Episode 11 - The Exorcism of Krashlee Grenadine

## Summary

There's not much time before the big Fallentine's Dance starts-- or before Krashlee is permanently taken over by a lust demon, aka the Gunch (according to Paul)! Everybody needs to scramble to get Susan's very specific and embarrassing list of ingredients together before the exorcism ritual can begin. Even more importantly, everybody needs to decide-- how do we feel about Paul? I mean, really. Just because he's "friendly" and "wants to help" and "lots of people say he's hot", is he really all that great?

## Previously On...

Hey everybody, it's Shamanda Felt.

I'm sure that you already know by now, normally the Mystery County Monster Hunters Club is the most rationale, level-headed band of four teenagers and one part-time janitor/full-time professional monster hunter. But last week got a little heated. We all should have been happy about the Fallentine's Dance coming up, but we're all kinda big mad for different reasons.

Krashlee was locked in a panic room for a reason, uh, I guess she's possessed by a lust demon called The Gunch. Susan had her Lair exposed to the recently bricked principal who knows that I'm a little bit pyro. CEJ resolved his feelings with Adam, so I guess he's pretty emotionally stable, lucky him. And Adam is big mad because I asked Paul, the newest and hottest monster hunter, to join the team, *and* I asked him to the dance.

Happy Fallentine's Day.

## Plot

### THE LAIR

To perform the exorcism of Krashlee, Susan needs to gather some rare ingredients and soon. They have to finish the exorcism before Krashlee has been bonded for twenty-four hours.

She has to find:

* the full breath of innocence
* a second chance consumed by flame
* tears of a good man
* the rib of the transformed
* the ether of indifference

Susan knows that five people are needed to perform the exorcism successfully, as well as some blood and holy water, and each person has to sacrifice something for the magic to work. She has holy water blessed by the Pope who owed Susan a favor, which are, in fact, his tears. Fulfilling an additional one of the ingredients. Susan asks about the breath of innocence, and Paul asks if she means being a virgin. She reluctantly confirms that and Krashlee screams at the mention of the word virgin.

Paul asks about who is a virgin, and CEJ, Shamanda, and Adam admit to being virgins. Susan tells CEJ that he is perfect for the ether of indifference, and he just needs to think really hard when she tells him to. Shamanda tells them that she is a former arsonist and could help with the second change consumed by flame.

Noticing her discomfort in telling the Club about her previous misdeeds, Paul comforts Shamanda.

> "Everyone is entitled to start over."
>
>

She feels seen and appreciated. After that affirmation, Shamanda is ready to help out. She says that she can go to the parking lot, line up some school buses and set them on fire. Paul volunteers to help her and Shamanda grabs his hand and yanks him out of the room. Adam is really unhappy, and CEJ is staring into space, mouthing words to himself. Susan creeps up behind him and snips off some of CEJ's hair. He is not happy.

> "Calm down, Samson. We needed the ether of indifference and now we have it."
>
>

CEJ grumbles that his next trip to Supercuts will be totally messed up. He asks Adam how bad it is, and Adam admits that he has a big bald patch in the middle of his scalp. CEJ freaks out and demands Adam takes a picture to show him. Adam doesn't have a phone, but knows that Shamanda does, and uses that as an excuse to run after her and Paul.

As Susan and CEJ are left alone in the Lair with a possessed Krashlee, Susan watches as CEJ seems to wilt, experiencing a continuing decline in health. She sees how horrible he looks and knows she has to do something for him. She pulls out a Sprite, mixes in some holy water from another vial she keeps in her Lair, imbues the concoction with some of her magic, and puts it in CEJ's hands. CEJ takes a swig and as the magic takes effect, healing him, another chunk of his hair falls out.

Feeling very insecure CEJ declines a hat, and mopes.

Susan takes a deep breath, feeling her own wounds, goes to a mirror and tells herself that it isn't as bad as it looks. Words echo around Susan, repeating her words back to her, and most of her wounds completely heal.

