Slimed by Gozilla

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Egon Spengler stared into the screen of his computer. It had been awful quiet in NYC for almost 6 months now, paranormal wise. The Ghostbusters had had few calls, but they had been too busy on the lecture circuit to have noticed, certainly their bank accounts hadn't suffered due to the slowdown in the spectral removal business.

Downstairs, Raymond Stantz was happily rubbing in a third coat of Simonize on Ecto-1, the souped up hearse that served as the team's utility vehicle. Ray had spent the morning doing mechanic work on the '59 Caddy. He'd drained the oil, dropped the pan and replaced seals, and gaskets after inspecting the crankshaft. Satisfied that the engine bottom was good for another 50,000 miles or so, he'd buttoned it up and went to work giving it a good wash and wax job.

On the other side of the building, in the main office area, Janine Melnitz sat at her desk waiting for the phone to ring. It had been over a week since it had rung, and that had been a crank call. The last time they had a call from an actual client was now over 3 weeks ago. Janine busied herself by reading another true romance paperback novel, and by touching up her nail polish.

Leaning back in a swivel chair a few feet from the back of Melnitz's desk, Peter Venkman was half asleep, occasionally snoring.

Upstairs, Egon watched as rows of figures flowed vertically across the screen of his computer monitor. Suddenly, he quickly smacked the space-bar on the computer keyboard, and rapidly scrolled the mouse. His jaw dropped as he re-read the last page of data that he had recalled. “SHIT!” he voiced.



Nearly halfway around the globe, Acetylene Drake Lampe looked up at the derelict building in the middle of Tokyo's swank hotel district. He and the real estate agent had just exited the ancient hotel and he had been impressed by what he'd seen. The old building had been one of the few prewar structures still standing, having been totally unscathed by the allied bombing raids during the second world war. The early skyscraper had been designated a historical landmark by the city planners at the insistence of the emperor, it had been waiting for decades to be renovated.

“What is the history of this place?”, Lamp asked.

Marukubi Boon ruffled though the pages the folder he carried in his satchel. The real estate agent had been tasked by the city to make certain historically protected properties available to developers who were able to present development plans that would preserve the character of the buildings, while bringing them up to date. Boon, found the writeup on the property that he was now about to show his prospective client, and quickly scanned it for the important details.

“This building is nearly a century old, it dates back to the 1920's,” Boon explained. “It was a period before Japan appeared as a threat to the western world, and there were quite a few American tycoons doing business here in Tokyo. This building was built as a residence for an American based religious group wishing to have a retreat far from their NYC base. Their leader, a man named Ivo Shandor personally oversaw its construction. Strangely, once completed this hotel was only occupied briefly from 1924 until 1929. It was boarded up during the American occupation period, and after the United States withdrew their forces in the early 1950's this property has passed between various owners, rarely being in revenue service.

“Strange,” Lampe muttered. “It looks well built.”

“It was a very expensive building to erect at the time,” Boon said. “Withstanding many earthquakes, and nearby bomb explosions during the war, is proof that it was well designed and constructed.”

“Then why was it left unoccupied for so long?”

“An interesting question,” Boon said. “The Imperial government briefly did use this hotel for the purposes of the war department, but soon relocated that function elsewhere. The American forces also used it for their headquarters for a time, but they quickly vacated it and moved elsewhere, and had the building boarded up.”

“Why?” Lampe asked.

Boon hesitated before answering in a low voice, “It was believed that the building was haunted.”

“Baka!” Lampe laughed.

“I'm glad to hear you say that,” Boon replied. “I've been inside myself, and I've seen nothing threatening. Still, history has painted a dark mark on the building, which is why it has sat here waiting for the wreaking ball. For some reason, the emperor wished it placed on the historical list, perhaps its architecture does speak of an era now gone.”
“Yes, it does,” Lampe said. “I think a few coats of paint, some new plumbing, and the latest robotic systems will make this place profitable, especially at the price you've quoted me.”


I've been wanting to do this crossover for some time now. My wife and I borrowed the new Ghostbusters movie DVD from the library, and I got inspired

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Yuko Kisaragi was preoccupied at her desk, scanning through page after page of listings on her computer when Dr. O'Shay walked into the office. He plopped his briefcase onto his desk and powered up his laptop computer. After reading though a half dozen emails, he glanced up across the room at his assistant, who hadn't said a word to him since he walked in.

“Yuko, is something the matter?”, the doctor asked.

Yuko, quickly looked up, and face palmed.
“Sumimasen, Hakase.” Yuko blurted out. “I didn't notice you walk in.”

“That's not like you, Yuko,” O'Shay said. “Is something the matter?”

“It's a personal problem,” She said. “Something I need to take care of. I'm sorry for letting it get in the way of my work.”

“Nonsense,” the doctor said. “Anything I can do to help?”

“I don't think so,” Yuko sighed. “The lease on my apartment is up next month, and the landlord wants to nearly double my rent. Housing is so expensive in this city, I've been busy trying to find someplace else to live that's close by to the Ministry, but I'm afraid there isn't anything available that I can afford.”

“Well, I could see if we could get you a raise in salary,” O'Shay said. “It's been nearly a year since your last evaluation.”

“That would be nice,” Yuko laughed, “But I need to find something quickly.”

“Take the afternoon off then,” the doctor suggested. “I suspect your mind won't be on your work anyway until you solve your problem. My schedule seems to be light for the rest of the week anyway, I will probably be able to manage without your assistance.”

Yuko laughed. “Yes, I think I can safely leave you alone for an afternoon.” She glanced down at the computer monitor and read the new page that had just appeared. Yuko quickly clicked her mouse several times, and then typed furiously for several seconds.
“Well, Hakase, I may have lucked out.”

“How so?”, O'Shay asked.

“It seems an old hotel is being renovated for both rental and condo housing. I was just able to get myself on the top of the waiting list.” She said. “It's in a prime location in the historical district.”

“Expensive?” the doctor asked.

“That's the good part,” Yuko replied. “The quoted rental price is actually less than what my flat is currently costing me. I guess I shouldn't be counting chickens that haven't hatched yet, but I won't sign a lease until I see the place.”


