Halloween Academy

Chapter 10: Comedy and Tragedy; Vampire and Ghost Rider pt.3

Back in the Library

As the kids traversed down to wherever this Stein character was at, they all took heed at to what they now heard just then. The sound of squeaking wheels were heard from the distant bookshelf hallway they made their way in. but as they kept going, the sound of wheels became even more louder. Almost as if… it was heading right towards them. The gang all stood, flew, or slurped their ground, as the noise came from an approaching object on wheels. And would have gotten to them sooner… had the object didn't strike against a leftover book that was on the floor.

CRASH!

The object fell onto its back, revealing itself to be an office wheeled chair. It also revealed someone to be on it as well, as the kids got a good look at him.

The fellow riding the chair was a tall human man with shaggy silver-gray hair and big, round glasses that reflected the light, making it impossible to see his eyes. He had a large screw/bolt going through his head, with the head of the screw on the left side, and wore a gray turtleneck sweater, and black pants and shoes. A signature hallmark that the man had was his trademark zigzag stitches. He had the stitches all over his body and clothing. His most notable piece of clothing was his doctor's lab coat. He even looked also surprisingly well built for a man his age.

He got up, despite the others, minus Coraline, cringing in fear of this man's presence. The man then sat up in his chair again, facing them, slouched over as he turned the screw-bolt in his head, like a radio dial.

He then grumbled to himself, "No. that's not right; that's not right at all." he then patted his butt, getting the dust off, as he twisted the bolt once again, and casually shrugged, "Okay. Let's try that again."

'Is this guy for real? How's he so terrifying?' Coraline thought as she looked at him, and then looked at the man, as she asked, "Excuse me, do you know where we can find a Dr. Stein?"

The man seemed to freeze up from that question, as he looked to Coraline, exposing his eyes. Amazingly, they were the same color green as her own, as he asked in a surprised tone, "Dr. Stein?" And then he pondered aloud as he whispered, while scratching his chin, "Dr. Stein. Now that's a name no one's said in a long time. Much less sought out for."

"But do you know him?" Coraline insisted on the question.

"Of course, I know him," the man stated as he adjusted his glasses, "He's me."

"I guess a lot of people aren't as…" Coraline suggested, but then stopped as she gasped.

In the flash of an instant, Dr. Stein was right behind her, his right hand around her neck, and his other one patting her stomach. "You must have a lot of moisturizer. I've never felt such smooth skin before in my life here in this world." he then snickered as his glasses gleamed viciously, and spoke in a demonic tone, "I can fix it so it's more like sand paper." he then lifted up her shirt and vest, to just show off a little bit of her flat stomach, as he took a marker and started making marks, "I just need to start incisions in these key locations…"

'Oh crap… This guy is completely insane…' Coraline thought to herself, the look of fear on her face was completely evident in her head, '… no wonder every kid in this school's freaked out about him.' at this point, all she wanted to do was scream. Unfortunately, when she slightly opened her mouth, all that came out, was the following, "!"

Immediately, Coraline broke from Stein's grasp and she gasped and covered her mouth, looking rather shocked that that had happened. Everyone who had been around for that, stepped back as they were a little freaked out. Though Bobby seemed to giggle moronically, "Hehehehe! That looks fun; give me a tickle next."

Stein, on the other hand, had returned to reason on this as he let her go, and scratched his chin in deep loud thought, "Hmmm. That's odd. Usually they run away screaming when I pull something like this."

DJ, who had mustered a bit more courage, coughed to get his attention, as he answered, "Well, that's kind of the reason we're here."

"She… was attacked by Freako," Dexter admitted, feeling rather sheepish in the fact that such a thing had happened around him, "And was bitten; we're not quite sure what the side effects are for her."

Lydia nodded to that, "Lately she's had a case of the giggles."

"And she's not the most laughable person ever," Wendy chimed in.

"Now that I think about it," DJ commented as he scratched his bone chin, squinting his eyes in thought, "The way she laughs now… it's kind of creepy." When Coraline heard that, she just grumbled in annoyance at those opinions, until DJ smirked, complimenting, "I like it."

Bobby remained silent, looking clueless to them all, as they all looked to him for a response. He still had the same clueless look on his face, looking to them for an answer. Then finally, he looked in both directions, and whispered, "What's happening now?"

