"On Our Own"
August 2009 – Two Months Later
It was a bright and sunny afternoon, just as it was the first day that Kimberly Venkman's "Junior Ghostbusters" program went into operation. A group of new hopeful applicants stood across the street from the Ghostbusters' firehouse headquarters, staring excitedly at the large, black, plastic-made banner hung above the front entrance, displaying the "Ghostbusters" name on it with the "O" replaced by the company logo.
A signature brown U.P.S. van pulled right near the entrance, and the driver hopped out, carrying a large, heavy cardboard box. He set it down near the door and knocked, right before he climbed back into the van and drove away. The smaller entrance built into the huge garage door opened and Christina Melnitz stepped out to pick up the box. However, she discovered how mightily difficult it was to pick it up, without straining herself.
"Here, let me take care of that for ya," came the voice of Kronk, who stepped out of the firehouse in his fresh new beige Junior Ghostbusters uniform, which displayed his name on the tag at the left breast and an interesting special version of the company logo on his sleeve.
In addition, he wore a pair of black combat boots much like the Senior Ghostbusters.
Kronk took the box from the pleased Christina, not appearing to have any difficulty with it whatsoever. She smiled at him, as he went back into the firehouse, whistling happily. Christina was just about to follow him in, until…
"Are you guys still taking applications?!" An eager young lady asked from behind Christina's back.
"Certainly, we're always willin' to…" She stopped and stared after turning around and realizing that there wasn't only one available applicant, but an entire group of them – ten, to be more precise, coming in the form of Raven and Cory Baxter, Eddie Thomas, Chelsea Daniels, Lily Truscott, Oliver Oken, Jackson Stewart, Rico, Newt Livingston, and Meena Paroom. She let out a deep sigh, sensing yet another long day at the office ahead. Gesturing for the applicants to follow her, she groggily said, "Follow me, and I'll give y'all some papers to sign." Before they went any further, however, Melnitz stopped and quickly inquired, "Wait…neither of you kids has the same first name, do you?"
Raven and the others exchanged confused glances, and she responded for them all with a simple "No."
Christina nodded in satisfaction. "Okay, cool. Follow me."
On the recently-installed third floor of the firehouse, Meagan Tully gazed at herself in the mirror at the corner, admiring the somewhat loose-fitting Junior Ghostbusters uniform that she and the other recruits received in the mail just a day ago. It seemed like just yesterday when she and the others met for the first time and went from being regular, inexperienced people to real investigators and eliminators in one night. Of course, they had a long ways to go before they could be as perfect as the originals, whom individually guided a handful of them on assignments.
A well-organized schedule had been worked out to satisfy the younger recruits that were still attending school, such as Phineas and Ferb. On weekdays, the older recruits were to accompany the Senior Ghostbusters on busts, while the younger ones handled their share on the weekends. Meagan, being one of the older recruits, spent the entire week hanging out in the firehouse, strapping on the heavy equipment and heading out to do some serious dirty work. After all she went through on the first day, she felt ready enough to tackle anything…except for maybe demi-gods, or "Class 7's" as the Ghostbusters referred to them.
The current day was Friday, meaning Meagan was sharing her time at the firehouse with Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Max Goof, P.J., Louise Peck, John Hardemeyer, Kronk, Malina, and Kuzco. For the entire week, the young emperor couldn't stop bragging about his new uniform, striking many different poses everywhere he went. He did so, even while in the bedroom with Meagan and Malina.
"Forget about Dr. Venkman's uniform, I think this one suits me just fi-i-i-ine!" Kuzco complimented, while shoving Meagan away from the mirror to check out his own reflection. "I'd like to see those ghosts try and mess with me now."
Malina glanced at the modified company insignia on her sleeve in a rather peculiar way. "Do you guys even get why we get the ghost holding up two fingers, while the senior members keep their plain one?"
Kuzco looked at the insignia as well, but didn't seem to pay much mind to it. "I dunno. It's psychedelic?" Lifting his arm to see the logo in his reflection, Kuzco noticed how it almost seemed like he was flexing, which brought out a huge grin on his face. "Nice."
"Dr. Venkman says the logo represents our 'second generation' role in the business, which is why the little ghost is holding up two fingers." Meagan stated. "I think it's kinda cute."
