Chapter 13 - 『Dead Man's Store』part 2
Joseph was the first one to admit that he wasn't the type of person who was thrilled to meet new people; especially when he was forced into said meeting. This dislike of his stemmed from the many occasions he was forced to socialize and mingle with "people his age" in the many parties, galas or functions that Speedwagon or Erina were invited to.
On those events Joseph had to act like a proper Gentleman, much like his late Grandfather Jonathan had been, taught to him by his Granny. He was forced to spend time with people he had nothing in common nor liked the same things he did, and pretended to care about whatever inane things those snobs spouted endlessly because they loved to hear the sound of their own voices specially when bragging about status and riches; things that none of them earned by themselves and were born into it.
So that'd mean that he preferred to hand out with "normal" kids, right? Well…
Thought not as loathsome as the snobs he was forced to socialize out of obligation and status, with non-rich kids he had the opposite problem; Joseph didn't fit in because of his own status. Unless they are spending money on others like there was no tomorrow, people didn't like the "rich kids", and whenever they tried to act more like their middle-class peers, they'd be accused of "posing" or something inane like that. And those who didn't rejected him, only talked to him trying to get into his pockets; and even if he went as far as to ignore that, Joseph found out that he also didn't share many things in common with them either.
Needless to say, Joseph wasn't someone that had or even made friends; just a long list of acquaintances and brownnosers. Only after coming to Gravity Falls and meeting Mabel, Dipper and Soos did he managed to make friends, even if it was thanks to some bizarre circumstance.
So with all that in mind, Joseph wasn't a surprised when he felt terribly underwhelmed when he met Wendy's friends.
'Just what the hell are they doing?' Two of them, one blonde and the other with dark skin were holding a third one, overweight with brown hair, upside down so that a guy dressed in a black hoodie could throw jellybeans into the upside-down guy's belly button, while a girl watched and took pictures with her cellphone.
'Is this normal for kids my age around these parts or is it just them?' This was beyond silly, much more than the time Mabel and Dipper covered Soos in sequins so they could have a make-shift light show inside the Shack; that had been silly but very creative nonetheless.
'This in the other hand…'
"Hey guys! These are my pals from work, Mabel and Dipper." She introduced with a smile before she pointed at Joseph with her thumb sounding bored. "And the big guy is JoJo."
"Joseph." said teen corrected, "Only my friends call me JoJo."
"I'm Mabel and I can blow super big bubbles with Bubblegum, watch!" She proceeded to show them how big she could actually make a bubble but only for a few seconds before it popped and got gum stuck on her face.
"She's not much for first impressions." Dipper commented trying to play it cool. "Unlike this guy!" he pointed both his thumbs at himself in a cringe-worthy display, and he realized it too when nobody reacted at all to his display. "This…guy…"
Ouch.
"So are you, like, babysitting, or-?" the one in the hoodie asked leaning against a van not even looking at the Twins or at JoJo for that matter, most likely to appear aloof and therefore "cool".
"Come on, Robbie!" Wendy admonished, signaling for him to tone down the attitude. "Guys, this is Lee and Nate." She pointed at the long haired blonde with red shirt and the dark shinned guy with a black shirt with melting skull in it.
Their response to their introduction? To laugh and then punch each other.
Riveting.
"Tambry." Next it was the girl with phone. She had the appearance of an emo/scene girl thanks to the short purple hair with a pink highlight in front of her left ear, the opaque colors of her clothes and the decorated black boots.
"Hey…" She responded noncommittally paying more attention to her phone than what was happening around her.
"Thompson, who once ate a run-over waffle for 50 cents." the heaviest of Wendy's friends with light skin and brown hair and wore a green shirt with a popped collar and brown shorts. For what little they have seen of him, he looked like the typical unconfident teenager, desperate to fit in with his friends.
"Don't tell them that!" And that just confirmed it.
"And Robbie. You can probably figure him out." Shaggy black hair, stereotypical eye-covering "emo style" hairdo, pale skin and several piercings in his ears, wears tight skinny jeans with a light black hoodie with a picture of a red bleeding heart with stitches on it, along with black fingerless gloves.
Yeah. His was the most blatant attempt of Edgy Try-hards, Joseph had ever seen.
'Just what is up with this rag-tag group of teenage clichés?' All they needed was a strict teacher and they would have their very own "Mealtime Club".
"Yeah, I'm the guy who spray-painted the water tower." He bragged nonchalantly about his edgy crime, like it could impress them.
