The character "Dustin T. Dust" is based on one created by Aquarian Wolf.
Crystal expected the graveyard to be different, but she didn't expect Jack himself to be standing at the gate!
As she approached, she saw the tall thin skeleton in his 'Sandy Claws' suit, talking to the ghost dog.
"Hey! Hey you!" Crystal yelled, and walked towards him, "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"It's Christmas!" He said, smiling jovially down at her, "Have you been good this year? Ho ho ho!"
"Jack, we need you to put a stop to all of this! In case you haven't noticed, you've pulled the spirits back from the afterlife."
"What's this?" He asked, confused. Jack was obviously unaware of the havoc he was causing.
"All of these ghosts here, they don't belong anymore! Your magic made them return, and that's not good."
"But...they want to celebrate this joyous holiday, don't they?"
"I'm sure they can do it perfectly fine from where they were."
Jack sighed. "I'm sorry…I never meant to do that! I just wanted to spread some holiday cheer! I mean, can you believe your eyes?" He said, holding his arms out and showing off the Christmas he had made, "I like this Christmas thing!"
"Well yes, it's very nice, but-"
"See Zero, I told you they would like my Christmas!" Jack said to his dog, who barked happily.
"Your holiday is very nice, with all of this snow, cold weather and ice. But please make it stop, no offense to you…we don't this place as a Christmassy zoo!" George said, trying to convince Jack.
"Listen to the crazy rhyming ghost," Crystal suggested.
"Oh…I suppose you're right. I thought this house was perfect for my Christmas, but I guess I'll just keep looking. I hear there's this lovely brick estate in a place called Liberty Square…"
"Great. But please, don't change it just yet – I'd like to see the graveyard," Crystal said, and Jack nodded.
"I'll meet you two in the crypt, and there we can remove the decorations," Jack said, and headed off towards it. Meanwhile, Crystal slowly began to walk through the graveyard, taking in the sights. The whole place was covered in snow, and there were brightly light jack-o-lanterns all over the place.
"You want to see the graveyard? Why, may I ask? We really should get back to our task."
"I know…there's a ghost I want to see first." She said.
"I'm sure you can manage all on your own – If you need anything, just give me a moan," George said with a wink, and headed off to the crypt too. Crystal waved goodbye to him, and continued on down the graveyard's path. She passed many familiar ghosts celebrating Christmas before coming upon something she hadn't seen.
On her previous visit, there had been a musical group of marble busts…but in their place were now a bunch of jack-o-lanterns! They were singing a tune, and Crystal stuck around to listen to their song.
"What's this, what's this, what's this?
We wiiiish you a scary Chriiistmas,
We wiiiish you a scary Chriiistmas,
We wiiiish you a scary Chriiistmas,
And a haunted New Yeeeear!
Ho ho ho! Ho ho ho!
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!
Jolly dear old Sandy Claws, while the graveyard sleeps,
Down the chimney, dark and damp, with you're sack you'll creep!
Happy haunts materialize for a swinging wake,
Glowing pumpkins harmonize, joyful screams we'll make!
Ho ho ho! Ho ho ho!
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!
What's this what's this what's this?
Garlands made of iron chains, candles glowing bright
Spiders make cool ornaments for our tree of fright
Creepy crypts look awful nice tied up in a bow!
Now our graveyard's pure and white, with the ghostly snow!
Ho ho ho! Ho ho ho!
Ho ho ho! Ho ho ho!
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!"
This song continued to be sung by all of the ghosts in the graveyard as Crystal walked through it. She even found herself humming along with it – it was quite catchy.
At last Crystal came upon what she'd been looking for – an old hearse carriage, stuck in the mud. Or rather, because of the cold weather, it was now stuck in ice.
"Dustin?" She called. A few seconds later, a ghost materialized in front of her.
" Crystal?" The aptly named ghost Dustin T. Dust said in surprise, "What are you doing here?" He gave her a hug, and she explained what was going on.
"Oh…so THAT'S where those pumpkins came from," Dustin said, glancing over at them as they began to sing their song over again.
"Yep. But don't worry – I'm on my way to get rid of all of this and send you guys back to the afterlife,"
"Oh, don't worry, take your time," Dustin said with a smile, "Rolly here and I were just reminiscing." He patted the invisible horse's neck, and she heard it knicker.
"Cool. So are you partaking in this Christmas celebration?"
"Oh, sort of…I'm kind of celebrating from the sidelines. I'm not that big on parties," Dustin said, looking at his feet.
"Well, you better go and make the most of it while you can…George is really mad at the guy who started all of this, and it probably won't happen again."
"Okay, thanks for the advice," Dustin said with a chuckle. With one last quick hug, they parted ways.
As Crystal entered the decorated mausoleum, she suddenly remembered the characters that she had met last time she was down here. She saw the mirrors that they'd been hiding in, and expected to see them hiding in them. But when she stood in front of the mirror, she was surprised to see a ghostly pumpkin hovering next to her head!
"What th-?" She started, and turned her head. There was nothing there, and when she turned her head back, there was a large skull floating there instead.
"Ha! Fooled you!" Came a voice. Crystal smiled as she recognized who was talking. Ezra and Phineas, two of the mischief making ghosts she had met down here appeared, holding the skull and the pumpkin in the air. The third ghost, Gus, appeared shortly afterwards.
"Hey, you Rockin' Rhock! What's happening?" Ezra asked her. She once again explained the situation, and the hitchhikers looked very put out after she finished.
"You mean there's been a Christmas party going on all this time and no one told us?" Phineas asked in shock.
"I'm hurt! I'm offended! I'm going to give them all a piece of my mind!" Ezra said, adjusting his hat to look more menacing and started to storm out of the crypt.
"Gus knew all along...he just wanted to spare the others," Gus whispered to Crystal, and she smiled.
"You've done them a great service," She whispered back, "But try to stall these two for a little longer? If I'm lucky, all of this will be over soon." Gus nodded at her, and promptly stole the two taller ghosts' hats. He started them on a wild goose chase through the crypt, and Crystal silently slipped away to find George and Jack. She heard their voices, and rounded a corner and found them.
"Sorry if I kept you guys waiting…I had some friends I needed to talk to," Crystal said.
"No problem at all, we've just been conversing; we've settled our differences, with hardly no cursing! Jack can celebrate, bring Christmas cheer…as long as a few new ground rules are clear. He must of course, ask, before settling in; and not fill it with ghosts, very much like it had been. They can come back on their own free will, and leave once they've had their holiday fill."
"Those poetic terms sound good to me," Crystal said, "What do you think Jack?"
"I agree," Jack said, "And once again, I apologize for the trouble I've caused. Now all we need to do is say the spell to get everything back into my 'Sandy Claws' sack." He held up a brown leather bag that was about the size of a garbage bag.
"All your decorations fit in there?" Crystal asked, staring at it.
"Of course…it's magic," Jack replied with a wink. He got out a piece of paper that had the spell on it, but just as he and Crystal were about to read it, the ground started to rumble.
"What's going on?" Crystal asked, staring at Jack with a confused look. However, the skeleton had a look of equal confusion.
"I don't know! This isn't part of my Christmas!" All of a sudden, something crashed through the wall near them, causing large stone blocks to go flying and dust to go everywhere. When the dust cleared, Crystal could see what had caused the wall to break – but she had no idea what it was.
Jack, on the other hand, knew precisely what…and who…it was.
"Oogie Boogie!"
