"Slimer!" Kylie cried out as she ran over to the trap, Garrett and Roland following. Garrett wheeled over next to her, picking the trap up. "I'm gonna open it. Everybody stand back."

"No!" Roland said, trying to wrench the trap from Garrett's hands. "We can't risk letting that creature back out. It's too dangerous."

Kylie, tears starting to run down her face, her heart aching at the loss of her friend, looked Garrett in the eyes. "Roland's right, Garrett. There's too great a risk right now. Let's at least make Slimer's sacrifice meaningful. He's a hero."

Garrett looked into her eyes, knew that what Kylie was saying was true, and let go of the trap.

After a few moments of silence, the three of them went to work waking each of the victims lying on the ground up. It took a lot of work to calm down the victims, many of which barely resembled a human being. Kylie ripped off the sleeves of Egon's jumpsuit and made a sling for his arm. Egon did his best to calm Janine, telling her they would be fine, that they'd be back to normal in no time. He did his best to seem brave in front of her, but was terrified of his own transformation, and was anxious to get back to the firehouse, predicting the transformation back may be just as painful as their prior one.

The Ghostbusters and all their victims made their way quickly back through the passages to where they had started from. Egon noticed that there was an inscription on the wall near where they had reappeared. Understanding the incantation, Egon read it aloud. A large group of people that had been standing inside a ring carved in the ground glowed brightly, then vanished. He told all the others to gather inside to be transported back, leaving him and the team.

Eduardo stood leaning against a wall with his eyes closed, tired of the room spinning on him. Already he was beginning to feel a good amount of pain as his body tried to revert back to its original form. "So," he said quietly, "what do we do about Slimer?"

It was the question, he knew, that was on everybody's mind. "Well," Egon replied, "there isn't much we can do right now. When we get back to the firehouse, there may be a chance we can save him. For now, we've got to get these people to a hospital; if the transformation back is anything like the one that made us like this, they're going to need medical attention."

The six of them stepped into the circle as Egon recited the words on last time. After another unpleasant experience, they appeared back in the lower level of the warehouse. Some people, they noticed, were already clutching at their heads or bodies in pain.

Fearful that some people may try to go back to their homes, Egon spoke to the group. "Listen, everybody. I'm Dr. Egon Spenglar of the Ghostbusters. As you can see from what's happened to me, I understand the pain you've been in and your desire to go back to your homes. I strongly recommend you all wait here while ambulances are called. We're calling them now, so just stay put."

Egon turned to Roland. "Roland, go to the Ecto-1 and call the hospital. Tell them to get here quickly, and warn them about their current appearance, okay?"

Roland nodded and headed upstairs.

Kylie, Roland and Garrett followed the ambulances to the hospital in the Ecto-1. They found the room Egon was in and went to talk about saving Slimer. Janine was in a bed to the right of Egon, asleep. Her face was already returning to normal.

They walked over to Egon, who was just lying still, seeming almost to be asleep as well. He looked over at the three of them and smiled. After a long brainstorming, Egon decided that if one of them was willing to take the risk, they could go into the containment unit to retrieve Slimer after the trap was emptied into it.

"It won't be the first time we've done this," Egon explained. "In fact, I was the one who went in last time, years ago during Christmas."

"How's it done?" Roland asked.

"I designed a special suit that will enable you to change dimensions, going onto the astral plane. The containment unit can then be opened, sucking the wearer in like any other ghost. There's a catch, though."

"There always has to be," Garrett thought out loud

"The containment suit uses a lot of power, and therefore will only work for a limited time. If the wearer doesn't leave the containment unit before time is up, the wearer is stuck in the containment unit forever." He looked around. "Now, who's going to volunteer?"

"I'll do it," Garrett said.

"Are you sure?"

"Hey, adventure's my game! Besides, on the astral plane, I should be able to use my legs for the first time ever!"

"Alright then. Once you're in you will only have a half hour to find Slimer and lead him and yourself out. Good luck."

Egon gave Roland the technical details on the containment unit and suit, while also preparing Garrett for what he'll be encountering.

Kylie told Egon she wished him a speedy recovery and left to find Eduardo's room. When she entered his room he was laying still, staring up at the ceiling, singing quietly to himself. He saw her walking toward him and stopped singing. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

"How ya feeling?" she asked.

"They gave us some pain killers. I feel pretty great. They make ya feel a little light headed, though."

"What were you singing?"

"I was singing?"