### THE PARKING LOT

Shamanda parks all the buses into a line, with the help of Paul who is directing her when she needs it. When Shamanda gets out of the last bus and goes over to Paul, he takes her hands and tells her how excited he is that they are going to the dance together. Shamanda starts to tell Paul about how good this feels to her, and how hard things have been.

Adam Miller listens dejectedly from behind a bus.

Shamanda mentions Moth Men, and Paul starts to talk about how Moth Men are killers and mind manipulators. Adam interrupts Paul before he can say more, and tells them he is on a special mission from Miss Wexler. He asks them what they were talking about, and Shamanda demurs, telling him it is private. They make some veiled, barbed comments at each other, and Shamanda tries to leave with Paul. He asks Adam what he needed help with, and when Adam tells him he needs a camera phone, Paul immediately offers his own.

Adam is hurt, and reaches out mentally to Shamanda. He connects with her and asks what is happening. They have an honest conversation about their feelings and Shamanda tells him she wanted *him* to ask *her* to the dance. He tells her that, since the girls asked the guys, he didn't think he could. They bicker, but table their conversation for later.

Paul, completely unaware of the lightning fast mental conversation that happened between the two teens next to him, hands Adam the camera. Before they leave, Adam fires one last thought at Shamanda.

-Shamanda, will you go to the dance with me?-

> "I'll go with both of you." She says out loud.
>
>

This surprises Paul and he asks Shamanda if she really likes him. She tells him that she and Adam have a thing going on, and Paul is crestfallen, but rallies and agrees to go to the dance with Shamanda as a friend. Paul tries to psych himself up after this big disappointment and heads back towards Susan's Lair.

> "Adam, if we ever were to get married, we cannot invite him. It would kill him."
> "Oh my God. No way. He's not even allowed in the same state."
>
>

Before Shamanda and Adam walk inside, a voice says, "Wow, that was really sweet guys. You love to see it. You know, people find each other."

Rider Strong walks around a bus, and Adam absolutely freaks out. He loves Boy Meets World. Shamanda recognizes him as the one who owns her soul. The Devil.

Adam takes a photo of Rider Strong, and then tells Shamanda to take a photo of him and Rider. Shamanda tries to explain that Rider is a friend she knows from Tacoma. Rider Strong shatters the illusion and makes Shamanda admit that he is the Devil. Adam is shocked. In the blink of an eye, he becomes the boy from the Lair who scared Adam earlier.

He proposes that Adam sells him his soul for anything Adam could want. Shamanda tells him not to waste it on an iPod. Rider Strong reveals that he is not only the real Rider Strong from Boy Meets World, but that Ben Savage was a top soul reaper. He offers Shamanda's soul as an equivalent exchange for Adam's soul. He tells Adam that, if he loses his soul, he will be okay. He guarantees it.

Adam puts off Rider Strong for the moment, saying that he will make his decision once they have defeated the Lust Demon. While trying to cover it up, Shamanda nevertheless can tell that this makes the Devil angry. Angrier than she has ever seen him before. He darkly refers to being aware of the situation, and broken agreements.

> "What is mine is supposed to stay mine, and let's just say I don't appreciate Lailah coming in and corrupting what is mine and what is supposed to stay mine."
>
>

He is staring dead into Adam Miller's eyes. Shamanda interrupts and tells Rider Strong that Adam is completely under her control, and he believes her. For now. Rider tells Adam that he isn't mad at *him*, and he wants to protect him. Shamanda promises that he'll have Adam's soul by the end of the dance, and he reminds her that the yes needs to come from Adam.
Adam asks if he can talk to Rider Strong about this later tonight, and the Devil agrees. He puts a warm hand on Adam's shoulder, and it is oddly comforting. Rider tells Adam that they can talk anytime.

> "I'm always here for you, Adam."
>
>

### THE LAIR

Krashlee is running around the panic room and smashing everything she can get her hands on. While the Lust Demon is inside of Krashlee, feeding her rage, Krashlee is the one choosing to cause this mess. Susan and CEJ let Krashlee fume on her own. CEJ has continued talking to himself.

