Multi and Coiley watched as Beauregarde began nailing the coffin shut. They didn't know exactly how they were going to stop him. Being a ghost, Beauregarde wasn't going go be easy to just sock in the jaw or something like that. While Multi and Coiley stood there, wondering what they were going to do, Impossi-Pup suddenly revved up, and took off, slamming into the ghost. Of course, she went right through Beauregarde, but he did notice it!
"Why you little pipsqueak!" he yelled. "Wait'll ah get mah hands on you!"
Impossi-Pup barked at Beauregarde, as if to say "you can't catch me!" and took off running, while Beauregarde ran after her, right out of the room.
"Now's your chance!" Dixie Belle shouted. "Hurry, before Beauregarde comes back!"
Multi and Coiley ran for the coffin, and managed to pry the lid off it. They untied Fluey and pulled him to his feet, both trying to steady him, but it wasn't easy. Fluey's head was slumped onto his chest, and he was as limp as a dishrag.
"Come on, Fluey, wake up!" Multi shouted, smacking his dark-haired teammate in the face a little.
"Up at at 'em, Fluey!" Coiley shouted, shaking Fluey's shoulder. But it was no use. Fluey was out like a light. That sedative Beauregarde injected into him was some strong stuff. Dixie Belle ran over, took Fluey's chin in her hand, tilted his head up, and lifted one of his eyelids. His eye was glassy looking, and the pupil was dilated.
"You'd bettuh get him out of heah and to a hospital," Dixie Belle said. "You have to get him to a doctuh quick! That sedative he used on your friend is the same one he used on me."
"What do you mean?" Coiley asked.
"When Butluh and ah stayed with Beauregarde, Butluh disappeared, and ah fell ill, but no one could find the cause. Ah didn't realize ah was bein' drugged by Beauregarde, and he's drugged your friend with the same potion. Only he's reactin' to it fah than ah did. He needs medical help right away!"
"Say no more," Multi said. Then he pulled a whistle out of his pocket and blew. Within half a second, Impossi-Pup returned, and with the sound of squealing tires, skidded to a halt.
"Let's go!" Coiley shouted, grabbing Fluey's legs. Multi wrapped his arms around Fluey's chest, and he and Coiley lifted him off the ground, and started carrying him out of that old mansion. But before they could get far, a hatchet came hurtling at them, missing them by a fraction of an inch. The hatchet did hit Dixie Belle, but since she was a ghost, all it did was go right through her, and hit the wall.
"Goin' somewhere?" Beauregarde asked, coming over.
"Leaping long plays!" Multi shouted.
"Nobody ain't goin' no place 'till that Dawson kid is dead and gone!" Beauregarde shouted. "And I'll have to take care of you two meddluhs as well!"
"Beauregarde, you leave these boys alone!" Dixie Belle shouted. "Haven't you muhduhed enough people through the yeahs?!"
"All Dawsons deserve to die!" Beauregarde shouted. "And he obviously has to be a filthy, no good, dirty Yankee dog Dawson! Ah know a filthy, no good, dirty Yankee dog Dawson when ah see one!"
"You must be losing your touch," Coiley said. "This is not a Dawson!"
"What do y'all mean he ain't a Dawson?" Beauregarde asked. "He's clearly a Dawson! He's the spittin' image of Bennington Butluh Dawson!"
"But he isn't," Coiley continued. "His last name's McAlister. Not Dawson."
That happened to be true. Even though Fluey had found the identity of his birth parents, he decided to keep the name he grew up with, considering it was what he was used to. Multi wasn't sure where Coiley was going with this at first, and then it hit him. Coiley was trying to confuse General Beauregarde to buy them some time so they could escape and get Fluey to a doctor.
"Don't try to be foolin' me, boys," Beauregarde said. "Ah can smell a Dawson a mile off!"
"Yeah, but are you sure?" Coiley asked.
Beauregarde just stood there. He stared at the three Impossibles, and began to have second thoughts on this. He was beginning to think Coiley did have a point.
"You may have a point," he said, thinking it over. "Maybe ah should think this ovuh."
Beauregarde turned his back on the group, and whirled around right away, holding a huge dagger, ready to stab all three Impossibles with it.
"Ah thought about it!" he shouted. "Dawson or not, ah'm still gonna do him in! And the two of you as well!"
