Chapter 8
Meanwhile, in the darkened lair of Dr. Grim, he looked up as he heard the elevator descend down. He rushed to it just as the automatic doors slid open revealing Mecha-Reaper. "Did you manage to capture it?" he asked. "Mission accomplished," replied Mecha-Reaper. "Oh yes! Put it in the capsule," ordered Dr. Grim.
Mecha-Reaper strolled over to a large, glass capsule that was glowing green. The base of the capsule had a control panel. Mecha-Reaper raised his arm and the metal tube coiled out. The end of it connected with a circular hole on the control panel. Then the tube stiffened up as Mecha- Reaper pushed out his contents. The still unconscious Beetlejuice appeared in the capsule.
"Are you going to begin the procedure now?" asked Mecha-Reaper. "Not just yet. I want to talk to him first," said Dr. Grim. The evil doctor approached the control panel and pushed a lever. "Wakey wakey," he chuckled evilly. Blue electric bolts surged throughout the capsule awakening Beetlejuice. He yelped in pain as blue energy ropes looped around his arms and legs. Dr. Grim pulled the lever back and smiled his horrible smile.
"Whoa, what a shocking experience. Where am I?" said Beetlejuice groggily looking around. Then his eyes met with Dr. Grim's evil gaze. "Who're you and what do you want?" he asked angrily but still weak. "You're an interesting specimen, Mr. Beetlejuice. Not at all what I expected you to be like," said Dr. Grim.
"So you're the one who sent that Grim Reaper look-alike to capture me," said Beetlejuice. "My name is Dr. Gothic Grim. And you're going to help me take over the world," said Dr. Grim. "I'll never be a part of your evil schemes. I won't use my powers to harm the living. A few pranks maybe, but I don't harm the living," stated Beetlejuice firmly. Dr. Grim laughed evilly and said, "I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice, Mr. Beetlejuice. I would recommend that you refrain from using your powers. If you even attempt to disappear, you will get a shock more painful than when Mecha-Reaper hit you with his scythe. We will begin the dissection process soon," said Dr. Grim as he pushed several buttons in a sequence.
"Dissection? What are you talking about?" asked Beetlejuice with panic in his voice. "Mecha-Reaper has informed me that you have given a girl the power to enter into your world by reciting your name three times in a row," said Dr. Grim. "No way I'm giving the power to you," said Beetlejuice defiantly. "I figured you wouldn't. That's why I'm going to use my apparatus and drain your ectoplasmic energy and with it, your powers into this generator," said Dr. Grim pointing to a device that looked like a glass orb embedded in a gray metal box. "What?" exclaimed Beetlejuice. "By using this generator, I can manipulate your powers into doing whatever I want. Even use them to bring me to your world," stated Dr. Grim as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
"Why do you want to go to the Neitherworld?" demanded Beetlejuice. "Neitherworld is it? Well, I plan to use my ghost hunting apparatus to capture every resident of your world and bring them back here. Once I find a way to control them, I will have an invincible army at my disposal to march forth and take over the world!" exclaimed Dr. Grim. "You'll never get away with it, Dr. Grim!" yelled Beetlejuice. "Oh that phrase has been used so many times. But I believe I will, Mr. Beetlejuice," said Dr. Grim.
Then the evil doctor pressed a button. A mechanical arm with a needlelike structure on it rose from the bottom of the capsule and inserted itself into Beetlejuice's back. Dr. Grim then pulled a lever and the process began. Beetlejuice yelped and yowled in pain as the machine started sucking. Dr. Grim looked down at a glass tube on the floor leading from the capsule to his generator. Black and white colored light surged through it and into the glass orb. The orb started to glow with the black and white light. "Oh yes. Yes!" exclaimed Dr. Grim with anticipation. Soon he would have the energy needed to fulfill his horrible plan.
Meanwhile, on the road leading from Sleepy Hollow, the headlights of Dr. Notrub's hearse pierced through the dark of the night. "We're getting close to where Beetlejuice is, Lydia. I only hope we're not too late," said Dr. Notrub.
"Who is this Dr. Grim? And what do you think he plans to do with Beetlejuice?" asked Lydia. "So much to explain and so little time. You see Lydia, Dr. Gothic Grim was one of New York City's leading paranormal researchers. He taught paranormal research at the university. He even came up with scientific evidence that ghosts exist. But the board of directors cut his funding when they dismissed his work as fake and unscientific. He vanished from the university and was never heard from again," stated Dr. Notrub.
