Chapter 8

With their ride home still in the works, the Gotham Grimtales have decided to take a breather in chatting with the known residents of the Grant Mansion they encountered. Techno was sharing his different mixes with Ultimate Echo Echo, Scarecrow was enjoying some pizza with Wildmutt yet still distant around Four Arms, and Hatty was looking at his crystal staff to figure out how he and his team ended up in another world.

My crystal was purple before we got separated to a different place. I've never seen it do that before, Hatty thought to himself, trying to see if he could make it that color again...but got green instead before becoming red when he got frustrated. Ugh! Come on! I discover a new color emotion, yet I do not know what it is! Why didn't you come with an instruction manual?!

Whampire noticed how frustrated Harry was becoming. "Maybe take a break from thinking about that crystal?" He suggested.

Hatty sighed in defeat, putting his staff away while touching his face in frustration with both hands. "I get that I'm supposed to be the next embodiment of madness but this new color change that my crystal did drives me crazy. I've had it for almost six years now and not once have I seen it turn purple where I know it is related to how we got here when powering that little mechanism made by my mentor. What am I missing?"

"One thing I've learned is when something is frustrating you, leave it for a bit and then come back to it," Whampire said before curiosity took over. "The Mad Hatter has hypnosis powers, correct?"

"You mean my mentor?" Hatty questioned, looking at Whampire from that comment after putting his hands down. "Technically, he's a brilliant neuro-scientist smart enough to create technology for controlling other people's minds. But yes, he knows a thing about studying and mastering the art of hypnosis. He even taught me the basics. Why?"

"How about a bet?" The Vladat suggested. "See how long either of us do without being hypnotized by the other."

While a little intrigued, Hatty's face proved otherwise with uncertainty. "I don't know, Whampire. Can you or your related species even be hypnotized? That sounds like an unfair advantage. Especially the fact that I mentioned earlier how I was taught with the basics."

Whampire smiled. "We Vladats can be hypnotized, yes. It's not impossible, though some of us have a strong defense against it," he said.

"...So, you're saying you've had some experience on not being completely under a trance," Hatty stated, now sounding and looking interested.

"Yes," he said. "Care to see if you can hypnotize me and if you can resist my hypnosis?"

The young Hatter took some time to think about it. He then had an intriguing thought where a small smile showed on his face.

"All right. I suppose I can give it a try," Hatty stated, casually. "Although, if we're going to do this little game, I would recommend doing it somewhere private. Last thing any of us want is to accidentally hypnotize one of our own with disastrous results. You understand, right?"

Whampire nodded. "I agree," he said. "Let's go to the workout room. It should be empty right now."

After less than a few minutes, Whampire and Hatty were in the workout room by their selves. The Vladat even had time in explaining the game to the next Mad Hatter.

"To review; the game is called Hypno-Stare, and there's a timer to see how long someone can stay awake before falling asleep from being completely mesmerized," Hatty replied, understanding the rules. "You even had a few other competitors before me. How long did they lasted?"

"Well, my lovely wife-to-be who is human has lasted twenty seconds. Rachel herself lasted about ten seconds. A few others have lasted about fifteen seconds at best," the Vladat replied.

"I see...And you? How long do you normally last?" Harry asked, a little curious. "Or has no one ever dared try hypnotizing you to be sure and that's why you need me to verify?"

"To be honest, no one has really dared to try," Whampire admitted. "Minus one of our enemies, but he failed miserably."

"Well, I'm honored to be the first in attempting to mesmerize you," Hatty stated, taking a seat around one of the cushioned workout equipment. "It may not be much, but I am willing to test this little bet of yours out."

Whampire nodded. "Let's begin...now," he said.

"Very well. You go ahead in starting us, Whampire," Hatty stated, preparing himself mentally. "Let's see how long I can last."

Whampire's eyes widened into the telltale swirls. "Look at me," he said, his voice deep and soothing.

Hatty didn't panic nor try to look away. He kept a knowing smile gameface on while keeping his gaze on Whampire.

Whampire was impressed by his bravery and started to hum soothingly, a trick that Vladats used to enhance their hypnosis on the person they were hypnotizing.

Hatty knew that Whampire was trying to lull him to sleep with the hum melody. Enough to lose his focus. However, the young Hatter kept his gaze and will strong that was shown on his crystal being green on the back of his pocket.

