"I'm Your Boogeywoman…That's What I Am!"
Kimberly just had to imagine for a moment that if Sean Spengler were there with her and the new recruit, Meagan Tully, in this alternate dimension discovered past a closet, he would have quite a field day. He would be pulling out that P.K.E. Meter of his and scanning all over the area, making wild and crazy theories about dimensional rifts or the world coming to an end. And, frankly, she would've blamed him if he did, considering the current circumstances.
And at the moment, she wished that anyone but Meagan was there with her, as the 21-year-old recruit just couldn't stop acting like a giddy schoolgirl. "Oh, yeah! Things are gonna be a lot different now! Because I've got a Ghostbuster with me today!" She was shouting all throughout the bizarre factory they were in…shouting to no one in particular. "You hear that, monsters?! I'm not alone anymore!!"
"Will you shut up?!" Kimberly screamed at her in aggravation. "Do you actually want these 'monsters' to pop out at us?"
"Well, why not? You're armed with a Proton Pack. You can take them out single-handedly."
Kimberly shook her head, trying to compose herself before she completely lost it. "Wait a minute…wait a minute! Let's just keep ourselves together here. We can't just assume the worst. Maybe these 'friends' of yours aren't all dangerous. They could be domesticated for all you know." She had to stop and think for a minute about what she just said—something that Spengler would probably say. It freaked her out a little, thinking like an actual scientist.
Yet within just a split of a second, it wasn't the only thing that freaked her out, once she and Meagan heard a collection of footsteps approaching. The Ghostbuster and the recruit quickly hid beneath one of the worktables located in the vicinity. From there, they watched two sets of feet enter the room—one scaly and purple, while the other was smaller and red. Meagan vaguely recognized the monstrous-looking feet; but she definitely recognized the voices of the strangers they belonged to as Randall and Fungus.
"Ya need to fix whatever's going wrong, Fungus!" Randall exclaimed. "I am not going to lose my opportunity of becoming scare-leader over some stupid glitch in the system!"
"I-I checked the current readouts over and over again, sir." Fungus nervously said. "The glitch occurred long before working hours began. Mister Waternoose has all the best engineers working their fingers off—literally, I should add—to get this taken care of before any more outsiders from the other side creep their way in."
"Waternoose owes me big time for this mess! I want that scare record, and I am gonna get that scare record, one way or another!!!"
Just at that moment, after Randall made his declaration, all of the lights in the room suddenly went out and darkened everything. The only lighting source left was from the daylight shining through the series of skylights from outside. Not only were Randall and Fungus alarmed by this, Kimberly and Meagan were as well, having not the slightest clue of what was going on.
Thankfully, they weren't alone, as Randall aggressively asked Fungus, "What? What's happening? What's going on here, Fungus?!?!"
"I…I have no idea, sir!" Fungus reacted in shock. "Perhaps the CDA shut everything down, trying to round up all the outsiders within the area. There are enough of them to create a massive power surge of catastrophic proportions."
"We've gotta find Waternoose. C'mon, grab a flashlight and follow me."
Kimberly and Meagan watched their feet, as they hastily ran out of the large room. Venkman stuck her head out from beneath the worktable, watching the figures as they departed. Once they were completely away, she and Meagan moved out from their hiding spot, looking around the partially lit area for any more signs of bizarre creatures.
"Those were the guys that held me captive in that room with the large gun…the Scream Extractor," said the jittered Meagan.
Venkman took a deep breath before saying, "At first I thought you were just telling me some story while watching Chronicles of Narnia and on some serious cold medicine. But now I've seen all of this, I've gotta say that you weren't making this up at all."
"You hear what they said just now? People from our world are being brought into theirs! They're invading us! Abducting us to extract the screams from our bodies, man!!!"
Kimberly glanced at Meagan with the same odd expression she gave her, after listening to her story. "You've really gotta chill out, kiddo." Then, as she was caught off guard, Meagan detached the particle thrower from her Proton Pack and placed it in her hands. "Hey! Careful with that! What're you doing?!"
