Soon everyone made their way to a different open courtyard of the hotel while Johnny told Mavis about the sports he and his brothers played as kids, called baseball and football. Ever intrigued and excited about trying new human things, Mavis wanted to try them out, and everyone, except for Dracula, thought it was a great idea. While Johnny's brothers went to get their baseball equipment and football, Johnny, Melissa, their parents, and Elisa helped to get the courtyard set up like a small baseball field while Dracula and Mavis looked on in confusion, but Mavis was still fascinated by what they were going to do.
When everything was finally set up for the game of baseball, Johnny's brothers had returned with balls, a few gloves, and Brett carried his bat, which frightened Dracula as he was in front of the young man in a flash, freaking out Brett.
"If you try to hit my daughter with that thing," he threatened. "I'll..."
"Drac!" Elisa yelled, making him look at his wife.
"Dad..." Mavis groaned to him to as she crossed her arms in annoyance.
Dracula shot a dark warning glare to Brett.
"I won't, Sir, I swear." Brett mumbled, smiling nervously in return.
As Dracula walked back to Elisa, she scolded him, "Drac, that was just a misunderstanding, let it go. It's not usually what a baseball bat is used for, so you're going to see what it's supposed to be used for."
Dracula only frowned in response, but Elisa tried to get him to cheer up while she, Johnny, and the Loughran siblings were going to teach him, Mavis, and their monster friends how to play baseball and how it was a really fun sport.
"Maybe someday we can make a hotel team and do an annual game," Johnny said excitedly when the idea popped into his head.
Mavis smiled and squealed loudly at the idea.
"That's a great idea, Johnny," Brett agreed. "But first we have to show everyone how to play."
Everyone was split into two teams, the Loughrans vs. the Drac Pack, with Johnny on the Drac Pack and Mavis wanted to be on the Loughrans' team. The rules were laid down, and the humans needed to explain the rules and how to play to the monsters and how easy it was once they got into it.
Brett was first up to bat, having Wayne pitching and Murray as the catcher. Wayne threw the ball to Johnny, but then something seemed to snap in the werewolf as he got excitable like a puppy and barked happily as he ran after his thrown ball, making Brett stop in midswing from hitting poor Wayne in the head with the bat.
All at once, Wayne tackled Brett and poor Murray as he tried to catch the bouncing ball and Wayne yanked it from Murray's grip while he snatched the ball with a playful growl. He chewed on the ball happily for some seconds as he sat on a peeved Murray, who held his chin and tapped his fingers, and a struggling Brett as he tried to breathe from Wayne's crushing weight. Everyone else shot the werewolf irritated scowls for ruining the game before it even started.
"Wayne..." Wanda scowled in disappointment at her husband's doggish behavior.
Looking around and suddenly realized what he'd done, Wayne chuckled in embarrassment and said through a mouth full of ball, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself."
"Maybe I should pitch," Griffin said as he came down from one of the bases, and tried to pull the ball out of the wolfman's mouth Wayne, though they struggled as Wayne growled playfully like a dog, until Griffin ordered to the werewolf like a master to his dog, "Drop it, boy, drop it! Ew! Werewolf drool!"
Wayne finally let go, but Griffin held a drool covered baseball, and Wayne, with a disappointed whine, switched positions with the invisible man. Finally, Griffin threw the ball to Brett and he hit it, but not very well as it went bouncing to second base to Frank, but it was enough for Brett to run to first base where Johnny was as the ball was caught by Murray, but Brett made it to first base. Linda showed Eunice and Wanda how to keep score as the game went on, and then it was Mavis's turn to bat.
Although she was still confused why the big stick was called a 'bat,' Mavis got the idea of how to use it when having watched Johnny's brothers use it. She held it awkwardly and too close to her cheek with her elbows up too high. Johnny showed her how to hold it correctly, making his team shout objections of fraternizing with the other team, but Johnny ignored them and Eunice told them to give it a rest since this was just harmless fun.
Griffin threw the ball and Mavis hit a 'home run' and she squealed excitedly while the Loughrans cheered at her to run, and she did with amazing vampire speed, hitting all the bases in seconds before Wayne could catch the ball in his long muzzle before it got too far out of the courtyard, but not before Mavis made it to home base. It was declared the Loughrans' team had won the game. The humans cheered and gave Mavis thumbs up or pats on the back by Melissa or Kent and Brett.
Dracula flew up to her, having watched the whole game from the sidelines with Elisa, and scooped Mavis up easily as he hugged her close, almost smothering her as he said in overly cuteness, "Oh, Mavy-Wavy, that was so great, my little Poison Flower. I knew you could do it. I'm just glad you didn't hurt yourself playing this humany game."
"Daaad..." Mavis groaned in embarrassment at her father's constant doting in front of their future in-laws, some of them giggling at the scene.
"Of course she could do it, Drac," Elisa said as she tried to get his attention away from an embarrassed Mavis. "She's eager to learn and she's a fast learner. But they're going to demand a rematch soon, and you should play with them next time, Honey."
"I don't think so, Ellie, my Bat Apple," groaned Dracula, but his wife just chuckled.
It was then decided everyone should play a friendly game of catch with Kent's football. The monsters exchanged confused or curious expressions to the oddly shaped ball, more oval and elongated with points on both ends, while all other balls were orb shaped and round.
"Hey, I think it's that same kind of ball we saw on that TV at the electronics store." Wayne smiled. "That game looked really interesting."
"Yeah dude!" Murray said as he examined it, then gave Wayne a hard look, teasing, "And it should be easy to get it out of your big mouth if you're going to go chasing it around."
