Peter, Winston, Gabby and Marta decided to wait until Ray was finished talking to Egon in the alleyway to test the newest proton gun. They figured that it made the most sense for Egon to be there since he put the most work into it. It was a perfect night for testing things on the rooftop: there was little wind and the only noises came from the cars driving by.

Marta inspected the proton pack. She crawled around it and lightly scratched it in certain places. She didn't seem to care that such an instrument could render her powerless. Anything that could be taught to transform into nightmares had nothing to fear.

"So this is the thing that stops us in our tracks," she said.

"It'll guarantee that all of your buddies will spend a nice, relaxing eternity in The Containment Unit," said Peter.

"So every ghost you've ever caught is in there?"

"Yep. It's both a piece of safety equipment and a resume."

"You must be very proud."

"Oh, you have NO idea."

"Okay," said Egon, "Let's test out this new proton pack." He picked the pack up off the ground and slung it onto his back. He was so used to the clunkiness and heaviness of the old proton pack that this felt more like a backpack with just two notebooks in it. At this point, he at least knew that he had succeeded in making the device smaller and easier to carry. However, that wasn't the most important aspect.

As much as he disliked and distrusted this demon, she made the best test subject, better than any haphazardly-painted cardboard cutout.

"Now, on the count of three," said Egon as he aimed the gun, "I want you to disappear into the thin air at the moment that I fire this beam."

"Got it," said Marta as she gave a thumb's up.

This is it, thought Egon. Weeks of planning and building, full of successes and annoyances, full of looking over mathematical formulas over and over again. His brain was exhausted but his body was more ready than ever.

"One… two… three!" he said.

He fired the gun. A purple stream blasted forth, fast enough that the entirety of it appeared at once like a lightning bolt. The noise that resulted was not unlike a silencer on a gun. Good, he thought. That was the intention. This was the only loud sound it made. As the stream persisted, it made a low, rumbling static noise that could only be heard if listened closely, a noise that was almost soothing. This was a massive upgrade from the "WSSSSSHHHH" noise that the old proton packs made.

Before Marta could disappear, she was caught in the stream. She froze in the air, trying her best to hide her discomfort.

"Let's get some real acting!" shouted Peter, "Pretend that we've been chasing you around for an hour and you've finally been defeated!"

Marta winced while the proton beam engulfed her.

"Oh nooooooo," said Marta unenthusiastically, "I have been caught."

"Ham it up!" shouted Peter.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH! They've got me! Oh, what a world!"

"All right, Gabby, open the trap!" said Egon.

Gabby stepped on the pedal, opening the trap. Marta was sucked in, like all the ghosts before her. The trap sealed, ending the commotion.

Egon looked at the smoldering trap. He couldn't believe it. At long last, he had perfected this updated proton pack. He had made something that could capture sleep paralysis demons in the nick of time. He couldn't help but smile a little. He couldn't help that little smile turning into a chuckle. He couldn't help that chuckle turning into a big smile.

"Success!" he said, "This test was a success!" He had felt many things on that busy day. He didn't think that any of those emotions would be joy, much less visible joy. He was suddenly clobbered by Gabby, who had run over from the trap pedal to give him a hug. He didn't care that it was unprofessional behavior. As far as he was concerned, everyone here was family.

Everyone else jumped into the air along with Egon.

"Oh, man!" said Winston, "I live for these moments, I really do!"

"Ezzzzoravagdo?" asked Slimer.

"I mean, we weren't planning on having a celebratory cake but sure, why not?" responded Ray.

"Just one problem, Pointdexter," Peter said to Egon, "In order for an entire army of college students to bust these demons, we need way more than one of these new contraptions."

"I… I know a solution," said Gabby.

"All right, let's hear it,"

"My spell book has a duplication spell. If I study the material makeup of this device, I can duplicate it with magic."

"I don't know, Gabby," said Winston, "You would have to make a lot of these things. Are you sure you're up for it?"

"I'm sure she is," said Egon, "She's done a great job making the portal to The Demon Realm today, I have no doubt that she can do other great things with your magical skill."

Gabby couldn't help but smile and giggle. "I would have to do my work here since I don't want my parents knowing about it."

"Well, you're free to come and go as you please. You just need to study all of my notes and diagrams."

"That's fine by me."

"Trust me, there is a lot of them, so you better start now."

"I will make up the want ads for our army and hang them around college campuses," said Peter, "And maybe I'll sweet talk the deans into giving those kids class credit, I don't know."

"You guys, maybe we should get Marta out of that trap before we do anything else," said Winston.

Gabby ran over to the trap pedal and stepped on it, releasing Marta in a shining blast.

"Phew…" said Marta as she floated downward toward the roof, "It was cramped in there!"

Egon made his way downstairs to collect all of the diagrams and notes that he had created over the past few weeks. It was only natural that he felt protective of them but he trusted Gabby enough to lend them to her. After all, what were the odds that she would unleash her magical rage on Peter again?

