Chapter Fifteen: Reunited and It Feels
So…Slimy!
J.G. Stantz was
practically in heaven when he was around Vanessa. She brought out a side of him
that he never knew existed – that affectionate, enchanting side he figured only
came from Natalie Venkman. Stantz was a scientist, not a lover. Most of his
time was spent studying theories on the supernatural. Then this wonderful woman
came into his bookstore one sunny afternoon, told him how alluring he was, and
asked if he would take her to dinner and movie.
Incredible how that wasn’t
very long ago and now look at how far we’ve come, he thought as he drove
his Volvo V70 down the block with Vanessa there by his side. “The perfect car
to drive the perfect girl in,” he once said after owning it for a whole year.
“So where are we going to
next, my sweet?” Vanessa asked him.
Jay smiled and answered,
“It’s my surprise.”
“Oh, come now,” Vanessa
remarked with a laugh. “Our relationship is supposed to be based on trust.”
“Yes, and I know you
trust me long enough to keep this a surprise,” J.G. reversed, and the couple
laughed happily. It was a nice thought to Jay, being a couple with Vanessa.
When could he honestly say that he…?
HONK! HONK!
The Volvo came to a
screeching halt as a monster of a traffic jam had built up a few or so blocks
away from Times Square. It was right in front of Pizza Planet, and there were
several NYPD personnel blocking off the area and trying to get everyone to
their individual destinations as soon as possible.
“Love, what’s going on?”
Vanessa asked J.G.
Jay shrugged his
shoulders, looking over the fleet of cars in their path. It was then that he
spotted some familiar figures, running out of an alley and into the restaurant,
undetected by the police. One of them he closely noticed was drenched in some
kind of green liquid…and an unforgettable device strapped to her back. Stantz’s
eyes widened with a mixture of excitement and surprise. “Uh, baby? Could you
stay here para uno momento?”
Vanessa watched him in
confusion as he parked the Volvo and jumped out, heading straight towards Pizza
Planet. J.G. made sure he was careful in not being detected by the authorities,
who would’ve been sure to stop him the moment they spotted him. Stantz ducked
and rolled between cars, being careful not to inhale the exhaust fumes while
hiding behind them. The former Ghostbuster finally reached his destination,
ducking into the shadows of the alley that the figures emerged from; he looked
around the corner to see if there were any cops keeping an eye on the
entranceway.
A large, heavy model of
planet Earth suddenly crashed through the entrance and rolled into the path of
the officers, forcing them to dodge out of the way. It was a crude and harmful
distraction, but J.G. would take it if it meant getting into the restaurant
unnoticed. He was just about to run out of the alleyway, until something
snagged him from behind and held him back. Turning around to see what it was,
he was all but surprised to see Christina Melnitz standing there and holding a
Proton Pack.
“If you’re plannin’ on
goin’ in there, you’re gonna need this,” she told him.
J.G. smiled as he took
the Proton Pack from her and put it on, getting that sense of nostalgia again.
“Thanks, Chris.” Fully equipped, he dashed around the corner and snuck inside
the building, which had become a battleground in less than two minutes.
There his former
teammates were, together again and squaring off against the same green,
onion-headed ghost that they first busted back in the Tipton Hotel, along with four
others in bowler hats and cloaks that he didn’t recognize. Along with Venkman,
Spengler, and Zeddemore was the “rookie” from the bookstore, showing off the
same impressive moves. He suddenly noticed one amateur mistake she was about to
make as she came close to where Natalie fired.
Immediately, he
screamed, “DON’T CROSS THE STREAMS!”
Their attention shifted
to him at the exact moment he cried out, drawing focus away from the streams in
the process. Moving away from the ghosts, the streams went near a set of cables
that suspended a larger-than-life model of a space shuttle. The cables snapped
and the model fell twenty feet towards the Ghostbusters, forcing them to duck
for cover. The model crashed down on the play area, destroying all of the
arcade games and the games of skill in one massive crash. While the
Ghostbusters were distracted by the sudden destruction, the onion-head ghost
and his friends disappeared from the area, phasing through the nearest wall
with a series of cackles (and belches).
As soon as the chaos
passed, the Ghostbusters emerged from their individual hiding spots, totally
unscathed. Needless to say, they were shaken and upset. The team started to
approach J.G., almost threateningly. Realizing the stupid mistake he made, a
sheepish Jay uttered, “Sorry…my fault.”
Natalie moved more
briskly than the others, and J.G. almost figured she was going to strike him as
she raised her arm. She did the opposite instead: give him a big hug. “Oh, you
big oaf! How could I ever be mad at you?”
