It was time to board the cruise. Three witches, mostly the maids, soared in on their broomsticks, cackling and circling over the sea and around the massive cruise ship. It was an extremely impressive sight for everyone, especially when the ship blended in with the glamorous surroundings like the star covered sky and the northern lights.
The monsters and humans gathered in a ballroom, where fish men waiters brought them drinks or appetizers. There was a giant portrait of a human man of the Greek times shaking hands with a monster; it was the symbol of the harmony and friendship between man and monster. The anchor was raised, the horn blew, and the huge ship began to pull back from the port, sailing through the ocean. They were off for the start of a family vacation.
Wayne, Wanda and hundreds of wolf pups, including the older mature pups, walked up to a photo backdrop for a family picture. The pups were going nuts to their poor parents' dismay, except the calmer elder pups, but as soon as they heard the fish photographer say 'Okay, smile!' the pups paused for a second to flash brilliant smiles, including their parents. But the instant the flash went off, the pups went nuts again, while the older siblings and their parents frowned.
"Thank you," Stan said, escorting a monster family away as the next guests stepped to the photo area. He greeted the family in his usual monotone voice, "Welcome aboard! How are you doing? Nice to see you."
Outside on the deck, the witches finished circling the ship and landed next to a few pool chairs. Each witch snapped their fingers as their witch dresses poofed into bathing suits. The witches settled on the pool chairs to relax and stashed their brooms next to them. The last witch's broom refused to stand to the side. It took the last chair, and with a bit of magic, kicked the witch off and knocking her to the floor.
Meanwhile, Dennis and Winnie had entered the ballroom where they found a sign that read 'NO PETS ALLOWED,' clearly meaning that Tinkles was not allowed to even be on the cruise with them.
"No Pets Allowed? Uh oh." Dennis cringed as he exchanged a worried glanced to Winnie.
However, the two kids came up with a brilliant plan to sneak Tinkles onboard. Working together, the kids dressed Tinkles up in a brown trench coat and fedora hat, both fitted the large dog perfectly.
"Perfect!" Dennis smirked, pleased that the plan worked.
Then Dennis and Winnie proceeded to do their special handshake, which ended in Winnie immediately kissing Dennis on the cheek. A goofy grin spread across Dennis's face, followed by a small moan.
Moving ahead, Winnie checked to make sure the coast was clear and said, "Dennis, come on."
As the kids guided the disguised puppy inside, they walked up to the fish man greeter who said monotonal, "Oh hello, welcome aboard." The fish man looking up an down at the tall strange monster behind the awkwardly smiling children.
"This is Bob." Dennis ushered his disguised dog to speak to avoid suspicion. "Say 'hi,' Bob."
"Hi, Bob." Tinkles spoke in a male voice.
The fish man's eyes widened in surprise. The kids and Tinkles walked past him, trying not to draw attention to themselves.
While everyone else was busy checking in or talking photos, Daniel's iPhone began to ring. It caught the attention of the Stein couple. He took his phone out of his pocket to see who it was; it had the picture of Casimer Quinston. Obviously, despite the scoundrel's poor reputation, Daniel knew him immediately and had to take this call.
"Sorry guys, I need to take this. I'll catch up with all of you later." Daniel said, as he excused himself.
The two groups nodded in understanding as Daniel went to the far corner of the room so no one could eavesdrop on his conversation. Once he did, he pressed a button and began to video chat with his mother. "Hey Casimer, I finally made it to the Bermuda Triangle!"
"You're on the ship, and you have Dracula with you?" Quinston asked him through video chat.
"Yes. He's here. I earned his trust by staging an accident to save his baby."
"Good, your family will be pleased to hear you succeeded."
"You wouldn't believe what I've been through to get them here!" Daniel started to complain, scowling in disgust. "They had a giant monster dog that tried to attack me! Then I went on a dangerous flight that was piloted by Gremlins who wrecked the plane when we landed!"
"I just can't believe those idiotic humans put their trust in monsters!" Quinston raged, but he calmed himself down to take a breather. "Is Elona there with you?"
