Phantom Falls

Chapter 2

Dipper sat in a booth at Greasy's Diner with Mabel, Grunkle Stan and Soos, enjoying a split plate of pancakes. Lazy Susan came over to the table, asking if they needed anything else.

"You know what? Get us some more pancakes. I'm feeling generous today." Grunkle Stan said, leaning back against the seat.

"Wow, thanks Grunkle Stan!" Mabel said, sopping up some syrup with her last bite of pancake.

Dipper suspected that Stan was only being so nice because Soos had eaten half the pancakes by himself and Stan was still hungry.

"So, you dudes got anything exciting planned for today?" Soos asked.

"Mabel and I were going to go explore the forest some more." Dipper said.

"Aww, bro, we do that all the time. We should go-" Mabel stopped talking abruptly. She was staring at the door into the diner.

A boy had just walked in. He looked like he was around 16, with jet black hair and bright blue eyes. He was carrying a large pack on his back like he was traveling, and looked around the diner with curiosity.

"Razzle dazzle!" Mabel exclaimed. "Check out that guy!"

Dipper turned around in his seat, then rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Mabel?"

She was staring at the boy with a dazed smile on her face. "I'm going to go talk to him!"

"Mabel-" Dipper tried to protest, but Mabel was already halfway across the diner.

"Let her give it a shot." Stan said, waving Dipper off. "This should be good."

"And romantic!" said Soos enthusiastically. Dipper gave him a strange look, but decided to ignore the comment.

Mabel rushed over to Tall Darkish and Handsome. He sat down at a booth close to the door. She slid in across from him.

"Hey..." She said, fluttering her eyelashes. "I'm Mabel. What brings you this lovely diner today?

"Uh, hi." The stranger looked a bit apprehensive. "I'm Danny. Just um, checking out the area. Passing through, you know."

"Ooh! Where you going?"

"Nowhere in particular, really." Danny tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Hey, you wouldn't mind showing me around a bit, would you? I'm planning on staying here for a few days."

Mabel gasped. "Sure I will!"

Dipper, who had heard this conversation from a few tables away, decided he better not let his sister go roaming the town with this guy she had just met. He got up and walked over to their booth. "Hey, sorry about my sister. She can be a little... enthusiastic."

"Oh, no worries." Danny said. "She's your sister? What's your name?"

"I'm Dipper. And we would love to show you around, but-"

"Dude, no one knows the weird stuff in this town like these two." Soos had come up behind Dipper silently.

Dipper jumped. "Don't scare him off when he just got here, Soos!"

Danny laughed. "It'll take more than some weird sights to scare me off. I actually came here to check out the uh, stuff like that."

"Really?" Stan had appeared behind Dipper faster than the speed of light. "Than what you need is to visit the world-famous Mystery Shack!"

"Mystery Shack?" Danny said dubiously.

"Come on, we'll take you there!" Stan said excitedly.

"What?" Danny tried halfheartedly to protest but the Pines were practically dragging him out the door.