Joseph was about to retort but Dipper beat him to it with something far better. "Oh, you mean the big muffin!" The English boy tried his best not to burst out laughing.
'Way to go Dipper!'
"Um, it's a giant explosion." Robbie corrected sounding offended that his work of art was been misinterpreted. Then everyone turned their gaze up into the distance to take a better look at said painted explosion.
"Hehe! Kinda does look like a muffin!" Lee pointed out making his companion, Nate, laugh. And by the sudden glare Robbie sent Dipper, he didn't found it all that funny.
Joseph chuckled a bit until he felt his hand being tug by Mabel.
"Hey JoJo, how do you call muffins back in England?" She asked out-of nowhere catching him off-guard, which she noticed too. "I mean, there are English Muffins which I guess you guys just call Muffins, but what about those types of Muffins?" She explained while pointing at the spray-painted tower.
"We call them both Muffins." Joseph answered with a small laugh. "I can see why you'll ask but back in England, what American's call English Muffin we just call Muffin, in fact some stores sell them labeled as 'American Muffins' as a joke."
"So if someone offered you a muffin, which one would you think of?" Mabel asked fascinated by this tidbit of trivia.
"I'd think of the sweet one, not the 'English one'." He answered honestly. "Although I think most Englishmen would go for a crumpet, which is an entirely different thing." Personally he would go for a donut.
"Thanks for the lesson, Queen Victoria." Said Robbie, with what intention, Joseph didn't know, but the guy only became more obnoxious in JoJo's eyes.
"Good one." He responded, sarcasm very obvious for everyone to hear. "President Valentine."
"Huh?" Was Robbie's and the other's response, not getting it at all.
"Funny. President Funny Valentine, the 23rd president of the United States." Did they seriously not know their own history? "You know what? Just forget it." Wasn't it sad that an English man knew more about their history than they? Then again the only reason he remembered the man was because he help host the greatest and longest horse-ride race in the history of man-kind, during which he mysteriously disappeared.
"Let's hurry it up, guys. I got big plans for tonight!" Wendy urged everyone to get in the van before an argument could break out.
Getting into the van was difficult since there were far more people than usual. So with Thompson as the driver, and with Robbie and Tambry sharing the co-pilot seat sat on the very front. Next there were Wendy, Lee and Nate in the middle and finally on the very back were Dipper, Mabel and Joseph.
"Okay just, before we go, my mom said you guys aren't allowed to punch the roof anymore, so..." Thompson informed, it was obvious by his tone of voice that he had received quite the lecture on the matter, but despite his reasonable plea, his friends started punching the roof anyways.
All while chanting "Thompson! Thompson! Thompson!"
What great friends.
'And to think I'll miss The Duchess Approves for this instead.'
く==AfterSundown==
The van finally reached their supposedly "fun" destination: an abandoned Convenience Store.
"There it is, fellas! The condemned Dusk 2 Dawn!" Wendy proclaimed while Joseph thought that someone had been a fan of cult classics or it was just a big coincidence.
"Why'd they shut it down, was it like a health code violation, or-" Dipper asked slightly trembling only for Nate to say.
"TRY MURDER!"
"Some folks died in there; the place has been haunted ever since!" Lee explained confusing JoJo a bit.
'Which was it?' Was it murder or did some people had an unfortunate accident?
"This town has such a colorful history!" Only Mabel could put it like that.
"Wha... Are you guys serious?" Dipper stuttered even more. And who could blame him? In this town infested with the paranormal and the fantastical, ghosts being real was a foregone conclusion.
"Yeah! We're all gonna die!" That didn't stopped Wendy from teasing him though. "Chill out man! It's not as bad as it looks!"
"Come on let's go in!" Robbie said climbing a metal fence that separated the group from the store's parking lot.
It was easy for everyone to climb up and jump down the other side, except for Dipper who was having trouble and Lee who was waiting for him.
"Come on, Dipper!" Wendy urged, eagerly wanting to get into the abandoned store.
"Okay Okay! Just gotta get a foothold..."
"Dude, your sister did it!" Robbie pointed out, further embarrassing Dipper for his predicament.
Joseph sighed, not being able to contain it further. He wanted Dipper to do the climbing himself, but after that, he was going to do him a favor spare him any embarrassment. Sadly he waited too long to act because Lee beat him to the punch.
"Hey, you know what. Just... There you go." He proceeded to give Dipper a push, which would've sent the boy crashing into the floor had it not for JoJo who managed to catch him on time. "Ha! S-sorry dude!"
