Redbat132: This is RD and I's first Mystery Skulls Animated story. I always wanted to do this since I found out the music group. Goldie even made 6 Mystery Skulls Animated stories that help inspire me in making this story, as well. I only own Lea Thompson. Mystery Skulls Animated and all the songs belong to their respected owners: Luis Alberto Dubuc, the man behind the band Mystery Skulls, and Ben Mangum, the guy who created Mystery Skulls Animated. Hope you all enjoy. Also, I might have renamed one of the song titles to keep the story PG. Just a heads up. Anyway, hope you all enjoy.

It was around a late afternoon in New York City. 16-year-old Lea Carolina Thompson was in her room working on a special project. For this evening was going to be a fun night planned.

"I'm so excited for tonight, Nightlight!" Lea squealed with joy, already putting the finishing touches on something small. "I can't believe I actually won a ticket to see my favorite band perform up close for the first time! This could be the best night ever!"

Nightlight gave a questioning yet teasing look that read, 'Really? More exciting than meeting Jack Frost and the Guardians of Childhood?'.

Catching that expression, Lea giggled. "Okay, technically, I have different favorites of getting excited about. Jack Frost, along with the other Guardians, are around my favorite myths around the top five. If not top three. Mystery Skulls and the Deadbeats is my all-time favorite band that plays the best music. They perform in public once every two years. And now, they're coming here in New York where I can see them play in person!"

Soon, she finished making a small black baseball cap with a golden heart in the front and gave it to Nightlight. "There. My first ever Mystery Skulls cap for my childhood friend. Try it on."

The small wooden companion took the hat and placed it on his head. He grinned with satisfaction, showing that the hat was a perfect fit.

"Glad you like it, Nightlight. Now that I got that finished the hat for you, it's my turn to get into the Mystery Skulls band spirit, as well," Lea grinned, already putting on a new outfit.

It didn't take long for Lea to put on a light reddish shirt with a flaming gold heart in the center, a light blue sleeveless jacket accustomed with a silver snowflake on her left side, black jean skirt, purple and pink diamonds legging pants that somewhat resemble flames with some metallic black, and glittery dark blue high-top sneakers with red and white question mark symbols on the sides.

"And one more thing to complete the look," Lea responded, bringing out her Crystal Shifter weapon that seemed inactive.

Nightlight looked at his friend in confusion, wondering what she would use the ghost-iced pole for.

To answer his silent question, Lea squeezed the center and made it into the object she was thinking of. The Crystal Shifter transformed into a small ice-like chain and was placed around Lea's waist like a belt.

"Just in case we run into trouble. Which I'm hoping we don't," Lea explained, already getting her neon blue drawstring bag that has the Mystery Skulls logo. "Come on, Nightlight. We got a concert to go to!"

Smiling, Nightlight climbed up Lea and went inside her bag.

Now prepared and ready, the blonde teen left her home and made her way to the concert.

Hours later, the concert was at full swing. Lea was excited and happy to see her favorite band perform up-close. Nightlight even enjoyed it while staying hidden. Thanks to Lea's creativity, she used her bag with neon blue spray paint that glows as much as her childhood friend. That way, no human would be suspicious of a glowing, moving toy in her bag.

She watched the pink ghosts with golden hearts beating to the rhythm of the songs playing while floating plus singing as backup singers. The lead vocal singer, Lewis Pepper, was singing with passion. The keytar player, Arthur Kingsmen, was bobbing his head to the music with his guitarist playing friend, Vivi Yukino, doing the same. And their drummer plus pet dog mascot of the band, Mystery, kept in tempo with his group.

These random people were none other than Mystery Skulls and the Deadbeats.

Although this looks out of the ordinary, Lea and everyone else knew that the pink ghosts and dog drumming was all part of the show as special effects. Same goes with Lewis floating in the air and glowing. This had to be done by holograms, pre-recording drum beats, and rope.

The blonde teen practically danced and sang nearly all the lyrics Mystery Skulls and the Deadbeats were playing: 'Ghost', 'Freaking Out', 'Every Note', 'Heckbent', 'Magic', and a few other good ones. But 'Magic' was considered Lea's favorite song from the band. Not only because it's the first time she sees Lewis play violin in this song, but because that it makes her think of her friends, the Guardians of Childhood. And her belief is shown through both the crystal bracelet and Nightlight. But not too bright to be noticed, thankfully.

