Chapter Nineteen: Battle at Gracie Manor

 

            With the demise of the Sanderson sisters, the Halloween party in the Town Hall raged on even harder than before, mostly with Patricia, Wilson, Raimundo, and Yvonne onstage. They led the partygoers in a rousing rendition of “New Sensation” by INXS. Wilson’s harmonious voice made him perfect for lead vocalist, while Patricia, Raimundo, and Yvonne were backup.

            Their allies – including Allison and the Dennison siblings – could only watch them in amusement (and a bit of cringe). “Should we maybe…cut them off after this song?” Jacqueline considered.

            “Nah, let ‘em have it,” Natalie permitted. “They deserve it after all they been through.”

            “All they been through?!” Ash snapped. “They weren’t the ones who got flung back in time to the Middle Ages, abducted by future space voyagers, and nearly killed several times by witches!”

            “Actually, they were with us on that last one,” Clary corrected her.

            “Oh, right,” Ash recognized.

            Leaving the other Busters to their fun, they moved outside the Town Hall to where no one could see what they did next: Captain Sutaka contacted the Enterprise and had Scotty beam the Ghost Trap incapsulating the Sandersons aboard for safety. Shortly afterwards, T’Eve informed them, “We’ve detected strange activity from one of the Salem locations: the Old Burial Hill cemetery.”

            Just as T’Eve relayed this information, something in the distance caught their attention – a green vortex shooting out into the night sky from an unspecified area that Binx soon confirmed to be, “The Old Burial Hill cemetery!”

            “It’s no doubt those dismal delinquents, Oogie and Facilier!” Scrooge proclaimed.

            “Alright, here’s how it’s going down,” Natalie stated, “Jay, Sean, Jacqui, and I deal with this and you guys get back to the Enterprise and wait for us. If we don’t make it back, return to 2019 without us.”

            “What?!” the others bellowed.

            “What happened to being in this together?!” Ash griped.

            “You lads are gonna need our help!” Scrooge protested. “We’ll be stronger together against those two!”

            “It’s okay, guys,” J.G. reassured. “Facilier may be new territory, but we’ve faced Oogie once a long time ago, before we even dealt with Gozer.”

            “Wait, what?!” Jace exclaimed. “Why’re you just telling us this now?”

            “It’s not exactly public knowledge,” Natalie clarified. “We’ve kept it from the press for 15 years to keep out the existence of Halloween Town. Right, Jack?”

            “Yes, it’s true – they were sworn to secrecy,” Skellington vouched. “That being said, Oogie isn’t quite the same as he was the last time when you Ghostbusters faced him in Halloween Town.”

            Jace groaned, swallowing his pride. “Look, I know we haven’t seen eye-to-eye since the moment we met, but…”

            “Hey, you animals!”

            The group turned to see a tall, slender young woman with ivory skin, ears that were pointier than Sutaka’s, golden eyes, and bright orange hair that was thick, long, and untamed. She looked as if she was costumed as a schoolgirl witch. “Are you comin’ back in or what?” she asked them. “You’re the life of the party!”

            “Do you mind? We’re dealin’ with some stuff right now!” Ash fired back.

            “Okay, sheesh!” the witch responded, clearly offended. “See if I ever invite you to my party, dweebs!” She promptly stormed back inside the Town Hall.

            The screeching of tires brought the attention of the Shadowhunters, Ash, the McDucks, Jack, Sally, Allison, Binx, the Dennison siblings, and Sutaka to the street, as the other Busters’ black Ectomobile left the Town Hall and headed directly for Old Burial Hill cemetery. In the momentary distraction, the Ghostbusters slipped away from the group – notably leaving Clary behind with her fellow Shadowhunters.

            “Didn’t think they’d bench me, too,” Clary grumbled, somewhat hurt by the act.

            “What is causing that anyway?” Max inquired of the vortex rising from the cemetery.

            “It’s the mansion!” Binx cried.

            He squirmed out of Dani’s arms and landed on the sidewalk. “Binx! Where are you going?” she asked him.

            “I’m afraid this is farewell, Dani,” Binx sadly told her. “Even though I didn’t cause the mansion to be enchanted, I still feel responsible for it, being connected to it for so long.” He then dashed off towards the cemetery, prompting Dani and the others to pursue.

-----------------------------

            “It’s done! Gracie Manor is ours!”

            Facilier successfully fortified the mansion, encasing it within a green, impenetrable forcefield. It seeped with a mist of energy that swirled towards the heavens, billowing the sky with unnatural storm clouds.

            As he reveled in his succession, Facilier heard an approaching vehicle.

            He turned to see the black Ectomobile bust through the locked gates of the cemetery and pull up to him and the mansion. Natalie, J.G., Sean, and Jacqueline stepped out, unlatching their particle throwers from their Proton Packs and taking aim towards Facilier. “You’re too late, Ghostbusters!” he mocked them.

