Chapter 6
You Must Be This Scared For This Ride
Josette was woken from her well needed slumber. Still not clear on what was happening, she saw the Water Elemental Flow hover next to her bed.
"Flow? What is the matter?"
"Please excuse me, kind spirit, but a new building has just appeared on the map. I felt it necessary to inform you."
"I see, thank you, Flow. But what kind of mission could it be? We only recently returned from the last one. Would you be so kind and summon the others?"
"Of course." the spirit answered and swam away through the air and walls.
Just like their Ghost Master, the team also wondered what awaited them. The sun was just setting, which was quite early compared to their 'normal work hours', and it was less than a day since the mission to safeguard their Ghoul Room.
With everyone gathered, Josette touched the new landmark, an old and worn down house, and they all heard Charles' briefing.
"My apologizes for this ill timed message, Ghost Master, but we have discovered something that you and your team might enjoy. Rumours of your recent victories have spread across the city with surprising speed, and have caught the attention of so called 'Ghosthunters', mortals who have devoted their lives to prove that we ghosts exists.
While we have nothing to gain by helping them achieve their goal, adding some wood to their fire will only help us in the long run, as their belief is a good source of plasm. At this very moment, they are on their way to the Haunted House, in the city's amusement park, hoping that the spooky atmosphere will draw in ghosts.
Allow them to witness your power, draw strength from them and use it to aid the spirits that are trapped in the park, but hurry, for time is running short. We are allowing you to bring your entire team for this mission."
Josette thought about the mission ahead, it was rare that the Committee allowed a Ghost Master to bring more than eight Haunters on a mission, but she was allowed to bring all nine of hers, granted it was only one more. But as Charles had said, time was of the essence.
"Well, you heard our orders, time to get to work." she said with a smile as the portal opened.
It felt strange to be on a mission early in the evening, the sun hadn't set yet, but they had a quite small window of opportunity, since the amusement park wouldn't be open for much longer. Luckily, it didn't take long to find the Haunted House, it looked very run down and actually quite spooky, it would have been a perfect Ghoul Room if it hadn't been for it being in the centre of a popular area.
Easily finding the group of mortals that were there looking for real ghosts, Josette ordered her team to amuse the group, while she searched for the spirits somewhere in the large park. But she didn't get very far, as she instantly got a message from Jabu.
"'Ey, boss mon! We tink we found one of'da ones you be looking for 'ere!"
She was a little surprised, but also relieved that they had found one so quickly, so she headed to Jabu as quickly as she could. It was an interesting ghost she laid her eyes on, that of a clown, dressed in an orange suit with blue and purple striped arms and collar, a pointy hat, big yellow shoes and an umbrella in his hand. He seemed to be chained to the room itself, and was as sad as his make-up was supposed to make him look. As soon as he saw her, he started talking.
"Oh woe is me, the saddest of sad clowns, who never brought laughter to others, just fear and tears. Poor Chuckles couldn't take it any more, and my life ended from the poison I drank, yet my torture continue, for here there is no laughter, only fear."
'This will be challenging to solve.' Josette thought to herself. It was clear that she was dealing with a Phantom, a ghost of someone creative, or insane, which is very potent with emotional and mind based powers, but figuring out exactly what he wanted wasn't easy because of his madness, mild though it might be.
"Sounds like this guy could use a good laugh." said Jack. "A really good one."
"Jack, I think you just found the answer." she said. "If he could make a someone laugh, I think that might set him free, but now the question is how." Josette quickly turned to her handbook, reading the page on Chuckles.
As she did, the Ghosthunters entered the room, looking for signs of real ghosts, and they were about to, as the Ghost Master had found what she needed and issued commands to her squad. They began using their powers, but only low tier ones, as they didn't want to scare these mortals as they would any other.
Moans echoed in the room as the heat rose and thunder could be heard far away. At first the mortals didn't think overly much about it, they were in an attraction that was meant to be spooky, but when stranger things started to happen, they got excited.
First, water began leaking from parts of the room where it wasn't possible, and strange thorny vines with flowers grew out of the floor, just for all of it to just vanish without a trace.