"Good job pushing him off the fence you Twit!" Had he not been able to catch him in time, he would've kicked blonde's ass right there and then.
"Your mom's a Twit..." Lee retorted with the stereotypical teenage response.
'My parents are dead!' He would've shouted back, but then he remembered he wasn't a brooding Arsemonger. The quota was already being filled by Robbie after all.
"Wow! This place is amazing!" Wendy exclaimed trying to get a peek inside the darkness through the dirty glass.
'Those are some very low standards you have, Wendy.' JoJo smirked at his own joke but didn't voice it, not while in company of Wendy's friends.
"I think it's, it's stuck!" Robbie struggled to pry the doors open.
"You don't say?" Joseph didn't have the same reservation with Robbie though.
"Let me take a crack at it!" Dipper said, wanting to recover from the embarrassment back on the fence.
"Oh yeah. I can't get in, but I'm sure Junior here is gonna break it down like Hercules!" Robbie mocked him even more, while lowering Joseph's opinion of him.
'Dipper may not have muscles, but he makes up with a clever and analytical mind.' Despite being a kid, he was one of the smartest people Joseph had ever met.
"Come on, leave him alone. He's just a little kid." It seemed that Wendy didn't share Joseph's opinion on Dipper, but those words weren't enough to deter the boy. In fact he looked more motivated than ever.
Dipper walked to the side of the store towards a big dumbster and jumped right on top and from there he climbed onto the roof.
"Kid, what are you doing?" Tambry called out followed by the others, except for JoJo who looked on with pride and Mabel who cheered him on.
"Go Dipper!"
"Who wants to bet he doesn't make it?" Robbie said crossing his arms smugly.
"I'll take that bet." JoJo jumped in with no second doubts. "Ten bucks."
"Ha! As if that shrimp could ever pull it-"But in that exact moment said shrimp opened the door from inside the store, shutting Robbie up.
"Guess that means you owe me money." Joseph smirked. He never doubted that Dipper could've pulled it off.
While Robbie remained quiet, the rest were pleasantly surprised.
"Good call inviting this little maniac!"
"Your new name is Dr. Funtimes!"
*High five* from Mabel and a friendly tap on the shoulder from Wendy. "Nice Work!"
"Thanks." Dipper glowed thanks to the praise. Finally came Joseph's
"Never doubted you could do it." He said and both shared a fist bump.
Once everyone was inside, they were too enthralled with the place to notice that the door sign turned from "Yes, we're open" to "Get lost! We're closed".
ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ
"Whoa man, it's even creepier than I imagined!" Wendy said as everybody separated to investigate the place and see what they could find.
Dipper made the discovery that the place had been closed for more than a decade and a half, if the papers on the stands that said 1995 were any indication.
'I wasn't even born yet!' Joseph thought amazed that a place abandoned that long wasn't in worse conditions.
"Guys, check it out! You think these still work?" Wendy called as she flipped on the lights, finally getting rid of the darkness around. Now that the place was illuminated, it didn't look as creepy as before.
But it raised an important question in Joseph's mind. 'Why would a condemned place still be connected to the power grid?' And he seemed to be the only one who found that to be strange, because everyone else just cheered for not having to wander on the dark anymore.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Dipper wondered out-loud looking up to Wendy.
"Anything we want."
That was when the fun began.
They started by picking whatever they could carry and throw it at each other begging a store wide food fight where nobody got unscathed. At one point, Lee and Nate got hold of bags of kitty litter and used them to literally sandbag each other.
When they got hold of the soda, everyone got into a circle and try the now old trick of mixing Diet Cola with mints; Joseph then up the ante by super charging the bottle with Hamon to make the chemical reaction far stronger. Everyone cheered so loud, and Joseph had to admit he was having fun.
"Oh my Gosh! Smile Dip! I thought this stuff was banned in America!" Mabel gushed looking at the forbidden candy on her hands.
"Maybe they had a good reason." Before running of throwing a balloon filled with whip cream to the others.
Mabel decided to ignored the warning and was about to open the little bag containing the powdery goodness, when JoJo intervened. "Now Mabel, I don't want to sour your fun, but just hear me out." He said sounding rather serious. "I come from England and our sweets are for more sugary than those on this side of the pond; so Smile Dip is legal in England. But! They are one of the few candies that are forced to adhere to a limit of how many you can sell per customer."
"And…?"
"If you gonna eat it better be with moderation, otherwise you might end up in the hospital!" Joseph warned, though he hated to act like a worrywart, Fun Dip was the real deal. "Ok? Have fun!" with that last warning he walked away looking for something else to do.
