Chapter 28: Is This Normal Now?
Arc 2: Ghosts and Dragons
Not dead yet. This is something I got to finish. This contains spoilers for Shadows of the Past but since that isn't written yet it'll be more broken apart.
Am trying to keep these chapters have a 2000-3000 minimum word count. (Oddly enough this chapter is actually almost double what I originally thought it would be.)
Gathered around the dining table where the dragons held their meeting, the 8 Ghostbusters sat at the far end of the table with shallow looks. Leo and Jack sat side by side trying to think of ways that their situation can turn back into their favor after losing it in mere seconds.
Finding out that Derek's little secret that he tries to hide is now known to the enemy is something they weren't counting on at all to happen. Let alone having Malefor nearly possess something the team is still trying to figure out about. If their theory was correct, than the ghost dragon would have to become a lot more powerful to break his defenses.
On the opposite side of them Derek sat in his chair with his arms crossed and eyes focused on one spot on the wood table; many would think he was trying to burn a hole through it. Not even the plate of food in front of him caught his attention. And this caught the other's attention as well. Rachel sat right beside him in her causal under clothes (not underwear, just normal clothes they wear under the suits when they take them off.) with her arm hooked around Derek's as her chair was pressed up against his and her head leaning on his arm. One thing that happened today made Rachel very worried, this was exactly like what happened 4 years ago only this time right now he wasn't fading from existence. But feeling her presence against his, Derek let out a deep exhale before shutting his eyes and leaning his head down over Rachel's.
Meanwhile on the other side of the table, the dragons all sat around going over Cynder's account.
"So you're saying that Malefor will try to target the humans directly?" Cyril asked taking a brief glance at the group.
The dragoness nodded once. "After what happened in the mountain, there's no doubt about it. In this new form we can barely do anything to him unless he possesses a physical body. But they can." She jabs a claw in their direction. "In either form they can hurt him significantly. To him we're just flies while their the meal. Take them out of the equation, and you don't really have any threat against him."
It was true; take out the support and the whole thing will come down with it. Though Redstone didn't want this to be in his castle. "And what of their leader?" he spoke in a distrust tone. The kind where someone believed a close allie was a traitor. "What of his… powers?"
Cynder physically winced. It sounded all too much like what she was she treated as, but that thankfully died off some time ago. Though from what she saw in the human's mind she knew it was something different.
"It's...similar to what mine was. But this was much, much stronger."
"Its Demonic Possession."
Everyone's gaze snapped around to see Leo, Jack and Mike standing on the left side of the table eyeing each dragon. Behind them Derek looked over to his friend knowing what he was about to say.
The dragons however, did not. "What do you mean Demonic? Like there's a spirit inside him?" Spyro casted his own look towards the human.
"Yes. But as we said before, Every living thing has two forms of existence. Spiritual that makes them them. And the physical form that spirit creates as a image of itself. That's why age is just one long event. A soul can only hold their forms for so long and why many remind things like past lives and the act of reincarnation."
"What about rebirth?" Redstone asked.
"Rebirth is a bit different but similar to reincarnation. Think of of like a broom; You take the same exact broom as the one you already have. You replace the handle, sometime later, you replace the brush, and repeat that for sometime. It looks like the original but it's not. But back to the main topic, bodies are meant to fit the souls they're meant for 100% of the time. But when possession happens it disrupts that. When something takes over a body, it pushes whatever spirit it has into a crumpled form. Like what happened with you, Cynder."
A expression of anger and hurt appeared in her muzzle. Mike stepped forward catching this familiar look. It was the kind he saw when working the streets of New York for so long. "Sorry to compare you to this, Cynder. But between what Derek had been through and your past it's hard not to draw the lines."
"Speaking of such," Leo said taking a seat across from the legendaries. "The difference between both is that Cynder was under negative energy influence. Derek had full on possession by a Class 9 Hell Star. Or a demon born from the heart of hell itself. But with such a thing to happen would cause his soul to be permanently kicked out. Without it his body would of faded from existence. But, and we still don't know the full extent of it even after almost 5 years, is that when Derek came out of the portal from… somewhere, back to our world, he was able to retain a fraction of his human soul. After nearly fading out and a month of spiritual therapy we were able to stabilize at least 10 percent of his soul in conjunction to the other 90 the demon took up."