J.G. smiled and chuckled
nervously as she let him go. “Man! You really had me goin’ there! For a second,
I thought you were gonna…” He stopped once he realized that the clean, pressed,
and white suit that he wore for his date with Vanessa was covered in the
green slime that Natalie was drenched in. “Hey!”
“What?” she said in mock
innocence. “Can’t a girl show an old friend a little love?”
J.G. glared at her while
Spengler approached with his P.K.E. Meter still in hand. “You came back just in
time. We’ve got a serious problem here.”
“How so?” J.G. queried.
“They look like the same Class 5 free-roaming vapors to me.”
“Only the P.K.E. is
reading them as something higher…way higher,” Sean notified. “According
to it, they’re in the same class as Vigo the Carpathian.”
“Really? Wow!” J.G.
exclaimed with a bug-eyed expression on his face. “This sounds like a real
breakthrough! An actual ‘ecto-upgrade’ of some type! This could be like the
next stage in paranormal evolution!”
Witnessing this
ridiculously geeky display from the two men, Natalie and Jacqueline both hung
their heads and put their hands over them in frustration. Before it could’ve
gone on any further, Jacqueline finally walked right up to them. “I hate to
break up your little ‘fanatic moment,’ but if you boys can take a minute to
focus on this situa—”
A loud crash emerged
from upstairs, followed by the sound of a woman screaming. Quickly, the team
headed in that direction, knowing their ghostly adversaries were terrorizing
someone who couldn’t make it out of the building on time, and they had to get
to her before it was too late. The moment that the team reached the second
floor, which was the level reserved for staff only, they were caught by
surprise of the way it was designed. The wallpapers were fashioned to resemble
constellations with alien planets around them and the doors to the offices,
bathrooms, and closets were automatic and designed to look like something out
of Star Trek.
“Okay, whoever runs this
restaurant chain needs to get a life,” Natalie criticized.
A growling noise emerged
from the door straight ahead, which was labeled “manager/captain” and had the
name “W. Brewster” printed above. Again, the scream was heard; but, this time,
it confused the Ghostbusters rather than alarm them. Natalie grinned as she
asked Jacqueline, “Isn’t that your boss’s office?”
“He’s not my boss,”
Jacqueline clarified. “He’s just a client who I was working for
tonight.”
“Well, hopefully, he
won’t mind if I do this.” Natalie aimed her Proton Gun and fired a quick
stream, blasting away the door.
Jacqueline and the
others could barely believe she even had the nerve to do that, knowing the cost
of damage. It wasn’t like the old days when they could do whatever they wanted
to catch the ghosts and the city would pay for the property damage. They
weren’t even supposed to have on their Proton Packs. It was pretty much a risky
situation the team was taking, handling this situation like rogues.
The group watched
cautiously as dark gray smoke emerged from the wreckage; just as it had
cleared, the onion-headed ghost and the other four phantoms flew out without
warning. The Ghostbusters opened fire in the hallway, trying their hardest to
capture the fast-moving vapors; they proved to be quite a challenge, leaving
the team hitting nothing but wall and ceiling at every blast.
“Man! What’ve they been
juicin’ on?” Jacqueline yelled in annoyance.
Meanwhile, Natalie’s
focus was solely on her old nemesis: the green, slimy spud that nearly killed
her a while ago; between that and getting covered with slime, she had about
enough of him. Although her extreme rage blinded her from the fact that one of
the bowler hat phantoms approached from behind. Before she could even realize
it, the vapor had grabbed the back of her shirt and hung it over her head.
“Hey! What the…?” The
revolting specters began laughing insanely as Natalie continued firing her
stream, while totally blind. As it came over the heads of her teammates, they
instantly ducked, not wanting to get their faces melted off.
With the blinded Venkman
trapping everyone in her mania, the onion-head ghost and his companions took
the opportunity to escape. However, just as they flew towards the starry wall,
Natalie’s protonic steam came in contact with one of the bowler hat ghosts, capturing
him. J.G. soon took notice of this unintentional success and triumphantly
shouted, “You got him! You’ve got him!”
“Awesome!” Natalie
muffled beneath her shirt. “Wish I was there to see it!”
J.G. detached the ghost trap
from his Proton Pack and rolled it beneath the captured ghost that had
apparently been abandoned by his “friends.” “Just hold still and try to keep
your stream leveled, Nat! I’m gonna open the trap on the count of three!”
“Oh, forget countin’!
Just open the thing!” Natalie retorted.
