The MARVELOUS Storyteller: "Rider's Delight"

[muppetwriter]

Hey, everybody! Happy Halloween!

Today is the day not just for getting treats or pulling off great tricks, but also for demons from the underworld who've come to our realm to create a new h*ll and obtain a "ghost rider" as their enforcer. And only a storyteller and his supernatural friends can stop it all from happening.

Today, from morning to midnight, you will read the first three chapters of what is not your ordinary "MARVELOUS" tale. This story is told by someone who some of you might be familiar with. His name is The Storyteller, and this is his tale of...Rider's Delight!


It is said that the West was built on legends. Tall tales that help us make sense of things too great or too terrifying to believe. This is the legend of the Ghost Rider. The story goes that every generation has one. Some d****d soul, cursed to ride the earth, collecting on the devil’s deals. Many years ago, a Ghost Rider was sent to the village of San Venganza to fetch a contract worth one thousand evil souls. But that contract was so powerful, he knew he could never let the devil get his hands on it. So he did what no Rider has ever done before: he outran the devil himself.

But the marvelous thing about legends is…sometimes they’re true.

“You wanna know something that’d really be marvelous?” A stranger behind me intensely asks. “You puttin’ a sock in it, while we watch Johnny Blaze make the jump!”

Other people around me seem to have agreed with the man’s bold statement. I should have remembered to throw a sound field around my companions and me before coming to this arena.

That probably would have been a brilliant idea.

The problem here is that no one appreciates a good narration when they hear one.

These people don’t care about you and your narrating. They came to see the Ghost Rider.

Quiet! Do you want to spoil the tale for those who haven’t heard it yet?

To begin our adventure, we open with the roaring cheer of a crowd of fans that are well familiar with the stunts performed by none other than Jonathan “Johnny” Blaze, the hero of our tale. My dog and I, of course, are amongst these fans in the crowd. But accompanying us were our noble Nightstalkers: Sarah Williams, Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ambrosius, Ludo, Jake Long, Luong Lao Shi (Jake’s grandfather), Trixie, Spud, the Lees (Juniper, Jasmine, and Ray-Ray), Munroe the enchanted Scottish pug, and Fu Dog the talking, streetwise Shar Pei.

Jareth doesn’t stand a chance against our team of heroes.

Don’t be too sure. The odds could outmatch us greatly. But, please…I’m telling the story.

Before Johnny Blaze is a pathway…a pathway to what seems like certain death for the most fearful human soul. At both sides of the ramp are flames lit for dramatic effect. And past the ramp are twenty…no, thirty…no, fifty trucks parked across the arena floor.

Spud is very quick to express his amazement of the stunt into words. “Aw, dude! There is absolutely no way he’ll make that jump!”

“Man! It’s gonna be somethin’ to see him splat all over the concrete!” Ray-Ray exclaims with much anticipation.

His older sister, Juniper, is very appalled by his bloodthirsty attitude. “Actually, I’m pretty used to it by now. You should’ve seen him during a cage match between Triple H and The Rock at Wrestlemania.”

Sitting next to me is Sarah, who shows great concern over her face as she watches Johnny Blaze prepare himself for what seems like the final jump he will ever make in his life. “Why is he doing such a dangerous stunt? Is he not scared of what could happen?”

“That’s just the thing, dear Sarah.” I tell her calmly. “Johnny Blaze is a man who has never lived a day of his life in fear…not since the devil himself took his soul from him.”

She turns to me, her look changing from concerned to amazed. “Literally took his soul?”

“Perhaps it would be wise to show you what happened years before our quest began.” I suggest, and using the magic that is bestowed upon me, I change the atmosphere around only Sarah and myself. The massive arena shrinks into that of a not-so-large circus tent. The trucks have been replaced by six very small, very safe ramps that surround a ring of fire.

Sarah is taken by surprise over the sudden change in atmosphere. We are now in a setting that is at least a few years before she was even born. Suddenly, she is startled by the loud, amplified voice of the announcer, “Ladies and gentlemen! The amazing, blazing…stunt cycle spectacular!”

It isn’t long before two cyclists speed onto the scene from opposite directions. Both of them ride their bikes up the ramps and fly through the ring of fire successfully, much to the satisfaction of the crowd…and much to the relief of one particular girl that sits near Sarah and me.

“Who is she?” Sarah asks.