Volteer, while taking notes again, looked up puzzled. "But from what we've seen you do, can't you remove it with your slime?"
"No," Jack spoke, "The positive slime we use is meant to separate invading forces of spiritual essence. Not remove or strip from the body. If that was the case than every person we ever hit with the slime blower would technically be dead right now. Including you, Terrador."
The earth dragon leaned back a little fearful at what he just heard. Thanking the ancestors it wasn't the case and let out a small puff of air he didn't know he was holding. Spyro and Cynder on the other hand was a bit taken back by this sudden new information. The way Leo described it only made it more clear to both dragons that what they experienced wasn't anything to compare with.
"Then what should we do?"
Leo brought a hand to his forehead, "At this point we can only hope Malefor doesn't get any bright ideas. If he tried to possess Derek earlier but failed it was probably because the demon forced him out. A invading spirit trying to possess something with demonic energy is always bound to be kicked out from the latter."
At this Terrador stood from his seat and walked around Volteer and Cyril so that he stood behind the younger dragons, looking down to the scientist. "Then from now I recommend we keep you all under our protection for some extent. Spyro and Cynder have already proven themselves capable of handling situations that required their aid and it would do you well to have more power."
"Agreed. What do you think, Derek?" Leo turned back expecting to see his friend and leader still sitting in his spot. Though what he got was the rest of the team eating along with Rachel who was on her phone.
"Derek? Where'd he go?" Rachel looked up from her screen. "He went out for some fresh air. You know how he is during these kind of things."
"Unfortunately..." he muttered sinking into his seat with both hands covering his face. "Guys could you go and… where did Cynder go?"
Everyone turned around at the same moment to see that the shadow dragon's seat beside Spyro was now devoid of life. Everyone looked around trying to find any sign of her; foot steps across the stone floor or a door handle jiggling. Even a misplaced shadow, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Spyro on the other hand knew where she went. He wondered why she slid under the table and vanished into a mass of Shadow before heading to the same door the human disappeared through.
Outside the castle Derek strolled through the gate and entered the rebuilding city. Having stopped by the trailer to grab his rifle and Pke meter, feeling a lot more safe with them, he also stripped away his suit for a more casual look. He had on his signature dark gray jacket that stayed mostly unzipped so that his gear would mostly be covered up. Providing that no one notices a third of the rifle sticking out from underneath. Along with a topaz blue sports shirt that had a dotted flow look like they all did that concealed a normal white and red undershirt. Covering his legs were black Adidas sweatpants that were more like his shirt than the really fluffy kind with a neon green strip going from the side of his thigh down to his ankles that covered up the top of his boots.
To most he would look like he was just relaxing during some downtime. But in reality he was still bothered by the sudden attack hours ago. It wasn't at all the first, or even tenth time that's nearly happened. If it wasn't for spending so much time around paranormal energy and at times even being helped by the demon, a reason why his strength, speed, senses and stamina has practically tripled since the day he got possessed; it acted like a secondary barrier preventing things from taking over him. But when they do, it makes his mind freeze like bugs with thousands of legs are crawling over every nerve.
And usually the only way to get that out of his head is by busting. Which at the moment isn't possible, but you'll never know. Drinking; which on his case his Pepsi reserve is running lower than he would ever want it to be. He only had 16 bottles left, he would go crazy when it got into the single digits. Or going on walks around the city. While for 7 years he's gotten pretty adapted to New York's layout, he was still trying to figure out Warfang's setup; Crystalline was a bit more scattered in the terms of building placement.
Though finding the more war torn side was easy enough. As he walked by the damage varied from just a few destroyed windows or tipped over tree to complete piles of rubble to just square slabs of dirt. It burned in his heart seeing people's lives turn to this. Knowing that hours ago he was part of that reason. It reminded him much about a year ago; for New York to suffer that level of damage and death and almost be completely rebuilt in a year, it made him stand and look at life in a light of glory and strength. It showed the truth of human spirit around the world to unite and rebuild. Even here it existed. And that was something he was willing to fight for.