"If he was a quack, then how was he able to design a robot that could capture ghosts?" asked Lydia. "It's not that he actually was a quack. It was what he proposed to do to the ghosts if they funded his research. He was planning to do horrible things like dissect and enslave them. They couldn't let him do these inhumane things. After all, ghosts are people too. Well, they were people," said Dr. Notrub.
"How do you know all this?" asked Lydia. "Because my father was on the board of directors who dismissed Dr. Grim. It was for the good of our world and the spirit world or Neitherworld as you told me it is called. But if Beetlejuice is as powerful as you say he is, then we must rescue him before Dr. Grim can put his plan into action whatever it is. We're here," said Dr. Notrub as he stepped on the brakes.
They both got out of the hearse. In front of them was a hill that wasn't as large as Dr. Notrub's hill. Leafless trees dotted it. "I can detect Beetlejuice's energy coming from within this hill. There must be some kind of underground lair. But where could the entrance be?" asked Dr. Notrub as he scanned the area with his psychokinetic energy reader. "What about that building up there?" asked Lydia pointing upwards. Sitting on the top of the hill, was an old, rundown shack. "If Dr. Grim is as clever as he is insane, it would be worth a look. Let me get the equipment out of the hearse," said Dr. Notrub as he rushed to the back of the hearse and opened it.
He reached in and pulled out a small pistol-like object, which he tossed to Lydia. Lydia flinched at the sight of the object and held it at arm's length. "Don't worry, Lydia. It's not a deadly weapon. It's my own invention that I call the F.I.R. or Fear Inducing Ray. It's a special kind of beam weapon that stimulates fear in living or dead beings. If I had ever encountered a very malevolent ghost, I would have used it to spook the spook. It'll also cause major circuitry damage if used on a mechanical object. However, it hasn't been fully tested. Well, no time like the present to test it," stated Dr. Notrub as he pulled out a gray, metallic suitcase and another one of his F.I.R. pistols.
They rushed up the hill towards the shack. Then Dr. Notrub stopped and held back Lydia. "We shouldn't be rushing into this. As inconspicuous as this seems, there might be a security system. I'll go first," said Dr. Notrub as he slowly walked toward the door of the shack. He watched the ground to make sure there weren't any tripwires. Until at last, he reached the door. "It's okay, Lydia. Come on over," he called.
Lydia ran over to the door just as Dr. Notrub opened it revealing metal elevator doors. "Bingo," said Dr. Notrub. "How will we get in?" asked Lydia. Dr. Notrub looked to the right of the elevator doors and found a small compartment. He opened it and it revealed a circuit board. "I might be able to hotwire this thing to get it open. It might take a few minutes," said Dr. Notrub as he opened the suitcase and took out some tools. "Just hurry, doctor. Who knows what that horrible doctor is doing to Beetlejuice," said Lydia with panic. She hoped that they could rescue him.
At the same time, down in Dr. Grim's lair, Mecha-Reaper strode up to his master. "Master, there are intruders at the entrance. I saw them on the security monitors," he droned. "What did they look like?" asked Dr. Grim. "It's that girl who was with the ghost. She's here with a man. They might be trying to rescue the ghost. Should I take care of them?" asked Mecha-Reaper. "By the time they even come close to operating the elevator, we will be long gone. Besides, the process is complete," said Dr. Grim as he stepped forward and pushed a lever. Then he looked up into the capsule and smiled.
Beetlejuice was crumpled on the bottom of the capsule. He didn't look at all the way he used to. His blonde hair was now as white as his skin. His skin was all wrinkled and his body was as thin and frail as a skeleton. He was practically see-through. "Feeling a little drained, Mr. Beetlejuice? I thought you would be. I don't think you'll last much longer without your powers. But we can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs can we?" laughed Dr. Grim. Beetlejuice used what little strength he had to look up at Dr. Grim and give him a look of anger.
"Mecha-Reaper, load the generator onto U.G.C.V. and activate the Zombots. We're going to the Neitherworld to build our army," said Dr. Grim with anticipation. Mecha-Reaper walked over to the generator, which was now glowing with the black and white light. On the way, he punched a red button.
Then, from the other side of the lair, a series of high-pitched giggles was heard. Suddenly, a bunch of metallic footsteps were heard as the most horrible looking robots hobbled out of the darkness. They were all black and they looked like skeletons that had been fixed together with mechanical parts. Beetlejuice gazed in horror at these horrible creations. Dr. Grim smiled at Beetlejuice's expression.