"That has to be some kind of ghost!" said a young man with thick glasses.
"You're so gullible." said a young woman. "It was clearly nothing but holograms, had it been a real ghost, we would have witnessed something much stranger."
"A sceptic among the ghosthunters? I guess they need someone to keep them from jumping to conclusions." said Josette, but the mortals couldn't hear her, not unless she wanted them to. "I think she will be a perfect victim for our next trick. Chuckles, would you mind using your Twister on her?"
The clown looked at the Ghost Master with confused eyes, but did as he was asked, it wasn't like he had anything else to do or place to go. With a spin of his umbrella, his ghostly power took hold of the woman. Suddenly and forcibly, she was pulled up off the ground with a shriek and turned upside down, slowly spinning around as she levitated above ground. The other mortals were almost as shocked as her, but before they could do anything, she was released from the ghostly power and fell to the ground, shaken but unharmed.
"That…. was so cool! There really are ghosts here!" she cheered once she had caught her breath, and actually laughed as adrenalin still flowed through her system. The others soon joined her as they were more excited than ever after the display of otherworldly powers.
"Laughter? They are laughing?" Chuckles said in disbelief. "All I ever wanted as a clown was to make people laugh… and now I have finally succeeded. I feel… I feel free."
The chain binding the ghost broke and faded to nothingness, and the clown was released from his torment.
"Ah, but alas, maybe it is my fate to scare others, but then so be it. May I accompany you and your… merry band of ghosts?"
"It would be my pleasure, and I am certain that we will be more than adequately amused by your contribution." Josette answered with a smile.
With Chuckles, and his array of powers, the team had all they needed to entertain the hunters, which they did sparingly once they had built up a good supply of plasm for them to use, all while Josette resumed her search for the remaining restless spirits. But where to look?
A faint voice reached her ears, carried softly on the wind, asking for help. Following the plead for help, she flew across the park to find the source of it. A balloon had gotten caught in a tree, its string having tangled itself in the branches, and bound to the balloon was a small fairy-like spirit, an Air Elemental, pink in colour and looking like she wore a dress.
"Ah, finally a kind soul heard my call for assistance." she said. "I am Soar and the sky is my home, yet now I found myself trapped with this strange sphere. Mortal hands unknowingly sealed me inside a prison of metal, then moved me to this. I thought that I would be free when they lost the sphere, as it moved in the wind as I used to do. But as you can see, fate was not on my side, and once again I found myself trapped. I would really appreciate if you could set me free."
"You will soon feel the winds of freedom again, worry not." said Josette, as the task of popping was a simple one, yet she had to admit that she wasn't sure exactly how to do it. After some thought, she got an idea that might work.
"Bedrock, I require your aid." she sent a message to the Earth Elemental, and a few minutes later he arrived at the tree.
"You called?" he asked in his monotonous voice, and Josette explained her plan.
Bedrock slammed his arms into the ground, channelling his Flower Power through the soil. Dozens of vines shot up from the ground, growing upward and ensnaring the tree as Bedrock focused on the balloon. In a matter of seconds, the vines had reached the balloon and wrapped themselves around it, slowly squeezing it with the thorns digging into the plastic, and it exploded with a loud pop, releasing the air and gas within, as well as the spirit's essence.
"Thank you, thank you so much! Now can I follow the winds wherever they may take me, and they blow in your favour. I will remain at your side for as long as you need me."
"I am glad to hear that, Soar, your assistance may be very helpful. Have you seen any other restless spirits in this area?"
"That I have, there is one that seems to be trapped in ice that is not cold, inside a mortal home with much of that strange ice. Another resides in a pond with many, many ducklings."
"I see, then we'd better find and help them." said Josette, trying to figure out what Soar described. Not having any real kind of connection with the mortal world and customs, majority of the Elementals didn't understand what many things the mortals did and used were, which made it hard for Josette to know what Soar meant, but she didn't say anything about it as she too was unfamiliar with much due to her age. She instead asked the Elemental to show her where she had seen the spirits.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team continued to amuse the ghost hunters with their tricks and powers. Though they also sought out other of the late time guests for a bit of variety, wanting some victims that actually got more scared than entertained to keep the plasm flowing. But little did they know that that would attract unwanted attention.
