The people in the stomach continued to panic as the dragon kept sticking its snout through the hole in the bubble to bite at the air.

But suddenly…

The dragon stopped what it was doing. It was no longer ravenous and angry. It stopped changing colors and instead, its scales paused on the color of sickly dark green. It shook and drooped nervously, withdrawing into the bubble and snarling in pain. It then started to cough and gag, getting spittle all over the spectral sphere.

"My family had enough cats growing up to know what those sounds entail," said Winston.

"Here it comes…" said Egon.

After several thunderous coughs, the dragon spewed up six people in a cascade of bile. Four of the people landed awkwardly onto the pavement, the other two landed inside the ghost bubble and then made their way out. The people stood up disoriented but thankfully, they did have their masks on, limiting their exposure to the contagion. The dragon spewed up again, this time bringing forth more people, including Ray. Finally, the dragon threw up one last person, a little girl who ran to her parents.

"Is that everybody?" asked Egon.

Ray quickly counted the traumatized, bile-covered people. "Yep! That's everyone!"

"Okay, Gabby," said Egon, "Now is your time to shine. I want you to fire the proton beam."

Gabby flinched.

"Are… are you sure?" she asked.

"You've seen me use the prototype many times before and I've shown you how it works. I'm sure you can do it just fine." Egon had certainty and patience in his voice. He even managed to etch out a small smile.

"Oooookaaaaaay," said Gabby. She took out the attached gun and fired up the proton pack, making sure it was on the appropriate setting. And then she fired…

…causing her to fall onto her bottom. It turned out her five-foot-one-inch frame couldn't take the power of such a weapon. The proton stream that flew out of her gun had a mind of its own. In her lack of control, it hit windows and singed the brick buildings in front of her. Oh jeez, oh jeez, oh jeez. She figured that it was only a matter of time before she royally screwed up this mission. She knew something like this would happen. She was mentally preparing to apologize a million times once this was all over.

"Gabby!" said Peter as he ran toward her.

Gabby turned off the proton stream and looked up. Here she was, sitting on the ground in an oversized ghostbusting suit and shooting the proton beam as if she had a turbo-dose of caffeine. She must have looked ridiculous.

"Stand up, will you?"

She stood on her feet as quickly as possible. Then, Peter stood behind her.

"Here, I'll help you." From where he was, he held her arm with both of his hands, helping her aim at the dragon. She felt more than a little humiliated at showing off her amateur skills in front of the people she was supposed to save. At the same time, she felt rather comfortable that Peter was the one standing close and helping her. The smart, soft-voiced, funny, brash-but-sweet-once-you-get-to-know-him Peter. Right now, he was her training wheels. "In order to counteract the force of the proton beam, it helps to stand back on one foot."

Gabby bent her right knee while putting back her left foot.

"Like this?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Now fire the proton beam again."

Gabby took a look at the sick dragon, who was panting and not struggling as much as before. She almost felt sympathy for the creature. However, this troublemaker would eventually get better and start doing damage again. She had to save her sympathy for other things.

As soon as she powered up the proton gun, she fired it once more. It was just as powerful as before but this time, she kept the stream steadier and Peter was there to make sure she didn't fly backward again. When the proton beam hit the dragon, it struggled and screamed. It seemed like it wasn't as strong as Egon thought it would be.

"All right, guys," said Egon, "I want you to fire your beams at the bubble so that the dragon goes into the trap."

Winston and Ray did as Egon said, although Ray was a little worse for wear after what he had been through.

"I think we may be able to capture this creature with just one proton gun," said Egon, "Keep going, Gabby!"

Gabby held the gun still while Peter kept her right arm propped up. She got to the point where most of the gun's precision was from her own arm muscles but she didn't want Peter to let go. Better safe than sorry, or that was what she told herself.

Ray and Peter fired little shots at the bubble to destroy it. At this point, the creature could potentially escape, so Gabby had to keep it right where it was.

"Don't cross the streams…" she told herself.

"'Atta girl!" said Peter.

As Ray went and grabbed the trap, something unexpected happened. As the dragon was being zapped, it began transforming, not just the colors but the entire body shape and size as well. The outline could be seen in the proton blast as a flash of light that could be mistaken for an ocular illusion.