"Well, I think it could be some lame attempt at a corporate gimmick." Malina said, before she softly moved her fingers across the fabric of her sleeve. "Buuuuut I've got no complaints on the suits though. Better than the school uniforms we had back home."
Meagan smiled at Malina, just as a knock came from the door – the closet door. Kuzco jumped in surprise once he heard it, stepping away from the mirror and hiding under the nearest bed. He frantically repeated, "It's them! It's them!"
"Are you going to do that every time they come?" Malina asked in annoyance.
"I just don't like closet monsters, okay?" Kuzco said from under the bed. "Especially now that I know they're real!"
Meagan went over to the closet and opened the door, appearing to be much less intimidated in doing so, after spending years of her life fearing of even just standing near a closet. Behind the door was Mike Wazowski, carrying a microphone and having a big smile on his one-eyed, no-nosed face.
"How's it goin', humans!" Mike exclaimed, as he stepped out from the closet, where a barrage of laughter resonated from the factory on the other side.
Meagan clearly heard it and almost chuckled herself. "Sounds like company's new approach is working out pretty well – making kids laugh sounds a whole lot better than scaring them."
"Ya can say that again." Mike remarked. "Turns out that laughter generates ten times more power than screaming, making everyone pretty happy and ending all those fears of another energy crisis." He then sincerely added, "You mortals really made a difference when you came to Monstropolis, months ago. Heck, ya save us all from impending doom – even Roz was impressed, and that's not an easy thing, I tell ya."
Meagan laughed and grinned. "Well, I'm glad that we did make a difference and we're all such awesome friends now. It's also cool that Sulley's CEO of the company now, and we get to see you guys frequently."
"Yeah, Sulley pulled some strings with Roz and the C.D.A. and got the door to your headquarters available for access to any employees who'd want to meet the people that saved our world and lots others." Mike proudly stated. "He even gets to see Boo on occasion, too."
Wazowski suddenly heard Sulley himself call out from across the other side of the closet. "Hey, Mike! You're up, buddy!"
"That's my cue. See ya humans later." The short, one-eyed green monster said, before he went back into the closet, shutting the door behind him.
As soon as Mike was gone, Kuzco crawled out from under the bed and stood up straight, sticking out his chest and acting bravely. "Yeah, that's right. He'd better run. Nobody gonna mess with da emperor of cool!"
Malina lowered her head and shook it in disgust from Kuzco's annoying and ridiculous macho attitude, just when Kronk appeared in the room. "Heads up, peeps! We just got a call in from that new hotel downtown, The Sedgewick Hotel, which I hear has one incredibly meal with the tastiest crab salad, shrimp puffs, and…"
"What's the emergency, Kronk?!" Malina briskly interrupted.
"Oh, right…" He said with a sheepish look. "Slimer and the L.G.'s are at it again. Dr. V says she's comin' with us as a way of gettin' some payback."
Kuzco let out a depressed sigh at this news. "We're goin' after the goopsack? I'm wearing my new uniform for cryin' out loud!"
The young emperor continued complaining, as the four of them slid down the firepole to the garage level. They passed right through the second floor of the firehouse, where J.G. Stantz and Sean Spengler were conducting tests on a heavily concerned Alexis, who had spent the previous couple of months worrying over what Allha the Terror Dog told them – as well as the revelation of being the new caretaker of the Underworld.
On her head, Alexis wore a strange helmet with several scraps of wire and metal hooked on top of it. According to Spengler, this helmet was one-half of a special piece of equipment known as the "Aura Video-Analyzer," which could be used to tell the emotional state of a person, as well as if they were lying, displaying their self-image on a nearby monitor. If possessed by a ghost, it would also display an image of that same ghost.
At the time Alexis had been hooked up to it, the monitor only displayed a spectrographic image of her face. During this time, Spengler and Stantz had conducted something of a medical examination on her, from taking her pulse to checking her heartbeat – which, from what the two scientists could tell, she apparently didn't seem to have.
"Dr. Sung was right – your heartbeat and pulse are completely absent from your body, Alexis." Sean stated, not able to believe even himself as he did. "You're half dead and half alive right now."
Alexis shook her head, looking a little scared. "I can't believe this is happening to me, all because I used that advanced prototype of yours."
Spengler looked rather guilty of himself as he told her, "I'm sorry."
"No, it's not your fault." She contradicted. "I was the one who knew the risks when I used that thing to stop Maleficent. If there's any good to come out from it, it's that she's gone forever and I'm still here kicking butt with you guys."
