A Ghost Story
A few years ago, at Camp Mugwomb, Jake Long and Brad Morton were racing for the Mugwomb Cup. Despite his twisted ankle, which the camp supervisor didn't consider a reason to excuse Jake from the competition, Jake was leading the race until he trips near the end.
As Jake and his friends are going back to that camp, memories from that race haunt Jake in his dreams.
"Jake, what's up?" Rose asks.
"What?" Jake asks.
"You were having some sort of nightmare." Rose replies.
"Ha. That loser probably dreamed about the many times the Bradster humiliated him at the camp." Brad comments.
"Shut up, Brad." Rose, Lily, Margareth and Trixie yell together, shocking one another.
"Margareth, what exactly do you have against my sister?" Lily asks, not only out of curiosity but also to change the subject.
"It's nothing personal, Lily." Margareth answers. "I simply can't help but hate the Huntsclan."
The kids leave the bus and Jake spots the Mugwomb Cup. "The Mugwonb Cup."
"Did you say something, Jake?" Rose asks.
"This is the Mugwomb Cup, Rose." Jake explains. "Every year, the cabins compete for it in a series of events."
"And that loser never won it because the Bradster is the bester." Brad interrupts.
"'Beaster' would be a better word to describe him." Rose whispers to Jake.
They enter in the big cabin, where the same supervisor from Jake's flashback makes all necessary introductions and places the cabin chiefs. Jake notices something odd about his fellow cabin chief.
"Spud, where's your baggage?" Jake asks.
"Oh, I didn't bring any, bro." Spud replies.
"Spud, are you gonna wear the same clothes for two whole weeks?" Jake asks, shocked.
"Ewww." Spud replies. "No, I'll wear the contents of this box." He says as he shows the Lost and Found Box.
"Spud, you have no idea of what's inside this box." Jake warns him.
"That's the surprise." Spud happily replies.
They head to their cabin when they see Trixie and Lily. "Hi, girls." Jake says.
"Hey, why is Spud with the Lost and Found Box?" Lily asks.
"He plans to wear whatever is kept inside it for the two weeks we're gonna spend here." Jake explains.
"When I think nothing else about that guy would surprise me." Trixie comments.
"You girls are nurses. Congratulations." Spud comments.
"Way to go, Dr. Trixie Carter." Jake adds.
"Thanks, Jakey." Trixie replies. "Too bad you didn't get Rose as your fellow cabin chief as you hoped."
"Well, at least she didn't get Brad." Jake comments.
Meanwhile, Rose and Margareth are heading towards their cabin.
"I'll keep an eye on you, Slayer." Margareth warns. "So don't even try to teach those kids any Huntsclan ideas."
"Don't worry." Rose replies, annoyed at Margareth's mistrust and the fact the dragon girl is upset that Nigel couldn't come with her because of his wizard training.
Meanwhile, Jake and Spud enter a cabin full of strong and athletic kids. Brad then enters too.
"How do you like the kids from my cabin, Jerk Long?" Brad asks.
"Brad, I know you've been held back twice but even you should know the difference between a six and a nine." Jake replies.
Spud then shows that this is actually Brad's cabin with its number turned upside down. When they go to their actual cabin, they find some kids who are far away from being camp material.
At night, the campers reunite for some scary stories.
"Uh, cabin chief Spud, why are you wearing a skirt?" One of the kids from his and Jake's cabin asks.
"This is a Scottish kilt." Spud explains. "Or a tablecloth. I'm not sure now."
The camp supervisor then announces that their three-times champion will tell the camp's legend.
"What's he talking about, Jake?" Trixie asks.
"It's the camp's old legend." Jake explains.
"During the American Civil War, this place used to be a prison for the worst criminals of that time." Brad explains. "The worst of them all used to be known as Shackles Jack. Knowing they couldn't escape alive, Shackles Jack and his henchmen used a spell to make sure they would return as ghosts during the next planetary allignment and possess other bodies. This was taken from Shackles Jack's own diary. And you know what? The allignment will happen tonight."
This is enough to drive the kids scared. To make matters worse, the kids under Brad's care appear disguised as ghosts and scare the other kids.
"Hahahahahahahaha." Brad laughs.
"Brad, you shouldn't have done that." Rose angrily comments.
After that, Jake and Spud comfort their kids. One of the kids checks it out and point that the place really was a prison during the American Civil War. Jake replies that he came there for three other years and he never saw any ghost before. However, a kid points out they never had an allignment before that day.
Rose then enters the cabin. "Jake, can we have a moment alone?"
"Sure, Rose." Jake happily replies and they leave the cabin.
