Chapter Five: One Year Ago...

Chapter Five: One Year Ago…

            Zack and Cody were bundled up in warm winter clothes, standing right next to Maddie, their mother, London, and Mr. Moseby, all waiting to see how the Ghostbusters were going to take care of the problem in front of them. It was supposed to be the Museum of Natural History standing there; but, instead, it was a shell of purplish slime that, according to Sean Spengler, was reacting to the city’s negative energy.

            Going on this theory, Cody and Maddie encouraged the crowd to come together in singing a couple of uplifting songs to break this “slime shell.” Cody had them singing “Kumbaya” and only managed to open a penny-sized hole in the slime. Maddie suggested they sing “We’re All in This Together” from High School Musical, but the slime only opened to (ironically) the size of a basketball.

            “Wonder how it’d respond if we did ‘Bop to the Top’?” Maddie wondered.

            “Maybe we should get Zac and Vanessa here!” London excitedly suggested.

            “What good would that do?” Cody said. “Not even the John Williams London Symphony could crack open this shell.”

            There was a long pause of silence to mirror the hopelessness of the situation and then London asked, “But we could still get Zac and Vanessa over here, right?” Everyone, of course, just gawked at her oddly.

            Close nearby, Genevieve Marie observed the scene, finding it eerily similar in a way to the incident that occurred at the Tipton Hotel a few years back; the only difference being the temperatures. Before it was a moderately warm day; now, she felt like she was freezing her butt off. The things I’d go through just to see my heroes in action, she thought.

            Earlier, she and the others watched the Ghostbusters make an attempt at breaking the slime shell with their particle throwers. Bolts of proton energy struck the hardened slime, but not once penetrated through it. There was a force at work here that the Ghostbusters greatly underestimated. And even as they were still away somewhere, searching for a solution to their dilemma, Genevieve wondered what could possibly be done here. It was obvious by now that this wouldn’t be as easy as the Tipton Hotel.

            Then she heard something in the distance that sounded a lot like singing, followed by heavy thumping noises (causing mild tremors under their feet). As soon as she looked behind her, she noticed a humungous green shape appear around the corner. It was being escorted by the NYPD, who cleared the roads and made sure citizens were held back on the sidewalk by barricades. Soon everyone else noticed this enormous figure as the music got louder and closer.

            They could barely believe their eyes when they realized that this shape was in fact The Statue of Liberty!

            “Whoa! There’s something you don’t see every day!” Maddie exclaimed.

            “I thought I saw something like that the other day,” said London.

            “Was it on television?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Then you haven’t seen it every day.”

            As the enormous statue stomped by them, Genevieve could make out four figures inside the crown, seemingly operating the statue’s movements from there. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that those figures were the Ghostbusters, using Lady Liberty as their secret weapon against the slime shell; but, as an extra boost of power, they had “When You Wish Upon A Star” playing over speakers set up inside the statue.

            From what Genevieve could tell, the song was sung by more than one voice: male voices, to be exact; and it also sounded like it was performed live from within the statue. Whatever the case might’ve been, it was definitely taking effect on the slime shell, as part of its top began to spread and reveal a skylight.

            Kneeling beside the museum, the statue drew back its mighty right arm and smashed the skylight with its torch. This action was met with the thunderous cheer of the crowd of New Yorkers below. Cheering herself, Genevieve watched with great excitement as the Ghostbusters each threw ropes out from the crown and slid down through the broken skylight.

            Whoever they’re busting tonight had better be saying their prayers!

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            “Get away this moment, before you meet your impenetrable doom!” Jafar threatened, while he and Iago hid behind a larger-than-life, full-figure portrait of Vigo the Carpathian, a demented and sadistic sixteenth century despot with an incredibly powerful evil presence.

            The Ghostbusters stood in a perfectly formed line, side-by-side to one another, aiming their Proton Guns and Slime Blowers (a new device, designed and worn by Sean and J.G., complete with a metal tank strapped to their backs and attached sprayers used to project streams of the psychomagnetheric “mood slime” they found below the city, once negatively charged but now positively charged). Their target was supposed to be Jafar, but they were aiming at the painting instead.

            “Get yourself out from behind there, Jaffie!” Natalie demanded. “You’ve been a bad monkey!”

            Jafar cringed at that remark. “Do I look like the type who wears a vest and ridiculously small hat?”

            “Oh, nice comeback, Jafar!” Iago sarcastically said.

            Jacqueline rolled her eyes in despair. “This is so not how I want to spend my New Year’s. First, we got thrown into a mental institution, trying to convince the mayor of the impending danger this city’s facing. And now we’re dealing with a guy who belongs in one.”

            “Yeah,” J.G. uttered, and then added enthusiastically, “Hasn’t this been the best night ever?!”

            While Jacqueline again rolled her eyes, Jafar and Iago peeked out from the left corner of the painting. As soon as she saw the whites in their eyes, Natalie opened fire and forced them to retreat back behind the portrait. The proton stream blew away a large chunk of the painting’s side, leaving a charred hole. Jacqueline looked at the face of Vigo and could have sworn that the portrait cringed as soon after this attack occurred.

            “You pitiful, miserable creatures!” Jafar yelled. “You dare to challenge the power of darkness? Don’t you realize what you are dealing with?”

            The Ghostbusters collectively looked to one another and shrugged as they answered with a passive “No.”

            “Told ya they wouldn’t get it,” Iago whispered to Jafar.

            “HE’S VIGO!” Jafar bellowed, his voice echoing throughout the entire museum. “He’s the supreme sorcerer to conquer all sorcerers! I’ve learned much about dark magic from him! And tonight, after the clock strikes midnight, he will live again in this new century, taking the form of whomever he pleases! You four are like the buzzing of scarabs to him!”