Her name is Roxanne Simpson, the greatest affection of Johnny Blaze’s life. It took much to convince her father to bring her to see the show that we are watching now.

“Why is that?” Sarah again asks me.

But before I can explain to her, I find myself interrupted by the energetic announcer. “How about a big round of applause for Barton and Johnny Blaze? Let’s hear it for them, folks!”

We focus our attention on the young cyclist who passes before us, showing off on his motorbike. This young cyclist is Johnny Blaze himself in his teenage years and under the tutelage of his father, Barton, who does not appreciate his showing off towards the beautiful Roxanne.

“He is quite the overconfident one.” Sarah comments. “I can see why Roxanne’s father tried to keep her from coming. A hotshot like Johnny could be a bad influence.”

Indeed. Johnny was a very young soul, believing he knew everything there was that he needed to know. But he what he didn’t understand was that when he does things without thinking, he is not making the choice…the choice is making him.

“So he does these dire stunts for the love of Roxanne.” Sarah estimates, and her estimation is only partially correct. “Partially?”

Johnny does his stunts for not just the love of Roxanne, but for the respect of his own father as well. He was all that Johnny had in his life.

“Was? Had? Don’t tell me that something awful happened to him?”

I’m afraid so.

Changing the atmosphere around us again, I take us to the home of Johnny and his father. Johnny, just returning from a meeting with Roxanne at their favorite spot on the countryside, comes to find a doctor’s notice throw in the trash, stating that his father has cancer that has spread through his body. Undoubtedly to Johnny, this has to be the result of his father’s continuous smoking habits.

“Oh, no.” Sarah sadly voices her view on the matter. “This is dreadful.”

It gets much worse than this, I’m afraid.

The setting changes again—this time we are back at the carnival that we only moments ago found ourselves in, coming to find Johnny working on his motorbike. It is a stormy and foreboding night…the perfect atmosphere for the meeting that is about to come.

“What meeting is that?” Sarah asks me.

But the deep, chilling, and emotionless voice of a man who had surprisingly entered the tent in which Johnny had been working on his bike in soon answer her question. However, it should not have come as too much as a surprise, as the air suddenly felt cold enough to freeze and see your own breath in.

“Caught your show today, Johnny Blaze.” The man says. “Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed watching you ride. Perhaps you’d ride for me one day.”

“You run a show?” Johnny asks.

“Greatest show on earth.” The man responds.

Lightning lights the area only for a moment, but it is not enough to show the face of this man who has come to visit Johnny on such an unexpected occasion. While the lightning lights up the area, Johnny does his best to make out any facial features on the man. He sees none. His presence was already disturbing enough for him, so he makes his decision on the man’s request.

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Great move, Johnny.” Sarah says. “I don’t trust whoever this stranger is.”

And she has good reason not to, for this was no ordinary stranger that has crept into Johnny’s space.

“What’s wrong? Worried about your father?” He says, much to the surprise of Johnny. “Even a blind man could see he’s sick. Thing about cancer is the time it takes the toll on the loved ones.” Lightning strikes again, and though by this time we have clearly seen what this man’s face looks like (the blank face of a sinister character with eyes that are almost as red as blood), his shadow is what comes as a startling mystery. It did not match his humanlike shape. Instead, it seems to have contradicted it with the shape of a true demon.

“My goodness.” Sarah whispers near me.

“Johnny…what if I could help your dad?” The stranger asks. “Give him back his health? Would you be willing to make a deal?”

Without even a second thought, Johnny turns to the man and says, “Name your price.”

“I’ll take…” The stranger looks around the tent for a moment, seeming as if what he was looking for had to have been nearby. But, of course, that is only half the case in this situation, especially once he slowly turns to Johnny and gazes upon him with his cold eyes. “…your soul.”

For a moment, Johnny had been taking this stranger seriously, truly believing that the life of his father could be saved. But the request is too hard for him to even comprehend, so he simply turns his back to the stranger and continues work on his motorbike, while the stranger keeps his words flowing. “By sunrise tomorrow, your father will be healthy as a horse.” He then pulls from his long, black coat a rolled-up piece of paper that was a black as his clothes were on the outside. “All you have to do is sign.”

Johnny turns and gazes at the rolled-up paper, wondering if what this stranger is telling him has some truth in it. All he can imagine at the moment is seeing his father walking around, no longer suffering from the awful coughs he has been having for some time now and able to perform his stunts without any distractions. If what this stranger is telling him turned out to be the truth, how can he live with himself to say that he had the chance to save the only person he could call “family” and did not take it?

