There's No Place Like Hotel Transylvania:

Let's Go Check Out A Spooky Forest!

Hook and Emma walked with Jonathan down the road until they could finally see a small town. From Hook's perspective, it seemed no different than Storybrooke with all the cars, modern lampposts, and weird communicating rocks called 'cellphones'. The town only looked different because the flat, well-sculpted stones used to hold the houses together and the roof tiles seemed old-fashioned, much like houses he had seen during his pirate travels in the Enchanted Forest.

"So…uh…Johnny, what brought you to Transylvania?" Emma asked their new companion.

"Oh, you know. Whatever attracts everyone," Johnny shrugged. "Spooky places, old castles, and cool legends. I just visited the Lubov Castle two days ago. It was awesome!"

"You seem rather young to be travelling."

"Dude, I'm just 21."

Emma's eyes widened. "Twenty-one? But… aren't you supposed to be in college?"

Johnny clung to his enormous backpack. "Well, you know what it's like. You got to live it up and see what's out there. I mean, would you rather stay cooped up at home or go explore the world?"

"I'm with you, mate," Hook smiled, causing Emma to give him a what-are-you-doing glare, which he ignored. "I have done some sailing around the world."

"Whoa! You're an explorer too!" Johnny exclaimed. "Awesome! Looks like we'll have a lot of stories to share once we get a bit somewhere."

They arrived at a small sports store in the small store. The trio walked inside and Johnny helped them pick out supplies that they'd need: backpacks, canteens, spare shirts and trousers, sleeping bags, camping supplies, medical supplies, etc. While Johnny was at the cash register paying for the supplies, Emma pulled Hook to a corner.

"What do you think you're doing?" Emma scolded. "You can't tell him that you are a hundred your old pirate!"

"Well, Swan, unless you have a better solution for us getting back to our timeline, which is a year from this timeline, than play along!" He paused a bit. "Didn't you say this…Transylvania is a realm of vampires?"

"Well, yeah. Of monsters, witches, and whatnot," Emma said. "But their mostly myths that come from folklore stories and monster books that just make this place attracting more tourists daily. Why?"

"Think about it, Swan," Hook said in a serious tone. "A magical time portal transported us to a realm that is said to inhabit monsters. And where there are monsters, there's usually some sort of magic. Don't you think there might be a flat chance that we find something that could take us back to Storybrooke?"

Emma wanted to say something, but stopped herself. Hook made a good point: the time traveling portal that Zelena created was supposed to take her to a land with magic in order to complete her revenge. Zelena was unable to use the portal herself, and yet, when Emma and Hook were sucked into it, they went a year back in Romania, Europe, specifically in Transylvania, where monster legends were popular. That couldn't be a mere coincidence.

"You're right," she sighed. "So what should we do?"

"We stick with Johnny," Hook concluded. "Since he's traveling throughout Transylvania, we might be able to find clues on how to reopen the time portal."

"Hey, you guys alright?" Johnny asked, carrying the supplies in each hand before handing them to the duo.

"Yeah, we were…just talking about our honeymoon," Emma lied. It was now Hook's turn to glance at the woman who kept rejecting his advances, but he knew he had to play along.

"Of course! Our honeymoon! Yes, that's why we came to Transylvania! We were hoping to see if it would be a nice place to go after our wedding!" He put his hand on Emma's back, pretending that they were a couple, much to his chagrin.

"That sounds awesome!" Johnny said. "Who knows, maybe we'll find a cool place for you guys to honeymoon!"

Around 3pm

They stayed at a small inn for a late lunch, which satisfied the time travelers, who were hungry. As they waited for their ordered food to come, Johnny was telling stories and showed interesting souvenirs and photos of the places he had visited.

"Wow, Johnny, you've been to Hagia Sophia?" Emma said, her voice full of interest as Johnny showed her and Hook a picture of him, in his current attire and enormous backpack, in front of the steps that led to the enormous cathedral mosque of Istanbul.

"Yeah, it was totally worth the visit!" Johnny nodded.

"It seems like it was very crowded," Hook pointed out.

"It was, dude. The place was crowded due to the summer season. You know, people love going near the sea when it's summertime, but I just rolled with it."

"I definetly agree with you, mate. Rolling with it is a good way to handle things." Hook gave a teasing look at Emma, who didn't budge.

"You know, your pirate imitation is pretty cool," Johnny commented. "Did you work at some attraction or was it when you were sailing around the world?"

