Scratch the Unsociable Ghost

At first, Molly wanted nothing more than to throw the door open wide, find Scratch and give him the biggest hug possible. But the moment she reached the doorknob, Molly suddenly froze; as if her feet had become like ice on the welcome mat. After everything she'd seen up to now, her mind had been put through the wringer so many times she wondered if the juices would start pouring out her ears.

Now, there was one last person (or lack thereof) to see how his life was without her in it. "I know I was never born in this weird world and all" Molly pondered uneasily, "but I wonder if Scratch will still be able to recognize me...somehow." With this thought in mind, she prepares to turn the knob; only to remember that she could move through things in this world.

Upon doing exactly that, she couldn't help but let out a wistful sigh when she saw her surroundings. Everything was exactly where it was (so to speak) from the living room on the right side to the kitchen area on the left and the den where the fireplace sat. Much like before, such familiar surroundings would/should bring great joy to Molly's heart.

But as the reality of the situation sank in, all the places she recognized just looked...incredibly drab and colorless; much like the rest of Brighton. It was here that Molly thought Scratch must be living it up, given how ghosts usually liked this sort of atmosphere. But no matter where she looked, the poor girl couldn't find any sign of her ghostly pal anywhere.

"I just know that was a ghost's wail I heard earlier" Molly said firmly, "what else could it have been?!" In response to this, Clarence provided a gentle retort; suggesting that the house was so dilapidated that wind blowing through the holes could create the sound of a ghost's wailing. Sadly, his words fell on deaf ears as Molly proceeded to run right up the main staircase to the second floor.

(Line Break)

Upon reaching the top, Molly was searching frantically about the hall with a look of pure madness on her face; as if looking for something. "C'mon, c'mon" she muttered "even in this crazy place, my house has to have the...AHA!" After a quick victory dance, Molly looked up to see a chain hanging over her head; which was connected to a familiar looking trapped door.

Back in her world, this would be the way to gain access to her bedroom. But since her family never came to Brighton in this one, that meant the room still belonged to a certain gooey marshmallow she knew. All that was left to do was to grab the chain, pull down the step ladder and walk up.

There was just one teeny, tiny issue with the whole plan...Molly wasn't a good jumper. Anytime she would play basketball with her classmates back in Brighton Park, Molly would always try to slam dunk the ball; thinking all she had to do was believe. Sadly, one too many faceplants into the blacktop finally convinced her she was never going far in B-Ball.

Thankfully, Clarence had just arrived before Molly took her first jump at the chain. The reason he took so long in getting there was due to him taking a moment to speak with his boss "upstairs." "Although neither of us exist in this world, he has given me the ability to help you forward on the journey" Clarence explained, "but only for this one time." Alas, this statement simply left Molly feeling very confused and she asked for a more straightforward answer at the end of it.

But rather than tell her what he was talking about, Clarence decided to show her instead. He slowly raised his arm up, took hold of the chain between his fingers and gave it a good yank. The door flew downwards, and the ladder came flying down towards Molly, thus signaling for her to move back.

Thankfully, whatever Clarence did to help her touch the chain didn't make the rest of her solid. As a result, the ladder phased right through her...but it still created quite the thump on the floor. The instant it happened, a familiar voice cried out from up inside the attic; one that actually brought Molly close to tears.

"HEY! WHAT'S GOIN' ON DOWN HERE" the voice called out from within the attic, "ever heard of the phrase 'let sleeping ghosts lie'?!" Upon hearing the speaker refer to themself as a ghost, Molly knew full well that it was Scratch talking. She was so excited to see him, the poor girl couldn't stop herself from quivering with joy. But then, as she looked up the latter, that joy quickly turned into confusion when she saw Scratch floating down.

At first glance, he looked like his usual grouchy self; complete with the annoyed scowl he often sported on his face. But here, Scratch looked so much worse than that. "Boy...he looks worse off than he did when we first met" grimaced Molly, "any idea what caused him to be this way?" At first, she half expected yet another long-winded explanation from Clarence about everything.

But instead, he simply stared at her with a sort of look that seemed to say "isn't it obvious?" That's when it finally hit Molly...before her family moved into the house, Scratch was utterly miserable, and he hated it. He would spend his days scaring people in town, pigging out on whatever food he could find (most of which was from the trash) and he was often seen as the most unpopular ghost in existence.