Egon's shoes made a loud noise as he landed hard on the marble floor after sliding down the pole from the upper floor of the former fire house. At the sound of Egon nearly breaking his legs from the hard landing, Peter snapped out of the trance he'd been in, and leaned back far enough to place his center of gravity beyond the vertical. He landed on his back as the chair fell out from under him, nearly crashing into Spengler who manged to leap out of its way just in time.

“I think I've figured it out!”, Egon yelled, pounding his right fist into his left palm.

“What have you figured out,” Peter asked, “anything earth shattering?”

“You could call it that,” Egon replied. “I know why New York has been so un-un-dead lately.”

Venkman, brushed himself off, and grabbed for the cup of coffee he'd left on Melnitz's desk. He took one slug of the thick brown liquid, and spat it right out. “COLD!” he voiced.
Ray Stantz waltzed into the office, his jeans and plaid shirt covered with 90 weight oil. “OK Einstein, enlighten us.”

“Well it all goes back to what got us into this business in the first place,” Egon started.

“You mean Peter getting slimed in the library?” Ray asked.

“Well sort of,” Egon answered. “We lucked out in that we had just built all of this equipment when there was this spike in the paranormal energy level, the origin of which was centered on Dana Barrett's apartment building.”

“Yes I remember that,” Peter said. “Spook Central!”

“So?” Ray asked. “We sent Dozer packing, right back to the other side and we closed up the gate for good, didn't we?”

“No, we only relocated it.” Egon answered. “We were were still capturing ghosts for over a year after that encounter.”

“Sure,” Peter agreed. “The mayor even had a 'bat signal' for us, though I guess technically you'd call it a 'ghost' signal.”

“It was only a phone line,” Ray said. “It wasn't even a red phone.”

“Then what happened, Einstein?”, Peter asked.

“New Jersey,” Ray added.

“He's right.” Egon agreed. “We started getting calls from west of the city. Newark, then Philly, even Pittsburgh.”

“So the ghosts moved out of N.Y.,” Peter shrugged. “They wanted to slum it.”

“No, the center of the ectoplasmic energy is shifting,” Egon said. “Look, you know how the Earth's magnetic field keeps shifting? The isogonic lines have to be redrawn on navigational charts several times a year because of the shift. Well, something is causing paranormal energy to shift as well. I've been doing some research up in my office on the computer for the past few weeks. I just discovered that Ivo Shandor didn't only head up a cult in the New York area, his group was active in several countries around the world. Barrett's apartment building may not have been the only portal that he built.”

“You mean that Gozer might try to come back into our plane of existence from another point,” Ray asked.

“It's not only possible,” Egon replied, “but very likely.”

“OK, where?” Peter asked.

“I'm not 100% sure yet,” Egan replied. “But I've been triangulating using data points of recent reports of major ectoplasmic disturbances.”

“And?” Ray asked.

“As best as I can pinpoint with the limited data I was able to come up with,” Egon replied, “there seems to be an epicenter somewhere in the Tokyo Japan area.”

“Great!,” Peter face-palmed.

“Huh?” Ray asked.

“We better get those proton packs beefed up,” Peter warned.

“Why?”,Ray asked.

“Cause we might end up having to ghost-bag Godzilla!”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Yuko Kisaragi sprinted through the hallway to catch up with Dr. O'Shay, who was on his way towards Reno's laboratory. “I've been trying to find you all morning, Hakase,” she said.

“Kon'nichiwa, Yuko San,” the professor said, slowing his gait. “Sorry to have been a bit unavailable this morning, but I've been busy making my inspection rounds today. I'm on my way to Reno's lab at the moment, and I still have many more departments left to visit, so if you need to talk to me, perhaps you'd better follow along.”

“Hai, Hakase,” Yuko said as they reached to door to the robotic repair lab. The two of them entered to find Astro lying on the operating table minus his lower left leg, upon which Reno was doing a bit of welding.

“Well, it seems the whole gang is here together,” Yuko laughed, opening her purse and extracting several envelopes. “As you might have heard, I've just moved into my new apartment, and I'm throwing a house warming party. Here are your formal invitations.” She handed one of the envelopes to Astro, as Reno pulled flipped his welding mask into its upper position. “Here's one for you too, Reno,” she added, handing the professor several more.

Dr. O'Shay thumbed through the three pink colored envelopes, and noticed one was addressed to him, the other two were for Uran and Cobalt. Astro held his up to his nose and sniffed. “These seem have some olfactory sensitive material embedded in them,” he said in a confused voice.

“They're perfumed, Asto,” Reno laughed as he held the pink envelope up to his own nose, “Lilac, I think.”

“Well, I had that stationary left over from some girlie thing some years ago,” Yuko explained, “I don't like letting things go to waste.”

“That's perfectly OK,” the professor laughed, as he opened his invitation. “I see, it's for tomorrow night. I don't think I have conflicts, we'll be happy to attend.”

“Ditto,” Reno said, pocketing his.

“You know I'll come,” Astro smiled, turning towards Reno, “If I ever get my leg fixed.”

“Almost done with it Astro,” Reno said, flipping the welding mask back down over his eyes. “Next time try to talk to Atlas with your mouth, instead of your fists, it might end better!”


Astro fumbled with his blue bow tie, made all the more difficult by Uran standing in front of him to hog the mirror, admiring herself in her new pink dress. “Do we have to get all dressed up, Hakase?”, he asked.

Dr. O'Shay was already dressed in one of his better suits, he was sitting down tying his shoes. “I know Yuko didn't specify Black Tie, but she did hint that she had invited some of the board members, and I know Dr. Pavilion always puts on the Ritz,” he said. “The two of you look just fine, now where is Kobaruto?”

Cobalt took that moment to appear in the doorway. “How do I look, Hakase?”, he asked, “I took your advice and went shopping for something nice, since I didn't have anything fancy in my closet.”

The three of them turned to face the boy robot and gasped. Cobalt was wearing a freshly cleaned and pressed suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. On his head he wore a wide brimmed black hat with a white band. He also had spat's on his moon boots.
“Something wrong?” Cobalt asked.

