Ethereal

04

"Yo Dipper, where are you going?" Wendy called after the preteen, jogging to keep up.

Dipper was terrified. His blue jacket flapped in the wind and brambles scratched at his face as he moved along, dodging tree roots and holding onto his white cap. He may not have liked Danny, but he didn't want Danny's death to be the next mysterious thing to happen in this town.

Dipper sucked in a breath and continued to run. He would have opted for the pathway, but a cut through the woods made the trip much shorter. However, the stinging pain on his cheek caused him to regret his decision.

Would you rather a get a scratch or save Danny's life?

Eventually the trees thinned and the Dusk 2 Dawn loomed into view, its broken down exterior looking worse than ever. Dipper shivered; he remembered the extravaganza that went on in the abandoned shop all too well.

Dipper caught sight of movement down the hill, and he opened his mouth to yell a warning when something strange happened.

Danny studied the fence before seeming to walk through it.

Dipper shook his head. That couldn't be right. Even so, the sight of it made his jaw drop and his mouth unable to form those warning words. Wendy kneeled down next to him right as he made the decision to take off down the hill.

He examined the fence. Seems pretty soli—

Dipper fell through it. There was a cut in the metal and it opened like a flap, designed to be unnoticed.

Weird. Who would cut a flap like that?

Danny tried the shop door: locked. Dipper relaxed and he opened his mouth once more when Danny phased through the door.

Dipper choked on his words, sure of what he had seen now.

Wendy joined him on the other side of the fence.

"Did you see that?"

"See what, man?"

"You didn't see that?"

"Dude, I think we should be focusing on like, getting Danny out of there."

There was a flash of green and white from inside.

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Danny entered the shop. It was obviously long abandoned, years of cobwebs and dust gathering in corners and on surfaces. He studied the seemingly empty room before a chill went up his spine. Steam rolled out of his mouth as if it was a cold winter morning and he tensed, turning around slowly.

There floated two elderly ghosts.

They were plump beings, with giant glasses and white hair. Their smiles were gentle and Danny had mixed feelings; should he attack, or wait for them to make the first move? Dipper had said they were dangerous, but they didn't seem life-threatening at all. However, the Lunch Lady seemed all too kind as well, and she could destroy an entire town in a few minutes. He couldn't judge the power of a ghost based solely on looks.

All of this was running through his mind when a shelf of outdated food came flying at his head. He ducked before it smashed into his face, and with clenched teeth he transformed.

A bright light circled him, heightening his senses and changing his appearance.

"Watch that posture, young man!" The elderly man shouted.

"And that hair," the woman shook her head in disdain.

Danny laughed. "I could say the same thing about you two."

The two of them burst into orange flames, their eyes rolling back in their heads.

"Come on, Grandpa, it's just Bingo!" Danny teased, swiftly avoiding a thrown object and firing at them with his ghost ray.

The fight continued on, words tossed from ghost to half-ghost, the room lighting up as flames and ghost rays mixed. Danny was hit by flying debris and he became intangible before hitting the brick wall, tumbling out the side of the Dusk 2 Dawn. He gritted his teeth and murmured a few choice words before flying back through the wall.

Wendy and Dipper watched helplessly as the clouded store windows lit up in various colors. Dipper tried countless times to peer through the window, but it was no use. He ran around the building, prepared to take his other route in, when someone flew out of the wall in front of him. He jumped backwards with wide eyes.

The teenager had white hair, green eyes, and tan skin. Clad in a black and white jumpsuit with a strange 'D' printed on the front, the boy muttered a few words before flying back through the wall. There was a crash from inside as Dipper realized he had gone unnoticed.

Danny was fighting three ghosts, one of which Dipper had never seen.

He climbed onto the garbage can just as yelling sounded from inside. A small zap electrified the air before all was quiet, except for the minuscule sound of crickets. A silent white light passed through the windows and Dipper heard the front door open, followed by a whistling Danny. He raced back around.

"Danny!"

The whistling stopped and he stared at Wendy and Dipper with giant, round eyes. His lips parted as his brain raced for an explanation.

In his hand, he carried a strange metallic thermos that Dipper had never seen before in his life. Perhaps he had stole it from somewhere in the Dusk 2 Dawn?

"How much of that did you guys see?" Danny asked nervously.

Wendy shrugged. "Not much, the windows are all clouded over. You yell at me for wrestling a deer, when you walk into an old store and take on two ghosts? Jeez man, I knew your parents were ghost hunters, but this is something—"

"There were three ghosts," Dipper cut her off, examining Danny.

"What?" Danny asked.

"You were taking on three ghosts. I thought it was just the couple, but then I saw one that flew through the wall and—"

"You saw that?" Danny asked. He rubbed the back of his head and let out a nervous laugh.

Dipper squinted his eyes. "And you went through the store door."

"Dipper, chill," Wendy scolded. "He made it out alive. You're just tired."

"I know what I saw," Dipper said with a nod of his head.

Danny cleared his throat uncomfortably. "You guys, uh, you guys weren't supposed to see that. Dipper, what happened to your cheek?"

Danny bent down and studied the large gash on the side of the boy's cheek. Dipper could see a blood stain forming on the teen's shirt but he said nothing.

Danny gingerly touched the cut and Dipper pulled back immediately. His hands were so cold.

"Come on, I have a first aid kit in the RV."

Wendy nodded her approval as they headed back towards the Mystery Shack, but Dipper dragged behind the two, staring daggers into the back of Danny's head.

Danny may be the son of two ghost hunters, but Dipper knew he was hiding something else.

And he wouldn't stop until he found out what it was.

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