A.N. Another clarification: the 'dumb' part of the title refers to Carrigan and Dibs. XD
Meanwhile, Carrigan and Dibs immediately headed back to the main floors of the manor.
"Dibs, do you have any idea what this means?" Carrigan asked excitedly.
"Yes...!" Dibs said enthusiastically before admitting. "No."
"You don't have to be scared of death anymore!" Carrigan explained. "One minute you're a ghost, the next minute you're back on your feet free to come and go as you please."
"You could even fly through-" Dibs said.
"Walls." Carrigan realized. "Thick walls."
"Thick as steel." Dibs now got it.
"So we can get to whatever's behind those walls."
"Like a...a treasure for example?"
"And snap, crackle, pop you're back alive and on your way to the Riviera."
"If you were a ghost." Dibs pointed out, noting the only problem with the idea.
"If you were." Carrigan corrected before walking away.
Dibs automatically nodded for a second...and then got the implication and ran off. It was just in time too, because Carrigan had just come back with an ax and nearly got him with it.
"Dam it Dibs!" Carrigan protested. "This won't hurt a bit!"
Dibs might not have been the brightest companion Carrigan could've gotten, but not even he was that stupid. In fact he even got the clever idea to protect himself with armor and spread slippery gunk on the floor.
"Stop being such a weenie! It's just business come on!" Carrigan continued protesting. "If you would just-"
She then slipped on the gunk and ended up crashing through a window. Dibs took the armor off so that he could move easier and hurried outside to look for the vial.
"So there you are." He smiled as he found it lying on the ground.
Suddenly there was the sound of a car starting. Carrigan's car obviously and it was heading right for him. He quickly picked up a broken-off statue's head and tossed it at her car, shattering the front window without completely breaking it. He then ducked to the side.
"Dibs you are taking this way too personally." Carrigan said as she continued driving.
Stupid move really, considering she could barely see out her shattered window. Sure enough she crashed into a tree and caused the airbag to deploy. Frustrated and annoyed, she struggled to get out of the car...not noticing that the tree she had crashed into was actually protruding over the cliff. You got it: she fell all the way down.
Dibs soon caught up.
"Carrigan! Are you a ghost yet?" He called out. "Carrigan!"
No answer.
"What a tragic waste...she had my favorite sunglasses." He frowned disappointedly.
He started to leave...only for a menacing shadow to tower over him.
"Not so fast little man." Carrigan's ghost boomed. "The bitch is back."
Dibs could only gape at the sight of her.
By now you're probably wondering where the heck Dr. Bacock and the Ghostly Trio were. Well, they were still partying at one of the bars they had stopped at. Dr. Babcock was singing karaoke, and the Ghostly Trio was actually enjoying it:
The warden threw a party in the county jail.
The prison band was there and they began to wail.
The band was jumpin' and the joint began to swing.
You should've heard those knocked out jailbirds sing.
Let's rock, everybody, let's rock.
Everybody in the whole cell block
Was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock.
"Hey this Dr. Babcock's got a lot of spirit know what I'm sayin'?" Stinkie (Hardwick) admitted.
"Yeah but he's got his whole miserable life ahead of him." Stretch (Hopkins) pointed out.
"So we could do him a favor, put him out of his misery." Fatso (Prenderghast) suggested.
"Yeah hey good idea." Stretch (Hopkins) smiled. "We've been the Ghostly Trio long enough. Time to make it a...quartet."
Stinkie (Hardwick) and Fatso (Prenderghast) both got weapons (a gun and spear respectively) while Stretch (Hopkins) broke a bottle so that he could use the pointed end for a weapon. They then prepared to strike...
However Dr. Babcock stopped singing at this point and turned to them, causing them to hide their weapons behind their backs. Lame move, given that they were see-through, but fortunately for them Dr. Babcock was too drunk to notice.
"Can I just say something here? Get a little personal?" Dr. Babcock asked.
The Ghostly Trio awkwardly agreed.
"I've just got to tell you...you guys remind me of what it's like...to hang out with the boys. I mean...you are absolutely there for each other."
The Ghostly Trio stalked Dr. Babcock as he wandered around, still trying to kill him, but had to hide their weapons again when he faced them again.
"I mean you look life right in the face and say 'I'm a ghost. I don't need you'. I'm gonna tell that Miss Crittenfitten...craig... I'm gonna tell that lady...you aren't goin' anywhere. It's your house, you're haunting it. Possession is nine-tenths of the law."
"No." The Ghostly Trio dismissed, secretively touched.
"Yes." Dr. Babcock agreed.
"No."
"Yes." Dr. Babcock then put his arms around Stretch (Hopkins) and Stinkie (Hardwick). "I didn't think so at first...but you guys are great. I love you guys."