"Jake, back in the Huntsclan Academy I've learned that this kind of allignment might really bring ghosts to our world." Rose tells her boyfriend. "Don't you think Shackles Jack might really appear?"
"Don't worry, Rose." Jake replies. "This is just some made-up stories to scare little kids."
"I hope you're right." Rose comments. "Good night, Jake."
"Good night, Rose." Jake replies and then leaves for his cabin.
"You can come now." Rose says with a Huntsgirl tone and Margareth leaves her hiding spot. "How did you know?"
"Anyone with a decent Huntsclan training would notice someone stalking them." Rose replies. "What will you accuse me now?"
"Actually, I'm really worried about Shackles Jack." Margareth replies. "I won't accuse you of anything this time."
Meanwhile, Shackles Jack and his gang appear as ghosts and they recognize the Mugwomb Cup as the cup the warden used to keep inside his office. Shackles Jack comments it's what will permit them to possess new bodies.
In the next morning, Jake is comforting the kids under his care that yesterday's scare is something to be left behind, only to be proven wrong when Brad shows slides of the kids' reactions. Enraged, Jake decides to train his kids to the max so they would beat Brad's cabin for the Mugwomb Cup. The training is so hard most of the complaints got by the healing cabin came from the kids of Jake and Spud's cabin. However, Jake is so obsessed about the Cup he won't listen to Trixie and Lily's warnings about the kid with a twisted ankle.
"Trixie. Lily. I'm doing it to keep Brad from humiliating them again." Jake explains.
"Are you doing it for them?" Trixie asks. "Or for you?"
In the competition day, Spud wakes up late and is running all he can in a wedding dress when he overhears Shackles Jack's gang discussing their plans. He learns that they intend to use the Cup's mystical properties to possess the bodies of the winning team. Spud ruahes to warn his friends.
When they reach for the final event, three cabins are tied for first place. The one led by Brad, the one led by Jake and Spud, and the one led by Rose and Margareth.
"I'll win." The kid with the broken ankle tells Jake. "For you."
This statement makes Jake understand the jerk he's being lately and he withdraws his team from the competition.
"Don't worry, Roselicious." Brad says. "The Bradster is inviting you to celebrate victory with my team."
"Forget it, Brad." Rose replies. "I'm inviting Jake to celebrate victory with my team."
When the race is close to the finish, the runner from Brad's team discreetly pushes the one from Rose and Margareth's team and wins the race.
Rose and Margareth were about to protest when Spud comes running and yelling.
"Jake. Rose. Margareth." Spud yells. "You've got to withdraw our teams from the race."
"Yo, Spudinski. What's up with you?" Trixie asks.
"Shackles Jack is real." Spud explains. "I heard his gang planning to use the Cup to possess the bodies of the winning team."
"Wait a minute." Lily says. "If they want the winning tem it means. Brad!"
That night, Shackles Jack and his gang have Brad's team chained up to a rock inside a cave.
"Come on, Jake. You can stop the charade now." Brad scaredly pleads. "It's you in that costume, right?"
"Believe watever you want." Shackles Jack replies. "As I put the final ingredient inside the Cup, it'll absorb us and, once the first sun rays hit the cup, we'll possess your bodies."
"Not if we have anything to say about that." Jake, in dragon form, replies. Margareth, also in dragon form, alongside with Trixie, Spud, Rose and Lily are with him.
"D-d-d-d-d-dragons!!" Brad exclaims and faints. The same thing happens to his team.
Trixie, Spud and Lily can't touch the ghosts but their intangibility doesn't work against dragons. Rose somersaults her way to the chains and uses her Huntstaff to break them. The noise wakes Brad and his team.
"Roselicious, you came to rescue me?" Brad asks.
"There's no time for that." Rose replies. "Run."
Brad and his team run away and fall into the lake.
"Jake, the final ingredient." Trixie tells him. Jake sees the twig and understands. He picks it and drops inside the Cup, trapping the ghosts. Jake and Margareth breath fire in the Cup's lid, making it impossible to open it again.
In the next morning, Jake's team show slides of them rescuing Brad's team and later of Brad trying to convince the local sheriff that Shackles Jack had kidnapped him. Spud is wearing nothing but his beanie and a bush and explains that he decided to returns the found clothes back to the Lost and Found Box but lost his own set of clothes.
(end credits joke)
Jake and his friends visit Nigel to tell him about their adventure.
"Greetings, my friends." Nigel says.
"Hi, Nigel." Jake replies. "How was your training?"
"Not good." Nigel sadly replies. "I've spent the last two weeks trying to summon a ghost but I haven't been able to bring any. And how was your camp?"
Jake and his friends are hesitant about answering.
(end joke)