"Yes, they're not quite the ideal army. Mecha-Reaper is a far better creation from these things. But they are very durable. Even though they're fragile, they can repair themselves. I've hidden special devices in their parts that send out signals to each part and they reattach themselves. They are also equipped with the same ghost harming technology I placed into Mecha-Reaper's scythe. They'll help me capture every ghost and whatever else is in this Neitherworld of yours," stated Dr. Grim.
He then strolled over to a hat rack, took a tall, black hat from it, and placed it on his bald scalp. He also took a black opera cape and attached it to his neck. Then he picked up a walking stick and faced Beetlejuice. "Time to go. Farewell, Mr. Beetlejuice. I'll see you again if you're still here when I'm through plundering your world," said Dr. Grim. Then he walked away from the capsule. Beetlejuice used what strength he had and turned to look in the direction Dr. Grim was going.
There he saw a large machine. The front was composed of a ramp-like structure attached to a platform with a console of controls. The generator containing Beetlejuice's power was embedded in the center of the control console. Beetlejuice could make out that the ramp-like structure had a groove down the center meaning that it could open like elevator doors. The rear of the machine was mainly composed of a large, cubic box in which the Zombots were climbing into it through a hole in the top. The machine, the Ultimate Ghost Catching Vehicle, was set on tank treads. Dr. Grim climbed into the vehicle behind the control console with Mecha-Reaper behind him. Dr. Grim pressed a button on the control console and the generator glowed even brighter. The entire vehicle was surrounded by the glow.
"The password to the Neitherworld is our friend's name said three times in a row, Mecha-Reaper. Let's see if it will work for us and transport this fine machine of ours there. This is the moment I've been waiting for so it had better work. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" yelled Dr. Grim. At the exact moment Dr. Grim had said the B-word for the third time, the vehicle vanished in a flash of light with Dr. Grim, Mecha- Reaper and their army of Zombots.
'I have to do something. But how can I without my powers?' thought Beetlejuice. Then he heard the elevator move downward. He slowly turned around and watched as the elevator doors slowly opened.
Meanwhile, in the darkened lair of Dr. Grim, he looked up as he heard the elevator descend down. He rushed to it just as the automatic doors slid open revealing Mecha-Reaper. "Did you manage to capture it?" he asked. "Mission accomplished," replied Mecha-Reaper. "Oh yes! Put it in the capsule," ordered Dr. Grim.
Mecha-Reaper strolled over to a large, glass capsule that was glowing green. The base of the capsule had a control panel. Mecha-Reaper raised his arm and the metal tube coiled out. The end of it connected with a circular hole on the control panel. Then the tube stiffened up as Mecha- Reaper pushed out his contents. The still unconscious Beetlejuice appeared in the capsule.
"Are you going to begin the procedure now?" asked Mecha-Reaper. "Not just yet. I want to talk to him first," said Dr. Grim. The evil doctor approached the control panel and pushed a lever. "Wakey wakey," he chuckled evilly. Blue electric bolts surged throughout the capsule awakening Beetlejuice. He yelped in pain as blue energy ropes looped around his arms and legs. Dr. Grim pulled the lever back and smiled his horrible smile.
"Whoa, what a shocking experience. Where am I?" said Beetlejuice groggily looking around. Then his eyes met with Dr. Grim's evil gaze. "Who're you and what do you want?" he asked angrily but still weak. "You're an interesting specimen, Mr. Beetlejuice. Not at all what I expected you to be like," said Dr. Grim.
"So you're the one who sent that Grim Reaper look-alike to capture me," said Beetlejuice. "My name is Dr. Gothic Grim. And you're going to help me take over the world," said Dr. Grim. "I'll never be a part of your evil schemes. I won't use my powers to harm the living. A few pranks maybe, but I don't harm the living," stated Beetlejuice firmly. Dr. Grim laughed evilly and said, "I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice, Mr. Beetlejuice. I would recommend that you refrain from using your powers. If you even attempt to disappear, you will get a shock more painful than when Mecha-Reaper hit you with his scythe. We will begin the dissection process soon," said Dr. Grim as he pushed several buttons in a sequence.