So Johnny takes the paper from the stranger and unrolls it. The inside of the paper truly contradicts the outside. It is plain white and contains words that are in small print. And even before Johnny can make out what they say, he cuts himself from the sharp edge of the paper, drawing blood from the finger that has been cut. From it, a single drop of blood falls from the wound and lands perfectly on the signature line at the bottom of the contract.

“Oh, that’ll do just fine.”

Taking the contract from Johnny, the stranger takes one last gaze at Johnny with his red eyes and through a quick flash of lightning, he disappears.

“So…signing that contract cured Johnny’s father of his cancer, right?” Sarah inquires. “That means all is well, isn’t it?”

For the sake of Johnny Blaze, I wish it were the case.

Our setting changes again to the next day, when Barton Blaze—as healthy as he had felt in years—revved the engine of his motorbike for another leap through the ring of fire. However, once he makes the jump, things did not go as perfectly as they usually did. Barton looses control of his bike and crashes into the flames, dismantling the entire ring.

“Oh, no!” Sarah exclaims at the sight, her gasp joined by ones coming from the crowd.

Johnny immediately comes to his father’s aide, as he lays on the other ramp, his body burned and savagely battered from the crash. “Dad? Dad, it’s all right, I’m here. I’m here, it’s gonna be okay.” Barton takes one last look at his son with his weakened eyes and then closes them, his head falling limp. He then dies from the severe wounds he has suffered from.

All young Johnny Blaze could do at that point is weep over the loss of a man that he believed had been spared of an unfortunate death, only to suffer from an even greater one.

“That d**n stranger and his contract!” Sarah angrily says. “How could he have let this happen? I thought he was supposed to have cured Johnny’s father from his cancer! I thought he saved his life!”

And he had done just that…only there was a price to have come with it.

Again our setting changes to the countryside, as Johnny Blaze rides on his motorcycle through a cross section, only to have the vicious stranger appear right before his eyes and block his path. As he had done so, an image comes before Johnny’s eyes of a satanic, horned being with fangs and black eyes, its skin as dark and red as the color of blood. It is frightening enough to cause Johnny to loose control of his motorcycle and skid across the dirt road, flying off his bike and hit the ground hard. Even as he laid face down on the gravel, Johnny is amazed to discover that he isn’t injured or killed from the fierce crash.

“You’re no good to me dead.” The stranger tells him.

Johnny gets to his feet, dusts himself off, and points directly at the stranger, hatred filling his heart. “You…You killed him.”

“I couldn’t let him come between us.”

“You son of a…” Johnny swings a fist at the stranger, but he quickly discovers that he is left only swinging at the wind, as the stranger disappears in front of him, only to reappear behind him.

“One day, when I need you…I will come. Until then, I’ll be watching.” He touches Johnny’s chest, unleashing a strong wave of heated energy that courses upward through Johnny’s throat and head. The boy’s eyes begin to sizzle, gray streams of smoke flying out from his tear ducts.

“Leave him alone!” Sarah cries to the stranger, but he does not hear her, for we are only voices of the future to the two people in front of us…voices that cannot be heard or reasoned with. “This is not fair!”

“Forget about friends…forget about family…forget about love.”

With these words, images of Barton and Roxanne come to Johnny’s mind, as he winces from the demonic hold that the stranger has placed over him. It is a hold strong enough to paralyze his entire body.

“You’re mine, Johnny Blaze.”

A tap on the back of his neck releases the hold, and Johnny is left falling to his knees, while the stranger disappears once again. The sky blackens with the formation of dark gray clouds and soon rain falls before the weeping Johnny Blaze, as he realizes the anguish that he has brought before himself due to the deal he had made with the devil. It would be something that he would spend years regretting, for it had not only cost him the life of his father, but the love and time he could’ve shared with Roxanne, as he was forced to leave her behind in order to live a life for himself without friends or family.

Leaving this sad atmosphere behind, we find ourselves back in the area—back in the present—just in time to see the adult Johnny Blaze make the jump over the parked trucks to the roar of the wild crowd. His speed is well placed, making it over thirty-five trucks at ten feet in the air. But then Johnny starts to descend as he reaches past the fortieth truck. Fortunately, as he passes the last one, he reaches the ramp. However, his landing is quite morbid.

