Ghostbusters Japan: Episode 5: Block-Busters!
Last Episode: You found that the Food Service at the 'Champagne Dreams' Love Hotel to be severely lacking. Also, you discovered that apparently there's going to be a Lunar Conjunction coming. The lead up to the alignment will mean 100 Nights of heightened PKE activity, capped off by the True Alignment, which will happen while it is 12:00 AM in Tokyo.
Using Japanese Metrics: If a normal Pocky is the standard PKE level of Tokyo, that night the Pocky will be the size of the Tokyo Sky tree...and be one of those Deluxe Gourmet Pocky with hazelnut bits on it.
So on the upside...demand for services will be up!
"Alright." Akira says. "Crunch time guys. Fate of the land of the Rising Sun depends on this." He takes a deep breath and aims carefully. "Only one shot at this. Pressure's on..." He swallows.
Sato takes a hand-cloth and wipes Akira's brow. "You can do this man...you can do this."
"Ssh." He says. "I need to focus. How are you Daisuke? Are you ready?"
Oh, you're ready. Your career as a Ghostbuster has led up to this moment...you aren't going to let the others down.
Akira just has to...not...miss...
"OW!" You yell
"Damnit!" Akira swears.
"Nooooooooooooo!" Sato wails as he drops to his knees.
"HA HA!" Cries your most loathed adversary.
You blink, that paper 'football' hurt when it hit your eye. You lower your 'goal post' fingers and rub your eye. "Damnit Akira! You had ONE JOB!"
"Ah, losers!" Bridget Gonne crows from over the webcam. Of course, the ONE person who can speak Japanese from GB: LA has to be THIS insufferable woman. "The record remains here, and here it shall stay!"
"Wretched woman!" Sato snaps. "As the Ancients Say, 'A Revenge Is Sweetest When Seasoned with Loss and Time!' Or something like that."
She just sticks out her tongue at you guys. "Suuuurrrreee it is. Losers!"
The door opens and Sana and Star walk in. Bags of groceries in both hands. They see the pile of paper footballs at your feet and the dejection on your faces.
"We never leave the boys alone again." Star says.
"Agreed." Sana says.
"Hey Star!" Bridget says. "Got the network up and running, as you can see. I was just schooling the boys a bit."
"It's Akira's fault!" Sato says.
"You were the one goading me on!" Akira snaps.
"You were the one who asked what they were DOING." Sato says.
Rubbing your eye you head over to the girls. "Any more in the van?" You ask.
"Yeah, here." Sana says, and both girls dump all four bags on you. "We'll go get the rest."
With a grunt you head over to the kitchen area, trying not to step on any on the 300 paper footballs Sato's made.
"Know this, Gonne-San, this is NOT over!" You snap. "We will train! We will practice! And when the time is ripe, we will bury you and send you to the Paper Football Hell of Shame and Disgrace!"
Yurei gets the Chyme to start playing 'Eye of the Tiger.'
"For while we now may be defeated, know about how close we came, and fear...yes FEAR us! For every day, you should be in constant fear of that 'Incoming vid' chime, because one day, ONE DAY, it will be US! And We. Will. Be. Ready."
"Looking forward to it!" She grins. "Oh, that's the bell. Gotta Class IV to take care of. Later guys!" Bridget's screen winks out.
"You three need to get out more." Sana says, looking at the piles of paper footballs.
"The phone hasn't rung in days, Sachiko's not due back from the hospital until the end of the day, and Dr. Griffin left so we can't do Tourist Things." Sato says. "We're bored. It was this or go nuts."
"You COULD start to deal with all those old crates that are in the back of the factory...where's the Horse?" Star asks.
"If it's on the roof again..." Sana mutters.
"She LIKES it up there!" Sato says.
"For the record," You say as you put stuff away. "We were just trying to set up the webcam and GB-Network, but then Sato saw Gonne-San and her co-workers doing this." You shove some paper footballs out of the way with your feet. "And I got made into a goal post."
Sana and Star both chuckle as they put the rest of the bags down.
"So," You ask. "What crates?"
"A lot of the factory's stuff is boxed up in wooden crates in the back rooms." Star says. "Industrial whisks, baking machinery, furniture, banners, stuff like that. If we actually moved them out, unpacked them, maybe we'd get more room in the place, or at least some scrap metal we can use."
"I'm worried that there might be some old mold flour bags in that mess too." Sana says. "Last thing we need is Her Ladyship to come in and get us on a health code violation.
"Oh, Star...sorry." Sana says. "I can't do it tonight. That call in the car was a callback."
"Aww." Star pouts. She turns to you. "Daisuke, you want to go see a Midnight Movie with me? 'Escape from New York,' it's a classic."
