Ghostbusters International: Chronicles of Gozer
GBI Case File GBI-2004-22/001
Story by Fritz Baugh, Vincent Belmont, Ben King, Jeremy Hicks, TheRazorsEdge,
and Brian Reilly
Original Edit by Vincent Belmont; recut by Fritz Baugh
June 7th, 2004
One Day Until the End of the World
New York City
7:21PM EDT
Three men stood in the middle of the street, amongst the abandoned cars and fleeing citizens, staring up at the huge form of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man lumbering into view. Their black uniforms might have let them blend into the pavement, if not for their green stripe along their sides, and their visible No-ghost logo on their shoulders. Their silver "rosaries," with all manner of charms and holy symbols, glistened in the fading sunlight as black clouds cast their shadow over the frightened New York public.
Dr. Gabriel Martin plucked the cigarette nestled under his ear and tenderly placed it between his lips. His weather-beaten face and thick gray hair and goatee fluttered in the coming breeze. He took but a moment to adjust his glasses before lighting his cigarette, assessing the situation. He scratched at his unshaven cheeks, and then reached into his front pocket, drawing out another cigarette, and offering it to the man to his left before tucking it neatly behind his ear to fill the now empty cigarette space.
Dr. Harold Seward refused the cigarette offered to him before resuming his attentions to the several hundred ton marshmallow ad stomping down the street towards them, crushing the abandoned cars beneath its feet. He ran his fingers through his disheveled mop of brown hair as he reached for the proton gun attatched to the proton pack on his back. His red horn-rimmed glasses sat lazily on his face, hiding his blue eyes, and his thick moustache twitched in the wind. He felt no desire to adjust his glasses, but an overwhelming urge to get out from the path of the oncoming creature. His thoughts turned then to his wife and two children, who would probably be at this moment watching the whole fiasco unfold over the evening news.
Noriyuki Inugami, "Nate" as his companions called him, stared up wide-eyed, chewing his bubblegum noisily. He took a moment to whip his head to the side shaking his long black bangs out of his eyes, and a few solitary beads of sweat from his face. He adjusted his belt, sticking his thumbs in the belt loops lazily. He looked down to his left at Gabe, even dwarfing him with his tall and muscular build. Nate broke almost every stereotype about Japanese people that could ever be thought of. He chuckled as he blew a bubble, staring upward again, his eyes glazed over, seemingly half-asleep.
"May I ask what is so funny?" Harry asked him nervously.
Nate only continued to chew his gum loudly, then grinned as he pointed upward at the towering marshmallow man.
"Heh," he chuckled, as he pointed, "Marshmallow dude..."
Both Harry and Gabe slowly turned their gaze to stare at Nate, wondering for the fifth time in that day alone why they hired him in the first place. Their need to speak was drowned out by the the sheer absurdity of Nate's commentary.
"I'm glad YOU'RE amused, Mr. Inugami," Harry spat in harsh whispers, gesturing emphatically at the looming giant only a city block away, "but the people who AREN'T smoking non-perscription holistic medicine think that our jobs and lives are in jeopardy."
"Uh huh," Nate droned as he continued to stare upward, "you say somethin' Doc?"
It was at that moment that Harry had contemplated quitting Ghostbusting altogether; that is, until his cellphone beeped. He took one hand off of his weapon and answered it, muttering a nervous greeting as he looked upward at Stay-Puft. Sweat began to pour down his lily-white face.
"H-Hello?" he stammered.
"Harry?" asked the voice of Ray Stantz over the cellphone, "I tried to get ahold of you guys, but your vehicle radio is off."
"Yeah, well..."
"No time, Harry, I was wondering if you guys could meet us down on Barclay Street? We're going to try and stop Stay-Puft there."
Harry looked at his comerades, and nodded. "Yeah," he said, "sure, I..."
"Just a minute," Gabe grunted, folding his arms, "I wanna try something. We'll slow it down to give those guys the time they need to do whatever it is they're doing."
Harry sheathed his proton gun again and wiped his brow. "Ummm...we'll call you right back, Ray." Harry muttered as he pushed the OFF button on his cellphone.
"Now," he began, "tell me why we're not just meeting with the rest of them?"
"I have a plan..." Gabe mumbled, gesturing at him as if he were silencing a small child, something which Harry did not like.
"Do what you like, Dr. Martin, but I'm going to get the car ready if you don't mind." Harry grumbled feciciously, shaking his head.\par
"Good idea," Gabe said, "because we'll need to be out of here if this doesn't work."
Gabe looked over at Nate, who was still standing in the same position, staring blankly upward, like a cow chewing its cud. Gabe only shook his head in disgust.
"Idiot..." he muttered.
Gabe grabbed the large silver ankh that hung around his neck, and closed his eyes, tuning out the sounds of the wind, the sounds of the shouting people, the booming of Stay-Puft's footsteps, and Harry's nervous ramblings as he headed for their vehicle. He even managed to tune out Nate's annoyingly loud chewing. His mind reached out to the subtle energies permeating the space around him. Sorcerers of ancient Egypt before him, using the style of magic Gabriel chose called this energy "Heka."
He gripped the silver Egyptian talisman tightly as his mind reached out to the ether, conjuring spirits manifest in the cold astral sea to him, and began their bindings to work his spell. His will sought to bend and command these ethereal entities to spirit away the form of Stay-Puft, sending it back from whence it came. He gestured the spell's somatic components with practiced ease as the incantation left his lips...