"Yes she is, like I said before from our last chat..."
Emerging from the shadows, Quinston noticed an elderly lady standing close by, thrusting a very old ancient spell book, big golden letters read GRIMOIRE. She wore a mage-priestess turned witch creamy white and orange dress with a red and black long skirt, an old fashioned wedding ring on her index finger, and a large golden moon-shaped pendant draped around neck. Her white hair was tied in a high bun half loose as two wavy loose curls hung over both her shoulders, and eyes a golden amber. The older woman nodded at him, ready to conduct some kind of magic spell, which is something not very pleasant judging by the displeased frown on her face and by the iron cuffs on her wrists, indicating that she's his prisoner.
"Is she still with HIM?!" Quinston asked in disgust.
"Yes, Casimer, she's still married to Dracula." Daniel informed him, still bored by the usual question and answer. "Seriously, how you're still obsessed with her, I have no idea," he murmured to himself at that last part.
"Did you learn anything while you were with them? Maybe some useful information to destroy them?"
"A few days ago, a detective from London by the name of Sherrinford Holmes came to interrogate Dracula about the murder cases. He's the only idiot who believes he's innocent, despite what the other cops think."
A sadistic grin appears on Quinston's features. "Looks like the plan is going along swimmingly. And in time, who knows, perhaps we can persuade Mr. Holmes to reconsider Dracula's innocence."
"By the way, I did overhear an argument to between Elona and Dracula. She wants him to turn her into a vampire."
This piece of news shocked Quinston so much that he almost dropped the phone. "SHE WHAAAT!?" He screamed in the phone speaker that Daniel had to hold the phone away from his ear for a second.
"Yes, but apparently Dracula and his father had refused to transform her because of consequences on what happened to Mina Harker's loved ones," Daniel informed him. "So they've been on edge since then."
Relieved, Quinston was very pleased with this information. If all goes well, the next part of the plan will work like a charm. "Hmmm... That could be very useful for us to tear them apart." Smirking, he glanced over at the angry elderly woman.
Daniel didn't understand why Quinston made it so important for their plan to break up the couple when they should be killing the monsters. "Why is breaking them up so important in our plot to kill Dracula?"
"That is for us to know and for you to learn later!" Quinston responded strictly. "Okay, I need you to find my cousin."
"Okay, but why her?"
"I want you to meet up with her, and then later when the monsters are either busy partying or whatever, I want both of you to come to the hideout so we can discuss the rest of the plan, got it?"
"Alright, bye." After that, Daniel hung up his phone and he immediately re-joined the others.
In a secret room hidden within the bowels of the ship, Quinston asked the elderly gypsy woman, "You're sure that this spell plan of yours will work, gypsy witch?"
"Young man, there is one thing that you shouldn't question me on and that is my magic capabilities!" The gypsy witch reprimanded in a scolding tone. "And I'd rather be dead than do your dirty work!"
To make his threat clear, Quinston picks up a whip, indicating he will torture her if she doesn't comply. "I don't think you have a choice!"
Meanwhile on the deck, Griffin was exploring the ship with his invisible girlfriend, Crystal, and the rest of the gang. He had met Crystal a year ago at Dennis and Melany's fifth birthday party after the downfall of Quinston and Bela, and the two invisible people instantly zinged and began a relationship.
"Oh my gosh, Griffin!" Crystal gushed. "I am like so excited. This is the nicest hotel I have ever been to."
"Yeah!" Griffin agreed.
Murray agreed with Crystal as he looked over an itinerary. "Man, this is amazing! There's so much to do. Olympic-sized swimming pool!"
A monster dove into the pool.
"All-you-can-eat-buffet!"
A skeleton picked up the entire table and gobbled up all of the food. He burped, and one of the fish crew members popped back out of his mouth.
"Full service spa!"
Bigfoot was at the spa laying on the massage table with three fish crew members giving him a massage, though it seemed like they were dancing on his back.