Soar led Josette to a strange little stall, inside there was a large tub filled with water and nearly a hundred rubber ducks with small metal pieces on their heads. According to a signpost, apparently mortals used a magnet to 'fish' for the toy ducks and won prizes based on symbols on the bottom of the ducks, a simple and rather sweet game in Josette's eyes, but it was not what they were there for, but rather the spirit in the water, chained to the tub.
A beautiful mermaid with long blue hair that moved like it was under water, her scales were ocean blue and her fins turquoise. Josette actually found herself staring at the entity, not only because mermaids were a really rare kind of spirit, but also because she was so beautiful. Noticing the Ghost Master, the water spirit looked at her, her turquoise eyes locking with Josette's green and the Ghost Master felt that she blushed, but it quickly faded when she saw how sad the mermaid's eyes looked.
"Hello, I am here to help you." Josette said after quickly gathering her thoughts again. "My name is Josette, what is your name?"
"I am Nereid…" the mermaid answered with a voice soft as velvet but still sad. "For many moons have I been forced to remain in this foul place, unable to leave since my bond with the ocean was severed. Oh how I yearn to be reunited with the grand seas of the world again, to swim with the waves and currents of the oceans once again. If you can truly help me, then you will have my eternal gratitude."
Josette moved closer and gently took Nereid's hands in her own to comfort her.
"You will be free from this place, that I promise you." she said with a soft smile.
A short moment later, Flow arrived, having received a telepathic message from Josette.
"You summoned me, kind spirit? How may I aid you?" Flow asked.
"We need to overflow this tub, get the water to return to the sea." Josette said and pointed at one of numerous drainage holes on the floor. Flow understood what she meant and bound herself to the water inside a bucket on the edge of the tub. Her powers cascaded from her as her Rain summoned dark clouds and heavy rain fell, filling both the bucket and the tub, but she didn't stop there, she used her Flood power to make the bucket overflow with even more water.
The combination of the two water powers quickly filled the tub up to the edge and more, toy ducks following the water as it started to go over the edges and onto the floor, only for the drainages to swallow all the water, funnelling it down into the sewers. The ducks stayed on the floor, not able to pass through the small grates.
"I do not see how this will help." said Nereid.
"The water will reach the sewers, and from there it will eventually reach the ocean again." explained Josette. "If we keep pouring the water from the tub into the sewers, you should have a connection with the sea through the water already there."
With that explanation in mind, Nereid was a bit doubtful that it would work, but she could feel how the water moved underground, making its way through a maze of pipes and finally joining the sewer-water deeper down. As soon as the flow of water joined the one in the sewer, Nereid could feel how all the water was connected, how it moved and where it flowed. It was filled with mortal filth and worse, but she could feel all the way to the ocean far beyond all water-purifier stations. The waves, the currents, all the aquatic life, she could feel it all as her connection reformed and the chain dissolved.
"It worked! I can feel the sea again! I am free!" Nereid exclaimed and quickly left the tub and swam through the air for a short while before giving Josette a big hug.
"Thank you." she said, not noticing that Josette was blushing again.
"You… are most welcome."
Soar continued to show Josette where the last spirit was trapped, and the small group arrived at a building that the mortal referred to as a funhouse. Entering the building, Josette was surprised to find a large room with row upon row with mirrors, but the thing that was the strangest, was that all the mirrors were curved, each in a different way, distorting their reflections.
'This must be the 'ice' Soar spoke of. Mirrors.' Josette thought to herself. 'I wonder what kind of spirit that is trapped here.'
"Hello? Is someone there?" she heard a male voice ask out aloud. "If anyone can hear me, please, I require assistance."
Following the voice, Josette couldn't find anyone in the area, until she looked into one of the mirrors and saw another figure in it. A blonde male in a blue shirt and purple pants stood in the mirror. He was also heavily distorted, his feet and shoes twice as long as they should have been, his legs were very thin, his torso was very broad, his arms long and thick and his eyes three times as big.
"Ah, finally someone that heard me, what a relief. I am Clarence DuChess, and I require your assistance to break free of this mirror."