"Hey!" Akira says. "Why him, and not us?"
"YOU TWO are cleaning this mess up!" Sana snaps and she hands the pair a broom and a dustbin. "And then you're going to tell me where this paper CAME from!"
You shrug as you put away the Milk. "Sure, why not. Sounds fun."
"Great." She smiles.
You put away the canned beans when you feel a strange tingle up your spine. The hairs on the back of your neck stand up, your palms itch slightly, and there's something in the corner of your eye that you just can't quite see...
You get dressed in 'nice casual' and grab your PKE meter.
Not sure if it'll do much good, but, eh.
The boys are still cleaning up the wages of paper football war, and plotting vengeance.
Star comes out, heh, well...at least she's not at all self-conscious about what she wears as compared to, say, the Rabbit Ko-Gals.
Bright blue and black stripped shirt, leather jacket with an assortment of pins and buttons on it, arm warmers and leggings in a slightly darker blue, and perched on her forehead are sunglasses with hot-pink lenses. Complete that with her usual poofy hair (now with an orange streak) and well...
"How? How can you look so good wearing... that?" You say.
She narrows her eyes and purses her lips. "Thanks. You look good as well, modern jackass style, right?"
She smiles and rolls her eyes. "I know, I know. This is a thing though; other people will be dressed up. And trust me I don't look good in Post-Apocalyptic Leather and studs. I mean this IS gonna be in Shibuya."
Ohhhhh, THAT explains a lot. Fuck, now you feel like you're gonna be overdressed.
"You'll be fine don't worry." Star says. "Come on, Daisuke."
You pass on taking YOMI-1, seeing as Star doesn't have a license, and you don't feel confident touching the wheel of that thing yet.
The train rides are pretty tame. Even dressed how she is, Star stays close to you and that keeps the rogue hands away.
"Sorry about this." She says smiling as she presses onto you quite closely. "But the women's car looked full."
"It's okay." You say.
You arrive in Shibuya and make your way to the theater. And Star wasn't kidding, apparently this is 80's night. (Well at GB:J it's almost always 80s night, thanks to Star but it's usually a one-woman party) Leg warmers, poofy hair, Day-Glo searing your eyes, the works.
Still, even among the better and more affluent cosplays, Star looks good. Maybe it's just because she's comfortable in these clothes and she's not giving off a 'costume' vibe.
Whatever. Still, it's a typical 'Shibuya Sight To Be Seen' and you're in the middle of it.
Your PKE makes a little vibration at your side. You take it out.
Well...it's gone now. Eh, so many people, high emotions, not to mention Shibuya at Night. Not surprising that there's PKE pulsing here and there.
You and Star go inside and sit down. "The movie's gonna be fun, but there's gonna be an intermission, some games, and then a party afterwards."
"That sounds like fun." You say. There is no force on this Earth or in any other Available Dimension that's going to get you to embarrass yourself in front of this crowd. Or worse, something recognizes you and you get lynched.
-
"You sure about this man?"
"It'll work, just keep calm."
"But all those people..."
"Dude, this is survival. We tried the other ways, it's this, or the Cult, or worse...Her."
"Okay, okay...do it."
"Now, you're going to have to chant along with the Du-whooooooo!" Star starts to cheer with the audience as the lights go down and the screen flickers to life.
"What the?" You and Star both frown at the buzzing and chirping PKE meter.
You pull it out, and it is going nuts. One to Six, oscillating, cycling Red/Green/Blue colors.
"Is it busted?" Star asks.
"I dunno." You say.
The film starts.
There's about 4 seconds of static.
You both were not looking directly at the screen, so you aren't irrevocably caught by the Compulsion to watch.
You and Star look at each other, and then you both hit the deck. You aren't totally sure why, but you're sure that Escape From New York doesn't start like that.
After a few moments, you notice that the person sitting on the other side of you stops just gazing passively, and back to activity.
"What the hell was that? Some kind of art film?" He says. "What are you two doing?"
The thumping bass, clanging sounds, and faint synthesizers begin, and the audience applauds.
Then everyone's cell phone goes off.
"Ugh! Did NO ONE turn off their phone? I thought I did." The guy says as he takes it out. "Hello?"
A pause.
"Seven what? Hello? Ugh, whatever."
Star looks at you.
"Projection Room." Both of you say at the same time and make your way through the theater.
"Anything on the PKE?" Star asks.
"No, it's gone dead."
"Not even the phones?"
"No, it just spiked when it hit that static, and then it went dead." You say. "So, maybe there was only something at the very beginning..."
"Or it overloaded the PKE." Star says as you hit the lobby. "That's been a thing that's happened when confronted with a Class A."
"Class A? I thought we went by numbers."