Wayne shot the mummy a dirty look of insult, but Murray ignored him.
"C'mon, Drac," Johnny encouraged eagerly to his future father-in-law as he tugged at his arm. "You're playing with us this time, it'll be fun."
"I don't know, Johnny," Dracula said doubtfully. "I'm still not so sure of these human games your brothers brought to my hotel."
"Oh, will you stop being your stick in the mud self, Sweetheart, and go and have some fun," Elisa scolded him teasingly as she pushed him out to play with the others.
Dracula turned to smile to her, encouraged, "Only if you come play with us, Honey Bat."
Elisa smiled, and at first was set to go play, but then remembered her pregnancy and told Dracula maybe later as she was feeling a little achy from the food she ate.
"Let's go, Drac!" Johnny hollered eagerly. "Come toss the old pig skin around with us!"
"It's made of pig skin?" Mavis was puzzled, while her father raised a confused eyebrow.
So Dracula was on the Drac Pack's team and he thought Johnny would play on his family's team, but instead Mavis again joined the Loughrans for a family friendly game of Touch Football, making her poor father give a deep disappointed frown.
Two ends of the courtyard were to be the end zones for scoring and the game began when Kent threw the ball to Mike and he jogged across the courtyard, only to get blocked by Pedro, and Mike threw the ball to Brett who then ran for his team's end zone. Then Brett was intercepted by Hank as Brett tried to throw the ball back to his dad, but Hank caught it mid throw easily due to his massive size, and tossed it to Frank, who tossed it to Dracula. The vampire ran at a more average speed to the other side of the courtyard to his team's end zone, his cape flowing in the wind as he ran.
"I'm open, I'm open!" Mavis shouted as everyone tried to get at Dracula for the ball.
Forgetting which team she was supposed to be on, Dracula threw the football a little too hard at his only daughter and it flew right into her face and struck her right eye, but Mavis caught it on impulse, hardly aware of her injury.
"YES!" she gasped with a victory laugh. "I did it! I caught it, I really caught it! Boom! Draca-laca!"
Mavis ran a few steps to her team's end zone and succeeded in scoring a touchdown, but then she stopped dead when she noticed everyone had stopped what they were doing and was staring at her in shock or concern.
"What's wrong? Why'd everybody stop? What're you staring at me for?" she asked confused.
Suddenly Dracula flew up to her in a dark flash, his face colored with deep fatherly concern when he saw a black eye forming on Mavis's face.
"Mavy-Wavy!" he cried heavily with worry as he cradled her face with his long hands and examined her over. "Are you alright, Little Mouse?"
"I'm fine, Dad," she groaned, irritated at her father's overprotective doting nature. "Why did everyone stop playing? I'm fine."
He squeezed her close to his chest to nearly smothering her while he continued cooing to her in baby talk, "Oh, Mavy-Wavy, my sweetie claw, baby bat. I knew I should never have let you play this dangerous human game, you just got hurt."
"Well, this is why you wear helmet in football," Johnny shrugged, while his siblings and Mavis's friends giggle at Dracula's cute nicknames for Mavis, which made her frown in embarrassment.
Then, Dracula grabbed the football from Mavis's grasp and sneered at the ball and squeezed it so hard it popped loudly in his strong grasp, snarling, "Whose the idiot that dared hurt my daughter?!"
Everyone remained deathly silent for a short tense moments as they looked at the maddened Dracula holding a frustrated Mavis to himself in fatherly overprotectiveness.
Finally, Johnny nervously spoke out, "Uh, you did."
But Dracula scowled darkly at Johnny, clearly not believing him as he declared in finality, "Alright, no more dangerous games, because it's clear to me your human games and rough housing will only get my Mavy-Wavy hurt! Look at this, you gave Mavy her first black eye!"
"Dad, stop calling me that!" Mavis grumbled angrily, loosening his protective grip on her. "I'll be fine, I barely feel it, and I've had a black eye before when I was a kid. Besides, I'm a vampire, it'll heal in no time."
But Dracula still looked at her worriedly and didn't want to listen to her.
"Just put some ice on it and your eye will be okay," suggested Elisa. "Johnny has a point though, this is why professional football players wear helmets and padding, it can be a pretty rough game."
Dracula called for his housekeeping witch maids to quickly bring him a pack of ice, and some water and a cloth were brought to him and the water frozen to ice with a magic spell and put into the cloth. Dracula began to hand the ice to Mavis, but she grudgingly snatched it from him and put it on her eye.
"Maybe next time you should stick to cheerleading," Melissa teased. "It's pretty clichéd, but football's always been a guy's game and girls are supposed to be cheerleaders."
"Really, why?" Mavis asked. "What's cheerleading?"
"C'mon, Mom and I will show you some moves I remember." Melissa invited Mavis over and the young vampiress joined her two female future in-laws.
Melissa told Mavis about being on her high school varsity cheerleading team and showed some moves and cheers she could remember and how it was a very athletic sport, involving a lot of gymnastics and dancing.
"Take the ball, One for all, Gooo, Team, yay!" Melissa sang, as she tried to do a split in the air at the end of the old cheer, then she stood proudly as she took a deep breath and flicked her hair, "Yeah, I still got it."
Mavis smiled in wonder at her future sister in-law as she applauded with Linda, while Mike and the brothers joined in.
"That's sounds like fun," Mavis almost squealed, not noticing Brett and Kent mumble something about typical girly stuff, making Johnny shot a dirty look at them.