When Clarence happened to see the look of realization form on Molly's face, his smile slowly grew wider. "Are we starting to connect the dots, young lady" he asked, "Scratch only became a better ghost in your world because you helped inspire him to do that...but since you're not here, he has nobody." In response to this, Molly quickly brought up the name of the one ghost who did actually seemed to respect/care about him...Geoff.

"Ah, yes...the specter who always spells out his name to differentiate himself from his partner/lover" Clarence said matter-of-factly, "a pity that Scratch drove him away." Now, Molly had already seen and heard many outrageous things from this guy from the beginning, but this was the one thing she ultimately dismissed...and she did so to his face. True, Geoff's friendship with Scratch always seemed to be one-sided at the start.

But as time went on, the two ghosts soon came to treat each other as true besties. After all, Geoff was one of the few ghosts to actually defend Scratch whenever others openly mocked or threatened him. So, what could've happened that would drive the dimwitted yet otherwise loveable spirit away.

"It's a rather complicated matter, I'm afraid" Clarence said sullenly, "but to get straight to the point...one day, Scratch delivered an insult to Geoff that actually cut him deep on an emotional level." This reveal came as such a shock to Molly that her eyes almost popped from her head. But when she asked Clarence what it was that Scratch said, he refused to tell her.

"A girl as sweet and innocent as you shouldn't hear such things" he said firmly, "but...let us just say Scratch used Numbers 8, 6, 3 and 9 of the thirteen bad words people should never, ever use." To say that Molly felt horrified by this reveal would be a gross understatement. Truthfully, it disgusted her so deeply that she herself almost felt like distancing herself from Scratch as well.

"I know this must be upsetting, dear" Clarence murmured, "but...I'm afraid it gets much worse than that." Without missing a beat, Molly proceeded to ask what could be worse than seeing Scratch insult one of the few friends he had? "Once Geoff chose to end his friendship with him, Scratch's personal misery soon became far greater than any other ghost's" Clarence explained, "thus, he chose to take his anguish out on the people of Brighton."

(Cue a brief montage of Wish World Scratch viciously terrifying humans)

After watching the last of the scary moments play out before her, Molly's face seemed utterly devoid of color; it was so pale. Meanwhile, Clarence watched the whole thing looking relatively calm and collected. When Molly finally shook herself out of her daze, she asked if what she saw was even real?

"I'm afraid it was, Miss McGee" Clarence replied, "furthermore, Brighton became one of the most miserable places in the country thanks to Scratch." Molly grimaced loudly in disgust, thinking that the old farts from the Ghost Council must've been proud of Scratch's scare numbers. But then, Clarence revealed that her former ghostly bestie had scared so many people in town for so long that overtime, it simply felt too easy.

"Finally, the day came where Scratch had just stopped caring" said the non-angel, "he never even flinched at the threats his Ghost Council made whenever he fell behind." Molly offered no reply to this, preferring to simply shake her head in sheer disappointment at her bestie. But then, she went and asked how this all involved her? "Well...aside from being his best human friend, you were the one person who pushed Scratch the most" Clarence explained, "by which, I mean you were always there to push him towards doing good things with his powers.

No sooner having said this, Clarence proceeded to mention all the things Molly and Scratch achieved together; whether by choice or by circumstance. "After you helped inspire the town into rebuilding the Bandshell, your family's 'go the extra mile' motto helped push Scratch towards bringing Atomic Pink to perform there." Molly couldn't help but smile at this, even if it was just a small one.

Originally, she hoped to bring the famous country music singer, Kenny Starr to perform. But Scratch had mistakenly brought Atomic Pink to the Bandshell instead. Needless to say, the town really enjoyed the show. "Then, there are all the ghosts you two helped reform" Clarence said suddenly, "there's Howling Harriet, Sonya Davis and that young lady, Blair who haunted your old video store."

In a matter of seconds, Molly's small smile grew slightly wider the more the non-angel spoke of the ghosts she helped. But then, she remembered all the ones who not only hated Scratch but also humans as well...like the Ghost Council, Jinx and the former Chairman. "Well...actually, the Council seem to be on some good terms with the living; thanks to Scratch" Molly muttered, "back home in my world, at least."

Clarence smiled warmly at her for saying all this, reminding the McGee tween that all those achievements were possible because of her involvement. But despite however much she agreed with him, a small part of Molly from deep inside still felt she was a curse on Scratch; just as she was to Brighton. "I still remember all the times he tried to get away from me" grumbled Molly, "granted, our curse enabled me to have him come straight back...but still."