“Where did you get THAT!” Uran laughed, “from a museum? You look like a gangster from old Chicago!”

“Actually, a second hand shop,” Cobalt said, “The shop owner told me I'd look great in a Zoot Suit, did I do something wrong?”

“Īe,” the professor sighed, “You look fine, just a bit dated. I'm sure Yuko will be pleased to see you.”


Yuko welcomed her guests, holding in a chuckle when she saw Cobalt. “Thanks for coming, you guys. You're early, no one else is here yet.”
As passed by the doorway that led into the kitchen, Uran momentarily shivered. Astro noticed the look on his sister's face. “What's the matter?” he asked.

“I don't know,” Uran voiced. “For an instant, I felt a cold wave run down my back. The last time I felt something like that was in Tenma's old house when you and Coby said you saw Tobio's ghost.”

The evening went well enough. Yuko was pleased that she had bought enough food and drink to go around. Dr. Pavilion had too sake to drink, as usual, and actually ran around with a lamp shade on his head. Mustachio bored everyone with his detective stories, and Cobalt won the karaoke contest. Reno spent most of the evening removing a computer virus from Momo, for which Yuko kept apologizing for ruining the party for him.

The professor and his group were the last of the guests to leave. “Thank you for the wonderful evening, Yuko San,” he said as he put his coat on. “It's a wonderful apartment, I hope you'll be happy living here.”

“I'm glad you all could come, Hakase,” Yuko smiled. “As I said, I was lucky to find this place. It's more than large enough for me, not too far a commute to the ministry, and well within my budget.”

As the professor reached for the doorknob, Yuko stopped him. “Hakase, I just remembered. I have an unopened bottle of Sake in the 'fridge, would you want it?”

“If you're not going to drink it, I'll be happy to have it,” Dr. O'Shay replied.

“I'll go get it,” Yuko said, and then looking a Uran, “Would you like the last slushie for the road?”

“Arigatōgozaimashita!”, Uran said, following Yuko to the kitchen.

Yuko pulled the door the the 'fridge open and froze. Instead of seeing several racks of cold food, there was a strange glowing temple inside of the kitchen appliance. The doors to the temple slowly opened wide and a demon face appeared and muttered one word in a low pitched voice, “ZUUL!”

Yuko quickly slammed the door, and rubbed her eyes. She slowly reopened the refrigerator. This time all was normal. She reached inside and removed the bottle of Sake for the professor, and the frozen treat for Uran.
“Here you go!”, Yuko said, handing the girl robot the cup with a plastic straw. Walking towards the front door, she put the unopened bottle in Dr. O'Shay's hand. “Konbanwa, you guys,” she smiled.

Once they were walking home in the street, Uran whispered to Astro and Cobalt, “There's something creepy about Yuko's flat,” She said.

“Is this about that chill you felt?”, Astro asked.

“That, and the monster in the fridge,” Uran answered. “Yuko didn't think I saw it, but I did. There was a monster in her fridge, and it said 'zuul'".

“Did you drink any Sake?”, Cobalt asked.

“NO!”, Uran replied.

“Well, Yuko seemed OK when we left,” Cobalt replied, “And there are no such things as ghosts.”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

2.

Uran stood outside the abandoned house and looked up at the broken windows on the second floor. “I don't understand how Coby could say with a straight face that there aren't any ghosts,” she thought out loud, “He and Astro both saw Tobio. Guess I'll just have to get proof.”

She made her way up the creaky steps and pushed the front door open. The place was even spookier than she had remembered, but with all the broken widows and the hole in the roof letting in the wind and the rain, it made sense that the house would have gathered a fresh coat of grime and mold.

As Uran made her way deeper into the house, she brushed up against a cob web, and a spider dropped down in front of her from the ceiling. “Yuck!” she gasped, quickly backing away. “Anybody here?”, she quavered.

Suddenly, a chill ran down her back, as if a cold wind had just blown into the room. Uran's electronic brain was sensitive to the thoughts of animals, and she now wondered if she was also empathic towards ghosts as well. Broken glass crunched under her feet as she made her way to the stairs. Carefully she held onto the rickety banister, as she made her way up to the second floor. The stairs groaned under her weight as Uran carefully tested each tread before putting her full weight on it. Once on the second floor landing she turned towards the bedrooms. The empathic tickle that she'd felt when first entering the house had grown stronger, the buzzing in her head was getting louder with each step.
“GO AWAY!”, a voice yelled from inside of her head. “LEAVE ME ALONE! I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU!”

Floating in front of her was the upper two thirds of the body of a young boy. The legless apparition was totally gray in color, as if it was a black and white holographic projection. Uran recognized the image as Tobio at once. He seemed helpless and weak just floating there, tears dripping down his face.

“Tobio, is that you?”, Uran quavered in a shaky voice.

“PLEASE GO AWAY!, I WARNED YOU!”, the apparition begged.

Uran hesitated, part of her was frozen in terror and wanted to run, but a stronger part of her wanted to communicate with the deceased child that had been the source of inspiration for her brother's creation. She took one tiny step towards the ghost.
Suddenly, Tobio's apparition melted. The face of the innocent cherub morphed into that of a beast with long fangs for teeth, set in a huge snout. A violent roar came from the poltergeist's mouth, followed by a river of a gooey green viscous fluid. Uran tried to turn and flee, but she couldn't move in time. She ran down the steps, falling the last meter as the treads broke under her feet. She emerged from the house drenched in a sticky green goo that covered her entire body. Uran didn't stop running until she was a block and a half away from Tenma's old house.

“Yuck!”, she yelled, looking down at herself, “Tobio slimed me!”



Reno used a spatula to scrape a jarful of the green gunk from Uran's skin and clothing. He then put some of the goo onto a glass slide, and put that under a microscope. Carefully he focused the instrument as he peered into the eyepiece.
“Doesn't seem to be any micro organisms growing in that stuff,” he said. “I don't see any nanites either, so you're probably safe.”

“Can I shower it off now?” Uran asked.

