It was vacation time from school, and Casper, Mantha, Ra, Wolfie, Flyboy and Jimmy were camping out in the woods. Unfortunately, Thatch had become extremely suspicious of Casper's so-called 'success' at being able to scare humans by this point, and had decided to spy on him. When he discovered Casper and the others camping with a fleshy, he didn't know whether to be angry or happy. Even though he felt that Casper and his friends had betrayed them all he still was looking forward to seeing them punished. So, off he flew to Alder and Dash's place to tattle. Kibosh happened to be there as well, discussing the new semester with Alder and Dash...
Meanwhile, the Ghostly Trio were enjoying themselves back home, until Stretch decided to turn on the news. Being the leader of the trio, Stretch always liked to check on the fleshies' news. Actually, ever since Casper was a baby, the three of them frequently did this, though Casper never understood why. This time, on this particular broadcast, the reason was revealed...and would lead to other secrets being revealed as well.
"...and in other news, the traveling ghoul killers, Monster Mashers, has returned to Deedstown after years of executing their work around the world..."
Stretch, pale with worry (not that you could see this), turned off the radio.
"They're back? Now?" Fatso worried.
"But Casper and his friends are outside camping!" Stinky panicked slightly.
"We've got to get them safely inside, come on!" Stretch ordered.
They quickly flew towards Casper's campsite, and got there about the same time that Thatch, Alder, Dash, and Kibosh did.
Casper and his supernatural friends, upon seeing Alder, Dash, and Kibosh, quickly stood in front of Jimmy to protect him.
"Casper! How could you all-" Dash started to scold.
"Casper, everyone, we've got to get out of here!" Stretch called as he and Stinky and Fatso arrived.
"If you don't mind we're about to punish Casper and his friends for being friendly with a fleshy." Alder frowned.
Kibosh, however, noted how worried - almost scared even - Stretch had sounded and he raised a hand towards Alder and Dash to signal them to be quiet. They looked at him bewildered, same with Thatch.
"What seems to be the problem Stretch?" Kibosh asked.
"'Seems'? 'Seems'?" Stinky repeated, a bit scared too. "Forget 'seems' this is a huge problem! A dangerous one even!"
"Stinky's right, the Monster Mashers are back!" Fatso agreed.
Kibosh and Alder and Dash both looked scared, but Thatch and Casper and his friends, except for Jimmy, frowned or raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Who are the Monster Mashers?" Flyboy asked.
"I've heard of them, those guys are rivals for Creature Catchers, my dad complains about them a lot since they cut down on his business." Jimmy explained. "Monster Mashers are like Creature Catchers except they kill supernatural creatures instead of just catching them-"
"Jimmy!" A couple voices called out; it was Jimmy's parents.
"We just heard the news on the radio, it turns out the Monster Mashers are in this very forest!" Mr. Bradley said.
"Uh-oh." Ra said nervously.
"Uh-oh is right, cause we're here!" A voice from the trees agreed.
Everyone turned towards the voice, and saw a group of humans covered in white jumpsuits and full-head masks. The only difference between each human's jumpsuit, was the color of the stripe running along each side. It was the Monster Mashers!
"Wha...you three!" A Monster Masher with red stripes said angrily, suddenly noticing the Ghostly Trio.
"Run! Now!" Jimmy ordered.
Everyone did, Jimmy and his parents running behind the supernaturals. The Monster Mashers followed, the one with red stripes - who I'm going to name Red Striped - aiming his weapon towards Casper...
"Casper look out!" Jimmy cried, suddenly knocking Casper aside!
Jimmy got hit with a bunch of goo, obviously the very stuff used to kill supernatural creatures!
"Jimmy!" Casper gasped.
"I've got him!" Mrs. Bradley said, quickly picking up Jimmy.
"Casper come on!" Mantha said, suddenly grabbing Casper by the arm and leading him away.
Fortunately, the Monster Mashers were so caught off guard by Jimmy saving Casper that they froze with shock for a few minutes. This gave the Bradleys and supernatural creatures a chance to escape, and since the Ghostly Trio's house would've been too obvious they immediately headed for Jimmy's house.
Jimmy turned out to be fine, since the goo only worked on supernatural creatures, so after changing his clothes he joined the others in the living room (which had the window curtains closed obviously).
"So that's why you three had been listening to the human news this whole time, you've been keeping an eye out for these Monster Mashers." Casper realized.
"But why did that one Monster Masher knew you?" Flyboy asked.
"Because we dealt with him fourteen to fifteen years ago." Stinky explained.
"Wha-back when I was a baby?" Casper was stunned.
"Yes, back-" Fatso stopped and turned to Stretch, not sure if he should continue.
"Back when your parents were still alive." Stretch finished, realizing that it was finally time to tell Casper.
Everyone gasped, dropping their mouths open.
"My parents?" Casper almost whispered, shocked.
