Ghostbusters in Arendelle
Arendelle, 1843
It was four months after Elsa had frozen Arendelle and then thawed it. In that time her control of her magic had continued to grow and the citizens of the town had come to accept Elsa as their queen, ice magic and all. The story of what Hans had attempted to do spread like fire and certainly helped to swing public opinion in her favor, although there were still a few people who would have gotten along well with the Duke of Weselton and attempted to turn the people against her. Thankfully they couldn't garner the support to do so and under threat of exile, quieted their rabble rousing. But the biggest thing to happen in those four months was Anna's engagement to Kristoff. The Ice Master had gathered the courage to ask Elsa for Anna's hand in marriage a month ago and, having already helped to protect Anna in the past and proven himself to be a gentleman, was given permission.
Now ships full of foreign dignitaries were starting to fill the fjord for a combination engagement and Winter Solstice party. Anna was bouncing off the walls with enthusiasm for the impending festivities and had taken to planning the event herself. Elsa, ever surrounded by paperwork after ascending to the throne, had been more than glad to let her younger sister plan the party. Knowing Anna, it would be a memorable celebration.
The Solstice Party this year would definitely be one that no one would forget anytime soon, just not for the reasons that Elsa hoped.
Elsa took a deep breath and smoothed the front of her dress as she prepared to enter the ball room and face the visiting dignitaries, ambassadors, and noblemen, the singles among which would doubtlessly try to curry favor with her to win her hand in marriage. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard the crier announce her.
"Announcing her royal highness, Queen Elsa of Arendelle."
All eyes turned to the doors as Elsa stepped onto the floor, the very picture of refined dignity and the men and women bowed and curtsied to her as she walked past them. Elsa walked amongst the nobles, making small talk and listening to various requests to either open or further relations with her kingdom. Finally, Elsa made it to where Anna was, telling a story to the listening nobles before noticing her older sister.
"Elsa!" she exclaimed.
"Hello, Anna. You did a marvelous job planning this ball," Elsa praised with a smile.
"Thank you. You look fabulous!" gushed Anna.
"Thanks. You also did a good job with Kristoff, I see," added Elsa as she looked at Kristoff a few feet away, talking with some merchants, who was dressed in very elegant clothes in shades of green and brown. To the mountain man's credit, he did not look terribly uncomfortable in such regal garb.
"I know, I had it specially made just for him. He was quite surprised when I showed it to him."
The rest of the sister's chat was spent talking about what they had learned from the conversations going on around them. Elsa and Anna had migrated to a window, outside of which the northern lights were visible in the sky. Anna was always transfixed by the phenomenon and would watch it until sleep took her when she was younger. Tonight, however, the lights were marred when clouds crackling with purple lightning came from nowhere and started gathering above the city.
"Elsa, what's that?" asked Anna and pointed to where the clouds were building.
Elsa looked to see what Anna saw and gasped as the dark clouds started swirling in a circle, going faster and faster until with a flash of light and a sound of thunder, a vortex opened up and ghostly apparitions started flooding through.
"What is happening?" asked Kristoff who had walked up behind Elsa and Anna and had seen the vortex hovering above the town square.
"I don't know," answered Elsa. "But call out the guard and get every citizen inside until we find a way to take care of this problem."
"Yeah, if there's even a solution," agreed Kristoff.
That was a possibility that no one wanted to think about.
San Francisco, 2016
Ambient PKE levels in the city of San Francisco had been rising for weeks. This meant an increase in hauntings and aggressiveness of the offending spirits, as well as an augmentation of their strength. When levels first started rising and we went out on a bust, the level three apparition that should have been easy enough to take care of had managed to break free of the proton streams before we could trap it. Luckily it wasn't very smart and we managed to lure it into a trap. But that still left us with augmented ghosts from San Francisco to Berkeley. If you thought that was bad, it wasn't even the beginning of our troubles. Spikes in PKE levels and spectral activity were always signs that something big was on the horizon. That in turn meant that all five of us would be clocking serious overtime in the near future.
Allow me to introduce us. My name is Darrin Knight, typically the most level headed member of the group under pressure and the unofficial leader of our chapter. My associates are Gwen Ryder, whose borderline mystical research skills and photographic memory have been of enormous assistance in the past. Next is Andrew Salcedo, a friend of mine since high school in the Central Valley. He's a tech wizard, mathematical genius, and a fount of miscellaneous knowledge and enthusiasm. Then there's Jonathan Johnson, another engineering marvel who prefers to be called J.J. Finally, there's Justin Weed, the heavy hitter of the group who jumps into situations without looking and has an alarming fondness for the heavy artillery pieces in our arsenal such as the Boson Pack and bazooka. He also has a mouth and wit that could up against Dr. Venkman's any day of the week.
The upswing in paranormal activity had us running across San Francisco in the Ecto-1SF taking care of what we could, all while trying to find the cause of it all.
"Alright, Andrew, any luck zeroing on the source of this spook business?" I asked as we rolled along the streets.
"Not really," he admitted while studying his PKE meter. "With all the PKE energy saturating the atmosphere, it's hard to get an exact lock, but the concentration seems highest around the SoMA and Civic Center districts."
"Well at least we know we'll be busting upscale ghosts," Justin chuckled.
"Yeah," I groaned. "What's next on the list, Gwen?"
"Fisherman's Wharf," she answered. "It's being haunted by a pair of class three full torso apparitions."
"Alright. Class threes aren't awful. It should be easy enough."