"We do, Letters are for the 'Oh Fuck' scenarios." Star says. "There!"
The door to the projection room is open, and you see two figures dressed in jeans and t-shirts taking off through the front doors at high speed.
"HEY! STOP!" You shout. "After them!"
You and Star bolt after them. You see one of them look behind and see you two.
"Shit!" He swears. "Look we don't CARE about your fucking Goddess! We just wanna LIVE! LEAVE US ALONE!"
The pair dash across the street and one pushes over some trash cans to try and slow you down.
You and Star are in close pursuit.
Damn it! You slowly climb over the trash cans and Star follow suit.
They're getting away.
Still, you manage to keep them at least in sight as they wind through Shibuya streets. It's late enough that the crowds have thinned a little (VERY little) so you're able to keep track.
Also, some people think this is a game or something and some helpful kids are occasionally pointing you in the same direction.
"I'm...gonnna...try an..." You gesture, as you pull out your phone. "You...call...keep on them."
She nods and huffs and puffs after them as you both split up at the 109 building.
Alright, you need to see if you can guess their route, which will help since Star's still chasing them, and feeding you info. Thank you, GPS phone trackers.
Then you have to get to a point that's beyond them...and then you need to be able to perform a bodily assault.
Yeah, this is a GREAT idea.
HA! Yes! You not only got ahead of the bastards, but you've now got some options on how to try and stop them.
You get into position.
"They're still after us?" The one in front says.
"The weirdly dressed girl is." The one behind says.
"Those nutjobs only wore white?"
"Keep running!"
Not much time to make a big plan of things, you see the guy coming and run at him with a tackling dive.
"OH FU-"
Got him! Just barely.
More like the two of you are struggling.
"Help!" He yells.
His partner just keeps heading past you and his 'friend.'
"Sorry, buddy! Later!"
"You traitorous little shit! LET GO!"
"GOTCHA!" Star says as she grabs the guy you're struggling with.
"No! You don't...please, just let me go! LET ME G-"
Beepbeepbeep...beepbeepbeep...beepbeepbeep
"Oh God...too late!" He closes his eyes and winces.
You hear a scream from ahead of you. It's the other guy!
"NO! Nooo! LET ME GO! LET ME GO YOU NUT JOBS!"
Damn.
You put a hand over the guy's you've got.
"Sssh!" You snap.
You hear feet approaching you.
You grab the guy and pull him, Star, and yourself into the shadows of the alley.
You blink in surprise. It's two guys and a girl. They're dressed in casual clothes, and she's dressed in a white gown.
All of them have a tattoo of a black ring on their hand.
There is something 'Wrong' about the girl. You aren't sure what, but your mind is trying to tell you that there's something there, something about her, even though you can't see anything.
"They came from here." One of the men says. "Where did the other one go?"
"He had to come through here." The other man says.
"Hurry! Hurry, please!" The girl says.
The pair searches.
They don't find the three of you.
The girl grabs her head. "Ugh! It's TIME! SHE COMES! Bring the other, I'll go with one."
One man takes off.
"Miss, there's no doorway here!" The other man says.
"Then MAKE ONE!" She snaps. "I need a reflection. That's all she needs."
The man goes over to a window and takes out a rag, he polishes the window.
"Is that enough?" He says.
"We'll see." She says.
"No! No! You can't do this!" It's the other guy you were chasing. "I can't be taken anyway! I spread it! I spread it!"
The man holding the screaming man smacks the guy. "You copied Her Holiness without her permission?! You showed non-Sacred Her Truth?"
"Copy?"
"You DIDN'T even copy it?!"
The guy hiding with you looks at you with raised eyebrows and shakes his head at you.
The two men and the woman start to laugh.
"Ah!" The woman grabs her head again. "She's almost here! Come to us...show us! Take us to your glory!"
"No! NO NO NONONONONONO!" The hysterical man scream as he starts to fight the two men in a futile effort to escape.
You can feel your PKE meter going off, and you see 'something' change about that reflective pane of glass the woman is facing.
You look around for something solid and throwable, anything, anything at all.
One of the bricks along the top of the low wall you're hiding beside is a little loose, you pull it free.
To throw a brick at the window, you're going to have to step into direct visual sight of not only the cultists, but also the window itself, and that thing is causing your PKE to go nuts again.
You can always chuck the brick at one of the cultists holding the guy, and he'll maybe be able to escape. That will keep you from having to look at the window.
Actually...If you can recreate the trick-shot that you guys pulled off at Football Challenge 193...you'll need to ricochet the football (brick) off of the fridge door (dumpster lid) and it'll hit Sato's forehead (the cultist) and then bounce off that, right through the goal posts. (window)
It's an insane shot, and you'll have to do this just right but...well...300 paper footballs and a day of training. (Not to mention all of the 'practice shots' for Bridget's 'challenge' shots like this one) So it's more like 500...plus.