> "Yeah. Well, okay. Maybe we owe this one, huh?...Because you don't just get to hang around here all the time for free!"
>
>

While no one can see who CEJ is talking to, he has been talking to the ghost of Chet Gibbons, who is haunting him. CEJ has been trying to convince Chet to help with the exorcism. Chet is very torn, as he hates monsters and wants be a part of the exorcism, but the idea of helping Adam or CEJ is anathema to him. While Chet weighs the fairness of the situation, CEJ tells him that it wasn't fair that he tried to kill his own son. Chet responds that it isn't fair that he has to listen to CEJ use the bathroom now.

CEJ offers Chet a deal. They can watch a Mel Brooks movie together if Chet helps. He agrees.

CEJ opens himself up to a premonition about the exorcism.

When Chet died, CEJ did not believe that he killed him. That belief was so strong, that it actually barred Chet from moving on to the next plane of existence. Chet is now bound to CEJ, giving him some otherworldly abilities.

CEJ sees the gym. It's decorated in classic Fallentine's day fashion; a lot of hearts with orange dappled leaves falling over them. There's couples dancing. It's really beautiful. There's music playing. It's Mariah Carey's We Belong Together, but...they are all burning. They're all on fire. And they're slow dancing in flames as the flames are ripping through. And the school is on fire. And he sees, cavorting around, screaming, and laughing, is Krashlee dancing around amidst the couples before she herself catches fire.

Wiping away his exhaustion, CEJ jumps up and sprints out of the Lair, racing to the boiler room. He needed to be where the sprinkler system was. While CEJ is running, he is having a back and forth with Chet. Chet tells him something that he knows is truly important. He is not Adam's father. CEJ doesn't have time to think about what that means, and he arrives at the boiler room. The sprinkler system is set out in front of him. Unsure of exactly what to do, CEJ acts under pressure and grabs a fire axe affixed to the wall. He starts whacking into the panel and the sprinklers start to go off. Water begins to fill up the gym, and personnel are automatically called.

### THE PARKING LOT

Adam and Shamanda once again try to leave the parking lot when a car pulls up. Assistant Principal Brixton Bridges steps out and tells them to stay where they are. She asks why they moved the buses, and they feign ignorance. Adam pulls out Paul's phone, telling her he found it by the buses after they had already been moved.

> "Listen, it'll be a cold day in hell when Brixton Bridges gets hoodwinked by some nefarious teenager trying to play some prank on Fallentine's Day. Now you are going to walk into my office now."
>
>

She grabs Adam by the back of his shirt and moves forward to command Shamanda. She wants to take both of them back to the office where a bespelled Principal Norton currently resides.

### THE LAIR

Alarms are blaring in Susan's Lair. The sprinklers are going off, starting to soak everything in the Lair, but Susan has spells in place that activate, stopping the water before it causes damage. Susan realizes that CEJ must be responsible for this and leaves to look for him. Krashlee is alone in the Lair, trapped in the panic room. With a little time, and her lock picks, she is able to get out.

Feeling outraged, Krashlee goes through her Clubmates stuff, find Shamanda's special squiggle pen, and starts to write notes for the Club to find.

* Adam. Yeah, right. You wish. No love, Shamanda.
* Miss Wexler. Yeah, right. You wish. No love, Ghost of Chet.
* Yeah right, CEJ. No love. You wish. From Krashlee, your friend, only.

Paul walks in and asks where everyone is. Krashlee starts belittiling him and he says that he did not expect such mean behavior from her. Maybe the rest of the Club, but not TortugasRntREAL34. She tells him to put his head in his own butt and give himself a swirly. While Krashlee is angry, the things she is saying to hurt other people, also pains herself. Paul steels himself, and offers to perform the exorcism at that moment. Alone. Still insulting Paul, Krashlee agrees and Paul begins.

He has half the ingredients, and none of the additional people to help. The exorcism totally fails and Krashlee beats him to a pulp. Once she is done hurting him, she forcefully kisses him and runs away, saying that he broke her heart.

The Lust Demon has full control over Krashlee who is drawing dicks in the hallways, searching porn on the computers, and heading to the school buses to set some fires.

