Chapter Nine: Dr. Stantz, I Presume

Chapter Nine: Dr. Stantz, I Presume

            Genevieve, Christina, Cody, and the Ajax Exterminators held on for dear life as the taxicab driver, an unusual Muppet who went by the name of Beauregard (who had driven for many famous celebrities—namely Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy), made a hard left turn into a section of Manhattan known as “Waverly Place.” He came to a hard and abrupt halt as soon as they arrived in front of a bookstore called “Jay’s Occult,” with a neon sign of an old-fashioned ghost “floating” over the store name.

            Goofy was thrown from the backseat of the cab and smacked against the windshield while Beauregard put on the brake and turned to his customers. “That’ll be fifty dollars, folks.”

            “Forget that!” Christina angrily yelled. “You nearly almost killed us, you maniac!”

            “Hey, gimme a break, lady,” Beau remarked. “This is my first time driving after classes.”

            Christina grumbled at Beau, storming out of the vehicle with Genevieve and the others. Mickey and Donald literally peeled Goofy off the windshield and carried both him and the box full of Proton Packs out of the cab, before Beauregard drove off to pick up another unlucky customer. As soon as the crazy taxi was away, Genevieve gazed up at the entrance to the bookstore, which—in accordance to Christina Melnitz—was owned by the “Heart of the Ghostbusters,” J.G. Stantz.

            “I would’ve thought Dr. Stantz would continue his work in parapsychology rather than own his own bookstore,” she said. “Wonder what inspired him?”

            Christina snickered. “All that time spent alone in his room back at the headquarters, readin’ books on ghouls, goblins, spooks, and even wizards, turned Jay into a practical bookworm. So it was no surprise his first job, outside of Ghostbusters, would be a bookstore owner. His favorite book to date is Tobin’s Spirit Guide.”

            Mickey smiled confidently. “C’mon, let’s go in and meet him. I’m sure he’ll be really happy to see us.” The mouse, carrying the heavy box of Proton Packs, was about to enter until Christina stopped him.

            “Best leave those out here for a while, Mick,” she instructed him. “We don’t wanna cause too much of a ruckus in there with all that equipment sitting around.” Mickey nodded in agreement and set the box near the entrance of the bookstore.

            The group entered the shop just as a deal was being made between a 16-year-old Hispanic American girl wearing a nametag with “Alex” printed on it and a beautiful, pony-tailed brunette wearing a blue jumper, a V-neck/collared long-sleeve blouse, and a white blouse with black flat-soled shoes. Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Cody instantly recognized the brunette. “He-Hey! It’s Belle!” Mickey cheered.

            “Oh, my goodness! I’ve always wanted to meet her!” Cody said with much giddiness, which caused awkward stares from the others. Seeing them, he quickly switched to a somewhat manlier tone. “I mean…that’s pretty tight, bro.”

            At the front desk, Alex handed a book titled “The Real Legend of Sleepy Hollow” to Belle, who was more than delighted to get it. “I know you’ll enjoy this one. I’ve read it five times already, and it’s a whole lot better than the movie.”

            “I can’t wait to get back home and read it,” Belle said. “Thank you so much, Alex. You and Dr. Stantz have never failed to get just what I’m looking for.”

            “What can I say? Dr. S is the man when it comes to books,” Alex said with a smile as Belle waved goodbye and headed out of the store, passing by Genevieve and the others. After she was out the door, Alex directed her attention to the other customers. “Can I help you guys?” That was when she noticed the tattered Ghostbusters jumpsuit that Genevieve wore, spotting the labeled name of “Venkman” on it. “Oh, man! Are you…? No, it can’t be! I mean…Oh, dude!” It was obvious from the wide-eyed look she gave Genevieve that Alex was filled with excitement, but the reasons were oblivious to Marie and the others.

            Before they could ask what was up with her, Alex was already away from the front desk, heading into the back of the store. “What on earth was that all about?” Donald inquired, and the others shrugged their shoulders in response.

            While waiting for Alex to return, Goofy turned to one of the many shelves in the store and plucked out an old book from it; he curiously gazed at the front cover and chuckled. “A-hyuck! Hey, listen to this funny title.” He then read the title out loud, “The Nick-Ron-Emocion.” Goofy pondered over that title for a while. “Hmm…Must be Spanish. A-hyuck! I’ve always wanted to learn that language!”

            Mickey watched as Goofy opened the book, having its cover face his direction. As soon as Mickey glanced at it, he realized that Goofy had totally mispronounced its title. The book was truthfully called “The Necronomicon” (a.k.a. “The Book of the Dead”). If Mickey’s history lessons served him well, whomever opened such a book would unleash unearthly horrors...and, unfortunately, Goofy just did.

