Author's note: This chapter is not proof-read. This has been quickly put up to patch my mistake. I will replace it with a proof-read version ASAP.
Chapter 2
Maddie is practicing judo in the living room when red and blue lights start flashing through the window. Hoping the police had found a ghost they needed help with, Maddie races outside, to find a most peculiar sight. It was like someone had taken a late 50's Cadillac, stretched the back end, and turned it into hearse. It is painted white with red highlights and an image on the side that looked like a ghost inside a 'NO' symbol. The license plate read 'Ecto-1'. On the top are what she recognizes as equipment that would be useful in detecting ghosts, as well as ambulance lights and a siren.
"Honey! Jazz! Danny! The Ghostbusters are here!" announces Maddie, recognizing the vehicle from the research she had done when Jack made his announcement the day before.
Danny manages to make it to the door first, but only because Jack managed to get himself stuck in the basement door. Danny nearly face-vaulted at the car that the Ghostbusters were getting out of, but recovered thinking, "At least it isn't as bad as the RV"
Jack's lumbering arrival nearly sends Danny flying out the door, but Danny manages to stabilize himself. "Wow! That's a ghosthunter's car if I've ever seen one!" Says Jack.
Climbing out of the car, Egon pushes his glasses up on his nose slightly. "Thank you. Jack Fenton? I am Dr. Egon Spangler; we spoke on the phone. This is Dr. Raymond Stantz, Dr. Peter Venkman, and Winston Zeddimore," introduces Egon, indicating each Ghostbuster in turn, "We have a small amount of luggage to unload, mainly ghost detection and trapping equipment. Ray, could you unload the…Ray?" Egon looks around, trying to find Ray, who a moment ago was getting out of the driver's seat.
"This thing is amazing! Titanium-steel plating, all-terrain treads, at least third generation phantasmal energy detectors, deployable weapons batteries, and a bathroom! Who made this?" Exclaims Ray, who is in the process of climbing all over the an RV in the Fenton's driveway.
"I did! It originally had an ecto-energy converter in the back, but we never were able to test it. The cannons have a force equal to 10 terawatts of raw ecto-power! It is also equipped with a ghost shield in case we get surrounded! The Fenton Family Assault vehicle is the RV of choice for any ghosthunter!" Beamed Jack with pride.
"Why couldn't you test the ecto-energy converter you mentioned?" asks Winston.
"It was STOLEN!" Replies Jack, "If I ever get my hands on the ghost responsible, I'll rip his ectoplasmic head off!"
While Ray, Winston and Jack had been talking, Egon had been taking readings of the area. "Mr. Fenton, could your son be possessed? I am getting some very odd readings from him-" interjects Egon, before realizing Danny, and the anomalous reading, were gone.
"Danny is not possessed," replies Maddie adamantly.
"Jazz is the one who's possessed," adds Jack.
"I'm not a ghost, and I am NOT POSSESSED!" Screams Jazz, as angrily as her chipper mood allows.
"I am afraid I have to agree with your daughter, Mr. Fenton. She has slightly elevated PKE readings indicative of a minor level of unconscious ESP, a common occurrence in this field; we all show similar readings when scanned. Danny's readings show a reading that I have never encountered before*. He may be manifesting powers due to celestial reincarnation…Have you noticed any recent changes in Danny's personality?
"Well, Danny has been irritable lately, but the pressures of school and the constant threat of the Ghost Boy have been hard on him," replies Maddie, "There was an accident when the ghost portal was first activated. We don't know what happened, but whatever it was got the portal working and knocked Danny unconscious. Could that have caused it?"
"I highly doubt it. Ray and Peter have been caught in blasts from my experiments numerous times, and neither of them have manifested any unusual energy patterns for more then a week at best. As soon as possible we should get more readings from Danny. Celestial reincarnations are class 5 eidolons and the least, and almost always malevolent. A Klienburg examination with a Guttenslag reading should give us enough data--"
"Egon, what have I said? If you want to live on Earth you have to speak the language," interrupts Ray, having pulled all of the luggage and gear out of the Ecto-1.
