Usually, the gang goes to creepy places to solve a mystery, but that's not the case this time. They're heading for an old mansion that lies near a cliffside.
"I can't believe you have a chance to gain an inheritance, Gray." Lucy said as the gang was driving up to the mansion. "It's almost hard to believe that General Waltz had you in his will."
"It's too bad about the general's passing, but how do you know him?" Erza asked.
"He knew my dad when he was just a kid." Gray said. "He was sort of like a grandfather to me. I'm a little surprised that he would leave anything to me, but it's not officially mine yet. According to the letter, General Waltz couldn't decide who among four of his actual relatives and myself on who should inherit the money. That's why we're here. There's suppose to be some sort contest the five of us are suppose to go through to inherit all that money."
"In this creepy old place?" Natsu questioned as it gave Happy the willies.
"Relax. It's just an old house." Gray said, but none of them know about the horrors that await inside. Gray and the others went on inside and met with four others that were much older than Gray.
"Greetings. I'm glad everyone could make it." A man dressed in a suit with combed black hair stepped forward. "I'm General Waltz's lawyer. My name is Cedrick Greens. There should be a total of five of you. First, we have the general's nephew: Nephew Stewart." Stewart was the one dressed in blue dealing with baldness. "There's Cousin Tucker." Tucker was an old bald man. "We have Cousin Margret." Margret was the only one woman who looked like a kind elderly woman. "We also have Nephew Darwin." Darwin was dressed like a gangster, but was actually nice and had black hair and a beard. "Finally, the boy who Waltz saw like a grandson: Gray Fullbuster. I'm glad you all could make it."
"I just want to take the moment to thank you for letting me invite my friends." Gray said.
"Of course. The more the merrier." Cedrick said as he held up a piece of paper. "Now, let me explain as to why you are all here. As you know, Waltz left behind an inheritance. Since he couldn't decide who to give it to, he's decided to have a small contest to see who should have it. It's quite simple. The one who remains in this house until sunrise shall be the one who gains the inheritance."
"That's it? That doesn't sound too hard." Natsu said.
"Oh, but that's assuming if you all have the courage to stay here." Cedrick said. "This mansion is suppose to be haunted."
"Haunted?! By what?!" Lucy said.
"No one knows for sure. It's a mysterious figure." Cedrick said. "Honestly, that's all there really is to it. The rest of the night is yours to do with as you please. I shall return in the morning to see if any of you are still around." Cedrick left it at that as he just left the place and left them all in the haunted mansion.
"Well, this should be easier than I thought." Gray said. "I'm not going to let some ghost scare me away."
"You said it, junior." Darwin said. "It's already getting late, so I say we call get ready to call it a night." All of them went straight to bed, but none of them noticed that eyes of a portrait followed them. Something wicked lies within the house.
...
Later
The night went on with it becoming late. By this time, everyone was asleep in their beds. While they all slept, something haunted the halls as it gave off a wicked laugh. As the thing moved through the halls, it crept to one of the rooms. Stewart was the one sleeping in that room. As the door creaked open, Stewart was awakened by what awoke him.
"Hahahahahahah..." He was startled awake for what stood before him was a black shadowy figure with glowing red eyes. It stood right over him as it reached out with its boney hand. Stewart couldn't hold back the scream. His scream did awake everyone else.
"Who's interrupting my beauty sleep?" Lucy questioned as everyone was coming out of their rooms.
"It sounded like it came from Stewart's room." Gray said. All of them went to Stewart's room to have a look to what happened, but they saw Stewart was gone.
"Poor, Stewart. It looks like he couldn't do it." Tucker said.
"But I wondered what he screamed about." Margret wondered.
"Wait. Someone left a message." Gray said as he found a piece of paper with a message on it.
"One down, four to go, unless you all leave or be no more. Sign, the Shadow Ghost." Lucy read.
"Shadow Ghost?! What the heck is a Shadow Ghost?!" Natsu questioned.
