Chapter Four: More than I Bargained for

Danny

So the kid had a video game enemy? And knew a semiformal triangle? I think my life just became 100% weirder.

Dipper had grabbed his backpack, but why he did, I didn't know. I mean, all I knew was in there was some old love letters to a girl named Wendy. But something was off with the kid.

I didn't get ghost sense whenever I was around him, so he wasn't a ghost. But I got this weird feeling, like he didn't belong here. I got the same feeling whenever I was near his backpack. He was hiding something.

The twelve-year-old stopped and looked at a broken water hydrant. It was spewing water like there was no tomorrow. Dipper looked around and seemed to notice a kind-of trail of destruction. Without hesitation, he followed it. But he looked over his shoulder, saw us, and stopped.

"What are you guys doing?" Dipper asked us.

"Uh, following the kid who is going after the video-game-fighting champ," I said. "He's after you! So why are you going after him?"

"Because he's after me…?" Dipper said slowly, like the thought had never occurred to him.

"Maybe we should let that Danny Phantom guy take care of him!" I said. If I could just get Dipper to go home… Dipper rolled his eyes. "Or we could stop Rumble before he does something crazy! Besides, doesn't that Danny Phantom guy only do ghosts?"

I frowned, wanting to defend my alter-ego. But what could I say without making Dipper suspicious? He turned around and walked in the direction to where Rumble seemed to be.

"Seriously," I said, "you should go home."

"Why?"

"Uh…"

"Exactly."

Sometimes this kid could be as stubborn as, well, me.

I walked in front of Dipper, blocking his path.

Looking annoyed, Dipper sighed. "You really want me to go home, don't you?"

"That guy has a black belt tied around his black belt!" I said.

Dipper muttered something that sounded like, "Soos already said that." I didn't know who Soos was, but apparently he already said the black belt thing.

"I'm not going to let you go fight some crazy video game person!" I said. "You could get hurt!"

I must've touched a nerve when I said that. Dipper did not look happy.

"What, so you think that I can't take care of myself?" Dipper looked genuinely hurt. "Do you think I'm some kind of scared kid?! I can take care myself!" Dipper stormed passed me.

I groaned. This kid was really getting on my nerves. If he was going to be stubborn, so was I.

I grabbed his backpack in an effort to stop him. The weird feeling I had around him intensified, and Dipper paled a bit when I touched his backpack.

He turned around, but I had a strong grip on his backpack, so I had unintentionally pulled his backpack off of his shoulders.

"My jou-" Dipper started, but he stopped. "Backpack! I meant backpack!" He snatched it from me. "It's mine." Dipper didn't look to threatening, but he defiantly wanted me away from his backpack. But what had he started to say?

Once Dipper had his backpack in his hands, his tension seemed to relax a bit. Dipper sighed, and he finally said, "Ok, fine. I'll go back home…" Looking quite disappointed and a bit defeated, the kid turned around and started to trudge back to my house.

Great. Now I feel guilty for making him feel bad. This Rumble guy needed to be stopped, and Dipper acted like he needed to stop him. Like this Rumble scenario was his fault… An idea popped in my head. All I had to do was wait for Dipper to get back in my house.

Dipper

I can't believe I'm walking away from my own fight. True, I was scared of fighting Rumble again, but he was better than a crazy dream demon or a shapeshifter that liked to mess with people's emotions.

Also, any wasted time could put more people in danger. Where was that Danny Phantom guy anyways?

Speaking of Danny P, I had a theory on who he was. All the evidence pointed to Danny Fenton. I mean, it was all so coincidental that most would over look it. Like using "OPEN SESAME" for an open password.

I got back to the house, and walked inside. Jazz was in the kitchen.

"What were you shouting about earlier?" she asked.

"Um, video games," I said. That was the truth. Except I was leaving out the video-game-character-came-to-life-and-wants-to-kill-me part.

I walked upstairs to Danny's room, and about had a heart attack. Sam, the goth girl, was in Danny's room.

I jumped back since she startled me, and then proceeded in to trip on my own feet. I ended up on my backpack. Sam gave me a weird look, and I got up.

"You ok?" she asked.

"Yeah!" I said. "I'm fine!"

"You haven't seen Danny, have you?"

"He was outside," I said.

Sam never said a word, just ran downstairs and outside.

I sighed and sat on Danny's bed. I really hope Danny Phantom finds Rumble soon, buy how is a ghost supposed to fight a video game character? I got my answer sooner than I expected.

Danny Phantom appeared a few feet in front of me.