J.G. smiled, but for only a brief time, as he realized something important. "What about this 'Caretaker of the Underworld' business? Does that mean you can connect with the dead?"
Alexis shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea. But if it does, then that'll certainly make things easier for us. I mean, maybe we could start finding help in the ghosts we bust out there. Barbossa did mention something about a herald I have in the Underworld."
Spengler nodded and grinned. "Let's deal with this one day at a time, Alexis. I'm going to run some more scenarios and fill you in later." He got up and departed from his lab, heading downstairs to the basement area.
J.G. was about to follow him out, until he felt Alexis grab his arm gently, keeping him there longer. He looked at her, seeing the way her blue eyes sparkled radiantly under the light of the afternoon sun. "Stay with me, Jay. There's a lot we need to talk about."
Stantz seemed a little nervous from the enchanting way she was looking at him. "B-But Spengs said he would have some more info after…"
"I'm not talking about that, silly." She said with a chuckle. "I'm talking about this…"
And then, when he least suspected it, she closed her eyes and gave him a warm, passionate kiss on the lips that shocked him at first but soon relaxed into afterwards. He reached around the back of her head and rubbed his fingers through her long brown hair, feeling its remarkable softness. Closing his eyes as well, he continued to enjoy the kiss that he shared with Alexis, as it grew more passionate each second. And yet neither of them realized how the monitor was displaying the form of a woman consumed in flames, performing the same actions as Alexis – only because it was her.
Kuzco, Kronk, Malina, and Meagan were gearing themselves up by the brand new Ecto-2K (Jay's fully repaired Volvo transformed into the new replacement for the Ecto-1, designed to look nearly identical to its predecessor), while Spengler had reached the bottom of the stairs and headed down the ones leading to the basement at the same time Diana Zeddemore was going up them with Louise, John, Max, and P.J. by her side. She had finished showing all the functions of the Ecto-Containment Unit to them, albeit while severely skeptical of having Louise and John down there.
"It really is impressive seeing how that storage facility of yours works." Louise said with a smile.
"Yeah, and that viewer installed in there makes it even cooler." Hardemeyer added. "You can see all the ghosts they've captured in there, including that spider thing they caught a couple of months back."
Diana grinned at their enjoyment, making it all the more easy to tell them, "I'm glad you liked it all, 'cause that's the last time you two will be going down there."
"WHAT?!" They exclaimed in shock, clearly offended.
"When we finally start really trusting you creeps with our Containment Unit, then we might let you go near it again." Diana stated. "But until then, consider your butts off limits from it."
Peck and Hardemeyer both rolled their eyes and grumbled at each other, engaging in another debate over why Louise had ever talked John into becoming a Junior Ghostbuster. They did this while going upstairs, leaving Diana, Max, and P.J. a nice and quiet atmosphere to stand in.
"Ya know, they're annoyin' as heck; but with my dad breathin' down our necks from his new E.P.A. office, we're gonna need all the help we can get from them, if we still wanna run the business." P.J. told Diana.
"Peej's got a point." Max added. "Pete's got so many tricks up his sleeve that he'll just be itchin' to shut us down for good."
"You kids let us worry about him." Diana suggested. "We've weaseled our way from worst authority figures than him – that includes the two dipsticks upstairs arguing right now."
Max and P.J. laughed over Diana's optimism and gave her a high five, before they went upstairs and left her to hop into the driver's seat of the Ecto-2K, which Kimberly Venkman was approaching, while on the phone with Jonathan Barrett. "I'm gonna be late on our dinner date tonight, sweetie," she told him. "I'm headin' off to get some sweet revenge." She listened to him over the speaker, making a comment that slightly offended her. "No, I am not gonna let this 'Junior Ghostbusters' program go over my head. Geez, dude! I've only been in charge of these rookies for two months, and you act like I'm Kevin Bacon!" She then concluded the conversation by sweetly adding, "Love ya. Bye-bye, honey."
Hanging up the phone, she jumped into the backseat of the Ecto-2K, where Kuzco was still admiring his uniform. Once he noticed her entering the vehicle, the young emperor greeted her in a way similarity to how he always greeted Malina. "Hey there, Dr. V. How do you think I look in my new uniform? Am I not the hot stuff?"