"Dissection? What are you talking about?" asked Beetlejuice with panic in his voice. "Mecha-Reaper has informed me that you have given a girl the power to enter into your world by reciting your name three times in a row," said Dr. Grim. "No way I'm giving the power to you," said Beetlejuice defiantly. "I figured you wouldn't. That's why I'm going to use my apparatus and drain your ectoplasmic energy and with it, your powers into this generator," said Dr. Grim pointing to a device that looked like a glass orb embedded in a gray metal box. "What?" exclaimed Beetlejuice. "By using this generator, I can manipulate your powers into doing whatever I want. Even use them to bring me to your world," stated Dr. Grim as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.
"Why do you want to go to the Neitherworld?" demanded Beetlejuice. "Neitherworld is it? Well, I plan to use my ghost hunting apparatus to capture every resident of your world and bring them back here. Once I find a way to control them, I will have an invincible army at my disposal to march forth and take over the world!" exclaimed Dr. Grim. "You'll never get away with it, Dr. Grim!" yelled Beetlejuice. "Oh that phrase has been used so many times. But I believe I will, Mr. Beetlejuice," said Dr. Grim.
Then the evil doctor pressed a button. A mechanical arm with a needlelike structure on it rose from the bottom of the capsule and inserted itself into Beetlejuice's back. Dr. Grim then pulled a lever and the process began. Beetlejuice yelped and yowled in pain as the machine started sucking. Dr. Grim looked down at a glass tube on the floor leading from the capsule to his generator. Black and white colored light surged through it and into the glass orb. The orb started to glow with the black and white light. "Oh yes. Yes!" exclaimed Dr. Grim with anticipation. Soon he would have the energy needed to fulfill his horrible plan.
Meanwhile, on the road leading from Sleepy Hollow, the headlights of Dr. Notrub's hearse pierced through the dark of the night. "We're getting close to where Beetlejuice is, Lydia. I only hope we're not too late," said Dr. Notrub.
"Who is this Dr. Grim? And what do you think he plans to do with Beetlejuice?" asked Lydia. "So much to explain and so little time. You see Lydia, Dr. Gothic Grim was one of New York City's leading paranormal researchers. He taught paranormal research at the university. He even came up with scientific evidence that ghosts exist. But the board of directors cut his funding when they dismissed his work as fake and unscientific. He vanished from the university and was never heard from again," stated Dr. Notrub.
"If he was a quack, then how was he able to design a robot that could capture ghosts?" asked Lydia. "It's not that he actually was a quack. It was what he proposed to do to the ghosts if they funded his research. He was planning to do horrible things like dissect and enslave them. They couldn't let him do these inhumane things. After all, ghosts are people too. Well, they were people," said Dr. Notrub.
"How do you know all this?" asked Lydia. "Because my father was on the board of directors who dismissed Dr. Grim. It was for the good of our world and the spirit world or Neitherworld as you told me it is called. But if Beetlejuice is as powerful as you say he is, then we must rescue him before Dr. Grim can put his plan into action whatever it is. We're here," said Dr. Notrub as he stepped on the brakes.
They both got out of the hearse. In front of them was a hill that wasn't as large as Dr. Notrub's hill. Leafless trees dotted it. "I can detect Beetlejuice's energy coming from within this hill. There must be some kind of underground lair. But where could the entrance be?" asked Dr. Notrub as he scanned the area with his psychokinetic energy reader. "What about that building up there?" asked Lydia pointing upwards. Sitting on the top of the hill, was an old, rundown shack. "If Dr. Grim is as clever as he is insane, it would be worth a look. Let me get the equipment out of the hearse," said Dr. Notrub as he rushed to the back of the hearse and opened it.
He reached in and pulled out a small pistol-like object, which he tossed to Lydia. Lydia flinched at the sight of the object and held it at arm's length. "Don't worry, Lydia. It's not a deadly weapon. It's my own invention that I call the F.I.R. or Fear Inducing Ray. It's a special kind of beam weapon that stimulates fear in living or dead beings. If I had ever encountered a very malevolent ghost, I would have used it to spook the spook. It'll also cause major circuitry damage if used on a mechanical object. However, it hasn't been fully tested. Well, no time like the present to test it," stated Dr. Notrub as he pulled out a gray, metallic suitcase and another one of his F.I.R. pistols.
They rushed up the hill towards the shack. Then Dr. Notrub stopped and held back Lydia. "We shouldn't be rushing into this. As inconspicuous as this seems, there might be a security system. I'll go first," said Dr. Notrub as he slowly walked toward the door of the shack. He watched the ground to make sure there weren't any tripwires. Until at last, he reached the door. "It's okay, Lydia. Come on over," he called.
