There was music all around them and the sky was filled with flying spirits. They passed a group of musicians who paid no attention to their presence. One was playing a fiddle, another a guitar, another a banjo. There was a ghost playing a harmonica and a drummer pounding out the tempo on a gravestone while other spirits were dancing amoung the tombstones to the beat. There was a king and queen balancing a teeter-totter on a gravestone, a hearse stuck in the mud with the coachman talking or singing with a duchess seated atop the carriage, sipping tea. The casket had slipped out the rear open doors and its contents, a shrouded corpse sitting upright in the open box also was sipping a cup of tea.
Behind the hearse on a hill a group of ghosts were enjoying a bicycle ride through the tombstones and trees.
RAPHAEL
Man, everywhere we look there are ghosts having fun.
MICHAELANGELO
Must be some kind of night jamboree.
LEATHERHEAD
Looks that way...they're all enjoying themselves.
USAGI
Dancing, playing music, sipping tea, riding bikes.
LEONARDO
I believe we may see more ghosts along the way, gang.
DONATELLO
Uh-huh...
NINJARA
Yup, that's what he said, all right.
Continuing down the single pathway through the cemetary grounds the ninja turtles and allies saw more sights along the way, such as four more specters standing on a raised walkway platform of sorts. Two were wearing opera theater costumes of viking warriors with arms embracing each other's waists and wailing to the sky in their voices. Next to them was a huge masked executioner singing a duet with a medieval decapitated knight who held his singing head in his extended hand.
USAGI
There's that crow again. <spots the black bird>
RAPHAEL
Why is it always bothering us, huh?!
NINJARA
I don't know...
DONATELLO
Wait, I think it wants to tell us something.
Sure enough, the crow perched in the branch of a nearby tree and called down to the mutants who stared at it, wondering what it had to say to them this time.
CROW
Caw-caw, beware my friends, caw-caw! They may try to follow you home, caw-caw-caw!
Then it flapped its wings and flew off, leaving the shocked-startled friends staring after it in disbelief. What did it mean by that, "follow you home" they wondered aloud. But before they could ask themselves that question, there came the sound of voices singing nearby.
LEATHERHEAD
I hear voices singing, like a barbershop quartet.
MICHAELANGELO
Yeah, me too. And it's coming that way. <points>
LEONARDO
In that case, let's go that way.
So they followed the singing until they came upon a startling scene. There before them on tall pedestals were marble busts, four of them all singing a familiar song that went like this...
BASS BUST
As the moon climbs high over dead oak trees.
TENOR BUST
Spooks arrive for the midnight spree.
BARITONE BUST
Creepy creeps with errie eyes.
SOPRANO BUST
Start to shriek!
ALL FOUR BUSTS
And harmonize, grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!
Then the statues hum several times before singing again...
BASS BUST
When the cryptdoors creak and the tombstones quake.
ALL FOUR BUSTS
Spooks come out for a swinging wake. Happy haunts materalize and begin to vocalize. Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!
BASS BUST
Now don't close your eyes and don't try to hide.
ALL FOUR BUSTS
Or a silly spook will sit by your side. Shrouded in a daft disquise they pretend to terrorize. Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!
BASS BUST
When you hear the knell of a funeral bell.
ALL FOUR BUSTS
Wierd glows gleam where spirits dwell. Restless bones etherilize rise as spooks of every size. Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize! Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialiiiiiiiiiiiizzzze...
Then the busts fell silent again and all was quiet in the cemetary. All the ghosts had retired to their graves again, ending their night-time jamboree party. Not wanting to hang around any longer the gang hurried down the pathway in search of the back gate along the fence-line to escape.
NINJARA
Leo, are you sure we're going the right way?
LEONARDO
I think so, there's only one path. It looks like there's something up ahead.
A dark shape appeared in front of the turtles, vixen, alligator and rabbit who stared at it, trying to figure out what it was.
USAGI <recognizes it>
That's a crypt or mausoleum.
MICHAELANGELO
It's a what?! <panicked>
USAGI
Mausoleum, where you bury deceased loved ones instead of putting them into the ground.
MICHAELANGELO
Oh... that.
NINJARA
And, it's the one by the fence. It must be the way out!
DONATELLO
Yes! Finally we found the EXIT at last.
RAPH-LEATHERHEAD-MIKEY-NINJARA-USAGI
COWABUNGA!
LEONARDO
Come on, stay close and don't look back.
DONATELLO
Home, here we come!
One by one the friends ran towards the mausoleum doors which swung open on rusty hinges with a loud groan, then into its dank interior and down stone steps to the ground level. The mutants found themselves walking down a cobblestone floor with dirt vine-entwined walls on both sides and ceiling high overhead. Soon they emerged into a large chamber, circular in fashion.
Coffins or caskets were neatly arranged in rows against the walls or stacked atop one another in piles. Openings cut into the walls revealed urn jars containing ash remains of deceased ones could be seen. At that moment a strange voice called out.
UNSEEN VOICE
Hurry back...hurry back...
LEATHERHEAD
Who said that?
USAGI
I hear a voice calling us.
DONATELLO
Huh? Where? <looks around>
USAGI
There, look. <he points>
Directly in front of them, standing on a bridge spanning a moat was a ghostly figure of a beautiful woman wearing a bridal gown and holding a bouquet of flowers.
MICHAELANGELO
Hey, that looks like the ghost we saw in the attic. She's wearing the same bridal gown.
NINJARA
I wonder, is she the same woman?
RAPHAEL
Looks that way, vixen.
LEONARDO
Hmm...very interesting.
GHOST WOMAN
Be sure to bring your death certificate if you decide to join us...make final arrangements now, we've been dying, ahem, to have you...hmhmmhmmm...Hurry back...hurry back...
Then she faded away to nothingness like a mirage. Leo and friends looked at each other in shock and then continued through the vault's chamber, crossed the bridge over the moat to the other side and up another flight of stone steps towards another door that swung open easily, allowing them to exit safely outside and it was here, the gang discovered to be standing in front of the back gate!
MICHAELANGELO
It's the back gate, we found it.
LEATHERHEAD
At last, this adventure is over.
USAGI
I agree, we survived this nightmare of the supernatural forces.
LEONARDO
Well then, let's not hang around any longer to wait and see what happens next.
RAPHAEL
I'm all for that, let's go home.
NINJARA-DON
YES SIR! LET'S GO HOME.
But as they turned to leave...the all-too-familiar voice of the ghost host called out to them.
GHOST HOST
Did you enjoy your visit?...<it seemed his voice was coming from the open door leading into the mausoleum> I told you you would not be harmed, thank you for spending some time with us...Come again, bring your friends if they believe this story you tell...I have to go now, it is midnight...Pleasant dreams...hmhm, hmhmm...hmhmmhmmmahahahahaah!...
At that precise moment, the friends all screamed "AAAAAAAAAAUGH!" like Charlie Brown in unison and ran! And they did not stop running until they were safely back home again.
THE END
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