"Tewet Bak 'Ne Bin A'Nen! Kem En A'Nen Netdjer Ne Mesedj!"
The wind picked up speed as a ghostly howl seemed to permeate the street as his voice echoed softly on the swift breeze.
Nate snapped out of his stupor, looked around, and crouched down into a martial arts stance, realizing now that he wasn't paying attention at all.
"Shit!" he shouted, "Oh...right. Yeah! Let's go." Nate closed his eyes as well. Everything around him was engulfed in unnatural blackness as his mind began to retreat into his subconscious. He heard disembodied screams, and twisted visiages of faces both human and inhuman raced before his mind's eye. Something black clawed away at his mind, and he began to panic all at once. He felt he should be used to this by now, but it seemed that he would never get over the anguish of Harmonixing. "Shit," he thought to himself, "I hate this part...hurts like a motherfu-"
It was his last thought before he let the darkness in his own mind take him. Nate let out a bloodcurtling scream that could be heard for miles. It wasn't only Nates voice crying out in agony, but something else crying out with him...some-THING, some terrible beast within him. He gripped his own head, feeling the urge to explode altogether, as his very body let out a great flash of light, as the swirling white energy that engulfed his body twisted his flesh, ripping apart his uniform, letting his proton pack fall to the ground.
When the energy dissipated, what was left of the young man was a terrible beast, almost tiger-like in shape, standing bipedal, eight feet high, with forearms reaching down to its feet. Its fur was a deep forest green, and thick black stripes wrapped around it like collosal tattoos. A torn Ghostbusters uniform draped from its muscular frame. It howled with a supernatural ferocity as it bared its white furry chest. It lunged at Stay Puft with a ferocity unmatched, and its yellow eyes flashed like lightning amongst the coming stormclouds.
The monster tore into Stay Puft's legs, clawing with animalistic fury, ripping chunks of marshmallow from its body. Stay Puft looked down, and its happy expression twisted to one of shock. It kicked once, taking out a shop window below, and tossing the monster from its leg. The monster's body sailed more than fifty feet through the air before it struck the side of a building. It rolled off the building and into the street again, only a few feet from Gabriel.
Ghostly images swirled around Gabe as he gestured again. He opened his eyes again, and shouted in the loudest voice he could muster. It reverberated upon the walls of the buildings on the streets as the wind blew harder still...
"A'Neni Ka En A'A'Ew!"
The spirits flew from their lazy orbit around Gabe and flew toward Stay Puft, with their eager skeletal arms outstretched, commanded by the sorcerer to whisk it away to banishment in the realms unknown.
Something happened, however...
Before the spirits reached the white giant, they evaporated with an eerie screetch. Nothing had happened, and Stay Puft continued its trek down the street.
Gabe stood looking up in shock, as the form of Nate Inugami arose from his unconsciousness next to him. Gabe looked around frantically, at a loss to explain the failure of his own spellcraft. "What sorcery is this?" He bellowed, "Dirty Pool! Someone else is pulling Stay Puft's strings! ALOT of someone!"
"Huh?" the woozy Nate mumbled as he stood up and cradled his arm.
"No time, idiot!" Gabe shouted as he grabbed Nate by his other arm and dragged him along towards their waiting vehicle, stopping only to retrieve Nate's fallen Proton Pack.
"Harry!" Gabe shouted frantically as he stuffed Nate into the back seat, "Call Ray! Tell him we'll be there in five minutes!"
Harry wasted no time in leaving the area as soon as Gabe was inside. He dared hazzard a single glance into the backseat of the vehicle, and saw Nate's dishevelled form. Nate groaned in pain as he laid accross the back seat.
"Shit!" Nate shouted suddenly, sitting up with a start.
"What?" Gabe asked, "You okay back there?"
"I swallowed my gum..." Nate mumbled as he laid down in the back seat.
7:28PM EDT
The ECTO-2 tore through the skies. Janine nervously weaved around the tall buildings as the craft sped toward the lumbering form of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man.
"ECTO-1, ECTO-2, do you read?" Janine repeated into the cockpit radio.
Ray Stantz grabbed the ECTO-1's radio. "ECTO-1 here, Janine..."
"Ray, he's still moving pretty much due south, down Broadway."
"You see anything else?"
"The bitch who sprung him, I think...she's floating nearby. You think she might be taking him someplace deliberately?"
"I'd just about bet the rent money on it."
Winston looked at Ray from the driver's seat. "Ray, I hope I'm wrong, but I got one guess..."
"Go on..."
"You think maybe they're taking him to some place that might, say, be utterly sizzling with residual PKE...maybe from a large man-made atrocity?" Ray's eyes went wide. Janine knew what Winston was talking about, as well.
"Adonai...you don't think..." she stammered into the radio.
Ray shook his head, and Winston remarked to himself that he'd never seen his old friend look so...old. Like any New Yorker, there was one day seared in their memory. Eduardo's brother Carlos had lost a lot of friends that day. And the Ghostbusters had very nearly lost Egon, attending a conference in one of the towers.
England
"What are you seeing David?" The voice of the newsreader asked.
"What you are seeing is the creature known as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man...those familiar with the Ghostbusters film and TV series will know that this was the form of the demi-god they fought in New York, it now seems, that in either a strange coincidence, or a spectacular publicity stunt, it is here, in the flesh!" A graphic displaying the words: 'Voice of Sky News Reporter David Anderson' appeared on the screen. "...and right now it is stomping it's way down town...along the Avenue of the Americas...we're..." There was a pause which might've meant the reporter was hearing something. "We're just receiving unconfirmed reports that the Marshmallow man is making it's way towards the former site of the World Trade Center...the Mayor's office called a state of emergency and has called an emergency meeting where they are planning on what to do during this situation...they have released a quick response informing us that this is an ill planned and totally inappropriate publicity stunt by the Ghostbusters..."