As he entered the more standing part of town the level of activity steadily grew As more and more dragons appeared walking about; going on whatever tasks they had today. But the moment one dragon saw him, the others followed like a falling line of dominos. Whole varieties of color, element and size shifted their gaze on the human as he walked back. He remembered the people's reaction from seeing him, and was thankful that he had his ghost patch on literally every coat he owned to show them who he was. Some smiled, others backing away fearing he would erupt into a screaming ghoul.
But did Derek care for the latter; Nope.
He just kept on walking down the street with his head low and and gaze forward. Rounding a long curve in the road he found it led to some kind of market/park place where the city held a lot more of it's beauty and color. At the very center was a large fountain easy bigger than any dragon here with a bluish white marble statue of 4 dragon heads. Each holding one of the 4 element traits with 4 claws cupped together holding a red sphere he figured was the planet.
The benches that surrounded said fountain were more like oval bowl that ran around the outside of the fountain. It was a bit confusing for Derek, this wasn't your usual park bench where you turn around and sit. The way the dragons used them where in a way of almost laying curled up in the outer groove or if with someone would sit side by side with their tails resting off the back end and their front paws hanging off the front.
A bench was a bench though. So Derek strolled right up to the first one that was empty and say down and leaned up against the right side. His right leg laying across the pad while his left and rifle stood on the ground. It felt nice to sit here actually. The curve was actually pretty nice for the strain in his back for wearing a proton pack for so long and felt like it was twisting a few knots out. Letting out a deep sigh he sank further down as he looked over to the fountain. The trickling water really did make it have a much more soothing feel to the area as he inhaled deep and closed his eyes.
He stayed like this for a minute. Not at all feeling uncomfortable from anyone that passed by. But the feeling of someone very close by made him open his eyes and look over towards his side. His right hand reaching over to the handle of his rifle flicking on the power switch. Slowly turning his head he half expected to see a large dragon standing their. But when he didn't see anything he looked to the ground. To his surprise it was a group of at least 5 dragons that probably only reached up to his knee stood there staring up at him.
The first one he could tell was female due to their body being lot more slimmer than the others 3. The first that was closer to him was one of the females that was a shade of topaz blue just a pinch lighter than his shirt. Her underskin was a bright shade of red that perfectly lined along scales. She had a row of pink spirals like Spyro and had three numbs that would most likely be the start of her horns. The second was male since he had a definite bulk around his body was a mix of yellow and red swirl like he was aimed at by a mixture with paint with a blue under belly that on his chest split apart halfway up his neck before curling around the sides of his head where it split again. This time as a three way that went behind his head to a little more developed set of horns. Around his eyes as if he had sun burned yellow onto his blue scales. And down the line of his jaw to a flame at his chin.
The third and center dragon was easily a male with the level of chub added to its arms, legs and torso and was a lightning shade of blue with a navy blue underbelly that had a zigzag edge to it. One noticeable thing was that at the end of its tall was a tail blade, much like what other dragons around here had. This one instead had his tail become slightly bulged up and take on the form of a horseshoe shaped lightning bolt.
The fourth dragon Derek could tell was female with her neck being more slender and arched back some like how Cynder's was. She was easily the biggest of the 5 and possibly reached just up to his thighs. She was a deep crimson color that one could easily think she was bathed in dried blood. But the offset was the 4 horns on her head that retained a deep orange color with the inner set curled back almost like demon horns and the outer bending downwards. Unlike the four her wings rested a bit further out from her body as if she was just ready to twitch and fly off. Though unlike the others her secondary color was on her wings and tail that held a vibrant ruby shade that seemed to a actually shine more in the light than the other scales did. And her tail blade reflected that perfectly and literally. Instead of a single piece hers was a double part X of a flame symbol that looked like a enclosed grappling hook.
The last dragon was a male and for a second Derek could've sworn he was looking at a mini Dredge. The boy's scales and eyes were actually the same color if it wasn't for a much lighter shade of brown to start from his neck and spread over his back like a tattered cape. It spread down to all four of his legs before abruptly stopping at the base of his tail with his blade more like a rocky club.
Neither beings said a word nor moved. At first Derek blinked a few times to just try and close his eyes. Thinking he was just imagining them. But when he looked back they were still there staring. Looking around he figured their parents was just about to come over and take them away but that didn't happen.