After the concert was over, Lea decided to use the restrooms before leaving. After doing her business, she was already walking down to the exit.

"What a perfect night! The show was better than I ever imagined!" Lea exclaimed happily to Nightlight. "Lewis has such an incredible voice that's so gentle and attractive. Arthur was great with the synthesizer. Even with a metal arm. Vivi is so amazing when she's playing the guitar. I swear, she and Lewis are like an item while playing 'Magic' because I saw the sparks between them. And Mystery is just super cute! I could just scream at how awesome this was!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The blonde teen jumped and stopped when hearing random screams, so suddenly. She could tell that those were not screams of excitement. They were screams of terror!

"That can't be good," Lea muttered to Nightlight, whom agreed on that. "Better check no one is hurt."

Lea ran out of the concert until she saw a few teens coming her way in full speed from the other side of the arena.

"GHOOOOSTS!" a boy with black hair and tattoos on his arms screamed, not stopping.

"THE BAND IS HAUNTED!" a dark, short-wavy haired boy with a Mystery Skulls shirt plus glasses hollered, trying to out run the other teen.

"Whoa! Hold it!" Lea exclaimed, standing in front of the boys' way to make them stop at their track. "What are you guys talking about?"

"We saw the band's tour bus not too far from here and wanted to ask for their autograph," the black-haired boy replied. "Mangum and I are huge fans of Mystery Skulls and the Deadbeats."

"But when Luis knocked on the door, some freaky stuff happened. Like weird black magic demon creatures coming out of nowhere and attacked us!" the brown-haired boy named Mangum added.

Lea stared in disbelief, having a sneaky hunch on what those creatures might be. "Demon creatures? Uh, don't you think you two might be overreacting and imagined that you saw some evil demonic beings?"

"We know what we saw! The band is haunted and they might be coming after us!" Mangum exclaimed, already running.

"You better run before the ghosts get you, too!" Luis suggested to Lea, before running as well. "Save yourself!"

With the boys gone, Lea looked back a Nightlight with the same suspicious look they were giving each other.

"How much do you want to make a bet that Pitch's Nightmares are behind this?" Lea questioned her friend.

Nightlight nodded his head with agreement, believing the Nightmare King's dark sand creatures had something to do with the haunting.

"I say we should check it out. But be careful, as well. We don't know how many Nightmares there might be or what they're doing around here,"

Taking a deep breath, Lea hurried to where the supposed 'ghosts' were last seen: around the tour bus of Mystery Skulls and the Deadbeats.

When taking a turn, Lea was a bit surprised on how the band's tour bus looked.

The band's tour bus appeared as a black truck with golden hearts as headlights and the Mystery Skulls logo on the sides outlined with black, white, and pink colors. It looked like a vehicle version of Lewis' skeleton costume when performing. There were even spikes on all the white tires that give the tour bus an edgy vibe.

"I don't know whether to be terrified about how the bus looks or excited that this is Mystery Skulls and the Deadbeats' tour bus I'm going to," Lea said out loud, having mixed feeling about all of this.

Nightlight waved his hand at Lea, as if telling her to stay focus.

"Right. Sorry. Got to stay on topic," Lea replied, waving her distraction off. "Now, where are those Nightmares?"

Nightlight immediately waved again at Lea and pointed to the bus door. Lea gasped when she saw black sand seeping into the cracks of the door and it opened!

"Bingo!" Lea went to the bus and charged inside.

Little did Lea know, while going inside, is that she was being watched by three small figures.

"Who is that?" One questioned.

"Who cares? She's not supposed to be in there!" the second one responded. "I bet she's here to hurt poor Lewis."

"We won't know anything until we get closer. Come on!" the third responded, taking the lead.

Lea looked around to find the Nightmare. But, for some strange reason, nobody was in here and not a Nightmare in sight.

"I don't understand," said Lea, confused. "I saw black sand, but no Nightmare. Or people for that matter," She scratched her head. "Am I missing something here?"

Suddenly, the lights were on by pink flames to reveal the inside of the tour bus was larger in than out. Not to mention it looked like Lea was in a house rather than a tour bus with lots of doors.

"What in the name of frost?" Lea questioned, seriously shocked at what she's seeing here with Nightlight the same. "I feel like in one of those weird dreams."

