Danny knew he had to do a job, sure, but that didn't damper his excitement. He had finally been allowed out of the compound for the first time since, well…the accident.

He shook his head out. He wasn't going to let those thoughts weigh him down today.

The forest he was traveling through was incredibly beautiful. It was small, sure, but combined with the beautiful seventy-six degree weather and the incredible tropical foliage, it was far more beautiful than anything he had seen back in Wisconsin. That was especially considering that they had snow just last week event though it was the middle of May.

As he kept pushing forward, he finally noticed the twins' tracks. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Honestly, at the rate he'd been going he wasn't sure he was ever going to find him. Though he was grateful that Vlad gave him his mission, for a while he was sure Skulker would've been better for the "track-tweens-through-the-jungle" sort of thing.

Of course, he never would never admit it. God knows that idiot didn't need an ego boost.

As he continued on his path, he turned his thoughts to the targets in question. Why did Vlad want twins? Did they not have parents? It's possible, but not really plausible. He had taken Danny in, but he was pretty sure that was different than whatever this was. Besides, there are easier ways to adopt than tracking kids through forests.

Could it be a kidnapping for ransom? Probably not. Vlad wasn't really the kidnapping type.

Then, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Shit. That wasn't possible.

…But, maybe…

…Could they be half-ghost too?

That made Danny's head spin. How would've they gotten ghost powers? Was there another ghost portal? How did it happen? Maybe they got stuck in the portal like he did, or they could've been experimented on.

This stuck to his mind as he floated on. Out of all his explanations, this was the most plausible. Vlad didn't really find anyone interesting unless they have something to do with ghosts.

Did that mean that the twins were coming to live in Wisconsin? That brought a bit of joy to Danny. If they were, that meant more excitement in the compound. Sure, they were a lot younger than him, but he had always wanted younger siblings. Maybe they…

Danny suddenly heard a small, quiet creaaaakkk. He turned around quickly, wondering exactly what happened. He couldn't see anything at first, but if his years of experience ghost hunting were anything to go by, he knew that something was out there. He could feel it.

He phased back into sight, sure that whatever it was that made the noise knew that he was a ghost. Danny moved into a fighting stance. Sure, he might be a bit paranoid, but at this point he was on edge. If that would've been local wildlife, he would've heard more noise leading out of his current clearing. There wasn't any wind flowing through the area, either.

"Come out, whoever you are. I know you're there." He turned his head slightly, looking for any other signs of his possible assailant. It wasn't a ghost or his ghost sense would've gone off. However, he could almost feel the occult energy. It was something old, ancient and dangerous. It had a similar feel to Pariah Dark.

Danny shivered. He hoped to high heaven that he was wrong.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his vision, he saw three sharp projectiles coming at him at lightning speed. He put up his ghost shield and they dropped to the ground. Keeping his guard up in that direction, he looked down and saw the last symbol he wanted to see.

"Damn it." He snarled. He quickly dismantled his ghost shield and flew up as he saw a quick, small figure dart out from the forest lining. It began to throw small balls toward him. Danny was well prepared for it, however. He froze the trinkets before they could explode for their intended purpose. He then sped down and created icy flooring and walls so the ninja would lose traction and couldn't escape.

Danny unfortunately failed to notice the light powder his opponent had sprinkled on the ground. When he regained his concentration, he could have swore that the ninja was smirking at him. Suddenly he saw the ninja drop another ball, this time only three feet in front of him. Danny couldn't get to it in time, and suddenly he heard it explode, bringing the entire area to flame. It quickly melted his icy fortress.

Danny paused for a moment and felt a twinge of fear. That was a ghostly ice prison. Mortal fire wasn't effective, so his suspicions were correct. This was a Norisu, no doubts about it. Vlad had mentioned that there was something weirdly supernatural about them, but even he hadn't quite figured it out yet.

The real question for Danny, though, was how did these morons hear about the twins? Vlad had assured him that this would be a quick and painless mission. If they were involved, that meant that bitch Amanda had something to do with it. The moment he turned back to his opponent, he saw that the ninja had vanished. He growled in frustration.

"Fine, it's a race then."

He finally found the trail again seconds later, and smirked. If that stupid ninja thought he was going to make it to those kids first, he had another thing coming for him.

"Mabel, come on, we need to hurry. We have to keep moving."

Dipper knew exactly what was coming for them. Those ghosts were bad news, especially if those news reports from Amity Park were anything to go by. It was really strange to see them outside of the midwestern region. That meant someone sent one to track him and Mabel down which did not bode well.

They were close, though. If they could just push past that upcoming ridge, they could grab a Greyhound to Oregon and get to their great uncles Stanley and Stanford's house. Dipper figured they were their best bet for survival.

They had been trekking for quite a while, though. While Dipper had his conviction and fear of death to keep him going, Mabel only had the whims of her twin brother to push her, and it was starting to show. She was tired and had some signs of dehydration.