On her command, Stantz
pressed down on the pedal switch with his right foot; the trap opened,
consuming the bowler hat phantom into it. The moment the ghost was trapped,
Natalie felt a great deal of slack given to her Proton Gun and was thrown back
unexpectedly to the floor. Sitting there, she removed her shirt from her head
and gazed on the smoking ghost trap a few feet away. “Did I get him?” she
asked. “Did I get the spud?”
“No, it was one of those
other creepies,” J.G. confirmed while kneeling down to check for any scratches
or bruises on her. “Are you okay?”
Venkman looked directly
at him, noticeably angered and disgusted. “He slimed me, dude. I am never
gonna be okay, until I’ve kicked his butt for the second time in a row!” She
then got to her feet, tightly gripped her Proton Gun, and ran back downstairs
like a maniac.
“W-Wait! Venkman!” J.G.
shouted as he and Spengler chased after her.
Genevieve and Zeddemore
remained where they were, watching the three parapsychologists as they left.
“Wow. She’s got a real vendetta against that little ‘slimer,’ doesn’t
she?” Genevieve stated, just as Zeddemore dashed into Mr. Brewster’s
slime-covered, ravaged office with Genevieve soon following.
“Mr. Brewster?”
Jacqueline repeatedly called, but there was no answer.
Mr. Brewster did slowly
appear from behind his desk, covered in soot and his clothes slightly charred.
Jacqueline’s hand went to her mouth when she saw him this way, knowing it was
all because of Natalie’s reckless firing. “Sir, I am so sorry about
this. I promise that I’ll pay for damages as soon as this crisis has been
averted. You have my word on that.”
Brewster attempted to
speak, but all that came out of his mouth was a squeak. Jacqueline exited from
the room, catching up with the others. Before exiting herself, Genevieve told
Brewster, “Uh…nothing personal…but…if I was you, I’d consider having yourself
checked out…because you really sounded like a woman from downstairs,
dude.” Brewster couldn’t come up with a response to that, still being scared
speechless.
Genevieve ran out of the
tattered office and headed downstairs, only to have been met with a bright
reddish-orange beam of energy that struck her body and paralyzed every inch of
it. As she tried to move, she noticed how her teammates were in the same
situation, their forms all shrouded by reddish-orange energy waves and standing
paralyzed near the flight of stairs. Looking straight ahead, she saw the
onion-head ghost and the three remaining bowler hat phantoms hovering in the
air and doing…nothing; they just hovered there with mindless expressions on
their faces, and their eyes glowed in a deep, dark reddish color.
What is wrong with them, Genevieve thought.
Her answer came as a
dark form materialized in a puff of bright red smoke beneath the ghosts. Once
the smoke cleared, Jafar appeared with his golden, cobra-headed staff in hand
and his pet parrot/sidekick, Iago, perched (as always) on shoulder. There was a
sinister grin on his face, as he glared over the five of them.
“Foolish simpletons!
Indeed, the mighty have fallen!” Jafar exclaimed. “I knew controlling these
foul-natured spirits would lure you all right into my trap…especially you,
Dr. Stantz!” J.G. grunted in anger, still trying to get free of Jafar’s hold
over him. “It’s all part of Hades’ plan to do away with you. Assist the
ridiculous ‘fan girl’ and her impotent friends in reuniting the Ghostbusters
and destroy them all under one roof. It’s so brilliant and yet so…”
“Oh, will ya just shut
up and kill them already,” Iago interjected. “Geez, the more time you spend
flappin’ yer gums, the more chances that something might go horribly wrong!”
Jafar cackled. “Come
now, Iago. What could possibly happen? The Ghostbusters are at our mercy, we
have the most chaotic ghosts in our control, and Hades’ master plan is only
minutes away from coming into fruition. Not even the most ignorant goof
can foul things up for us now!”
Directly after Jafar
proudly made his declaration, Goofy ran right into the restaurant with Donald
and Mickey following. “Don’t worry, team! We got yer ba—” That was when Goofy
suddenly slipped on a slice of pepperoni pizza and began sliding extremely fast
towards Jafar and Iago. “YAAAAAAA-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOEY!”
Jafar turned his
attention to the goof a little too late as he was already a few feet close to
him when he lifted his arms in a protective manner and screamed, “Oh, no!”
“Oh, boy! Here it
comes!” Iago screeched.
Goofy’s body smacked
hard against Jafar’s, causing both him and Iago to collapse with the goof,
while Jafar’s staff flew out of his hand and soared several feet across the
air. The eyes of the Ghostbusters – the only things that weren’t in a paralyzed
state – watched the staff as it descended towards a wall and finally crashed
into it, shattering into many pieces.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Jafar cried.