"And the odds of reincarnation increase dramatically when you are sitting on a nexus of otherworldly energy like this house is. We may need to see your basement; it looks like you have a class 3 interdementional-conversional tear in progress--" continues Egon, ignoring Ray.
"A class 3 interdementional-conversional tear? That would be the Ghost Portal! Wait…that device can detect the portal? I thought your device detected ghosts, not spatial tears," accuses Maddie.
"Well, actually the PKE meter detects a whole slew of paranormal phenomena, including ESP, mythical creatures, tears in space and/or time and, yes, ghosts," respondes Ray, "Officially we are paranormal investigators, not ghosthunters. Catching ghosts just happens to be our primary form of business."
"Mrs. Fenton, what do you mean, 'Ghost Portal'? A class 3 interdementional-conversional tear is no laughing matter. This one rates almost as high as when the containment unit breached during the Gozer incident." Deadpans Egon.
"You should see it! I created it, with Maddie and ol' Vladdy's help. Come on inside!" replies Jack, running inside, followed closely by Ray. The rest of the Ghostbusters and Maddie were not far behind.
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After Danny realized Egon was scanning him, he got out of there FAST. To relax, Danny went across town, transformed, and took to the skies. Just after starting, Danny spottes a potato-shaped green blob with two arms flying low through the city. Uttering from its lips was a lot of high-pitched, unintelligible whining punctuated with a semi-clear "RAY!"
"Just what I need," thinks Danny, swooping down toward the ghost, "I don't know who you are, but now is not the time!"
"AAAAHHHH!" screams the ghost-blob, turning around and fleeing. Danny chases after it, discovering the ghost hiding behind a dumpster. "Look, I'll make this quick. I put you in the thermos, you go back to the Ghost Zone, and neither of us gets hurt, OK?"
"Uh-uh." Replies the ghost, with more babbling that Danny doesn't understand.
"I'm sorry, but I can't accept that for an answer," states Danny, pulling out the Fenton Thermos, a thermos that his father Jack Fenton had turned into a ghost capture device. Originally requiring ghost-energy to work, the Fenton Thermos activates when the cap is removed and the button on its side is pressed. It sucks in ghosts that get caught in the beam of energy it emits. The canister can later be emptied into the Ghost Zone through a device in the Fentonworks basement.
Danny pointed it at the ghost, and turns it on, expecting a ghost to go quietly for once. Instead, the ghost dodges the beam with amazing agility, and charges Danny. The ghost phases through Danny and took off.
"Ewww, gross!" Says Danny, now covered in a thick layer of slime. When he recovered from the shock, Danny looked around, finding the green ghost gone. Upset at his loss, Danny decides to head for Tucker's so he can get a shower.
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"Here it is: the Ghost Portal™!" announces Jack, "It allows travel in and out of the Ghost Zone. My Fenton Genetic Lock™ prevents ghosts from escaping."
"Fascinating. You purposefully created a device to generate a spatial tear and create a dimensional door? It's a wonder you're all still alive. That is nearly as dangerous as crossing our proton streams. However, this may explain the readings I got off your son. I still would like to take some more readings before I'm sure." Replies Egon, his eyes glued to the monitor of his PKE meter.
"What is so dangerous about crossing the streams?" Asks Maddie.
"Imagine all the molecules in your body disassembling and exploding apart and the speed of light." Replies Egon.
"Can you believe he almost forgot to tell us that?" adds Ray sarcastically.
"Hey, what's this?" Asks Winston, pointing to a fishing pole with glowing blue fishing line.
"That's my Fenton Ghost Fisher™! (Insert Statement here)." Replies Jack enthusiastically.
"O…Kay. What about this?" Asks Winston, pointing to a rifle-like device with several switches on it.
"That's the Fenton Crammer™! It crams ghosts down to micro-size!" Replies Jack, loving the attention his inventions are getting.
"I think I'm going to stop asking," mutters Winston. At that moment alarms and buzzers of all sorts started going off in the basement. Everyone was startled when the alarms went off, but they were even more surprised when a green blob descended through the ceiling and headed for Egon and Ray.