Mavis got up and tried to redo Melissa's cheer, and with her natural, or rather supernatural, vampire abilities she really out classed Melissa, which made the boys go wide eyed and gawk at Mavis, while Johnny smirked at his brothers' shock, as she floated and flew up from the ground and even seemed to be very flexible, like she was made of smoke.
When Mavis sang, "Gooo, Team, Yay!" the Loughrans applauded with impressed enthusiasm.
Johnny was by her side as he boasted, "Oh, yeah! You feel me now? That's my girlfriend, suckers!"
"Your fiancé, Johnny," Mavis corrected him.
"My fiancé, even better," he said with his goofy grin.
"That's my girl," doted Dracula, as he clapped for Mavis and her attempt of doing cheerleading, "though I admit to never hearing of this 'cheerleading' myself."
"That was pretty good, Mavis," Melissa complemented. "I bet you would've been cheer captain in a week, or you could've made my snotty cheer captain jealous."
"Huh, that'd be interesting," Linda said. "Having a vampire cheerleader, though I'm sure it'd be kind of difficult, seeing how most games take play in the day time, unless you use a lot of sunscreen."
"Uhh, yeah, I guess," Mavis replied, slightly discomfort and uncertainty of how to respond.
"I never do any extracurricular activities growing up, even though I attended public schools. Again, my father had to control what I could do with my life, and all my friends got to do some fun things and go to university and graduate schools," Elisa said, slightly bitter as she crossed her arms, making Dracula put a arm supportively around her shoulders and she leaned into his chest.
To liven the mood and forget about anymore sad memories for Elisa, Mavis announced, "Well, it doesn't matter anymore, Mom, because at least you got to see that college in Bucharest on your honeymoon you told us about. How about we play another game of feetball, or is there another human game we can try?"
Dracula gasped in alarm, making the Loughran siblings flinch a little, so Kent added quickly, "Uh, how about another game. Actually, I brought my skateboard with me and want to try out some moves in the courtyard, maybe even the Auditorium for some radical fun."
"Alright!" Johnny pumped a fist in the air. "The Auditorium is great, I rode my scooter in there!"
"Don't remind me," Dracula grumbled at the memory of Johnny disrupting the game of charades.
"What's a 'skateboard'?" Wendy asked intrigued.
Kent went and got out his skateboard a few minutes later from his and Brett's hotel room and asked Mavis to lead the way to the hotel Auditorium, which she did with a prideful smile. Everyone arrived at the auditorium. Kent got excited with some nostalgia when he remembered skateboarding and learning how to do all sort of tricks for the Extreme of it during the 1990s.
"Okay," Kent announced as he put the skateboard on the floor held it with his foot. "Watch and learn how a pro does it, people."
He started rolling around the gym on his old skateboard, picking up speed a bit and did a sharp turn before jumping and making the board spin under his raised feet, and he landed hard again and made himself go faster again, this time to make the skateboard slide across the edge of a low Auditorium bench for a long length and he landed like a cat again, and picked up speed again before spinning fast in a circle with the front wheels raised and continued rolling the next direction to skate the entire perimeter of the Auditorium before stopping suddenly in front of the entire crowd. Kent posed with his old skateboard as he made it raise with his foot and stood proudly while everyone applauded for him. Mavis clapping loudly for what he just displayed and laughing excitedly, while Dracula could only gawk open-mouthed in shock not knowing what to think or say, as it reminded him too much of how Johnny or Elisa showed off their moves on the scooter during his carefully planned game of charades only a couple of months ago.
"Ah, that's nothing," Johnny said smugly, as he took the skateboard from his brother. "I got my own moves with the board."
"Uh-huh, sure," Kent teased, poking his elbow in Brett, who rolled his eyes amusingly.
Dracula crossed his arms in annoyance, even when Elisa told him to lighten up again, when a suit of armor guard ran up to him, startling the humans, and with a salute told him there was an emergency. He groaned, "I'll be right back."
But no one really paid attention since everyone was watching Johnny as he began skating at a steady speed and announced in enthusiasm, "Oh, yeah, baby, we hit the ramps every summer for the extreme."
As he skated across the large gymnasium, Johnny's arms flailed about as he tried to keep his balance on the skateboard as he cried over and over, "Whoa, whoa! Whooaaa!"
Johnny rolled off in a random direction as he continued to flail his arms about, the skateboard taking him to the other side of the Auditorium. As he flailed about, he leaned back as though about to lose his balance and turned around, somehow picking up speed and crouched down on the skateboard to hold on as he rolled away. He tried to regain his balance again and do the same sliding edge trick his brother did, but he didn't get very far and fell flat on his back as the skateboard rolled away from him, but he caught it before it got away from him.
"Wait, wait!" Johnny cried. "I can do better, watch this!"
He ran up the stairs to the top of the stone benches and tried to use the skateboard to do tricks sliding and jumping coming down, crying "Whoa, whoa-ooahh", and he managed to make it a few steps down before he again lost his balance and tumbled down the last few steps as the skateboard careened through the air and landed with a clack on the floor and rolled to the small onlooking crowd. Everyone flinched in sympathy when Johnny landed with a thud in a position similar to how Dracula landed after crashing into an armor guard while chasing tables with Johnny.
"Yeah, I still got it!" he groaned happily, righting himself with a slight cracking of bones.
Mike, Kent and Brett just rolled their eyes and shook their heads at him. Linda covered her mouth in motherly concern. Melissa looked away worriedly.
"You've never been any Tony Hawk, Johnny," Kent teased. "But I do give you credit for trying, if you lack the talent and skill."
