Chapter 5: Halfas and Seers and Ninjas (Oh My!)

"…that would explain why your vision got messed up…"

"…how would that be possible though?..."

"…uh, Near Death Experience maybe, or radiation?"

"HUUHHAAGGGHHHG!" Mabel let out a roar/growl to rival hades. She had spent the past five minutes pacing in their bedroom, listening to Dipper and Norman discuss the strange Fenton kid. And Mabel felt the two were missing the obvious.

"Why don't you just ask this guys' parents what's up with him. Or better yet, ask him! I bet if he is a ghost and he knew what you could do, Norman, then he'd explain!" She said, exasperated.

Both boys looked up at her, confused expressions plastered on their face.

Norman spoke first.

"Mabel, you don't understand. If that guy's half ghost, I doubt he would tell his Ghost hunting parents about it. Besides, he was human half the time. I think. I'm not really sure because I've never seen anything like this before.

"You'll need to get used to it." spoke an ancient voice. Norman turned and saw the hooded ghost from before.

"Excuse me?" he asked. Mabel and Dipper both audibly gasped.

"Peace children. Norman, the child you saw is indeed half ghost. (Dipper fist pumped.) You should get to know him."

Dipper, ever the suspicious, said, "Why? And who are you?"

The ancient ghost, now his child form, bowed his head.

"My name is Clockwork. I am the ghost of time itself. I have foreseen a great evil, and it will take a combined force of heroes to defeat it." The ghost looked at Norman, who was feeling small and on the spot. End of the world catastrophe, again. Hooray.

"What kind of evil?" asked Dipper.

Clockwork sighed. "The force that is rising is powerful indeed, both undead and ancient, demonic and of dark magic. This evil is one even my powers did not immediately foresee, because some of the forces are beyond my domain. Dipper, Mabel, watch with a wary eye for bill."

Mabel gasped while Dipper growled slightly, in an adorably, geeky scrawny kid way. Norman had no idea who Bill was, but obviously the twins had a history with him. Clockwork turned to Norman. "You must not be deceived by appearances. Whatever you do, watch everything. And bring this warning to Danny for me – 'Vlad did not lie in his threat'." With that, Clockwork vanished.

Dipper turned to Norman. "Are all ghosts that ominous?" Norman shook his head.

"Just the ones who know something worthwhile…"

The eve of the Con.

"Next stop, Gravity Falls." Randy roused from his nap and looked out the charter bus windows at the pine trees flying by. Twilight was setting in, and the sky was deep shades of orange and purple. Randy turned and shook awake Howard, who was passed out on top of some business man with a gray ponytail. The man was looking really uncomfortable with Howard drooling on his shoulder.

"Sorry about him, he must be really heavy." Apologized Randy. The man turned to him and smiled meekly, his gray hair turning bronze in the light.

"Oh, not to worry, I've been through worse. It's my stop anyway, so he can have the whole aisle." Randy looked at the guy and his weird ponytail with newfound wonder.

"Aw, dude, no way, that's our stop too! We're headed to ParanomiCon what about you?" the man seemed intrigued.

"I'm meeting a fellow mayor there to take part in a business deal."

"You're a mayor? Of what town?" Randy asked, nonchalantly doodling an orange mustache on his still unconscious best friend. The man watch with mild curiosity.

"Amity Park. Why…?" he asked, gesturing to Howard's new mustache and goatee. Randy shrugged. "Payback." The man smiled, as if he had personally invented the term. Randy continued.

"So who's the mayor your meeting? Anyone we'd know?"

"Oh, I don't know. He's the mayor of Norrisville-Hannibal McFist?" Randy did a small double take, which did not go unnoticed by the Amity Park Mayor. He scrambled to cover himself.

"McFist? No way! That's our mayor! What a coincidence!" Randy said, hoping his voice didn't sound as nervous as he felt. "So what's the Deal with you and him, Mayor…?"

"Masters, Vlad Masters. Oh, I'm doing him a favor, he's doing me a favor. It's actually a bit complicated, but he's trying to get rid of a pest in his town, and I need his connections for a project of mine." The man turned away and began gathering his things. Randy gulped. He was pretty sure he knew who the 'pest' was that McFist wanted to waste. The ninja. He shook Howard feverishly, until the ginger spazzed awake mumbling.

"Take that, robot. Huh, hiya! Gravy….wha…?" he glanced at Mayor Masters, then focused on Randy. "Dude, why'd you ruin that?"

"We're almost there!"

"…Oohhhh. Hey, sorry about sleeping on you sir." Howard apologized to Vlad, who was currently unloading a heavy looking duffle bag from the overhead storage. Randy couldn't help but noticed the humanoid outline of whatever was in the bag. The man turned to the two freshmen.