"Ooooooh! I'm gonna get me a seaweed rewrap!"" Murray grew more excited than ever.
But ever since boarding the ship, Dracula felt jealous and irked that everyone on this cruise was just as similar to everything they could be doing at his precious hotel. "Wow. It sounds like everything we can do at our hotel," he groaned sarcastically.
"Except on the water!" Murray corrected.
Suddenly fireworks exploded above them. Dennis transformed into a bat to carry Winnie by the collar to get a better view. Sherrinford draped an arm around Violet, finding the fireworks on a cruise ship to be incredibly romantic.
"You nailed it, honey!" Johnny was very proud of Mavis, grinning hugely. "Your dad is going to love this! Best summer vacation ever!"
"Wait till you see the itinerary," Mavis hinted, clutching her husband by the shoulders.
While Daniel watched the fireworks, he couldn't help but be impressed by the sparkles and colorful patterns in the sky, but the show triggered a sad childhood memory.
Back when he was eight years old, he woke up to hear explosions during the night of a special occasion. He crept to the bed next to him where his roommate slept in and poked her shoulder. A little girl around his age with curly platinum white-haired and dark blue eyes sat up, yawning. The two of them curiously pushed the window open and their eyes widened at the marvelous sight the two children witnessed.
Fireworks exploded in the sky, creating different patterns and shapes, magnificent colors of all kinds, and its remaining sparkles rained down upon the distant city of England. Little Daniel and his friend exchanged genuine smiles of amazement and wonder at the celebration before them. They stared at the exploding colors, spellbound. It was so beautiful that they smiled in admiration.
But their private firework show came to an abrupt end when a grown man entered the room, tired and irritated. It wasn't the girl's great-grandfather. But someone they both knew, respected and feared. The smiles on the girl's and Daniel's faces faded away when they realized the man didn't approve of their late-night show. The cold-hearted man promptly slammed the windows closed, shutting out the world to keep both children locked within his headquarters.
"Do you like fireworks, Mr. Belmont?" Melany's cute face popped up in from nowhere, snapping the red-headed man out of his tragic flashback.
"Aah!" Daniel drew back, almost got into fighting position to attack her. But he immediately remembered where he was and whom he was with, so he relaxed his posture. "Don't do that!" he scolded the child. "I almost wet myself."
"I'm sorry, you were so absorbed in watching the fireworks," Melany explained, and then she asked out of curiosity, "Uh, are you a karate expert?"
Daniel felt embarrassed for almost giving himself away, but he decided to go along with what she guessed. "Um, yes. When I was your age, my parents set me up in karate classes."
"Cool!" Melany awed.
Frank was admiring the firework show, despite the fact how fire terrified him, he impressively put his fears aside to enjoy the celebration. "Ohhh, that's nice."
The ever-frowning Dracula was confused at why his friend was having fun. "Frank, 'fire bad,' remember?" he said, mimicking what the golem monster usually said when he saw a flame.
"Oh yeah, right, but uh..." Frank noticed that Elona was hoisting Melany up on her shoulders to get a better view, and he turned to his vampire friend, wiggling his eyebrows. "Maybe you'll find your own fireworks with Elona on the cruise? Huh?"
"It's not the Love Boat I share with my wife, Frank," Dracula replied, before he grinned. "I'm just here to have fun with my family."
Little did he know that was going to change and he will regret it for the rest of his undead life.
Suddenly an energetic figure clad in a white suit swung through the air and over the crowd, catching Dracula's attention and slightly hit Daniel in the back of his head.
"Oww!" Daniel rubbed his head and glared up at the acrobatic woman who accidently struck him, but as soon as he recognized the mystery woman, he just frowned.
The woman in white landed on a high mast above the audience. She wore a white captain's uniform, had very short platinum white hair with a few curls, dark blue eyes, hot pink lips, and an hourglass figure. The crowd cheered as she welcomed the international monsters and humans, being super friendly. "Ahoy there! Welcome aboard!" Then she greeted in different languages, super impressive how many languages she knew. The woman even greeted Bigfoot saying, "Wreeeerrraaarrooorr!"