The next night, Gabby sat at the table in the laboratory studying Egon's papers. She wasn't sure if getting a college education gave her a voracious appetite for information or if she went to college BECAUSE she had that voracious appetite. Something, something, chicken and egg. Despite this, she had stared at these notes and drawings for so long that they started to break apart and drift in her mind, losing their context along the way. This wasn't a problem that coffee could solve. The anxiety of what would come in the next week was doing a good job of keeping her awake.

But just for good measure, she decided to buy some caffeine pills off of a guy at the bar, which in hindsight probably wasn't the smartest thing to do.

She lit the necessary candles. She figured that green candles were necessary for this spell since green represented fertility and creation.

She was able to use magic to replicate something simple like a cork. But a cork was made of… well… cork. Replicating a proton pack required her to perform the spell just right so that a nuclear explosion wouldn't happen. The best way to go about this was to make the outside first and then create what is meant to go inside. After all, nobody ever got themselves a glass of water and obtained the water before the glass.

At least she could say this chant in English rather than Ancient Sumerian.

"Storm of grey, dark of black, replicate this proton pack!" she chanted. Bit by bit, she made each part of the device, starting with the outside first. Her wand made quite the spectacle with each flash of purple that came from its tip. The parts created bits of purple smoke as they burst into existence. This part wasn't that hard and it didn't drain her all that much.

And then came the particle accelerator. Protons were so simple and yet so complicated. It took so long for humanity to use them to their full potential and yet humanity still didn't completely understand them. Then again, that was true for many things. Use first, ask questions later. She had the blueprints of Egon's notes that described the parts of the particle accelerator right there. She also had a science textbook to help her out.

She closed her eyes and imagined each necessary part as she swirled the tip of her wand like a hadron collider. This was a powerful enough spell that she could feel her hair lifting upward from the gust of wind that appeared around her.

She lifted her wand and pointed it at the shell of the proton pack and then…

WHOOSH. WHOOSH. WHOOSH.

The inside of the proton pack flashed purple with each spell of creation, which gradually faded. At that point, Gabby felt safe enough to unscrew the outside of the proton pack and look inside.

Let's see… that was there… that was there… that was where it was supposed to be. Everything looked like the diagram of the final product. Now, all that needed to be done was the test run.

She screwed the parts back on and flipped the switch.

The device illuminated different colors, indicating that it was turned on. Gabby could feel the excitement rise within her and she clapped her hands.

But she didn't want her celebration to be premature. She carefully slipped her arms through the comfortable straps and fitted the magically-created duplicate onto her back. She turned toward the large, rubber target that was used for testing proton packs and grabbed the gun from the holster. She aimed the gun and pressed the button to power up the device. She would always get a rush from the powerup noise. It had the pavlovian effect of letting her know that the ghost was going to get busted soon even though there was no ghost. But there was a proton pack - one that she made herself.

She pulled the trigger and…

PSHOO

The purple and blue beam flashed for an infinitesimal amount of time before disappearing. A puff of smoke billowed off of the pad of rubber. Gabby blinked twice. She tried the proton gun again, this time shooting the beam for a longer period of time.

PSHOOHMMMMMMMMMM

This time, the pretty-looking beam hit the target and made a flashy effect not unlike an event that would occur in the depths of space. She looked at the pulsating colors, trying not to become too mesmerized by them since expensive devices like proton packs were meant to be used for better things.

She took her trigger off the gun and laughed. She then jumped into the air and shrieked in excitement. Yes! She used magic to create a proton pack!

However, the excitement quickly faded when she realized that she would have to go through this entire process about a dozen more times. And possibly more if the number of college students who answer the ad exceeded expectations.

Well, at least those green candles would burn for another few hours.

It had been quite some time since Gabby had been left alone with her spell-casting supplies and at this point, Egon was just glad that she didn't do anything to warrant a 9-1-1 call. In fact, he hadn't even heard any explosions going on. She must have been doing something right.

With that said, Egon would have been irresponsible if he didn't check up on Gabby. After all, it was almost midnight. He made it up the firehouse stairs, not knowing exactly what to expect.

When he arrived in the lab, he turned on the light. Gabby was passed out on the linoleum floor surrounded by candles that had burned down into green wax lumps. Around her were about thirteen new proton packs based on Egon's new design. They were lovingly stood up as if they were being displayed in a magazine advertisement. As happy as Egon was at this woman making more of his proton packs, he was also concerned about her physical state.

He looked closely at her and saw that she was still breathing. Good. She was only asleep. He touched her shoulder and shook her a bit.

"Gabriella?" he said.

Gabby awoke with a flinch. She sat up and rubbed her tired eyes.

"I must have been exhausted," she said, "I don't think I've ever slept this well on a hard surface."

"So… you made all these?"

"Yes," said Gabby, "I can make more if you like."

"No need to do anything else tonight. You need your rest."

"I'll make some more tomorrow."

Such a strange woman. She was so eager to do grunt work for this important mission. But then again, magic was her passion and grunt work often didn't come with colorful rituals.