Johnny quickly looses balance, his body falling over the handle bars and his head smacking violently against the front moving wheel. The glass from his helmet shatters as his head snaps back from the horrible blow. It is quite an unnerving display to everyone in the arena.

You think?

Both Johnny’s body and his motorcycle skid across the concrete and continue on their path, until both smash against a concrete wall. It seems undoubtedly that Johnny had been killed from the accident. While help comes to his side, he lays on the ground, not moving an inch.

Ray-Ray, Juniper Lee’s younger brother, seems to have gained a weak constitution shortly after witnessing the horrendous…as he would call it…wipe-out. “Oh, man! That was sick…and I mean ‘sick’ like in a bad way!”

“Since when is ‘sick’ meant in a good way?” Juniper asks him.

Jake Long looks on, seeming just as concerned as the rest of us. His only clarification of whether Johnny Blaze is okay or not was a large screen situated near the rafters that displays an image of Johnny Blaze’s helmet being removed and revealing an unscarred, unbroken head and face. “He doesn’t look like he’s hurt.”

That much is certain as we all watch Johnny open his eyes and speak to the people crowding around him. It isn’t very long before he is helped us to his feet and starts walking away from the crash, much to the surprise and relief of the crowd.

“He’s alright?” Trixie exclaims. “How da heck is dat possible?”

“The man’s a god, Trixie.” Spud assumes. “A real god!”

“Pretty far from it, kid.” Fu Dog states. “Any human being that can survive a crash like that and live to tell the tale is a guy who has obviously sold his soul. That, my friends, is the devil’s rider.”

“Aye.” Munroe agrees. “And we are lucky to have found him before our enemies have.”

So it’s pretty obvious that Johnny Blaze is the man who we’re looking for. The one who is this rider that everyone keeps talking about. But what do we do now that we’ve found him?

We do what we can to protect him from the dark forces that are approaching now as we speak.

 

[The Count]

A grand beginning... It seems like you've found what you were searching for, a storyline you're happy with. Enjoyed witnessing the various scenes of Johnny Blaze's previous life. Keep it coming please.

 

[muppetwriter]

Thanks, Count.

The second chapter will be posted around two o'clock this afternoon (three o'clock for you Eastern folks and twelve o'clock for the Westerners).

 

[ReneeLouvier]

OH WOW. NICE CHAPTER! YAY, oh gosh I love this so much! It's neat! I can't wait to read more, MW!

 

[muppetwriter]

Thanks, Renee. Be sure to stay tuned to this thread close to midnight, 'cause you're going to love the third chapter.

 

[ReneeLouvier]

Oooh. Definately. *giggles manically* This is such a great story. Well, I'm probably going to be the only one not dressing/dressed up for Halloween. Don't really have anywhere to go!

 

[JEANYLASER]

Awesome muppetwriter! I can't wait to read more!

 

[muppetwriter]

We move our story to the outskirts of Arizona, where a bar that had been once occupied with tough-as-stone bikers is now nothing more than a graveyard for the frozen deceased bodies of those once-living occupants. This is the handiwork of Blackheart, a “son” created by Mephisto from the energy of accumulated evil. However, this fact is oblivious to the seven people that have entered the empty bar, after detecting high levels of paranormal energy from a ghost-detecting device.

These people are the other heroes of our tale: Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, and the Fenton family (Jack, Maddie, Jazz, and Danny—who is, unbeknownst to his parents but not to his sister and two friends, Sam and Tucker, also a “ghost boy” known as Danny Phantom). With these people is also Uncle Deadly, a blue, dragon-like Muppet ghost who used to work at the Muppet Theater, playing the role of Hamlet until he was killed…by the critics. The only reason wild ghost hunters like Jack and Maddie Fenton are not going after Deadly is to keep the promise they made to Death himself at a church in Arizona not to hurt or betray Deadly, Danny Phantom, or even him.

Hunting Deadly is the last thing on Jack or Maddie’s minds, as the group enters the empty bar and gazes upon the frozen bodies. Mortified by the sight, Jazz can’t hold back a comment any longer. “This is just awful! Who could’ve done this to these people?”

“A ghost.” Jack utters. “Isn’t it obvious, Jazz? Only a ghost could work his black magic on these innocent people.”

Tucker looks over at one frozen body of a biker with a heavy beard and a mean look on his frostbitten face. “At least some of them were innocent.”