“Sure, go ahead,” Reno said. “Use the bathroom in Tenma's old lounge down the hall.”

Astro wandered into the laboratory, just as his sister passed him in the hallway. “What's going on?”, he asked, “What happened to Uran?”

“I'm not sure,” Reno said, shrugging his shoulders. “Your sister ran in here covered with this crap,” he said, holding up a mason jar filled to the brim with a gooey green slim. “She said she went over to Tenma's old house looking for proof about ghosts, she said she wanted to see Tobio's ghost.”

“I know Cobalt and I told her we saw Tobio in that house,” Astro said, “But we never really thought it was a ghost. Both of us have memories of Tobio, and we just figured that something in that house was interacting with our A.I. to create the illusion of us seeing him.”

“Well Uran never did have a physical connection to the real Tobio, so how do you explain her seeing him in that house?”, Reno asked.

“Is that what she told you?” Astro asked.

“Hai,” Reno nodded. “She also said that his apparition 'vomited' on her. That's what is in this jar.”

“Yuck!”, Astro voiced. “What is that stuff?”

“Well from what I've read on line, it's ectoplasm,” Reno said. “According to a white paper authored by E. Spengler and R. Stantz, this stuff is, quote, 'a supernatural viscous substance that is supposed to exude from the body of a medium or a supernatural being during a spiritualistic trance and forms the material for the manifestation of spirits'”.

“So you're saying that Uran actually saw Tobio's ghost, and that said ghost attacked her by vomiting this ectoplasm all over her?”, Astro said.

“No, that's what she said,” Reno answered, “but so far, I see no reason to doubt her.”



The emperor tossed and turned in bed, not able to sleep. He got out of bed, and walked the halls of the palace rubbing his eyes. There wasn't any reason that he could think of for his insomnia, he hadn't eaten a particularly large or spicy meal before retiring for the night, nor were there any pressing issues of state weighing heavily on his brain. After drinking a tall glass of water, he made his way back to his bedroom. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, staring straight ahead. Hanging in mid air, just in front of him was a vaporous image. The upper torso and head of the Shōwa Emperor blocked his path back to the bedroom. “Otōsan?”, he muttered, again rubbing his eyes. As he stared, the spirit moved forward and it's vaporous being passed through him and disappeared. Akihito quickened his pace and made his way back to the bedroom. After several minutes of tossing and turning, he finally did manage to fall back to a troubled sleep.


Dr. O'Shay sat in the sofa chair, leaning back and reading the 新聞. Sitting on the coffee table, next to his easy chair, sat a thick book containing reprints of classic Manga that he had been reading earlier. He was having difficulty keeping his eyes open, so he put the newspaper down attempted to lift himself out of the chair when a strange feeling came over his entire being. The professor felt a bit light headed when a fog slowly appeared in front of him. Gradually, the fog began to coalesce into an apparition.

Floating in front of him was the ghostly figure of an old man dressed in frumpy sweater. The figure had a bulbous nose, and wore thick horn rimmed glasses and a beret cap. The man smiled at the professor, and doffed his cap before fading away the same way he had appeared.

Quickly, O'Shay grabbed the thick Manga collection from the table, and rapidly flipped though it's pages. Suddenly he stopped, and stared at a biographical page, that had a photograph of the very same face that had just floated in front of him.


Yuko Kisaragi was having a bad dream. She felt hot, as if her body were lying out int the sun on top of a bed of glowing, fiery coals. She was in the middle of a glowing red fog that drifted about her, each step that she took echoed and reverberated as if she were inside of a vast cave. She suddenly seemed to snap out of the trance when a loud, deep voice, bounced around inside of her head. “ZUUL!”

Her eyes snapped open and for a split second she swore she was floating naked three feet above her bed. An instant later she felt herself fall, landing hard on top of the soft mattress, covered with her sheets and blanket. She looked down at herself, and discovered she was still wearing the nightgown that she had put on before getting into bed. A second later, the alarm clock sounded, and she reached for the button to silence it.

A dream, she thought, breathing heavily to calm herself, it was just a bad dream.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Astro glanced back and forth between the professor and Yuko. “The two of you don't look so good,” he finally said, “I may be a robot, but I can tell when a human being didn't get enough sleep.”

“It shows, doesn't it?”, the professor sighed. “I fell asleep reading the newspaper in my easy chair during the night, only to wake up seeing a ghost. I hope it was only a bad dream, but I never did fall back to sleep once I got into bed.”

“Compared to my night, that was a vacation,” Yuko said. “I think I dreamed I was in a hellish place. I woke up covered in sweat when my alarm clock woke me this morning.”

Dr. O'Shay had been reading his emails when Astro had walked in. “Yuko, it looks like the two of us weren't the only ones having difficulty sleeping last night. I've got an email from the Emperor. He wants someone from the ministry to discreetly examine the palace for the supernatural. He claims he was haunted by the Shōwa Emperor last night.

“Well, that's four ghost stories in two days,” Reno said. The boy roboticist had been quietly standing in the doorway while the three way conversation had been going on.

“Four?” the professor asked.

“If you include Uran,” Reno replied. She came into my laboratory yesterday covered with ectoplasm. She told me she'd been ghost hunting in Tenma's old house and got caught by Tobio.

“Ectoplasm?” the professor asked.

“According to Spengler and Stantz, close contact with a free roaming spirit can cause a physical manifestation of psychic energy resulting in the release of spiritual bodily fluids.”

“Huh?”

“Ghost vomit,” Reno explained. “Hey, if you don't believe me, I've got a pint of the stuff on ice in my laboratory.”

The conversation was then interrupted by the ringing of the professors phone. O'Shay picked up the instrument to answer it, “Moshi Moshi, yes hello inspector, what?, you want me to what?, actually I do believe you, yes, I promise we will look into it.” He hung up the phone, and looked on his computer screen.

“What the hell is going on?”, Astro asked.

“I guess you heard both ends of that, Astro,” the professor said. “Well, it seems that the police have had a busy night chasing ghosts too. One of them even stole a police car.”

“What?” Reno asked.