Stein just twitched his eyebrow as he sighed, not sure if he could figure it out, but then noticed that Coraline was missing. "Um, where's your friend right now?"

"Hey, guys," Coraline called out from the shelves, "Check this out."

The others turned and looked to see what Coraline was going on about. There, in the middle of the hallway of shelves, Coraline was juggling a couple of books for a moment. Then, she tossed them all into the air, and ran towards one of the bookshelves. She ran up the wall, and jumped off the side, doing a back flip, landing gracefully in a crouching position, as she caught the books with ease. And to top off the awkward performance, she cackled out in a crazed manor.

Stein cocked an eyebrow as he mumbled to the others, "You're right… that is creepy."

"Told you," DJ commented.

Coraline got up, and walked over to the bookshelves, to take a breather. She leaned on the bookshelf, huffing like crazy… and that's when Dr. Stein took notice as he whispered to DJ, "Um… DJ? What size shoe does Coraline wear?"

DJ shrugged as the Pumpkin Prince answered his best estimate, "I don't know… six… maybe seven. Why?"

"Because it looks like she wears a size fifty," Stein stated as he pointed to the floor.

There, they all saw it, big shoe footprints. The shoes that only clowns could wear, and they were all trailing back to Coraline's form. She was breathing and huffing deeply, almost as if she had run a great distance without even a break. The others looked at her with much concern, as DJ walked over to her as he went to go see if things were alright.

And in a moment of spontaneous, Bobby whispered to Wendy, "She was pretty handy with that juggling… like a clown would."

That got Wendy thinking, as DJ placed a hand on Coraline's shoulder, "Cor… you okay?"

She turned around, giving him a tired… and full toothed grin, as her eye twitched. Stein walked up as he gently pushed DJ aside, "Miss Coraline, let me take a look at that bite for you."

he unbuttoned the vest and shirt, and pulled the left shoulder sleeve back to see the bite mark that Freako had left her. But when he did it, his eyes showed a bit of controlled surprise, as well as cold calculating pondering. DJ saw the look on his face, and took a few steps forward to see what the big deal was. And he too was surprised at what he saw, when he saw the bite mark on the shoulder. Instead of looking like two puncture marks on her shoulder… it had turned into a scarred smiley face… which was pretty unusual.

Coraline went wide eye, but still retained her smile, as she asked in a whisper to the two, "Something's wrong with me, isn't there?" a paused silence filled the library as that question went unheard. "Oh, well," Coraline spoke up casually, as her eyes rolled around in a crazy manner, and laughed out loud like an insane maniac, "AHAHAHAHAHAAA!"

Everyone looked at her, even more freaked out than before by this little scene. However, unnoticed by those in the shadows of the library's mighty shelves, Freako's red eyes burned with delight from the little revelation.

Later On

Back in the Hospital

Everyone had made it back to the hospital, where Myra had met up with them once again. They were currently in a sort of operation room, with computers that were for examination, as well as a microscope to look at viruses, tissue, or blood samples. The last one was what Stein was using at the moment, analyzing a sample of Coraline's drawn blood, with Myra by his side. The others were watching Coraline, who was in a cylinder containment unit, and banging on the door, as she tried to get out. Out there, DJ was looking at the small circle window, as the shadow of his friend was tossing all around the place. With him were Cheshire, who was perched on the shoulder of an equally worried Wendy, and Zero, who was at DJ's side, whimpering for the young blonde girl inside the container.

Inside, Coraline was banging on the walls, crying out, "Let me out! Come on! I just, you know? Wanna have a few laughs!"

At this scene, Zero whimpered out as he nudged on DJ's leg. The skeleton boy knelt down and petted his dog's head, as Zero whimpered, "I know, boy. I'm worried too."

"Interesting," Stein spoke up, getting all their attention, as he looked through the lens, not changing his attention to all of them. "The blood sample I'm seeing here, is most distressful. Her red and white blood samples are beginning to mutate much faster than the sample you showed me, Myra." He then pulled away as he looked to everyone, serious while turning his bolt, "She's definitely mutating."

"Mutating?" Lydia asked, looking at the container, and back to Stein, "Into… what Freako is?"

At that moment, DJ stood back up as he asked, "Well, why didn't Freak just slurp her up with his lampreys like he did with the others he caught?"