            “Goofy! NO! CLOSE THAT BOOK!”

            But it was too late; out of nowhere, a huge, hairy green hand reached out from the book and lunged at Goofy, causing him to drop it and reel back, screaming. He collapsed onto the same bookshelf that he plucked the book from and tilted it over, crashing into others that also collapsed. It created a loud noise that brought Alex back out from the rear of the store, along with the storeowner, J.G. Stantz.

            “What the heck happened in…?” J.G. began, and then he spotted the opened Necronomicon on the floor with the green hairy hand still out and clawing on the floor, trying to attack anything that stood close to it; but everyone stood as far away as possible. J.G. stared at the book in shock, turning to Alex and asking, “Where did that one come from?”

            “It arrived just last week,” answered Alex. “Some guy with a freaky, out-of-date goatee came by with a whole box of them.”

            J.G. turned to her and looked as white as a sheet. “A WHOLE BOX?!”

            All of the sudden, other copies of the Necronomicon emerged from the massive piles of books that fell from the collapsed shelves, each with different hairy green body parts: one had a head (complete with red eyes, yellow teeth, and nose with a large wart), another had a huge, barefooted leg, and two others had another leg and arm. The five copies of the Necronomicon then floated in midair and grouped together, emitting a haze of ghostly energy that generated the form of an eight-foot monster. Its bulbous, grotesque head stuck out from the Necronomicon that floated at the very top, roaring at the frightened figures standing in the room. Its hands, sticking out from copies floating at opposite sides of the ghostly haze, balled into fists. And its feet, sticking out from the copies that floated near the floor, stomped forward.

            Soon afterwards, more other copies of the Necronomicon grouped together and created six similar monsters, each stomping towards the mortals. Watching this supernatural occurrence take place, Alex shook her head and uttered, “This was so not in my job description!”

            Meanwhile, Genevieve rushed out of the store, doing her best not to be seen by the Necronomicon monsters. She was so stealthy that Christina or the others didn’t notice her leave either; they were much more busy running away from the monsters, dodging every swipe and stomp that came their way. There were two ways out of the room: through the front entrance where Genevieve exited a moment ago and upstairs to the second level of the two-story building. Unfortunately, the front entrance was blocked by the monsters, which left upstairs the only option. As the group moved in that direction, Alex reached into her rainbow-colored sock, trying to pull out something that she believed would be a good defense against these monsters; but she did not have the time to get it out before one of them tried to take another swipe at her. “Oh, man! Oh, man! Oh, man!” She yelled repeatedly.

            The group finally arrived at the upstairs area, which functioned as sort of like a reading area, complete with an antique wooden table and chairs, a few beanbag chairs at the corners of the room, a blue-carpeted floor, and two bookshelves that stood against opposite walls. There was also a large window at the end of the room with the neon sign outside blocking the view of the street corner, as well as any possible escape.

            “Whose idea was it to go upstairs?!” Donald griped.

            “I was just followin’ Jay,” said Christina.

            “And I was following Goofy,” said J.G.

            “Who were you following, Goofy?” Mickey asked.

            “Uh…the narrator?”

            There was a monstrous roar that shook the walls of the second floor as the seven Necronomicon monsters piled into the room. Alex had taken the opportunity to pull out the object of her desire—a magical wand—from her sock and aimed it at the monsters, which suddenly stopped. “Yeah! That’s right! You’re messin’ with a witch now!”

            The others, with the exception of J.G., were taken aback by this sudden revelation. It was even Christina who turned to J.G. and said, “She’s a witch?”

            “Long story,” he remarked. “Hopefully I’ll get to tell it.”

            One Necronomicon monster took a step forward and began towering over Alex, who became more than afraid. “S-Step back, dude! Y-You don’t wanna mess with my teleportation spell! I can send you to Mars or Dagobah or…something like that.”

            Before she could even flinch, the Necronomicon monster snatched the wand from her hand, which then caused her to reel back in shock and surprise. It stared at it for a long moment, waving it around and causing many things to happen, like raining cheeseburgers outside and turning the room into many different colors. At first, the monster took pleasure in the object; but then it suddenly emitted a volt of electricity that shocked its nose. This, of course, angered it to the point that it crumbled the wand into dust.

            Watching this made Alex feel beyond depressed. “Dad is going to ground me ‘til I’m old enough to wear funky wigs for that.”