Kylie and Eduardo laughed, the first time in what felt like an eternity. The two of them talked about anything that was on their minds. Eventually, the painkillers caused Eduardo to fall into a peaceful sleep. Kylie stayed by his bed and watched him, wondered what would happen between them. There was no denying there was something there, she knew, but she was afraid to do anything about it. Her mind began to drift to what could happen...

"Kylie?"

She turned around, startled. It was Garrett. He came in.

"How is he?" he asked.

"He was a little out of it. Well, more than usual, at least. He'll be fine."

"Roland's downstairs in the lobby. We're ready to go. Gotta save the slime guy. You commin''?"

"Yes, I'm ready." She took one last look at Eduardo, and then walked out. Her and Garrett took the elevator down. Kylie was still lost in thoughts of what would become of her and Eduardo. Garrett paid no attention to Kylie's silence, being absorbed in his own thoughts. Claustrophobic thoughts. I can hear the creaking. I knew it; her, my wheelchair and I are too much for this thing. The rope will snap any time, we'll drop to our deaths, nobody...

The elevator door opened. Garrett rolled out, wiping sweat from his forehead, thanking God that he'll live through one more claustrophobic encounter. They met up with Roland in the lobby and headed back to the firehouse to rescue Slimer.

* *
*

When the three of them got back to the firehouse, Roland went to get the suit prepared while Kylie and Garrett went to the basement with the ghost trap.

Roland came downstairs carrying a heavy suit and helmet, similar to an astronaut suit. "Kylie, empty Slimer and the leader into the containment unit. Garrett, I'll help you secure and fasten the containment suit."

Kylie opened the small door on the front of the containment unit. Another door the size and shape of the ghost trap opened. She placed the ghost trap in the door and pulled a lever. The two ghosts were emptied into the unit and the empty ghost trap was returned to Kylie.

Garrett had the suit on and Roland was helping to secure the helmet on. It fastened with five simultaneous clicks. "Garrett," Roland said, "Can you hear me?" Garrett nodded. "Look on your left arm. The sleeve contains a screen with a timer on it. It will count down from thirty minutes. That's all the time you'll have when you cross dimensions. If you're not back in time, you'll be stuck in the containment unit. You ready to do this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, Roland."

"Good luck, Garrett," Kylie said.

"Thanks. Don't worry. In half an hour, we'll all be looking back at this and laughing."

Roland reached over to a control panel on the suit's right sleeve, punched in the setting parameters, and hit the activation key. He stood back. Slowly, Garrett became transparent.

"Okay Garrett," Roland said, "you've crossed over to their dimension. You can stand now."

Garrett looked up at him, still having trouble believing. He lifted his left leg from the wheelchair and couldn't help laughing out loud. He stood up and walked around slowly, memorizing how every step felt, loving it. Tears started flowing down his face.

"Alright, half hour?" Garrett asked, regaining control of himself. Kylie, smiling, walked over to the containment unit and opened the door for the trap. Within a few short seconds, Garrett was sucked into an opening no bigger than a square foot. Garrett, not feeling any pain, was actually enjoying the experience. The next thing he knew after the trap door being opened, he was falling through a sea of darkness streaked with multi- colored beams of light.

He landed on a rock platform, literally in the middle of nowhere. Looking around, all there was was gray, swirling mist as far as he could see. Here and there were some rock platforms like he was standing on. He looked down at the small screen on his sleeve. 29 minutes, 32 seconds. From what he had learned about the dimension held within the containment unit it was nearly endless. With only half an hour, he thought, I'd better start looking for Slimer.

The first problem, Garrett immediately realized, was that the nearest platform was nearly twenty meters away. Then, he realized, he'd never jumped before in his life. He decided to do a couple practice jumps first, to see his limitations. He crouched down and sprung up, much to his surprise, about fifteen meters high. Things don't quite work the same in this place, He thought. Which means...

He ran across the platform he was on and jumped towards the distant platform twenty meters away. After about fifteen meters in the air, he realized he was going to overshoot the platform. He landed on a platform fifty meters away from where he had started. I could get to like this!

Without any warning, something flew by and hit him in the arm, knocking him off the platform. As he fell, Garrett looked up to see what had struck him. A blue ghost with well over ten legs was running away. Before Garrett could get mad at it, he landed on his back. Standing up, he seemed to be on a gravel ground, going on indefinitely in all directions. Trees were growing out of the gravel right before his eyes, then shriveled, died, rotted, and began growing again. It gave Garrett the creeps. Ghosts began circling around him in the air, some of them flying down to push him forward. Getting up, another would fly down to push him forward again. He began to understand he was being led somewhere, and he didn't think he'd like where they were leading him. Attempting to run in a different direction, the ghosts got angry and became more forceful. They all grabbed him, pulled him into the air toward where they had been pushing him, and dropped him. Before Garrett could stand back up, green vines began sprouting from the ground around him. The vines wrapped around his arms, legs and neck, pulling him down through the gravel earth, buried alive.