"I will!" Mabel said as she opened the bag and dumped all the sugary powder into her mouth.
く==Later==
On top of an aisle shelf, Wendy and Dipper were sitting eating ice pops. Not even worried they were eating decades old stuff.
"Dipper, this night is like, legendary."
"Really?"
"Just look around. The guys are bonding."And by bonding she meant picking on Thompson who allow them to put ice cubes on his pants. "I've never even seen Tambry look up from her phone this long." Which meant she looked up for more than 10 seconds at the time. "And your sister seems to be going nuts with that Smile Dip." She pointed at Mabel who was lying on the floor with a far look on her face. "And Joseph hadn't acted like an ass since we arrived."
"Mabel! What did I tell you!" JoJo was kneeling down next to Mabel snapping his fingers in front of her face.
"Do you not get along with Joseph?" Dipper couldn't help but ask, seeing how she just referred to his friend.
"It not like I hate the guy," She said trying to find the right words. "But he can be a total jerk sometimes." Though their verbal spars were fun an all, sometimes his snide remarks could totally get out of line. "It's like he feels contempt towards me."
"Have you tried talking to him about it?" Dipper offered. It didn't sit too well for him to have both his friends not like each other. "Maybe have a serious conversation him."
"I don't know if Joseph can have a serious conversation with anyone." Wendy shrugged.
"He can be serious when he wants to." Dipper still recalled the day after he and Mabel met Joseph and how the teen tested their mettle with the possibility of danger. 'He stayed in town for us, leaving his home behind for the entire summer, after all.'
"Maybe if he apologized and admits he had been acting like jerk, I might change my opinion of him." But until that day arrived, they would continue to regard each other as they had so far.
Meanwhile down below, Joseph was checking on Mabel who was experimented an extreme case of sugar high to the point that she was spouting nonsense.
"Mabel can you hear me?"
"Of course I don't mind your singing, sugar angel."
"Elevated Pulse, but not enough to cause concern." Joseph said after checking the pulse through her wrist, mostly to keep himself calm. "No need to get you to a hospital."
"I'm having the time of my life."
"You better enjoy your trip to sugarland because you will feel like crap when you come down from the high, Mabel." Oh well, that was the price to pay if one decided to fool around with Fun Dip.
"Let's get married under the rainbow bridge."
"Not before you're eighteen." He joked, now that he knew her life wasn't at risk. "And not until Dipper and I approve of your boyfriend." What could he said? He started to really care for the twins and didn't mind looking after them.
"I love you my sweet magic prince."
"Where are you gonna get one of those I wonder." He really shouldn't be making fun of her situation, but Joseph found it amusing how kids said the darnest things when they were spacing out.
Suddenly a high pitched scream snapped him out of his thoughts. Joseph remained alert for a few seconds before he heard the others confront Dipper it, only for the boy to dismiss it. And so did Joseph, if anything really serious was afoot then Dipper wouldn't keep it to himself, so that's why the teen wasn't worried.
What was worrying was what would happened if he distracted himself for a few moments and Mabel decided to eat more Fun Dip while he wasn't watching. His priority right now was to look after the hallucinating girl. While the idea of moving her away from the candy stand came to mind he quickly ignored it knowing that moving her in the delicate state she was could cause her to freak out and hurt others or herself.
So he deiced to keep her company while the high slowly went away.
At least that was the plan until Dipper came running to them asking for help.
"Mabel, I need your advice."
"Dude, I don't think Mabel is capable of imparting advice at this moment." Joseph joked pointing at the now more calmed Mabel resting on the floor. "But me? I'm all ears, what's up?"
"We're hanging out in a haunted convenience store, I can't get a hold of Grunkle Stan, and if I say anything about it to any of these guys they'll just think I'm a scared little kid or something!" He said quickly all in one breath and Joseph fought to pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
"I knew this excursion was going too well to be true."Joseph said after a sigh. "Now, what does the journal say about ghosts?" He had no ideas of how to deal with spirits so the only lead they had was to check for guidance, then they could decided what their next move will be.
"I think they are several pages about ghosts and the different types and categories there are," Dipper recalled as he took out the journal from the inside of his vest. "But all of them say that Ghosts appear and linger for a personal reason."
"Do you know what type or category this ghost is?" Joseph inquired looking at Dipper desperately flipping through the pages.
"I-I don't know!"
"Ok, calm down!" The teen placed both hands on the boy's shoulders so he would stop trembling. "Maybe we just have to get out of here as soon as possible."