            Even more furious than ever, the Necronomicon monsters roared and stomped their way towards the mortals. The lead monster—the one who destroyed Alex’s wand—was about to swipe at the teenage witch until something unexpected happened to one of its companions. One monster exploded, scattering slime and paper shreds everywhere.

            “What was that?” Cody yelled in surprise.

            They all turned to where the monster once stood to see Genevieve standing near the staircase with a Proton Pack strapped to her back and the smoking Proton Gun aimed at the monsters. She had a look of pure confidence and determination on her face—the same look she had after defeating Cerberus. Her voice even sounded tough upon saying, “Try this wand on for size!” And with that, she unleashed another blast of proton energy that brought the sudden destruction of another Necronomicon monster.

            However, the five remaining ones refused to flee from the attacking mortal; instead, they charged after her, forcing Genevieve to fall back and head downstairs to the first floor. The others watched them as they descended, wondering how they could help her. J.G. moved to the window and squinted past the neon sign to see the box full of Proton Packs sitting on the sidewalk near the entrance. Realizing there was only one way to help this friend of Christina’s, J.G. grabbed one of the wooden chairs sitting around the antique table and hurled it through the window; it not only destroyed the window, but also part of the neon sign, leaving a gap wide enough for J.G. crawl through. His best shot was falling to the awning above the front entrance, which would cushion his fall and prevent him from suffering any serious injuries.

            Stantz’s sudden action surprised the rest of the group, who all gazed at him with confusion. Turning in their direction, he said, “All of you stay here. I’m gonna help her.” After this, he crawled through the busted window and leaped into the air, falling and landing onto the gray awning. He bounced a couple of times before throwing himself off of it and landing on the sidewalk. As quickly as possible, he dashed over to the box and grabbed the first Proton Pack he saw.

            Strapping it to his back, a sudden sense of nostalgia rushed through him as those good old days of ghost-busting came back; he had almost forgotten how unbelievably heavy the thing was, nearly causing his knees to buckle under its intense weight. It’s been far too long, he thought as he detached the Proton Gun from the pack and held it firmly in his hands. He switched on the gun, knowing exactly which switch to flip, and it hummed and vibrated immensely. Oh, how I missed this part of the job!

            Before he completely forgot why he put the thing back on again, J.G. ran back inside his ravaged bookstore and found a slightly panicked Genevieve firing at the monsters and badly missing. This rookie doesn’t know a thing about proton settings. He flipped a few switches and turned some knobs on his Proton Gun, which caused it to hum louder than ever. Aiming straight at the monsters, Stantz fired a proton stream that had incinerated half of the room, taking out a few Necronomicon monsters in the process.

            Genevieve briefly looked to him, wide-eyed. “Which setting was that?”

            “The Kick-Butt Setting!” J.G. exclaimed, right before he fired another intense stream that had taken out the final two monsters.

            Genevieve breathed in relief, lowering her Proton Gun to relieve tension. She turned to J.G. and happily said, “Thank you, Dr. Stantz.”

            “It isn’t over yet, rookie,” Jay cautiously said, nodding in the direction of where the monsters once stood. Genevieve directed her attention there once again and couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw how all that ghostly energy the books gave off had risen from their ashy remains and formed together in midair to create a large ectoplasm that quickly manifested into an entity with similar physical characteristics to the monsters...and it increased in size.

            “It’s coming back!” she screamed.

            “They’re all coming back!” J.G. said with a smile that would’ve come across as highly disturbing had Genevieve seen it. Stantz reached behind him and detached a ghost trap from his Proton Pack; after that, he threw it across the floor, letting it stop right below the forming entity. “Give me a concentrated stream to contain this sucker long enough to open the trap. GO!”

            Genevieve fired her gun and contained the growing entity in the stream; this was the part of using the Proton Pack that she hadn’t really gotten the jest of yet and, from the way she handled it that moment, had to be the hardest thing about it. She felt herself being pulled toward the entity, her feet sliding across the hardwood floor. Gritting her teeth, she pulled the stream in the opposite direction, engaging herself in a game of “Tug-of-War” with the supernatural creature. The strain was quickly beginning to take a toll on her, and she made that clear to J.G. as she screamed, “Whatever you’re doing, do it now!”

            “Don’t look at the trap!” J.G. yelled, and she turned her head away while he stomped on the pedal switch that remote-controlled the trap, via a long cord attached to it; instantly, it opened up and sucked the growing entity directly into it, closing right afterwards.

            Genevieve turned and looked at the trap, seeing the foul-smelling smoke that was beginning to rise from it and the small green light blinking on the side to indicate another successful containment; she then looked at J.G., who was still smiling, as he picked up the smoking ghost trap and dangled it near his head. It was apparent that the smell didn’t affect him whatsoever; then again, he had been used to it by then.

