Gravitational Phantoms: After the Storm

Chapter Three: Field Trip

One of the bad things about being back in Piedmont was the overwhelmingly amount of stupid people that lived there.

Not in terms of their actual intelligence, but more because they refused to believe in the facts about monsters, magic, and things like them even when it was right under their nose.

That included the teacher who was currently trying to acuse them of being "conspiracy theorists" (actually, Dipper kinda was)-just because they had tried to tell him that they had saved the world over the summer.

Which was true.

But, apparently, all of the magic and the freaking demon that tried to destroy Gravity Falls could all be attributed to strange weather patterns and global warming.

Even if it was green and glowing, caused frogs and snakes to rain from the sky (that was a weird day), made hail the size of soccer balls fall all across the United States, was created by something that wanted to take over the world (and the Ghost Zone), and almost killed people.

Did kill people.

But, of course, it was all just an elaborate hoax, and the death of one Stanford Pines ("No, his name was Stanley," the twins corrected) was attributed to a tragic accident in the storm.

Dipper and Mabel already hated this teacher.

And it was only the fifth day.

Dipper smacked his head down on his desk when the teacher, who was named Mr. Matthews, stated that Gravity Falls was a completely normal town with completely normal people.

He immediately lifted it up again when Mr. Matthews said that there was going to be a school-wide material drive to help people in the town rebuild. Then the entire seventh grade class would be driving up there to do some community service next month.

A slow smile spread across his face, and he raised exchanged a delighted look with his sister.

As one of the students passed out the permission slips, the two chattered excitedly about seeing their friends again.

"I bet Waddles will be happy to see me. Oh, I'm gonna have to make Danny a new sweater! Ooh, and Candy. Paz and Grenda already have theirs." Mabel announced happily to Dipper. "I already know what they're going to look like, so I just need to go to the craft store after school. Do you wanna come?"

"Sure. I can't wait to see Wendy and great-uncle Ford again. I have some questions to ask them about the whole "monolith destruction" thing. How do you think it affected the rest of the the world?"

Mabel snorted and poked him. "You sound even more like a nerd than usual, Dippin' Dots."

"Yeah, yeah."

The two poked at each other gleefully, both delighted that they would soon return to their second home.

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Dipper jumped out of the bus. Actually, Mabel pushed him, but that's an irrelevant detail in the grand scheme of things. The twins took a deep breath of Oregon air-much clearer in their opinion than the California climate.

Gravity Falls looked much better than the last time that they had seen it. Most of the buildings had been almost entirely fixed, but some were still partially demolished.

Mabel spotted a small unisquirrel (yes, there were unisquirrels in Gravity Falls) clambering along the branches of a tree, and almost ran after it before she remembered that they still had to wait for the rest of their class.

As the rest of the kids stepped out of the bus, Mr. Matthews shouted for attention.

"Seventh graders! Your guide will be here any minute. I contacted her back in Piedmont, and she says that she's willing to give us a tour as well."

Dipper and Mabel exchanged glances, and the female twin grinned. "Think it's anyone that we know?"

"Yo, Mabelton, Dippingsauce!" The familiar voice called.

Dipper nodded. "I'm gonna go with yes."

The two laughed and threw themselves into Wendy's arms. The redhead beamed as she spun them around.

"I haven't seen you guys in forever!" Wendy said.

"Only a month," Dipper pointed out.

"A month is forever."

"Ah-hem," Mr. Matthews let out a very fake-sounding cough. "Are you Wendy Corduroy?"

"The one and only," she answered, setting the twins down. She spotted the look on Dipper's face and added, "and no Dipper, that doesn't count."

"Ah, how do you know them?" The teacher frowned at the two thirteen year olds.

Wendy chuckled. "These guys spent the summer with me. Well, kind of."

Mabel tugged on her shoulder. "Wendy, cover for us? We wanna see Danny, Candy, Pacifica, and Grenda."

"Sure thing, Hambone." The older teen pointed in a random direction. "Everybody, follow me!"

As she led the class away, Wendy sent the twins a small smile. "Knock yourself out, Mystery Twins."

The two smiled and took off through the familiar streets. Mabel spotted a face that she knew well and let out a delighted squeal. "Grenda!"

She pounced, and the larger girl gave her a huge hug. Candy poked her head out of her best friends backpack.

"Mabel!" She chirped. "What are you doing here?"

As his twin chatted with her best friends, Dipper looked around for someone. Well, two people.

A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye caught Dipper's attention. The boy focused on a faint shadow that didn't match anything near it.

"Danny?" He called softly.

The teenager faded into existance, hovering about six inches off of the ground. He looked much healthier than he had when the twins left, and his eyes shone a bit brighter. He was wearing the sweater that Mabel had knit for him, a pair of jeans, and a tattered pair of boots.

The Halfa dropped to the ground with a soft thump and slowly approached Dipper. Danny looked hesitant, like he was afraid that the other boy wouldn't want to talk to him.

The thirteen year old smiled at him. "Hey. How've you been?"

"Good." Danny shifted his weight as he spoke. Then, without warning, he lunged forward and gave Dipper a huge hug. The younger teen melted into it.

After a few moments, Danny pulled back. He had a small smile on his face.

"Do you want to see Mabel? I think she made you a new sweater," Dipper offered.

The ghost boy nodded eagerly, so Dipper led him across the street to where Mabel had migrated when she spotted Pacifica.

Even though they couldn't stay for long, the Pines twins would always love their second home.

Perhaps even more than their actual one.