Phantom Falls

Chapter 20

Dipper stared, frozen, at the knife held to Mabel's throat.

"Now, Pine Tree!" MaBill said harshly.

"I- I- Mabel-"

"Last chance!" MaBIll sneered, pressing the knife ever so slightly closer to Mabel's neck. A small bead of blood appeared at the edge of the blade.

"Okay!" Dipper said frantically, "I'll give you the journal!" He slipped off his backpack, his hand shaking. He slowly unzipped the main pocket, reaching inside with fumbling fingers. As he lifted the precious book out of the bag, he looked up.

MaBill was staring at the book greedily, the knife now lowered. As Dipper locked eyes with the thing that had possessed his sister, he saw a flicker. For just a second, the slit pupils that came with Bill's influence disappeared, and Mabel's familiar brown eyes looked back at him. She glanced to the side, staring at a bush off to Dipper's right. He followed her gaze, and saw something shiny blinking through the leaves.

Dipper suddenly understood. He jerked the hand holding the journal, throwing it like a frisbee off to his left.

"Hey, what-?" Bill, back in control, used Mabel's body to sprint towards where Dipper had flung the journal. At the same moment, Dipper dove towards the thermos hidden in the bushes. Thankfully, Danny had shown Dipper exactly how to use it. Dipper grabbed it and pushed the release button.

Danny, as Phantom, sprung out of the little metal container, and with a quick glance at the situation, flew straight at MaBill.

Danny collided with Mabel's body just before Bill could grab the journal. He seized them and kept flying in that direction as fast as he could, with a backward look at Dipper.

Dipper followed, running as fast as he could through the underbrush. He knew Danny could handle himself, but Mabel.... If she ended up hurt, it would be his fault. Dipper pushed himself to go even faster. He thought he knew where Danny was going, a place in the woods Dipper had shown him the previous day. It was far away from any monster's lair, but still out of sight from the Shack. A perfect place to practice.

Or to battle.

Dipper arrived in the clearing just in time to see MaBill rise to their feet. Danny was standing in front of them in a stance that showed he meant business.

"Let her go, Cipher." Danny said, with more authority than Dipper had ever heard him speak with before.

MaBill laughed coldly. "What power do you have over me, Deadman? I play by my own rules."

Danny shot two ectoblasts to either side of MaBill, each of which grazed a sleeve of their sweater.

MaBill didn't even try to dodge the blasts. They laughed again. "You want to risk hurting the girl, Deadman? I don't think Pine Tree would be very happy if you killed his sister just to get rid of me!"

Dipper froze. Bill was right. Danny couldn't fight the way he normally did without seriously injuring Mabel. But how else could they weaken Bill enough to get him out of her?

Dipper thought about when he had been possessed. It had taken a lot to get Bill out of him. Over 48 hours with no sleep, constant bodily harm, and intensive tickling. Obviously they didn't have the time to do all that to Mabel, nor did he particularly want to.

But this was different. Mabel was still in there. Maybe Bill was weaker because of that? For a second earlier, they had flickered. Dipper had seen Mabel in there, still fighting.

Danny was thinking along the same lines. This looked more like an overshadowing than a possession, and he could deal with an overshadowing. But they still needed to weaken Bill before he could push such a powerful entity out of Mabel's body.

Danny looked back at Dipper, hoping he had an idea. At that moment, MaBill seized their chance to run past the two boys. They sprinted back the way they had come, towards the place where the journal still lay in the grass.

Danny and Dipper both turned and started after them. Danny grabbed Dipper and shot towards MaBill as fast as he could, blocking their path to the book.

"Thanks for the lift," Dipper said, though shaking a bit from the sudden flight.

"I can't do this alone," Danny replied. "Gonna need your help."

MaBill scoffed. "Even the two of you combined can't defeat me! I am a being of pure energy!"

"In Mabel's body," Dipper retorted. "Remember how fragile us humans are?" Maybe if he could get close enough....

"So you'd hurt her to get to me? Some sibling you are." MaBill said. "She had to hurt you to get me out of you, remember? Maybe you two really are as bad as your uncles."

That was it! Dipper was so consumed in thought that he didn't pay attention to the last thing BIll had said. Bill didn't know! Or at least, he didn't understand. He thought that Mabel had actually been torturing him when she tickled him.

"Hold them down!" Dipper yelled, lunging at MaBill. Danny sped past him and pinned MaBill to the ground in one swift motion.

Dipper grabbed at MaBill's stomach, twitching his fingers expertly.

Bill screamed.

Dipper grinned. Tickling had worked once, and it would again. He continued to tickle them with all his ferocity, something usually saved for late-night tickle fights with Mabel. He knew all her weaknesses, just as she knew his.

"He's weak!" Dipper said triumphantly. "But I don't know how to get him out-"

"Leave that to me!" Danny said, jumping off MaBill and pushing Dipper backwards.

MaBill staggered to their feet, holding their side. "It's not gonna work, Deadman. I'm more powerful than you- I'm more powerful than anything!" They sneered.

Danny crouched down, a look of determination on his face. Then he lunged at MaBill, hands outstretched.

Dipper watched, eyes wide, as Danny went into Mabel's body. She dropped to the ground as her body went into convulsions. Dipper ran to her in fear, wanting to help but not knowing what to do. Her body heaved on the ground. Was this normal?!

Suddenly, Danny came shooting back out of Mabel, dragging Bill with him.

Mabel gasped and her eyes flew open. Dipper gasped too as he saw her normalized pupils.

"Get off me!" Bill said, struggling with Danny in midair. "I'll show you, you little-"

Danny was grappling with Bill, trying to keep him in one spot. "Dipper, the thermos!" Danny said.

"What?" Dipper asked, looking up.

"The thermos!" Danny shouted. "Fire up the thermos!"

"Oh!" Dipper ran towards where he had dropped the thermos in the underbrush and turned around, taking the cap off.

Danny released Bill at that very second and flew to the side as Bill turned towards Dipper. Dipper saw the angry red flash in Bill's eye before the blue light washed over him, sucking him towards the open thermos.

"No! This isn't possible! I'm going to get you for this, Pine Tree!" Bill screamed as he disappeared inside it. Dipper capped the little metal cylinder with a smirk.