Back in G.O.O.D HQ, Starlight was overcoming her past failure and trying her friendship lesson anew with a different person.

"I think it's nice that you're trying to make friends with someone whose different from you," Freakazoid told her "of course I'll be your friend."

"Thanks," Starlight said "to be fair, there's really no one here that I have so little in common with as you."

"A thank you," Freakazoid replied in a weird voice "so, what do you want to do? Look at cat videos on the internet? I hear they have one where a cat flies a drone. That's gotta be against FAA regulations, but it sounds so darn cute!"

"Um, no thanks."

"Ooh, wanna criticize Game of Thrones?" Freakazoid asked excitedly "like, why is Hodor so tall? What's up with that?"

"I don't think…"

"I know, we can make balloon animals!" he said, pulling out several balloons, and, after some trying, managed to put them together "it's a doggie," he commented "his name is Rex. Good boy Rex, good boy...no boy, not on the carpet! Bad dog, we don't do that in the house!

"I'm beginning to think this was a huge mistake," Starlight said "I don't want to fail my assignment, but I'm not sure this is going to work out."

"Oh come on Starlight, give it a chance," Freakazoid told her "I'm sure we can figure out something. After all, I'm good friends with your pal Pinkie, and if I can find common ground with one talking pony, I'm sure I can with another. Wow, there's something I never thought I'd ever say; along with 'I'd like to thank everyone for this Emmy.'

"You do kind of remind me of Pinkie," Starlight said "I guess we can try again."

"That's the spirit," Freakazoid told her "after all, when the going gets tough, we give up and blame it on foreigners; that's the American way!"

Starlight giggled "I'll admit one thing, you sure are funny. Even if I don't always understand what you're saying."

"Thank you, and I promise that I'll stay here with you all day. It'll be just you and I, no distractions of any kind."

Naturally, that was the cue for Cosgrove to somehow arrive.

"Hey Freakazoid, you wanna go see the LEGO Batman Movie?"

"Do I?!" Freakazoid yelled and jumped into the car "hurry, we gotta get there in enough time for me to buy snacks. I can't enjoy a movie without Sno Caps."

"I never liked those, I'm more of a Jujubes guy," Cosgrove said, as the car drove off.

"Okay, strike two friendship wise," Starlight said "maybe I'll go see if Twilight needs my help on any spells. At least that I can do," she added, sighing as she walked off.

Meanwhile, back at D.O.O.M headquarters, Lydia was being subjected to the most devious, evil torture known to man; listening to Larry talk

"So the other day, I accidentally gave the boss cheese, which he can't have, and he swelled up like a balloon," Larry droned on "so he throws me in the shark tank. He's always throwing me in there; I've started carrying a snorkel around with me just in case. I mean, I'm his brother in-law and he shows me no respect. Even though I can be a good villain; in fact, once I…"

"Please, no more! I can't take it!" Lydia shouted "this is inhuman!"

"Oh, like you're so fun to listen to?" an angry Larry replied.

"Shut up Larry, or you're going in the shark tank," Snaptrap told him "so, are you ready to tell us how to summon your friend?"

Sure am ratboy Lydia thought because when I do, I'll be in the Neitherworld and your plans are finished.

"All right, I'll show you," Lydia said wearily, although secretly, she was smiling knowing that she would soon escape. "Though I know I should be wary, still I venture someplace scary; ghostly hauntings I turn loose, Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Bee…mmph!"

Lydia didn't have time to finish the chant before Ollie stuffed a wad of cloth in her mouth. Before she could spit it out, Francisco smoothed a strip of duct tape over it. Then, Ollie tied a cloth over that, effectively muffling her.

"Thank you for providing us with the info we needed," Khyber told her "I do hope you weren't planning to summon your friend so he could free you. You see, we have need of your company for a while longer, I'm afraid."

Lydia said something to the evil hunter, but it was heavily muffled due to the triple gag she had on.

"Now we need to contact our dear Mr. Juice and explain to him our little proposition," Khyber said.

"Ooh, and I know just how to do it, too," Snaptrap said " it's guaranteed to work."

"That would be a first for you," Khyber told him "but hurry, we need to get this done."

Some time later, in the strange land known as the Neitherworld, the ghost known as Beetlejuice was sitting on the couch in the Roadhouse watching TV.

"We now return to 'Wheel of Misfortune,'" the announcer blared "and here's your host, Pat Slayjak."

"Ahh, one of my all time favorite game shows," Beetlejuice commented "I especially love watching Vanna Fright turn the letters around; she's one puzzle I wouldn't mind solving, know what I mean?"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"It never fails, someone always bothers you when you're trying to watch TV," BJ said, and floated over to open the door. Behind it was his skeleton neighbor, Jacques La Lean.

