Phantom Falls

Chapter 9

"You know, a lot of ghosts only come out at night." Danny said, slightly annoyed. He was trailing behind Dipper, who was forging ahead with such enthusiasm that any nearby creatures must have been scared away long before.

Mabel giggled. She was walking slightly ahead of Danny. She fell back as Dipper continued on and whispered to him, "You should change. It would freak him out."

"But then he would wonder where I went." Danny stared determinedly at Dipper's back. It was tempting, seeing as the kid wasn't going to give up. He wanted to get some more research done, check out that Bill character. He was sure that was the main threat to this town, but he couldn't make any progress strolling aimlessly through the woods.

"I'll say you ran back to the shack for a minute." Mabel said, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Please? It'll be hilarious!"

Danny smiled in spite of himself. Much the better way to get the confrontation over with. Dipper was so determined that he'd find Phantom eventually, no matter how much Danny put off transforming. "Okay, but forget the excuses. If we can keep this short, I have an idea." He looked through the trees ahead. Dipper was far in the distance. Danny ducked behind a tree and transformed into Phantom. Then he concentrated, and split himself into two.

"Woah!" Mabel squealed. Both Dannys shushed her quickly, one turning back to normal. "You can duplicate yourself?" Mabel whispered excitedly.

"Yeah, but I can't keep it up for long." Phantom said, looking at his double.

"Come on, we'd better hurry." Danny grabbed Mabel's hand and pulled her onto the path so they could catch up with Dipper.

"What's taking you guys so long?" Dipper called back to them.

"Mabel was dawdling," Danny said. He and Mabel both ran to catch up with Dipper.

"Hurry up then, because I'm sure we're getting close." Dipper continued to forge ahead.

"Do you even know how to locate a ghost?" Danny asked.

"Oh, duh!" Dipper rummaged in his backpack, pulling out a device with a small monitor attached to a long, thick wire. "There we go!"

"What exactly is that?" Danny asked, looking worried.

"It detects supernatural activity. It's just a prototype, though. This will be its first test." Dipper said excitedly.

"Where did you get it?"

"I made it, following some instructions in the journal. If I did it right, it should alert us to any nearby ghosts." Dipper turned on the machine. It immediately started beeping. "We're close!" He examined the monitor closely, slowly turning on the spot. The device beeped faster and faster, until it was one unending tone. Dipper looked up. The wire was pointing to Danny.

"Wha-?" But before Dipper could form the word, Phantom appeared between them. Dipper gasped.

Phantom landed on the forest floor and put his hands up ironically. "Okay, fine, you found me. What do you want?"

"I want to know what you are," Dipper said excitedly. "I have so many questions! What are you really here for? What kind of ghost are you? What are your abilities? How-"

"Slow down, kid!" Phantom said. "Listen up, I'll tell you one more time. I'm here to help. I'm a Phantom, a powerful ghost. I specialize in fighting malevolent spirits. From what I understand, there's some sort of demon causing trouble around here. I'm going to take care of him and then I'll be on my way. Got it?"

"You take care of Bill? All by yourself? How powerful are you?" Dipper looked skeptical.

"Trust me, I can handle myself. Anymore questions, kid? I'm in a bit of a hurry."

"Please just tell me what exactly your powers are."

Phantom rolled his eyes. He began listing on his fingers: "I can fly, become invisible and intangible, possess people, shoot energy and ice blasts, detect ghosts, heal superquickly, create destructive sonic waves with my voice..." He thought for a moment. "Yup, that's it."

Dipper stared at him, mouth open. "That's amazing! How have I not heard of you before?"

Phantom looked half amused, half exasperated. "My powers aren't that uncommon. I deal with similar ghosts on a daily basis."

"Where?" Dipper looked amazed.

"Oh, all around." Phantom glanced behind him, where Danny was staring ahead, looking vacant. "Listen, I've got to get going."

"Wait, one more thing! I have a theory. You can't be a normal ghost. I've seen other ghosts. You have a much more stable physical form, and color, and density. According to my journal, those aren't normal characteristics of ghosts. In such a concentrated form, you couldn't last long. You must have another form, something that takes less energy than such a powerful ghost."

Phantom looked startled, and maybe a bit scared. He glanced fleetingly at Mabel, then replied, "You're sharp, Dipper. But unfortunately that's forbidden information." He glanced behind him at Danny again, then said, "Okay, I gotta go. See ya around, kid. Or, you know, not." And Phantom disappeared.

Danny gave a little start. "So, Dipper?"

Dipper was still gazing at the place where Phantom had disappeared. "That was so cool! But he still didn't really answer my questions."

"I thought it was pretty clear." Danny said, walking over to him.

"But he barely talked to me! I wanted to keep asking-"

"Come on, let's go back to the Shack. You got what you came for." Danny started walking back along the path they had taken.

Mabel looked at Dipper and shrugged. "You did find him. I think Danny just wants to go back."

"Ugh, now he's being evasive." Dipper grumbled as he followed Mabel back to the Shack.