Impossi-Pup growled at the ghost, revved up, and charged. Of course, she went right through him, and she knew she would. She wanted to draw Beauregarde's attention away from her boys. She figured if she could get the ghost to chase her, it would give the boys a chance to get to the Impossi-Jet. She could always catch up to them later. But her plan didn't go as she expected. When she darted through Beauregarde, she ended up running into the room where Dixie Belle's corpse remained. Like Fluey had earlier, she knocked the coffin over. But when Skittles knocked the coffin over, she also accidentally knocked over several of the candles, and the old wooden floor caught on fire.
"Crashin' candlelight!" Coiley shouted.
"We'd better get out of here before this place becomes a blazing inferno!" Multi shouted.
"Follow me!" Dixie Belle shouted, and she led Multi, Coiley, and Impossi-Pup down a hallway. Beauregarde watched them.
"They won't get away that easy!" he shouted, and he dematerialized.
Dixie Belle managed to lead Impossi-Pup and the boys out of the plantation house safely, but they still had to get to the Impossi-Jet. As they were about to head for it, Beauregarde reappeared with several burning planks from the plantation house. He cackled madly and began throwing them at our heroes.
"Run, boys, run!" Dixie Belle shouted. She knew she wouldn't be hurt by the planks, but the boys sure would!
Multi and Coiley increased their grip on their unconscious comrade, and beat a hasty retreat toward the center of the park and the statue of Dixie Belle. That's where the Impossi-Jet was parked. But it wasn't an easy task. Beauregarde was right behind them, throwing pieces of the burning plantation house at them. The boys and Impossi-Pup managed to dodge the flaming wood pieces flying at them, but the planks only ended up setting the rest of the park on fire.
"There's the Impossi-Jet dead ahead!" Coiley shouted.
"Did you have to use the word 'dead,' Coiley?" Multi groaned.
"Sorry."
Before the boys could reach their jet, a gigantic flame blocked them off. The boys tried backing up, but there wasn't anywhere to go without running into a large flame.
"Oh boy, talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire!" Coiley shouted.
"How do we get out of this?!" Multi shouted.
"Y'all don't!" Beauregarde shouted, evilly. Then he began cackling madly.
A loud crack was heard then, and the plantation house fell to the ground in ruins. Once it did, Beauregarde began flickering.
"What in tarnation?!" Beauregarde shouted.
"Hey, what's happening to General Beauregarde?" Multi asked.
"Reminds me of the bad TV reception at my sister's apartment," Coiley commented.
"No, wait! Don't you remember what Dixie Belle told us?"
"Oh yeah, nothing can stop General Beauregarde unless the park is destroyed! And this ought to do it!"
The boys and Impossi-Pup managed to find a clear path leading to the other side of the Impossi-Jet. They climbed in, started it up, and took to the air as fast as they could.
"Goodbye, boys!" Dixie Belle called, as she, too, began to flicker. "And good luck!"
The boys hovered for a bit, watching the fire destroy the entire park, and a little bit of the brush around it. Miraculously, it wasn't spreading. Sirens suddenly filled the air, and several police cars and fire engines rolled onto the scene, as well as a couple of TV news trucks. Immediately, the fire fighters got right down to work putting out the fire and getting it under control before it could spread to Peach Pit. Seeing the flashing lights and hearing the blaring sirens reminded Coiley about Fluey suddenly.
"What are we hanging around for?!" he shouted.
"Right, we'd better get Fluey to the nearest hospital ASAP!" Multi shouted.
Coiley started the Impossi-Jet, and used the onboard tracking system to direct them to the nearest hospital, the Ginger Peechi Memorial Hospital in Peach Pit (somehow, Multi and Coiley weren't surprised at the name). They only hoped the doctors there would be friendlier than the motel clerk and waitress at the diner.
Luckily for them, the hospital staff didn't ask questions when the boys went in and explained that they got caught up in the fire at Dixie Land, and that Fluey (using his real name) had been drugged (only they didn't tell the doctors just who drugged him), and needed immediate medical attention. While Fluey was being taken to an examining room, Multi and Coiley were looked over, and treated for mild smoke inhalation. They were able to wait in the waiting room, though, since the smoke inhalation wasn't as bad as it could have been.
"I wonder how long this is going to take?" Coiley asked.
"I don't know," Multi shrugged. "I don't even know what kind of drug that ghost gave to Fluey. All I know is that it was injected with a needle."