"Asshole." Peter swore.
"MacShayne shall receive a letter voicing my and GBI's contempt for his continued undue harassment of the company once I return to New York." Egon replied sternly.
"Woah hold it big fella...not before I get one in, big guy...I have my own axe to grind with him...besides...I'm sure there's some legal mumbo jumbo Louis can bring down on him." Peter added.
"...however those who may remember the Ghostbusters received similar doubts from former EPA representative Walter Peck who was dismissed for having a dangerous grudge against Ghostbusters CEO Dr. Peter Venkman..."
"Heh...Pecker's probably spitting out his dinner somewhere." Adam replied.
"...whatever the reason...we cannot simply ignore the fact that a one-hundred foot sailor made of marshmallow is making it's way to Ground Zero and...hold on a sec folks...we are receiving a word of an attempt of mixed franchises of Ghostbusters International will attempt to tackle this "Stay Puft Marshmallow Man..."
"I know we can count on Ray and Winston to mount a counter-attack along with the kids..." Peter replied.
"Not to mention Vincent's men." Egon added.
"Who else can there be?" Jill asked.
"There's the possibility that Bo Holbrook's franchise, Ghostbusters: Nightsquad and the franchise Richard Roy works with could be called into the help out...if the latent PKE at Ground Zero is high enough then Stay Puft could be given a tremendous surge in power." Egon explained.
"Hell knows the number of times the NYPD worked alongside the kids to stop those wackos opening portals to who knows where." Peter replied. On screen, Stay Puft passed the edge of Murray Street and stomped his way down towards the future site of the Freedom Tower.
7:32PM EDT
A black Cadillac Miller Meteor tore down the street with sirens blazing. It was of similar vintage and make to the original ECTO-1, but in addition to its black paint job, it was adorned with a lot of antennae. The Ghostbuster logo on the doors was painted purple, and the license plate read "ECTO-1X" It was the familiar vehicle of the Nightsquad crew.
"They're heading where?" Bo Holbrook did a double take as he gripped the microphone.
"The World Trade Center..." Ray's voice came back. "We're on our way further down the Avenue to set up the traps...but we need you guys to slow him down, and drain as much power as you can. Martin and the rest of the Arcane Division have tried to slow it down, but with little success. The Extreme team...they'll meet you at Barclay Street"
"Great..." Bo muttered "Like I need them slowing me down..." A chuckle came from one of the two guys in the back seat, causing the other to look at him quizzically.
"Behave". The blonde woman in the passenger seat said to Bo firmly. Which made both men in the back seat chuckle.
The four members of Ghostbusters Nightsquad had just parked and opened their doors when a second Cadillac pulled up. It looked even more like the ECTO-1 driven by the original four Ghostbusters than the ECTO-1X did.
In truth, the vehicle WAS the original ECTO-1, purchased by Ray Stantz in 1983, and retired when the team reunited in late 1988. The original Ghostbusters and their successors had driven the second ECTO-1, briefly known as the ECTO-1A due to the vagarities of license registration law, for the fifteen years since. In 2000, when Vincent Belmont and Gabriel Martin formed their own Ghostbusters franchise, Venkman had given them the original vehicle as a "launch gift"...complete with its non-working engine. It was something it took Ray Stantz a while to forgive him for...the fact that Ray got to help with getting the old girl running again had helped, though.
Bo snorted as the Gabriel Martin, Harry Seward, and Nate Inugami exited the vehicle. Gabe looked positively flushed. His face was beat red and sweaty as if he had been running for a very long time.
"We did what we could," Gabe shouted at Bo as he quickly donned his proton pack, "but that thing has an alternate source of power or something that we're not aware of."
"Or MAYBE your dark arts have empowered it even more..." came the cynnical voice of Kylie Griffin. She was followed quickly by Garrett, and Eduardo.
Gabe looked back and her and scowled, "Listen, little girl," he growled, "you'd better learn to get over-"
"Now is not the time for this, please!" Harry shouted nervously, "Each second we spend doing nothing brings that thing closer and closer to us!"
Bo looked at young Nate Inugami. He was still amazed that they grew Japanese people taller than 6 foot, let alone one that could easily win a toughman competition. Nate's uniform was ragged, and the zipper was busted, as if something had tried to peel him out of his uniform like a banana.
"What the fuck happened to you?" Bo said as he bit off the end of a fresh cigar.
"Uh..." Nate flushed, "Well, you know...the ladies love me!" he grinned as he itched the back of his head.
Bo merely stared at him as he lit his cigar. "Shut up..." he mumbled. "You ladies ready to go?" Bo barked out as he armed the cannon on his quad-super pack.
Gabe tossed Bo an annoyed glance as he armed his proton pack, and drew the proton gun. "I'm sure Little Miss smiles-and-goodness Griffin is quite ready, considering her ignorant commentary...the rest of us have been ready."
"Just keep that asshole out of my damn way..." Garrett muttered, arming his proton pack.
Zac Crago leaned in and muttered in Cliff Roswell's ear. "There something Yeti missing here?"
"Bo and the 'Extreme' kids don't get along...Tom told me the whole story, and I'll tell you later." Cliff replied.