So being the one to break the ice, he asked first. "Is there something I can help you with, kids?"
They blinked again as if someone had just asked a dog about the weather. Until the red female stepped forward. "You're a weird cheetah." she said on a voice just edging on puberty.
"That's because I'm not a cheetah. I'm a human."
"A human?" the dark green dragon said cocking his head back in question. "You look like one of those apes our parents always warned about."
He felt insulted, but he held back the remark in the name of children present. "A human and ape are two different beings from the same species. Apes were stuck in the trees and humans stood up walked around. And before you go telling your parents when they say I'm a ape, just tell them there's a 2 million year gap between our kind."
Now this really got the kids attention. He guessed that they weren't expecting that to be a response they thought was coming. But who can blame them; kids will be kids.
"So what's that thing?" the topaz dragon asked pointing a claw at the proton rifles barrel sticking out of his coat. Making sure to flip the power off he moved the coat some to show the entire length of the thrower in all it's scratched up glory. He would bet his next Pepsi the moment he turned it on all 5 of them would move their heads in sync with the cyclotron lights.
"This is a Mark 3 Positive Ion Particle Thrower. Or Proton Rifle for simpler terms." Each one only got the looks of confusion other than that 'wow it's a laser gun' kind of thing he usually gets. "Errr… it's a fire arm that helps me fight ghosts."
The chubby drake shakes his head. "Wait, you're one of the ghost fire people?"
"Ghost fire- you mean Ghostbusters? Then yes, I am." he twisted on his side and brought around his other arm to show them the no ghost patch on his shoulder. This time the kids eyes widened in surprise and excitement.
Without much thought they suddenly jumped up to him. The topaz dragoness gave her wings a hard flap when her claws latched on to the edge of the bench and flipped over landing on his right side. Quickly sitting up he suddenly feels the dragon collapse over his right thigh with her tail actually waging like a dog. Quickly the others joined in; the yellow red and green drakes both hopped up and took hold of his entire left leg while the more chubbier one struggled a bit. Finally the larger red dragoness landed between his legs and curled her arms and feet under her body much like a cat would and wrapped her tail around her right side.
Now in their comfortable positions, all 5 looked up to the now confused human. The red one spoke; "Can you tell us some stories?" Her eyes widened with hope of hearing some of his adventures. The other 4 quickly falling in line as they looked up to the buster.
While this wouldn't be the first time, well, first time with dragons, he figured there's one story that before he could tell them about his, they'll have to watch where it all started.
"Actually… I got a better idea." reaching into his pocket he pull out his phone and went straight to the Movies app.
Cynder groaned as she went down another street of the city. After seeing Derek leave the dining hall she opted to keep a watch on him when he was away from his team.
After hearing about his 'situation' and even get a taste of it, she feared what could happen if someone had the brains to try and not make him lose control. But after he got passed the castle gates she almost instantly lost track of him. She saw that he did change out of his suit into a darker set of clothes but for him, something that in this type of city would stick out like a sore claw, it wouldn't be impossible to find him.
Using her senses like radar she tried to find his presence among the hundreds here. While there was a trace of him around the market area, so was a huge gathering of a few dozen dragons there as well.
Her eyes bulged out for a second. Thinking that if there was that many dragons there and Derek was in the middle of it, it couldn't be a good thing.
"Oh no…" Spreading her wings she jumps into the air and takes off for the market. Fearing that the citizens decided again his and his team's presence wasn't welcomed she bolted faster than a F-22 jet to the area.
Once she was over it though she could see a massive crowd gathered around the central fountain. Dragons of literally every size and color mix sat in a large semi circle all facing a big rock wall just feet away. Encircling behind the group she prepared herself to see a dragon and human fighting it over. Only when did she see what was on the wall.
Some kind of image was being projected over the wall with what looked like a group of three other humans sitting at a table. The image quickly switched to a female human trying to do something with her footwear when a sudden ring sound came from nowhere. She picks up a small tan object and begins talking to it as everyone literally leaned forward wondering what she was saying. Flying down to the ground she lands in a small gap between two fire dragons as she to watched in curiosity.
