Chapter 1: Hotel Haunters
As they went in, the manager of the Sedgewick hotel strode up to them, angrily. “That disgusting green..... THING has returned! I demand a full refund!”
Peter calmly said, “Sir, if you just checked the fine print on our invoice-”
“Invoices.” Ray corrected.
Peter rolled his eyes, but continued, “Right, invoices,” with a bit of a chuckle, “you'll see that your warranty on re-hauntings expired LONG ago. You should have taken the extended service agreement.”
At this, the manager deflated, but let them pass, reluctantly.
“There are some interesting PKE spikes, here.” Egon said, thinking aloud. “The readings don't seem to be exclusive to the 12th floor. You three go on up and capture Slimer. I want to take a look around.”
“Right.” the other three said in unison.
As Peter went to press the call button, the door opened and a woman dressed in black stepped out.
“Oh. Hello there, miss. You're perfectly safe now that we've arrived.” he said.
She replied dismissively, “Back off, loser; NEVER gonna happen.”
All three snickered as she left. Peter looked to Twilight, “That approach rarely works with me. Show you why later.”
As Ray, Peter and Twilight were in the rising elevator, Peter said, “Mr. Stantz, if you'd do the honours?”
“Proud to, Dr. Venkman.” Ray replied, switching on the proton packs.
"Part of our settlement with the city: proton packs must remain off in heavily populated public areas." Ray explained.
"And in close quarters. It minimizes the city's liabilities and satisfies the restraining order the maid here had put on us." Peter added.
“You had a restraining order put on you?” Twilight queried, cocking her head slightly to one side.
“Yeah, you throw a stream of highly-charged particles at someone and they get all sue happy.” Peter said, exiting the elevator.
Just then they noticed something coming around the corner.
“THERE HE IS!” Peter exclaimed, firing.
One scream later and the sound of a door slamming shut, the three facepalmed/hoofed and moved on.
“Nice. Now we've got another plaintiff.” Peter said, wincing.
“Ever hear of the concept “Whites of their eyes”, pops?” Twilight remarked.
“Sure, muffin. Laugh at my misfortune, whydon'tcha.” Peter snarked back.
As they moved on, they saw a dresser with a green aura go by. “Oh! Contact! He's close!”
Sure enough, Slimer was nearby, gorging on wine on a service cart.
THE HUNGER....
Twilight blinked. "Did you say something, Dad?" she asked Ray.
Ray raised an eyebrow "Uh... no. Why?"
"I could have sworn i heard someone say that they were really hungry."
Ray and Peter exchanged a look and then looked to Twilight, worriedly.
“We'll talk about this later. Egon will likely want to know this. He'll know more than we will." Then he returned to the task at hand. "Alright... showtime. We wear him out, then we capture him. That's what your proton stream is for, after all."
But when they fired, Slimer quickly floated off, tearing down the nearby corridor.
Must... Escape!
"There it is again..." Twilight muttered.
Not hearing what Twilight said, and being caught up in the moment, Ray commented enthusiastically, "You've got him on the run! C'mon, let's go! Peter?"
“Nah. I've seen this one. I know how it ends. I'll just... guard the elevators and escort any ladies to safety.” Peter said, moving to do just that.
Ray and Twilight shared a glance and rolled their eyes.
“Yeah, okay.” Ray deadpanned as he and Twilight moved forward.
They chased after Slimer, who phased through the next wall, leaving a slimy residue behind.
“This might be a good time to explain to you about the PKE meter and the Paragoggles; Your meter will flash and buzz when it detects a potential signal. The Paragoggles are linked directly to your active PKE Meter. This lets you see otherwise undetectable phenomena, while you track it. Ghost trails, object auras, all kinds of cool stuff!
“Now, when you get close to an anomaly, the antennae on your meter will begin to rise, which means you're headed in the right direction. When it's flat, you're following a cold trail. This is also indicated by the bars you see on it. Now, just take a scan.”
Twilight ensured that her shot was perfect and took it, immediately adding a new entry to her PKE meter's database. "Got it!" she said.
“Simple as that. Way to go, kid! Remember: Red signifies a hidden ghost. Green indicates an environmental paranormal anomaly. Blue means an active sample.”
“I'll remember that, dad.” Twilight said, smiling.
They kept moving forward, their meters suddenly turning red. “We have a reading! Now, just to follow it.”
They followed the trail to a planter where Slimer was assuredly hiding. Ray blasted the planter, releasing Slimer from its remains. Again they tried to catch it, but it was still to quick. But, Twilight did get its entry into the database, so it wasn't a total loss.
They gave chase down the hall, the meters suddenly going blue. They moved through the halls, and saw a vandalized set of vending machines.
"Phew! Whoa! He's definitely been here.” Ray said as Twilight scanned the samples left behind.
“This is a good example of what i mean." Ray explained, "An 'active sample', like this, is something you can collect, like a cursed artifact. We get paid extra for everything we scan and collect. Then we roll it back into Research and Development. The extra funds let us experiment with new equipment and offensive technologies. Which, in turn, you get to wear on your back to test. This makes us able to capture ghost more easily and... so forth(1). Remember, if you need to you can always review techniques, tutorials, and equipment specs in your online Ghostbusters Field Manual. It's all accessible from your PKE Meter."
“I got it, dad.” Twilight replied, nodding.
Then the com units came on as Peter radioed Ray.
"Ray! I don't... feel good!"
"Peter? Come in! You okay?"
Then Peter's icon appeared on their displays, the word "Medic!" below it.
“Uh-oh. Man down! We've got a man down! Go, go, go!"
They rushed to the rescue and found Peter, on the floor, pack sparking and with slime stains on his shirt.
“He's been slimed! Again! Hustle over here and help him up, will you, Twilight?"
As Twilight helped him up, using a water spell to wash off some of the slime, Peter bemoaned, “How did this even happen? I was covering the elevators!"
Twilight asked, “Did you have your Neutrona Wand sheathed at the time, pops?”
“Yeah. So?” Peter replied.
“It might have decided that dad and i posed too much of a threat to it and dashed off. Since you were the closest unarmed entity, it targeted you. Slimer does have a high propensity for mischief, after all.”
“Oh!” Said Peter, surprised.
Ray nodded at Twilight approvingly. "When one of us goes down, we always help each other out. It's all about teamwork."
Peter replied, annoyed, "Oh, no, my friend. That was back in the pre-sliming era. Right now, it's all about payback!"
Egon came up on the radio.
"You three need to get down here immediately. Our live-in science experiment is tearing apart the lobby, and he's not alone."
Ray was confused. "More ghosts? But we gave this hotel a clean bill of health five years ago."
Egon replied,
"New people die every day.”
“Call the elevator, Junior.” Ray said, making a go-ahead motion.
Twilight pushed the call button and when the elevator came, they went inside.