Chapter Twelve: The Graveyard
(Graveyard)
Coco led her two friends through the graveyard, towards where she had managed to find something interesting.
"It's this way." Coco pointed out.
"What did ya find, Coco?" Dingodile asked. "Ya still haven't told us."
"There it is over there." Coco replied, pointing off in one direction.
Dingodile and Tiny looked in the direction Coco was pointing and saw a gravestone with the head and shoulders of an old Koopa wearing a hat.
"Oy! Hey, that's a REAL headstone!" Dingodile said in awe.
"Hey! That Dingodile's uncle Bowser!" Tiny said, recognizing the stone face.
"Yeah! Yer right!" Dingodile nodded.
Suddenly, the stone hat, which was simply sitting on the stone head, shook a couple of times. Tiny saw this and his eyes widened.
"Tiny think he see hat move!" Tiny said, slightly scared.
"The wind did it." Coco insisted. "Hey, you guys remember what the clue said about the stone hat?"
"Yeah?" Dingodile asked.
"Well, I bet the next clue is underneath it!" Coco pointed out. "Come on! Let's check it out!"
"Ah'll do it." Dingodile said as he approached the gravestone. "Let's see if there's a clue under here."
Dingodile cautiously lifted the hat from the stone head of his uncle and his eyes widened. Resting on top of the gravestone's head was another letter and another diamond. He smiled as he looked back. "Oy! Ya were right, Coco! There's another jewel and clue up here! Ah'l just take these and-" Dingodile turned to the head again and was about to take the gem and letter, but suddenly saw that neither were there anymore. He quickly saw his uncle's ghost standing behind his gravestone, holding the gem and letter. This resulted in a scream from the hybrid, whom fell on his back. Tiny saw Bowser's ghost and screamed as well.
As Dingodile and Tiny fled the scene, Bowser's ghost stayed behind and admired the stolen clue. The old Koopa let out a chuckle, and was so wrapped up in looking at the old paper that he didn't see Coco running over to him.
"Gimmie!" Coco shouted as she swiped the diamond and clue from the old ghost. The instant she had them in her arms, Coco ran off after her friends.
Once Coco had stolen the goods from him, Bowser drew his sword. "Come back here, fool!" He shouted.
As Bowser's threats eventually quieted down, Coco continued running through the graveyard, noticing that Dingodile and Tiny were long gone. "Hey, guys! I got the stuff!" Coco called out as she passed by a small building in the middle of the cemetery. "Where are you guys?"
"Right here, Coco!" Dingodile said as he reached out from behind a pillar and grabbed the passing Coco by her shirt, pulling her behind the pillar as well.
Coco sighed in relief. "Thanks, guys." She said. "I managed to take these from your uncle's ghost and I was afraid that he'd catch me."
"Well, good work in takin' the stuff from him, Coco." Dingodile replied.
"Yeah! Tiny think we outsmart ghost now!" Tiny said with a smile.
"Think again, you fools!"
The three friends turned and saw the skull ghost standing a ways away, looking at them menacingly. The three friends screamed and made an attempt to run, but before they could, a huge trapdoor opened underneath them, dropping the trio into a huge hole in the ground. The three fell for about ten feet before landing in the dirt. Standing up, they saw that they were in too deep to climb out themselves, and that the skull ghost was looking down at them from the ledge.
"Now, you furry mortals!" The skull ghost said menacingly. "Hand me that jewel and scroll, or I'll…"
Coco stared up at the ghost and narrowed her eyes. "Or you'll do what, bonehead?" She challenged.
The skull ghost looked up and the eye sockets on his face widened. "Agh! Let me out of here!" He said as he ran away in fear.
"What the heck was that all about?" Coco asked.
"Maybe Coco scare ghost off?" Tiny suggested.
"I highly doubt that, Tiny." Coco said. She then sighed. "Well, we just need to find a way out of here, now."
Dingodile looked back and forth between Coco and the hole in the ground they had fallen in. Suddenly coming up with an idea, Dingodile reached over and picked Coco off her feet, surprising the female bandicoot.
"Huh? Dingodile, what're you doing?" Coco asked.
"Ah can't climb out, but Ah CAN get you ta grab the ledge and let you out." Dingodile said. "Coco, ya go and find some help. Tiny and Ah will stay here and wait."
Coco suddenly realized what Dingodile meant and quickly grabbed the ledge once she got close to it. Coco easily climbed out of the hole and looked down. "Thank you so much, Dingodile!" She said. "Don't worry! I'll go find help and be back here in a flash! Stay right here!" With that, Coco turned and ran off, hoping that she could find someone that could help her.
"Tiny no think he have choice." Tiny mused.
"Well, Coco's out. That's the main thing." Dingodile said before scratching his head. "But there's just one thing Ah don't get."
"What, Dingodile?" Tiny asked.
"The ghost had us trapped." Dingodile replied. "He had us where he wanted and he just ran off. Ah wonder why."