"Someone's idea of trying to scare us all away." Darwin said. "I say we all lock our doors and just wait until sunrise." All of them certainly agreed to that as they all didn't think this was for real. However, something did scare Stewart and there's no telling what happened to him and what could happen to the others.
...
Gray's Room
Given their experience, the gang knew that something fishy was going on. That's why they decided to set a trap for whatever this Shadow Ghost is. They made it look like someone was asleep in the bed and readied themselves.
"You sure about this, Gray?" Erza asked.
"Sure. I left the door unlocked." Gray said. "If this Shadow Ghost or whatever shows up, we grab him when we grab the dummy."
"But where are Happy and Natsu?" Erza questioned.
"Hanging on the drainpipe out the window." Lucy said as they actually were holding on to it out there.
"What? If he tries to escape through the window, we'll have him." Natsu said, but Happy believe it was because they were hiding.
"Guys, that seems dangerous. Come inside." Lucy said.
"What could go wrong?" Natsu questioned, but he just jinxed it. The Shadow Ghost was in another room and pushed against the drainpipe. It caused the drainpipe to fall out of place and was swaying back and forth with Natsu and Happy holding on for their lives.
"I'll save you!" Lucy called as she reached out to save them. She grabbed them, but ended up getting pulled out the window and got on the ride with them.
"Guys!" Gray called as he and Erza saw it fall and go over the cliff. They would have fallen into the water, but by some miracle, the pipe hitting against the rocks flung them into a cave just before they hit the water.
"What a ride, right?" Natsu said.
"You got a twisted sense of enjoyment if that was fun to you." Lucy said.
...
The Cave
They were lucky that there was a cave near where they fell, but now they need a way out. Since they could only go in one direction and hoped there was a way out.
"What's a cave like this doing down here?" Natsu questioned.
"I don't know, but we're lucky it is here." Lucy said. "Maybe this cave is connected to the house or somewhere nearby so we can get back up there and join the others again." The three of them just kept walking until Happy spotted something. Happy hurried over to there and saw it was a set of stairs. When he found them, he got Natsu's and Lucy's attention.
"Check it out. A set of stairs. Good eye, Happy." Natsu said.
"Perfect. Someone had to have carved these. That means there's an exit." Lucy said, but the problem was that it was pretty dark going up. "Uh... You first, Natsu."
"Gee, thanks." Natsu complained. They all made their way up the stairs, but that meant they were going into the dark. "It's getting harder and harder to see. I can't really see what's right in front of me."
"It is getting rather dark. Let's hold hands so we don't lose each other, I've got Happy." Lucy said as she and Natsu reached for other's hand and moved carefully up.
"Sheesh, Lucy. You're hand feel so boney and cold." Natsu said.
"You're one to talk. Your hand feels like a fish out of the freezer." Lucy said.
"Hold on. I think I see light coming through a door." Natsu claimed.
"Great. Let's get out of here." Lucy said as they actually saw some light. They opened the door and made their way out, but that was when they saw what they were really holding for something else walked out with them. "Yikes! That must be the Shadow Ghost!"
"Hahahahahah!" Seeing as how there was an actual Shadow Ghost, the three of them ran for it with the ghost chasing after them.
...
Chase Scene
Badada
Badada
Badadadadadah
You've got to love the world, and be a friend
And when you're down you've got to get up again
And when you're blue here's what you do
Just sing this happy tune...
Come on now
The three of them ran up some stairs to avoid the ghost. When he came at them, Natsu took the carpet that ran over the stairs and thwapped it as hard as he could. However, the ghost just jumped over it and chased after them.
Badada
Badada
Badadadadadah
Come on now
Badada
Badada
Badadadadadah
The Shadow Ghost chased them down the hall, but ended up loosing them. When he opened up the first door, they were right there and trying to hide in the closet. Lucy did swing around and kicked him back for the three of them to run back down there stairs.
Talked to the sun
Said: "How do you do?