Johnny shot his teasing older brother a dirty look, as did Mavis, but she asked curiously, "What's a tony hawk? I've never heard of that kind of hawk before."
"Tony Hawk is a famous athletic professional skateboarder," Kent explained.
"As much fun as my boys had," Linda added. "Sometimes their skateboarding tricks worry me, and Johnny, a few times, tried to skateboard while hanging onto a car like Marty in Back to the Future."
"Who's Marty? And what's Back to the Future?" Mavis asked curiously again.
"A really fun and awesome movie we can see, Mavis," Johnny replied, smiling as he rubbed one of his aching shoulders. "Maybe next movie night, if it's okay with your dad.
"Wow," Mavis sighed. "It all looks like so much fun. My turn now."
Kent handed her the skateboard and she went to an open part of the Auditorium, and put her foot on the skateboard as she set it down. In an instant, she took off in a flash with a small trail of fire behind her and rode it fast up the wall, which was when Dracula returned and gasped in horror to see his daughter playing with another dangerous humany thing.
At one point she almost lost control of the skateboard and almost fell off from the wall, but caught herself as she turned into a bat and caught the board in little feet and resume her normal form as she skated down the wall like a pro. Mavis skateboarded literally around the Auditorium, around the perimeter, up the walls and on the ceiling with a light trail of fire behind her, the Loughrans watching her in wide mouthed awes, Johnny smiling proudly and smugly.
Tricks Mavis did included a more intense and extreme version of the skateboard edge slide across a few of the auditorium benches, and she landed gracefully on the floor as she rolled across the floor again and spun like a mini whirlwind before skating up the wall again to make a bell shaped path, and then do a hand stand on the skateboard and make it spin again before stopping gracefully to a cheering crowd of Loughrans and friends.
Mavis gave a few graceful bows. "Thank you, thank you."
But then, the skateboard flew out of her hands in a cloud of blue mist and right into Dracula's grasp as he glared at the skateboard and crushed it in his hand, much to Mavis's chagrin.
"My board! Why'd you crush my skateboard, man?" Kent cried, outraged.
But Dracula ignored him as he ran up to Mavis in his ever doting fatherly worry while he held her face. "Mavy, my little mouse, are you okay? Are you hurt? What were you thinking playing around with another dangerous humany thing?"
But Mavis glowered at him with the most scariest vampire face ever as she pulled her face away from her father's gentle clasp and wacked his arms away. "Dad, stop calling me mouse and Mavy-Wavy, it's embarrassing and you're embarrassing yourself! Will you get a grip?! I'm fine, I was just having some fun on that board-skate, so stop treating me like a child!"
Dracula glowered back at her, yelling, "Don't talk to me like that, young lady! You could've gotten hurt on that humany thing, just like with that weird ball earlier! Clearly, human games are too dangerous!"
"YOU threw the ball, Dad! And my black eye is almost healed! I'm just trying to fit in with Johnny's family, but you're ruining everything! Why do you always have to ruin everything?!"
"I'm just trying to protect you, Mavy! Like I always have!"
"I'm not a child anymore, so stop treating me like one! I can't wait to get married and get out of here and away from you!"
She began to walk away from a wide eyed and shocked Dracula.
"Don't walk away from me, young lady! I built this hotel to keep you safe from the humans, and I won't have you throw away the last century I sacrificed for you to keep you safe!"
"I don't need protection anymore!" Mavis turned back to shout, "You know that! Why do you always have to ruin everything! When are you going let me live my life?!"
She was gone in a flash of blue mist when Mavis started to cry tears of hurt before Dracula could say anything else in their argument. The small crowd of Loughrans and his monster friends remained staring at him in cold silence, while Johnny made a disappointed and sad look as if hearing from Dracula loud and clear that he didn't really want him to marry his daughter, because it meant she was leaving her father and no longer needed him. Johnny ran off to go look for the distraught Mavis.
Elisa glowered at him and smacked him over the head, making him cry out, "Ow!" He gave her a look of 'what did you do that for?' while he rubbed the back of his head, and she gave him a hard glare of her own and stared to berate him, "You didn't need to do that. Mavis was having some fun on Kent's skateboard, and she was doing brilliantly. Even if she fell off, she'd be fine. She's a tough girl and can take care of herself."
"I'm only trying to protect her like I always have," he argued back to his human wife. "But you humans seem determined to hurt her with your sharp balls and rolling things!"
Everyone, including his friends, aimed hurt and disappointed expressions as everyone left the Auditorium to help find and hopefully console a crying Mavis.
Elisa watched everyone go, then turned back to Dracula to say coldly, "You know, Drac, just because you've always protected Mavis doesn't meant you have to control everything in her life, it's what MY father did. I thought you'd learned that. If you don't learn to trust her to make her own decisions or live her life, like you said you would, you're really going to lose her forever. And if you lose her, you'll lose me too, and everyone else."
She stormed off to help find Mavis, leaving a stunned Dracula alone as he watched her leave and a feeling of guilt, shame, and now a deep provoking thought of what Elisa just said about losing her and Mavis if he continued to let his protective nature control him. Dracula didn't know what to do or think while he stood silently and alone in the Auditorium for a long while before he left to walk quietly through his nearly empty hotel.
As everyone began to search for Mavis, Johnny went to check her room first, thinking she might have gone there and hoped to help her feel better after that intense fight with her father, while everyone else followed behind him. But he found it empty, and this began to worry Johnny and his family.