“These mortals had no idea who they were dealing with. Their ignorance is what had led to their execution.” Deadly assesses.

“Well, if they knew, then maybe they would’ve stood a chance, right?” Danny assumes.

Deadly looks in Danny’s direction with a cold stare. “No one stands a chance against the son of Mephistopheles, child. It is inevitable to even try.” At this point, Danny would say that no one but him could stop Blackheart. But with his parents standing there close by, it is hard for him to say just that without giving away the secret that he, his sister, and his friends are trying so very hard to keep.

“Okay. So what do we do now?” Sam asks. “I mean, it’s obvious that they cleaned out of here before…”

She is soon interrupted at the sudden swinging and banging of the double doors leading into the bar. The noise makes them all jump in shock, which is a necessary reaction while standing in the midst of a murder scene. The chilling wind that breezes into the building doesn’t make the feeling any less uncomfortable. And to top it all off, who else but Death himself comes in to greet his old friend, Uncle Deadly, and his startled ghost-hunting companions.

“DO NOT BE TOO SCARED.” Death states. “IT IS ONLY ME.”

“Have you come to collect the souls of these unfortunate mortals?” Deadly asks him.

Death stands over one of the frozen bodies and extends one arm, placing a skeletal index finger on its chest. As soon as he moves it away, a stream of purple smoke shoots out from the body of the frozen victim and up towards the ceiling, disappearing through one of the cracks.

After witnessing the unnatural display, Tucker doesn’t hesitate to wittily say, “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.”

“BLACKHEART IS AN UNRELENTLESS FIGURE.” Death says. “HE WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO FIND THE CONTRACT OF SAN VENGANZA.”

“The contract of who?” Danny remarks with confusion.

“IT IS THE CONTRACT FOR A THOUSAND CORRUPT SOULS FROM THE TOWN OF SAN VEGANZA.”

Sam is trying her best to process this information into her mind. “You mean this whole thing is over some old ghost town?”

“YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. IF BLACKHEART GETS HIS HANDS ON THAT CONTRACT, HE WILL UNDOUBTEDLY TURN YOUR WORLD INTO A NEW H*LL!”

The intensity of Death’s voice shakes the walls of the building. Clouds of dust escape from them and fill the lungs of the people inside there, excluding Death and Uncle Deadly. After coughing out the dust in her lungs, Jazz focuses on Death and asks, “Okay. So now that we know how crucial it is to stop this Blackheart character, what do we do to stop him? I mean, it shouldn’t be that hard, should it? We have our ghost friend, Danny Phantom, to help us.” She smiles in the direction of her brother as she said that, and he gleefully returns the smile.

“YOU CANNOT DEPEND ON ONE GHOST TO ASSIST YOU ON YOUR QUEST.” Death tells her. “IF YOU HOPE TO STOP BLACKHEART, YOU WILL NEED THE RIDER.”

They all look to each other, bewildered and interested in knowing whom exactly Death is talking about. Maddie Fenton is the only one of them who is intrigued enough to ask, “Who are you talking about? What rider?”

“MEPHISTO’S RIDER.” Death replies. “THE ONE WHOM HE CONVINCED IN SELLING HIS SOUL TO YEARS AGO, IN ORDER TO SAVE THE LIFE OF A LOVED ONE, ONLY TO STILL TAKE IT AWAY THROUGH UNNECCESARY ACTION.”

“So all we must do is find Mephistopheles’ rider, and he shall assist us in stopping his son?” Deadly inquires.

“FINDING THE RIDER WILL BE TOO MUCH OF A DIFFICULT TASK FOR YOU ALL.”

Danny figures Death is only telling them that because he has forgotten his alter ego, Danny Phantom, and thinks he is just talking to a bunch of mortals and their ghostly companion. Feeling the need to remind him, he says, “But it is not a difficult task for Danny Phantom, right? I mean, one ghost to another, the two should be evenly matched, and I…I mean, Danny…Danny Phantom…should have no trouble finding him…right?”

Death looks in Danny’s direction, knowing the reason behind his comments as if he had been reading his mind as he made them. In response to them, he states, “DANNY PHANTOM IS A POWERFUL YOUNG GHOST. BUT MEPHISTO’S RIDER IS TWICE AS POWERFUL AS HE IS. YOUR BEST HOPE WOULD BE TO SAVE DANNY PHANTOM’S ABILITIES FOR YOUR ENCOUNTER WITH BLACKHEART.”