"Don't say anything!" exclaimed J.J. as he pointed a finger at me in the rearview mirror as he was driving. "The last thing we need is you jinxing anything. The augmentation in ambient PKE is making things hard enough for us as it is."
The radio crackled at that moment and the voice of our secretary, Natalie, came through. "Headquarters to Ecto-1SF, we just got a call from the California Academy of Sciences. They're being haunted by what sounds like several class fours."
"I think this one should take priority," Andrew spoke up. "The Academy just got an exhibit from Europe that might connect to the upswing in activity."
"All right, then," I said. "Let's punch it."
J.J. turned on the siren, hit the accelerator, and turned us in the direction of the Academy of Sciences. By the time we got there, ominous looking clouds that were crackling with purple lightning had started to gather over the natural history museum.
"Clouds. It's always a good sign when there's clouds on an otherwise idyllic day," I muttered as we got out of the Ecto.
"They must be connected to the hauntings," Andrew stated. "The PKE valences just spiked."
"Terrific. Everybody turn your packs up to full stream. But be careful please, this is an art museum. That goes double for you, Justin."
"Oh come on, you know I'm always careful."
"Yeah, like a bull in a china shop. And you're not bringing the bazooka or boson pack this time. We'd like to avoid getting sued."
"Aw man, you're no fun. At least tell me I can bring the Thunder and Lighting pack."
"Fine, but you only use the boson darts if we're outside."
"Deal."
"OK, now let's get in there before anything's irreparably damaged."
The sounds of the PKE meter and our boots on the floor were the only noises in the museum when we entered. Andrew stared intensely at the meter until he got a lock on the position of our targets.
"I'm reading three of them, and they're all class fours," he informed us. "This way."
We were lead into the Academy of Sciences until Andrew stopped and held up his hand. "Hold it! They're in the next room here," he whispered and indicated the corner ahead of us.
"Right, pull 'em and be careful where you aim," I said and drew my neutrona wand and toggled the activation switch.
Inside the exhibit room, the trio of ghosts had found the artifact they had been sent to acquire.
"Alright, we got the artifact, now let's ditch this joint before the Ghostbusters show up," said the largest of the ghosts who was dressed in a 1930s era gangster suit.
"Man, you kidding? The Ghostbusters are on the other side of the city right now, trying to take care of the outbreak we got going on," the second ghost stated. "Xanthador's plan is perfect!"
A stream of undulating yellow-orange energy burst over the heads of the ghosts before the gangster could come up with a rebuttal.
"Actually, we're right here and ready to put you in a box," smiled Justin.
"Everybody fire!"
The specters attempted to fly away but ended up flying into our streams except for the gangster who evaded us and phased through a vent with the artifact, a stone tablet from an ancient Welsh exhibit.
"OK, one got away with the artifact," said Gwen as she put her neutrona wand away. "Where's it headed?"
"It's headed outside, the top of the museum it looks like," answered Andrew as he stared intently at the PKE meter.
"Great, that means stairs," Justin complained.
"What are you moaning about?" I asked. "You've got the smallest pack of any of us! The rest of us are going to have to take a minute to catch our breath before we start busting because we have the standard proton packs."
"I'll have you know that these are the knees of a champion golfer to be and as such, they are very delicate."
"Guys! Catch the ghost with the artifact first, then talk about Justin's girl knees!" exclaimed Gwen and turned for the stairs to the roof.
"Hey, I'm just saying they're spry. They could take the stairs two at a time."
When we at last reached the roof of the museum, we were immediately buffeted by fierce winds. Above the museum, the clouds were heavier than ever with lighting that was starting to coalesce and swirl in a circle.
"What's happening?" J.J. asked as we all struggled to push forward against the wind.
"I think we're looking at the creation of a portal!" Andrew yelled to be heard over the roar of the wind.
"A portal? You mean like a gate to another dimension?" I questioned.
"That's right!" answered Gwen.
The swirling of the energy in the sky reached its crescendo and with an explosion that knocked us all down, finally created a vortex connecting our world to another. Purple lighting danced around the event horizon and a wind started pulling everything it could up into the portal. All around the city, the ghosts were starting to fly into the portal.
"This is so not how I saw my day going," Justin said as we scrambled to hold onto something bolted down.
"Well, as long as we don't have to go into that thing my day will still be pretty good, all things considered," I said.
"Darrin, that may be what we have to do," Andrew told us.
"What! Andrew, did you not hear me just now?"
"If that portal stays open, then whatever's on the other side could very well come through to our world! We have to close it, even if it means we don't come back ourselves!"
"Can't we just cross the streams?" Justin inquired.
"No, we're too far away," answered J.J. "If we cross the streams we'll destroy the dimension the portal's connected to, but we also destroy this one as well."
"Well then, I guess there's nothing to it," I said after a few moments of silence. "Here's how this is going to go. I'll go through the portal first, make sure it's safe. The rest of you get back to the Ecto and wait for me to radio you and let you know that I made it, and come through yourselves."
"Why can't I go?" Andrew questioned.
"Because you're the smartest one of us. The world needs you to stop this, we need you to tell us what needs to be done. Now throw me your PKE meter, it may come in handy on the other side."
Andrew tossed his meter in my direction but it went too high and almost got pulled into vortex. Thankfully I managed to grab it before it was sucked up into oblivion. Taking a large breath, I decided to let go of the rail I had been holding onto before the craziness of this plan overtook and grounded me. The second I released my grip, the wind started swirling around me, lifting me up bit by bit until I was floating up into the swirling mass of energy. No turning back now. It was time to save the world.