This story is set a year after the finale of Gravity Falls, and about a year after the beginning of Danny Phantom. No Phantom Planet, and no prominent ships.

Disclaimer: I own Danny Phantom and Gravity Falls. Yes, you read that right. I own them. Me. I own most things, actually. Butch Hartman and Alex Hirsch? Never heard of 'em.


"Geez, Danny, sleep much?" Tucker asked when his friend opened the front door of Fentonworks to greet him and Sam on the front step.

Danny groaned and rubbed at his eyes. He had been sure that the cold shower he'd taken this morning, combined with the two cups of coffee that had made up his breakfast, would have done a decent job of disguising his exhaustion, but apparently there was no helping the bags under his eyes.

"Three guesses why," he grumbled. "And the first two don't count."

"So which ghost was it this time?" Sam asked as they began walking. Danny had shut the door behind them, and the three began making their way down the street to the nearest office supply store within walking distance. The group had put off their school supply shopping until the very last minute, having been preoccupied with other, more ghostly concerns, and now, the day before the beginning of the school year, they had finally made plans to stock up. Considering how poor a rapport Danny had with his teachers anyway, he did not want to be that kid who showed up on the first day at school without so much as a pencil.

"The Box Ghost at first," Danny answered Sam's question. "Started up around midnight. Apparently someone down the street threw out a refrigerator box and he had a field day."

Tucker snorted. "Naturally. But I'm assuming the Box Ghost didn't keep you up until all hours of the night?"

"Nah, I got rid of him pretty quick. Apparently, though, the noise got Skulker's attention, and he decided he wanted to play tag for a while. Honestly, you'd think after nearly a year, this would start to get boring for him."

"Well, to be fair, he is a ghost," Sam said with a shrug. "He's got all the time in the world to kill. How late did Skulker keep you out, then?"

"About an hour more, give or take?"

Sam frowned. "That still would've given you, what, six hours to rest? You look like you've gotten two at most."

"Yeah, well – " Danny sighed and rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck. "I kinda had trouble sleeping."

Tucker scoffed. "Trouble sleeping? This from the guy who once slept through an explosion in chemistry class. Look, if you were on Youtube until five in the morning, you can just admit it. We've all been there."

"I wasn't," Danny said, shooting Tucker a mild glare. "I actually fell asleep pretty much right after I got home at first. But, after that, I kinda – I got sort of a weird dream."

"Oh, I see. The one where all your teeth fall out and Dash makes you eat them?" Tucker asked sympathetically.

"What? No, not – "

"The one where you're doing a class presentation while naked? The one where you forget how to fly mid-battle? The one where you're lost in the Ghost Zone? Ooh, tell me it was the one with Paulina and the balloon animals!"

Danny groaned. "Okay, new school year resolution: from now on, I tell Tucker things only on a need-to-know basis."

"You don't mean that."

"Seriously, Danny," Sam interrupted. "What was it? You know, you might want to check with Jazz if you're having nightmares."

"It wasn't a nightmare," Danny said, shaking his head. "Not really. It was just, you know – weird."

"How so?"

Danny furrowed his brow in concentration as he tried to recall the details of the dream. "Well, it started off pretty ordinary, just me flying around Amity Park in ghost form. But then, I start seeing this, ah, this thing, just out of the corner of my eye. And it looks like an eye, just a big yellow floating eye in the sky. At least, I think it does. 'Cause when I turn to look at it, it vanishes.

"So, I just keep flying, but it keeps popping up, right there on the edge of my vision. And it's starting to get on my nerves, because I can feel it watching me and all, and I know it's there, but I can't quite see it, so I start shooting ectoblasts at it. Doesn't do a lick of good, of course. I keep that up for a while, and I'm just getting angrier and angrier, and then I start shouting at it. Like, 'I know you're there! Come out and show yourself!' And then there was this sort of… chuckle, this laugh, right next to my ear."

"…And then?" Sam prompted after Danny paused.

"Then nothing. That's it. I woke up."

"Hmm. Doesn't sound all that bad," Tucker said. "I've had weirder dreams than that."

"So have I," Danny replied. "I guess it wasn't the dream so much as afterward. I kept trying to get back to sleep but, I dunno, some effect of the dream must have been lingering or something. I felt like I was being watched. And it's really tough to sleep like that."

