The New Ghostbusters
Chapter Three
By:
Linear Ranger
The next morning, Ryan awoke from his, less than complete, slumber. It was just another Saturday morning to Ryan, which meant only one thing, CARTOONS! However, this plan would soon be altered. As he fumbled his way down to the kitchen for some breakfast, he heard some sounds coming from downstairs.
“I’m not awake yet,” Ryan started thinking to himself, “That almost sounded like people knocking on front doors. It can’t be it’s 5:30 in the morning.”
So Ryan went on with fixing himself a couple of sausage biscuits. After nuking the breakfast in the microwave, he went over and retrieved a can of Coke from the fridge. Finally, he went over to the living room area and sat on the couch. Ryan began eating his quick breakfast meal and drinking his favorite beverage. However, now that he was completely awake, he paused a moment and listened again. He again could hear people knocking on the front doors. Ryan took the last bite of the biscuit and finished off his drink and headed downstairs. The closer he got to the main floor, the louder and clearer the knocking noises were. As Ryan reached the main floor, he yelled at the knocking, “All right already, I’m coming!”
Ryan got to one of the front doors, swung it open and before realizing who was outside said, “Do you have any idea what time it is or what day…” Then Ryan’s eyes were seeing everything before him. Well, that is they were trying to see beyond the glaring lights of news cameras and photographer’s cameras. For a second, Ryan’s eyes were squinted, but then focused and he could see. There were reporters on top of reporters with cameramen and photographers. During this short time, Ryan just heard a ringing in his ears from shock, but like his eyes, they too soon adjusted.
Every reporter was trying to yell louder than the other to get his or her question heard. They were almost to the point of fighting with one another. Ryan could not understand what anyone was saying. He shook his head, took in a deep breath, and then yelled, “QUITE!” Amazingly, the crowd of news people silenced. Ryan took another relaxing breath and then began, “I’m sorry, but you seem to have caught me off guard. If you will excuse me for just fifteen minutes, I’ll return and answer all your questions. Not to mention be in non-sleep attire.” All the people in the crowd nodded and Ryan thanked them and went back into the firehouse.
When he got back in, Ryan shut the door and leaned his back on the door. “Man more people paid attention to that news cast yesterday that I thought,” he thought to himself. Then Ryan ran back upstairs to his room and got changed and ready.
As he promised, Ryan returned back outside the doors of the firehouse ready to address the press. However, this time instead of being in his sleeping shirt and pants, he was wearing his Red two button T-shirt and black jeans. Then with the words from Ryan, “Now who’s first?” it all began. Did it ever begin, question after question, picture after picture, quote after quote is what Ryan had to deal with.
“Mr. Powers, some say that you are a fraud just looking to take money away from the elderly. What is your response?” one newspaper reporter asked.
Another question was, “How long have you spent developing this ‘Ghosbusting’ technology?”
“Is any of your equipment dangerous, Mr. Powers,” one news anchor asked.
These questions went on and on for what felt like days to Ryan. However, they were actually only hours, not that that really made a difference to him. He stayed with it however, and answered every question and allowed every picture of himself. Through it all, Ryan kept a smile on his face and remained calm, no matter how outrageous the question. Finally, by nine o’clock that morning, Ryan had finished with all the news people. So since the questions had started close to six, he had spent three grueling hours answering to the press. After they all left, Ryan thanked them and once the last reporter was gone, he went back into the firehouse and up to the living room.
Ryan flopped himself down on the couch and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. He looked at the clock and realized what time it was. “Nine!” Ryan started, “They made me miss Power Rangers! DARN THEM!” Ryan made it a point never to miss a single episode of his favorite show. However, all was not lost, he quickly grabbed a remote from the coffee table, turned the television on and then said, “Thank you, Tivo.” Ryan spent the rest of the morning hours watching the shows he had missed, thanks to the press. After the last of his Saturday morning programs had finished, Ryan’s eyelids were beginning to sag. So he kicked off his shoes, laid horizontally on the couch, closed his eyes and drifted off into the sleep that he did not get last night.