But Whampire wasn't one to give up so easily and the swirls in his eyes started to move a little faster.

The young Hatter slight struggled yet maintained his will. He just needed to wait a little while longer.

"You've got a strong will, I'll give you that," Whampire said while impressed, as his eyes continuing to swirl.

"Thanks," Hatty managed to respond, keeping it together while doing something in his thoughts. "Had...some practice."

Whampire saw the boy was trying not fall under the hypnosis and he was becoming more impressed with each passing second.

"I'll admit...you have some strong power," Hatty responded respectly, his gaze not leaving Whampire's while discreetly getting what was in his coat jacket pocket. "Really...a challenge to resist."

"Is that so?" Whampire said, smirking. "You've lasted quite a while, but how much longer can you take it?"

"Depends...I'm just waiting...," Hatty replied, almost there in something he has planned.

"Waiting for what?" Whampire asked, curious.

"...Waiting for you to go through the looking glass."

Before having Whampire process nor understand what that meant, Hatty quickly dropped his pocket watch between his face and Whampire's where the clock face was being swung side to side in front of the Vladat's.

The action caught Whampire off guard, so much so that it broke his concentration as he began to focus on the watch.

Hatty took a moment to recollect himself from his trance resisting battle before smirking how his method worked.

"Fragious day, I always say. Now the real fun can begin," he responded deviously, unable to hold a mischievous laugh.

Whampire, being under the spell completely, sat there with eyes wide, as if waiting for a command.

Shifting his eyes to verify no one was truly around, Hatty stopped his watch swinging and went to where Whampire's ear was to whisper what he has in store for the Vladat. The young Hatter then went back to his seat while taking the timer that was still on.

"Eh. Close enough," Hatty shrugged, stopping the time on the little device. "Okay, Whampire, time to wake up."

With the snap of the young Hatter's fingers in front of his face, the Vladat immediately shook out of the trance.

Whampire looked up at the boy. "Hello, Harry," he said.

"Hey, Whamps," Hatty/Harry responded casually, bringing out his white journal to write something down. "My turn was already over where I lasted about forty-three seconds before falling asleep from your power. Although it was nothing compared to your time."

"What was my time?" The Vladat asked and was shocked to learn it had been a minute and thirty seconds.

"Seems you won the game," Hatty shrugged, closing the book while making his leave. "Guess I'm not that good at mesmerizing a vampire alien like you instantaneously as we both hoped. Thanks for the fun challenge, though."

"You're welcome and in all fairness to you, it was a good try," Whampire said, not wanting the boy to feel bad.

Little did he know, he and the others would be in for a surprise.

Soon, Whampire and Hatty made it back to the main room where the others were. The young Hatter noticed Techno-Tune still sharing his violin music to Ultimate Echo Echo and Upgrade. He went to his friend.

"Hey, Techno. Can we chat a moment in private?" Hatty asked.

Nodding, the protégé of the Pied Piper paused to be with his pal. "What's up?"

"I need a small favor to ask. Could you please activate your little hover drones on different angles of the room?" Hatty requested.

"I can do that," Techno-Tune shrugged, only to give a suspicious look. "But why? What exactly are you up to this time?"

Hatty chuckled mischievously. "Let's just say that I wanted to make up for my mistake in somewhat ruining Scarecrow's unbirthday and want to see if my special skills on mind manipulation worked on one of the residents."

Techno-Tune blinked and nodded. "Okay," he said, also wanting to make up for that, too.

With Techno-Tune setting up, Hatty decided to go to where Scarecrow was. He appeared to be finished with his pizza and now petting on Wildmutt. Along with still keeping distance from Four Arms.

"For a creature with no eyes, I am still amazed about coming across Wildmutt and his brother," Hatty noted, getting his best friend's attention. "Acting like playful dogs."

"I'll say," Scarecrow noted, as if not bothered by Hatty's presence while still scratching Wildmutt. "Where did you go earlier? I noticed you weren't here for about less than ten minutes."

"Just came back from playing a game...where one of us is not the same," Hatty answered.

That comment made Scarecrow stop rubbing the Vulpimancer's stomach in shock. Along with turning his head to Hatty.

"...What did you do?" He questioned.