Lydia ran over to the door just as Dr. Notrub opened it revealing metal elevator doors. "Bingo," said Dr. Notrub. "How will we get in?" asked Lydia. Dr. Notrub looked to the right of the elevator doors and found a small compartment. He opened it and it revealed a circuit board. "I might be able to hotwire this thing to get it open. It might take a few minutes," said Dr. Notrub as he opened the suitcase and took out some tools. "Just hurry, doctor. Who knows what that horrible doctor is doing to Beetlejuice," said Lydia with panic. She hoped that they could rescue him.
At the same time, down in Dr. Grim's lair, Mecha-Reaper strode up to his master. "Master, there are intruders at the entrance. I saw them on the security monitors," he droned. "What did they look like?" asked Dr. Grim. "It's that girl who was with the ghost. She's here with a man. They might be trying to rescue the ghost. Should I take care of them?" asked Mecha-Reaper. "By the time they even come close to operating the elevator, we will be long gone. Besides, the process is complete," said Dr. Grim as he stepped forward and pushed a lever. Then he looked up into the capsule and smiled.
Beetlejuice was crumpled on the bottom of the capsule. He didn't look at all the way he used to. His blonde hair was now as white as his skin. His skin was all wrinkled and his body was as thin and frail as a skeleton. He was practically see-through. "Feeling a little drained, Mr. Beetlejuice? I thought you would be. I don't think you'll last much longer without your powers. But we can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs can we?" laughed Dr. Grim. Beetlejuice used what little strength he had to look up at Dr. Grim and give him a look of anger.
"Mecha-Reaper, load the generator onto U.G.C.V. and activate the Zombots. We're going to the Neitherworld to build our army," said Dr. Grim with anticipation. Mecha-Reaper walked over to the generator, which was now glowing with the black and white light. On the way, he punched a red button.
Then, from the other side of the lair, a series of high-pitched giggles was heard. Suddenly, a bunch of metallic footsteps were heard as the most horrible looking robots hobbled out of the darkness. They were all black and they looked like skeletons that had been fixed together with mechanical parts. Beetlejuice gazed in horror at these horrible creations. Dr. Grim smiled at Beetlejuice's expression.
"Yes, they're not quite the ideal army. Mecha-Reaper is a far better creation from these things. But they are very durable. Even though they're fragile, they can repair themselves. I've hidden special devices in their parts that send out signals to each part and they reattach themselves. They are also equipped with the same ghost harming technology I placed into Mecha-Reaper's scythe. They'll help me capture every ghost and whatever else is in this Neitherworld of yours," stated Dr. Grim.
He then strolled over to a hat rack, took a tall, black hat from it, and placed it on his bald scalp. He also took a black opera cape and attached it to his neck. Then he picked up a walking stick and faced Beetlejuice. "Time to go. Farewell, Mr. Beetlejuice. I'll see you again if you're still here when I'm through plundering your world," said Dr. Grim. Then he walked away from the capsule. Beetlejuice used what strength he had and turned to look in the direction Dr. Grim was going.
There he saw a large machine. The front was composed of a ramp-like structure attached to a platform with a console of controls. The generator containing Beetlejuice's power was embedded in the center of the control console. Beetlejuice could make out that the ramp-like structure had a groove down the center meaning that it could open like elevator doors. The rear of the machine was mainly composed of a large, cubic box in which the Zombots were climbing into it through a hole in the top. The machine, the Ultimate Ghost Catching Vehicle, was set on tank treads. Dr. Grim climbed into the vehicle behind the control console with Mecha-Reaper behind him. Dr. Grim pressed a button on the control console and the generator glowed even brighter. The entire vehicle was surrounded by the glow.
"The password to the Neitherworld is our friend's name said three times in a row, Mecha-Reaper. Let's see if it will work for us and transport this fine machine of ours there. This is the moment I've been waiting for so it had better work. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!" yelled Dr. Grim. At the exact moment Dr. Grim had said the B-word for the third time, the vehicle vanished in a flash of light with Dr. Grim, Mecha- Reaper and their army of Zombots.
'I have to do something. But how can I without my powers?' thought Beetlejuice. Then he heard the elevator move downward. He slowly turned around and watched as the elevator doors slowly opened.