I've got a problem and I'm counting on you"
What he said pleased me
He said, "Happy is easy
And here's all you go to do:"
The three of them ran into the library. When the ghost chased after them, Natsu pushed against the ladder while Happy and Lucy pushed against some books to have them all fall on Shadow Ghost
You've got to love the world, and be a friend
And when you're down you've got to get up again
And when you're blue here's what you do
Just sing this happy tune...
They three ran into a spare room and made it look like the three of them were hiding under the covers, but they hid under it. When the Shadow Ghost came, he jumped up and tried jumping on them, but they just flipped the mattress and ran.
Come on now
It's been a long time since I've been blue
Cause happiness is easy when you know what to do
Just love the world, and try to be a friend
When someone asks, just tell them again
When all three of them ran into the kitchen, they tried hiding in there. When the ghost looked around for them, they opened the fridge and pushed him inside and kept on running out.
You've got to love the world, and be a friend
And when you're down you've got to get up again
And when you're blue here's what you do
Just sing this happy tune...
Badada
Badada
Badadadadadah
They ran back to the cave entrance in the house. When the Shadow Ghost came after them, Natsu opened up the door at the last second and caused him to fall through and went down the stairs. They shut the door and ran out of there with them finally ditching that ghost.
...
When the three of them ran off, they tried catching their breaths and took a moment to rest.
"Well, at least we managed to ditch that ghost." Lucy said.
"Yeah, but that's one shadow I hope stays gone" Natsu said.
"There you guys are!" All of them looked and glad to see Erza and Gray were able to find them. "We heard some sort of commotion going on all over the house. Was that all you?" Gray asked.
"If it was from us running away from that ghost, it probably was." Natsu said.
"We saw him! The Shadow Ghost really is here!" Lucy said.
"Are you serious?!" Erza said with her being a little surprised.
"We've got some bad news, too." Gray said. "While we were looking around for you guys, we saw that they're all gone."
"All the relatives are gone. Tucker, Margret, and Darwin have all vanished." Erza said.
"That means that Gray is the Shadow Ghost's next target." Lucy said.
"Bring it on. I'm not scared of no ghost." Gray said. "I'll worry about that inheritance later, but we've got to find out what happened to everyone."
"Do you think it's possible one the relatives is behind this?" Erza questioned. "One of them could have faked being abducted to gain that inheritance."
"What about someone who didn't make it in the will?" Natsu questioned.
"Maybe, but it would help if we could find some sort of clue." Gray said.
"Hey!" Lucy said as she thought of something. "Natsu, Happy, and I went through a cave that's connected to the house. There could be something down there we missed. We should check it out." They all agreed, but Happy was against the idea. "Don't want to go, Happy? Would you rather stay here alone if that ghost comes back?" That surely convinced Happy to go with them.
...
The Cave
Lucy showed the way to the cave. All of them went down there and looked for anything that could tell them who the ghost really is.
"Does anyone even know where we should start looking?" Gray said.
"Hey. What's in that passage?" Erza said as she spotted another passage in the cave.
"We didn't see that before." Lucy said. Thinking that was a good place to start, the five of them went inside to have a look. When they got inside, Lucy let out a gasp from what she saw. "Coffins! Five of them!" Seeing five coffins is quite a shocked, but one of them was opened and empty. Suddenly, they heard something coming from one of them.
"There's something in there." Gray said. "We've got to see what's inside." All of them were a little anxious to look inside, but they knew they had to. All of them moved carefully to one and opened it up. Rather than seeing dead bodies, they saw all four of the relatives tied up. "It's them! They're all here!"
"This must be where the Shadow Ghost stashed them!" Erza said.
"That means the one that is empty is meant for Gray." Natsu said as none of them liked the sound of that.
"Hahahahahahahah!" They looked further down the cavern and spotted the Shadow Ghost.
"It's him again!" Natsu said.
"We'll come back for you guys!" Gray said as the rest of them ran out of there. That ghost isn't done with them yet and he won't stop until they're all in coffins.
...
