Hotel Transylvania: Johnny is THE BATMAN (Part 1)

Chapter 21

"There you guys are!" Johnny yelled now reunited with his family.

"JOHNNY!" Everyone shouted in relief. Mavis, Brett, Kent, and Melly ran to Johnny hugging him.

"Where have you been?! We were so worried about you!" Mavis yelled worriedly.

"I tried to call for some help but then I encountered Batman and told me to get to safety. He's a scary dude by the way." Johnny explained.

"Well the important thing is that we're all here now." Dracula stated. "But.... we're going to have a guest for the time being."

Johnny saw the young boy Richard Grayson sitting inside the hearse.

"Who's the kid?" Johnny asked pretending he doesn't know the kid he met earlier as Batman.

"We'll tell along the way." Mavis replied sadly as everyone got inside the hearse.

A couple of minutes later, they all arrived back at the hotel with Dracula checked in a room for Richard while Johnny and Mavis decided to keep an eye on the young boy and Dracula went back to his office finishing his paperworks as usual.

"Hey there, Richard." Johnny said sitting beside the young boy on bed. "My name's Johnathan by the way but you can call me Johnny if you want, and this is my fiancée, Mavis."

"Hi, Richard." Mavis smiled and waved at Richard.

"Nice to meet you." Richard said with a weak smile.

"So how are you enjoying your stay so far? Surprised to meet some friendly monsters?" Johnny asked trying to socialize with Richard.

"Yeah. They're all nice." Richard weakly replied. "I got the chance to see Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy, the Werewolf, and the Invisible Man at the Monster Festival a long time ago."

"That's cool." Johnny knew that Richard was referring to the time when the Drac Pack visited the human village to bring him back to the hotel for Mavis. "Between you and me, our friend Dracula does always say: 'I am Count Dracula blah blah blah!'" Johnny made an impersonation of Dracula which made Richard chuckled and Mavis giggled.

"So, Richard. Is it okay if you could tell us a little bit about yourself?" Mavis kindly asked.

"Well, my name is Richard and I'm 8 years-old. My parents always enjoyed watching me doing gymnastics. Hopefully I could get to be with them again." Richard suddenly frowned with Johnny and Mavis feeling his pain.

"Hey." Johnny calmly said as he gently puts his hand behind Richard's back. "If there's anything we could do or get something for you, just let us now, alright?"

"I want my parents back." Richard said raising his voice a little and his started eyes started to tear. "Batman said that he's going to bring them back but what if he doesn't make it in time? I just wanna go home with my mom and dad!"

Richard used to both his hands to cover his face and started to cry with some tears coming out. Both Johnny and Mavis looked at each other feeling bad for the young boy.

"Richard, We know what you've been going through and it must be really hard." Johnny confessed sighing in sadness while Richard slowly removed his hands from his face trying to make eye contact with Johnny. "It's the same feeling I've been through the night I lost my parents at your age. That sudden emptiness... There's no felling like it in the world."

"I also lost my mom when I was only an infant but my dad was always there for me. That's the reason why he built this hotel. He was very overprotective when it comes to me." Mavis sadly said sitting beside Richard at the other side of the bed.

"Does the hurt ever go away?" Richard asked still sobbing in tears.

"I wish we could say yes." Johnny frowned lowering his head. "But it will get better for you. Your parents are still out there and I'm sure Batman will bring them back safely. That I promise you."

Richard quickly hugged Johnny, which surprised him a little. Johnny hugged back to comfort Richard while Mavis joined the hug.

"You know, all this emotional talk is kinda eating me alive. What do you say if we do something entertaining?" Mavis said smiling at the young boy.

"Like what?" Richard asked curiously while wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Hold that thought." Johnny smirked while he exited the room leaving Mavis and Richard confused.

A couple of minutes later, Johnny returned holding a bunch of DVDs and a bowl of popcorn. Johnny, Mavis, and Richard started to watch The Gray Ghost on the television while eating the bowl of popcorn. Richard was really enjoying the show and slowly getting better now.

As the time passed, Richard fell asleep peacefully while Johnny and Mavis quietly exited the room like they were parents. Mavis went back to her room to get some sleep while Johnny went back to his but not for some sleep.

Johnny was sitting on a chair holding the bullet he got from the Joker's fun fair. The bullet that almost killed Dracula. While examining the bullet, Johnny's memories of his parents' death were coming back in his mind because it reminded him of Richard.

"Johnny, are you alright?" Alfred asked entering Johnny's room.

"It's all coming back to me, Al." Johnny replied starring at the bullet he's holding.

"Pardon me?" Alfred asked curiously.

"My parents." Johnny answered looking at Alfred. "The night on my birthday... I can hear their screams. There was nothing I could do to stop it."

"It was a long time ago, Johnathan. Don't blame yourself for what's happened. I know your parents only wanted the life you deserve." Alfred said.

"It all started when I first encountered the Joker. The hostages he killed that night... he's different than any other criminals I've fought before. I better find him before he kills Richard's parents." Johnny said while standing up from his chair to change into his batsuit.

"Let's hope nothing bad would happen to those couple. Their son had enough for one night." Alfred replied.

Johnny was now wearing his batsuit without the cowl then thought about showing the bullet to Alfred.

"Before I go, take a look at this." Johnny held the bullet so that Alfred could have a good look at it. "This was the bullet that the Joker almost shot at Drac. Anything you can say about this?"

"It's... silver." Alfred replied curiously.

"Well if I'm not mistaken, silver has a particular dark affect against monsters in the ancient myth. They could be easily hurt by one of these things." Johnny explained.

"Oh dear! Where on earth did the Joker got his hand on one of those things?" Alfred gasped in horror.

"Probably the weapons deal he made with the Penguin. I'm getting rid of this away from the hotel." Johnny puts the silver bullet inside his belt and wore his cowl back on and glided outside the window.

To be continued.....