This, of course, wasn’t
much surprise to Iago. “What did I tell ya?”
At the exact moment
Jafar’s staff had shattered, the Ghostbusters were free from its hold as were
the four ghosts, who were (needless to say) puzzled over what was going on.
Noticing this, the Ghostbusters took advantage of it and immediately fired
their particle streams upon the ghosts. Considering that they were no longer
under Jafar’s control, it was easy for the team to capture the ghosts in the
streams since they were the same out-of-shape specters as before.
Sean threw in his ghost
trap for the final blow and activated it to suck all four ghosts into it at the
same time. The Ghostbusters shut off their Proton Guns and sighed in relief,
approaching the ghost trap with Mickey and Donald. “Now that was hardcore,”
Jacqueline exclaimed while J.G. picked up the smoking ghost trap and then
shared a high-five with her.
“Just like the good ol’
days!” Stantz said.
Jafar scoffed at the
victorious group as Goofy was sitting on top of him and Iago, pinning them to
the floor. “Enjoy your win while you can, Ghostbusters. Hades isn’t far from
executing his plan.”
“Tell us right now,
Jafar,” Mickey demanded. “What’s Hades’ plan?”
“Yeah!” Donald bellowed.
“And what’ve you gotta do with it?”
Jafar cackled. “I’ll
tell you fools nothing!”
Natalie walked right up
and aimed her particle thrower at his face with the intense humming sound from her
Proton Pack adding to the intimidation. Instinctively, Iago screeched, “WE REALLY
DON’T KNOW ANYTHING! HADES DIDN’T TELL US DIDDILY SQUAT!” Jafar glared at his
timid and foolish pet parrot, who might as well have been born as a stool
pigeon.
The team exchanged
confused looks, hearing this. “I don’t get it,” said J.G. “Why would he leave
you guys in the dark like that? Aren’t you major benefactors in his plan?”
“The deal was to reunite
and destroy you all in exchange for ruling the entire Middle East under Hades’
‘New Underworld’,” Jafar revealed. “Other than that deal, he did not tell us
how he intended on making it happen.”
Spengler scratched his
chin in a ponderous manner. “So he is intending on merging the realm of
the dead with our world.” His eyes then widened behind his thin glasses while
adding, “But if something like that were to be attempted, it could put both
worlds in imminent danger.”
A worried look crept
across J.G.’s face in reaction to Spengler’s hypothesis. “Oh, man! You’re
right, Spengs.”
Natalie, Jacqueline, and
Genevieve all looked confused; it was Genevieve who then had asked to ease the
confusion, “What? What’re you guys talking about?”
Before either J.G. or
Sean could explain, they all had heard each of their names being called out by
a group of people. They noticed Christina, Cody, and Alex running into the
now-demolished restaurant with panic registered on their faces.
“Jay!” Christina cried.
“Someone’s taking her away!”
J.G.’s ears perked, and
his eyes registering a state of alarm; he didn’t have to bother asking who it
was that Christina was talking about. Without alerting the others first, he
dashed out of the restaurant, not worrying about catching the attention of the
NYPD officers outside. It had taken Natalie, Sean, Jacqueline, and Genevieve
only a few seconds to realize that Christina was referring to Vanessa.
“Who was taking her
away?” Sean asked.
“Some taxi driver,”
answered Alex.
“Yeah, and he had yellow
eyes, too,” Cody added.
Soon after Cody’s
mentioning of it, one name uttered from the mouths of Natalie, Sean, and
Genevieve: “Maleficent!” They were soon out of the restaurant themselves,
leaving a confused Jacqueline to deal with the mess they were leaving behind.
“Why am I always the one
who gets left out of the major stuff?”
“Don’t worry, Miss
Zeddemore.” Mickey said. “We’ll take care of everything here, including handing
Jafar over to the authorities.”
Jacqueline smiled at the
mouse and her other friends. “Thanks for everything, guys. You’ve all been such
a great help. I wish there was some way to repay you for your dedication.”
“Just kick some ghost
booty for us, will ya?” Christina requested.
Jacqueline tightened her
grip on the Proton Gun and grinned. “No problem.”
As Zeddemore departed
from the ravaged Pizza Planet, Jafar and Iago both grumbled in despair. “Ya
think the ‘Three Strikes’ rule counts for evil sorcerers and talking parrots,
too?” Iago inquired, and Jafar’s only response was a raspberry to the parrot’s
face.