“A squad car roared out of the police motor pool at 3 am with no one driving it,” O'Shay said. “Except that someone managed to snap this picture on their cell phone.”
The professor turned his computer monitor around to show the attachment from Tawashi's email. It clearly showed an ugly green blob of a ghost, behind the wheel of a metro city police car, a big cigar clamped in its mouth.

“Something weird is going on,” O'Shay said. “I think we may be a bit out of our league on this one. I don't know who I'm going to have to call for help.”

“I think I do,” Reno said. He walked up to the doctor's computer, and quickly entered a URL on the browser. 'www.ghostbusterslimited.boo' “I ran across these guys yesterday while I was researching ectoplasm. Seems there was a similar rash of spectral problems in New York City a few years back. The Ghostbusters took care of it.”

“I guess I'm going to have to contact these guys,” the professor said. “but given the time difference, I'll have to wait till 7pm to catch them if they open for business at 9am.”



Janine Melnitz dropped her purse on her desk and turned her computer on. She eyed the clock on the wall, and noticed that she'd managed to arrive a bit early, though she knew she wasn't the only one of the team in the building. Peter Venkman, and Ray Stantz both usually slept in upstairs, in what had been the fire house's bunk room, while Egan Stantz often pull all nighters that lasted for days doing his research and laboratory work. Judging by the muffled sound of a small explosion coming from the upper rear of the building, that's exactly what he was doing at the very moment.

Just as the minute hand of the clock reached the '12', with the hour hand at '9', the phone started ringing. “Already?”, Melnitz swore. She had a slight headache, having been to a boring party the night before, where she might have had a few too many. She picked up the phone and barked, “Ghostbusters, what do you want?”

Dr. O'Shay's command of the English language wasn't at a very comfortable level for him, so he had Astro on the extension as a translator. “I don't think she's had her morning coffee yet, Hakase,” the boy robot offered.

In somewhat shaky, but quite understandable English, the professor spoke in a calm voice, “This is Dr. O'Shay with the Japanese Science Ministry. We seem to have a growing supernatural problem here in Tokyo. Can I speak with a member of the Ghostbusting team?”

Despite her mild hangover, Melnitz realized that this might not be the usual morning crank call. “You for real?” she barked.

“Hai!, I mean Yes I am!”, the professor stated.

“Hold the line!”, Janine voiced dropping the phone and pounding her fist on the intercom.
“Someone get the phone, we have a live one!” she yelled into the box.



Ray Stantz rolled out of bed in his boxer shorts. He managed to find the phone on the night stand, but only succeeded in knocking the instrument to the floor. With the grace of a bull in a china shop, he grabbed the handset and fumbled to get it to his ear, backwards at first. Finally, he sat down on the edge of the bed and put on his best business like voice. “Good Morning Ghostbusters at your service, how can we be of help?”

Dr. O'Shay, listened for Astro's translations as he tried to make himself understood. The boy robot occasionally injected a translation when necessary. “Good evening from Tokyo. Just recently, we've started to have some strange things happen. Please keep what I'm going to tell you confidential, I'm sure our government wouldn't want the news services to pick up on this.”

“The Ghostbusters pride themselves on confidentiality,” Ray quickly answered, “please continue!”

“Several members of my staff have experienced supernatural manifestations, and the Emperor himself was haunted by the ghost of his father a night ago,” the professor replied.

“We can be over there in 48 hours, if you want to hire us,” Ray said, “I promise you we will get to the bottom of this!”

“Excellent!”, O'Shay answered, “I'll have my assistant contact you to iron out the necessary details.”

Ray heard the line go dead on the other end. “My god,” he thought, “They didn't even ask about the cost!”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Ray Stantz found Egon in his workshop, the parts of one of their proton packs scattered around the workbench. “It seems you were right, as usual, Egon,” Ray said, “I just got off the phone with someone from a think tank in Tokyo. Seems they have a growing ghost problem over there.”

“How bad is it?”, Spengler asked.

“I don't know exactly,” Ray offered, “but there seem to be a growing number of sightings and at least one level 5 event involving a stolen police car.”

“That's exactly what I was afraid of,” Egon dead paned. “We need to pack our gear and get right over there.”

“I'll have Melnitz get contracts made up and faxed over to the Japan Ministry of Science, and get our travel booked at once,” Ray said, “The three of us should start getting our gear together.”

“We'll have to get the proton packs, containment vessels, and traps shipped by registered courier,” Egan warned, “we can't check them as baggage on any airline.”

“True,” Ray sighed, “FAA regulations prohibit the shipment of unlicensed nuclear accelerators on passenger aircraft.”

“What about Ecto-1?”, Peter Venkman asked, standing in the doorway in his jokey shorts.

“I think we'll have to leave it behind,” Ray told him. “It would be too expensive to ship that four ton vehicle, and I'm sure we can rent something suitable in Tokyo.”

“It's also very likely that the Science Ministry would have a robotic vehicle that would be suitable for our needs,” Egan pointed out.



Dr. O'Shay and Inspector Tawashi were waiting at the arrival gate at Tokyo international airport to meet the Ghostbusters when they arrived. Both Astro and Reno were also present, the former to help with any interpreting duties, and the later for technical advice.

“Who are these guys?” Tawashi asked the professor, “and where did you dig them up?”

“They're experts in paranormal phenomena,” Reno interjected.

“It was Reno who found their resumes on the web,” the professor added, “and they come highly recommended by officials in New York City.”

Tawashi just grunted. “Well I suppose we don't seem to have much choice in the matter. My best officers are clueless on how to proceed, and the Ministry isn't much better.”

“Looks like their plane has landed, Hakase,” Astro said, pointing to the message board.


The 14 hour long non-stop flight from JFK had taken its toll on Venkman, who hadn't managed to get any shuteye on the plane. On the other hand, both Spengler and Stantz were reasonably well rested as both had made good use of the quiet periods of the flight where the crew had darkened the cabin for the benefit of the passengers. The Ghostbusters made their through the gangway, each of them lugging a wheeled carry on bag.

It was Ray who spotted the professor first, “Kon'nichiwa, O'Shay Hakase, Watashi wa Ray Stantz desu,” he said, introducing himself, somewhat unsure of his Japanese.