Ryan slept for a good three hours. The rest of the afternoon was spent putting the ghost from yesterday into the Containment Unit, tweaking and charging the Proton Pack, adjusting Ecto-1, and going over the P.K.E. readings for the day. Finally, around six that evening, Ryan was back to taking life easy, well somewhat. He was just sitting at his desk going over some figures and equipment designs. He had ordered a pizza from one of the local pizza delivery places. While still working on his computer, at his desk, the doorbell rang. Ryan got up from his chair and headed to the door, saying to himself on the way, “Wow, for once today, somebody used the doorbell.”
He opened the door and there was, your somewhat average male teen standing there holding the pizza box and a bottle of Coke. Though he was a bit young to be delivering pizza via a car. That’s when Ryan looked over and noticed a bicycle. The kid was wearing cargo jeans, a fighter pilot style jacket, and to top it off, goggles. Ryan just shrugged it off and thought, “To each, his own.” The kid did not look at Ryan, but was reading off the order to assure that he was at the right place. “One large Meat Pleaser Pizza and a two litter Coke,” the boy read off.
“That’s me,” Ryan answered.
That was when the delivery boy looked at who he was delivering the order to. The boy’s mouth dropped open and he almost dropped the order out of his hands. He was in shock. But Ryan did not notice this since he already had started reaching for his wallet in his front pocket. When Ryan handed the money to the kid, he saw that the boy was still in shock. Ryan was a bit confused, he looked behind him on both sides and finally said, “Are you okay, kid?”
The guy shook his head and said, “Umm ehh Yess Sir. It’s just…Wow…”
Ryan was still a bit confused not knowing what exactly the kid was fusing over.
Then the boy was finally able to put a complete sentence together, “You’re the Ghostbuster!”
“Yes, I guess you’ve seen the news,” Ryan replied.
“Have I ever. That was so cool how you just went in there and kicked that ghost’s a…”
Ryan interrupted before the kid could finish, “Thank you. Nice to know I have fans. Could I have my pizza and Coke please?
The kid then remembered why he was there and handed Ryan the order and took the money.
“Thank you. Keep the change,” Ryan said and started to go back into the firehouse, but before he could, the kid’s voice came again.
“Mr. Powers?”
Ryan turned around and said, “Yes?”
“The guys at school aren’t going to believe that I actually met the Ghostbuster. Can I have your autograph?”
“Sure,” Ryan answered.
“Oh thank you so much. Let me just get a…” Then the kid realized that he didn’t have any paper for Ryan to sign. But before he could freak-out, Ryan took a pen from his chest pocket, then tore the pizza box lid off and asked, “Who should I make it out to?”
The kid fumbled around for a moment and then managed to say, “Davis please.”
Ryan took the cap off the pen and wrote in a large size font on the box, “To Davis, my first fan. Ryan Powers.” After he finished the autograph he handed the box lid to Davis. He took the lid, read it over, looked back at Ryan and said, “Thank you ever so much Mr. Powers. You are so cool.”
Ryan smiled and replied, “No problem.”
Then Davis went walking back to his bike while reading the box lid over and over again in amazement. Ryan turned back to return to the firehouse, just a bit confused as to why he had a fan. He just shrugged and walked back inside and, shut the door behind him as he went. On the way back to his desk, Ryan looked up at the clock on the wall and it read seven o’clock. Once he reached his desk, Ryan put the open pizza box down and opened the bottle of Coke. He poured himself a glass first. Once the glass was full he took a quick drink.
Ryan reached for his first piece of pizza, took it in his hands, brought it up to his nose, took in a deep breath, smiled, and then opened his mouth to take the first bite. Then before Ryan’s teeth cut into the pizza, the phone rang. Ryan moved the pizza out of his mouth and gave the phone an evil look. But he still put the pizza back in the box and answered the phone that was ringing on his desk.
Ryan answered the phone with the words, “Ghostbusters. You got the dough, the spooks gotta go.”
The person on the other line was a bit frantic, to say the least, “Yes please…we…help.”