            The Ghostbusters weren’t listening. Instead, they began advancing towards the painting and Jafar, their weapons still aimed in their direction. However, the closer they got to the painting, the more it seemed like the man in it was popping out towards them in a very third-dimensional way.

            It was evident to them that Vigo the Carpathian was actually moving out of the picture and advancing on the Ghostbusters, even towering over them. Their eyes widened, mesmerized by the sudden supernatural event. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” J.G. cried.

            Immediately, Natalie and Jacqueline opened fire on the specter. Unfortunately, their proton stream merely bounced off Vigo’s chest, striking portions of the room instead. Jafar and Iago stepped out from behind the now-blank painting and grinned, watching their adversaries face their doom.

            “This is it, Iago,” Jafar said. “We’ll finally succeed where Hades and his pathetic Gozer the Gozerian failed.”

            The Ghostbusters continued backing away from Vigo, as he opened his mouth wide, a fierce light of fiery blue energy emerging from it. He was about to unleash his incredible power over the Ghostbusters, until the sudden sound of radiant singing interrupted his control, extinguishing the energy inside his mouth and causing him to wince in pain.

            Looking upward towards the skylight, they all noticed three young men standing in the crown of the Statue of Liberty, singing “When You Wish Upon A Star” louder and more jubilantly than before. These three young men turned out to be a group that Jafar and Iago were heavily familiar with.

            “The Jonas Brothers?!” Iago exclaimed. “We’re bein’ defeated by the Jonas Brothers?! Are you kidding me here?!”

            With the distraction in full effect, Natalie and Jacqueline stepped forward and again unleashed powerful proton streams from their guns. The blasts connected with Vigo’s body and sent him reeling back towards the painting.

            As he was being sucked back inside, he reached forward and snatched the first thing that could have been some use to him: Jafar.

            “My Lord! Wh-What are you…?” Jafar cried.

            Iago, seeing was what happening, decided to take advantage of the fact that he had flight capabilities and headed away from his boss. “You’re on your own here, Jafar!” He landed nearby on the head of a statue and watched Jafar’s demise with a hint of interest.

            Spengler and Stantz couldn’t have cared less what happened to Jafar. All they wanted was to defeat Vigo before the Jonas Brothers could have possibly lost their voices. Together, they fired their Slime Blowers and hosed both Vigo and Jafar. Vigo bellowed as he dropped Jafar, and then he fell back into the painting.

            “Whoa! That got ‘im!” Natalie said.

            They watched as the paint melted off the canvas and ran onto the floor, revealing another painting underneath it. The other painting, as it turned out, was a beautiful portrait of two princesses dressed similarly to Cinderella and Princess Aurora (a.k.a. “Sleeping Beauty”) with two princes kneeling down beside them both and taking them by the hands with roses in the other, all while dressed like Prince Charming and Prince Phillip. The princesses bore an uncanny resemblance to Natalie (as Cinderella) and Jacqueline (as Aurora), and the princes looked just like Sean (as Charming) and J.G. (as Phillip).

            “Wow,” Natalie uttered. “Now there’s an image I won’t get outta my head anytime soon.”

            Meanwhile, Iago flew back over to Jafar, who was lying on the floor, covered with slime and humming joyfully to himself with an unusual smile on his face. “Yo, Jafar! You okay? Not that it really matters, I mind ya.”

            Jafar chuckled with glee as he said, “I’m groovy, Iaggy-baby.”

            “Iaggy-baby?!” The parrot remarked with complete confusion.

            “In fact, I’ve never felt better in my life!” Jafar happily exclaimed, as he got to his feet and picked Iago up, giving him an enormous hug. “I love you, little fella! You’re the best friend I’ve ever had!”

            Iago struggled out of Jafar’s embrace and hovered in the air, his entire feathery form covered in slime. He had a disgusted look on his face upon saying, “I really hope they got therapy in prison, ‘cause I’m seriously gonna need some after this.”

            With their mission completed, the Ghostbusters looked up towards the crown of Lady Liberty. Natalie gave them a thumb up and said, “Nice work, boys. You really burnt up that ghost with that song.”

            Joe Jonas had a thoughtful look on his face, scratching his chin and staring off into space. “A song about burnin’ up ghosts? You know, we could make an instant hit with that.”

            Nick and Kevin both gave him odd looks. “Who’d want to hear a song about burning up ghosts?” The former inquired.

            “Who’d want to hear a song about burning up anything?” Kevin stated. “That’s just got ‘wrong’ written all over it.”

            Joe rolled his eyes with exasperation. “It was just an idea, guys.”

            “Well, yeah, and it was a horrible idea.” Kevin retorted.

            As the brothers started to bicker among each other in the head of the Statue of Liberty, the Ghostbusters just gawked at them for a long moment and then turned to each other. Then they looked behind them to see the love-crazed Jafar chasing Iago all around the museum, trailing slime everywhere.

            “Oh, my goodness,” Jacqueline uttered with disgust.

            Spengler took out his P.K.E. Meter and gazed at the readings for a while. He then told the others, “You know, that slime shell disappeared as soon as we stopped Vigo. We can leave at any time.”

            “Awesome idea,” J.G. said.

            “Yeah, I’m with ya’ll on that one,” Natalie acknowledged before the team headed towards the exit and departed from the museum, greeted by the much more soothing sound of their cheering public.

            Once again, the Ghostbusters had saved the day…and the world.

            And, just as before, Genevieve Marie was there to witness it all.

            Unfortunately, it would be the last time she and anyone else would.