up the pig to Danny's eye height. "Look at this cute boy I found Waddles. He saved me from the gnomes." Danny coughed out of surprise.
She looked up at him for another second. "Thank you so much for that. I'm sorry I forgot to say that before. You know, there was the whole panicking thing." She chuckled. "I'm Mabel." She introduced sticking out her arm.
Danny smiled. "I'm Phantom. Nice to meet you, Mabel." He shook her hand.
"I like your teeth." She commented. Danny tilted his head slightly. "They're so cool and pointy, they kind of look like fangs." She gasped with more stars in her eyes. "Are you… A vampire?"
Danny laughed a bit. "No, sorry to disappoint. But I'm a ghost."
Her expression didn't change. "That's so cool." She said. "The other ghosts I have met aren't as cute as you though."
Danny rubbed the back of his neck slightly blushing again. "I get that a lot."
"I like your ears too." She pointed to them. "It's so cool that they move like that, like little elf ears." She put up her hand to tug at her own ear to make them look more pointed.
Danny's ears were hyper-reactive. So they perk up when he is happy or twitch when he is annoyed, and when he is mad or scared they pin back against his head. It's more of an involuntary reaction thing, showing his emotions. Danny smiled. "Thank you."
He never really got complimented on stuff that most ghosts had. If anything with his teeth being so sharp it would scare people away. Danny was thankful that these ghostly traits he had were only obvious in his ghost form. He looked like a normal person when he was in his human form.
Mabel bit her lip nervously. "What is it?" Danny asked.
"I should be getting back, my brother will be really worried about me."
"I'll take you back to make sure you're safe. But I'll stay out of sight after we get too close to the town. Most people don't really like ghosts."
"How could they not like you. You're so nice!" She exclaimed, almost dropping her pet pig.
"Thanks, Mabel but most people don't really see it that way." He sighed. "So where do you live?" He asked.
She smiled brightly. "Oh, I'm staying at my Grunckle's place with my brother for the summer. 'The Mystery Shack' have you heard of it?"
Danny froze. Great, just great.
Authors notes.
I am so happy with the Danny and Bill interactions. I had so much fun writing them, lol. XD.
I had a bit of writer's block and it took me a while to write the Mabel and Danny interactions. But I was happy with them in the end. Please tell me what you think so far for this chapter. Your opinions mean a lot to me.