When he was pulled completely underground, the vines let go of him. Garrett had a little less than a foot to move his limbs, as the gravel wouldn't cave into the small room he was crammed into. Dark thoughts began seeping into his mind. I can't move. I always knew it'd end like this. My air will probably run out soon, killing me off nice and slowly in this grave. My time will run out before I...

The time! He looked at the screen on his sleeve. It was down to 13 minutes, 07 seconds. He started digging back up with all his strength.

A low, grating voice interrupted his thoughts. "You'll never escape. You'll be stuck here, as one of us, for all eternity."

Just then a big green hand reached down the gravel and began pulling Garrett up. Garrett recognized the hand, covered in green ectoplasm. Although a little bigger, there was no mistaking it. He called out with a great smile. "Slime-"

He was pulled to the surface, finally able to see his rescuer. He looked close to Slimer, but much larger. It's eyes were large, white, and had no pupils. Spikes of slime jutted out of his slimy surface, dripping green goo. It looked like Slimer, once was Slimer, but now was a Marinzean, horribly mutated.

"-er?"

It laughed, an evil cackle, and brought Garrett up into the air, then dropped him in a steel cage. Manacles, moving much like the vines had, slithered up to Garrett's wrists and locked.

"You'll notice," the green Marinzean said, "the manacles are just short enough to prevent you from hitting that button on your sleeve." Garrett tried and found the Marinzean to be right; his hands couldn't quite reach each other. "Once your time runs out, I'm going to torture you until you go mad!"

"Slimer, listen," Garrett said, glancing at his watch; 4 minutes, 26 seconds, "we can still help you. Just try to clam do-"

"Slimer is gone. All that is left of him is this body. You shall pay for entrapping me, ripping me from my world, and after I had tried to save you, you lock me in here!"

Tried to save us?! Garrett thought. After thinking briefly, he began to understand that Slimer was not gone, but just possessed by the Marinzean. When the two joined, he thought, the leader must have been the stronger and gotten control of the host body. But those were Slimer's angers it was feeling. There must be a way to separate them again.

Garrett decided to try to reason Slimer to get control of the body. "Slimer, I know that you're really in there somewhere. You've got to listen. It wasn't our fault. If we didn't care about you, why would I be here right now trying to rescue you? You've got to understand that we're trying. Once I go back, we'll start working on a way to bring you back. Please Slimer, we're your friends."

"My friends," Slimer's voice became smaller. He had a look of pain on his face, eyes shut, teeth gritted. His hands clenched into tight fists as he approached Garrett. Garrett started getting worried, afraid Slimer was going to hurt him. Slimer took hold of the chains holding Garrett's wrists and pulled. The chains broke with a loud crack, releasing Garrett.

Garrett, forehead beaded with sweat, looked at Slimer, then at his countdown on his sleeve. 57 seconds. Gasping, Garrett looked up at Slimer, still fearing him, thinking at any moment the Marinzean could take control again.

Slimer could read the look on Garrett's face. Slimer's eyes filled with sorrow at what he had become. "Go back to the team, Garrett. When you can find a way to change me back, I'll be waiting."

Garrett could feel his throat constricting, getting choked up over the loss of his good friend. He tried to say good-bye, but the words just wouldn't leave his mouth. He simply extended his arm. Slimer looked down at Garrett's hand, smiled, and shook it.

Garrett looked at the readout on his sleeve. 6 seconds...5. He hit the button opening the containment unit. A multi-colored portal opened a few feet in front of his face. Garrett took a final look behind him at Slimer. "See you soon," Garrett said, and stepped into the gateway.

He had the sensation of speeding through a rainbow-lit highway. His journey back ended with a blinding flash of white light and a thump as he was sucked out of the square foot door. There was a pair of shoes standing in front of his face, but whose he couldn't tell because he was laying on his stomach. He tried to get up to see who was there, but to his great disappointment, his legs would no longer respond.

Somebody reached down and pulled Garrett up and into his wheelchair. He looked up and say it was Kylie. Roland walked over from the containment unit to Garrett and helped him out of the containment suit. Kylie decided to ask the question that she and Roland were dreading.

"So, where's Slimer?" she asked, not able to keep the touch of sadness out of her voice.

"It's a long story. I'd like Egon to hear it too."

"Well then, let's pay him a visit."