Chapter Six: Ajax Ghost Exterminators
Present Day
Zack
was so lost in thought that he totally missed the fact that his brother had
been calling his name repeatedly for the past several minutes. Only when he
waved his hand out in front of him did he snap out of his flashback. “Wh…Huh?!”
“I
believe I just set the record for the number of times I’ve said ‘Zack’ for
sixty minutes straight,” Cody sarcastically said. “You must’ve been thinking of
something awfully good to miss what Mr. Moseby just did.”
“What?
Did he do cartwheels like that time he found out Mr. Tipton was giving him a
raise?” Zack asked.
“No,
he just called the only available ghost-hunting team in New York to substitute
for the ones that quit last year,” Cody said. “The original Ghostbusters:
Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy.”
Zack
cringed. “That was the best he could do? Those guys are like the great-grandfathers
of ghost hunters.”
“Well,
it was the best we can do. Ajax Ghost Exterminators have been in
business for nearly seventy-one years now, and just came out of mid-retirement
on their seventieth anniversary last year.”
“And
that’s supposed to make us feel better how?”
At
that moment, someone went through the revolving door at the hotel entrance and
was spun around so quickly in it that he flew out and soared several feet,
crashing into a nicely decorated table. It turned out that this clumsy figure
was Goofy, one-third of Ajax Ghost Exterminators.
Cody
rushed to his aid. “Are you alright?” Cody asked.
“Relax,
dude,” Zack said. “It’s just Goofy.”
Goofy
tipped his green hat to Zack and Cody and said, “Ajax Ghost Exterminators at
your service!”
Cody
could barely contain his joy at meeting the animated figure. “Oh, wow! This is
a real honor, sir! I’ve never met a living legend before!”
“Sure
you have,” Zack contradicted. “Remember when you freaked out over—”
“Can
we please not go there?!” Cody quickly interjected.
Soon
Mickey and Donald entered the hotel, having quite the opposing expressions on
their faces: Mickey’s was more joyous, while Donald was somewhat fierce. “Anybody
seen any ghosts?” Mickey asked with excitement, feeling glad to be back in
action after so long.
Mr.
Moseby approached the two characters and smiled as he told them, “Welcome!
Welcome! We are so glad to have you here! It is always a pleasure to have the
greatest American icons here at the Tipton.”
“Just
tell us where the ghost is,” Donald gruffly commanded.
Despite
the duck’s crazy semi-intelligible speech, Moseby knew right away from the look
on his face that this was all business with him, not pleasure. “They’re on the
rooftop.”
“C’mon,
fellas,” Mickey told his teammates, as he held his shotgun ready. “We’ve got
work to do.”
The
three ghost-hunters headed over to the nearest elevator and climbed inside. As
the doors closed in front of them, Cody, Zack, and Moseby each gave them a
thumb up. Just after the doors closed, Zack uttered, “They’re gonna get
annihilated, aren’t they?”
“They
don’t even have a prayer,” Moseby remarked.
Cody
gawked at the both of them and shook his head. “O ye of little faith.”
“O ye who’re about to get their butts kicked,” Zack
bantered, walking off and leaving a hopeful Cody feeling suddenly nervous. As a
last minute decision, he rushed over to an elevator that had just opened and
climbed in, heading to the rooftop himself.
------------------
It was a scene almost eerily similar to the event that occurred on the rooftop of the Tipton in 2004. The only exception was that things were ten times more terrifying as blue smoke emerged from beyond the temple doors, which looked as if they had been blown open by dynamite. However, the temple was not there; instead, there was a long, dark stairway leading to a black throne where none other than Hades, Lord of the dead, was sitting and smoking a cigar.
Mickey,
Donald, and Goofy slowly emerged from the doorway leading onto the rooftop;
their demeanors had changed almost instantly the moment they made it there.
Their ghost-catching “equipment” quivered in their grips as they crept across
the smoking atmosphere. They fought hard not to breathe any of the smoke, not
knowing what kind of harmful effects it could have on them. Mickey breathed in
a little and coughed hard. It smells like brimstone, he thought.
Hades,
seeing the three “Wannabe Ghostbusters,” laughed and said, “I ask for the
Superstars of the Supernatural, and they give me just plain old superstars
instead?”
“The
jig’s up, Hades!” Mickey exclaimed, doing his best to sound brave.
“Yeah,”
added Donald, also trying.
“Leave
the nice folks in this hotel alone!” Goofy demanded.
The
calm, cool demeanor that had been on Hades’ face quickly started to change into
a heavily stressed, twisted look of sheer anger while the cigar in his mouth
exploded; coincidentally, his attitude did as well. “I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR ANY
MICKEY MOUSE JUNK!”
His
body flamed up and his furious voice echoed throughout the creepy night
atmosphere, making the trio in front of him nearly jump out of their skins
(literally, in a toon’s case). Between the shivers, Goofy brought himself to
say, “I guess ya don’t have time for any Donald Duck junk either.”
“Will
you shut up?!” Donald retorted.
The
flames on Hades’ body began to recede, forcing him to stay calm again. “Okay.
Okay. Look. All I want is for you boys to get me the Ghostbusters. That’s all.
And I’ll leave your pretty little realm alone.”
“B-But,
Hades,” stammered Mickey, “The Ghostbusters have split up.”
“They’re
retired,” Goofy added.
Hades
chuckled. “I don’t think you guys heard me. I want the Ghostbusters…NOW!” On that last word, his body flamed
up again; this time, in the reddish-orange color. “I don’t care if they’re
retired or expired…actually, that
second one doesn’t sound so bad…but, anyways, I want them here right here,
right now!”
“How’re
we supposed to find them?” Mickey asked.
“You’re
the sorcerer…FIGURE IT OUT!” Hades’ flame grew to immense proportions, shooting
out towards Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. The three fell back from the staircase
and headed back to the doorway.
As
soon as they safely made it away from the rooftop, they took a moment to catch
their breath. “Did you get him?” asked a voice that scared the living daylights
out of the three exterminators. They turned to see Cody Martin, the boy from
downstairs in the lobby, standing in the hall leading to the elevator.
“No,
we didn’t get him!” Donald squawked. “He wants the Ghostbusters! Not us!”
“The
Ghostbusters?” Cody said. “But they’re…”
“Retired,”
said the three exterminators. “We know!”
Cody
was silent for quite a while, and then he curiously asked, “So…what are you
guys going to do?”
“What
else?” Mickey hopelessly queried. “Give ‘im what he wants.”
Cody’s
eyes widened in shock and surprise. “But you can’t do that! Hades is the Lord
of the Underworld! He’ll destroy us all!”
“Well,
we can’t do anything. He’s way too powerful for either of us,” Mickey
said.
“Gwarsh!
If only we had those nifty machines that those Ghostbuster fellers carried
around, we’d really be somethin’!” Goofy contemplated.
“Yeah!”
Donald agreed. “Then we’d show Hades!”
Mickey
scratched his chin in curiosity and then snapped his fingers with a look of
revelation on his face. “Fellas, that’s it! We’ll just use their equipment! I’m
sure there’s some left at their old headquarters.”
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