A delighted Bigfoot roared back, "WRRROOORR!"
Suddenly a violet mist out of a nearby ventilation shaft on the floor, maneuvering like a cobra emerging from a basket. The gypsy woman's voice echoed eerily as she chanted in an old Romanian language. The mist glided through the crowd, unnoticed. It slithered through or underneath the crowd at a quick pace, completely unnoticed. Finally, it found its target; Count Dracula.
Murray stared at the mystery woman in amazement. "Whoa! Who is that?"
The violet mist moved upward, reaching Dracula's face and going into his eyes. "Ahh, what the-" It stun his eyes for a second, but then the vampire saw the female captain. That's when the spell finally kicked in and the false zing activated. He couldn't take his eyes off this woman.
This woman was the same little girl whom Daniel had known ever since childhood. Whilst he had been on friendly terms with her in the past, he wasn't exactly thrilled to see her, considering SHE is the woman whom Quinston ordered to find; his cousin.
"I am Captain Ericka," the lady captain introduced herself to the crowd. "And yes, I'm human, but don't hold it against me. I could not be more excited to have all of you on board our first-ever monster cruise!"
The monsters cheered in response. Nobody noticed a goofy smile crept over Dracula's mouth, and his heart was beating fast and loud. He was sincerely focused on the Captain and her loveliness.
But the sound of his unusual heartbeat caught Elona's ears and attention. She saw her husband's silly face and his knees going weak. "Drac? What's wrong?" she asked, worriedly.
Mavis was cheering with everyone else, until she noticed her stepmother's concern and watched her approach her father. Now she too began to worry. "Dad, uh, are you okay?"
"Ina finny, fanny! Oh no wa-wa." Dracula muttered in a silly gibberish language.
It was now when Melany noticed her father started talking nonsense. "Mommy, what's wrong with Daddy?" the little girl asked, worried about her father.
"Oh no! He's having a heart attack!" Mavis stared at her father, looking very concerned.
"Drac? Not likely." Murray checked him over.
"Yeah, the only heart attack that can hurt him is with a wooden stake," Wayne added.
Mavis waved a hand in her dad's face. "It must be a stroke!"
"That doesn't look like the face of a heart attack or a stroke, honey," Elona said, studying his goofy expression while frowning suspiciously.
Wayne glanced at Dracula, then followed where his eyes lead him to, and he saw whom the vampire was looking at. "Actually, I think that it might be her." The wolfman pointed to Ericka, but accidently poked the invisible man in the eye with his finger.
"Ow! Watch where you're pointing, mister! I'm right here," Griffin exclaimed in annoyance.
Wayne shook his head. "You always stand so close to me. It's creepy."
When Elona realized that Dracula was acting weird because of Captain Ericka, she couldn't believe it and almost felt a stroke herself. "What do you mean it's HER!?" she growled, pointing an accusing finger at the woman in white. But she was also confused, I mean why was he acting this way around another woman? Mavis and Melany exchanged concerned glances. Why would their father be acting weird over a woman he's never met before?
Ericka slid down the mast onto the deck with graceful movements. "For so long, monsters were living in the shadows, but not anymore. You stood up and waved your hand, or claw, or tentacle, and said, 'We're here, we're hairy, and it is our right to be scary!'"
The monsters were truly impressed, really digging into this wonderful captain, that they responded in another cheer. Even the humans were amazed over her charm and inspiration.
All except for Elona, who secretly mocked this strange woman's words with loathing insult, "We're here, we're hairy, and it's our right to be scary! Bleh!" She stuck out her tongue.
Captain Ericka continued onward with her speech. "Now it's time to celebrate! You'll enjoy gourmet dining, thrilling adventures, and nonstop entertainment, all on the way to our final destination, the lost city that isn't lost anymore - Atlantis!"
The audience began going wild. They went even crazier when the doors swung open, and the fish employees performed a circus of acrobatics and amazing tricks.
"Oh, yeah!" Dennis shouted.