"Please, Dr. Venkman! You have to take care of these guys! People will get hurt if you don't!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's just get one thing straight here: I am only one Ghostbuster going up against an army of monsters. That's just like asking to have my butt kicked."
"So what can we do to take care of this?"
"Obviously, we'll have to get Sean Spengler in on this, because all of this is way out of my normal element."
"I thought investigating the paranormal was your normal element."
Venkman instinctively chuckled. "No, sweetie. Dressing up as Jessica Rabbit during Halloween is my normal element."
While Meagan seemed highly puzzled over Dr. Venkman's affirmation, she tried her best to just ignore it as the both of them started making their way towards the door the lead back to the firehouse headquarters. Unfortunately, once Kimberly opened it, what she expected to see as the sleeping quarters was instead just the other side of the room they were standing in.
"Uh…the heck?" uttered Venkman, her facial expression a better reaction to the situation than her own words.
Meagan then took notice of the machinery that was attached to the left and right sides of the door's base area. She saw the same yellow canister that she had seen all too often during her previous trip through Monstropolis. It was attached to the machinery and, for the first time, she realized it had levels of screams labeled near an LED indicator, from "extreme" to "low." On the machinery, she spotted a device used for sliding in cards, which she assumed worked the same way people used hotel cards to get through the doors of their rooms.
Through all of this, Meagan figured out how monsters were able to get into their world, and how she and Kimberly would be able to get back there. "This is how they invade our privacy. We've gotta find the access card for this door, in order for it to open to our world."
"Access card?" Venkman reacted to her assumption in confusion. "You mean like for a hotel room?"
"Yeah, something like that," said Meagan, as she began searching around the worktable near the door for one. "It's gotta be around here someplace."
Kimberly rolled her eyes and groaned, while sitting down on the floor and setting her particle thrower down next to her. "Yeah, that could take longer than I'd care for it to, so I'm just gonna…you know…"
Meagan turned her head for a brief moment and noticed her just sitting there in an Indian-styled way, with her eyes closed and her fingers gestured in a way similar to people in a meditative state (which she almost seemed to be in at that moment). "With all due respect, Dr. Venkman, I don't think what you're doing will help us that much," she said before continuing her search.
"You've been through all that I have, kiddo, you learn just to take a moment to relax and think about your next plan of action," said Venkman, utilizing her studies in psychology, which she held a PhD in. "The mind can only function rationally if both it and the body are at ease."
"But I don't see why…"
Kimberly shushed the recruit and said in what sounded like a bad Yoda impersonation, "It's not a question of why, my pupil. Do or do not…there is no why."
Not even bothering to glance at the bizarre scientist (if she could call her that any longer, once this situation was taken care of) after that strange statement, Meagan just continued to focus on searching for the access card to their door. In the midst of her search, she heard a loud, metallic bang that repeated itself not very long afterwards. Venkman not only heard it as well, but she also felt near her.
Both women turned their heads to the source of the noise and noticed a small three-year-old girl dressed in a pink nightshirt and white socks, with dark brown eyes and hair that had small pigtails. She had the tip of Kimberly's particle thrower in her hands and watched as she let go of it and allowed it to hit the floor with a tremendous metallic thud. And, as if she sensed their stares, she looked up at Kimberly and Meagan.
She then said a word that was garbled enough for only a three-year-old to understand, "Lookit."
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!" Kimberly and Megan instinctively let out in reaction to the two-feet of cuteness standing before them. It was only shortly afterwards when Kimberly realized that she was fiddling with a nuclear device that she quickly and carefully moved away from her, attaching it back to her Proton Pack.
"Hey, you," she said in a sweet tone of voice, while picking the giggling little girl up. "What's your name? What're you doing here?"
The little girl just smiled and giggled at her.
Despite seeing the child so happy, Meagan couldn't help but to shake her head and angrily say, "The nerve of these monsters to take such a precious little girl like this away from the comfort of her own room, all in an attempt to scare the living daylights out of her."
"It isn't like that," said a voice that came out from nowhere. As soon as Kimberly and Meagan heard it, they turned in the direction it seemed to have come from and noticed a large, furry blue monster with purple spots and a small, one-eyed green one with short horns—both whom were very familiar to Meagan.