“There has to be some way we can find the rider then.” Jazz says.

“THERE IS.” Death states. “FIND THE ONE KNOWN AS ‘THE STORYTELLER’. WITH HIS MAGICAL CAPABILITIES, IT SHALL BE EASY FOR YOU TO FIND THE RIDER AND ENLIST IN HIS HELP TO KEEP BLACKHEART FROM FINDING THE CONTRACT.”

The group’s confusion grows more and more each moment Death instructs them. This is clear even as Tucker attempts to ask for further instructions. “How do we find the storyte…”

“YOU MUSTN’T WASTE MUCH TIME ASKING ME QUESTIONS!” Death exclaims. “YOU WILL FIND THE STORYTELLER, AS SOON AS YOU LEARN TO STOP AND LISTEN.”

“To what?” Sam asks.

Before Death could bother to give her a reasonable reply to her question, he disappears in pillars of black flames and white smoke, obscuring the group’s vision of everything around them. As soon as the flames and smoke vanishes, so does Death and all of the frozen bodies in the bar. Deadly, Sam, Tucker, and the Fenton family find themselves standing alone in a completely empty bar now, with no clue of how to find their new target: me…The Storyteller.

Stop and listen to me, my new friends. Learn to listen to my narration, and you will find me.


We move our story ahead a day, when Johnny Blaze prepares himself for his next stunt in his dressing room by looking himself in the mirror and repeatedly telling himself, “You can’t live in fear.” And at this opportunity, I bring the Nightstalkers and myself into the atmosphere.

“Aw, dude! Check out this room!” Spud exclaims, unknowingly triggering a surprised reaction from Johnny Blaze, as he takes notice of our presence within his dressing room. It does not help much that Trixie, Spud, and Ray-Ray are sitting as well as standing on the furniture and turning the stereo up loud.

Ray-Ray makes an odd expression as he hears the music over the stereo speakers. “What is this? The Carpenters? Man! Talk about bad taste in music!”

“Ray-Ray! Get back over here!” Juniper demands, gesturing him towards the corner of the room, where the rest of us stood.

Johnny Blaze then steps forward and addresses us all. “Hey, you all shouldn’t really be in here. This is a private area.” He proceeds to then gaze upon us strangely. “How did ya’ll get in here anyways?”

“That is of the least importance, Mr. Blaze.” I tell him. “You are in grave danger from a supernatural threat that threatens the existence of our world. The Goblin King known as Jareth has joined forces with a demon known as Blackheart to capture and use you for his wicked purposes, while Blackheart plans on creating a new h*ll out of our world. We must stop them before it is too late.”

I failed to have realized the quickness in my voice as I explained the situation to Johnny Blaze. His bewildered reaction to my explanation is an excellent confirmation of just that.

“I beg your pardon?” Johnny remarks.

Before I can try to explain myself again, the door to the dressing room opens and in comes Johnny’s manager and best friend, Mack, walks in. He is entirely oblivious to our presence in the room as he addresses Johnny. “Hey, J.B. I just ran a second check on the ramps. They look good. The crowd’s kinda out of control.”

“Don’t you see them?” Johnny asks him, while pointing in our direction.

Mack looks at Johnny puzzlingly. He follows Johnny’s gaze over the room, looking towards where Ray-Ray, Spud, and Trixie are and then where the rest of us stand. He sees nothing. “Uh…who’re you talkin’ about, J.B.?”

“These folks in my dressing room.” Johnny says. “There! Didn’t you hear the old man just now? He just said my name, while talking up towards the ceiling at something or to somebody.”

Sarah, at the moment, seems just as confused as Johnny is. “How come his friend can’t see us?”

“I have thrown a invisible shield over each of us—one that only us and Johnny Blaze can look and hear through.” I reply with a confident smile. “I do have to narrate this story without any interruptions, don’t I?”

Show off.

Meanwhile, Mack begins to show his concern for Johnny, even after he was “talking to the walls and furniture.” “Johnny, you know you don’t have to do this, don’t you? I mean…I’m worried these stunts might be affectin’ your brain. You are talkin’ to thin air right now.”

Johnny looks in each of our directions and shakes his head. “Maybe your right, Mack. But there’s a huge crowd out there, and I wouldn’t want to disappoint my fans.” He boldly states. “So…just lead me out, so we can do this.”