“Pleased to meet you, we're glad you're here,” the professor answered in rehearsed English, “I'm Dr. O'Shay, and this is police inspector Tawashi. You're gear has already arrived, and my department has greased the right palms to get the stuff though customs as quickly as possible.”

“We're glad to hear that,” Egan said. “We could use a few hours to get unpacked and settled into our hotel, and I think at least one of us might need some shuteye.”

Peter Venkman rubbed his eyes, “I resemble that remark,” he voiced.

“I've arranged a police escort for you to your hotel,” the inspector said. “Your transportation is waiting just outside the terminal.”

“The Ministry has arranged for your hotel stay,” O'Shay added, “We have you in a comfortable inn just a few blocks from our HQ.”

“What about the equipment needs we asked about,” Egan queried.

“I've ordered one of our vehicle garages to be emptied out,” the professor explained, “you can set up shop in there. We also have two robotic vehicles at your disposal.”



Several hours later, Venkman, Spengler and Stantz walked into the cavernous space of the ministry's number two drone hangar. “This is a garage?” Venkman gasped, “it looks more like NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building!”

“I'm sure it's not quite that large,” O'Shay replied, “but it is the largest open space we had available.” He pointed to an olive drab three axled vehicle that sat on six huge tires. “This robotic vehicle should be large enough to haul your equipment around, and we have a second one in reserve if you need it.”

“Wow!”, Stantz gasped, “This is like a Humvee on steroids!”

“I'll take that as a complement,” the vehicle spoke up.

“It speaks?”, Ray gasped.

“I'm a robotic vehicle,” the truck replied, “You can call me Sarge, I'll do the driving for you, I know this city like the back of my hand, so to speak. Astro has already told me all about you.”

“Excellent,” Spengler said, “That's one detail that was bugging me, now solved.”

Reno directed the three Ghostbusters to the rear corner of the room where several large metal crates had been stacked. “Here is a workshop area. As you can see, your equipment has arrived from the airport safely.”

Venkman quickly unlocked the first of the well padded shipping containers and opened it. He extracted the first of the proton packs and set it on a workbench to examine it.
“Looks perfect,” he said as he extracted a power cord and plugged the cable into an outlet on the work bench. “We'll need to top of the charge in the batteries. Good thing I thought to adjust the power supplies for the slightly lower line voltage.”

As Peter and Egan unpacked the rest of the equipment, Ray was getting antiquated with the robot truck. They were quickly on a first name basis, and were even exchanging dirty jokes.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Reno stood by the workbench and carefully picked up one of the proton packs.

“Careful kid, those things aren't toys!” Ray said, grabbing the unit from Reno.

“I was just examining it,” the boy roboticist replied. “Just curious how it works. I've read all of the white papers you and Mr. Spengler published on the internet.”

“Well in that case,” Stantz said, “Let me explain the operation of this little gizmo.” He started to point out the various systems inside of the famous anti-ghost device. “This equipment uses a nuclear accelerator to generate a high level plasma like field that interacts with ectoplasmic paranormal beings, allowing us to trap and contain them inside of a portable multi-dimensional containment field.”

Reno pointed to the large circular housing on the device, “That's a miniaturized synchrotron, isn't it?”, he asked, “and it's powered by a high frequency inverter using a multistage voltage multiplying circuit, and deep discharge lithium trioxide batteries.”

Stantz suddenly realized that he was being out-geeked, “You'd better ask Egan about those details,” he muttered. “Here, let me give you a quick demonstration.”
Ray slipped the straps of the backpack like device over Reno's head and adjusted the straps. He then armed the main power switch, and the pack made a soft 'click' sound as the power relay contacts engaged. “OK, you've got your proton pack fully charged and ready for action. It's in standby mode, and inert until you release the safety switch on the rifle end.”

Reno reached behind his back and felt for the handle grip on the neutralizer gun. He pulled the rifle like business end of the pack out of its holster and examined it. Ray pointed to the safety switch. “When you come up against a spectral being you release the catch, and then throw that switch to arm the device,” he explained.

Reno pressed down on the heavy spring loaded safety catch, with one hand and pushed the equally heavily spring loaded power switch to the on position. The synchrotron on his back made a deep guttural groan as a massive relay closed, followed by a turbine like oscillation that sounded like a supercharged diesel locomotive spooling up.

“Now all you have to do is aim and pull the trigger,” Ray explained. “There is a slight recoil, this is like a cross between a particle beam weapon, and a pumped laser. Try shooting at that practice target I've set up over there.” Ray was pointing to a large box about the size of a phone booth. It was covered with a plastic mesh like material, and filled with large metallic foam beads. There was a bull's eye painted on the outside mesh over the glyph of a ghost caricature. “Energy absorbing material inside of a Gaussian containment,” he explained, “At least that's how Egan explained it to me.”

Reno closed one eye and sighted along the barrel of the gun with the other. He squinted hard and pulled the trigger, just as Astro walked into the building a few feet from the target box. The boy wasn't quite prepared for the jolt. The proton gun emitted a blazing white hot jagged beam of energy, with a roar that threatened to deafen him. The rifle barrel vibrated like a jackhammer, making whatever recoil it did have a thousand times more uncontrollable Reno felt his hands jerked sideways by the weapon's report. He tried to release the trigger, but the weapon still fired wildly for at least a second and a half.

Part of the beam caught Astro full in the chest. He was thrown backwards, and landed several yards outside of the hangar's doors.
Reno quickly dropped the rifle, and opened the belt straps, letting the proton backpack fall off to bounce on the floor. He ran towards the fallen boy robot. “Gomen'nasai, Sumimasen!”, He yelled.

Astro opened his eyes and looked up at his buddy, then slowly sat up. “What the hell was that?” he voiced.

Egan Spengler and Peter Venkman ran out of the back of the truck as soon as they'd heard the fire from the proton pack. “What the hell is the matter with you, Ray?”, Egan yelled. “Why'd you let the kid near that?”

“He seemed to understand the principle of operation,” Ray stammered, “he read our white papers.”

