"Party Interrupted"
As the agents ate dinner with everyone else, night began advancing toward the town of Nowhere. The setting sun in the west invited the darkness of night coming from the east. At this time, the citizens of Nowhere were feeling tired and ready to fall asleep.
In the Katz Motel, however, things were different.
All day, the villains had gone into town and bought decorations for their "We got rid of the agents" party. (They never saw Gammon and D.M. at the photo booth.) During the afternoon, it was decided the party would take place in the basement. Katz organized where everything should be. Mad Dog and Queen of the Black Puddle put up streamers, since they were the tallest. Le Quack and Doc Gerbil blew up balloons. Cajun Fox and the Weremole went to get plates and other party favors. Eustace's Ma baked a cake at her house and brought it over to the motel. Having no arms, Foot Fungus just stood around and hung on to loose change. It took until sunset to have everything ready.
By then, everyone was ready to have a party. The problem was, no one knew where to begin.
Finally, Katz had everyone seated and made his announcement. "Yesterday was indeed a close call for us. As villains, it is important that we keep our evil ways as secret and low-profile as possible. So when government agents try to unearth our behaviors, we don''t hesitate to fight back, do we?!"
The other villains cheered and clapped.
Katz continued. "This little party is a celebration for our achievements as bad guys……and girls," he said, noticing Ma and the Queen glaring at him. "We……"
"Can we get that stupid dog now?" interrupted Mad Dog. Several other villains agreed.
Katz sighed. "Yes, that is, of course, next on our schedule, but first we have a party to take care of." Katz took up his glass with one paw and raised it in the air. Everyone else did the same. "To villainy!" declared Katz.
"To villainy!" echoed the other bad guys.
As Katz brought down his glass of soda, Cajun Fox stood up in his chair and pointed his finger towards the ceiling. "Let it be known, y''all, that we are the baddest guys in all of Nowhere!" Everyone cheered and applauded.
But there was somebody else there who thought otherwise.
It started when the lights in the basement began to flicker for a moment. No one took much notice until it happened again. This time, everything became black for a few seconds until the light came back on.
Katz turned to Le Quack. "Is Ma still in the computer room?" He thought Ma was controlling the lights.
"I''m right here," said Ma, off to the side.
Katz took a quick head count and saw that everyone was there. Before he could say that it was probably some faulty wiring, a sound was heard from up above. Heavy footsteps were stomping on the lobby floor right above everyone's heads.
"Who in the world could that be?" questioned Katz. "I put up the 'closed' sign and everything." Turning to his guests, he said, "One moment, everyone." Then he charged up the stairs and opened the door.
It was dark in the lobby. There wasn't even any moonlight coming in through the windows. Katz made his way to the front desk and brought out a flashlight. "Is anyone here?" he said. When he received no answer, he walked out the front door and into the parking lot. Not one car could be seen anywhere, except for Mad Dog''s magenta sports car in the parking lot.
After looking around for a few more minutes, Katz turned around and went back inside. He decided to check the security monitors in the computer room, which was adjacent to the basement. Katz walked down the stairs and back into the basement. Once he arrived, he was shocked by what he saw.
All the other villains were gone!
Katz wondered if they had all gone into the computer room. He ran to a door on the left side of the room and opened it. The room had TV monitors all along one wall and a chair on the floor, but that was it. The room was empty.
Katz began scratching his head, trying to figure out where everyone had gone. Just then, Katz looked at one of the monitors and saw the villains enter the lobby from one of the hallways. Katz sighed with relief. He theorized that when he was in the parking lot, the villains exited the basement and went to go look for the source of the sounds themselves. "They always have to find things out for themselves," muttered Katz to himself.
He was about to turn back into the basement when something else caught his eye. One of the monitors showed the restrooms and a long dark hallway. At the end of it, Katz saw someone dressed all in white walk past the hallway! At least, he thought he saw someone. It was only there for a split second.
Katz closed his eyes and massaged his head. He went back into the basement and opened his eyes. Katz gasped and he stumbled back as he saw what lay before him.
Everything in the room had changed. The chairs were stacked up on the table like a pyramid! The streamers were rolled up into balls! The cake was unceremoniously splattered against a wall! The room looked like utter chaos!
Katz began to feel nervous. For a moment, he wondered if his guests had done all this before they left the room. But there wasn't enough time to all this. Katz was only gone a few minutes!