"Oh, no, it's quite alright. I never did catch your name, child." He said to randy. Randy smiled slightly.

"It's randy. Cool meeting you, Mr. Masters. Any chance we'll see you at the convention?" Vlad smirked mischievously.

"I doubt it, but my adoptive nephew and his ghost hunting parents are supposed to be there. You might find a Daniel Fenton there, and he's worth talking to."

The bus driver pulled to a stop in front of a sketchy old motel and Vlad, Randy and Howard all exited. Vlad glanced at the motel briefly before hailing the only taxi in the town. Randy and Howard shrugged and entered to motel.

Sketchy was the right word. Rundown would have been better. There were molds and stains everywhere, a few gnats roaming the stuffy air. An older woman sat at the register and locked onto the two teens as soon as they entered the lobby. Randy and Howard did their best to not gag and walked up to the check in desk.

"Randy Cunningham and Howard Weinerman? Are parents called ahead?" spoke Randy. The lady looked at her logbook before huffing in agreement. She reached into a desk drawer and handed Randy the room key.

"Room 1313, kid. Down on the left a ways." Randy thanked her and he and Howard dragged their stuff to their room. It was very similar to the lobby hygiene wise, with two twin beds and a small kitchen space. Just as the best friends dumped their lugged onto their beds, a blast went off in the room next to theirs. Randy and Howard fell to the floor and looked at each other in shock.

"Jack, what did I tell you about FIRING WEAPONS IN THE ROOM?"

"I'm Sorry, Maddie! One can never be too careful!"

Howard turned to Randy. "So I think are neighbors are crazy."

"At least they're not Robots. I thought I was gonna have to go Ninja for a sec there."

Later that evening, Howard decided to raid the vending machine. Randy would have rather trained in the Nomicon, but Howard insisted he needed a buddy in case those crazy neighbors walked by.

"What would they want with a random kid like you, man?" Randy asked from his perch atop the snack machine. Howard was busy cramming quarters into the slot.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe they're kidnappers. Maybe they'll mistake me for a monkey and try to keep me as a pet."

"Dude, you could totally pass for a monkey."

"Shut up, Cunningham."

"Hey, don't take ALL the skittles." Said a new voice. A girl's voice.

Randy and Howard turned to see a slender gothic looking girl leaning against the vending room door frame. Her black hair framed her pale face, and her purple eyes were shining deviously. Howard gulped. Randy thought of Julian, but also thought of Morgan for some reason. The girl stepped forward.

"Okay, you guys don't get out much. Seriously, kid, I will not be happy if you take that last bag." Howard, his eyes trained on the Goth girl, slowly moved his finger over from skittles to M&Ms and hit enter. The girl grinned.

"thanks man!" she then proceeded to extract the skittles from the vending machine and return to her spot in the doorway, all while Randy and Howard stood frozen in place. And it was their fault. The girl was seriously pretty. And yeah, she was outspoken and scary looking, but she had a naturalness to her that was fascinating to the Norrisville boys.

"Nice hair." She said to randy. Randy grinned sheepishly.

"Hey, Sam!" came another new voice. Two boys entered the room, apparently friends of 'Sam's'. One kid had dark hair like hers, and the other was African American. The dark haired kid was the one who called the girl's name. He turned to Randy and Howard. "Hey, you made friends. You guys going to the Convention too?"

Randy liked this guy. He knew how to meet people.

"Are we? My buddy Howard and I have been waiting for this are whole lives!"

The raven haired kid nodded. "Me too! Although, I'd like to go without my parents embarrassing me 24/7."

"Hear, hear," said Sam.

"I know what you mean, bro. I'm Randy. We hail from Norrisville." He gestured at himself and Howard, and he and the new kid shook hands.

"Cool! I'm Danny, and these are my best friends Sam and tucker!" Said Danny. His friend tucker leaned forward.

"Did you guys say you were from Norrisville?" Randy nodded slowly. Tucker perked up. "Does that mean you know the Ninja?" Randy laughed. More than you know, he thought to himself.

"Yeah, he's our town hero! He fights monsters and robots and stuff." Howard Bragged, before continuing to shovel candy into his mouth like his hand was conveyer belt. "Where are you guys from?"

"Amity Park. Danny here couldn't wait to get out!" laughed Tucker.

Randy suddenly remembered his conversation on the bus.

"Not Danny-who's-parents-are-ghost-hunters by any chance." He said. Danny looked stricken, almost shocked.