Then, much to their shock, Dr. Babcock kissed Stinkie (Hardwick) and then kissed Stretch (Hopkins). Then he kissed Fatso (Prenderghast) and started to walk towards the front door, though had to get his balance back along the way. The Ghostly Trio started sobbing.
"What a sweetheart." Stretch (Hopkins) tossed his weapon aside.
"I can't croak him now." Fatso (Prenderghast) tossed his weapon aside.
"Me either, no way." Stinkie (Hardwick) tossed his weapon aside.
"All right boys!" Dr. Babcock smashed a glass onto a counter and headed out the front door backwards. "The night is young! We are going to clean out every bar this town has got!"
The Ghostly Trio started panicking as Dr. Babcock headed for a construction site!
"We're gonna booze it until we loose it!" Dr. Babcock declared as the front doors shut on him.
Then the Ghostly Trio heard a smashing sound, Dr. Babcock screaming, and an even worse crashing sound...
Meanwhile, Norman had finally finished pumping Aggie back up.
"I think my ears just popped." She remarked.
Then they heard an evil laughter and Carrigan's ghost soared above them and went through the vault!
"Come to mama!" Carrigan's voice said before the door opened and she flew out with a treasure chest.
"My treasure!" Aggie cried.
"You mean my treasure!" Carrigan corrected.
"Ms. Crittenden?" Courtney was shocked.
"In the flesh! Well, in a couple of minutes." Carrigan laughed evilly again.
Grunting sounds were heard as Dibs came out the other end of the Up-And-At-Em machine. Carrigan flew up to him.
"Dibs! What are you doing, this is no time to shave!" She demanded.
"Helping you, remember!" Dibs called back.
"Remember what?"
"This!" Dibs held up the vial.
"You stole that that's Aggie's!" Norman snapped.
"So sue me." Carrigan retorted. "Dibs, the capsule now!"
"I'm coming I'm coming okay!" Dibs called back.
Aggie however flew to the fake Frankenstein book and pressed one of the smaller buttons. This caused the chair to stop and Dibs to loose his balance off the chair. Aggie flew up to him.
"Keep away from me!" Dibs demanded, backing away from her.
Aggie just kept flying closer to him, making bend over backwards more, and then tapped him on the chest with a smirk. She grabbed the vial as Dibs fell into the water below him with a cry.
"Here!" She said to Norman, giving him the vial. "Jump in."
Courtney and Norman got into the chair, this time not complaining about the awkwardness, and Aggie pushed them all the way back to the top. The doorbell rang, much to their exasperation.
"Perfect." Courtney said dryly, remembering the party.
She and Norman hurried to answer the door. The entire school was there.
"We're here." Mr. Feynman smiled, dressed up as a lobster.
"Uh...hi...come on in." Norman said reluctantly. "This is the room...stay together and you'll be safe and...we'll be right back."
Norman grabbed Courtney and dragged her back towards the library. The school was confused by this, but decided to go ahead and enter anyway.
Not the entire school headed through the front door though, Alvin and Victoria instead snuck in through a window. Alvin had corpse makeup on, including a gash mark on his neck.
"Alvin, do we have to do this?" Victoria sighed.
"Hey, if he wants a Halloween party he's going to get a Halloween party." Alvin retorted.
The rest of the school, still nervous, entered together in a tight-knit group. Carrigan's sudden evil laughter didn't help their nerves much either, but fortunately they just brushed it off as sounds effects through a speaker.
Norman, Courtney, and Aggie headed back down to the lab only to find Dibs trying to open the chest with a crowbar.
"Hey that's my treasure!" Aggie protested.
Dibs spun around and held the crowbar in a threatening manner.
"Stay back!" He warned. "Keep away from me!"
"Aggie." Norman put his arm in front of Aggie.
"Don't come near me you spiteful spook, or I'll knock you into the next world!"
Aggie almost growled at him.
"Come on, let's go." Norman said to Aggie, knowing that there was something more important to take care of.
Namely: bringing Aggie back to life. They headed up to the Lazarus and Norman put the vial in the slot before opening the door...only for Carrigan to appear from inside the machine.
"Ta-da!" She said. "Hey, poppin' fresh, it's my turn in the oven! Dibs! Get this thing cooking you blasted little worm you!"
"Ah...Carrigan." Dibs suddenly smiled as he went up to the machine. "How kind of you to drop in."
Aggie, Norman, and Courtney decided to get out of the way, all three of them getting a feeling that this wasn't going to end well.
"You know, if there's one thing I've learned from you it's kick 'em when they're down." Dibs continued. "And baby, you're six feet under! Oh what a shame."
He grabbed the vial and prepared to smash it.
"Sorry sweetheart, we're through."
"I am not going to forget this you ungrateful lousy little worm you!" Carrigan gasped.