"No, Kuzco, you're not." Venkman quickly responded, much to Kuzco's dismay. She then patted Zeddemore on her shoulder and said, "Let's roll, Dye. Gotta a date with a ghost."
As Diana started the car, Kuzco handed a compact disc over to Kronk and asked of him, "Hey, would ya mind putting that in the player, old buddy? It'll settle the mood nicely."
Kronk confusedly took the CD and shrugged his shoulders as he put it in the player, which automatically started the first track. An upbeat 80s tune suddenly began booming through the speakers in the car, before a female singer's voice sang gracefully. "Ooh, see the danger signs…Sneaking up from behind…Kind of like someone's telling you what to say! Looks like you've lost control…Something growing on your soul…See it coming from a mile away! Savin' the day! Savin' the day! When you're getting to the point where it's driving you insane! Savin' the day! Savin' the day!"
Everyone found themselves tapping their feet to the tune, including Venkman, who turned to Kuzco and said with a smile, "Not bad, E.K." But then she added with a playful scorn, "You still look horrible in that uniform though."
Kuzco frowned, as Diana pulled the Ecto-2K out from the garage, its sirens blaring louder than the Ecto-1 could've possibly done so. Red and blue lights flashing all over the neighborhood, the brand new company vehicle gave bystanders a reason to stop and look in awe, as one side displayed the original business logo while the other displayed the new Junior Ghostbusters one proudly, with the slogan "We're ALWAYS Ready to Believe You" right beside both of them.
Rikers Island was filled with the lowest criminals in New York City, from the nastiest to the downright insane. One of the inmates was the evil sorcerer and former Grand Vizier of the Sultan of Agrabah, Jafar, who was arrested in the previous year for disturbing the peace, property damage, and other charges filed against him by the owner of Pizza Planet, where he attempted to end his greatest adversaries, the Ghostbusters.
He calmly laid there in his cell, regardless of the barbaric screaming and yelling going on outside, reading his own personal copy of Tobin's Spirit Guide. His usual flowing robes of black, purple, dark red, and other moody colors had been forcibly traded in for an orange jumpsuit with black prison numbers printed on the front and back of it. And perched inside of a birdcage at the corner of his cell was his pet parrot, Iago, watching an episode of Dancing with the Stars on a mini television set.
"No, whaddya doin'?!" Iago screamed at the set. "Don't give it to the Jackass kid! Give it to what's-her-face instead – she's got better skills!"
Jafar grew annoyed of Iago's squawky voice, which seemed to be all he ever heard since living there for the previous nine months. He was just about to hurl his book at his cage, until he stopped and noticed how the sunlight from outside had rapidly extinguished, rendering the entire complex totally dark. All of the screaming and yelling outside the cell ceased, while Iago's mini television set instantly shut off.
"Hey, hey, hey!" The parrot screeched. "What the heck's goin' on here?!"
For a moment, Jafar wondered if there was some eclipse that he missed on the August calendar. Unable to see anything pass his hand, Jafar reached up and turned on the light at the ceiling of the cell. After he did, he was met with the shocking and sudden appearance of a tall, imposing, dark hooded figure. His face was barely noticeable, but his hands were clearly visible – one was ordinary human flesh (albeit pale and discolored) and the other was entirely skeletal.
Jafar and Iago were taken aback from the bizarre visitor's presence. Iago mostly flapped all around the inside of his cage, extremely frantic. But Jafar almost appeared to be fascinated by him. With a timid voice, he asked, "Who…Who are you?"
"Lord Chernabog sends me to ask for your assistance." The hooded figure answered with a deep, ominous voice that was as imposing as his appearance.
"Assistance?" Jafar remarked, obviously puzzled. "In what?"
The hooded figure breathed heavily before answering with clenched fists. "The upcoming war."
Jafar stared at the strange visitor, while the light mounted on the ceiling went off, leaving the cell as dark as the rest of the complex. Soon all was illuminated once again – the sunlight's glow returning through the windows – as a security guard passed through Jafar's cell. However, when he glanced through the steel bars, he realized that no one was inside there. Jafar's copy of Tobin's Spirit Guide sat on the floor and Iago's mini television set (which only displayed static at the moment) was the only thing sitting in his birdcage.
"Holy…!" The guard exclaimed in shock, just as he took the whistle hanging around his neck and blew it repeatedly, alarming the other guards. "Sound the alarms! Jafar's escaped! Jafar's escaped!!!"