Trying to play it cool, Johnny told everyone, "She's not in her room, but don't worry, I'm sure she's here somewhere. We'll find her, she just needs a little time to cool down."
"The poor dear," Linda said sympathetically. "The way she and her dad fought like that."
"Sorry you had to see that, Mrs. Loughran," said Hank. "It's because Uncle Drac's so protective of Mavis since his first wife, Martha, died." Hank decided to keep the part of Martha being killed by humans a secret from the Loughrans for now, as he still hoped to show them Johnny and Mavis were meant for each other and humans and vampires could be a family. "Remember, he had this hotel built to protect her, but she's felt trapped as she got older and kind of resents him for it. But they really do love each other."
"Oh..." Linda gasped. "Well, I guess that's understandable. The poor dear never knew her mother, and she only had her father. She is still such a sweet and curious girl."
"Thanks, Mom," Johnny smiled, touched by her words. "So does that mean you guys actually like Mavis?"
"Of course, Johnny," Linda replied. "Aside from being a vampire, she's so eager to learn and she's like any other teenager. But we still need to get to know her a little better if she's going to be part of this family."
"Besides, son," Mike began. "I hope you realize once you get married, you're going to have a lot more responsibilities, like I did at your age when I married Linda. At some point, you're going to have to realize you'll need a steady and well paying job if you and Mavis ever start your own family, which is why we will need to talk about you and her moving back to Santa Cruz with us."
Johnny immediately froze on the spot about what his dad suggested, and his frozen position looked awkward. "Uhh..."
Nearby, looking from behind a side hallway, Dracula had come looking for Johnny and his human family in hopes of apologizing for his overbearing behavior and embarrassing Mavis a short while ago, and just when he found them he couldn't overhearing Johnny and his parents talking about Mavis. It warmed his heart to hear they actually liked his daughter, something he once thought impossible, even unrealistic once, but it was more than a wonderful miracle. Until then his face fell and his heart broke when Mike began talking to Johnny about moving back to their human town, and taking Mavis away with them, away from him, forever.
While Johnny looked panicked at the very thought of leaving, Dracula was becoming heartbroken to the point of depressed. He had to show his future in-laws that it was alright, even the right choice, for Mavis and Johnny to stay at his hotel as a good home for their own future family.
Dracula would have joined the Loughrans in looking for his daughter, but he hesitated when he thought if they saw him again they might figure out he had overheard them all talking and was eavesdropping, which in a way he did but by an accidental coincidence. Like a silent shadow, he began to search through the hotel to find Mavis. He even found one of his armor guards and ordered them to make a full sweep of the entire hotel and find her and tell her that everyone is looking for her, and so was he, in concern.
About ten minutes later, everyone met in the lobby and they all looked positively concerned when they couldn't find Mavis anywhere.
"I didn't see her by the pool," Johnny said.
"She wasn't in the library," said Linda.
"Or the dance hall," Melissa said.
"Maybe she's hiding in these secret tunnels we heard about," Brett said sneakily as he elbowed Kent, who gave an intrigue smirk.
"No, she's not in the tunnels and don't get any ideas you two," Elisa groaned, not wanting to deal with this again. "Let's keep looking and meet back here in another ten minutes, she's got to be in the hotel somewhere."
While everyone split up into teams of two, Elisa headed for where she suspected Mavis would be. She had found her stepdaughter in her personal secret garden tending to some flowers with a brooding look on her face and somehow looking like she was part of an old masterful painting with her bright and crisp white and yellow spring dress from Lavinia.
"Hey Mavis," Elisa greeted gently.
"Oh, hi Mom," Mavis said from a start until she saw who it was.
"Everyone's been looking for you after you stormed out like that," Elisa told her.
Mavis gave a heavy sigh, groaning, "I'm just so tired of my dad treating me like a child. I'm grown up now, I'm 118, and engaged to get married. Why did he have to go and ruin everything. I just wanted Johnny's family to like me, and I'm trying to show them the same love and respect to them like Johnny."
Elisa sat down at the edge of a some large stares with vines and night blooming flowers going up them. "I know you're embarrassed because he's overreacted to all the games you and Johnny's family were playing, but that's because he loves you, and it's still difficult for him to see you're grown up. I think no matter how old we get, parents will always see us as kids and they'll want to protect us from changes. At least for your father, he finally learned to trust you to go out into the world and experience it, while mine just waits for me to come crawling back to him. I can't say I'm not glad for it, because it's what he gets, but at the same time I feel guilty for feeling that way."
Mavis smiled at this reassurance. "We're talking about our overprotective dads again, and maybe you're right. At least with my dad, he just wants me to be happy. I just wish he'd stop treating me like a child like he did back there. I'm not a little girl anymore."
"I know," Elisa sighed, standing up and hugged Mavis. "So now that you've had some time away from your dad to calm down, why don't you come back and tell him that. I'm sure neither of you meant to fight."
"I meant everything I said," Mavis replied intensely, but then she softened to say calmly, "Well, not all of it. I just want him to stop being so doting and embarrassing."
"So you keep saying, Miss Broken Record," Elisa teased, to which Mavis raised a familiar eyebrow. "C'mon, let's go talk to him and Johnny's family. I'm sure this'll all work out. And if he continues to treat you such, I'll reason with him. Besides, I know how to distract him."
"Yeah, just like the way you two always scream and roar each other's brains out while going at it," Mavis teased back.
Elisa momentarily gave Mavis an indignant frown, but then laughed it off as the two women left the secret garden to rejoin everyone in the lobby.
