A/N: I think I forgot to put in the last chapter that Brian's ghost sense went off right before the library ghost appeared, sorry! let's just pretend that they didn't have a chance to speculate. Also, Lea's name is pronounced Lee-ah.
Chapter 3
"We are so lucky Gram and Gramps are investigating at the library." Brian commented as they walked into the lab.
"How do we toss Histus back in the ghost zone?" Lea asked as she twirled the pen in her fingers.
"I don't know. I think they meant for me to give them the pens if we actually did catch any ghosts, not figure it out on our own. Just look around I guess. If all else fails, we'll activate the ghost portal and shove her back in and close it quickly." Brian shrugged.
So, the three poked around a bit, though Brian didn't really touch anything. He didn't fancy geting liquified, killed, shot at, killed, paralyzed, killed, getting sucked into an uncomfortable place, killed, tripping alarms, and there was the possibility he could get killed.
"Hey, I think I found something! This wasn't here a few days ago!" Leo cried out from the left side of the portal. It was a small rectangular block of something, with only three features. A small hole about the diameter of a finger, a small light bulb, and a red button.
Not waiting for the others to agree, Lea stuck the pen in. It was a perfect fit.
"What? As if you guys had a different idea!" she defended when they glared at her.
Leo rolled his eyes and pressed the button. A sound eerily similar to a toilet flush sounded, and then the light bulb glowed green. Brian took the pen out of the hole.
"I guess we get to re-use it now." Brian tossed it up in the air lightly and caught it, then stuck it in his pocket.
"Brian? Are you home sweetie?" called Maddie from the top floor.
Exchanging glances with his friends, they quickly ran to the den and turned on the TV. "Yeah Gram, we're down here!"
"Oh good, we were worried about you! Hi Lea, Leo," Maddie came down, still in full ghost-hunting gear. "Did all of you hear about the attack at the library?"
"That ghost must've heard we were coming, eh Maddie? It got out of there quickly!" Jack called from the kitchen. Maddie rolled her eyes, a fond smile on her face, and chose not to respond. Luckily, it gave Brian the time to think up a plausible story.
"Yeah, we were there. But we left with everyone else, and headed here to find you guys. You were out, so we assumed that you were taking care of the problem and we just sat down to watch a movie." Brian lied.
Lea, whose back was to Maddie, mouthed 'Smooth'.
"You got that right! That ghost knew it wouldn't stand a chance!" Jack boomed from the top of the stairs, cookies in hand.
"If you three want some sandwiches I can make you some." Maddie offered from where she was tying an apron over her blue jumpsuit.
"That'd be great Mrs. F." Leo responded immediately.
Brian got up and put the disk for Scary Movie VII in the player. Then he turned to see Leo munching on sandwiches that Maddie just brought down, and Lea working on the report that had been ruined by the ghost attack.
"Why are you working on that?" he asked her.
Lea shrugged. "I really don't think Lancer will take the excuse 'a creepy library ghost ate my homework', do you?"
"I suppose...but I'll do it later!" Brian protested, reaching for a sandwich.
"Hey Brian, didn't you have a cut on you shoulder from that book?" Leo spotted, and Brian looked at his cut-free shoulder in surprise.
"Yeah, I did. At least I think I did..." Brian trailed off as he inspected said shoulder closer.
"Maybe you just imagined it or something." Lea looked up from her paper.
"That must be it. Even a shallow cut like that doesn't heal that qui-" Brian was cut off by an uncontrollable shivering and a blue mist escaping his mouth.
"What was that?" Leo asked, looking at his best friend strangely.
"I don't know, but it happened right before Histus appeared."
BANG
"Perhaps it's some kind of ghost sensor?" Lea commented, as they ran to the window to see what was going on.
A giant, ecto-green octopus that took up the width of the street (and several people were car-jammed in the process) was waving around all eight of it's tentacles, some of them holding cars. News crews, surprisingly, were also gathering.
"Kids! Stay here, and don't go outside!" Jack was climbing the stairs as quickly as his 68 years would let him, several ecto-guns and gadgets in his arms.
"We'll be back as soon as we're done with that ghost, okay? There's more sandwiches in the fridge if you want them." Maddie told them as she too climbed the stairs with her Fenton Lightsaber. They left out the door, and Brian immediately changed to ghost form. He went invisible and phased through the wall, to give him the element of surprise. He was gone so fast that he didn't even hear his friend's good luck wishes.
Well, the octopus was certainly bigger up close. It still didn't realize he was there, which is good. Brian was momentarily stunned by the fact that it's three stories high.
The octopus (A/N: I'm going to get tired of writing 'the octopus' and it's gonna get repetitive, so I'm just going to call him Octo for now) turned to face them, because of a completely useless ecto-blast that Jack had fired at him.
"Prepare to be destroyed, ecto-goop!" Jack shouted. He was promptly scooped up by one of the tentacles.
"Let go of my husband, ghost!" Maddie ran forward, avoiding waving tentacles, and took a slice at it's body. Octo roared in anger, as green ectoplasm gushed from the wound. Two tentacles came flying at her, and she had nowhere to run. She joined Jack in being waved around.