### THE PARKING LOT

Krashlee runs out into the parking lot, looking crazed. She throws a Molotov cocktail into the line of buses and the are quickly consumed by flame. Adam quickly casts mental dominion on the assistant principal, telling her to forget everything she saw. Exactly how he ordered Principal Norton, to the same effect. Brixton Bridges goes slack and loses any semblance of herself. Panicking, Shamanda throws the assistant principal over her shoulder and starts to take her inside, away from the fire, absolutely wrinkling her dress.

Meanwhile, Krashlee is making rude gestures and saying lewd things. Shamanda locks eyes with her and says, "Calm down, Lailah. I know it's you in there."

Krashlee turns away, locking eyes with a new figure. Rider Strong.

> "I told you, you couldn't have my things. I told you not to play with my things. That's mine." Rider Strong holds up a hand toward Krashlee.
>
>

Intense pain floods through Krashlee as she feels something inside of her being squished. Krashlee tries to force the demon out of her, acting under pressure to save her life. Krashlee gets lucky and is able to fight against the Devil trying to hurt the demon inside of her. She connects with the long chain of past lives that connect her to everything, filling her body with them, leaving no room for the demon and forcing it out. A pure, white light envelops the monster and it is destroyed, temporarily blinding Krashlee.

As the demon leaves her body, Krashlee briefly makes contact with the entity controlling it. She experiences an ancient being that is trapped. Clearly feminine in how it sees itself. And she is experiencing that she creates, she creates life and that she is horrifically horribly trapped and would do literally anything to end that imprisonment, because the time that she is in is wrong. And Krashlee experiences this moment where she has this certainty of an interdimensional being telling her that this timeline, like the existence that she, Krashlee, and everybody is in is not supposed to exist.

Krashlee knows for certain that this being is tied to this geographical space. Mystery County.

Susan has come onto the scene, surveyed the damage and focuses on Rider Strong. She takes out her holy water and throws it on him, she fuels her efforts with magic, and it hits true. Rider Strong screams, looks Susan dead in the eyes and says, "You're really going to regret that, Susan.", and in a moment, Rider Strong is temporarily banished.

The Club heads back to the Lair as the parking lot is flooded with firefighters, circling the flaming buses.

## Characters

**Main Cast**

* Rashawn Nadine Scott as Shamanda Felt
* Jeff Murdoch as Adam Miller
* Erin Rein as Krashlee Grenadine
* Claire Linic as Susan Wexler
* Alan Linic as CEJ
* Tyler Samples as Rider Strong, Paul DeBello, Brixton Bridges, and everyone else

## Introductions

Tyler: Welcome to Mystery County Monster Hunters Club, the ongoing saga of high school monster hunters in way over their head. I'm Tyler Samples, your Keeper of Monsters and Mysteries. Let's meet our players.

Rashawn: Hey everybody, I'm Rashawn Nadine Scott, also known as Shamanda Felt, the Crooked, and I've already talked a bunch already.

Jeff: Hi, I'm Jeff Murdoch and I play Adam Miller, the Monstrous. You can ask me anything, I'm an open book. Well, more like an open livejournal.

Erin: Hey, I'm Erin Rein. I play Krashlee Grenadine, the Flake, and I'm goth now in case you hadn't noticed.

Alan: Hey everyone. My name is Alan Linic and I play CEJ. I am the Mundane of the group, but I dane to go on adventures.

Claire: Hey everyone, my name is Claire Linic. I play Susan Wexler, the Expert, and I'm single and ready to kill-*ingle*. Monsters.

## Notable Quotes

* "Now this is going to become a problem. One of us has killed, someone in this room. One of us is half-monster. One of us is Paul, and one of us has sold their soul to the devil." - Susan
* "We don't use the v-word around here, okay Paul?" - Shamanda
* "You know about the pineal gland? Oh, wow. I am so excited for tonight." - Tyler as Paul
* "I wish I could turn into a moth. I'm turning into a grub on the daily!" - Adam
* "You know, you're just a boy. I'm just an interdimensional entity of evil and chaos. And I'm just asking, can I have your soul?" - Tyler as Rider Strong
* "Chet, you have become the thing you were sworn to destroy. You're just a spirit haunting a child." - CEJ

## Links

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