Less than ten minutes later, Elisa and Mavis had arrived in the lobby, much to the relief of the Loughrans and the Drac Pack and Mavis's friends as they all steadily gathered around them, especially a relieved Dracula when he appeared out of nowhere and joined everyone else in the lobby.
"Oh, Mavy-Wavy!" he breathed a sigh of relief. "You're alright!"
"I'm fine, Dad," she groaned. "And will you please stop calling me that."
What no one realized as they headed toward Mavis and Elisa, one of the zombie bellhops was adjusting a rope that held one of the overhead ceiling chandeliers, but being the clumsy oaf he is, his gangly hands slipped and the rope came loose and allowed the loosened chandelier to fall. Everyone gasped in horror. It all seemed to happen in slow motion as it was only a half second before Frank noticed the chandelier had come lose and begin to fall, so he warned everyone to get out of the way.
But with his supernatural speed and sight, Dracula flew towards his daughter as the chandelier fell, crying, "Mavis, look out!"
Both women looked up. Elisa was able to dodge out of the way, just in time another second later before the chandelier crashed right where Mavis stood, but her father pushed her out of harm's way just in the nick of time.
In the explosive crash of shattered metal and glass, Elisa, Mavis, Johnny, Mavis's friends, the Drac Pack and the Loughrans all shielded their eyes to keep any sharp broken glass from getting into their eyes, then looked at the new disaster in the middle of the lobby and saw Mavis and Elisa were okay.
But Mavis stared at the destroyed chandelier in shock at how it was too close to crush her, but mostly because her father had been crushed saving her life. "DAD!"
"Oh, dear," Linda gasped, as she realized no one saw the vampire. "Poor Dracula."
Everyone grew worried and saddened, but the next moment, a dark ethereal trail of deep blue mist wisped and rose out from the damaged chandelier, causing everyone to gasp as it gradually transformed into Dracula, completely unfazed and unharmed. Everyone sighed in relief.
"Yeah, that's Drac for you," Johnny cheered. "He doesn't let anything faze him, and he's nearly indestructible, even going out into the sun."
Elisa clasped her chest and smiled in relief that he and Mavis were alright, saying, "That was too close for comfort."
But Dracula paid no attention to anyone while he immediately embraced Mavis tenderly. "Mavy, are you okay? Are you hurt, little mouse?"
Mavis roughly loosened herself from Dracula's embrace, getting feud up with his pet names. "I'm fine, Dad, but I'm still mad at you for what you did tonight! Please stop worrying over me and treating me like a little girl! I'm not a little kid anymore so let it go!"
Dracula looked hurt at her ungrateful response as his face turned to a sad frown.
Mavis saw this, and noticed her mother and the Loughrans shoot looks of uncertainty at her ingratitude. Her father recently saved her life and all she did was tell him off. Mavis wished she had taken it back, but its not too late to apologize. "I'm sorry for worrying you, everyone. I just needed some time to think and be away from my dad for a little while. I love you, Dad, but I'm grown up and getting married soon. I was just trying to fit in with Johnny's family, show you all I'm good enough for him and to be part of your family and show you all the same kind of love and respect I have for him."
Everyone looked at each other and genuinely smiled to Mavis.
Melissa came up to Mavis and gently clasped her hands in a warm sisterly gesture. "Oh, Mavis, it's okay, you don't need to try so hard. I know we've only known you a short time, but we do like you and we see how much you love Johnny. You're such a sweet, pretty, and curious girl and so eager to learn, and I've never seen Johnny happier. It's more than good enough for Johnny, and I'm so glad he's found someone like you, even if you are a vampire."
Mavis at first wasn't sure how to respond to this, but she felt a sense of happiness that outdid any slight discomfort she had and thanked Melissa for what she said while she broke out in happy tears and embraced her future sister-in-law.
Meanwhile, Elisa had checked herself over and Dracula even got worried and overbearing with her as well, but she assured him she was fine, even when she clasped at her stomach protectively, to which he momentarily raised an eyebrow. As they listened to Mavis and Melissa talk, Elisa smiled and then elbowed her husband in the ribs and gave him a hard look, but he glared in refusal, to which she and the rest of the Drac Pack aimed glaring frowns of insistence and he caved in.
Dracula walked up to Mavis, who gave him a slight scathing frown, and the Loughrans and looked ashamed as he began to say, "I'm sorry for how I've acted today. It's just Mavy..." she glared at him, "I mean Mavis, is my only daughter and I've always feared for her safety since my beloved Martha died. But her happiness is the most important thing to me now, but I'm still so protective of her. I hope we can try again, and no hard feelings, right?"
The Count had a sheepish smile, then Brett said sneakily as he crossed his arms, "That depends. I believe you also owe us a new football and skateboard."
Dracula cringed, but he knew Brett was right, so he summoned his housekeeping witches and told them to bring and fix the popped football and repair the shattered skateboard. Soon the two items were as good as new and were returned to Brett and Kent, both whom stared at their fixed sports equipment in amazement.
"I am sorry for breaking your stuff," Dracula said sincerely. "Like I said, I'm still protective of my daughter. So I hope this mean we're even."
"Oh, yeah," Kent replied. "We're totally cool."
Johnny's brothers held up their fists to the Vampire Lord, but Dracula was confused, so Elisa did the fist bump for him and smiled proudly at her husband, while Johnny explained what a fist bump means.
"Oh, Daddy!" Mavis said with a proud smile as she suddenly hugged her father, and Dracula gladly returned it as he embraced her and rest his cheek on her head.
"Aw, how sweet," Linda gushed.