In response to this, Clarence proclaimed that when beings like Scratch chose to act surly towards others, it was often a means to cover up any sort of insecurities they had...and Scratch carried years' worth of them. Even in this world, things appeared as terrible for him as they were when he first met Molly. "But as terrible as things have been for Scratch, the town is no different; as you saw before" he stated, "and I'm referring to other things outside of what I showed you."

Her curiosities suddenly piqued; Molly went about asking just how much worse things had become for everybody, compared to everything else she'd seen. That's when she heard ghostly wailing ringing out loudly from somewhere close by...but it wasn't coming from Scratch.

(Line Break)

After quickly rushing out the door, Molly saw scores of Brightonians running through the streets; screaming with terror. It didn't take long for her to deduce the source of this calamity...ghost trouble. The big question, however was who else could be causing all this to happen; if not Scratch.

"Take a good look down the street there, young lady" Clarence instructed, "the answers will show themselves soon enough." Not wishing to argue, Molly turned towards her right and squinted her eyes tight; hoping to get a good glimpse of whatever was coming. At first, she saw no signs of anything other than screaming townspeople.

Then, she soon noticed several glowing orbs heading her way at a rapid pace. "Please, let it be an approaching truck fully decked out in Christmas lights" Molly prayed mentally while crossing her fingers, "please, please...please!" One would not blame her for thinking such an idea, especially since the oncoming wails sounded nearly identical to that of a big rig's horn sounding off.

But no...almost seconds later, several hundreds of ghosts came flying by Molly; all of whom were giving out the most gruesome and horrifying wails she had ever heard from any such being. Among these ghosts were faces Molly quickly recognized like Sonya Davis, Howling Harriet, Sally Tuggbottom (who was enraged by the fact Brighton chose to honor her brother instead of her) and even the Jeffs (Geoff with a "G" and Jeff with a "J.") "I can't believe it...all my ghost friends, terrorizing my home" Molly whispered sadly, "I dunno how this could get any worse!"

No sooner had she said this, a massive vortex appeared in the middle of the street; where several ghostly figures came floating out. The first were the Ghost Council members, whom Molly didn't think much of. Then came Jinx, the single most malicious spirit she had ever met in her life and at her right stood the Chairman...the original Chairman.

Now, nothing ever seemed to scare Molly that much (outside of spiders and getting her mother angry.) But when she saw the imposing visage of the Chairman looming above her, she couldn't help but feel her knees buckling against each other in terror. But then, just when everything seemed lost for Brighton, Molly saw a familiar van roll on to the scene.

It was an all-black minivan with a green paintjob that showed the words "Ghost Chasers Chen" in spooky lettering. Upon seeing the name, Molly's heart suddenly swelled and little hearts soon formed in her eyes. "Ah! At least there's one good thing about this place" she sighed dreamily, "my sweet Ollie and his fam have come to the rescue." While every part of him hated doing so, Clarence urged for Molly to not be distracted by her crush and to pay attention; claiming things weren't quite as hunky dory as she hoped.

(Line Break)

As the van doors flew open wide; inside, sounds of guns cocking caught the attention of many a spirit that flew by. Then, the Chens leapt out into the fray with their ghost guns a-blazin'. At first, they appeared to be doing rather well; blasting several banshees and shooting many specters with a relative ease. But in spite of the family's show of force, none of the ghosts seemed all that worried.

"Pitiful humans, always acting like victory is assured before the battle is actually won" chortled Bartholomew, "shall we remind them of what they're up against, my Liege?" Without saying a word, the Chairman raised his hand high and pointed his boney finger down at the Chens. Then, whether it was by natural or supernatural means, the skies swirled violently with dark clouds and cracks of thunder echoed loudly from above.

This seemed to be a sort of signal to many of the more powerful ghosts present, who wasted no time in unleashing their otherworldly wrath upon the masses. Sonya Davis (in her form of the Ice Princess) bombarded the houses with powerful icy winds, Sally Tuggbottom commanded her bear companion to charge several of the elder citizens and Howling Harriet dove down towards the humans; grabbing them by their ankles and ruthlessly pulling away at their toes. Of course, the Chens did everything they could to stem the tide of it all.

Ruben and his wife, Ester blasted these spirits with their ghost rifles. But even with them set on the highest possible setting, the beams didn't so much as tickle them. June tried using every invention she had to capture the ghosts, even her newly crafted Ghost Canister. But after filling up with only half of the Fright-Mares that were attacking the masses, it suddenly exploded into pieces.