"GENTLEMEN!" Harry cried again, "PLEASE!"
"Another day, another pay, what can I say?" Gabe smirked as he armed his thrower, "God, I wish Vincent was here..."
"Why's that, boss?" Nate asked, as he fastened a proton pack to his back, seemingly having forgotten how the straps actually fasten.
"Because all I have are you assholes for company," Gabe chuckled.
"The gizmo loaded and ready to go?" Eduardo asked Kylie.
Kylie hefted the proton rail gun. "As ready as I get..."
"Good luck, gentlemen," Harry said as he armed his own proton gun.
"You know, we had the black flight suits first..." Bo scowled.
"Bite me." Eduardo retorted.
Jen Spengler coughed loudly. "We're in position, Ray..." she spoke into her cel phone.
"Winston, Roland, and I aren't there yet, Jen." Ray's voice replied. "Give us at least five minutes if possible"
"Will do." Jen replied. "Janine?"
"Get ready...here he comes..."
None of them needed to be told. The vibrations and the booming, but squishy impacts of Stay Puft's feet were impossible to ignore.
The Ectomobile that carried Ray, Winston, and Eduardo pulled up a block away from the World Trade Center. They all jumped out, and threw open the back door of the car.
"You think this crazy scheme is gonna work, Ray?" Winston asked.
"It has to..." Ray replied, grabbing one of the round, orange traps that Egon and Roland had designed seven years before. "We link every ghost trap, old and new, we can spare into these proton packs...and hope we have enough suction to draw Stay Puft in, and enough power in the plasma cores to hold him long enough to get back to GBCentral..."
"It worked back in 1985, didn't it, Doctor Stantz?" Roland asked, dragging out the proton pack that had been selected to power the trap system. It was one of the Mark 2 packs of like vintage as the round trap-it had been designed to work with the plasma cores, and would provide a necessary focus. Winston drug out two old Mark 1's, the original proton pack design first used when the company first formed. Winston glanced at their serial numbers; it seemed, as though, they were two of the original proton packs that blasted the Marshmallow Man for the first time. After the sense of irony had passed, he checked their energy levels. He and Roland quickly plugged the cyclotrons into the Mark 2 pack.
"These things are still gonna work, right?" Winston asked, "the power supply on these things doesn't go bad, does it? We haven't touched these things in forever."
"No sir," Ray called back as he fished around for cable from the back of the vehicle, "they have a half-life of five thousand years. Even though we need to recharge them, the half-life of the uranium core will last five thousand years before needing to be replaced.
Winston chuckled, "Man, it's like a car battery that will last you 'till the car falls apart. Where can I get me one of those?"
Ray hefted a long length of yellow cable from the back. "Yeah, but like any battery, it can go dead, which is why we need to recharge them, and that we have. I'd never have the firehouse be with a single proton pack that wasn't fully loaded and ready to go."
Ray threw out the conduction cables they'd need. "You know as well as I do that this area is still hot with residual psychokinetic energy...that's why we've had so much trouble keeping the necromancers and other dabblers away from it over the last three years...if Stay Puft is absorbing that energy-and I don't see why not, he's still part of an evil god, no matter how goofy he is-even this may not be enough if Kylie, Gabe, Bo, and the others can't slow him down..."
Roland looked to the north...and realized he could hear the thunderlike stomping of brobdignagian feet...and with that realization, a bead of sweat dropped off of his head.
The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, his face grinning and cheerful, loomed before them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we will be tying into a news unit on the streets of New York while keeping our footage from our helicopter above the scene. We will continue to broadcast until this event has been brought to an end..." The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man had now made it to Ground Zero and was grinning happily as several cars were left in varying degrees of squashed and crushed. The camera zoomed in a bit more and they could make out what looked like two ambulances, one white and one black parked at the corner of Church and Vesey streets at the north-east corner of the World Trade Center site. Stood among the two cars was a group of around twelve people.
"Looks like the Nightsquad and Belmont's crew are working with the Extreme sub division of the New York team." Ben Sr. commented.
"That's not going to go down well." Peter replied.
"Indulge me; why is that?" Joey Williams asked.
"Bo Holbrook has had a long-running resentment of the 'Extreme Ghostbusters'...something about who was the first official franchise of GBI." Peter explained.
"Ah." Joey replied as he rolled his eyes and turned back to the screen.
7:38PM EDT
"On three..." Garrett Miller barked.
"THREE!" the voices of Kylie, Garrett, and Eduardo roared in unison. Garrett Miller, Eduardo Rivera, Jen Spengler, Zac Crago, Cliff Roswell, Gabriel Martin, Harry Seward, and Nate Inugami each sent a proton beam into the sky, hitting the beaming Marshmallow Man.
"You ready, Elvira?" Bo said, arming his oversize Super Pack.
"Don't make me hurt you, Holbrook." Kylie replied, wrinkling her nose.
"Keep fucking with me ya pasty bitch and you won't need that black eyeliner any more" Bo retorted, stomping out his cigar.
Both took aim.
"Yipee Ki-yah, Motherf..."
KROOM!
The massive oversize beam of the Super Pack and the plasma cartridge from the rail gun hit the giant creature right between the eyes. The night sky reverberated, as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man howled in pain, and started to fall backward.
"OH SHIT!" Nate screamed.
"TAKE COVER!" Jen shouted.
"He's falling over! Isn't this good?" an exasperted Bo cried.
"Not when he hits the ground!" Kylie answered.