            “I love the smell of busting in the morning…or evening…whichever the case,” J.G. commented, and Genevieve chuckled.

            There were rapid footsteps heard from behind them, and they turned to see their friends coming down the stairs, all looking very pleased. Alex was most excited out of them all, coming right up to Genevieve and saying, “That was so awesome! You’re always gonna be my favorite G.B., Dr. Venkman.” She then faced J.G. and added, “No offense, Dr. S.”

            Genevieve giggled, just starting to realize why Alex went so crazy when she first saw her. “No, no, sweetie. I’m not Natalie Venkman.”

            “You’re not?” Alex said with great confusion.

            Goofy then approached her and loudly whispered, “She’s her niece.”

            “Really?” Alex remarked, looking up and down at Genevieve. “You’re a little old to be, aren’t ya?”

            J.G. noted the jumpsuit Genevieve was wearing, which undoubtedly belonged to his old friend and fellow Ghostbuster; this girl didn’t quite fill it in all that much, however. The sleeves looked really baggy, hence the reason they were slightly rolled up to her elbows, and the butt area was just as much so. Stantz didn’t bother asking why she was wearing it, but it made him feel glad to see someone actually doing so again—even if it wasn’t Natalie.

            He laughed and said, “This rookie has no relation with Natalie Venkman.” Turning serious again, he directed his attention to Christina. “So what’s really going on here, Chris? I haven’t had this much action since Vigo and Jafar.”

            “You tell me, Jay,” Christina said. “Some dude with a freaky goatee comes to your shop and ships a box full of Necronomicon copies? Not what you’d expect to have every day.” She then stopped and realized. “Wait a minute! Freaky goatee?”

            J.G. then realized it himself. “Jafar! He’s back and looking for payback over what we did last year!”

            “He isn’t the only one,” Mickey added.

            “Who else is…” Before J.G. could finish that question, the bell hanging above the entrance door dinged, signaling the arrival of another customer. For a second, J.G. was worried that the enormous mess surrounding the inside of the shop would drive away a possible well-paying shopper; but he was relieved once he realized it was only his girlfriend of seven months, Vanessa.

            Vanessa was only a few years younger than J.G. with dark brown hair and eyes to match; at the moment, she wore a long, dark blue evening gown and black heels. In the midst of the chaotic scene, she was the only thing that stood out as positively stunning to J.G. As soon as she looked around and saw the mess, Vanessa focused on J.G. and looked very worried. “Honey,” she said with such a wonderful voice, “What happened here?”

            Seeing her stand there reminded Stantz that he was supposed to take her out that night. There she was, looking like something straight out of a fairy tale, while he had a nuclear accelerator strapped to his back. Quickly, he took it off, a weight literally lifted off his shoulders, and handed it to Alex, who nearly collapsed from the heaviness. “Take care of this for me, will ya?” he whispered to her.

            “Jay, who is this?” Christina asked him.

            “She’s my girlfriend, Vanessa. And I’m supposed to take her out to a lovely dinner tonight.” J.G. straightened the sleeves of his black cotton-twilled shirt, dusted off his black dress pants, and checked to see if there was minimal ash residue on his shoes; thankfully, there wasn’t any. “Look, whatever you amigos and amigas came here for, it’ll have to wait another time.”

            “But, Dr. Stantz,” Genevieve stepped in, “There’s something big that’s about to go down, and we…”

            “Jay, sweetie,” Vanessa called, interjecting herself into the conversation. “We don’t want to be too late. Our reservations won’t hold for very long at Gusteau’s.”

            “Be right there, Vanessa,” J.G. said, and he returned his attention to the others. “This is my only shot at happiness here, amigos. You think I’m going to pass on a beautiful diosa like her out of my sights?”

            Christina and the others rolled their eyes at J.G., seeing how much he seemed to have changed since the team disbanded. He wasn’t the eccentric loner that he once seemed to be; now he had a woman in his life, someone who could probably be a great commodity. However, she didn’t quite seem that way to Genevieve, Christina, Alex, Cody, or even Mickey and Donald; Goofy, on the other hand, was just trying to figure out what “diosa” meant.

            “Go ahead and close up for the night, Alex,” J.G. said as he looked around at the huge mess. “We’ll…clean up first thing in the morning.” After that, he and Vanessa walked out of the shop, arm-in-arm, both smiling.

            Alex stood with the others in disbelief over what they had just seen. “Oh, there’d better be a raise somewhere in this,” she said with crossed arms.