But not for long. Brian was angry, so he shot at the tentacle holding Maddie. Octo dropped her in surprise, and then it was a race for Brian to reach her before she went SPLAT on the ground.
Luckily, he was just fast enough, and scooped her up in his arms. She protested and ordered that he put her down, which he was planning to do anyway. He flew over to the reporters, knowing they'd be on her in an instant, therefore keeping her busy. But what he didn't expect was that they'd be on him.
"Mr. Ghost, who are you?"
"What are you doing here?"
"How did you die?"
"Uh...in case you guys haven't realized, there's a giant octopus terrorizing the city, so I've got to go now." Brian put Maddie down and quickly left, but not before one question caught his ears.
"Mr. Ghost, do you have any relation to the ghost known as InvisoBill?"
Thinking he might as well humour the man (and because he had heard the horror stories of the press, so he didn't bother to correct his father's name), he answered "Yeah, I do." and sped off.
Charging up ectoplasm in his hands, he karate chopped through the tentacle holding his grandpa and caught him as he fell. Jack was unconscious, and Brian put off his ability to hold him to some ability he didn't know he had. He flew over and rested him on the ground. He turned around and found four tentacles flying at him, from all directions. No chance of escape.
In some futile attempt to defend himself, he threw his arms up and waited. And waited. And waited some more. When he finally looked up, he found himself and his grandpa inside a green dome-thing that was acting as a shield, and the tentacles were beating against it. But it appeared to be weakening quickly.
Taking advantage of his momentary freedom, he flew straight up and through his shield, which just died (pardon the pun). Brian led the tentacles away from the onlookers, and saw that Octo had one large eye instead of two. Stopping for a moment to aim, he had time to shoot an ecto blast at the eye, therefore enraging and blinding the ghost, before an orange car was thrown at him.
It slammed him into the foundation of a nearby office building. Momentarily seeing stars, and with a throbbing feeling on the left side of his face and his left arm. Soon regaining his bearings, though, Brian phased through the car and rubble, and threw a few more ecto-blasts at Octo's eye, then quickly used the Fenton Ghost Pen that was in his pocket. An eerie silence covered the street. Brian saw the reporters start to head his way, and quickly went invisible and intangible. Then he flew back home.
Lea and Leo were still at the window when he came back. Not stopping to say hi, he quickly flew to the lab and practically jammed the pen in the whole and pressed the button. Leo and Lea raced in to see him slump on the ground from exhaustion, and revert to human form. Trying to ignore his injuries, they grabbed his arms and helped him to the sofa in the den, where the News was about to report on the attack.
Before either of them could say anything, Both of the ugly purple bruises on Brian's face and arm glowed green for an instant and then completely disappeared. But then the news cast caught their eyes.
"There was another ghost attack today, and Main street has been temporarily closed for repairs. A giant octopus was reigning havoc on the residents of nearby apartment buildings, having quickly incapacitated ghost hunters Jack and Maddie Fenton, both of whom are in their late sixties. But that was until a mystery ghost, bearing a resemblance to legendary Amity ghost InvisoBill, saved the day. We now go to Jim, with that story."
"Thanks Maria. I'm here on Main Street where just moments ago, a giant octopus looked to have gotten the best of ghost hunters Maddie and Jack Fenton, when a young ghost boy came to the rescue. He rescued the ghost hunters, though he sustained injuries in the process" the screen showed shots of him getting thrown into the building, the car on top of him. It then showed him walking through the car, and fighting the ghost, "the ghost boy did answer one of our questions, though, in the small space of time when we had the opportunity to ask them. InvisoBill does appear to be a relation of his, but the ghost, who I think we should call PhasoBill, did not elaborate. We have Jack Maddie Fenton with us to discuss this matter." Maddie responded to the cue.
"Thanks Jim. You see, we have no scientific proof that ghosts can have children, ("Though we can't rule anything out!" Jack interrupted) yes thank you dear, but I believe it is far more likely that PhasoBill is a brother or a cousin of InvisoBill's. Only a very powerful ghost would have the ability to make internal organs and such, though most choose not to because it does in fact make them weaker. PhasoBill is most likely here to investigate InvisoBill's mysterious disappearance 9 years ago, unable to move on until he finds him. We are currently doing everything to find PhasoBill and research the possibility of ghosts having children. Until then, we should warn the public that should they meet PhasoBill to treat him with caution. We don't know if he is bad, or good like InvisoBill claimed to be."
"Is it physically possible for ghosts to be good?" Jim asked, directing the question to Maddie alone.
"No. Ghosts are defined as malevolent spirits who left something behind when they were living, or had unfulfilled desires when they died. They may perform random acts of kindness, like InvisoBill, but only if it has to do with getting what they want." Maddie explained.
"I see. Thank you, Mrs. Fenton. Back to you Maria."
The three friends stared at each other in horror. And all for different reasons.
"Great! Now the press is going to be on your back every time your a ghost!" Lea cried.
"This is just perfect! They think your evil!" Leo yelled. They both turned to Brian when he was silent.
"PhasoBill? PhasoBill? That's the best they can come up with?"