"But the others…!"
"I'll deal with the others." Joseph reassured. Though he found it rather silly that Dipper worry too much about what the others might think of him for "bringing down the party" when he was trying to save their lives; Joseph understood that he wanted to fit in with "the cool kids" and he couldn't blame Dipper too much for that. "I'll take one for the team and say that we need to take Mabel back to the Shack to check on her condition."
"Thanks, Joseph." Dipper was grateful that Joseph was there for him, otherwise he wouldn't know what to do. "Let's go."
Leaving Mabel behind for just a minute, both Jojo and Dipper went to gather the rest, only to find them all behind the counter looking at something and curiosity got the best of them.
"What are you guys doing over there?"
"I found the tape markings of the people that died in here." Robbie bragged as if that had been a great accomplishment, then he turned to Lee, "Dude I dare you to lay down on it."
"Good idea." The blond then knocked Nate with his shoulder. "Go lie down to it."
Nate who look happy to actually do it, went towards the markings ready to lie down, until he was stopped by Dipper's yell.
"Wait! Maybe let's not do that."
"This guy's scared!" Lee accused teasing the boy for being a scaredy-cat.
"All I'm saying is,…" But whatever Dipper was about tos ay was interrupted by Joseph who stepped forward.
"We need to go!" the Englishboy said firmly. "Mabel isn't looking well and we need to take her home."
"Didn't you say that she was fine a while ago?" Tambry pointed out. Of all people only there she had overheard him talking to himself about the tiny girl's condition.
"Well, I was wrong." He lied, while internally hating himself from ever admitting that even if it was made-up. "We gotta go now!" But his declaration was received with boo's and groans.
"Yeah, take it down a notch, Captain Buzzkill!" Robbie said, being the one most opposed to going away so soon. "Right, Wendy?"
"Yeah, little bit." The redhead touched her elbow looking unsure. She was torn for having to choose which side to stand with, between her friends from work or her friends from school.
"Status update: trapped in store with a couple of killjoys: a giant oaf and an insane 9-year old." Tambry added her two cents.
"Call us whatever you want but we still need to…!" This time it was Joseph who ended up being interrupted by Dipper.
"I'm not a 9-year-old!" He said with a lot of bravado. It seemed that the mocking got under his skin a bit. "I'm 13! Technically a teen!" he finished his declaration by showing how not a buzzkill he was by lying on the markings.
That was when sh*t hit the fan.
The markings of the tapes light up in a spectral green light, as the lights above their heads flickered uncontrollably before going completely off, and to top it all off, Tambry ended up dissolving out of thin air, only to reappear trapped inside the security camera screen that showed freaking out.
Everyone screamed in panic, but Joseph's was the one that sounded above them all.
"OH! MY! GOD!"
It was almost like they were trapped inside an episode of the "Sunset Zone", but Joseph and Dipper knew better. This was in fact the work of an enemy's…ghost powers!
"What are we supposed to do!?" Nate looked around scared out of his wits.
"Let's just go already!" Robbie shouted, making Joseph's eye twitch a bit.
"Oh! NOW you want to leave!" Call him petty, but the goth/emo deserved that.
But before a fight could break between the two, Wendy came between the two and shouted.
"Thompson!"
Said Teen also ended up vanishing and reappearing inside a screen, but this time it was the screen of the dancing game which he had played on earlier.
"Uh? What?" Thompson looked confused at his surroundings before the dance arrows of the game rain down on him like they were actual arrows that could pierce skin.
"Thompson!" Wendy cried out in worry, but was pulled by the arm by Robbie.
"Forget about them! Let's go!"
Joseph hated to admit it, Robbie had the right idea. If they stay there, they will be sitting ducks waiting to be picked out one by one by the ghost. Even if they are seen as cowards, a strategic retreat was a valid battle tactic that would help them survive long enough to form a plan so they could come back and rescue the others.
JoJo was prepared to run away, but at the last second a though came and stopped him on his tracks. "MABEL!" He couldn't leave her here! Not even with a promise to come back to rescue her! But as he was about to retrieve her he saw the others struggled with the door.
"Guys! The door is locked!" Wendy cried out looked terrified. Never before in her life would she have imagined this night to go like this.
"OUTTA MY WAY!" Out of desperation, Robbie picked up the heavy cash register and threw it at the door hopping to break the glass. But the appliance ended up dissolving in a green light and then it bounced the kinetic energy back to Robbie sending him flying off his feet.