“Calm down sir,” Ryan started, “take a deep breath and explain what’s wrong.”
The man on the other line did as Ryan said and started, “My name is Phillip Sterling from Sterling’s Steakhouse. There is some hideous green ghost in our banquet hall. We have some very important customers due to arrive in an hour. I need your service please. You are serious, aren’t you?”
“I’m completely serious sir,” Ryan answered, “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Thank you ever so much,” Mr. Sterling replied, “I’ll be awaiting your arrival.”
Both of them hung up their phones. Ryan stood up from his desk chair, looked down at his still hot pizza and said to himself, “Well, looks like I’m looking at mircowaved leftovers. Joy.”
Ryan walked over to the wooden locker where he kept his jumpsuit & boots. He quickly pulled the jumpsuit on over his clothes and changed into the boots. It was now time for Ecto-1. He got inside the vehicle, started her up, pressed the garage door opener, and then started out onto the street. As Ecto-1 started to leave the firehouse, on came the unique sirens and then away it went into the night.
A few minutes later, Ecto-1 pulled up to Sterling’s Steakhouse Banquet Hall entrance. Ryan shut the car off, got out and headed for Ecto’s back door. As he reached the back, Mr. Sterling came running up to him.
“Thank you for coming so quickly,” Mr. Sterling began, “I hope you can take care of this quickly and quietly.”
“No problem Mr. Sterling,” Ryan replied as he was putting his Proton Pack on and getting the Ghost Trap and P.K.E. Meter.
Ryan finished suiting up and headed for the entrance doors. Before he let the doors close behind him, he held them open and told Mr. Sterling, “Don’t worry sir, just do not allow anyone in here until I’m finished.” With that, Ryan closed the doors and locked them.
Once inside the main room of the hall, Ryan started to reach for his P.K.E. Meter, but it did not take him long to notice the slimey green spook. The ghost was over near the punch table, downing the entire punch bowl. Ryan reached back with his right hand, grabbed the Proton Gun, brought it back around in front, held it with both hands, and then switched it on. However, the ghost heard the unique sound from the Proton Pack charging up. The specter looked over and saw Ryan standing there. Ryan just smiled and said, “Bye-bye.” Then he pressed the trigger on the Proton Gun and the Proton Stream came firing out towards the green goober.
The ghost immediately started flying away from the stream, but Ryan kept right on the ghost’s slime trail. The ghost was flying to the left, but oddly enough, on his escape, he was grabbing pieces of food off the main dinning table. Then he reached the wall and flew through it. Ryan stopped the Proton Stream and got an idea.
A few minutes later, the ghost flew back through the wall, slowly looking around, but the Ghostbuster was not to be found. However, the hot delicious looking turkey that was resting on the center table, quickly took the slimeball’s attention. The ghost flew as fast as he could towards the bird. He landed and started swallowing the turkey whole. Just as the spook started to rest on the table, from his meals, a nearby table came flying up. Ryan had placed the turkey in the center of the room to lure the ghost out. Meanwhile, he hid under another table.
Once out from underneath the table, Ryan fired the Proton Gun. The glowing stream hit the ghost that was still in shock from the surprise. Once the stream was safely around the ghost, Ryan reached for the Ghost Trap. He threw the trap out onto the floor, directed the Proton Stream over the trap, and then stomped on the trap’s pedal. The striped doors of the Ghost Trap opened and the force field pulled the green ghost in. Once inside the Ghost Trap, the doors shut. Ryan walked over and picked the trap up.
Outside the Banquet Hall doors, Mr. Sterling was pacing back and forth quickly in worry. Then the doors opened and Ryan came out. Mr. Sterling ran up and started darting out questions, “Did you catch it? Were there any more of them? Is the room okay?”
Ryan clicked the Ghost Trap back on his belt, began writing out the bill, and answered the man, “Really no big, Mr. Sterling. It was just a normal Class Five, Free Roaming Vapor. Here you go.”
Ryan handed the bill over to Mr. Sterling. The owner looked the paper quickly and exclaimed, “TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS! That’s just outrageous. I refuse to pay it.”