"Search Tiny." Tiny shrugged.
"Well, Ah guess Ah can pass the time by tryin' ta read this clue." Dingodile said as he unfolded the letter and attempted to read it, only to come up short. "Man. It's just so dark down here. Ah can't make out anything."
Meanwhile, the reason the skull ghost ran off lumbered over to the hole and glanced down. Donkey Kong's eyes lit up when he saw whom was down in the hole.
"Oh! Kitty!" Donkey Kong said as he reached down the hole.
Tiny suddenly felt a light tap on his shoulder. Seeing that Dingodile was busy reading the clue, Tiny knew that it couldn't have been him. The huge tiger looked around a couple of times before eventually looking up. Seeing Donkey Kong waving down at him, Tiny paled in fright again before screaming and jumped up, latching onto Dingodile.
"Gah! Tiny, what's yer problem?" Dingodile asked.
Tiny didn't even need to give an answer. Two huge hands grabbed hold of the duo and lifted them off their feet, pulling them out of the hole.
Dingodile and Tiny found themselves staring into Donkey Kong's eyes and screamed in fright. Managing to break free of the huge ape's grip, the two friends stampeded off in terror.
"Wait!" Donkey Kong called out. His calls fell upon deaf ears.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Sam was sitting in his police car a ways away from the cemetery, sound asleep. The driver's door was also wide open.
"Calling Sheriff Sam." The voice on the radio said. Unfortunately, it wasn't waking the sheriff up. "Sheriff Sam, where the blazes are you?"
Suddenly, Coco rushed onto the scene. She spotted the squad car and knew that the sheriff could help her, so she ran over to the sleeping figure and grabbed his arm. This managed to wake him up.
"Huh? What in tarnation?" Sam said in surprise. Coco tried to pull him along, but she simply just found herself running in place, unable to get the sheriff out of his car.
"Tiny-and-Dingodile-are-trapped-in-a-hole-in-the-cemetery-and-you-gotta-come-and-get-them-out-before-the-ghost-gets-them!" Coco said rapidly as she continued to attempt to get the sheriff out of the car. "Hurry up! Will ya hurry up? They're trapped like rats!"
Suddenly, two extremely frightened (and easily identifiable) figures ran past the car. "RUN FER YER LIVES!" Dingodile screamed. "IT'S KING KONG!"
"Nevermind." Coco said as she released Sam's arm and ran off after her friends.
Sam watched the scene with a confused expression. "Nuts! They're all nuts!" He said.
"For the last time, Sam! Where are you?" The voice on the radio said.
Sam sighed and picked up the radio. "Who wants to know?" He asked.
"Your boss, that's who!" The voice shouted back.
Sam quickly turned red, realizing that he'd be in serious trouble for this. He quickly softened his tone. "Oh, hello sir! How's everything going?" Sam asked. "How's the missus and the kids?"
"I don't want to hear it, Sam." The voice said. "Just get your hide down to the station right away."
Dingodile, Tiny and Coco were hiding in a bush and watched as the sheriff drove away.
"Well, now that we're outta that creepy place, let's get back to the mansion." Dingodile said.
"Yeah. Tiny no want to go back in there again." Tiny sighed.
Thankfully, Xigbar didn't attempt to interfere (even though he still could be running from the huge, psychotic rabbit) and the friends made it back to the mansion easily. Going inside, the friends went to the living room and sat down.
"Okay. Time ta find out what's gonna happen next." Dingodile said as he turned on a lamp beside the chair he was sitting in.
Suddenly, a drawer opened up by itself on a cabinet and Biff emerged. "What's it say?" He asked.
Slim emerged from inside a vase and laughed. "It doesn't 'say' anything!" He said. "You have to read it!"
"Slim, that joke was horrible." Shivers noted as he emerged from a chest on the floor.
Slim didn't seem to hear Shivers and floated over to Biff. "Hoo, boy! Am I sharp!" He said.
Biff quickly slammed his fist into the top of Slim's head, flattening it and knocking the lanky ghost to the floor. "Now you're flat!" He said as he turned to Dingodile. "Go ahead and read it, pal."
"Oy. Thanks a lot." Dingodile said as he read the clue. "If ya go buggy, ya won't need a horse."
"Buggy? Horse?" Tiny asked, scratching his head.
"Horse and buggy." Coco repeated. "Where would you find a horse and buggy, Dingodile?"
"Uh…In a stable!" Dingodile replied. "And there's a stable out back of the mansion!"
"Let's go check it out, then!" Coco said.
The six figures left the living room, eventually going out of the mansion altogether. However, once they were on the front porch, several of the floorboards lifted up, then dropped back down again by themselves.
Ironically, this simple sight made each of the Spirit Squad scream in fright as they flew back into the mansion, not looking back.
"Some help THEY are." Coco muttered.
"Well, Ah guess we're on our own." Dingodile sighed. "Come on, mates. Let's go."
To be continued…