"Let me try!" Joseph stepped forward with his arm cocked back. "OVERDRIVE!" he threw a powerful punch towards the door with his fist sparking with Hamon. But before his fist made contact with the door, the same green energy reappeared and blocked the strike acting as some sort of barrier.
'I'm being pushed back!' Was his Hamon not working? No. It was doing something! It was protecting him from the same push back as the one that sent Robbie flying. It was as if his Hamon and the strange spectral energy were repelling each other as magnets with the same polarity.
Seeing as there was no use, Joseph jumped back away from the door, his arm no longer charged with Hamon energy. "Crap that didn't work!"
"What was that?!" Wendy pointed at Joseph as if she was looking at him for the first time.
"Tell you later." Not that he was looking forward for that conversation. "Dipper! Do you have anything that could help us?"
"Well unless someone is carrying special anointed water, we can try and figure out the reason why the ghost is inspiriting the store." Dipper informed of what he could find that was useful. "If we do, then it might let us leave!"
"Uh-uh they'll let us out of here!" Robbie retorted sarcastically. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense!"
"If you don't have anything you contribute then shut the hell up, you country bumpkin!" Joseph berated looking at the dark dressed boy with disdain.
"I don't know guys, maybe they know what they're talking about!" Wendy came to their defense, siding with Dipper and Joseph.
"Yeah right, I'm sure the ghost just wants to talk about his feelings!" Lee mocked sardonically, only to dissolve like the others, except this time he reappeared inside the image of a cereal box in which the bird mascot proceeded to stab him continuously with a giant spoon.
"Lee" Nate screamed looking away from his best friend torture. "Okay, okay.. I'm with you kid! 100%, man!"
But before any plans could be made, Mabel appeared floating in front of them surrounded by green spectral energy.
"Welcome." A deep masculine voice spoke through her, indicating she was being possessed by the spirit.
"Mabel!" Both Dipper and Joseph shouted her name at the same time, but their voices didn't reach her. Instead the spirit continued to talk ominously.
"Welcome to your graves, young trespassers."
"We're super sorry for hanging out in your store!" Wendy scared more than she ever been before in her short life, pleaded forgiveness from the spirit.
"We promise that if you let us leave we will never come back!" Dipper bargained instead.
"I think not!" the ghost replied with dark amusement showing in his voice.
"Just let us out of here already!" Nate shouted; his helplessness turning into anger.
"I don't like your tone!" And with just those words, Nate was dissolved as well and his torture was to become a sausage and turn on the hot stove.
"No! I'M A HOT DOG!"
"It begins." The spirit possessing Mabel announced while making every single object not bolted to the floor in the store levitate in the air with his spectral powers. "Welcome to your home for all eternity!" then everything and everyone fell into the ceiling as if the gravity inside the store had inverted.
"What do we do?!" Wendy asked nearing hysterics, only to be attacked by a flying shelf.
"Get down!" Joseph pushed her out of harm's way and ended up being hit instead.
"JoJo!" she called out but she didn't have much time to grieve over it because Dipper grabbed her by the arm and pointed at the tipped over ice machine.
"Quick! In there!" The boy dragged her inside so that they could hide from the ghost wrath and maybe hatch a plan to help them escape.
Meanwhile, Joseph picked himself up from the wreckage he fell under after being sent flying by the attacking shelf. "I hate being thrown around like a bloody rag doll!" Seriously, first Gideon and now this? It was so unfair. 'Speaking of unfair.' His Hamon was useless as well. Well not totally, he Hamon and spectral energy repelled each other which meant he couldn't use it to attack his opponent.
Joseph's musings were interrupted when Mabel's figure appeared floating in front of him was more. "Now, I wonder what type of punishment you shall receive."
"Hey ghost! I don't know what your problem is, but it ends now!" Joseph stood up trying his best to ignore the fact he was yelling at Mabel's body and just focus on the ghost possessing her.
"Oh! I you think YOU can stop ME?" The ghost mocked clearly amused.
"I propose a deal!"
"A deal?! What stupidity is this?!" The ghost said finding Joseph's claim to be utterly ridiculous. "You have nothing I want."
"If you let my friends go I'll stay behind!" Joseph revealed much to the surprise of everyone that could still hear him. "If you want to torture someone for all eternity then let that be me instead!"
"So you believe yourself to be some sort of hero, huh?"
Actually no. He didn't think himself to be much of the Hero type. In fact under normal circumstances he would never do a deal like this in his life. He would've much preferred to run away or even play possum and soil his pants to sell the illusion of his death.