Regardless of familiarity, she was still cautious of their presence there, going as far as detaching the particle thrower from Venkman's Proton Pack (much to her surprise) and aiming it at them with a nervous, shaky grip. "T-T-Take o-one m-more s-step a-a-and I-I'll b-bl-blow yo-you monsters a-away!!"
The two monsters held their hands up, even though they were not entirely certain what the weapon being pointed at them was. It did have a very intimidating appearance to it, with its blinking lights and steaming vents. They had no idea what kind of firepower it had or even how it was fired…and, frankly, neither did Meagan herself.
"Kitty!" She suddenly heard the little girl exclaim. Looking over at her, she noticed how she was reaching out towards the two monsters in front of them, without showing any signs of fear. In fact, she seemed very happy to see them.
That was enough evidence for Kimberly to see that not all of the monsters in this realm were bad. Seeing the little girl's need in going to the monsters, she set her down and allowed her to rush over to them. The large, furry blue one then picked her up and cradled her in its arms as he asked, "Are you okay, Boo? I was looking for you everywhere."
Venkman smiled at the sight of the monster peacefully holding the girl like a concerned parent would. Despite its monstrous features, he was a very gentle creature and seemed to care deeply for the little girl. Turning to Meagan, who was still aiming the particle thrower at the two monsters, Kimberly took the device from her and said, "Easy, killer. I think they come in peace."
"Yeah, yeah…we do, we do!!" The small green monster frantically exclaimed. He then turned to his huge friend and said, "Right, Sulley?"
Meagan, still being very cautious of the two monsters, hid behind Kimberly as she calmly approached them. "You fellas can relax. We're not gonna hurt you," said Venkman.
"Yeah, that is if you don't hurt us first!" Meagan stated.
"Will you shut up?!" Kimberly whispered to her.
James P. "Sulley" Sullivan—the large, furry blue monster—spotted the familiar insignia on the right sleeve of Kimberly's outfit and grinned. "Hey, Mike…we know these guys. They're the Ghostbusters."
Mike Wazowski—the small, one-eyed green monster—blinked twice at the two humans before them, making sure he wasn't seeing things. "Didn't Waternoose prevent any further access to their door on grounds that they hunted creatures like us?!"
"I'm sure you m-meant to s-say because you guys are s-scared of t-them!" Meagan stammered, trying to sound bold and brave while still cowering behind Venkman. "R-Right, D-Dr. Venkman?"
Kimberly just shook her head in disgust, completely ignoring the whimpering coward hiding behind her and focusing on the two monsters in front of her. "So you guys know about us?"
"Oh, sure. You people are like public enemy #1 to us," said the aggravated Mike. "Anybody who dares to try and scare the Ghostbusters is practically signing their death certificate."
"Is it true that all of your monsters are kept in a tiny, crowded area?" Sulley inquired with huge interest.
"In our Containment Unit, yes." Venkman responded. "It's not tiny, but I'd bet it's definitely crowded inside."
BBBBBBBBBBBUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGG!!!!!
The loud, rumbling noise shook the foundation of the very room they stood in, its source coming from outside of the building. Something incredibly enormous then stood over the skylights, blocking the sunlight and turning the whole room pitch-black. The only lights that shined were from the indicators on Kimberly Venkman's Proton Pack.
KEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK!!!!
A gigantic human fist then crashed through both brick and glass, tearing away a large section of the ceiling above them. Kimberly, Meagan, Mike, Sulley, and Boo all ran for cover, while the huge chunks of debris rained down over the factory. In the midst of the chaos, the door leading back to the firehouse had been crushed to pieces, along with the machinery holding it in place.
Venkman and Tully were shocked to see their only ticket back home destroyed; but the shock was soon replaced over something entirely different, when they looked upward to see cause of the problem. Peeking through the gaping hole in the ceiling was the pudgy head of blue-eyed giant with bright red hair and remarkably dimwitted face.
"FEE, FI, FO, FUM!!!!!!"