"You can haunt me all you want, but it's going to be in a great big expensive house!" Dibs boasted. "With lovely purple wallpaper, and great big green carpets. And a little dog, called Carrigan. A bitch, just like you! I've got the power! I've got the treasure!"
"And you've got a flight to catch!" Carrigan retorted.
Before Dibs could react, she sent him flying out the window and into the ocean on the other side. Carrigan caught the vial as it soared out of Dibs's hands.
"Any other takers?" She challenged Norman, Courtney, and Aggie.
"No." Aggie shrugged. "But aren't you forgetting something?"
"What?"
"Your unfinished business."
"My what?"
"You know." Norman smirked, knowing what Aggie was doing. "Unfinished business. All ghosts have unfinished business."
"Yeah." Courtney smiled, getting the plan. "That's why they don't crossover."
"Unfinished business? I have no unfinished business!" Carrigan claimed, grabbing the chest. "I have my treasure, my mansion, I have everything! I'm just perfect."
A beam of light suddenly burst from within her and went through her.
"Wait wait!" She panicked as more beams of light appeared. "I lied! I have unfinished business! Lots of unfinished business! I-I'm not ready to crossover yet! Wait you tricked me you rotten little brats!"
She exploded into nothingness, leaving behind only the vial and the chest. Norman dove and caught the vial before it hit the ground, while the chest landed on the ground and burst open.
"My treasure!" Aggie said happily.
Norman and Courtney looked into the chest...and saw a tennis ball and a racket.
"A ball?" Courtney scoffed. "That's your treasure?"
"Are you kidding?" Aggie grabbed the ball and tossing it in the air and catching it. "It's autographed by Margaret I. Abbot, the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal!"
Norman caught the tennis ball as it went up in the air again.
"Aggie, it's time." He reminded her.
Aggie looked away shyly, realizing that in just a matter of minutes she was going to be alive and she and Norman will have a real chance at a future together.
Not long after that, Aggie went into the machine and the door shut on her. But before Norman could start it...
"Honey, I'm home!" A familiar voice said as a new yet strangely-familiar ghost clumsily flew into the lab and crashed into the desk.
"Dad?" Courtney couldn't believe her eyes.
"No..." Norman couldn't believe it either.
The Ghostly Trio appeared and Stretch (Hopkins) helped Dr. Babcock's ghost up.
"What have you done to him?" Courtney demanded.
"Nothin'." Stretch (Hopkins) shrugged. "He's just a little...dead."
Stinkie (Hardwick) and Fatso (Prenderghast) laughed.
"I'm free!" Dr. Babcock's ghost started to fly again. "I've never felt so good in my life! I can fly-!"
He got his head stuck into the floor.
"Rookie." Fatso (Prenderghast) deadpanned.
"Stinkie work with him." Stretch (Hopkins) said.
Stinkie (Hardwick) flew over and helped Dr. Babcock up.
"Dad?" Norman said as he and Courtney went over to him.
"Hey, who's the boy and girl?" Dr. Babcock's ghost asked.
"Dad it's us, Courtney and Norman!" Courtney said.
"Courtney and Norman?" Dr. Babcock's ghost still didn't recognize them.
"Bonnie and Clyde?" Stretch (Hopkins) joked.
"Ginger and Fred?" Stinkie (Hardwick) joked.
"Lucy and Ethel?" Fatso (Prenderghast) joked.
The Ghostly Trio laughed...
"HOW COULD YOU?" Norman suddenly snapped at them.
The Ghostly Trio blanched, shocked, and even Dr. Babcock's ghost drew back a little. Courtney on the other hand just started to sob, and Norman started crying as well. Courtney hugged Norman with one arm.
"Dad? Don't you remember?" Courtney held out the pinkie belonging to her free arm.
"Oh sure I remember!" Dr. Babcock's ghost said before pretending to pull her finger and making a farting noise.
He laughed, but the Ghostly Trio was still too shocked by Norman's outburst to laugh along. In fact his outburst had caused them to start to feel bad about what had happened.
"No, no, this!" Norman said as he and Courtney grabbed Dr. Babcock's ghost's pinkie with their own.
Dr. Babcock's ghost suddenly got a look of regret.
"Oh..." He said. "Oh Courtney...Norman...oh what have I done...?"
Norman and Courtney continued to cry.
"Oh Courtney, Norman, please don't cry." He said even though he was close to tears as well.
Aggie suddenly flew down.
"Come on Dr. Babcock, you need this more than I do." She said sadly, pulling him up to the Lazarus.
"Aggie-" Norman hesitated, unsure.
"This is the way it's gotta be." Aggie shrugged despite still being sad.
She then started the machine. After it was over, the door opened and a newly-alive Dr. Babcock staggered out.