"What do you say?" But this was far from a normal circumstance.
"Why would I ever accept a deal like that?" No matter how they looked at it, they gained nothing out of it.
"Because if you let them go, they will make sure nobody else ever disturbs with this convenience store." That was what caused this mess in the first place, right? "No to mention you will forever hold possession of my body instead of the one you currently inspirit!"
"It is a great body, I admit!" The ghost said creeping the hell out of Joseph for all the wrong reasons., but he had to keep playing it cool.
"How about it? Is a great deal don't you think? Just release my friends and you can have my body for all eternity!"
"Or better yet, I take over your body and keep the others as well!" The spirit said as the spectral energy surrounding Mabel disappeared indicating the ghost had let go of her body, only to start enveloping Joseph's next.
JoJo smirked.
He loved it when a plan went how he expected.
"Next thing you're gonna say is: «Your body is now mine!» right?"
"You body is now mine, ha?!" The ghost exclaim in surprise at Joseph's accurate prediction. "How did you…?!"
But JoJo didn't answer with words, but with actions. And his next course of action was to breath deeply!
コオオオオ!
His body was covered head to toe with Hamon, and it clashed with the spectral green that now tried to take over him. And just like before, both energies repelled each other and soon after the ghost powers were blown away.
"How do you like that?" Although he couldn't use his Hamon to attack it didn't mean it was useless. He could still use it for defense, knowing that his and the ghost's powers canceled each other out. "That's what you get for messing with us!"
"You… You tricked us!" A different voice said as the spectral energy reformed into two different shapes; that of an old man and an old woman. "You teenagers are all the same! Always lying and causing problems." The old man ghost with a tag name that said PA went about.
"You should be ashamed of yourself." The old woman whose tag name read MA chipped in to berate him.
'GREAT. Not only are they ghosts, they are old geezer ghosts.' If he wanted to be yelled at by an old person we would've gone to the shack and piss off Stan. "You got something against teenagers or what?"
"Only our most profound hate! And that's why we will punish you and your friends for all eternity!" Pa, declared with a maniacal laughter.
"Hey Ghost!" another voice cut in, before Joseph could retort. "I got something to tell you." It was Dipper who had crawled from his hiding spot leaving Wendy silently watching him stand up to the specters. "I'm not a teenager!"
"How old are you?" Pa looked at the boy suspiciously.
"I'm…I'm twelve, technically not a teenager." He admitted hoping that Wendy could forgive him for lying to her about his age.
"Well why didn't you say so?" Both Pa and Ma changed their whole attitudes in a split second after hearing that. "When we were alive, teenagers were a scourge on our store!"
Both ghosts when on and on about how teenagers caused so much problems to them and their store that they banned them from entering; but in doing so the teenagers retaliated by loitering at their parking lot with their loud music and "disturbing dances". The shock was too much for them that they ended up dying of double heart attacks, while cursing teenagers for eternity.
"That's why we hate teenagers so much! Don't we, honey?" Ma finished the tale while nuzzling with Pa.
It was a tragic tale indeed, but Joseph really had no sympathy for them and their torturous ways.
"But they're my friends, isn't there anything I can do to, help them?" Dipper asked, ever the hopeful hero.
"There is one thing. Do you know any funny little dances?" Pa requested confusing the heck out of both Joseph and Dipper, so much that the Englishboy couldn't help but ask.
"Come again?"
"Uh... is there anything else I can do?" Dipper was willing to do much to save his friends, but asking him to do the Lamby Dance was a little too much.
"NOOOO!" Pa raged bursting into flames.
"OKAY OKAY OKAY! Um... Well, I do know...The Lamby Dance…" This seriously was the worst request in order for him to save the day. "Bu-but I can't really do it, without a lamb costume!"
And by just a finger snap, a costume Lamb appeared on him. And when Dipper started singing and dancing in a lamb costume was when Joseph stopped thinking… for a full 2 to 3 minutes. Even after everything he had seen so far, none could've prepared him for the absurdity that was happening in front of him; so his brain decided to take a break and spared him from the strain of processing what was happening in real time.
When his brain finally came back to restore motor functions, Joseph found himself falling upwards dazed onto the floor. "What the-?!" then he remembered that gravity had been inverted for a while and they had been walking on the ceiling. And he wasn't the only one, the rest also were also back if a little bit confused as to what happened.
The worst of all was Mabel who was suffering not only from being possessed by two spirits at once, but she also was coming down of her high with nothing on her stomach but sugary treats. So massive stomach and headache were inevitable.