The Gang
"We lost him, but he'll be back." Lucy said as the gang were able to make it out of the cave and into the mansion, but they know that ghost will come back. "If only we could set some sort of trap."
"If only we could give that ghost the slip." Natsu said. When he said that, it gave Gray an idea.
"That's it!" Gray said as he knew how to trap that ghost. Once they got everything they needed, the trap was set and ready for action.
"You sure this is going to work?" Natsu questioned.
"Well, we're fresh out of nets." Gray said. "It's simple. Once the ghost runs by here, he'll slip on the soap, head down the stairs, and fall right into that empty coffin that was meant for me. The girls are already down there and getting it set to trap him. That means you and Happy have to lead him to this door."
"Us?" Natsu said with Happy refusing to do it.
"Don't want to, Happy? That's too bad. I have a few fishy treats that would have been your reward." Gray said. Once again, Happy's cravings get the better of him.
...
Natsu and Happy
Since the two of them are being used to lure out that ghost, Natsu and Happy looked around for any sign of him. However, they couldn't really find him anywhere.
"How many places can a ghost hide?" Natsu said. "Well, he's not here." The two of them thought that was that, but that was before they heard his laughter and saw him coming their way. "I had to jinx it!" When they saw the ghost coming, the two of them ran out of there. The two of them hurried to the cave entrance, but that ghost was gaining on them. Gray kept himself hidden behind the door, but he saw Natsu and Happy were coming in a little too fast.
"Natsu! Happy! Watch out!" Gray called, but it was too late. The two of them ended up slipping on the soap with the ghost. All three of them ended up tumbling down the steps. "That's going to leave a mark." The three of them kept rolling down the stairs. The girls got themselves ready as they pushed the coffin into position.
"I hear someone coming." Erza said. They readied themselves until they saw all three of them coming rolling down. They fell against the coffin with it smashing to pieces, but it didn't look like the three of them were really going anywhere.
"Natsu! Happy! Are you two okay?!" Lucy said.
"Define okay." Natsu said.
"I'm just amazed you two are still in one piece." Erza said. She then turned her attention to the Shadow Ghost since it looked like he wasn't able to move himself. "Now let's see who's really under this black cloak." She reached for the mask and pulled it off to see who it was. "It's the lawyer: Mr. Greens!"
...
The Mansion
Once they caught the ghost, they called the sheriff over and had Mr. Greens arrested. The gang regrouped with the sheriff and was explaining the situation.
"So Greens pretended to be the Shadow Ghost to try and scare everyone out of the inheritance." Sheriff said as he was understanding the situation.
"He wanted it for himself, but he knew he had to do something about those who were chosen." Lucy said.
"He came up with the Shadow Ghost and was going to keep all five of them tied up until he could legally claim the inheritance." Erza said. "If none of them did, it would have been all his."
"Well, thanks to you kids, that crooked lawyer won't be getting a scent now." Sheriff said.
"Speaking of which, what about the inheritance? Who's going to get it now?" Natsu questioned.
"Well, I talked to the relatives. They all agree that since Gray was the one who saved them, he's the one who should get it." Sheriff said. "It's yours, Gray, and it's right in that cabinet." He pointed right to it and Gray couldn't believe that all of what he was getting could be in there.
"How much money did he leave behind that it has to be in there?" Gray said as he was a little excited. He opened up and expected to see money, but all it was were medals and other military souvenirs. "What the heck?" He looked around in there until he found a letter. "To whoever earned the inheritance. This stuff is like a million dollars to me. I hope you take care of it and remember me well."
"How about that? We went through all that thinking Gray was going to get a million dollars, and he doesn't even get a dime." Erza complained.
"All that for something with sentimental value? Sweet, but a little ridiculous." Lucy said.
"Actually, it does sound like something he would do." Gray said. Happy looked to Natsu and twirled his little paw around his head.
"You said it, Happy. I think Greens wasn't the only kooky one around here." Natsu said. Gray might not have a million dollars, but at least he still has something of the general's. At least no one will forget what happened here like the general wanted.