"Dad!" Courtney and Norman ran over to him and hugged him
"Oh honey, son!" Dr. Babcock returned the hug. "That felt like the strangest dream...I thought we almost lost each other for a minute there."
Aggie looked on, still very sad but not regretting her decision one bit.
They suddenly heard dance music.
"Your party started without you." Aggie shrugged. "Victoria's probably waiting."
Norman looked at Aggie as if he was seeing her in a new light.
"Aggie-" He stopped, not knowing what to say.
"Go ahead...I'll be okay." Aggie lied.
Norman looked as if he wanted to tell her to stay, but he wasn't sure how to say it. For once, he was speechless around a ghost.
"Thank you Aggie." Courtney smiled.
"You're welcome." Aggie weakly smiled back before flying away.
Norman raised his arm as if attempting to stop her, but she was already out of reach.
"We should probably get going too-" Dr. Babcock said before finally noticing his surroundings. "Where are we?"
Courtney explained as Norman went on ahead, lost in thought. The Ghostly Trio noticed and flew after him.
"Hey..." Stretch (Hopkins) tapped Norman on the shoulder, getting his attention. "Norman?"
"What?" Norman frowned.
The Ghostly Trio winced.
"Okay, first of all: for the record your dad's death was an accident." Stretch (Hopkins) explained. "He got drunk and walked backwards into a construction zone."
"Oh..." Norman looked away.
"Second of all: Aggie must really like you considering she gave up becoming alive in order to bring your dad back." Stretch (Hopkins) said. "We may have seemed distant and mean towards our niece, but truthfully we always did have a suspicion that she wanted to be alive again. Especially since she always wanted to become friends with the living."
"Yeah..." Norman sighed. "I know she likes me. But I thought it was just a crush..."
The Ghostly Trio were surprised. That wasn't what Stretch (Hopkins) meant by Aggie liking Norman at all.
"However...if...if she gave up her dream, just to..." Norman almost sounded as if he was in pain. "She must actually love me...and now she can never be alive ever again..."
The Ghostly Trio looked as if they were starting to get a revelation.
"You don't love her back...do you?" Stinkie (Hardwick) gently asked.
Norman's eyes widened and he looked back at the Ghostly Trio. They actually looked sympathetic for once, though it was probably because they still felt bad about Dr. Babcock's death. Or...maybe they actually had grown to like Norman and didn't like seeing him in pain...
"I-" Norman didn't know what to say to Stinkie's question at first, until he thought it over.
He thought about how kind and sweet Aggie was, how they were instantly able to get along...and then there was the fact that she was selfless, giving up her dream so that Courtney and Norman could get their dad back... Giving up her only chance at a possible future with him so that... And then there was when she kissed him on the cheek that one night, how he felt afterward...
It also turned out he actually was in pain, because his heart had started aching ever since he realized that Aggie was giving up her chance of becoming alive again in order to bring his dad back. Even though he was extremely grateful and didn't regret her decision one bit, the thought of her being stuck the way she was just hurt. He first thought that he was just really sad that she wouldn't be able to get a second chance, but now he was starting to realize that there was more to his pain than that.
"I do..." Norman nearly whispered, a tear going down his cheek.
The Ghostly Trio looked at each other. Stretch (Hopkins) gave Stinkie (Hardwick) and Fatso (Prenderghast) hinting look.
"Um...we gotta get going...don't worry though, we won't show up at the party." Stretch (Hopkins) said awkwardly. "Toodles."
They left. Norman shrugged this off and just continued going upstairs. He didn't even bother to use the chair, he just walked up the ramp towards the tunnel. Dr. Babcock and Courtney noticed.
"Is Norman okay?" Dr. Babcock asked concernedly as he and Courtney started heading for the ramp.
"I think he's just sad that Aggie missed out on her second chance." Courtney said sympathetically.
"Oh yeah..." Dr. Babcock looked sympathetic as well as he remembered what Courtney told him about Aggie's death. "Poor girl... I wish I hadn't gotten so drunk..."
"Hey it's okay, apart from Aggie still being dead everything turned out pretty much all right." Courtney said comfortingly. "Oh, forgot some good news: Ms. Crittenden is dead. No idea how, but I don't care how anyway."
"Dead? And why is that good news?" Dr. Babcock was both shocked and disgusted.
"Because now we don't have to worry about her forcing us out or pressuring you into making the ghosts crossover." Courtney pointed out.
"Oh..." Dr. Babcock said. "Still wish there could've been another way though. Say...this place is pretty much abandoned...maybe we can buy it at a reasonable price?"
"I thought you said we had no money." Courtney reminded him.
"Oh yeah...well maybe the government will compromise or something. I mean I can just go back to doing therapy for the living and earn money that way..."
"True, it actually would be a good idea to at least take a break so that you can earn some money the old way. That way if you don't find mom here at least we'll have something to live off of."
"Exactly."