Mack nods in agreement. “Sure thing, J.B.”

Taking Johnny by one arm, Mack then leads him out of the dressing room, while the rest of us follow. A crowd of reporters, all like hungry animals trying to be the first to catch fresh meat, soon greets us. One particular female reporter approaches and says, “Mr. Blaze, do you have time for a quick interview?”

“I don’t know how long you been doing your job, ma’am,” Mack remarks, “But Johnny Blaze don’t do interviews.”

A voice…one familiar to Johnny…then speaks up from outside the crowd. “Not even for an old friend?” Johnny and the rest of us stop abruptly and turn our attention to a hallway leading into the stands. There, dressed in a white dress that is a gorgeous as she is, stands the form of a fully-grown Roxanne Simpson.

She is just as beautiful as Johnny last remembers seeing her, all those years ago at the carnival where he and his father performed. A large smile grows across his face, and even before he can comply her request for an interview, two men step into the scene and crowd around Johnny Blaze.

“I’m so sorry,” says the young businessman known as Damien Takashi, son of the late richest man in the United States—Eli Takashi—and founder of his own enterprise. His friend and associate, the multimillionaire named Vladimir Masters, accompanies him. “But I’m afraid Johnny will be too busy to do an interview with you, Miss Simpson. He’s scheduled to be part of a meeting with Vlad and me.”

Johnny turns puzzlingly to Mack. “I am?”

“Listen,” Mack steps in to immediately settle the matter, “I don’t know who you boys are, but Johnny has a show to perform in just a few seconds, so I suggest…”

“A few seconds is all we need to talk over some things,” Vlad says, “Most particularly over helping endorse some of the best products of our company.”

Johnny seems somewhat intrigued by this—his attention moving away from Roxanne, who continues to stand in the hallway, hoping that he will at least make some effort to speak to her again. “What’re you boys selling?” he asks Damien and Vlad.

Damien takes one puff from his cigarette before answering. “Oh, you know, the basics…video games, toys, soft drinks…”

“…Cars, motorcycles, fast food restaurants…” Vlad adds.

“Everything that’ll have our payers desperately wanting to purchase, once they see your face on the product.” Damien says. “You’re enormously famous, Johnny. Bigger than Donald Trump would ever hope to be.”

Johnny chuckles over the comment. “Well, I wouldn’t go as far as sayin’ I’m bigger than Mr. Trump. He’s a pretty big fella.”

“Our point is, Johnny, that we want you on the side of good.” Vlad states. “Good business, that is.”

Damien then reaches into his black-as-night sports coat and pulls out a rolled-up sheet of paper. “All you have to do is sign on the dotted line.”

As Johnny gazes upon the gesture, an old memory flashes back into his mind. It was the same gesture made by the stranger who he was forced to sign a dangerous contract for—the one he believed would keep his father alive, only to still have him taken out of his life. From that very day, Johnny vowed never to make any deals that involve him signing a contract. He usually leaves the contract signing to Mack, who doesn’t hesitate to step in again and take the contract from Damien’s cold hands.

“Let me have a look at that.” He says, and while he reads the contract, Johnny turns his attention back to where Roxanne is standing…or where she was standing. Realizing she has left, Johnny panics—the only opportunity he had to rekindle what they once had and he ruins it.

Without giving warning to anyone, he dashes away from the group and down the main corridor. Vlad and Damien are watching him go, and they attempt to chase after him, until Mac stops them by standing in their way, still discussing over the matter of their contract.

It isn’t very long before we hear the roar of the crowd near us. We focus our attention to the football field past the stands, where Johnny Blaze has successfully leaped across three hundred feet from field goal to field goal, while six helicopters were parked across the field. It is a stunt that his father thought of shortly before his death, and Johnny had done it in his memory.

But after making the jump, Johnny rides his motorcycle up into the stands and bounces his way up the stairs. He comes across our location, and we immediately clear a path for him to zoom his way out through the entrance to the arena. Upon Johnny’s surprise exit after the stunt, Mack drops the contract to the floor, causing it to get caught in the wheels of Johnny’s motorcycle and shred to pieces, much to the dismay of Vlad and Damien.

“Where’s he goin’ now?” Hoggle curiously asks.

Yes…where is he going?