"WE GOT ONE!" she yells as her hand slams down on a red button. The view switches to a red bell blaring as the three men looked up from their food.
The much more bulked figure was the first to react. "It's a call."
Suddenly a high beat song starts playing from nowhere as the three men rush down a pole to the lower level where they open up 3 large wooden lockers and start dressing themselves. It was hard for Cynder to think what was happening. But when two large doors swung open revealing a yellow plate that said 'Ecto-1' she immediately knew, somewhat, what this was.
The shot of 4 lights turning on and the roar of a engine was quickly followed by a whirling siren that ran in tandem with the flashing blue lights. It then turns to a outside view of a vast set of buildings at night right before the car sped out of the building it was in, briefly showing the no ghost logo on it's door, and down the street some before disappearing around the corner. The words 'Sedgewick Hotel' came in a bright orange before the vehicle rolled up to a empty spot right in front of the building. The view on the logo before going to a inside view.
"Hey anyone see a ghost?" the middle, more shellacked man said as they entered.
Many people walked by wondering what they were before a more well dressed man came by, spooking them slightly, talked to them about the situation. They then met a man dressed in a over cost asking what they were and when they entered the elevator began feeling a bit worried about the untested equipment.
Though the next scene took the cake. As they got off the elevator to look around a low humming and the sound of squeaking wheels from a clean cart makes the two of them jump around and fired their guns. Even on video film their equipment showed it packed power as it tore apart the cart. The middle man finally stopping his colleagues as the woman emerged from behind.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Sorry." "I'm sorry" "We thought you were someone else."
He turned around with a slight smirk. "Successful test?"
She shook her head at the man's remark, "And successfully traumatizing a poor lady…" she muttered out loud making even some dragons nod in agreement.
"Cynder?" Derek's voice came from the crowd. Cynder snapped her head around to find the source but all she saw was a huge group of hatchlings all bunched up in a group with several more in the front. She looked at each one until a out of place face gave way in a break of color.
"Hey. Would try and stand but as you can see." he gestured to the hatchlings covering his body. The only thing not covered was his right hand that had his rifle pointing out towards the rock wall with his phone connected by a wire sitting on top.
"Enjoying the movie? Figured since the hatchlings were getting a kick out of it so would the others."
"Come in, Ray." They look back at the film to see Peter standing still with a radio up to his mouth.
"Venkman, I saw it! I saw it! I saw it!"
It then shows a green mass with arms down the opposite end of the hallway Peter was in. "It's right here, Ray. Its looking at me."
"He's a ugly little spud, isn't he?"
"I think he can hear you, Ray."
"Don't move. It won't just you."
Though that couldn't be said for the ghost as it charged forward roaring out. Peter too began screaming as he braces himself. Ray could be seen quickly running through the halls to his fallen comrade, rounding a corner to see Peter rolling on his pack with green goo covering his upper torso.
"Venkman, Venkman what happened, are you okay?"
"He slimed me…"
"That's great! Actual physical contact!" It was at this moment that the shadow dragon suddenly had the look of surprise. The three characters they were watching was so much like them. Derek was definitely like Ray in the terms of seriousness and funniness. Peter was kinda like Rachel when it came to the obvious of a moment and Leo was like Egon because… well, science.
"Strange isn't it? That this movie is nearly 40 years old and no matter what still holds up. Even when there are real life people who do this this. Right here is where it all started."
It was weird even after now. He and his team were Ghostbusters. Not just busters in some world where they never existed; in a world where everyone knew the name, the song and everything else. Hell he met the exact same people they were watching right now, despite this being 15 years before when and where they were from, and busting on his home turf was really something.
"Come on kids. Make room for the nice lady." the kids all let out a series of 'aws' when they had to move off of their human pillow. Most moving to the ground along with the others as a spot on the bench became available. Looking back to Cynder he nudged his head over.
She was flattered to say the least, and carefully navigated her way over to the bench and curling into the small provided space. Once she sat down with her front paws resting over the edge she carefully moved her head over to where it laid on his thigh.
Sighing at the comfortable feeling she looked back up to the film just as a really catchy song started playing.
Wrote this in under three days. Getting the motivation back.
And Damn, expected this to a least be 3 and not near 5000.