Suddenly, he heard a shout from upstairs. Katz ran up the stairs and back into the lobby. No one was there to greet him. Where did everybody go?
Katz was about to head for the restrooms to go find the person he thought he saw on camera. But then, a faint glow caught his attention. In one corner of the living room, he heard what sounded like muffled laughter. At the same time, the temperature dropped in the room, and Katz's breath became visible.
In the corner of the room, Katz observed a small man in a doctor's outfit. It appeared as though a light from somewhere was shining on him from somewhere. His back was to Katz and seemed to be turning one of the indoor plants upside down.
Katz thought about shining the flashlight on him when he stopped. He was about ten feet away from the stranger when Katz realized it the person HIMSELF who was illuminating the surroundings! As if sensing someone was there, the stranger slowly turned around and showed his face to Katz. He was about sixty and had a bald head, whiskers, and a long, bushy beard. He was indeed wearing a doctor''s outfit from sometime in the 1800s. The man grinned at Katz and spoke in a dark, whimsical tone.
"Now, what seems to be the problem today, fellow citizen of Nowhere?"
Katz began shaking with fear……and not just because he could see the plant straight through the man's body. He had heard that saying before. In fact, everybody in Nowhere, especially the older townspeople, was familiar with it.
Katz gulped, the flashlight shook in his paw. He could think of only one thing to say.
"D-Doctor Stromwell?"
At that moment, in a small Gypsie wagon, Shirley the medium woke up with a start. The inside of the wagon was bathed in a red light that was coming from her crystal ball. Shirley lazily got out of bed and looked into her ball. Her eyes widened with amazement and her jaw dropped as she stared into the glowing sphere.
"Impossible," whispered Shirley. "It cannot be. How could he return?"
Elsewhere, at that moment, Dr. Zalost sat up in bed. He rubbed his large head and was about to fall asleep, when a feeling swept over his body. He gasped. His eyes traveled to his window, in the direction of the Katz Motel.
"He has returned," he whispered.
Suddenly, back at the motel, all the lights in the lobby flashed on. Katz dropped his flashlight and rubbed his eyes when he opened them again, the ghost was gone.
"Who were you talking to?" asked a voice behind him.
Katz whirled around and saw his guests staring at him with curious expressions. "Where have you all been?" asked Katz, breathlessly.
"Looking for you," replied Le Quack.
"Did you see……?" began Katz, who pointed at the upside-down plant. Before he could finish his sentence, however, all the lights turned off again.
"That''s it,"" declared Mad Dog. "I'm sick of this. You all can have your party if you want, but I'm gonna go after that little pink dog." He stormed out of the lobby. No one stopped him. Mad Dog got into the driver''s seat and started the engine. He looked over to the passenger seat. Lying in the seat was D.M.''s bat.
"Time to put you to good use," said Mad Dog to the bat. He slammed on the pedal and zoomed out of the parking lot in the direction of Courage's house.
Inside the lobby, nobody moved. They were too terrified to find out what would happen next (a first for all of them!)
After a moment, Katz slowly crept over to Cajun Fox. "I think you were wrong, my friend," whispered Katz to the fox. "I think we''re dealing with someone who is, in fact, badder than us."
As that fact sunk in, something became audible above everyone's head. It was a humming sound, similar to a giant hummingbird.
The last villain who spoke up that night was Doc Gerbil. "Does this mean we don''t get any cake?"
Later, the villains tried to recall what happened next. All they could remember was a sound like wood exploding above their heads. Looking up, they could see the ceiling fold away like a banana peel and disintegrating. An extremely bright light shined down on them all. Trying to shield their eyes, the villains could feel themselves become lighter than air and began rising up off the ground before they were rendered unconscious.
In his car, Mad Dog happened to glance in his rear view mirror. His eyes widened with surprise as he saw a domed spaceship, illuminated with lights, hovering in the sky! A large beam of light was shining down from the craft to the ground below!
Mad Dog slammed on his brakes and turned around in his seat. But, through the rear window, there was nothing in the sky at all.
Turning back around, Mad Dog shook his head. "Must be seeing things," he muttered as he continued on his short journey to destroy Courage.
(Confused? Don''t worry, dear reader. The ghost and the UFO are two totally unrelated events……I think. And who is Dr. Stromwell? Could he be the ghost who''s possessed Mr. Furry? And if so, why?)