"So guys," Frank spoke up. "How about we take a break from games and watch a movie? We got this really sweet TV set up in Johnny's and Mavis's suite a few days ago, and it's the hotel's first ever electronics stuff, and I definitely say you should check it out."
"I guess a movie sounds okay," Mike agreed, while everyone followed Johnny and Mavis to their future suite.
A little later, everyone made themselves comfortable. Johnny microwaved enough popcorn for everybody for the movie Finding Nemo, which seemed appropriate for the occasion. As everyone enjoyed the movie, Elisa and Johnny first had to explain about a place called Australia to Mavis, though Dracula told her he had heard and learned of such things already before his hotel was built.
At the beginning of the movie, Dracula was reminded of Martha's death by a humany movie by the death of Marlin's wife, Coral, and how as fathers they promised to always protect their kids and named them to honor their late wives' memories, and even Mavis was emotionally moved by this when she quietly commented how sad the beginning is.
"It's just like with me and Martha," Dracula whispered sadly at the beginning. "Just like Marlin, I promised on Martha's memory to always protect Mavis."
"Yeah," Mavis agreed. "It's so sad."
A little later when Marlin became overprotective at taking Nemo to school for the first time, this reminded Mavis of Dracula being overprotective of her. "Marlin is so much like my dad," Mavis whispered and Johnny nodded. But her eyes widened as Nemo and his new friends rode upon Mr. Ray and the coral reef they went through. "It's so beautiful, it can't be real."
"It is, Mavis," Johnny whispered. "It's the Great Coral Reef in Australia, and has some of the most awesome and most colorful fish in the world, and we'll go see it some day."
Dracula overheard this and glared at Johnny for suggesting such a thing to take his Mavy-Wavy away again, but the younger couple didn't seem to notice. Elisa did and she whacked Dracula on the shoulder for it.
Shortly after the boat was mistakenly called a 'butt' by Nemo's friends, everyone laughed.
"That's not a butt," Griffin snickered, "Frank and Murray have the biggest butts I know."
Frank and Murray shot the invisible man dirty looks, but he ignored them.
Then everyone got scared and concerned when Nemo got taken by one of the divers. Dracula gasped as they all watched Nemo get trapped in a plastic bag by the diver, as it made him scared to think what could have happened to Mavis if she was taken by humans as a small child.
"It's okay, sweetheart," Elisa tried to comfort him as she cuddled closer to him. "It's just a movie. They'll get Nemo back."
They were quickly won over by Dory and how funny she is when she first appeared on screen.
"Poor Dory," Frank said. "Despite her 'memory loss,' she's pretty funny and very nice."
"Yeah, I like her," Mavis giggled.
"I do too," said Linda, "Even more because she's voiced by Ellen DeGeneres."
"Who's Allan Dee generous?" asked Mavis.
The monsters stared in confusion. Elisa had to quickly explain who she was, a famous TV actress and comedian and told everyone they should watch her show with her someday. As the movie went on, Elisa quietly said to Dracula how Marlin and Dory reminded her of him and Johnny, but unsurprisingly Dracula didn't believe it, or didn't want to.
When Bruce the shark appeared, the monsters got scared, having never seen such a creature before but only having heard of a Great White Shark and not realizing how big they could really get.
"That's a LOT of teeth, even more than I have, maybe even more than all my pups put together," Wayne mumbled.
"What's so dangerous about a Great While Shark, anyway?" Eunice asked. "Bruce seems friendly to not eating fish."
Elisa, Johnny and the other humans explained briefly about sharks as best they could about the power and danger of sharks, described at how they appeared in other movies and infamously known as man-eaters, especially in the movie Jaws.
Kent punched Johnny on the shoulder, teasing, "The scaredy cat here refused to go swimming at the beach for the longest time right after he saw Jaws as a kid."
Kent and Brett laughed, but Elisa scolded, "Quiet!" She understood Johnny's feelings. "I was so scared when I first saw it back in high school, and it still freaks me out."
"If they're that dangerous, I'd protect you from a shark, Johnny," Mavis said comfortingly as she cuddled her human fiancé. "Drain all it's blood before it made you shark food."
"Uh, thanks, Babe," Johnny said, both flattered and grossed out.
"I'd drink the blood of a hundred sharks to keep you safe, my precious wormbun," Dracula announced proudly as he embraced Elisa.
"Aw, thank you, Honey," Elisa gushed. "That's so sweet."
The scene came to the submarine known as the sharks' clubhouse. Mavis's eyes widened and wondered what it was. Mike briefly explained about what a submarine is, a kind of boat that could go underwater.
"Cool!" gasped Pedro. "I never thought that was possible."
"It's like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," Dracula said casually, making everyone stare at him. He shrugged. "So I've heard, I read the book."
Everybody went back to watching the movie, though Mavis made a mental note to ask her dad later about this 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
When Bruce went crazy at the smell of Dory's blood and went into a feeding frenzy, putting everyone on the edge of their seats even as the submarine started to fall over the edge of the cliff. Watching this scene, Dracula knew he could secretly relate to Bruce since he used to gone on a feeding frenzy at the smell or taste of human blood back in his younger days.
At the dentist's office, which turned out to be the diver's occupation, Elisa and Johnny explained a dentist was a doctor for teeth and made sure teeth remained health.
"I bet you and Drac could be spokes vamps for a toothpaste commercial because you have the prettiest smile I've ever seen," Johnny teased, making Mavis giggle.
"Pfft, I always knew I had to take good care of my fangs," Dracula said as he flashed a smile at Elisa to show them off to her, and it made her giggle.