About an hour later, the doctor who was treating Fluey came into the waiting room. Multi and Coiley immediately stood up.
"You boys will be glad to know your friend will be fine," the doctor said. "It's a good thing you brought him in when you did. Any latuh, and he would've been a gonuh!"
"That's good to know," Coiley said. "I guess."
"He's awake now," the doctor said. "You can go see him if you want, but keep it short. Ah want to keep him ovuhnight for obsuhvation."
Coiley and Multi nodded, and followed the doctor down the hall and into a room. Fluey was laying in bed, with an IV tube in his arm, a tube of sorts in his nose, and a bandage wrapped around his head. He had been watching the TV when the doctor came in with Coiley and Multi.
"Hi, Franky," the doctor said. "Up for some visituhs?"
"Yeah," Fluey said, and Coiley and Multi walked in. The doctor left to check on his other patients.
"How are you feeling, Fluey?" Multi asked.
"Completely drained," Fluey replied. "Not to mention sick to my stomach."
"I can imagine," Multi said.
"Lucky for us the Alabama gig isn't for a couple of days," Coiley replied.
"That reminds me," Fluey said. "I just saw the news, and they said the old Dixie Land park went up in a blazing inferno. What the heck happened?"
"Skittles," Multi said. "She was trying to draw Beauregarde's attention away from us, and she ended up knocking over a couple of candles which caused the plantation house to catch on fire, and the rest of it went up in smoke when Beauregarde started tossing flaming planks at us."
"What's left of the place, anyway, Fluey?" Coiley asked. "We didn't hang around to find out."
"Yeah, did they manage to put it out?" Multi asked.
"Yeah, but it wasn't a pretty sight," Fluey said. "The reporter said by the time it was all over, there was nothing left, except for the charred remains of all the structures in that park. Nothing was salvageable they said."
Coiley and Multi nodded, but didn't say anything. At that moment, a police officer came into the room, carrying an envelope in his hand.
"Pardon me, boys," he said. "But ah'm lookin' for a Franky McAlistuh-Dawson."
"That's me," Fluey said. "Well, it's me if you drop the Dawson, anyway."
"Ah just came from Dixie Land," the officer said, handing the envelope to Fluey. "Or what's left of it, anyway, which ain't much. We found this old diary while searchin' the park. It was the only thing that fire didn't touch. Anyway, we found that lettuh in there as well."
"Thanks," Fluey said, and the officer left. Fluey then handed the letter to Multi.
"You guys open it and read it," he said. "I'm still feeling kinda dizzy from that ordeal."
"Sure," Multi said, and he opened the letter. "Dear Franky, I would have addressed this to your friends, but I didn't know their real names, as they had mentioned yours when I was with them. You may not be aware of what had happened, because that horrible Beauregarde B. Beauregarde had rendered you unconscious with a powerful knock out drug (he called it a sedative, but it wasn't). Thanks to you, the records of Beauregarde can be fixed, now that you had found my diary. I made sure it would survive the fire. And thanks to your friends finally destroying the old amusement park, my spirit, along with the spirits of all of Beauregarde's unfortunate victims, are free, and that horrible man will never harm you, or anyone else, ever again. Tell your friends I shall never forget what they have done for me. Sincerest regards, Dixie Belle Dawson, your great-great-great grandmother."
"Wow," Fluey said. "That was some adventure, huh, fellas?"
"You said it," Coiley replied. "Well, we'd better go, Fluey. The doctor told us to keep the visit short."
Fluey nodded, and closed his eyes to get some sleep. He was completely wiped out. Coiley and Multi were a little tired as well, but they still had things to do before they crashed for the night. Coiley got on his guitar and called Big D to tell him they had a slight medical emergency, but it had been taken care of.
"Fluey should be okay by tomorrow," he said. "And Multi and I just have minor smoke inhalation. It's nothing serious."
"As long as you're sure," Big D said.
"Positive, chief," Coiley replied. "Over and out."
"How come you didn't tell him about Dixie Belle and the park, Coiley?" Multi asked. "I think Big D has a right to know about that."
"That may be true, Multi," Coiley said. "But really, Big D would never believe it."
Multi thought about that one, and agreed. He knew the chief was used to dealing with the strange criminals the Impossibles have faced, but he definitely wouldn't believe anything about a haunted amusement park. Once Coiley signed off, he, Multi, and Skittles went to the Peach Pit Inn for a well deserved good night's sleep.
The End