"Woo-hoo!" Winnie exclaimed.
As soon as the two children followed the acrobatics, Mavis (having forgotten her concern for her parents) cartwheeled after them, followed by Johnny. The rest of the monsters and humans applauded enthusiastically. Elona was knocked to the side by an acrobat by accident, crying, "Ow!"
Two pairs of eyes were sincerely focused on Ericka; Daniel's green eyes shifted after her with such disgust, and Dracula's blue eyes grew wider as she began to approach him while she greeted the monsters and humans.
"Hello. How y'all doing?" Ericka smiled to a group of monsters, until she caught Dracula staring at her and seductively approached him. "So, you must be the one and only Dracula." The vampire gulped, but still kept that goofy dumbfounded grin on his face. "I have waited SO long to meet you." Ericka leaned in so close that her breath touched his face. "Wow, you really don't age, do you? I would kill for your skin."
Dracula mumbled something to respond, but he couldn't get the words out right. It came out as, "Eh... Doobie-day-shu-la koobie day."
Not seemingly caring about what he said, Ericka's eyes lit up as she flirted with him, "Ooh! You're speaking Transylvanian. I've always wanted to learn." She repeated what he said, "Doobie-day-shu-la koobie day."
The vampire tried to make himself understood, but he kept struggling. They ended up going back and forth like someone practicing with recorded language tapes, repeating "Koobie-day" or "Doola-day-shu-la koobie day."
Only two people could feel their rage at their breaking point because of this disgusting scene. A jealous Elona and an enraged Daniel, feeling the words echoing in their brains like a torture device. Flames of wrath exploded inside the green eyes of jealousy, followed by skull faces. Both were certain they could hear the theme from Psycho in the background, almost plotting to strangle those two if they don't stop.
"Why can't they just shut up!?" Daniel felt a snarl in his throat, wanting to tear murder Dracula and kill him right there. He had claimed Ericka first long ago, but despite their breakup, witnessing that creature trying to steal his old flame made him sick.
"That little tramp is a wolf in sheep's clothing!" Elona felt her jaw clench tighter, wishing she had been turned into a vampire back at the hotel, so she could drain every ounce of blood from Ericka's body until her lifeless body looks like a deflated whoopi cushion.
"Uhh… I think I'll go play with Bridget." Melany was becoming frightened by the spasm of rage in her mother's eyes, so she cautiously left with her terrified best friend.
Ericka had no idea what the Count was trying to say, but she playfully continued flirting with him out of amusement. "Ahh, such romantic language. You know, there's just something about an accent that makes a man sound so intelligent."
"Ali-booboo." Dracula stuttered, his idiotic grin never fading away.
Having quite enough of this nonsense, Elona decided to put an end to it. Rushing in like the wind she forcibly, or rather roughly, shoved her husband aside so she could speak to the captain. When Elona stood in front of this intruder, Ericka was exactly the same height and body shape as the blonde woman before her.
"I'm sorry about him, he's usually formal at meeting strangers." Elona told the female captain, though judging by the tone of her voice it was ice cold.
"Uhh, okay?" Ericka responded awkwardly, slightly irked at this blonde's rude interruption.
Elona thought it was time to introduce herself to this woman, no matter how bitter her voice sounded. "Hi, we haven't met. My name is Elona, or rather famously known as MRS Dracula." She made that very clear with gritted teeth.
This put a surprised expression on Ericka's face. To see that this human woman standing in front of her was Dracula's wife, though she did manage an amazed grin, being impressed that someone managed to tie the knot with the Count. "Y-you're married to Dracula? Wow, that's fantastic!"
"Yes, does it bother you that I'm human?" Elona suspiciously narrowed her eyes.
"Oh no, I just didn't know Dracula was married, that's all. Gosh, you're so lucky to have Dracula in your life." Ericka complimented politely, eyeing the blonde woman with that usual smile which Elona didn't know whether it meant she didn't care he was married or if that last word mocked her that she would never live long enough to stay married to the vampire, just like that heartless harpy Ginger.