The Ghostly Trio then took turns telling the story...
Fourteen to fifteen years ago...
Casper's parents had been living far away for years, but a few months after Casper was born they decided that it was time to show him to Casper's paternal uncles, the Ghostly Trio. They called ahead, and the five of them decided to meet in the woods. Unfortunately, it was the same time and place that the Monster Mashers had arrived.
When the Ghostly Trio were just a few yards away from Casper's parents, the Monster Mashers had attacked! Casper and his mom were temporarily saved by Casper's dad jumping in front of them so that Red Striped hit him instead of them. Casper's mom ran off, pushing Casper in his carriage. Since the Ghostly Trio couldn't do anything for their brother, they decided to try to save Casper and his mom. They were too late, Casper's mom had just been hit by Red Striped, but there was still a chance to save Casper. They flew up from underneath the ground, making the scariest faces they could come up with. The Monster Mashers, with Red Striped in front, ran away terrified. Casper's mom was still alive, but barely.
"Please...take care of our son." She asked the Ghostly Trio, very weak.
"Of course." Stretch nodded, miserable.
She died, and the Ghostly Trio hung their heads in mourning before flying off with Casper.
Present day...
Everyone looked very sympathetic, but Casper looked close to tears.
"All this time, I never even thought of asking." He almost sobbed.
"Why not?" Ra asked gently.
"My-my uncles had been so much like fathers to me that I never even thought about my parents." Casper explained, trying not to cry. "But, apart from my not asking, why didn't you tell me this before?"
"Your father and mother were such kind hearted wonderful ghosts, and we didn't want to risk you ending up the opposite." Stretch explained.
Casper nodded understandingly, and even smiled a little to show his uncles that he forgave them.
"He certainly didn't to the worse extent." Dash frowned. "He's still being friendly with a fleshy, of all the..."
"Hey lay off!" Jimmy snapped.
Shocked, Dash actually stopped talking. Everyone else stared at Jimmy also shocked.
"Look, I know not all human's are great - heck, most of them aren't - but that doesn't mean you should base all humans on those few bad ones!" Jimmy continued, irritated. "I for one really like supernatural creatures like you guys and I don't base you guys on just Casper or just Thatch, I know each one of you is an individual. I'm certainly not like those bad humans, or have you forgotten the time I helped save you all from that rogue leprechaun? You can repay me for that by letting me be friends with Casper and his friends." Jimmy then suddenly calmed down and looked solemn, even a little sad. "Especially considering the fact that these guys are the only friends I have." He admitted.
Alder and Dash didn't know what to say, especially since a human never spoke back to them before. Heck, for that matter no human ever spoke to them in general before. Kibosh too was stunned, but he managed to find his voice.
"Young Jimmy here makes a point, I have to admit." Kibosh said.
Everyone looked at him surprised.
"After all he did help us stop Razznik, and we did owe him one for that all this time. I say we can let Jimmy here be an exception to the 'no being friends with fleshies' rule as repayment." Kibosh decided.
Nobody spoke, though even Alder and Dash seemed to silently agree. Thatch was the only one who didn't show any emotion.
"So, you really like supernatural creatures like us?" Thatch suddenly spoke up.
"You kidding? I'm a huge fan." Jimmy smiled. "I mean you guys can do cool stuff, flying and such. I even always wanted to be a supernatural creature."
"Really?" Thatch was very surprised.
"Really really." Jimmy grinned. "I mean you guys are great - when you're not being mean or trying to take over the world." He winked.
Almost everyone chuckled, it was obvious that he hadn't forgotten Alder and Dash's attempt to take over Kibosh's rule even though it happened years ago.
"You've forgiven us for that?" Now Alder spoke up.
"Hey, no one's perfect." Jimmy shrugged.
"You know, you're not too bad - for a fleshy." Thatch smirked.
"And you're not too bad for a jerk." Jimmy smirked back.
Thatch drew back a little, flustered. Mantha, Ra, Wolfie, and Flyboy chuckled. Casper only half-smirked, even though he was never fond of Thatch's attitude he was too friendly to chuckle at Thatch's expense.
Mr. Bradley suddenly started speaking...which startled everyone since they forgot that he and Mrs. Bradley were there.
"We overheard everything and, well..." Here Mr. Bradley paused for a second. "I now realize that Jimmy was right to like supernatural creatures, and that you guys aren't so bad after all. I'm quitting as a Creature Catcher and going into a new line of business."
Jimmy suddenly leapt at Mr. Bradley's chest and hugged him.
"Thanks dad." Jimmy said.
"Your welcome." Was all that Mr. Bradley said.
This ended up leaving a hollow feeling inside Casper, for he realized that he'll never know the feeling of hugging a parent. Mantha caught his sad look and comfortingly placed a hand on his shoulder; luckily, she outgrew her problem of her arm constantly falling off. Casper smiled back at her, silently thanking her.