You are ready, you can do this, your training will not go to waste!
All you have to do...is...not...miss...!
You wind up, take your spot, aim, step out from the shadows and...
just throw the brick into the empty dumpster, missing the door completely.
CURSE YOU BRIDGET GONNE!
The loud CLANG is enough to make everyone look at the dumpster, and then back at you.
One of the cultists lunges for you, you're too fast for the bastard though, you duck and dodge. He spins around, you stagger back, and where you THOUGHT there was a wall, there's only a wall that's about knee-high, you trip and fall backwards.
However, you don't land on cement or pavement.
You land on dirt and leaves.
You get back up and look around. You aren't in Shibuya, or in Tokyo, from what it looks like.
You're in the woods.
And there's a well about twenty feet away.
You look around. This is clearly a separate dimension. You call tell by the churning swarming swirling sky filled with clouds.
"You aren't infected." A voice says.
You spin around and see a young girl. She's...it's hard to tell...Japanese yes, but she may only be half, and...there's that weird blurring.
"You're the first exorcist that's actually made it here without being infected." She says. "Although...you're not like any exorcist or priest that I've ever seen."
"I'm not either. I'm a ghostbuster." You say.
"Oh. Umm, what that?" She says.
"Never mind, it isn't important." You say. "Who are you?"
"Not...sure...I remember a lot of childhoods, a couple of names, and I'm not sure if I'm 100% a girl. DO NOT ASK."
"Wasn't!" You say.
"There's another one around here. She's not as nice, she talks to the Coffin." The girl says.
"The Coffin?"
"The Smallpox Virus."
"The WHAT?"
"She is working with the Ghost of the Smallpox virus. It knew it was about to be eradicated, so it found her...me...us...and... a deal was made." She shrugs. "I don't remember, so many pasts all as one."
"So, what can I do to get out of here?" You ask. "How do I stop her, it, you, whatever!"
"I don't know." She says. "You can't fight us, not here." She nods at the well. "That is too strong, it is our source, as long as that is there."
"Okay, so we lure her out to somewhere else and then zap her there." You say.
She shakes her head. "She'll disappear back here and be as good as new. But...there might be a way, I've been trying to think of one that could work, but the only way I can think of..."
"Go on." You say.
"Lure her out and enrage her. Make her draw as much power as she can to claim someone. That will weaken this place. Then have someone come in and sever the connections between here and out there. Then you can defeat her out there and I can rest."
"Okay...how do we do any of that?" You ask.
She shrugs. "I told you; I just know how it COULD work, not HOW it'll work."
You pause and sigh. "So, I'm talking to half of a ghost, who has half of a plan to defeat another ghost who's OTHER half is that of a Sentient Disease.
"This is NOT covered in the handbook."
"Oh...she's coming back." The girl says. "You need to run. Get out of here."
"I can get out of here?!"
"Yes, you aren't infected."
"Why didn't you say that to start!"
"I only get to talk to the dead." She says. "And they don't talk much down in the Well."
"The way out, please? Like...now!" You say, those clouds ahead are swirling and dark. That's a clear sign of 'Something Bad Coming.'
"That way...off the cliff. Now."
"Off the...what now?!" You say.
"Go! Now!"
You run the way the Girl pointed and you don't fucking stop.
You see a cliff in front of you, opening up to an endless void with the idea of an ocean below it.
Doesn't even cause you pause, you're probably doing a little Wile E Coyote shtick as this place doesn't have normal physics laws.
Of course, you do fall, and you're still trying to run while you fall.
NOW you hit your back on the hard street.
"Oh thank God he's back!"
Sato?
You look up, you see Sato and Sana there. Sato's in full gear, and he has a rope tied around his waist. Sana is at a laptop and has the other end of the long LONG rope tied around that damn dumpster.
"Portal's closing." Sana says.
"Copy whatever data you can." Sato says. "Daisuke...don't turn to your ri-"
You turn and you're looking at the face of a hideous corpse.
"GHA!" You scamper back and you bump into something wet behind you.
"Don't. Turn. Around." Sato says. "Yes, there's another corpse there too."
"Okay." You say getting up. "How'd you get here?"
"Sana texted us during your chase." He says. "Sorry, all of us couldn't get here sooner, but Akira's right on the bastard's truck, and with the way he drives, we'll find them before anything too bad can happen to her.
"Too bad? Wait...where's..." You look around. Two dead male bodies, and one dead female body...and signs of a large struggle.
"They got Star." Sato says. "I don't know how long we have, but we're getting her back.