Dipper tripped. Again.
He winced, picked himself up, and kept going. He had to. If he kept stopping, the ghost would surely catch up.
As he wove through the trees and the shrubs, he started to come up with a plan. Surely there would be something he could use to fight it with, right? Iron was out. There probably wasn't any within the next hundred miles that wasn't mixed with something else. He could try citing a holy book, but he was pretty sure that wouldn't work either.
Maybe some sort of vegetation? That seemed like his best bet. He's pretty sure he read something about some sort of flower being used in the 1600s as ghost repellant. Some sort of peony, if he wasn't mistaken. Folklore called it a blood blossom.
"Jeez, kid, slow down! I'm not trying to hurt you!"
Dipper snorted. Sure, yeah, okay. He took another sharp turn to try and take the ghost off of his trail. He thought about the Kid's Kamp map he left with Mabel. Sure, he didn't have it with him, but he knew it like the back of his hand.
There was a garden kept by the ranger's office. By his estimation, he could make it there in thirty minutes. Hopefully he could ditch this stupid specter and get back to Mabel before the sun set.
Suddenly he felt a swift wind pass by his eyes accompanied by a blue wisp. He shivered, feeling oddly cold in the afternoon summer heat. His eyes followed the blue until it hit a tree. As soon as it did, a thin sheet of ice grew from the midpoint.
Oh no, no, no. No wonder he kept tripping. Looking back at his path, he saw a slightly shiny path that encompassed the trail he made. The ghost must be following the ice trail, and by the looks of that blue ball, he was getting closer.
Dipper was going to panic. He couldn't turn back now, and he surely couldn't change his path. That ice probably follows imprints in the soil, so no matter which way he ran it could find him.
He looked around, desperate for an out. Suddenly, his eyes turned to a small ball of fluff in the middle of the path. It was a rabbit hiding in the shade.
A lightbulb went off in his head and he began to run as fast as he could toward the rabbit. The ice slowly crept up behind him, only visible with the gleam of the sun. As he was getting closer, he raised his hands up.
Right before he made it to the rabbit, the small beast turned and noticed the human coming toward her. Frightened, she sprinted off, hoping that the human couldn't keep up.
At this exact moment, Dipper grabbed onto the branch above him and watched as the ice began to follow the darting rabbit.
Dipper hauled himself over the branch and began to slowly make his way across the tree branch, hoping that the ghost would be tricked into following the rabbit. He made his way across a few trees and then dropped down.
He took a moment to rest. Leading the ghost off of his trial was tricky. Sure, it bought him time, but that also meant that Dipper had no idea where the ghost was or if he could even estimate the time it took for him to catch up.
With this in mind, he began to make his way through the woods. He had no time to waste.
Danny could feel his ice veering off their current path. He quickly changed his trajectory and set off toward the kid.
His face still stung a bit. He really wasn't expecting the brat to hit him so hard with the branch. The small cut that grazed the left side of his jaw was surprisingly annoying.
Danny sighed, though. He figured the kid was just scared and didn't want to be taken from his sister. Danny knew the feeling, and thoughts of Jazz sprung up in his mind. His stomach fell, and he almost broke into tears. Even though it had been five months, the Nasty Burger incident was still fresh off in his mind.
No, no, not now. He had a job to do, a distraction. Now wasn't the time for this.
What it was really time for was figuring out what he was going to do about Source's ninja. They were the last people he thought would be wanting to get involved with children, especially if they were half-ghost. Sure, ghosts are pretty powerful, and Source was known for taking powerful things for themselves, but this didn't quite seem right.
Though he'd only faced off against one before, he knew they were tough to deal with. Something about some sort of demon that inhabited their suits made them agile and able to use weird magic. Danny would have to be careful and cautious. It might just be better to grab both of the twins as quickly as possible and avoid the ninja altogether if he could.
That was probably his best shot. With speed in mind, he decided to stop toying with the kid and speed up the process. Danny could feel the end of his trail nearby. As he sped up and zipped around the corner, he was rather…surprised.
"Well, shit."
It was a goddamn bunny.