The young Hatter smiled mysteriously, which clued his friend to the fact that something was about to happen. Even saw Techno giving a signal that the drones are in position.

"For the love of corn, Harry, I am not messing around!" Scarecrow exclaimed, using his friend's real name that was almost loud enough for everyone to hear. "You only rhyme when you accomplished something big. What was the game you played? And with whom?"

"Calm yourself, my friend, and enjoy the show," Harry said, before turning to look at Whampire; ready to begin the show.

Scarecrow was unsure about this. While he never doubted his best friend's judgement, the greyscaled boy still had some knots in his stomach about what Hatty/Harry has planned.

"Hey, Four Arms! What was Whampire's girlfriend's special abilities again?!" Hatty called out from a distance when seeing the Tetramand talking with Whampire. "I think one of my aunts has something similar!"

Four Arms smiled. "She can control plants," he said, curiosity filling him at the question.

Suddenly, Whampire gave a blank look before tackling Four Arms with a loud "Meow!"

"Whoa!" The large alien cried out in surprise, landing on his back before Whampire took off, running around the room and the ceiling with his eyes wide and looking silly.

Rachel blinked before she began laughing. "He's acting like a cat who just ate some catnip!" She said, laughing more as Whampire continued to run around with the 'zoomies', pausing to bat at a few plants before diving onto the couch where some blankets were and nuzzling the blankets, making 'happy paws' and purring.

Scarecrow was surprised for a few seconds before laughing at how funny this was. So funny that Hatty joined him on the laughing fit.

"This...This is what you plotted?" Scarecrow managed to say, still laughing at this scene.

"Yeah!" Hatty answered, holding his stomach while busting a gut. "It's my make-up apology for messing up your unbirthday."

"Aw, thanks, Hatty," Scarecrow said. "Gotta admit, you had me worried for a second. "

The two Gotham Grimtales kept laughing until seeing Whampire head their way and they started running plus dodging him. Hatty and Scarecrow used evasive maneuvers to avoid getting tackled and or clawed by Whampire.

"Hatty?!" Scarecrow questioned while yelling in panic.

"Don't worry! I've come prepared!" Hatty shouted, grabbing his top hat to get something out from inside. "Here we go! Cats can't resist this!"

Hatty showed Whampire a ball of yarn and the Vladat's eyes focused on the stringed ball before Hatty tossed it down the hallway.

"Go get it!" He encouraged in a sweet, high pitched voice.

Whampire took off like a shot, running after the yarn ball and pouncing on it, making it roll away where he began stalking it and pounced again.

Rachel was laughing so hard that she could barely stand up and a few of the aliens were howling with laughter at the sight.

"Now that's how you pull off a hypnosis trick!" Hatty exclaimed, still laughing at this hilarious moment. "Techno, please tell me you got that."

"Ho, ho! You bet your cards I did," Techno-Tune stated, tapping on his wrist bands connected to the drones. "I am so adding cartoon music as a sound background when this is over."

Just then, Sasha came in and she saw Whampire acting like a cat. "Whammy? What are you doing?" She asked, smiling at him.

"Meow?" Whampire looked up from the yarn ball to see Sasha where he went to her in all fours. Then, in happiness, Whampire began curling up around Sasha's legs purring.

Hatty/Harry had his hand cover his mouth from laughing any louder until he calmed down in speaking. "I take it that she's your sister we've been hearing about, Miss Rachel?"

"Yes, that's my sister," Rachel said, smiling. "Whampire is her husband-to-be."

"Huh...Believe it or not, I was picturing her to be a redhead, from how I learned about her," Hatty confessed, looking at Rachel. "Then again, I had to live with my aunties for a long while, once, where I thought of you and your sister alternate versions of them. Just less chaotic."

"In your defense, Hatty, what were the chances of meeting two girls who were slightly similar to your Arkham aunties from another dimension?" Scarecrow asked.

"...Yeah, good point," Hatty shrugged.

Rachel chuckled at that before looking at Hatty. "All right, now that you boys have had your fun, would you please break the hypnosis spell on my brother-in-law?" She asked, her tone gentle.

"Of course," Hatty answered, nodding his head while looking at Sasha with a catty Whampire. "But first, I should probably introduce myself to your sister and explain. Considering that Miss Sasha Jocklin seems to enjoy this playful feline side of her lover."

Rachel was rather impressed by his manners and nodded.