Sam chewed her lip in thought as they walked. "I wonder… you don't think this is some ghost thing, do you? Like, a new power, premonition? Maybe you got some kind of vision of a ghost who's coming to Amity Park soon, and that's what you saw in the dream."

"A ghost whose power is watching people and sort-of-but-not-quite letting people see them?" Danny asked skeptically.

"Dude, worst ghost power ever," Tucker deadpanned. "Of all time."

Sam rolled her eyes. "I'm just spitballing. It might've just been a meaningless weird dream."

"Maybe it was stress-induced," Tucker suggested. "I mean, what with the school year starting up. Going back to the homework and Dash and tests and detentions and Lancer and school lunches and early morning. Can't blame a person for getting a little loopy."

"Not to mention the whole deal about your ghost problems," Sam added. "Speaking of which, any news on that researcher guy?"

Tucker frowned in confusion and glanced from Sam to Danny. "What researcher guy? Why haven't I heard of this?"

"Because I only found out last night," Danny answered, "And I was texting Sam while you were too busy speed-running Doomed to pick up your phone."

"Fair enough. Doesn't answer my first question. What researcher guy?"

"Some professor or something who's just moved to Amity Park," Danny answered through a sigh. "Apparently he's some sort of expert on the paranormal, or so he claims. My parents met him yesterday and it seems he's interested in their 'research'. They're planning on collaborating on some projects now. Which means I'm gonna have another ghost hunter in the house. Can you sense my overwhelming joy?"

"Huh," Tucker said, tapping his chin pensively. "Did you get this guy's name?"

"Uh, I don't remember," Danny said. He looked to Sam, but she just shrugged and replied, "You didn't tell me one."

"I think it had something to do with a tree," Danny continued after a moment's thought. "I remember thinking about that when my parents mentioned him."

"Is it Professor Oak?" Tucker asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Yes, Tucker," Danny answered flatly. "A Pokémon character moved to Amity Park and wants to work on research with my parents. And I forgot about it."

"A guy can dream," Tucker grumbled. "So, what was it, maple? Aspen? Elm?"

"Beech?" Sam joined in. "Hickory? Walnut?"

"Tulip? Sycamore?"

"Spruce? Pine? Fir?"

Danny snapped his fingers. "Pine! That was it. No, hang on… Pines. Something Pines. Don't remember the first name at all though."

"Don't worry, I'm already on it," Tucker said, and indeed, he had his PDA in hand and was typing on it, staring intently at the screen. The group stopped walking as Danny and Sam waited for Tucker to finish whatever he was doing. After a minute or so, Tucker held up the device so the others could see.

Sam and Danny leaned in toward the screen. A bibliography of journal publications was listed next to a photograph of a square-jawed, gray-haired man in glasses smiling faintly toward the camera. "Stanford F. Pines, Ph.D.," Sam read aloud. "Recently returned from a nine-month expedition in the Arctic Mediterranean, Pines has published findings on several newly-discovered reptilian species found to inhabit conditions previously thought unsurvivable by living beings. Pines is a longtime contributor, a researcher of anomalistic phenomena. Previous publications include research regarding extradimensional theory, anatomical abnormalities, and phantasmic beings."

"Phantasmic beings," Danny repeated. "So he is a ghost nut. So, do you think this Pines person is a Guys in White operative, or does he just dissect ghosts on his own dime? Place your bets now."

Sam shut off the screen of the PDA and handed it back to Tucker, then motioned for the group to continue their walk. "Don't worry about him, Danny. Look, the school year's about to start, and this guy will probably be working with your parents during the day. And if not, well, you spend half your free time at mine or Tucker's place anyway. Odds are you'll barely see this guy."

"I'm not so much concerned about me seeing him. I just don't want him seeing me."

Tucker punched Danny lightly on the shoulder. "Hey, you've dealt with people like him before, right? Who cares if he's an 'expert'. People call your parents experts, and you've been getting by just fine right under their noses for almost a year."

"That's true…"

"Yeah, listen to him, Danny," Sam said, giving him a light smile. "Just don't make any big scenes when he's around, then just wait it out until your parents scare him off. We're here, by the way," she added as they turned the corner and reached the storefront they were looking for. "You got the supply list, Tuck?"

"Right here," Tucker answered, waving his PDA. He put his hand on Danny's shoulder and steered him toward the store. "Here you go, something more important to be concentrating on. If there's anything you should be worried about, it's Sophomore Literature with Lancer. Trust me, in a few weeks, you'll have forgotten all about this Stanford Pines."