As for Ollie, he tried to provide some extra firepower for any member of his fam who needed it most. But before he could even fire one blast, a Sob-Goblin floated towards him and touched his cheek with the tip of its claw; all while cackling maliciously. This resulted in Ollie falling to the ground and go into a fierce sobbing fit while his whole body seemed to drain of its vibrant sheen.

This was a horrific spectacle to be sure and Molly wanted nothing more than to delete it all from her mind permanently. But no matter how hard she tried, she seemed unable to look away. "I...I-I can't believe all this is happening" she stammered in disbelief, "but what about Scratch, don't tell me he's in on this madness too!"

Much to her relief, Clarence simply shook his head "no" in response; which was all Molly needed to know. But before she could rest on her laurels, Clarence quickly pointed out the date on a nearby calendar. "Who cares about what the date is, dude" Molly shouted indignantly, "my town is being ravaged by the entire Ghost World, as we speak!"

No sooner had she said this, Clarence revealed that while the residents of the Ghost World were ransacking Brighton...not all of them were present in the assault. It was here that he referenced the calendar again, insisting that Molly look at the date. "FINE! I'll look at the stinking date for ya" she shouted while plucking the calendar up off the ground, "but this better be impor..."

Before Molly had the chance to finish, she took one look at the date and saw that it read Jan. 8. Soon after that, Clarence brought out a similar calendar from inside his coat...only this one was a week older than Molly's. "You mean...this invasion happened in less than a week" gasped the McGee tween, "but...but where's Scratch?"

With a heavy heart and an equally heavy sigh; Clarence revealed that in recent weeks, Scratch's Scare Reports had been coming in later than usual. This was around the time he lost all his spirit in scaring (no pun intended) and chose to hide himself in solitude in his old house. But when the Council finally got wind of his lackluster performance, Scratch was summoned before the Chairman and sentenced to the Flow of Failed Phantoms for eternity.

"Before sending him off, the Council offered Scratch a chace to give one final statement" Clarence explained, "sadly...his only words were 'go ahead, send me to the Flow...nothing there could compare to the pain I've suffered already.'" In that moment, Molly couldn't decide which seemed worse; Scratch's final words or the fact that Clarence provided a perfect impersonation of her bestie's voice. Either way, this was the final nail in the coffin for her and poor Molly's mind finally snapped under all the pressure.

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE" she screamed with tears flowing violently down her cheeks, "PLEASE, CLARANCE...send me back! I don't care how, I don't care where...just bring me back home away from this madness." With her wits nearly shot and her spirit almost broken, Molly grabbed tightly onto the non-angel's tattered coat and shook him with all the strength she had left.

"Please, Clarence...please" she wept silently, "I wanna go home...my real home with my real loved ones, please?!" With the sweetest of smiles on his frumpy face, Clarence patted Molly's head and declared her wish be granted. Then, for about the eleven-teenth time, Molly felt her limbs disappearing.

But instead of freaking out, she only smiled softly and murmured a soft "thank you" as one final tear dripped off her cheek. Then, in the blink of an eye, both Molly and the entire Wish Reality itself vanished into nothingness. Only Clarence remained standing, as he picked up his car keys and pressed the button on his key fob.

"Well...it took a while but I believe Miss McGee has realized her mistake" he sighed with a smile, "now, it's time to go back home." No sooner had he said this, Clarence's angelic Ferrari finally arrived at his side and he climbed into the driver's seat before taking off into the sky.

(First AN: And so, Molly McGee's lil' trip has come to an end. Has she truly learned her value in the Human World, will everything that's happened help Clarence earn his wings at last? Find out next time in the emotional conclusion)

(Second AN: The thirteen bad words Clarence mentioned are a reference to the Spongebob episode, Sailor Mouth; where he and Patrick learn about the curse of curse words. Since said episode never mentions what numbers 8, 6, 3 and 9 are on the list; it's best that you use your imagination on what Scratch might've called Geoff)

(Third AN: Speaking of Scratch; for those wondering why he wasn't among the horde of ghosts terrorizing Brighton, there are two reasons. The first is the fact he's usually a rather lazy ghost, especially when it comes to his job. The second reason is the fact the people of Brighton were just...too easy to scare.

If things happen too easily for you too often, the job just feels tedious and you just don't care about putting effort in it. I hope that all makes sense to you, in the end)

(Final AN: In the main show, we already know that the Chens...aren't exactly the most respected of ghost hunters. But here in the fic's Wish World reality, their abilities are on a level as comedic and laughable as Danny Phantom's parents, Jack and Maddie Fenton)