            “Yeah, we’ll see about that, Discount Billy Dee Williams!” Natalie challenged.

            On her mark, the Ghostbusters fired their proton streams on the forcefield surrounding the mansion - not making a single dent in it.

            “So much for the mighty Ghostbusters!” a baritone voice cackled above.

            Looking skyward, the Ghostbusters sighted the silhouette of Oogie Boogie forming upon the moon, slightly faded by the clouds. “Long time, no see, Oogie!” J.G. quipped. “Still the same ol’ sack of sludge you’ve always been?”

            “You know it, baby!” Oogie returned. “How ya’ll like my Oogie Busters?”

            “Sweet people, great singers,” Natalie taunted. “The subpoena’s in the mail, by the way, for the trademark infringement.”

            “Ya’ll really think this is goin’ your way?” Facilier scoffed.

            “Against Oogie?” Jacqueline remarked. “The guy’s a pushover!”

            “PUSHOVER?!” Oogie roared.

            In his fury, the clouds obscuring the moon parted, permitting Oogie to migrate from his silhouette form on the moon to a more physical form among the burial grounds. Natalie, J.G., Sean, and Jacqueline were staggered to witness the Boogie Man in his new form, which was colossal in size with green, misty energy seeping from his mouth and eyes.

            “Do I look like a pushover to you?” Oogie asked, his baritone voice even deeper and hollowed.

            “Well, not now you don’t,” Natalie nonchalantly uttered.

            Oogie commenced in attacking, attempting to stomp the Ghostbusters to death.

            They tried to retaliate by firing a few rounds from their particle thrower, but none of them had any effect on Oogie. “He’s powered by the same magic that’s shielding Gracie Manor,” Sean informed his teammates.

            “It’s Facilier’s magic!” Jacqueline elucidated.

            Suddenly, Oogie opened his mouth wide, unleashing a swarm of bats to flutter out of it and overwhelm the Ghostbusters.

            “Anyone startin’ to regret that we didn’t bring everybody with us?!” J.G. yelled.

            Just as he said this, backup arrived with Ash, the Shadowhunters, the McDucks, Jack, Sally, Sutaka, Allison, and the Dennison siblings showing up to the cemetery. Binx, however, was the first to arrive, running up a tree and across one of the branches that loomed over Facilier. He pounced on the Shadow Man, managing to scratch his face.

            “Argh! You gonna pay for that, cat!” Facilier growled, tossing Binx off of him.

            Binx made another attempt, only for Facilier to swat him away with his cane. Struck by both magic and the blunt force of the cane, Binx’s body flew across the air and smacked brutally against a headstone.

            “BINX!” Dani cried.

            As Dani, Max, and Allison rushed over to the fallen Binx, Ash was infuriated by what Facilier had done. Avenging her feline friend, she took out her shotgun and began firing on Facilier. While the mansion was protected by the impenetrable shield, the Shadow Man was not – forcing him to take cover as Ash shot at him.

            “We have to do something other than standing here like dunderheads!” Scrooge recommended to the remaining members of their party.

            It was in that moment Sutaka got an idea.

            With her communicator, she ordered T’Eve, “Beam down the relics!”

            “All three of them, Captain?” T’Eve asked.

            “All three of them!” Sutaka confirmed, and not long after were the Necronomicon, the Sandersons’ spellbook, and the Calamity Box beamed directly in front of Captain Sutaka, the McDucks, the Shadowhunters, Jack, and Sally.

            “What’s your plan, lass?” Scrooge asked the captain.

            “Removing Oogie from the playfield with these relics,” Sutaka said.

            Each of them took control of a relic: Sutaka and the Shadowhunters had the Necronomicon, Jack and Sally had the Sandersons’ spellbook, and the McDucks had the Calamity Box.

            First, Jack and Sally used the spellbook to turn Oogie’s bats into doves, redirecting them to fly back in Oogie’s face. Next up were Sutaka and the Shadowhunters, utilizing the dark arts of the Necronomicon to bring to life the trees near Oogie’s feet, pinning them down.

            “It’s all up to us now, lads!” Scrooge told Webby and his nephews. “Ready?”

            “Ready!” They cheered.

            Together, they opened the Calamity Box. Flashes of pink, blue, and green lights emitted from within, shining towards their intended target: Oogie Boogie.

            Unfortunately, Oogie caught onto what was happening.

            He tore through the trees holding down his feet and stomped near Sutaka, the McDucks, the Shadowhunters, Jack, and Sally, knocking them all off balance. “You ain’t gettin’ rid of ol’ Oogie that easily!” he thundered.