"Of course I will help, but how did you get trapped in there in the first place?"
"Some… associates of mine thought it would be a fun idea to bring me to this place, to see me squirm from seeing my fair features twisted by this laughing-mirrors. As you can see, it didn't work the way they planned, the shock was too much for me."
'He is just as vain as some of my old suitors, no, he's even worse, no wonder he has become a Fetch.' Josette thought to herself. 'Still, I can not leave him here, and his powers could be of use to our campaign.'
She quickly consults her handbook, looking through the powers of both her team, the rescued spirits and this Clarence.
"This might work." she said after a while. "Clarence, I need you to use Ethereal Gift."
Hoping that she knew what she was doing, Clarence did as asked and created a small gift-box with a large ribbon tied around it, it materialized on the floor of the room and had a very alluring presence. This kind of ghostly object was meant to be interacted with by the mortals, having physical form, and it allowed nearly any ghost to use it as a fetter to be able to reach areas normally out of their reach, especially when the mortals carried around the gift.
With the gift in place, Soar bound herself to it as Josette instructed, and drew power from the plasm the rest of the team had generated. Then she unleashed a Shattering Song so loud and high-pitched, that every window, mirror and glass item in the building shattered into thousands of pieces.
His imprisoning mirror broken, Clarence should have been happy to be free, yet, looking at his still corrupt form, it was a bitter-sweet victory at best.
"Why do I still look like this? Should I not become normal now that I am out of the mirror?" he said.
"I am afraid not. Ghosts often have their forms twisted and demonized after their deaths, and there is no way to change them back." said Josette.
"So I am cursed to remain like this for eternity then?"
"I am sorry."
"'sigh' It can not be helped I guess, at least I am free. And I do not have to look at people doing all kinds of faces, you do not know how frustrating it is to see that every day."
"No, I do not, but I do hope that you will find it less frustrating to see the scared faces instead, if you would like to join us."
"I can not think of much else to do, and I suppose I owe you for helping me, so I will gladly help you in return."
"You owe me nothing, but I will gladly have you on the team." said Josette with a smile.
With all the ghosts rescued, and thus their mission completed, Josette was expecting a portal to open, but that never happened, instead she heard an urgent telepathic message from Charles.
"Be warned, Ghost Master! A member of the Ghostbreakers has arrived at the amusement-park, apparently summoned by someone that didn't appreciate your activities. Until this threat has been dealt with, we can't risk opening a portal to your Ghoul Room. Engage this enemy with care, they have proven to be formidable."
"Everyone, stop using your powers immediately!" Josette shouted telepathically to all Haunters. "A Ghostbreaker is here! Do not use any plasm, just meet me above the Haunted House!"
A short moment later, the spirits all hovered high above the Haunted House.
"So what should we do, boss?" Jack asked.
"I am honestly not certain, I had not expected to face the Ghostbreakers so soon."
"But 'e's just da one mon. It be easy to scare 'im away, boss mon." said Jabu.
"Do not be so sure. They are trained to face us, and their weapons are very dangerous. We must be careful."
Meanwhile, a woman in grey overall walked through the amusement-park as the visitors were starting to head home. She had a strange looking rifle in her hands, connected with a cord to the backpack sized machine strapped to her back. Using her left hand, she pulled up a small device and swept the area in front of her with it, keeping her eyes on the display.
"Hmm, definitively traces of ectoplasmic activities, and recent as well." she said. "But they have gone dark, must be hiding, but why? Did they spot me? Doesn't matter, I will find and deal with these spectres."
Using the scanner, she continued her search, trying to find the ghosts, and it didn't take very long until she found a high concentration of residue from the ghosts' powers, originating from the Haunted House.
Entering the attraction, she kept her scanner and rifle ready, constantly checking her surroundings. Finding a real ghost in that kind of area was like finding a needle in a haystack, even with the scanner, but at least it could point her in the right direction. Unfortunately, even though it was a more advanced version than what they had used in Gravenville, it still wasn't able to detect ghosts that weren't tapped into the plasm that they used.
