Gravitational Phantoms: After the Storm

Chapter Seven: Red Stone (Part One)

Gideon's plans are pretty outdated, because he doesn't know about the portal and stuff. But he does know about Stan being dead because of prisoner talk.

If you search "Gravitational Phantoms Music" on YouTube, there's a playlist that I'm putting together. The songs in it are what really inspire me to keep going on this story.

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Gideon Charles Gleeful was not a patient child. He had had everything that he could have wanted from the day that he was born, and his father was constantly telling him how special he was. And he was powerful to boot-finding that journal in the forest had lead to a wealth of knowledge and power. Even when his amulet was broken, he still held influence over the masses.

So he wasted no time in breaking out of prison.

The inmates were so easy to manipulate, it was almost funny. And, of course, there was his stolen page from the second journal.

The possession spell could only be used once, and he had already gone and wasted it on that stupid mayoral election. But there were several side notes that were very intriguing. The most interesting one was in half-gone, but still incredibly detailed.

It was about a special crystal that could be found in the woods of Gravity Falls called "The Imperium Orb." It could control the actions of any ghost, turning them into the perfect mindless slave. Then he could find the other two journals, bring them together, and unleash the ultimate weapon. 

It was time to take back the Mystery Shack, get his revenge on Dipper, take Mabel as his queen, and become ruler of Gravity Falls.

And nobody could get in his way.

But first, to get a new suit.

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Danny sat on the rood of the house, feet swinging off the edge. He had stolen a popsicle from the cooler that Wendy had placed up here, even though it was most likely out of date. 

The ghost boy was enjoying the cold air (the snow had mostly melted, but it was still icy out) as clouds covered the sun and and the afternoon got even more chilly. 

A trickle of blue mist floated out of his mouth and dissipated into the air. 

Danny looked up, his hand resting on the pocket where he kept his Witch Bottle. When the mist came again, he stood up and let the familiar transformation take over him.

The Halfa floated off of the roof and swooped over the top of the trees. When no attack was forthcoming, he flipped over in the air and narrowed his eyes. There was something out there. The normal ghosts in Gravity Falls didn't seem to set off his ghost sense nearly as much as they did before (although he still got a tingling sensation whenever he was near one) so it couldn't've been one of them.

Was it the Box Ghost? He was still the most common enemy that Danny had to face, and he somehow managed to escape from pretty much any container that they put him in. It was still really annoying.

It went off again. Danny frowned and squinted up at the cliffs nearby.

That was when scaly clawed hands latched onto his upper arms. Something metallic was snapped around his throat, and then he couldn't feel his powers anymore.

Danny gasped and twisted in the air, trying to go intangible. But a powerful electric shock ran through his body, and the ghost boy yelped in pain. He suddenly found himself powerlessly suspended high above the earth, with a ghost holding him captive.

The ghost that captured him dropped back down to the ground, still clutching the ghost boy to his body. Danny guessed that it had a fire core from the way that its scales seemed to glow and practically radiated with heat. That wasn't good; fire and ice were natural opposites, and his core was only just beginning to heal in the cold weather.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" A nasally voice with a southern accent came from behind him and his captor. "Slave! Turn around!"

The ghost holding Danny did as the person bid, and the ghost boy blinked in surprise at the sight of a short boy with large white hair in a blue suit standing in front of him.

Then he spotted what the kid held in one hand out of the corner of his eye.

He immediately resumed struggling, trying desperately to keep himself from looking in the scarlet sphere. 

(There's a good slave. Just look into the crystal ball...) 

"Now, now, no struggling."

The boy with white hair roughly grabbed his chin and forced him to meet his eyes. He smiled evilly. 

"Good. Now just look at the orb, and I'll let you go."

Danny started to thrash his limbs. 

(No no I won't be controlled again I won't I won't I won't.)

"Drop him." The command was sharp, and suddenly there were whips whips vivisection please no no you can't I'm your son you can't.

Danny landed on a bed of wet pine needles and tried to run off into the forest, but then something was shoved in front of his face.

The ghost boy jerked back and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. 

"Look at it! Look at it, you worthless piece of ectoplasmic scum!"

He froze, the agent's words slipping into his brain like shards of red-hot metal. 

Do the world a favor and die, you worthless scum! Nobody will care, and we'll just experiment on your corpse.

Danny's eyes snapped open, glowing acid green. Energy snapped around his hands, impeded by the collar that the enemy-no, not the enemy, just someone who was controlled by the enemy-had clipped around his neck. 

He whirled around and stared straight into the orb.

Danny was drowning in a sea of bloody red. Crimson swirled around him, and the Halfa kicked out desperately. 

"Good slave. Stand up."

A voice penetrated the darkness, and Danny's head lifted. That voice... that voice was his master. He would do whatever they asked.

It was his duty as a slave, after all.

"Excellent, ghost. Now, we're going to the Mystery Shack."

Mystery Shack... home. Home. Home. Home.

"No." A thought came to him through the clouds.

"Home is where your master is. Home is where I am."

Danny kept paddling, desperate to keep his head above the foggy waves.

"Yes master." he thought back dutifully. "Yes master."

Far beneath the red ocean, a boy with black hair and glowing blue eyes screamed for his body to listen to him.