Dipper wished they could stop for her, but with that ghost on their trail time was of the essence. It would probably be another half an hour before they finally made it to their first stop.

"You got this Mabel, we're almost there. We just have a little bit longer and then we can rest all we want."

She smiled at him, although warily. He turned and kept going forward. Suddenly the hair on his back stood up.

Oh no. Oh no no no no no.

He stopped in his tracks and realized that the ghost must be close. He grabbed Mabel's hand and made a quick turn into the nearby foliage. He hated to go off the path, especially when they were so close, but they needed to cover their trail. As they were running over and under tree roots and assorted bushes, Dipper noticed the cool feeling getting closer and closer.

"Dipper, slow down! I'm going to – AAHH OWW!"

He could feel her fall before he saw it. Her grip was loosened and torn from his hand. He turned and saw Mabel on the ground. She must've tripped over a tree root or some debris. Her knee looked pretty banged up and bloody.

"Oh no, Mabel!" He rushed over and inspected it closer. It looked really, really bad. He wasn't sure if she could walk. Mabel began to show tears in her eyes.

"Dipper, I don't think I can keep going. Please, can we just rest for a bit?" He could see that she was visibly in pain, and he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. If he had just abided by her warning earlier and maybe if they had rested before they had gotten this far, maybe they would've been able to speed it up at the end and reach their destination. If they stopped now though, they were definitely going to be caught by that ghost. He needed to think of something, and quick.

Dipper looked around the area and saw a small cave near the creek they had been following. He put Mabel's arm on his shoulders. He slowly carried her over the creek and into the cave. After setting her down, he opened his backpack full of their favorite snacks. She smiled as he pulled out a Choco Bar and began to nibble on it.

As he was wrapping her knee in bandages, he knew he had to come up with a plan quick. That ghost would find them both eventually if they didn't keep moving, but Mabel was in no condition to keep moving, at the very least until tomorrow.

He sighed and he knew there was only one option left. If he could distract the ghost and lead it away from Mabel into a trap, maybe he could buy them both time to make it to the greyhound stop tomorrow. It wasn't preferable, but it might be their only choice. They could probably meet up there for the first bus of the morning. Then, even if the ghost did catch him, he wouldn't find Mabel and she would make it to safety.

"Hey, Mabel?"

She swallowed the rest of her Choco Bar. "Yeah, Dipstick?"

He sighed and smiled sadly at her. "Listen, I need you to do me a favor. I have to go out to…uh, I… gotta, um… go search for something I dropped back there. It's pretty far, so it might take me the rest of the day. I know you need to rest, so could you meet me at the place we're heading? There's a bus we need to catch tomorrow there but I don't want you to get hurt."

It was silent for a moment, but then Mabel looked at Dipper with tears in her eyes. "Wait…you want to split up? Dipper, we never split up. Ever. And I still don't understand why we're even out here or where we're going. You're scaring me."

The shorter of the two felt his heart sink into his stomach. "Mabel, I promise I'll explain everything once – "

"NO! Dipper I want to know now! I'm not letting you drag me anywhere and you're not searching for anything until I know what's happening."

Dipper felt a little resentment boil up. She obviously had no idea what was going on, and she couldn't trust him to know what he was doing? How many times had he kept her from doing stupid, reckless things? "Do you not trust me, Mabel?! I know what I'm doing."

Mabel glared at him. "Oh yeah? Then why can't you tell me what's going on? Do you not trust me?"

"Mabel, I – " Suddenly he felt the temperature drop a little more. Dipper shook his head in frustration. "I don't have time for this. If I'm not here later tonight, just meet me at the bus stop we went to when we went up to Oregon. Get on the Gravity Falls Bus."

"Dipper, don't you leave!" Mabel was now crying and yelling as Dipper walked farther and farther from the small cave. "If you do, I'll…I'll never forgive you!"

Dipper looked back and shook his head. "Goodbye, Mabel."

He went forward as he heard her cry, feeling a tinge of guilt. He took a large branch and started sweeping the footprints away, hoping that this would hide his sister for the night until she could get over the ridge.

Once he got back on the path, he began running towards his destination. As he moved onward, he felt the temperature drop even more. He could feel the ghost approaching. He turned off into a side path and just kept going. He'd put quite a bit of distance between him and Mabel by now, so she should be safe.

Suddenly Dipper stopped as he felt a presence nearby. He turned and looked up. Suddenly he saw a human flicker into existence. He had snowy, white hair and intense glowing green eyes. He floated down to ground level and leaned down to Dipper. The boy smiled.

"Ah, hello. You must be Dipper. I'm Danny, and I'm here to help you and your sister. Why don't you come with me?"

Dipper looked up at the tree towering over them. Suddenly he saw the blue lines outline a broken branch and a weak point in the wood. He smirked. "Fat chance."

He kicked the spot with as much force as he could muster, and the broken branch came crashing down on Danny. Dipper then took off, going as fast as his legs could carry him.

Danny was dazed for a moment, and then felt a flash of anger.

Great, these kids were going to be a pain.