“Well none of us faired any better the first time we tried using the proton rifles,” Peter injected, “and Ray and I both know how to handle a shotgun rifle loaded with deer slugs!”

“Hey, you guys!”, Astro cried out, “I'm OK, really!” He got to his feet with a little help from Reno, and blew a few puffs of black smoke out of his nose and ears.

Ray walked back and picked the abandoned proton pack up from the floor. He re-engaged the safety switch and powered down the backpack. “OK, that's enough demonstration for today,” he dead panned.



Dr. O'Shay and Inspector Tawashi walked into the hangar. The professor noticed the burn marks on the floor, and on the tarmac just outside the hangar. “You guys have an accident?” he asked.

“It was my bad,” Reno spoke up. “Ray was showing me how the proton rifle works, and it sorta got away from me.”

“You can say that again,” Astro face palmed. “I don't know if a ghost can feel pain, but I'm sure they don't enjoy being zapped by that thing!”

“You guys ready for action?”, the inspector asked. “I hope so, because I just got a call from the Metro Hilton hotel. They called the police to investigate a disturbance in the Onsen baths that sounds like a job for these ghost catchers.”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

“You mean Ghostbusters,” Venkman corrected the inspector. “OK guys, let's get our gear loaded into Sarge and go incarcerate some ghosts!”

Peter grabbed two of the proton packs and walked around to the back of the robotic truck. He was about to grab for the lift gate handle with his foot when it opened by itself. “Allow me!” Sarge told him.

“Thank's,” Peter replied.

Egan grabbed two more of the backpacks, while Ray carried a half dozen of the traps over to the truck.

“Can we come along too?” Reno asked, standing next to Astro.

“Do you think that's wise?” Egan asked. “They might get in the way.”

“You realize that we're strangers here,” Ray pointed out, “It might be a good idea to have someone with us that knows the local customs and such. Besides, Astro is a robot, and probably immune to ghosts.”

“Good point,” Peter said motioning to Reno and Astro, “OK you two, each of you go grab yourselves a uniform from the rack over there and suit up.”

Astro and Reno each quickly slipped into a pair of ghostbuster overalls. For some reason, the team had brought extras in various sizes. Venkman saw the question in Reno's face about that and replied, “We got a good deal on our duds from a surplus outlet, but we had to take the entire lot, Ray had this idea we could sell the smaller sizes on line as kids Halloween costumes, so we had them all silk screened with our logo. When we get back from this job, you can get yours outfitted with name tags.”

Reno had already grabbed a black wide tipped sharpie and had written his name on his overall bib, and then did Astro's.
“Oh, never mind, I guess.” Ray laughed, seeing 'Reno' and 'Atom' written in black letters on the uniforms of his new recruits.

Ray jumped into the drivers seat, with Peter riding shotgun. Egan was already seated behind Ray, and Reno climbed in next to him. Astro sat in the rear, sandwiched inbetween two piles of proton back packs.

“So just where are we going?”, Ray asked, but before he could even grab at the driver's controls the truck burned rubber and peeled out of the hanger. “I've got it!”, Sarge told him, “Just put your tray tables and seat backs in up in their locked positions and keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle!”

“Holy crap, Sarge!”, Peter cried out as the acceleration slammed him hard against the seat back, “You drive more crazily than Ray!”

“Don't worry about a thing,” the robot truck assured him, “I've never been in an accident, and my reflexes are at least 100 times faster than any humans. Besides the inspector insisted that we get there in a hurry!”

They careened around a sharp turn on three wheels, and roared down a narrow side street, missing parked cars on either side of them by mere millimeters. Then they made and even sharper turn in the opposite direction into the hotel's basement parking garage and parked right in front of the elevator entrance.

“I told you I'd get you here in one piece safe and sound!”, Sarge boasted proudly, as he opened the doors and the rear lift gate.

“Right!”, Egan voiced, “Arigatōgozaimashita, Sarge San.”

“OK, everyone,” Peter announced, “Let's get our stuff and get busy.”

The ghostbusters donned their Proton backpacks, and night vision goggles. Each of them also clipped a portable trap to their utility belts. The group then boarded the elevator to the main floor.

The hotel manager ran for the elevator when he saw the door open, with the five unusually dressed people inside of it. “Thank god you're finally here,” he spoke in a low voice, pointing towards a long hallway. “The onsen is that way, at the end of the corridor and to the left. I don't suppose you could undress before entering, no, I guess you'd probably need your equipment.”

“We'll be as careful as possible not to upset anything,” Egan tried to promise.

“Maybe, I should enter first,” Astro suggested, stripping down to his briefs. “I'll help any patrons still in the baths get to the locker rooms before you guys enter.”

“Good idea,” Ray said.

The hotel onsen was divided into separate sections for each gender. Astro turned his ears up to 1000x power and he could make out the muffled screams and moans coming from the womens side of the facility. He carefully entered the area where the cries were coming from, in the room where the large pool of heated water was located. Several women were huddled together, too scared to move in a corner of the hot bath. Floating above the steaming hot water on the other side of the pool, an ugly green vaporous apparition seemed to be grinning. One of the women quickly grabbed her towel to cover her breasts when Astro walked in, but another became more secure at the site of the boy robot. “That's Astro Boy the robot,” she whispered to her companions, “He's here to save us!”

“Just follow me to the exit,” Astro told them, “I'll shield you from that ghost.” As he led the four remaining bath patrons to the locker room, Astro held a walkie talkie to his mouth and clicked the push to talk button. “The bath area is clear, you guys can come in now and zap him!”

Ray was the first to enter the bath area, followed by Egan, Peter, and Reno. Hovering just millimeters above the surface of the water, next to a waterfall of the naturally heated flow of near boiling hot water from the ground beneath the hotel, the misshapen glowing figure with a huge toothless grin, stared at them.

“Let's bag this one quickly,” Peter suggested, aiming his proton rifle at the ghost.

“Careful, Venkman!”, Egan started to say a second before Peter pulled the trigger.