Just then, she heard noises coming from one of the doors. Thinking the Nightmares might be there, Lea went over to that room and slowly opened the door to take a small peak.

Lea almost let out a squeal of surprise. There, standing in what looked like the inside of a funeral home, was Lewis! Along with three pink ghosts that looked like the same holograms on stage. Lea saw pink fire coming from Lewis's hand.

But what really amazed Lea were the many large glass horse statues surrounding Lewis.

Lewis had a muscular body, broad shoulders and appeared very tall. He also has bangs, which resembled an exaggerated pompadour. He had magenta, flaming hair, a jaw-less skull that levitated in place where his square face and hook nose used to be, three ribs that stick out on both sides of his chest, and hands resembling gloves. His outfit was a black suit with purple outlines resembling a bow tie, a white dress shirt with a magenta pink tie, black trousers and black dress shoes.

"I don't know how these creatures got in, but they are certainly not welcomed!" Lewis shouted, blasting more fire that made the Nightmares back off.

"I told you something was going on!" the pink ghost with a long pony tail shouted, punching a Nightmare bat. "They're here to hurt poor Lewis!"

"Whatever these black sand things are, they're not from any ghost world we've seen," the ghost with a zig-zagged top responded, flying up to make two Nightmare bats collide each other.

"Let me know when it's over. These things scare me," whimpered the littlest pink ghost, hiding behind Lewis' shoulder.

Lea stared in shock. This was clearly not special effects happening here. If anything, her favorite band really is haunted with their own members as ghosts!

"Uh, Nightlight? I think we should leave," Lea said, slowly backing away before running to get out of the bus.

Just then, one of the pink ghosts came in front of Lea's path. The girl squealed, as she jumped back in fear. She turned to find another way out, but the other two ghosts had her cornered!

Lea started sweating bullets, as Lewis approached her. Somehow, Lea mustered up enough courage to try and deduce this logically. There was no way her favorite band was really a ghost band!

"Y-You don't s-s-scare me!" Lea said, pointing a shaky finger at Lewis.

"Then why are you sweating and leaving with your dark army attacking me?" Lewis questioned, glaring heavily at the blonde girl.

"W-what?! Those Nightmares aren't with me! I swear!" Lea responded, her hands up in defense.

"And how do you know they're called that?" the skull-faced band member interrogated. "Why come here in the first place?"

Lea tried to rack her brain in explaining until she got pulled away by a colony of Nightmare Bats plus a herd of Nightmare Horses in escaping.

"Hey! She's getting away!" one of the pink ghosts screamed.

The blonde teen screamed when being kidnapped by these dark creatures. She couldn't see anything and barely reach for her Crystal-Shifter. Nightlight tried using his light and staff to make the Nightmares let go of his friend. However, during the blind struggle, one of the Nightmares reached for Lea's Crystal Bracelet and managed to slip it off her wrist without her realizing it. This caused Nightlight to stop fighting and become lifeless.

"Put me down, you no good sand pawns!" Lea screamed, trying to concentrate and placed both hands in turning the Nightmares back into Dreamsand creatures.

Before Lea's belief in making the black sand creatures into gold sand could take effect, a pink fire blast caused the dark creatures to become glass and fell to the ground in becoming a million places. That move also caused Lea to collapse on the floor in slight pain. Along with her Crystal Bracelet and Nightlight separated from her around the scene out of the tour bus.

"Ugh, did that really just happen?" Lea questioned, slowly getting up.

"Oh, no you don't!" a voice shouted from behind.

Suddenly, the pink ghost with the long pony tail phased into Lea's body and overshadowed her. The possessed blonde teen's pupils were glowing magenta pink.

"Good job!" said Lewis, approaching the possessed girl. "Keep her right there."

"Oh, you know I will, Lewis," Possessed Lea responded with a smug look while admiring herself. "This isn't really such a bad body to overshadow."

"I bet it's not as hilarious as the time you took over Arthur's body," the second ghost with the zig-zagged tip remarked, stiffening a laugh from that memory.

"I agree with Eepers. Do something funny!" the littlest ghost requested. "Make her say and do something funny!"

Smiling, the ghost possessing Lea picking her nose. "Hey! Look at me! I wonder how big I can make my nostrils!"

The ghosts laughed while Lewis sighed, shaking his head.

"What's going on?!" shouted a female voice.