Ryan just easily replied, “Okay, I’ll just put the ghost back in there, but I don’t think your guests will enjoy dining with a paranormal being.” Then he started to walk back into the Banquet Hall. Mr. Sterling stopped him and said, “Okay, okay, I’ll pay it. Just don’t release that thing anywhere near here.”
“Thank you,” Ryan began as he turned around to leave, “Be sure and tell your friends about us.”
It was now a little after eight o’clock that night, when Ryan finally arrived back at the firehouse. He was tired from the day and was still in his jumpsuit. He finished parking Ecto-1 and then started to head back to his, now cold, pizza. Ryan then stopped as he noticed that, while he had put the Proton Pack in the back of Ecto-1, the Ghost Trap was still on his belt. He went to get the trap, but he was not looking at the trap as he grabbed it and he accidentally pressed the wrong button. Suddenly, the trap doors flung open and Ryan dropped the trap from his hand.
Once the opened Ghost Trap hit the floor, the green ghost emerged from it. Once emptied, the trap closed. The ghost opened his eyes and saw Ryan and then flew away and hid under Ryan’s desk. Ryan hunched backwards and shouted, “Great, what next?” Before he started to head back to Ecto-1, Ryan looked at his desk and saw that the Pizza was now missing. He stood there and then listened for a second. The sound of loud smacking could be heard. Ryan leaned down and saw the ghost under his desk eating the cold pizza.
“Why, you little…,” Ryan yelled and then ran at the desk. The ghost saw Ryan charging from under the desk. The spook flew away quickly and was now hovering high above where Ecto-1 was parked. Ryan started to run for a Proton Pack, but then he stopped. He thought to himself, “Wait a second. I’m completely unarmed and this ghost is still scared of me. Isn’t this a little bit backwards.”
Ryan glanced over and saw that bottle of Coke was still on the desk. He grabbed the bottle and slowly walked towards the hovering ghost. When he started to get close, the ghost started to panic. However, Ryan said, “Hold on Spud. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m not even armed with any thing.”
The ghost stayed in mid air and looked at Ryan. “Hmm,” came from the ghost.
Ryan raised the bottle of pop, “You want something to wash that pizza down with?”
The ghost slowly nodded his head as he said, “Uh huh.” Then he began floating down towards Ryan. After a few seconds the ghost and Ryan were looking eye-to-eye. Ryan said, “Go ahead, its yours.”
The ghost took the bottle and quickly began chugging the Coke down.
Ryan began talking to both himself and the ghost, if it was listening, “How very odd. It seems like all you want to do is eat. You don’t want to scare anyone, you just want food. Is that why you were at that steakhouse?”
The ghost finished the drink and answered, “Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh,” as he nodded his head.
Ryan started scratching his head with his right hand as he continued, “So you have no intention of scaring people?”
“Huh uh, huh uh, huh uh,” was the answer as he shook his head fiercely.
“How very odd,” Ryan started, “Hmm you might be useful. I mean, not every scientist has his very own ghost to study and keep around.”
A look of hope came over the green ghost. Then Ryan filled him will complete joy as he said, “You know what, I think I’ll keep you free from containment. How do you like that?”
Well, Ryan got his answer. The ghost flew right into Ryan and gave him a big slimey hug.
“Okay,” Ryan started while trying to get the ghost off of him, “Okay boy.”
The ghost flew back and had a huge smile on his face. It was then Ryan decided on what to call his new pet, “Well, I think I’ve decided on a name for you. How about I call you Slimer?”
The ghost thought out loud for a second, “Hmm Slimer. Okay.”
Then they shook hands. After the handshake Ryan took his hand and shook it towards the floor to remove the slime. Ryan realized that he still hadn’t had anything for dinner and said, “Well, since you polished off the pizza, looks like I’ll be having a sandwich. You still hungry?”
Then Slimer again nodded his head with his happy look.
Ryan started towards the stairs and said, “Well, come on then. We’ll find something to eat.”
The End