Chapter 3: Fentons meet Pines
Danny was unimpressed.
"This is Gravity Falls?"
He, Sam, and tucker were standing in front of a rundown shack called the 'Mystery Hack', stretching their car-ride stiffened legs. His parents had gone inside to ask for directions, because they'd gotten lost, and jack's loudmouth stomach had forced the man to desperate measures, including eating the map. Sam wandered over from the edge of the woods.
"It'd better be. Because I saw tents rising through those woods." She said, pointing in the direction behind the shack. Danny studied the dark pine forest curiously. They looked harmless enough, but like him, he sensed they were concealing powerful secrets. Tucker joined the group then, fuming.
"I'm down to like one bar, here. What am I supposed to do without my tech?" he complained. Sam smirked and patted him in mock reassurance on the back.
"Live like the rest of us I suppose." She said. Danny chuckled.
Suddenly a girl with long brown hair and a bright pink sweater bust out the door of the mystery shack, huffing and walking with her arms folded. Right behind her was a boy with an orange shirt, shorts, and a blue and white baseball hat on. "GET BACK HERE MABEL! I DIDN"T MEAN-IT WAS A JOKE OKAY?"
"WELL IT'S NOT FUNNY, DIPPER! I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO CRUSH ON WHOM EVER I PLEASE! At least I'm not crushing on someone waaay out of my league!"
"Trust me; Danny Phantom is way out of your league."
"NO HE'S NOT!" Danny and Sam exchanged glances.
"I think your fame has spread, my friend." Whispered Sam. Danny nervously rubbed the back of his neck.
"Let's hope no ghosts attack, cuz that girl might have a seizure if Danny Phantom actually makes an appearance."
"UH, HI THERE!" Tucker yelled over at the obvious siblings. "Tucker!" Danny and Sam both hissed. The two kids looked over and seemed to notice the group of teenagers in their front lawn. They wander over.
"Uh, hi. Sorry about that, me and my sister were just having a disagreement." Dipper looked pointedly at Mabel, who turned her head away.
"It's no biggie. I'm Tucker, and these are my friends Danny and Sam." Tucker said, seemingly oblivious to the discomfort among the teens. Dipper and Mabel glanced at each other, and in that stare a truce was instated. Mabel turned to the newcomers.
"I'm Mabel. This is Dipper. We're twins. Our long lost cousin Norman is inside. What are you guys doing here? I haven't seen you around before."
Danny spoke up. "My parents are speaking at ParanomiCon, and we're trying to find the Town of Gravity Falls." Dipper and Mabel's' Jaws dropped.
"Seriously?" cried Dipper. "Are your parents those two weirdos in the hasmat suits yelling with Grunkle Stan? "Asked Mabel. Danny nodded. "Sounds about right." He said.
"We got lost in the woods, and I guess they stopped here to ask for directions."
"What are your parents speaking on?" asked Dipper, curious. Danny sighed. The girl was gonna freak out in a sec. he gave Sam a warning look before closing his eyes and saying in a very monotone voice: "uh…Ghosts."
Mabel did indeed freak out.
"OMYGOSH! DO YOU KNOW ABOUT DANNY PHANTOM? DO YOUR PARENTS? ISN"T HE THE COOLEST GHOST BOY EVER? EEEEEEKK!"
The rest of the teens watched as Mabel began spazzing with joy. Sam leaned over and gently nudged Danny's arm. "Yeah, he's pretty cool." Danny blushed. Dipper took notice, but didn't say anything. He was focusing on trying to calm down his sister. Just then Norman stepped outside.