"What indignity is this?" the Herald shouted, as the giant Marshmallow Man began to fall backward.
"You ain't seen nothing yet..." a Brooklyn-accented voice snarled, and the Herald was hit with a proton beam.
The Herald flew back some thirty yards, then turned around to face the ECTO-2.
"I don't have time for you..." she gestured offhandedly, and a stream of blue slime flew from her fingers, hitting the ECTO-2.
Janine uttered several curses as the small copter's works began to jam up; she began to angle for a roof nearby. The Herald turned back toward the Marshmallow Man.
"We have received word that a combined strike force of Ghostbusters from TriBeCa, SoHo, and Brooklyn will attempt to capture the creature..." Agraphic displaying the words: 'Voice of Channel Six Newsreader Vernon Fenwick and outside broadcast reporter David Avington, Channel Six News' appeared on the screen. Within moments of the reporter's words going over the line a series of beams shot up at Stay Puft, then a few moments later a slightly brighter orange beam flared past the others, engulfing the Marshmallow Man's head. The struggle seemed to be working...that was until Stay Puft started to topple over, waving his arms to try prevent the fall as he went.
"Oooh...that's not gonna be good." Roger grimaced. Everyone in the room winced as Stay Puft collided with the street below, causing several windows in nearby buildings to break upon impact with the street. Stay Puft's impact with the street send up a huge cloud which made seeing who was still up and about on the street more difficult. Through the newly-made smoke they could see Stay Puft was trying to pick himself up.
"Yep...not good." Adam agreed.
Those nearby swore the sound was second only to the wholly human-engineered event nearly three years before.
7:42PM EDT
Oscar inhaled as the Channel Six feed disappeared into static... "It appears we've lost our signal...David? Are you still there?" Jessica Venkman grabbed onto her brother, and held him tightly.
"I'm...I'm still here, Vernon..." the newsman said, the picture starting to tentatively reappear. "The last attack actually staggered the Marshmallow Man...he fell over, and the sound was like a bomb exploding."
"Do you have any idea as to the conditions of any of the Ghostbusters?"
"I...I can't tell from here, Vernon..."
"C'mon..." Oscar said out loud. "If anybody can do this, it's Uncle Ray, Uncle Winston, and Aunt Janine..." He wasn't sure who he was trying to convince more-Jessica or himself.
7:44PM EDT
Ray picked himself off the ground, feeling woozy. A gash torn open in his forehead from where he hit the side of the ECTO-1. "What the holy hell just happened?"
Winston was by Roland. "Roland's out cold...I don't see any sign of injury, but he got knocked out."
Ray grabbed his walkie talkie. "Stantz to anybody-do you read? Griffin? Holbrook? Martin? Anybody?"
"ECTO-2 here, Ray...you guys all right?"
"Janine, what the heck is going on?"
"They knocked over Stay-Puft. I'm on a rooftop across the street-the bitch who sprung him gummed up the ECTO-2s rotors, and I barely made a landing before he hit..."
"Kylie and the others...any idea?" Winston asked.
"No...there's a lot of smoke in the area, I... holy shit..."
"Janine?"
"Stay Puft is starting to get up..."
The Herald smiled. "The Corpus is not so easily stopped...not with the lingering scent of death in the air here..."
"The corruption of religions pays off so much better than even the Infernal Master himself forsaw..." Ragnarok noted, with a tinge of glee.
"The ritual?"
"It is almost time, Milady..."
Ray looked up to see a news helicopter as he plugged in the last connection. "It's connected, Winston-fire it up!"
Winston jabbed the arming switches on the two Mark 1 proton packs, producing the familiar hum of alpha particles being agitated.
"HERE HE COMES!" Ray cried, as the familiar giant form appeared out of the smoke. He was no longer cute, either-the combined blasts from Bo and Kylie's weapons had melted his face away, revealing a charred skull that was still aflame with burning marshmallow. The giant creature howled in anger and pain.
"STAY PUFT...HURT...NOT LIKE THAT..."
"Now, Ray!" Winston shouted.
Ray stomped the activator pedal that had been attached to the trap array. The ghost traps sprung open in unison, filling the darkening skies with their white light.
"Stay Puft...hurt...not like that." Stay Puft's booming voice just managed to come out of the TV's speakers. Suddenly a series of bright white lights shot up into action, causing the cloud to light up, the whole spectacle resembled a large cloud of light which looked like something from a sci fi B-movie.
"Looks like a series of linked Ghost Traps." Eric Rose commented. The trick seemed to be working, Stay Puft's form began to destabilize and pour into the traps...but then something happened.
Ragnarok gestured. "In the name of Volguus...for the glory of Wyrmus Magnus..."
"Kalibah...Pargon...Redgormor...Pargon...Obilekth...Pargon...Volguus...Pargon!" Ragnarok chanted, his voice hissed, carrying on the winds throughout the entire city.
Below, in the streets, an onlooker grinned. He took off his tie and threw it to the ground, and tore his shirt open. He stared at the strange symbol tatooed on his chest, and began to whisper, and his voice gradually grew, joining Ragnarok's. He drew several stares from nervous onlookers.
"Kalibah Pargon Redgormor Pargon Obilekth Pargon Volguus Pargon!"
An old man, sitting on a bench in Central Park sat up upon hearing a whispering on the wind. He smiled, and began chuckling softly to himself, as he unbottoned his shirt, exposing a tattoo upon his chest. He dropped his bag of birdfeed, scattering the pidgeons he was feeding into the wind. He began to wheeze the familiar words as his voice joined the others...