"Because the vampire legends are often accurate in this case," Stein answered as he adjusted his glasses as he explained, "A vampire can go both ways: feed on a victim, or turn a victim into a vampire fledging in its service."

"But why Coraline?" Wendy asked as he petted Cheshire.

It was evident on that answer as DJ answered that question, "Vengeance. Coraline insulted his sense of humor, and he got her back this way."

"Everyone!" Dexter ran in as he stopped himself as he looked to everyone, "I think I know what's been going on. Freako has been using the auditorium as a means of a feeding ground for himself. And he's going to bring in a sort of rave party later tonight."

Cheshire perched on Wendy's shoulder as he stated, "And giving Freako's abilities, he feeds off the laughter he'll probably induce to them all. And with each victim, he'll get strong enough to defeat any adversary that comes his way." and looked to DJ, "Powerful enough to fight against the Ghost Rider's Hellfire."

DJ clenched his fists as he growled, "We gotta beat him. It's the only way to get the kids he's feasted on." And looked back at the container, "And to get Coraline back to normal."

"I'll stay here," Stein stated as he turned back to the blood, "In case you run into him, I'll phone you in case I find a weakness against a Laughter Vampire." He looked to Myra and Dexter as he asked, "Could you two stay here? I might need a little help on this."

"Of course," Myra nodded.

With that, everyone took off, heading towards the auditorium, minus the other three… and Bobby. He was currently guzzling down stuff from the trash, and heard the doors closing behind him. "Huh?" he asked as he put the trash can down and slithered on over to the containment unit, and looked to the scientists hard at work, "What's everyone doin?"

"Research," Dexter answered, while not turning his back, "You can help by keeping an eye on Coraline in the chamber."

Bobby looked at the container and back as he asked, "You keeping her fresh?"

"Just tell us if she tries anything," Dexter commanded, "And DON'T let her out, no matter what. Understand?"

"Right!" Bobby answered with a salute, and slithered on over to the chamber.

Coraline continued to bang on the door, as she whined, "Let me out! Please!"

"No way, uh-uh," Bobby answered, as he continued, "I've been given strict orders not to let you out, no matter what. So exnay, negativo, naddah, bupkis, Nien, and Taco Grande parley Italian to anything you do to make me open that door. Because there's nothing, NOTHING, that you can do that'll make me open that door."

A pause was uttered in the container, until Coraline proposed in a singing tone, "I'll give you some cotton candy."

"You bet!" Bobby answered, not wasting or hesitating on that.

He rushed over to the door, and unlocked the door… which caused the force behind it to shoot the door right at him, and into the wall right next to the others. The trio looked and saw the container's door smashed into the wall. The trio got up from their spots as they ran to the door. It then fell down on the floor, as they saw the splatter spot that was Bobby, as he slimed off the wall and reformed back, with his hat back on.

"Leave it to the one with no brain to cause the problem for us," Dexter groaned.

After Bobby reformed, he pouted disappointingly, "Hey! Where's my cotton candy?"

Then, to gain their attention, they heard a girl's giggle, as they looked to the darkened open doorway for the container. Then, Coraline's hand grabbed onto the door's outer railing. But it wasn't her hand per say; it was hers but it was chalk white, with red and black striped fingernail polish. The four looked, as Coraline pulled herself out… revealing that her face was colored chalk white, and her eyes were yellow with red irises, her teeth were pearl white, and her lips were black. She looked at the four with much hunger as she chuckled insanely, with the attitude of a predator about to corner her prey.

Later On

In the Abandoned Auditorium

That night, the remaining others had wandered back into the darkened auditorium to seek out the clown boy. As before, the auditorium of the school was pretty much like the school and the rest of the town. Old, dirty, and spooky were the words that would best describe it in its appearance. The building was large and vast in size, echoing the rattles and wood creaks whenever the footsteps were made in the point of entry. Cob webs were decorated on the beams and walls of the ceiling, making them into makeshift curtains. The wood was nearly close to falling apart, but had enough strength to support any weight on it. It still looked the same, but with the rave party supplies all over the place. Freako was getting ready for his midnight feast, and this was the proof of it.

The others traversed around the room, trying to find Freako, but with no avail. Lydia gulped at this, which caught Wendy's attention as she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just a bit freaked out," Lydia rubbed her arm in fright, "You know, I kinda find it freaky to just get eaten if you laugh."