Possessed Lea jumped from that. Turning around, Lewis and the pink ghosts saw an angry Vivi, Arthur, and Mystery.

Vivi stood slightly shorter than Arthur and seemed to have a petite build with very light skin. She had blue hair with bangs, sides and back being off the shoulder and held back with a darker blue headband. She had on a long scarf and a blue, puffy sweater with a short skirt. She also has short heeled Mary Jane shoes with thigh-high stockings. All of which are either a lighter or darker tone. Everything on her is blue aside from her eyeglass lenses, which are a striking shade of magenta.

Arthur was about average height with a thin build, possessing broader shoulders. He had pale skin with blonde hair that spikes backward with two strands of hair that grow from his hairline upwards, one larger than the other. He also had a mechanical left arm. He has a small, triangular goatee with sideburns that are accented with two orange stripes. His eyes are a similar orange shade to the accenting lines, above having two bushy eyebrows. He had on two black wristbands, a baggy white t-shirt that is layered by a puffy vest with three buttons: a star, a small blue round button, and the Mystery Skulls logo. His outfit is completed with baggy, yellow pants and high-top sneakers.

Mystery was a small white dog with black paws. He has a red and black spiky mane of hair on his head. Along with wearing a pair of tiny, gold-tinted glasses plus a dog collar with a question mark on it.

"Lewis, we talked about this! No showing your ghost powers in front of people besides Arthur and me!" Vivi scolded.

"And why is one of your Deadbeats possessing a teen girl?! You promised you were going to have them under control by not letting them cause trouble during our tour!" Arthur argued, folding his arms.

Mystery the dog sniffed the ground to get a weird scent from the glass covered with Nightmare Sand and small grains of Dreamsand.

"Is this...black sand?" asked Vivi, looking down at what Mystery is sniffing.

"Yes. They were dark creatures made out of it that attacked me in the tour bus. Boonita, Eepers, and Yike spotted this intruder coming inside, before aiding me," Lewis explained. "She nearly escaped with those creatures carrying her until I destroyed them."

"Exactly! I stopped this pesky human from running away by taking over her body," Possessed Lea announced proudly.

"We can see, Boonita," Arthur deadpanned, knowing from experience in being possessed. "So, who is she?"

"That's what we're about to find out," Lewis responded, looking at the overshadowed girl. "You may come out of her, Boonita."

The ghost named Boonita came out of the blonde teen. Lea, however, collapsed after being possessed by a mischievous ghost. Luckily, Lewis caught her in time. She weakly opened her eyes and saw Lewis's skull leering back at her.

Lea felt her breath clog up her throat in pure terror. "A...g-ghost," she breathed out, before fainting.

"Great. Now we have a random stranger aware of Lewis' secret. Just perfect," Arthur responded sarcastically, facepalming. "What now?"

"We take her in the bus and ask questions when she wakes up," Lewis answered, carrying the unconscious teen in his arms and walking back to the tour bus.

Mystery then noticed Lea's bracelet and looked at it curiously by sniffing the object. Thinking it's a clue, he carefully picked it up with his mouth and carried it to his friends.

"What do you have there, Mystery?" Arthur questioned, taking the object with his right hand.

"Looks like a bracelet. Think it belongs to the girl?" Vivi questioned.

"Probably. We better go follow Lewis back inside," Arthur replied, putting the bracelet in his pocket.

While walking, Vivi felt her foot hit something and looked down to notice Nightlight. She gasped at the doll's appearance.

"Oh, look at this! He's so cute!" Vivi squealed, picking up the toy in fascination. "And he has a small Mystery Skulls cap on his head! Where did you get that, little cutie?"

"Vi, come on!" Arthur called out, already inside.

"Coming!" Vivi hollered, quickly moving inside the bus while carrying the toy figure in her arms before closing the door.

Once everyone was aboard, the tour bus already turned on and began driving away until it disappeared in a pink flame flash while going in a tunnel.

Redbat132: That's the end of Chapter 1. Next chapter will be coming soon. Also, for those curious on what Lea's outfit looks like along with the band, I made some drawings of them in DeviantArt with the same user name I use here. Look for the drawings titled 'Lea in Concert Attire (RotG and Mystery Skulls)' and 'Mystery Skulls and the Deadbeats'. Hope you enjoy both this first chapter and the drawings.