The Girl with the Ghost Powers

Dipper wasn't a fighter. Oh sure, he'd defend himself or the ones he loved if he really had to, but he only ever resorted to violence only after all attempts at reason had failed. And right now, he was seriously hoping that his luck held out and things didn't turn violent because if this girl had half the powers that Danny Phantom and Vlad Masters did, he was seriously screwed.

And from what he saw the night he was saved by her, it was probably safe to assume she was at least as powerful as the Supernatural Superhero of Amity Park and the missing billionaire who tried to take over the world.

Still… what kind of Paranormal Investigator would he be if he didn't try to learn more about half ghosts when he had the chance?

Admittedly he probably took it a little too far, but come on! She was a half ghost! Those were like, the top of the top as far as paranormal science was concerned, and even after all these years there was only so little the public actually knew about them. Sure, people had known Danny Phantom's civilian identity for years now, but they still didn't know how he or Vlad Masters had come by their powers, or the limits of their abilities, or basically anything really. On some level, Dipper understood why the discretion was necessary, but his personal curiosity wasn't quelled so easily. So when he had the chance to observe a half ghost in action, he took it. Even with the voice in the back of his head screaming 'DANGER WILL ROBINSON' the whole entire time. In retrospect though, it was actually a little surprising she waited two whole days before confronting him. He'd been expecting her to act much sooner.

It's probably safe to take that as a sign she doesn't really want to kill me. Dipper thought optimistically as he followed the dark haired girl through the diner to a corner booth, distanced enough from the other customers that they could talk without being disturbed or overheard and tucked away where prying eyes couldn't watch.

Dipper felt equal parts terrified and excited as he took a seat across from her.

"So what can I get you two today?" A chipper blonde teen asked with a smile as she brought them their menus. Dipper vaguely recognized her from high school, but couldn't place a name to the face.

"A burger and fries with a coke, and some apple pie for dessert, please." The half ghost ordered with a polite smile, not even looking at her menu. It was pretty obvious that she was impatient for the girl to leave so they could have some privacy. Dipper couldn't really blame her for that, since he had a lot he wanted to talk to her about too, but he was pretty sure the blonde got the wrong impression if the curious glance she gave the two of them was anything to go by. She was probably wondering what an attractive blue-eyed girl was doing with the nerd who skipped the eighth grade.

"Uh, same I guess." Dipper said, squirming a little as his face went red. The blonde's eyebrow raised minutely as she jotted their orders down on her pad before flashing them a smile.

"I'll be right back with your orders!" She promised cheerfully before heading away to the kitchen.

"Friend of yours or something?" The half ghost asked, ask she watched the waitress slip away, obviously reading their body language and noticing that they seemed to know one another.

"Or something." Dipper answered dryly. Dipper didn't have many friends, other than the Mystery Shack gang and his twin. He never really connected with the other kids in school, especially after they bumped him up a grade which had him basically ostracized by both kids his own age and the ones in his class.

But this wasn't exactly something he was eager to get into with a girl who had superpowers.

"So what are you doing all the way over here in Piedmont?" Dipper asked instead as a change of subject. "I mean, Amity Park is practically on the other side of the country."

"Any who ever said I was from Amity Park?" the girl scoffed as she flipped open his journal. "I'm from Colorado, originally. Been moving around a lot the past few years, though." Dipper felt a little surprised at that. Of course, he hadn't really known if she was from Amity Park or not, but she was half-ghost and she made allusions to knowing Danny Phantom (At least, that's what Dipper got from her comment about the other half ghost dealing with the media) so he figured it was a good guess if nothing else. More surprising, though, was the fact that she volunteered this information at all. The way she made such a big deal out of him following her around, Dipper was sure she'd try and withhold as much information about herself as possible.

Granted, knowing that she was from Colorado didn't really tell him much, other than the fact that she probably wasn't connected with Danny Phantom or Vlad Masters after all since they hailed from Amity Park and Wisconsin respectively. Then again, Masters WAS a billionaire, so maybe she could still have a connection with him even in spite of the distance? But she spoke like she was on good terms with Danny Phantom, somehow Dipper doubted that would be the case if she was working for or with his biggest enemy.