Norman's stay gravity falls so far had been what one might call 'unusual'. Grunckle Stan had been wary of him, and Norman suspected his dad told Stan what he could do. It was like Stan was avoiding physical contact at all costs. Dipper seemed suspicious of him at first, but they had grown pretty close when they found a common interest in the supernatural. Mabel was, indeed, crazy, but in a fun and adorable way. She had made one attempt to hit on him, sort of ("Listen Norman, You had better be better those five gnomes or I'm never talking to boys with your name again!") and the Handy man Soos was kind and funny. Norman didn't mention that there was a ghost of hooded six fingered man following the twins around, and his did his best to ignore the spirit as well. He had decided to tell Mabel and Dipper, because they had told him stories of their adventures with stuff like this, and while they didn't share his gift, they shared his passion. But overall, he'd gotten use to 'unusual' because 'unusual' seemed to be the norm for this family.
But when he stepped outside to avoid the chaos of yelling jumpsuits and fez hats, the bar for unusual went up a little. Norman noticed his cousins talking to a group of teenagers consisting of a Goth chick, an average looking dark haired kid and a techy African American kid. As he made his way over to the teens, his head started to hurt. Then he realized why. The guy in the middle, the average Joe, was NOT average. He looked different. Norman saw the pines twins and the other two kids just fine, like anybody else, but when he looked at the third kid, it was like he was seeing two different people. Imagine 3D glasses. Norman felt like he was seeing a dark haired kid in jeans and a t shirt through one lens, and a white haired guy in a black jumpsuit through the other. Except for Norman the two figures were constantly blurring into each other. The flickering images made his head spin. He put his hand to his forehead and started to stagger a little.
"Norman, are you okay?" it was Mabel. Norman sudden fell to his knees. He shut his eyes and tried to understand what he was seeing. The white haired guy seemed so familiar….
Dipper and Mabel plopped down next to Norman, trying to assess the problem. Warily Norman spoke.
"Sorry, guys, headache, that's all." Mabel seemed satisfied, but Dipper still seemed unsure. Norman took a deep breath and looked at the group of teens again.
Nope. NO. The one guy kept flashing and blinking. The haziness of it hurt Norman's eyes. Norman cried out and covered his head. The blurry kid spoke up.
"Hey man, are you okay?"
"Uhh…I gotta go…" muttered Norman.
The group looked confused. Norman decided that now would be a great time to run into the woods. He jumped up and fled the semicircle of shocked teens, disappearing into the trees. Mabel and Dipper immediately ran after him. Team Phantom stood still, shocked.
"What do you think that was all about?" asked Sam.
Just then Mr. and Mrs. Fenton came out of the mystery shack. Maddie was holding a new road map and was thanking Stan with a sugary voice over her shoulder. Jack was carrying at least three bags worth of merchandise from the gift shop.
When the Fenton Entourage finally boarded the GAV, Maddie's act stopped.
"The Nerve of that man. We went in just to ask for directions and he drags us through his tourist trap and charges us for the map and brainwashes Jack into buying all that junk in his gift shop. And then he goes and says he doesn't believe in ghosts!"
"Oh no he didn't!"
"That's terrible!"
"Shame on him!"
The backseat said all of this without once looking up from their electronics.
Maddie just frowned. "It's really just remarkable his level of disbelief. The cashier in the gift shop told me that his visiting cousin could speak to the dead."
At this the back seat suddenly gained interest. "Which cousin would that be?" asked Sam.
"Oh, it was that little boy who looked like you Danny! Norman, I believe his name was."
In the woods…
"Norman, what happened back there? You really worried us." Said Dipper. He and Mabel had just found Norman resting under a tall tree, holding his head in his hands. Norman slowly looked up and focused his eyes on the twins.
"You saw a ghost, didn't you?" Mabel was literally vibrating with excitement. Norman had only seen a couple of ghosts so far, at least that he'd shared with the twins. He considered the encounter. The guy's white haired ego did seem to glow with ghostly energy.
"Yes.. and no.." began Norman. He looked to Dipper, the conspiracy theorist and thinker. "Is it possible for someone to be Half-Ghost?"
I JUST WATCHED THE GRAVITY FALLS SEASON FINALE. WOW. Anyways, please review! Characterization accurate and all. Next chapter will feature Vlad and the revealing of the mystery ghost. Stay tuned. Search for the blind eye….it's totally Soos…I think…(0_0)