            Meanwhile, Ash continued firing round-after-round on Facilier, who took cover behind a gravestone. She couldn’t get a clear shot for Facilier himself, but she did spot one object that the Shadow Man unintentionally made an easy mark: the globe from his cane. In his cowering, Facilier clutched the cane in its upright position, allowing its tip to stick out along the edges of the gravestone. With a smirk, Ash aimed for the globe and fired, completely obliterating it.

            “No, no, no…NO!” Facilier panicked, desperately trying to reassemble the pieces.

            But the damage had already been done.

            The forcefield around Gracie Manor vanished.

            To his mortification, Oogie was shrunk down to his regular size, which was still rather large but no longer gigantic. “NO!” he boomed, glaring at Ash. “I don’t know who you are, but I’m gonna have you for lunch!” With the ability to suck in air at the apparent power of a jet engine, Oogie swallowed Ash whole, much to everyone’s shock and disgust.

            “You will not get away with this, Oogie!” Jack asserted.

            “Oh, I know I will, Pumpkin King!” Oogie contested. “You all are gonna regret the day you messed with Oogie Boo—UGH!”

            The Boogie Man clutched his stomach in agony.

            All of the sudden, a chainsaw blade ripped through the abdominal region of his burlap sack of a body, spilling both Ash and a huge mass of a variety of different colored bugs all over the grass. The exposure of Oogie’s insides gave the Ghostbusters a perfect target.

            “Now!” Natalie signaled her teammates, and they fired their streams into Oogie until there was nothing left.

            With Oogie no more and his magic extinguished, Facilier made a desperate effort to flee from the scene. Just as he was close to the busted gate entrance, he was stopped dead in his tracks by a ghost – but not just any ghost. It was the spirit of Edward Gracie. “Hello, Doctor,” the spirit taunted.

            Facilier cowered in the very presence of the ghost. “No…it can’t be you,” he whimpered. “Y-Y-You’re dead! Deader than dead!”

            “I may be dead, Facilier,” Gracie said. “But my essence lives on…along with the other 999 ghosts that haunt my mansion!”

            “D-D-Did y-you s-say 999?!” Facilier swallowed hard from the prospect.

            Gracie proceeded to lift up his arms, summoning the 999 ghosts that he spoke of. They emerged from the mansion, as a blinding white light shined from the inside. The ghosts circled Facilier, catching him in the eye of a hurricane. The terrified Shadow Man wailed in madness, until he was left balled up in a fetal position on a grave. Their deed done, the 999 spirits retreated back into the mansion.

            The whole scene impressed the Ghostbusters. “Never thought I’d see the day when it’s the ghosts that did the busting for us,” J.G. beamed.

            “Binx…” They heard Dani mourn nearby.

            She, Max, and Allison were gathered around Binx, whose inert body was cradled in Dani’s arms. “He’s gone, Dani,” Allison told her.

            “But he can’t die remember,” the tearful Dani recalled. “Wake up, Binx.”

            But the cat did not respond. Dani clutched him close to her chest, sobbing.

            A remorseful Ash felt herself on the verge of tears as well, before she heard an ethereal voice say, “Dani, come on, please don’t be sad for me.”

            It spoke from the entrance to Gracie Manor.

            They all turned to see Thackery Binx standing there in human form, albeit as a ghost. “Binx, is that you?” Ash asked him. “Dang, kid. You’re looking good!” Her compliment drew a few odd stares from her cohorts. Noticing them, she remarked, “Oh, please! He’s like a hundred years older than me!”

            Binx chuckled. “I’ll take it, Ash. My soul is finally free, and so will the mansion, now that my purpose – as well as Master Gracie’s – has finally been served.”

            “Will we…see each other again?” Ash asked him.

            “Under the sails of the Black Pearl, our paths will cross again,” Binx assured. “Just be on the lookout for a cabin boy who only wanted a life of adventure.”

            Ash was lost on his cryptic answer. “Wait. What does that…?”

            “Thackery? Thackery Binx?” Another ethereal voice called out, this one of a girl.

            Looking to the manor entrance, Binx’s face lit with joy as he recognized the other spirit. “Emily!” Thrilled, he joined with her, both of them stepping into the light inside the mansion.

            “Who’s Emily?” Ash questioned.

            “Thackery Binx’s sister,” J.G. told her. “Legend says that her life essence was taken by the Sandersons on the night Binx was cursed. He never mentioned that to you?”

            Ash stared towards the light shining from the mansion, a tear streaming down from her eye. “I…I never knew.”

            Gracie approached Jacqueline and her friends. “Thank you,” he told them. “Your heroism has allowed so many souls to finally rest for eternity, including mine.” He then looked to Jacqueline specifically and added, “You’ve made your ancestor proud, my dear.”

            The teary-eyed Jacqueline smiled in tremendous gratitude.

            Gracie returned to his manor, as it ascended one last time into the afterlife.