"Ugghh... I'm never gonna eat or do anything ever again."
"That's the price you pay for messing around with Fun Dip." Joseph reminded her as he help her up. "Hope you learned a valuable lesson tonight."
"Candy can be evil…"
"Well, not all candy." He said with a laugh wondering what evil candy would look like.
く==Meanwhile==
Far away at the Gravity Falls City Dumb, a spirit waiting for the night Summerween to come, sneezed all of the sudden; which was weird because he had no physical form yet.
く==BackToTheHauntedConvinienceStore==
After Wendy told everyone a romanticized interpretation of tonight's events and Dipper's exploits, covering for the little guy and sparing him the embarrassment that was the Lamby Dance, everyone was getting back in the car feeling sore after such adventure.
"Hey, JoJo can I speak with you for a sec?" Wendy called the other teen over to the side so they could speak privately.
"What is it, Wendy?" Joseph asked somewhat cranky, he was also feeling tired and sore like the rest.
"I just wanted to thank you for what you did, back there."
"I didn't do anything. It was Dipper who saved the day not me." A fact that didn't bother him as much as before like when it happened with Gideon. "If anyone deserved your appreciation it's him."
"I already thank him so don't worry about it." The redhead ignored his casual dismissal of his accomplishments tonight. "You pushed me out of harm's way and without your giving us time Dipper wouldn't have figured out what to do about those ghosts. Also for what you said." she trailed off at the end.
"What did I say?"
"Wait you don't remember?" She asked somewhat appalled.
"Honestly at the time I was too preoccupied with the ghosts." Joseph shrugged not being able to recall what he said that could be so important for Wendy. "So what did I say?"
"About you sacrificing yourself for your friends!" Seriously how could he not recall his own words?! But before she could berate him for it she calmed herself down with a sigh and continued. "That got me thinking… are we friends Joseph?"
"What kind of question is that?" Thought now that he recalled, when he made the deal he had been thinking mostly about Dipper and Mabel, if the others got out as well that would've been a nice bonus too.
"A yes or no one." Wendy retorted. "Very simple."
"It is not that simple."
"Well how about this one: do you hate me?" She asked way too bluntly, but she didn't care. She wanted answers or she would be musing over this all day and night without letting her sleep.
"I don't hate you Wendy." Joseph said without hesitation, although there were things about her that he wasn't a fan of. But that was normal for all relationships with people.
"Do you like me?" She then thought how that question sounded and quickly added. "And I'm not refereeing to that!"
This time Joseph remained quiet for a few seconds before answering. "I can't say… I really don't know you."
"You don't know me? We work together."
"Well then, how many of those hours do we actually spend together just talking normally just the two of us?"
"I-I…" She wanted to answer but she didn't know how.
"Exactly."
That's when a heavy awkward silence fell upon the two of them. Thankfully Joseph decided to end it quickly and cut to the chase.
"Look Wendy… we aren't exactly buddy-buddy and stuff, but that doesn't mean we can't become friends." God! That sounded way too corny. He almost regretted saying it the moment it left his mouth had it not being for the small smile Wendy sent his way.
"I guess." She rubbed her elbow. She wouldn't mind considering JoJo a friend instead of that guy that work at the Shack. "Would you stop acting like a total jerk to me?"
"I don't know, would you stop acting like a total slacker all the time?" The sudden look on her face told JoJo that he had got her with that one. "How about we both tone it down a little and see how that goes." He then offered his hand to her.
"I find that reasonable enough." Wendy took the English boy's hand and shook it coming to a mutual agreement. "See you at work on Tuesday."
"We have work on Monday." Joseph reminded her.
"Like I told Dipper, I'm going to take a day off to just stare at a wall and RETHINK EVERYTHING about my life."
"Have fun with that."
It may not have been the night they both expected to have in this little breaking and entering trip, but it had been memorable to say the least. And hey! They both managed to start "making friends" with each other.
So all in all, this night trip was a success.
く==ToBeContinued==
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『Haxabja gb rirelbar ohg uvf tenaqzbgure, gur Ratyvfuobl hfrq gb unir n pehfu ba Fgheyl Fgrzoyrohetvff nf "Gur Qhpurff".』
Author Notes:
Another day another encounter with the supernatural. Poor JoJo he can't take a break!
Someone wrote to me saying that there is too much gravity falls and very little JoJo. And that's true, but we are only starting here. Next chapter, Joseph discovers something but it may only raise more questions than answers.