"Yeah, how'd you know that?" Danny asked while simultaneously feeding the coke machine coins. Howard looked at Randy with a face that said, I'm wondering the same thing (tilted sideways, upturned eyebrow, 'say what!?' expression, etc.). Randy Shrugged.

"Oh, I bumped into your uncle on the bus ride up here. Weird guy." Randy noticed that Danny and his friends all looked tense. Danny's coke fell to the bottom of the machine with a dud that echoed in the suddenly silent room. Sam, the Goth girl, spoke up.

"Vlad Masters?" Randy nodded. Tucker cried out, "Vlad Masters was on the bus with you?" Another nod. "He's here?" cried Danny. Randy Nodded again, his face looking more and more confused and worried.

"Yeah…it was kinda freaky. He's making some business deal with our town mayor, and I can tell you that it probably won't end well." Randy noticed that the teens' expressions were now mortified, like something terrible was going to happen. They almost looked….like he had when he realized Vlad was helping McFist kill him. Was Vlad as bad as McFist? And why did these guys get so defensive and tense around the mention of Danny's uncle?

"I hit a nerve, didn't I?" asked Randy meekly. Danny took a deep breath.

"Don't let my "uncle" fool you. He's an evil fruit loop and nobody but him benefits from his 'deals'. I hope your mayor is better than ours." He growled.

Randy gave a shaky laugh and glanced at Howard, who was watching the interaction with wide eyes, his right hand slowly feeding his mouth one M&M at a time.

Randy turned back to Danny. "Actually, our Mayor isn't any better. He's pretty self-centered too, and his goals often involve destruction." Danny nodded with understanding. Then he smiled.

"Hey, what room are you guys in?"

"1313"

"No way, that's right next to my room!"

"Oh, are YOUR parents the ones setting off weapons?" Howard asked.

"Yeah, they're testing for their panel tomorrow-dad insisted they do a few demonstrations." Danny answered.

"Does that mean we should go and watch or alert homeland security?"

"Oh, ha, ha, Howard, they weren't that bad…"

The teens, with realizing it, talked long into the night, until Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had to drag Team Phantom back to their rooms. Danny and Randy clicked almost instantly, having shared interests in gaming, movies, and odd but dependable best friends. Howard and Tucker both swore to eat the most meat tomorrow at the convention, which Sam volunteered to video tape. The new friends exchanged numbers and settled in for the night, sleepless from excitement for the next day.

Meanwhile, Vlad had met up with McFist and Viceroy in the woods. Vlad came in ghost form, in case Agatha woke up and went rage mode on them. He was floating next to a thick pine tree, with Agatha still passed out in the glass cube next to him. McFist was currently studying the child with a disappointed expression.

"She's going to destroy the ninja?" he asked, doubt evident in his voice. Vlad sighed, feeling superior to everyone and annoyed that he had to explain everything.

"She was killed for witch craft. Her ghost form is so powerful that she managed to trap seven souls in this plane of existence and animate their corpses. Minor necromancy is no small feat-she is one of the few ghosts capable of it." he spoke in a tone one might use with a preschooler. McFist Growled.

Viceroy was stroking his perfectly sculpted facial hair in thought.

"How are we going to channel her power on the ninja?"

"Oh, yes, the other fun part. There is a boy she knows who can see the dead. She is quite fond of him. I think she would be really mad if someone were to say, kidnap him. You could steal the boy away and tell her it was the ninja's fault." Vlad purred evilly. Viceroy frowned.

"Why do we have to get him and tell her? Why can't you?"

"Oh, collecting her involved some manipulation and prodding that has landed me on her bad side. Besides, you need to have some fun, right?"

McFist smiled in understanding. "Brilliant!" He said. "Who's the kid?"

"Norman Babcock. I believe he's staying with the Pines family in that atrocious mystery shack. Dark spiky hair, red baseball tee, blue eyes, knows a lot about ghosts."

"Should be a piece of cake." Said Mcfist.

"Alright! Which one of you is Vladimir Masters?" called out a new, creepy southern voice. The two diabolical mayors turned to see a small kid in a baby blue tux and Elvis style white hair standing before them. Vlad Chuckled.

"I would be he. But I already received my order of Girl Scout cookies for the year, kid." The kid glared, and Vlad suddenly shivered.

"I'm not here to sell cookies. I am here because you asked about how to summon Bill Cypher!"

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Hope you guys are enjoying this! I'm enjoying it! Now all my Villians are here! MWHA HA HA HA

School starts back soon, so my updates might be slower but that's life. BTW, I welcome critique and suggestions. Stay tuned. Soos might be in the next chapter, Ha ha ha. Later, Bros.