"Kalibah Pargon Redgormor Pargon Obilekth Pargon Volguus Pargon!"
A young woman stepped out of a taxi cab and stared up at the form of Stay-Puft, hearing a whispering in the wind. She beamed, gleefully, peeling up her shirt sleeve, revealing a nightmarish tattoo. She began to repeat the words she heard, barely containing her own maniacal laughter as she raised her voice to the blasphemous stacatto...
"Kalibah Pargon Redgormor Pargon Obilekth Pargon Volguus Pargon!"
Ragnarok breathed in, taking in the sound of the city. Voices from all over carried their cries to the sky. It was beautiful to him. He looked to the Herald, and she smiled as well. They raised their arms to the sky, and cried out in unison, "Give us your souls! Leap into the arms of Volguus Zildrohar! Go to him! Give your life to call upon him! Release yourselves from the world and lend us your power!"
One by one, each of the Gozerites that revealed themselves drew daggers from their purses and pockets...
"Kalibah Pargon Redgormor Pargon Obilekth Pargon Volguus Pargon!"
...and stabbed themselves, cutting upward into themselves, spilling their own blood onto the ground as their frenzied chanting ceased. The chanting was replaced by the horrified screams of people yelling for help, and frantic calls for an ambulence. With the invocation of the final activation phrase, an unnatural wind began to howl around them all.
"It's working!" Ray shouted.
"Come on...just a little more!" Winston coaxed the equipment. Several sparks had begun to play around the junction. Stay Puft howled as his whole form began to destabilize...chunks began to pull off and fly into the trap beams.
Then an unnatural howling filled their ears.
"What the f..." Winston shouted.
Red lightning danced across the clouds in the sky, and the sun eclipsed to the blackest of night. A swirling mass of ghostly green energy swirled up towards the heavens, like a great tornado, parting the clouds, and the very sky above it. They looked around to see the sky splitting apart, an angry purple whirlpool of energy swirling within the cauldron of black storm clouds.
A dimensional rift... Ray realized.
He would swear, if for only a moment, the vaguest image formed in the portal...it was a face; featureless and emotionless. It quickly twisted into a face of fury as it opened its gaping mouth and bellowed. The terrible sound that emitted from its mouth reverberated throughout the sky, and resonated for miles. It sounded like the high pitched screech of an enormous bird of prey, and its amplified sound made everyone in the city cover their ears.
The makeshift device linking the traps exploded, sending sparks and shrapnel in all directions.
The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man uttered a burbling scream as his partially distended form began to be sucked toward the portal. Several of the other Ghostbusters appeared, still woozy from the shock of Stay Puft's fall.
"Doctor Stantz! Mister Zeddemore!" Cliff shouted.
"Don't get any closer! The particle flow of that portal has reversed, it..." Ray started to say, before the howling winds picked him up off the ground.
"Oh damn!" Winston cursed, as he too was ripped from the ground.
"We gotta do something!" Eduardo shouted through the winds.
Jen armed her thrower. "We could invert the flow through the gate like Uncle Egon and the others did in '83...cross the streams."
"But Ray and Winston would be caught in the ensuing explosion!" Gabriel shouted at her, barely audible through the roar of the hurricane-force winds, "I have an idea! Just sit tight!"
Harry hung on to the door of the Ecto-1 as Nate Inugami grabbed Jen Spengler and Cliff Roswell, stuffing them into the back. Zac grabbed Eduardo, whose footing was slipping out from under him.
"Hang on!" Eduardo said, grabbing Kylie, and holding her tightly in his arms.
Jen spared one last glance as she tried to reach cover... She saw Stay Puft, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore pulled into the angry purple portal's maw.
Kylie watched as Gabriel reached into the Ecto-1 and produced a large leatherbound book, and began flipping through pages, holding them tightly, for fear of the fragile paper tearing.
"NO!" she screamed in horror, "NONE OF YOUR WARLOCKRY!"
"SHUT UP, KID!" Gabe shouted as he stretched out his hand. "I GOTTA CLOSE THAT THING BEFORE IT STARTS TAKING CIVILIANS!"
"Obsignare, rima tempi et intervallia!" he shouted in a bold and powerful voice that could easily be heard now over the winds. There was a crackle of electricity that shot through Gabe's hand. A dull yellow light emitted from Gabe's body as several motes of golden light whirled around him, orbiting him in strange patterns. Gabe's hand burst into a stacatto of light and strange wailing sounds as a geometric pattern formed in the air in front of his outstretched fingers. The pattern looked as though it were an oddly shaped pentacle missing a few of its sides, set within a ring made of strange, alien lettering. "Exturbare malum laudatio innatus ordo!" He shouted amongst Kylie's pleas. The others looked on in awe as the strange circle of light hung in the air, revolving around hypnotically. Gabe made strange, sweeping gestures as the light grew brighter and flared for a moment. "FINITE, INCANTATEM!" He roared, as the sky crackled with red lightning. A swirling mass of yellowish vapors sailed upward, like a great funnel cloud, seeping into the gaping maw of the portal. And with that, as suddenly as it began, the winds dissipated.
The hole in the sky was gone.
"...ladies and gentlemen...whatever happened...the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is gone...but at what price for the Ghostbusters?" Vernon finally spoke, a note of genuine concern cracking through his journalistic objectivity.
Oscar Wallance and Jessica Venkman looked at the screen in mute shock and fear.