…He was overthinking things again, wasn't he?

"Okay, this is officially the creepiest thing I've ever read." The girl said dryly as she scanned the first page of notes he'd written up on her. "You seriously clocked my average walking speed?"

"I wanted to try and get a feel for your physical abilities as a human, and see if your ghost powers affected them at all." Dipper responded a tad defensively. "And I already told you I didn't have much."

"What about this part at the bottom? It's in code." The girl pointed out, tapping to a few lines at the bottom if the page. Dipper felt himself turning red at that.

"That's… that's nothing." He said, sinking into his chair a little and hoping against hope that she let the subject go.

"It wouldn't be coded if it was nothing." The ghost girl said with a glare. "My father was a scientist, and I know full well that codes are used to hide sensitive information from anyone who'd want to steal it." Her dad was a scientist? Well that was an interesting piece of information. "You're not getting this back until I know what it says. ALL of it." Dipper grimaced as that, considering his options for a second before, with great reluctance, pulling the key to his personal code out of his vest pocket and handing it over to the girl. He watched with trepidation as her eyes flashed back and forward from the key to the book in her hand, mouth moving silently to each letter as the coded message slowly became clearer.

After getting to the end of the message, the girl looked visibly baffled for a moment before going back and rereading the whole thing again. Dipper cringed and sank a little deeper into his seat, hoping the earth would take pity on him and swallow him whole. Sadly, this didn't happen and so he was forced to watch as the truth behind his 'coded message sank into the half-ghost girl's mind and she began to giggle uncontrollably. She tried to hide it at first, but it wasn't long before she was doubled over and crying from laugher, loud and unapologetic as she cracked up. Dipper could feel the curious eyes of the other patrons on him as the half ghost practically rolled around on the floor, and it made him long desperately for the invisibility spell he'd read about back in Gravity Falls.

"Oh my god." The ghost girl said, wiping away at her tears. "Oh my god, that's the corniest thing I've ever read in my entire life."

"I wasn't expecting you to read it." Dipper muttered, his face burning red as he studied his placemat, unable to bear the humiliation of looking the girl across form him in the eye. His staring match with the restaurant's logo was suspended when his journal suddenly slid into view. Slightly surprised, Dipper looked back up again, questioning eyes meeting his companion's easy grin.

"Here." She said. "Take it. Though I would like a copy of that poem, if you don't mind."

"It was just random scribbling." Dipper insisted, hastily hiding his journal back in his pocket before the half ghost changed her mind. "I do it when I get bored. It's not like- I mean, I didn't mean-!"

"Relax." The half ghost chuckled, giving Dipper a lopsided grin. "You've officially gone from 'annoying potential threat' to 'dweeby dork who's actually kinda funny' trust me, that's a step up."

"Doesn't sound like one." Dipper groused, though he couldn't stop the relieved smile from stealing across his face.

She thought he was funny?

"So then, Dipper right?" the girl asked, though she didn't wait for his confirmation before continuing. "You got your journal back, so you're gonna keep your end or our deal and erase that video, right?"

"Video?" Dipper repeated in confusion, before remembering their bargain in the alley, "Oh, the video! Right, I'll just, um, I'll just go ahead and do that right now." Dipper agreed, hastily digging out his phone and opening his video files. Before he could do anything else, though, the phone was snatched from his hands. "HEY!"

The half ghost ignored Dipper's shout of protest as she began to leaf through his phone, studying the files with an arched eyebrow.

"I'm not seeing anything in here from the other night." She said conversationally, glancing up from the phone to give Dipper the same look he got when she cornered him in the alley. On the surface, she looked calm, but one look in her eyes was enough to see that she was not a threat to be taken lightly.

"I… um…" Crap. "Okay, so my video camera got busted before you even showed up, and I didn't actually get anything of you fighting. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have lied, but you were gonna torch my notes and I just freaked and-!"

"You talk too much when you think someone's gonna kill you." The girl noticed with an amused smile.