Hatty walked over to Sasha...whom had Whampire on his back playing with a yarn string held by Sasha. He cleared his throat to get Sasha's attention of his presence and not scare her.

"Hello, Miss Sasha Jocklin. My name is Hatty," Harry/Hatty introduced himself, his hands behind his back. "Son/nephew of the Mad Hatter from my world. You're probably wondering why your Vladat fiance is acting less batty and more catty."

"I did," she said, smiling before looking curious. "Is this your doing?"

"Yes, I had something to do with it," Hatty confirmed. "But I assure you that it was nothing malicious. Whampire and I were playing Hypno-Stare where he challenged me to a bet on who would last from falling asleep. I outsmarted him in accomplishing what other baddies failed to attempt; I hypnotized Whampire in having him believe that he's a cat."

"You hypnotized him?" She asked, stunned. "How did you do that?"

"Before I explain more of how I pulled it off, there's still the matter of turning Whampire back to normal," Harry/Hatty reminded, pointing at the playful Vladat. "In my line of work, after having the ones under my hypnotic control, I always come prepared in having specific trigger words added in the following individuals' subconscious. One that activates the hypnotic suggestion and another to end the trance entirely. Four Arms already turned on the hypnotic command when saying the word related to your ability."

"Related to my powers?" She said. "Huh. Clever. And cute, too. But, um...how do we break the spell?"

"I will give you two options," Hatty offered, bringing out his hand to number the options with his fingers. "One: I say the trigger word to free Whampire from my spell right now. Or two: I will whisper the word to you and have you say it outloud to free him instead. Which do you prefer?"

Sasha thought for a moment and smiled. "You whisper it in my ear," she said.

"An excellent choice," Harry/Hatty responded, gesturing Sasha to come close until he whispered the word to her.

When she heard it, she nodded and turned to Whampire. "Alucard," she said.

After hearing that, Whampire blinked in waking up from the trance. Not to mention seeing he was licking his wrist and on the floor when he wasn't earlier.

He looked around. "What...just happened?" He asked in confusion.

Harry chuckled, after helping Whampire up. "Yeah...I may have fibbed about how that Hypno-Stare game went down where I managed to have you do something without realizing."

The Vladat looked at him with a playful gleam in his eye. "Oh, did you now?" He asked, looking ready to pounce. "Four Arms, grab him!"

The Tetramand grabbed Harry before he had a chance to run, gently clapping a hand over the boy's mouth to keep him from saying the trigger word again. "He's all yours, Whampire," he said.

Rachel chuckled. "I forgot to warn you boys. When you pull a prank on one of my family members, they retaliate with a tickle torture," she said.

Scarecrow and Techno-Tune looked at each other before quickly bolting out from being next. Considering they did not want to go through that again.

Harry, not surprised by his friends running away and understood their choice, struggled in getting his mouth and body free.

Whampire chuckled before he 'attacked'. His wiggling fingers going for Harry's stomach, armpits, and ribs. Four Arms uncovered the boy's mouth right then as Harry could do nothing but laugh as he was tickled.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! BUHUHUHUHUHUT I FIHIHIHIHIHIXED THINGS UP!" Harry shouted in laughter.

"You still pulled a prank on a Vladat," Four Arms chuckled. "Not many can do that."

"True," Whampire said, smirking at the boy. "So consider this not only as payback, but also as a victory for you, too."

"VIHIHIHIHIHIHICTORY?!" Harry questioned in laughter, now feeling desperate to retaliate in kicking. "NOHOHOHOHOHOHO! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"You accomplished something nearly impossible," Whampire said, smirking as he saw the boy was needing a breather and stopped the tickle torture. Four Arms cradled the tired boy in his arms much like how a father would for his child.

Frankenstrike came in and smiled. "We have the portal ready to go, if the boys are ready," he said.

"Best find the other two and tell them, then," Rachel said, to which most of the aliens headed off to search for the two hiding boys.


Mine and Redbat132's friend Alvaxerox came up with the trigger word to snap Whampire out of the hypnosis. The trigger word Alucard is actually Dracula backwards. This idea was inspired by the movie The Batman vs Dracula. The scene with Whampire acting like a cat was inspired by The Cuphead Show. :)

Please leave Redbat132, Alvaxerox, and myself a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418