Hook was hesitant at first, but he managed to come up with a lie. "Aye, it was during my travels. It cheers up the mood swings when you're sailing. And since I've done it for like years, I've become quite fluent in it."

"Awesome!" Johnny said.

Emma and Hook were rather amazed at how this world-travelling young man in his early twenties could be so laid-back. Hook kind of liked him due to having a sense of adventure himself. Emma, of course, internally couldn't believe that he'd given up the opportunity to settle down, go to college, and get a job, just so that he could see the world. As an orphan, outcast, and dejected person, she never believed in the realistic possibility of doing such a thing.

The owner of the inn, a large bearded man with a baldhead, came to their table and brought them their meals.

"There you go," he said in a thick Romanian accent. "One lentil soup for the lady, a tuna sandwich for the gentleman –interesting hook, by the way-, and a grilled cheese sandwich for their young friend." He placed the dishes in front of the trio, who thanked them. As they ate, the owner asked them what Transylvanian mystery attracted these Americans.

"Oh, well I'm helping these guys figure out a place for their honeymoon," Johnny said, speaking with his mouth full and pointing at the 'couple'. "We're gonna go hike to the Carpathian Mountains to check it out. I've heard that they have nice chalets and awesome ski resort there."

"That's right," Emma gave a fake smile, pretending to be the loving fiancée who held Hook by the hand.

"How sweet," the owner said.

"We're gonna take the Strigoi Trail in order to get there," Johnny added. "It's the quickest way."

The owner's face suddenly filled with horror. "The Strigoi Trail?! No! Don't take it!"

"Why not?" Hook frowned.

The owner trembled and began crying as he fell on a chair. A large woman, his wife, most likely, came to comfort him. "What my husband means is that the Strigoi Trail ends at the entrance of Padurea Intunecata," she said quietly.

"The what now?" Emma asked.

"It means 'Dark Forest' in our language," the woman explained. "Legends say that it is a spooky, haunted forest where nobody comes out…alive."

"IT'S TRUE!" the owner sobbed. "MY GRANDFATHER TOLD ME THAT MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER WENT INSIDE THAT FOREST AND WAS NEVER SEEN AGAIN!"

"Now, now, Abraham," the woman said.

"Uh, excuse us for a second," Hook said, pulling Emma with him. "Honey, we need to talk about the wedding dress you're going to wear." He pulled her near the restrooms.

"Swan, do you know what I'm thinking?" he said.

"Hook, don't tell me that you want to go inside a forest that locals think is haunted," Emma groaned in disbelief.

"I do. Remember what I said: a magical time traveling portal brought us to a land that is said to inhabit monsters, thus magic. And where there is a haunted, dark forest where no one comes back alive…"

"…there's monsters, which means we might find magic that might bring us back home," Emma finished. "Since when did you become a genius?"

"When I hit myself on the head with a field of Romanian grass," Hook joked as they went to join Johnny.

Time skip

The sun had already set by 8pm. The trio had decided to hike all the way through the Strigoi Trail, thanks to Johnny's insistence. The view was rather nice: large fields, small houses, farms, and churches. Hook found a nice field flower and smelled it, its loving scent filling his sorrow-filled heart.

They had reached the end of the trail after about 3 hours of walking. The trail was long enough for the travelers to no longer see any sign of civilization when they reached the end. The dark sky was now illuminated by only the full moon and a few stars. When the trio saw the entrance to the Dark Forest, they stopped. Unlike the welcoming, grassy fields full of flowers, houses, and sheep that were seen in the countryside, the Dark Forest was full of dark, bare trees with twisted branches and no leaves. The earth was dry with barely a single bit of grass. Thorn and dry leaf bushes populated the forest like an army of demons; the mist shrouded the pathway that led within the forest.

"This is the Dark Forest?" Emma asked.

"Now I understand why the inn owner was so scared," Hook remarked. "I myself would have run away screaming like a three-year-old girl if I went in there."

"C'mon, you guys!" Johnny urged. "Who would be dumb enough to go inside a spooky forest like this one. Let's go!"

The time travelers watched as Jonathan entered the forest as if he were just having a pleasant hike when they met him.

"He's crazy," Emma said, "but we have no choice. Let's go." She followed Johnny.

Hook gripped tightly on his backpack and grumbled: "Seriously, I'm really gonna have to stop chasing that woman."

He went after them into the Dark Forest, leaving a cloud of mist behind them.