"Beetlejuice, I have not been able to find my mail," Jacques told him "you did not steal it, did vous?"

"Jacques, you wound me," Beetlejuice said, with a posh accent "how could you accuse me, your dear friend, of stealing your mail?"

"Because, it is zee kind of dirty & underhanded thing you would do."

"That's true," Beetlejuice said proudly "but I didn't do it. Why don't you contact the ghost office and see if they know what happened."

"Ah oui, I shall do zat," Jacques said "perhaps it was a simple misunderstanding."

"Yeah sure, whatever," Beetlejuice said, before shutting the door, "can you believe that guy, accusing me of stealing his mail? Well, time to look through his mail I stole."

"Okay, let's see what we got here," BJ said, as he flipped through the different envelopes, one of which shocked him "electric bill," he said weakly, before grabbing one that rang "phone bill," he commented, before grabbing a duck's beak "duck bill."

Beetlejuice then opened another letter, as a large pile of garbage fell out of it. "Junk mail, my personal favorite," he added then opened one envelope and dumped the contents on the floor.

It was a broom and some tent pegs; "ah, must be a 'sweep stakes' entry," he said.

"Well that was hardly worth it, old bone brain didn't have anything good worth taking," Beetlejuice complained "I mean, I was at least expecting a scare package from his mother or something. Oh 'well'," he said, turning into a portable well.

He transformed back and sat down to the watch his show. "Hmm, I haven't heard from Lyds all day," he mused "maybe it's time for me to pop over and see how she's doing," he added, turning into a large balloon, with an arm coming out and popping him.

After he reformed himself, there was another knock at the door.

"Not this again," he said, throwing the door open, "look bone bag, I don't care what the ghost office said, I didn't…" he was cut off after realizing it wasn't Jacques outside the door.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Monitor, my least favorite Neitherworld TV executive," he said "what brings you here?"

"I have a great new series coming up, and I want you to star in it."

"Forget it, I'm not interested; uh, what does it pay?"

"Nothing."

"Then I'm really not interested," Beetlejuice replied "now scram!"

"Oh, I think you'll change your tune, Beetlejuice, once you see this," Mr. Monitor told him, and pulled a photo of his suit and handed it to him.

Beetlejuice looked at the photo, which featured Lydia, her hands free, but her arms still bound to a chair, holding a newspaper; a blindfold was tied over her eyes as well.

"Hey, it's Lyds," BJ commented "but what's with the blindfold? Is she playing pin the tail on the fire breathing dragon?"

"No, look at the date on the newspaper," Mr. Monitor ordered.

"Why? Nobody reads newspapers anymore; those things are deader than I am."

"I suspected the photo wouldn't be enough; fortunately, I have a little, visual aid," Mr. Monitor told him "watch the screens," he added, before his four screens changed into the form of Lydia, still blindfolded & holding a newspaper.

"Hey babes, when did you get your own show?" Beetlejuice asked, unaware that she couldn't hear him.

"Beetlejuice, if you are watching this, I have been kidnapped," Lydia said, in an emotionless voice "I have not been harmed, and I will be released if you agree to their demands."

"Hey, how about a little more emotion?" Snaptrap asked from offscreen.

"I'm sorry, it's hard for me to be excited about being kidnapped and used to blackmail my best friend!" Lydia yelled in response.

"That's it, channel that passion," Snaptrap told her.

"Don't help them BJ, whatever they want, don't do it!" Lydia pleaded.

"Hey, no going off script!" Snaptrap yelled, before the video feed cut out.

"Lydia!" Beetlejuice yelled, before jumping on Mr. Monitor and grabbing him by the lapels, "okay Monitor, you tell me where Lyds is right now, or I'll rewire you until the only thing you'll be able to broadcast is public access!"

"Hold on there Beetlejuice; you hurt me, and my associates will see to it that you never see Lydia again," Mr. Monitor told him.

Angry, Beetlejuice released his hold on the lapels "okay, what do you want me to do?"

"You're going to cause some problems for a group of heroes," Mr. Monitor told him "one of my associates will contact you later with the details."

"You mean you want me to prank a bunch of guys? Why didn't ya just ask, I would've done it for free. Well, not for free exactly, but you know what I mean."

"True, but we needed to make sure we had a little 'extra leverage' to insure you cooperated," Mr. Monitor told him.

"Well if it's leverage you want, why didn't you say so?" BJ asked, and turned into a large crowbar "you need to enjoy a 'causal fling,'" he said, and, lifting himself under Mr. Monitor, sent him flying out the door.

"I'm such a stinker," Beetlejuice commented, as he morphed into a skunk.

In the next chapter, Beetlejuice begins juicing the L.O.V.E members, forcing them to recruit someone who can go pun for pun with the wily ghost. Also, Lydia makes an attempt to escape.