"Oh, we are married - HAPPILY!" Elona's strict tone turned up the volume as her face twisted in frustration. At this point, she really wanted to confront her husband about that stunt he pulled while talking to this so-called attractive woman, if she ever was attractive. But she needed an excuse to leave and to not seem rude to the Captain in front of all these monsters and humans whom this temptress had already won over with these flattering compliments, international languages and fake charm. Then she turned to Daniel and, seeing him gaze at the Captain in anger, got an idea.
"Hey Captain, have you met my new friend, Daniel?" Elona quickly grabbed Daniel's arm and abruptly yanked him over to them. "Why don't you two get to know each other while I go off to chat with my husband. Have fun!"
With that said, Elona dragged Dracula off somewhere quiet before he could speak in more gibberish, so they could have a private conversation, and leaving Daniel and Ericka to chat. However, neither of them seemed interested in talking as Ericka just aimed a slight 'Meh' and left.
"Nice to see you again..." Daniel mumbled under his breath.
Their conversation drew the attention of Dracula's friends. Whatever it is, the Captain doesn't seem interested in socializing with Daniel. They will fret over it later. Right now, they had to take care of Dracula.
In a hidden corner of the ship's deck, Elona hauls Dracula to the far corner of the ship to confront him on what he did earlier. When she finally thought they were alone, she was ready to confront him on what happened earlier between with Dracula and the Captain. But when she was about to yell at him, she noticed he was still acting weird and hazy, mumbling 'Ali-booboo' over and over again.
"Drac, DRAC!" Elona waved her hand in front of his face, trying to get him to snap out of it. She tried throwing a glass of champagne in his face, but that didn't work either. Then an idea came into her head on how she can get him out of this daze. "SNAP OUT OF IT!" She slapped her husband's cheeks really hard, and repeatedly, hoping that would work, and it did, but Dracula was not happy.
"Owww!" Dracula screamed in pain while holding his face, at least he was pulling himself together. "What in the sweet undead world did you do that for?" His outburst at his wife almost threw her off-track.
"Well, you were in a daze, and I didn't know how to get your attention other than doing that." Elona snapped. "Plus, what was that back there?!"
"What was what?" No memory of what had occurred, Dracula wondered what she was talking about, but his wife wasn't accepting his pathetic attempts of denial.
"Ohh, like you don't know! You were acting like an idiot around the Captain! And it looked like you were fawning over her."
"I, what?!" This revelation shocked Dracula. He was fawning over another woman? That's not possible, he'd never do that to Elona. He loved her with all his undead heart. Besides, he had no memory of that happening. "Darling, I swear to you, I'd never fawn over another woman. I don't remember doing that!"
"But I saw you act that way in front of her!"
"I'm telling you I don't remember that!"
At this point, Elona didn't know what was going on with Dracula. She didn't believe him because she saw it with her own eyes. This was like Ginger all over again. But she was on a cruise ship, and this was supposed to be a family vacation, not an all-out love war. So, she decided to let it slide for now, but she was going to keep a strict eye on Ericka.
"Ugh, let's not keep fighting," Elona sighed. "Drac, we're on vacation. So, let's just enjoy ourselves without any problems, okay."
Dracula smiled at her, happy to see that she was not mad at him anymore. "True words spoken, my darling."
He leaned in for a kiss, but apparently, she didn't want to kiss him back as a result of his little stunt with the captain. Elona drew back an arm and smacked him for the last time. When she stormed off, Dracula's expression was of absolute misery.
When Elona was finally gone, Dracula starting to panic at what she said about him and Ericka. "What happened?! Could that really have happened!" He panicked to himself like a maniac. "But I don't remember any of that, even if I did remember doing that, the only reason I would ever act that way is if I-" then something he feared and never thought would happen came into his head at why he would be doing that. "Is if I ZINGED!" Dracula's face paled in horror.
No sooner he had said this, the Drac Pack had finally made their presence be known. They had overheard the entire argument, judging by the shock on their faces. This is not good.