He is going to continue where he and Roxanne had left off years ago. The romance they had shared together. It is something that has been meaning dear to him, ever since he began performing his dangerous stunts. Despite what the stranger had told him, Johnny could not forget about love. After the death of his father, Roxanne is all that he has left of his morbid past.

“So are we gonna follow after him?” Jake asks. “I mean, we’re still keeping him safe from those haters that wanna use him for the ‘New Underworld’ or whatever, right?”

No, Johnny’s safe…for now. We will give him his space, so he can work out his relationship with Roxanne. In the meantime, we will prepare ourselves for what I fear to be a fierce encounter by traveling to the home of Johnny Blaze, waiting for him to return there and again try to alert him of the danger approaching.

“Sounds like a glorious plan to me, Storyteller!” Sir Didymus comments. “The sooner we get to our destination, the better our chances shall be. Lead the way!”

Dropping the invisible shield that was held over us, I lead my Nightstalkers pass the startled group of reporters (startled, of course, by our sudden appearance before their very eyes) and out through the exit. As soon as we step outside, I summon an approaching taxicab.

“A taxicab?” Trixie exclaims, sounding more disgusted than perplexed. “Wait a minute! You’ve got all this great magical power and errthang, but you still need to take a cab over to this dude’s house?”

“My girl’s got a point, dude,” Spud remarks, “You’re cheap.”

I am not cheap. I am simply conserving my magic for when the opposing supernatural forces arrive.

So he says.

You aren’t helping here!

Well, what else would you expect for me to do? I am a dog, after all.

Do what most dogs normally do and keep quiet.

“Touchy fella, ain’t he?” Monroe compliments.

“Yeah. What’s his problem anyways?” Fu Dog asks my dog.

He’s just mad ‘cause his show only last a couple of measly seasons.

Returning back to our tale…

As soon as the taxicab pulls up in front of us, the driver of the vehicle rolls down her window and sticks her head out to marvel over the appearance of the mixture of human and mystical beings standing before her. This driver’s name is Sara Vines, but to avoid confusion of the other Sarah, we will address her as “Renee.”

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” She exclaims. “No way can I fit all of you people, especially that Chewbacca-lookin’ thing, all in my cab! What’re you all goin’ to a costume ball or somethin’?”

“Young lady…” I attempt to reason with her, but her feisty attitude makes that quite impossible.

“First off, don’t ever call me feisty! And second of all, I’m runnin’ a cab service here, not the Little Shop of Horrors! If you want to ride in a bizarre set of wheels, check with my buddy, Ryan. He’ll have the cab just for you. But, for now, step off and…”

While young Renee was addressing me, I had taken the opportunity of remodeling her taxicab. The rooftop had been raised a few feet and the sides stretched out just the same to match with the height and weight of Ludo, who was Renee’s greatest concern. Then I had added more than three sets of seats to accommodate the number of passengers for the vehicle to handle. In a matter of seconds, Renee’s taxicab became just as large as a Hummer vehicle and just as long as a limousine. And before she could completely shoo us off, she realized just this as soon as she glances at her rearview mirror.

“What the…?”

While she stares awkwardly at her upgraded vehicle, the Nightstalkers and I climb into it, not wasting any time in getting to our destination before our adversary did. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out a bag of money and hold it in front of Renee, who is almost overwhelmed by its remarkable weight as she takes it from me.

“I believe this will be enough to cover any trips that we will be taking together for the time being?” I ask her.

She looks over at me, nearly at a lost for words over the unusual change of events as she tells me, “Oh, yeah. You got it, man. Anywhere you want to go, it’s fine with me.”

“Good.” I say, sharing a smile with my Nightstalkers, as we are driven away from the arena and to our destination.

 

[The Count]

Ga! Between you and Aunt Ru I'll be more than slayed with good Halloweenish fanfic.

Couple of little things.
Though we think of Hamlet immediately because of Yorick the Skull, Uncle Deadly was actually performing the role and in the play based on Othello.
Also, is the contract of 1000 souls meant to be the Spanish equivalent of "saint vengeance"? If so, it should be "San Venganza".
Other than that, nice little zing at Agent Ryan from the Spectacular... Look forward to the third treat for today.

 

[ReneeLouvier]

OHMIGOSH

Will post tomorrow, have dinner with parents~~ EEEE DAMIEN IS AN AWESOME NAME FOR HIM~!

And the cigarette! EEEE

and I'm a cabbie!