Little by little, the dragon shrank and shortened its body shape until it finally revealed its true form… a winged demon with long arms and pointed ears.

Egon's jaw dropped.

"I don't believe it!" said Egon, "That dragon was an alp all along! And we're finally going to catch one!"

Now, Gabby was even more motivated to keep zapping the creature with her proton beam. She was no longer humiliated, she was happy – happy that she was helping, happy that her supervisor was getting what he wanted, happiness all around.

Ray slid the trap under the alp and the little flaps opened. Gabby stopped firing her proton gun. The demon struggled, reaching its thin arms into the air and kicking wildly to no avail. Eventually, it was sucked in and the trap doors closed.

Gabby stood there like a weirdly-shaped tree. She looked at the tiny billow of smoke that came from the trap, which reminded her of the smoke that would come off of the incense that she would use during rituals. Who was to say that this wasn't a ritual? There were participants. There were tools. There was interaction with the spirit world. There was no magic involved, except, of course, for the magic of science and the innovation that came with it. Scratch that. There was magic involved, for these tools were once mere blueprints, which were once mere thoughts, just like spells.

And so, this chaotic, violent dance between corporeal and incorporeal came to an end until next time.

And so, mote it be…

The people in the street cheered at the victory. Gabby was still trying to process what she had just done.

"So, Gabby," said Egon as he put his hand on her shoulder, "How do you feel?"

Gabby twitched. She smiled. That smile turned into a laugh. She was certain that she was turning into a madman. But she didn't complain. It wasn't like madmen cared that they were madmen.

"I… I…" she said, "I've never felt so alive!"

"Funny you should say that. You happen to be using a device that could potentially kill you if you make one wrong move."

Egon was right. She looked down at the proton gun. She had come a long way from being the new girl who didn't know how to invoice and had her lunch accidentally eaten by a green ghost. Now, she could be trusted with the unique signature weapon of the company.

"Hey, Gabby!" said Winston. In his hand was one of those cameras that would spit out any photo that was taken at that very moment. He held the camera up to his eye. "Say cheese!"

Gabby was holding the proton gun in just the right way for a photo opportunity. She smiled a small, sweet smile as Winston took the picture.

Click

The camera spit out the picture, which Winston promptly started to flap around in the wind.

"A keepsake from your very first Ghost Bust!" he said as he gave it to her.

It was a good thing the jumpsuit had pockets. Gabby wanted to hold on to this forever. But just in case photographs weren't forever, she made sure to keep a backup of this memory in her mind. Her mind wasn't good at remembering dreams but it was good at remembering the weirdest moments of real life.

Peter approached Ray, who was wearing his medical mask and soaked from the bile that very nearly digested him.

"Ray!" said Peter, "I gotta say, you look fantastic, just fantastic. I mean, you smell like death but you look fantastic."

"Joke's on you," said Ray, "You're going to have to share a car with me on the way home."

"Damn…"

Egon raised his arms and his voice.

"Everyone," he said, "I recommend that you all go home and take showers. This would be best for all of us."

Meanwhile, Gabby could overhear two restaurant workers – Feng and Hu (based on their name tags) - having a conversation about the fight they just saw.

"Hey, Feng," said Hu.

"Yeah?" said Feng.

"Is it just me or did that dragon look an awful lot like that dream you told me about? You know, the one you had after trying peyote for the first time?"

"That's what I was thinking. That's so weird."

"Do you have the power of prophecy or something? We could totally exploit that."

"We could, but not now. The dinner rush starts soon."

Gabby looked up at the sign on the restaurant. It had an illustration of a Chinese dragon that looked very similar to the one that they had just fought, although significantly less trippy-looking.

After Egon made his announcement, he stood there in his natural state, which was deep in thought. Egon gave no outward indication of what he was feeling but Gabby could tell that he was satisfied. Considering what happened, there was no reason for him not to be. Still, she wanted to make sure she was correct. Gabby may have known magic but she couldn't read thoughts.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"I'm thinking about bacteria," said Egon. He sighed. "It's amazing that something so small can be so powerful."

Gabby looked down at her oversized jumpsuit, which still spilled off of her no matter how many times she adjusted it upward. A flutter of joy broke out of her in another smile.

"I couldn't agree more," she said.