"Dad!" Eric cried at the screen, before he fell to the floor and started crying.
"He...he and Uncle Winston will be all right..." John said pleadingly. "They gotta be all right. They're all right, aren't they Aunt Dana?"
Dana Venkman wiped a tear out of her own eye. "I...I don't know..."
Eden hugged her friend tightly, her own blue eyes starting to wetten. Louis Tully pulled his glasses off and buried his face in his hands.
There was a bright strobe of purple light as the frantic camera man whipped the camera wildly up to the sky.
"Something's happening...it looks...my God...what the HELL is THAT!" The frantic reported commented. There was a large hole in the sky, and thick black clouds danced around it, as a giant featureless face pushed out of the clouds. The screen filled up with static as the sound cut off from a surge of noise.
"Bugger." Iain swore. "It didn't work." On screen they watched as Stay Puft screamed as his form was sucked towards the rift, on the ground the group of people who could only be the Ghostbusters who'd been seen earlier reconverged and watched as the large cartoonish entity was broken up. Debris, and what looked like bodies flew up into the giant hole in the sky.
"Shit." Peter swore.
"The people down there...it looks as though some people have been pulled into... are being pulled into...into...that...my God...!" The reporter replied, trying to find a decent way to describe what he was seeing. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm...utterly speechless."
The Ghostbusters in Britain could only watch as the group of Ghostbusters split up, presumably for cover as smaller, lighter street furnishing followed the two people into the void. As the two people and objects went, the last big white globs of Stay Puft hurtled into the void. Seven minutes after the portal had opened it vanished again in a flash of light leaving a stunned British audience watching at GBUK HQ.
"...ladies and gentlemen...whatever happened...the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is gone...but at what price for the Ghostbusters?" Vernon finally spoke.
Janine looked at the abruptly quiet scene, fighting off the urge to either scream or puke up her lunch.
"Mrs. Spengler? You still there?"
Janine didn't know what to do. Cliff had repeated the same question four times before she hesitantly answered the radio.
"I'm here, Cliff...go ahead..."
"We've gotten everyone accounted for, no life-threatening injures...Roland took a bad hit, and Dr. Seward says he should probably go to the hospital to make sure he isn't concussed...and the ECTO-1X was knocked on it's side, so you can imagine the filth coming out of Bo's mouth right now."
"Yeah..." she nodded, joylessly. "I'll...I'll be down there as soon as I can. Make sure everyone knows I'm all right."
"Will do, Ma'am."
She stuck the walkie-talkie back on her utility belt, and spared one last look at the spot in the sky where two of her oldest friends in the world-her brothers in all but the most literal sense of the word-had vanished only moments before.
"Adonai...keep them safe..."
And then, inevitably, came the tears...
11:23PM GMT
Ben King Sr typed away as he wrote up a report of his findings, however he paused when a pop-up chimed for his attention.
You have received a new message.
Ben dropped and saved what he was doing and opened the email, it contained the following message:
"To:
From:
Subject: Your auction request\par
Dear Mr King,
It wasn't in any way easy, but I have found the record of the auction you requested...those architectural documents helped narrow it down significantly. The auction details are as follows:
Lot No. 539
Description: A gothic hound statue, believed to be of Victorian construction, at an estimated value of around £250,000, discovered in an abandoned quarry south of London.
I also have access to a set of notes made upon the discovery and collection of the statue...the statue was recovered from a quarry south of London known interestingly as 'Tonnes Quarry'...it was purchased in the auction by a man who later had it shipped to America...more precisely, California...however if there's anything more you need then it'd require more time.
I hope that has satisfied your query.
Yours Sincerely,
Daniel Sampson."
"Yes." Ben cheered, he then printed off a copy of the email, grabbed it from the printer and charged off to Iain's Lab.
11:38PM GMT
"Guys...I've got the name of the quarry." Ben spoke as he entered the lab, catching everyone's attention. Iain had been busy performing some more tests on Sarah while Fritz, Jeff and Egon had been working on getting the book finished.
"Oh?" Egon asked.
"Yeah...I was going through some of my books yesterday and I found a photo of one of those Terror Dog statues...I phoned the auction house who sold it...I didn't say anything until I could give you guys some hard data...but now I can..." he explained.
"Go on." Fritz said, anxiously awaiting Ben to continue.
"Okay...it seems that a little while after our nutball got put in here one of the statues was collected by Alister Auctions in London and sold to a man who had it shipped to California in... 1939..." Ben continued.
"Hmm...it would explain why there was a Terror Dog in LA." Fritz agreed.
"And why it'd be ready to meet Jeremy in LA...it must've busted out of it's stone skin only a few days before the Anubis bust." Jeff replied thoughtfully.
"And it being Hollywood...the tourists would sooner think it's a film promotion then an actual monster."
"Indeed." Egon agreed. "However...it raises the question, why wasn't the second statue sold?"
"No idea...they didn't say...there wasn't even mention of a second statue in the original listing... but as I said...we know the name of the quarry...Tonnes Quarry...somewhere south of London." Ben reported.
"'Tonnes'?" Sarah echoed. "I know that place...my father purchased it about five years back."
"He did?" Iain asked in surprise.
"Yes...he was thinking of turning it into a museum of the mining industry...it's about a half hour outside of London, along one of the A-routes."
"Thank you Sarah, Ben...we can now send a team to the site should Jeremy manage to re-awaken Zuul." Egon replied.
Location: Avalon? Time: Unknown, 1 hour after arrival.