As she reached the large room where the ghosts had amused the group of young mortals not long ago, her scanner detected the traces left behind from all the powers that had been used there. She was getting closer, she was certain of it. Then the scanner peaked, signalling that something requiring a good amount of plasm had just appeared, and it grew in power.
Loose objects suddenly started flying around the room, some of them vaguely aimed at the Ghostbreaker, and while she was surprised, she kept her composure, ducking under the objects. Taking a quick swipe around her with the scanner, she checked the readings and smiled.
"There you are." she said as she aimed her rifle and fired it. A stream of white energy shot out from the muzzle, seemingly against nothing, but it did hit something in the air. The ghostly visage of the Spook Jabu became fully visible and he screamed in both shock and pain as the white energy actually harmed and restrained him.
"Got cha!" she said triumphantly, but suddenly her scanner started beeping like crazy as it picked up multiple new contacts, and Jabu smirked.
Without warning, the Ghostbreaker was pulled off her feet and ended up dangling upside-down in the air, the sudden event causing her to drop her rifle and thus releasing Jabu from its grip. But she tried to stay in control of the situation, grabbing the cord and pulling the rifle to her hands, she shot in every direction she could, hoping to hit whatever that manipulated her.
As suddenly as she was picked up, she was dropped from the invisible grip, landing on her stomach. The ghosts now had the advantage and they were not going to let it slip them by, going on the offensive.
Jack appeared in front of the Ghostbreaker, flames engulfing himself as he flew through her head. Her heart raced as she turned around, looking for the Wisp, only to come face to face with Bobby, who held his own head in his hands, making her take a few steps back in shock. But she was stronger of will than most mortals, and forced herself to focus on the job, aiming her weapon at the ghost, only for him to disappear.
Strong winds and rain struck her face as strange weather formed inside the room, then it all burst into flames, forcing her to rethink if staying was such a good idea. Deciding that it was better to make a tactical withdraw, she headed for the door, but she never got that far. A powerful electrical shock stopped her in her tracks, and by the time it wore off enough for her to move again, vines had sprouted from the floor, blocking her way, and a large swarm of insects attacked her from all directions.
Despite her training, she was nearing her limit of what she could handle. Then she was set aflame, and that was the last straw. Forcing her way through the vines, she ran out of the Haunted House burning like a torch, her rifle trailing behind her on her way out from the park.
"That took a little more effort than expected." said Firecracker as the ghosts watched the Ghostbreaker flee.
"Yeah, she was a tough one." said Bobby looking back at Jabu, who seemed a little drained.
"Are you all right, Jabu?" Josette asked the Spook.
"I be fine, boss mon, but dat 'urt real good."
"Try to be more careful in the future, while it did give us the opportunity we needed, it could have cost you dearly."
"Will remembah dat."
"Well, I suppose all is well that ends well." Josette said, then she felt the familiar tug signalling that a portal had opened for them. "Our mission was a success, and now it is time to return to base."
With the new recruits in tow, the spirits arrived back at the Ghoul Room, relieved that the mission was over. As fun as it had been, it was a little stressful with the sudden appearance of the Ghostbreaker, not to mention that the mission had been very sudden to begin with, but now they could finally relax.
Clarence chose to reside in the dining-hall of the café, as there was a large mirror on the wall as part of the décor, and more often than not, he would be inside the mirror.
The Air Elemental Soar settled near an air intake that was actually working in an apartment on the top floor, where she could see long distance.
As for Chuckles, the Phantom found his place in the living-room of an apartment on the fourth floor, with an old and worn couch that had a lot of emotional energies in it. For a while, the sad clown smiled.
Nereid moved to the top floor, to the same apartment that Josette resided in. The bathroom there had a large bathtub that once was rather luxurious, and was quickly filled with crystal-clear water that she could submerge herself in.
Finally done! This chapter was a long one, probably the longest I've written so far. I'm sorry that it has been quite some time since I updated this story, but as you can see, there is a lot of work in it, and 's not including character design and art (which will be up on my Diviantart page soon). Also, this is more of a side project, so I do not work on it as often as my other stories.
Still, I hope you enjoyed it, and will keep checking back for more. See you next chapter. :)