"Stalls for time. Gives me time to think. Keeps me from panicking and getting myself killed faster."

"You sound like Danny." The girl said with a laugh. "That's exactly what he told me when I asked him why he always makes those stupid puns when he fights."

"Danny Phantom?" That was a comparison he'd never gotten before. Part of Dipper felt pleased at the comparison to the world famous superhero. "You really think I'm like him?"

"Well, you're kinda like how he acts when he's being dorky and embarrassing." The girl grinned as Dipper winced. "He's different sometimes too though. Stronger, you know? I don't see the appeal myself, but he really likes the whole hero thing and helping others and all that junk."

"How long have you known him?" Dipper asked. Unfortunately, that was when the waitress returned with their food, setting the plates in front of them with a chirpy 'Please Enjoy!' before sweeping away to the next table.

"A few years." The girl answered vaguely as she munched on a fry. "He kept an eye on me a lot when I was a kid. Watched my back, you know? I'd be dead right now if it wasn't for him, to tell you the truth." Dipper was tempted to ask where her powers had come from and how long she'd had them, but figured she probably wouldn't answer, and might get upset if he asked.

"What about your dad?" He asked instead, "You said he was a scientist, right? How does he feel about you being a half ghost? I mean, he does know, right?" The blue eyed teen went deathly still at the question, making Dipper panic slightly. Crap, he didn't push too far, did he? "You don't have to answer if you don't want to! I was just curious! Sorry, I didn't mean to pry!" The girl frowned silently for a minute, and Dipper could tell she was upset.

Crap.

"You have a lot of videos of some girl in here." The dark haired girl said, motioning to his phone. "The sister you mentioned earlier?"

"My twin, Mabel." Dipper confirmed.

"You two seem close." She observed.

"Yeah well, we've been through a lot together, you know? She's my best friend just as much as she's my sister. Not that I have all that many friends to begin with, but…"

"I'm sure you have more than me." The girl scoffed with a rueful grin.

"Really?" Dipper feigned surprised. "Wow, you'd think that more people would like someone who viciously attacked people in alleyways."

"Same for creepy stalkers who write cheesy love poems in code." The half ghost shot back.

"It wasn't a love-!" Dipper started to protest, only to trail off at the sight of her playful grin.

Wait.

Were they flirting just now?

…Oh man, they were. He was totally flirting with a half ghost.

"Anyways, thanks for lunch but I'd better get back to tracking down that ghost." The girl said, standing up. Dipper jolted out of his revelation at her words, glancing down at their plates to find that his companion had already polished off all her food. And though he hadn't touched anything on his plate, somehow his fries had all managed to disappear. "And as fun as this was, if I ever catch you following me around without permission again, I'm going to make sure you regret it for the rest of your life, got it?"

"…Uh," Crap. Dipper really wasn't sure how to talk to her anymore, now that he was aware of the fact that he was attracted to her. The half ghost girl didn't seem that bothered by his lack of a response though, casually tossing his phone back to him and causing Dipper to fumble with it to keep it from hitting the ground. By the time he finally got a secure hold on it and looked up again, the girl had vanished without a trace.

Disappointment swelled in Dipper, though he tried to keep it at bay. What else could he possibly have expected from a girl like that, anyways? She wasn't really going to be interested in a dork like him. Sighing silently, Dipper opened up his contacts to call his sister and tell her that he wasn't in any danger after all before she came bursting in waving around her grappling hook. As he scrolled down to find his sister's name though, a new contact caught his eye, making him stop dead in his tracks as he stared, stunned, at the playfully smirking picture the half ghost girl had taken on the sly when she had apparently added herself into his phone. A grin stole it's way across Dipper's face as he studied the photo, which only grew when his phone beeped to announce an incoming text message from the selfsame hybrid.

Next time you wanna hang out try asking first instead of creeping around like a weirdo.

Dipper's grin threatened to split his face in two at that.

Dani, huh? Dipper thought as he pulled up his sister's number to give her a call, trying to control the excitement that was already starting to bubble up at the promise that he'd see the strange half ghost girl again.

Mabel was going to freak when she heard about this…