It was finally after an hour upon Vincent's arrival that he found a small trail amongst the tangled trees of the woods. The forest was so black that he was completely unable to see more that a few feet from himself. He stood outside the woods for a moment, and stared in at the gaping maw of trees. It beckoned him forward, only if to whet his curiosity. He shuddered as he was suddenly reminded of the deep-sea "angler fish." The very forest of the island wanted to swallow him whole. He felt an uneasy chill. He pulled his duster on tighter as he stepped into the trees.
Vincent walked no more than a few feet before he had second thoughts. As he pushed deeper into the woods, it grew colder, until the very chill of the air was seen in his short breaths. In fact, that was all that Vincent could see...his own breath. He felt cold, and alone. Still, he pushed on through the trees.
His unease as he pushed through the foliage was magnified by his feeling of being watched. Vincent thought of shifting his perceptions into "wizard sight," but he dared not, for he feared what he might see. He knew something waited for him beyond the trees. He heard it breathing. Trying his best to ignore it, Vincent pressed on; taking each stride through the foliage as quietly and as quickly as he could manage.
Location: Avalon? Time: Unknown, 1 hour and 15 minutes after arrival
Vincent turned around to look behind him, and saw nothing. He couldn't even see the path he was walking on. The shore, and any sign of light and comfort had completely departed. He did not produce any light of his own, for fear of being noticed by something undesirable.
Vincent stopped. He held his breath in as he scanned the blackness around him. He listened to the slight rustle of the breeze through the trees. He listened to his shallow breaths as he beagn to breathe once again. He even listened to the quickened beating of his heart. His pulse raced as he felt a drop of sweat run the length of his cheek. His blood turned to ice, and his heart nearly stopped as he head something else...
...breathing. Yet the raspy breathing was not his own, and of that, there was more than one...it was more like "ten." Vincent had guessed then that it was the sound of about ten terrible things waiting to strike at him from the darkness.
Vincent needed light. He needed something to chase away the gloom of the forest, to light his path, and perhaps keep whatever might be watching him away.
There was a sudden rustling in the bushes to his left. Vincent looked to his left with a start, and then to his right. He stood perfectly still. He dared not even breathe. He just stood there, motionless. His heart rate not only started up again, but quickened pace.
He felt a presence there with him. There WAS something there with him, and it was not alone. He felt the hairs on his neck stand up, as he felt a quick, icy draft blow on the back of his neck.
Something was behind him...
Vincent opened his hand out in front of him, and held his palm up. He whispered the words of his spell, ever so softly. He tried not to think about what was behind him. He tried not to think about what it was that was watching him. He thought only of completing this incantation. His skin grew cold as he broke into a sweat. He gestured ever so slowly. It seemed to take forever and a day...
"Ego advocare ad meum manum Magum Tadeam! Ignis arcanus, purgare rica de fallacia, et evulgare tuum veram formam! Perforare caecus murus intermundum!"
With the final words of the spell, an eldritch humming, like a chorus of disembodied men, humming a single rich baritone note echoed throughout the woods. With a spectacular burst of light the entire forest around Vincent lit up in a flash, and an eerie blue flame erupted from Vincent's upturned palm. Vincent let out a yelp as he saw several black humanoid shapes loom before his eyes. He had no time to see anything distinguishing as he heard the terrified screeches of the inhuman creatures, and the black shadowy horrors retreated into the forest beyond the light of the flame Vincent now carried. At once, the forest was alive with the rustling of retreating figures, and the harsh, vulgar whispers of the offended creatures.
Vincent surveyed his surroundings in the light of the blue flame. The forest again became quiet, but the light was no more comforting. He knew that the creatures were still there, just beyond the light of the flame, waiting for it to go out.
Vincent continued his trek, but stepped lightly as he saw the shadows writhe around him. Everything stood on the outside of that small radius of light. They waited for him.
Location: Avalon? Time: Unknown, 2 hours and 35 minutes after arrival
Vincent came upon a clearing in the trees. His arm still held aloft, carrying the eldritch fire he used to light his path. He could even look up and see the night sky. The sight of the stars was a great comfort, and he sat down upon a large rock in the clearing. For the first time since he got off the boat, Vincent felt tired...very tired. He felt as though he had been walking for days. More so, he was famished.
He knew why he was hungry. He knew that the use of magic drained the human body of its energy and its nutrients. He needed to eat, and cursed himself for not having the foresight to pack a bite to eat before he came. He then realized that he never had the time to do so. In fact, he remembered being chased by hit wizards, intent on killing him. He also realized that he had no clue how long he was afloat before sailing up to this haunted isle. He felt the subtle tingling in the tips of his fingers. It was a sure sign that he needed food.
A sharp pang hit his stomach as he thought of sustenance...
He looked to see what was in his satchel, but found nothing but what he had bought from Egg Shen at Arcane Alley.
"What I wouldn't give for something to eat," he thought to himself, "a warm plate of chicken curry, perhaps a plate of sushi..." Vincent's stomach growled. He felt sleepy. "Warm muffins with sweet butter...a side of roast...eggs and bacon...a pizza with the works..." A hunger pang shot through Vincent. His eyes grew heavy. "Some of that sweet warm tea I had with Mr. Hurt at his bookstore..."
Vincent yawned as he laid his head back on the rock, he did not notice the flame in his hand diminish. His eyes grew heavy, and the world around him seemed to fade into blackness. He felt a swimming euphoria as his body began to grow cold.
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