"Slimer! What are you doing here? I told you to stay back at the station," says Ray. Jack grabs the Fenton Weasel, yet another one of his ghost trapping devices. It looks a lot like a Boshe vacuum cleaner, and is straightforward in its use.
"Have at thee, foul slime!" challenges Jack. He quickly manages to get himself tangled in the pipe of the device and falls to the floor. Slimer begins to blather at a fast pace, and after a moment a device in the corner begins to project words with a mechanical voice.
"Please sir, do not injure me, I mean no deleteriousness effect against you. I only require to inform Egon about a phantasm I encountered…Why must you don such ostentatious habiliments? It maltreats the ocular organs to observe them. I am quite compunctious Egon. I know you desired me to remain at the firehouse, but with Janine on vacation I get so disconsolate. I must inform you, while in passage to here I encou…Fear Me!"
The device cuts off, Slimer having stopped shortly after the thing began to speak, as speechless as the Ghostbusters were. Jack however, was ecstatic.
"IT WORKS! I knew it worked! Maddie did you hear it? My Fenton Ghost Gabber™ worked!" Cries Jack.
"That's great, Hun. But we can celebrate later dear. We have a ghost to catch." Scowls Maddie, pulling what looked like a bazooka off the wall. Slimer flew up the stairs when she grabbed her weapon, and Jack was after Slimer faster then you would think a man his size could. Winston however, got in the way of Maddie.
"Look lady, Slimer doesn't mean anyone harm." Says Winston.
"Ghosts are evil and belong in the Ghost Zone! I'm a ninth degree black belt, So get out of my way," replies Maddie.
"Look, all I have got to do is press this button and you get fried by a stream of protons, black belt or no black belt. Slimer is ours."
"It's just a minor ectoplasmic manifestation of negative plane energy and post-humanous thought. What do you care?"
"Actually," responds Egon, "Slimer is a class 2, full inhuman-form, free-roaming, random ectoplamsmic manifestation. Referred to as a class 2 eidolon for short. This type of 'ghost' is a random ectoplasmic manifestation, not a human spirit. We call those sleeper ghosts." Maddie turned and her jaw dropped in response to this information.
"…Just how many ghosts have you caught?" asks Maddie.
"The original design of our containment unit was capable of holding around 1000 ghosts, but we have had to undergo several upgrades to our capacity since our conception," answers Egon, "Why? How many have you caught?"
"The only ghosts Jack and I have encountered since we made the ghost portal were sent back to the Ghost Zone using the Ghost Bazooka. Jack had caught the Ghost Boy once, but the ghost got away." Replies Maddie.
"Well, surly you must have gathered some first-hand information. From what I have seen, all of your inventions are viable and should work." Insists Ray.
"It was back in college. Jack, me and a mutual friend, Vlad Masters, were all assaulted by a poltergeist. The ectoplasmic residue left behind gave us the data to create the first prototype of the Ghost Portal. While the prototype was a failure, the data we gathered from that event has been the basis of all of our work," explains Maddie. "How did you get your start?"
"Myself, Ray and Peter were working at a University in New York doing research on psychic activity, the data from which allowed us to create the PKE meter. That allowed us to gather data from the first ghost we encountered. I remember how it happened. At 10:40 PM we got a call from the main branch of the New York City Public Library on Fifth Avenue. 10 People had seen a free-floating full-torso vaporous apparition. The data we gathered there allowed us to create all of our equipment. Winston joined us soon afterwards." Replies Egon.
"Great timing too, Gozer showed up a few weeks later and sent the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man to flatten New York." Adds Peter.
"Which reminds me why we are here. Have you ever heard of the Ghostmaster?"
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Author's Notes:
First of all, I need to thank my friend, Dragon of Despair, for assisting me with editing and insuring Danny Phantom sections are accurate. Her help is very much appreciated.
Secondly, the story will pick up now that I have introduced everyone and some standard equipment. Most of the people I expect to read this won't know both shows, and it has been slow melding the two universes.