"Speaking of which," Cheshire asked as he strode between the girls, "Are you going to be alright? I mean, you're not exactly the best person to get involved in this due to your sense of humor."

"Don't worry," Lydia answered, stopping for a moment next to a curtain on the stage, "After this night, I'm not sure I'm ever gonna laugh again."

DJ sighed as he mocked with a half-smirk, "What? Not even for that dumb gag you saw on that Saturday Night Undead scenario, 'Dwayne, the Bathtub. I'm dwowning'?"

That earned a small silence for the moment, but only for a moment. That caused Lydia to giggle out for a moment, but she stopped as she stifled it in time. Or not. For at that moment, her laugh echoed throughout the auditorium, and getting more high toned. Lydia paled, knowing full well that this was how a Laughter Vampire would soon strike. Everyone looked around, waiting for Freako to attack her, and catch him. But it didn't come at all… someone else did the attacking, as lampreys shot out from behind a darkened curtain, and wrapped themselves around Lydia as she screamed out in terror. Then, a massive big Lamprey shot out, over her head, just as the others turned to hear her scream out… and then it stopped. The others looked over to where they heard the scream, and just saw darkness. That is until something shot at Wendy, and smacked her in the face. Wendy let it fall to the ground, and was shocked, as were the others, as they saw that what had been thrown at them, were Lydia's clothing and hair band.

They also heard chuckling, and that was enough to get DJ to flame up his right arm, and reach for his guitar. Wendy pulled out her broom from the bag, as she held it like a bo staff. The young pumpkin prince growled as he shouted, "Alright, Freako! Come out now!"

The chuckle continued, as they heard footsteps coming forward. The two were prepared for anything that Freako would throw at them… all except for what happened.

There, standing in the light… was Coraline. And yet… it wasn't her.

She had changed completely from the bite, much to the others' horror. Her skin from head to toe was chalk white, and her lips were black, along with her eyed becoming yellow and red. Her blonde hair was tied up into two ponytails, all anime style. She wore a black and red corset, with black gloves that went up to her shoulders, and had red bands on the elbows, the end of the gloves, and the wrists, with red fingers on them. Around her neck was a red choker, with a skeletal smiley face. She had on black stockings that went up, and a red and black diamond miniskirt. She also had on red leather high knee and high heel boots, with black toes and heels, with black belts on the top and ankles.

DJ, a little scared for her, asked nearly whispering, "Coraline?"

"Coraline?" she asked as her smirk spread as she chuckled, "You can just call me Cranka."

"Isnt she just to die for?" Freako suddenly popped up from atop the auditorium's light posts. They all saw him sit on the ledge with his legs crossed and leaning on one of the steel wires, "I gotta say, she's turned out to be a real Harlequin. I'm just as surprised to see the change turned out pretty well for her."

Suddenly, Coraline, or Cranka, jumped upward, and did a series of spins and jumped towards Freako. She landed right next to him, as she joked, "Stop me if you've heard this one, DJ. There were these two clowns in an abandoned auditorium while a rave was starting. A rave the clowns started." As this was heard, the remaining trio realized that the rave had started… and these two had slurped the entire party animals along with it, as Cranka kept going, "The Girl says to the Boy…"

"Give her back, Freako!" DJ demanded, his shoulders starting to burn, as his empty eye socket had a small glowing red dot in it.

The two Laughter Vampires slumped as their faces went from happy to frowns, as the two looked to the skeleton boy. Finally, Freako shrugged as he whined, "You call that a punch line?"

"I don't share your sense of humor," DJ growled, his flames growing a bit, as his changes came slow.

Freako smirked as he jumped up and stood on his feet, looking down at DJ in delight, "And yet, we're linked. You and I." He then pointed towards the smile and the frown of theater as he mimicked their facial expressions to emphasize his point to the skeleton boy, "We're like Comedy and Tragedy. Two sides… same mind."

"Let! Her! GO!" DJ finally roared out, transforming fully into the Ghost Rider as he snarled at the clown, "… or I'll turn your smile upside-down."

At that last threat, Freako just had to drop his voice at the last word, "Well, if it's laughs you dong want… then I'll just have to put a smile on that dour face of yours as well."

Next Chapter: Comedy and Tragedy; Laughter vs Hellfire pt.4