Godslayer, huh? That was the highest threat level. It almost made sense, given how tonight was Halloween.
"Alright E.M.M.I., what are we dealing with here?" Cory asked once the AI migrated to his phone.
"GIVEN THE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF DARK MAGIC DETECTED, AND SCANNING FOR A MATCH IN THE MONSTER DATABASE, THERE IS A 90% CHANCE THAT THIS THREAT IS THE PRIME ALPHA TARGET."
"Slappy? Well…it's about time. What's he planning THIS time?"
"UNKNOWN. ADDITIONAL SCANS HAVE DETECTED AN UNUSUAL SPIKE IN PARANORMAL ENERGY, LOCATED WITHIN THE CEMETERY."
"Can you determine the source of that energy?"
"...NEGATIVE. THERE IS NO MATCH IN THE DATABASE. THIS IS HIGHLY LIKELY SOMETHING THAT WE HAVE NEVER DEALT WITH BEFORE. EXTREME CAUTION IS STRONGLY ADVISED."
"No match? ANYWHERE?"
"AFFIRMATIVE."
"What kind of paranormal and supernatural energy is this…THING emitting?"
"SCANNING. ERROR: ENERGY SOURCE TOO STRONG TO LOCK ON. REATTEMPTING… THERE IS A 15% PROBABILITY THAT THE ENERGY IS NECROTIC."
"Necrotic? The Haunter summoned forth ALL the corpses last year! There should be no bodies left!"
"IT IS MOST LIKELY A VIRUS. SUCH A WEAPON CANNOT FALL IN ENEMY HANDS."
"Understood." Cory stated as the AI ended the call. "Alright guys, gear up. There could be more to what Slappy's doing than what we understand…"
Shapeshifters changed into their monster forms. Knights and mages readied their swords and magic. Robots armed their weapons. Realmwalkers entered their spiritual states. Aliens readied their high-tech weaponry. Superheroes donned their costumes. Demons readied their weapons. Kruu readied her Syren Magic. Mark donned those VR goggles to become the Cyber Shinobi. Those simply human readied anything they could get their hands on: Zach his twin metal bats, Sonny a few Mystic Manuscripts, and Jack "Ironheade" Black his heavy metal battle ax.
Cory and Lisa, meanwhile, donned their monster disguises and used their amulets to don their battle armor.
Once the Hunters were ready, Ironheade reversed his pickup truck out from the base's garage. Under the light of the moon, the vehicle grew and transformed. Jack donned his Skull Mask as his monster truck, The Beast, let out a roar from her engine. Eric Affabee took the shotgun seat as Cobalt, Lissandra, Flora, and Tiana sat in the back.
And unseen in the night, the truck sped off into the woods as the other Hunters followed. Werewolves raced through the woods as bats flew above them. Mages opened portals to their destination to allow the others easy and quick routes.
Going through town was too risky. This way was a lot safer. Lucy flew alongside the bats of the Twilight Brood and took off at high speeds, following The Beast constantly.
To think that a lot of this all started in the dark spooky woods. With that old Dead House. And a lot more happened within the Cemetery and Graveyard. The Boogeyman raising the dead. The Haunter had done the same. And facing The Haunted Mask, Belladonna, and the Unloved in that old pumpkin farm.
The Beast plowed through the old gates. A lot of people had lived and died in this town, having been around for over a century. The graveyard was massive, but all the corpses had already become zombies that only got killed again.
But the Hunters had to be careful. They were fighting in someone's home in the Shadow Realm. Most ghosts slept here, thankfully untouched by the living. Hopefully it stayed that way, the resting spirits remaining undisturbed.
Finally, with E.M.M.I. having been tracking the energy source, Ironheade parked The Beast right in the middle of the massive graveyard. It HAD to be here. Lucy touched down as the driver and five passengers disembarked, as the others joined up with them.
They continued following the signal on foot, albeit being hard to lock onto. But soon, they didn't need the signal to keep going forward. Eventually they could sense a powerful source of dark magic.
And soon enough…there he was. Waiting for them. Slappy the Dummy laughed evilly while sitting on a grave.
"Awww…did you MISS me?" He cackled. "Sorry it took me so long. I was…busy at the moment."
"Face it, buddy." Lissandra said. "The bad guys never win! I've even lost COUNT of how many times we kicked your little wooden butt and ruined any plans you had for world domination!"
"True, but THIS is a HORROR story! An exception! In scary stories and movies, the bad guys always WIN! And cars don't start so easily like in action movies! Which means it's only a matter of time before I come up with something so twisted, so diabolical, so PERFECTLY evil, that not even YOU dummies will be able to stop it! And I do so believe that it has something to do…with THIS little beauty."
It was then that Slappy held out a strange pink stone. It had a zombie hand rising from the ground on it, an eerie glow, and was as large as a human's entire palm of the hand.
At the sight, Cobalt had a look of confusion and shock.
"What…what IS that?" He asked.
"I have NO idea." Slappy giggled. "I just found it buried within this graveyard. But I'm just DYING to find out what it does!"
He then held it high and laughed some more. That's when the strange pink stone began to glow brighter and brighter with an eerie hum.
Suddenly, the stone shot out immense amounts of pink lightning!
"WOAH!"
Cobalt ducked as Lucy vaulted to the side to dodge it. The lightning struck the ground as more lightning from the stone did the same thing. The Midnight Society had to dodge stray pink bolts being shot their way!
Finally, the electric barrage from the stone managed to cease, the ground that was hit being scorched and charred.
"So that thing shoots lightning lasers, huh?" Lissandra taunted. "Ha! All that effort was for nothing!"
"Grrrr…stupid thing…" Slappy knocked on it. "How do I make it WORK again?!"
That's when they heard it. The deathly sound of…nothing. Slappy paid no mind, trying to figure out how to make the stone zap his victims again. But even when he raised it up again, nothing happened.
But it COULD. Cobalt only prepared himself for what was about to come…
CRACK!
As if a real-life jumpscare, a ZOMBIE HAND burst from the ground!