The Tank Gang appeared one by one, and everyone found them to be funny, though Eunice grumbled, "That blue fish must have some screws loose if she thinks her reflection is her sister."
"They've clearly been in that tank too long, knowing so much dentist stuff," Murray mumbled.
"And that Darla girl is not evil, just careless with her pets and needs better guidance," Wanda said gently, and Wayne frowned at her of 'Look Who's Talking.'
As Dory started singing 'Just Keep Swimming' everyone joined in, except for Dracula as he told them to shut up, but all the monsters got scared at the sight of the Angler Fish.
"That fish has got to be scarier than any of us." Frank trembled.
The rest of the Drac Pack mumbled in agreements.
At the scene of Nemo's 'initiation,' the Drac Pack started joining the chant, annoying Dracula enough that he scolded, "Knock it off, guys!" but then, Dracula asked, "What does Wannohockaloogie mean? I've been to Hawaii, but I've never heard that word before."
Brett overheard him and explained, "It means spit."
"Eww," most of the monsters groaned, and the humans brushed it off as it seemed ironic at how they saw some things in the monster world weird and gross themselves.
At the scene Marlin wanted to ask directions to the silver fish, Linda said the voice actor was somebody called John Ratzenberger and he has done a lot of Pixar movies like Toy Story and Cars, which confused the monsters, but Elisa said those were movies they could see another time.
The movie came to the playful scene with Marlin and Dory bouncing on the heads of jellyfish and make their way through the large swarm, Elisa whispered to Dracula, "That's like you and me and Johnny racing tables, and Marlin rescuing Dory reminds me a lot of how you rescued me and Johnny from your crazy chef."
The vampire seemed annoyed, but she smiled teasingly at him, to which he returned.
Everyone came to like Crush the sea turtle, and Dracula teased Johnny, "That turtle sounds just like you, Johnny boy."
Johnny aimed Dracula a glare of disbelief, but the vampire smiled smugly for his tease.
The movie came to the scene of the seagulls continuously saying, "Mine, Mine, Mine!"
"Why are they saying that?" Pedro asked, confused. "Seagulls don't say that."
"It's supposed to be funny, I guess." Johnny shrugged.
When Nigel crashed into the dentist's office window, everyone flinched in sympathy, though Griffin whispered humorously, "That happened to Drac once."
Dracula shot a cold glare at the invisible man, but he ignored the vampire. The monsters flinched or cried out when the dentist suddenly yanked out another human's tooth and made everyone cover their mouths, including Dracula and Mavis.
"Is that what dentists go around doing to humans' teeth all the time?" Mavis squealed with a fearful flinch as she covered her mouth.
Elisa and Johnny tried to explain while dentists sometimes did that, they'd numb the pain of it, but they don't just go around and pull teeth all of the time and only if it was required like for a bad tooth. Most of the monsters looked unsure whether to believe them, but they trusted their human friends, though Frank joked, "At least Eunice and I can replace our own teeth as we already have detachable parts."
Everyone, including Eunice, shot him irate frowns and Frank shrugged in response.
Everyone started laughing at Dory starting to speak whale and tried to join in, while Mavis also thought the whale was an amazing and beautiful creature, having only seen pictures in books from the library.
The only ones not to join in were Mike, who shook his head in annoyance, and Dracula as he growled, "Shut it, everyone, or I will turn off the movie!"
"Sheesh, what a buzzkill," mumbled Brett, and Dracula glared at him, but he didn't notice.
So everyone resumed silence to continue enjoying the movie, becoming concerned when Marlin and Dory got 'eaten' by the giant blue whale, though Johnny whispered they were fine.
At seeing the green tank, they wondered why it was that way, and Linda absentmindedly said, "Oh, it's fish poop."
They exchanged disgusted groans, even to monsters any form of excrement was gross.
Back in the whale's mouth, the monsters were still grossed out at the huge tongue, but laughed at Dory having fun while Marlin tried to break out, and then cheered as the fish characters finally made it to the Sydney harbor.
Everyone got really quiet as the movie continued. Wanda quietly scolding Darla while she shook the plastic bag with Nemo in it to stop, and Dracula quietly grumbled, "This definitely shows how humans are the real monsters."
Elisa slapped his shoulder, and he faintly said, "Ow!" and quietly scolded him, "We're not all monsters, besides she's just a naïve kid."
It got really emotional at they saw how Marlin was so distraught thinking Nemo was gone forever. Dracula became very teary eyed at the thought of losing his Mavy-Wavy in such a way. Elisa took his hand gently to reassure him and show him Mavis was fine.
Everyone cheered when Nemo and Marlin were finally reunited, but became horrified as the fish became caught in the fishing net to save Dory and the other fish, chanting with them "Keep swimming, keep swimming!" But then, everyone cheered when the fish freed themselves, but grew worried when Nemo seemed hurt. Soft gasps of relief were heard when Nemo stirred and quietly said he didn't hate his dad.
Soon the movie came to its happy ending, and the monsters got all teary eyed, and Dracula had to hug Mavis affectionately since the entire movie reminded him so much of them and what they had gone through together in the last few months after making new human friends and lovers.
As everyone began to leave the room commenting what a great movie it was, Dracula and Mavis dozed off and snuggled with each other quietly on the couch. Mavis resting her head on her father's broad shoulder, and Dracula rested his head on his daughter's head. Johnny and Elisa looked at each other and made smiles of 'aww' as they took out their smartphones to take pictures of this adorable scene.