At that instant the ghost dove beneath the surface of the water. The energy beam from the rifle hit the water just above the intended target, and bounced upward striking the ceiling, causing an explosion that filled the air with ceramic tile shrapnel and left a huge singe mark in the plaster.

“I was afraid of that!”, Egan yelled. “Our proton beams can't penetrate through water. We'll have to lure him out of the pool!”

“I'll take care of that!,” Astro replied, “Just don't shoot at me in the pool!” He dived into the sauna like water and illuminated his eye search lamps. He swam towards the ghost, and then shot two digibeam lasers from his index fingers. The poltergeist leaped away from him, towards the ceiling of the room.

“There he is!”, Venkman shouted taking aim. Spengler and Stanz followed suit, and the three of them pulled their triggers at the same instant. The spectral being was surrounded by the convergence of the three proton beams, and it fought to break free. The ghostbusters gradually reeled him in, as they adjusted the power of their beams. Reno quickly unclipped a trap from Ray's utility belt and placed it on the ground a few feet away from the edge of the pool. Venkman nodded at what the boy had done, and took a step back, his beam pulling the ghost towards the trap. He waited until their victim was hovering just inches above the silver and yellow box, and then yelled, “OK stomp on it!”

Reno slammed his left right foot on the trigger at the end of the 15 foot cable attached to the trap. The device's doors opened up, and a bright ionized magnetic field filled the air above it, encircling the ghost. At the same instant the ghostbusters released the triggers on their rifles, shutting down the containment beams. Reno then stepped off the trigger switch and the trap snapped shut with a thud. It emitted a few sparks, and their prey was gone.

“Good work, Kid!”, Peter cried, “we got him. He's in the trap!”

Astro surfaced from under the steaming water and climbed out of the pool. Reno handed him his jump suit and he quickly dressed.

“Let's get back to our temporary HQ before they can assess the damage here,” Ray suggested.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Yuko Kisaragi slowly opened the door to her apartment. Peter Venkman gently pushed her aside, “I'll enter first and look around,” he said, “I've seen this kind of stuff before.”

Venkman held the custom built PKE meter up at arms length and watched the LEDs on the two horizontal pivoted arms. Except for a slow ticking sound the meter was quiet. In his other hand he held the squeeze bulb of the ecto sniffer. About once every other second he made a puffing sound with the device as he pumped air into the long sensing tube at the end of the hand held rod attached to the bulb. Other than the air sound, the sniffer was quiet, detecting nothing abnormal.

“This is Deja-vu all over again,” Peter voiced. “I can almost feel the presence of something, even though my equipment is detecting nothing.”

Yuko entered the apartment and looked around. It felt tranquil at the moment, but she was still uneasy after that night in the place. “I haven't been back here in two days,” she told Venkman. “I spent the last few nights in a capsule hotel. Are you sure you're not getting any readings? Why don't you take a look in the refrigerator?”

Venkman grabbed at the handle to the 'fridge and yanked it open. Except for a half full cardboard crate of eggs, a container of milk, and several of yogurt, the inside of the appliance was empty.

“There's nothing here,” Venkman said, visions of Dana Barrett's apartment popping up in his head.

“Do you think it's safe for me to sleep here?” Yuko asked.

“Probably,” Peter replied, “But maybe I should stay with you just in case, you know to stand guard.”

Yuko laughed, “No thanks, I've heard about your womanizing!”

“You don't have to worry, I'll sleep on the sofa in the living room,” Venkman quickly replied.

“That's OK, Venkman San,” Yuko said, patting him on the back, “I'll get someone else to spend the night and keep guard. Someone who won't fall asleep.”



Egan stood in front of a large cork board hung on the wall of the hangar. Attached to it was a detailed map of Metro City and Tokyo, with a number of push pins with colored heads inserted. “What's this for?”, Inspector Tawashi asked as he and Dr. O'Shay entered the building, followed by Reno, Astro, and Cobalt.

“I'm marking out all the reported phantasm sightings,” Spengler replied. “The blue colored pins are the locations of eye witness sightings. Those in red are were an actual interaction between a ghost and a person can be verified.”

“Like someone getting slimed,” Ray added, walking over from the other side of the floor.

“The black push pins are the locations where we have been able to capture a supernatural being,” Egan continued. “By the way, most of our traps are now full, has anything been done yet on our request for the materials to build that high voltage laser containment storage facility?”

“I just came from our machine shop,” the professor replied. “Atlas told me he'll have all of the critical components built by early this afternoon. They should be transported here before the end of the day. The power connections are already installed, and the extra Magnimite line is being made ready at the power station right now.”

Egan picked up a roll of thread and began to connect the pins together, forming a spiderweb grid on the map. He looked under the intersection of a bunch of the threads at the map, and asked, “Did you get me the blueprints I asked for, Hakase?”

“Sumimasen, how forgetful of me,” the professor replied, handing Egan a large tube. “Here they are!”

Egan quickly uncapped the container and pulled out the rolled up papers. He laid them flat on a large drafting table, weighing down the corners with several heavy tools. “I was afraid of this,” he sighed.

The professor and the inspector walked closer to look at the blueprints. “What's wrong,” O'Shay asked.

“Are these the blueprints for the prewar tower in the hotel district I asked for?” Egan queried.

“Yes, they are,” O'Shay replied. “They were a bit hard to find because they had never been converted to digital. We're lucky that a set had been discovered in a basement storage room of that building during the American occupation and a copy was made by Americans.”

“This building has many of the features of one that was built on Central Park West in NYC,” Egan explained. The engineer was an Ivo Shandor, who was the leader of a cult of Gozer worshipers.”

“What is this Gozer,” Tawashi asked.

“He was an ancient Sumerian god of destruction,” Spengler answered. “Now as to these blueprints, what stands out is the construction of the roof cap and the upper floors. Here we find cold riveted girders with cores of pure selenium. The entire top of the building is designed to function as a super conductive antenna tuned to pull in psycho kinetic energy. The construction is not unlike some designs that NASA uses to track dead pulsars in deep space. We've run into this Gozer before, and we barely survived his bringing down the traveling destructor, in the form of the Stay Puft Marshmallow man. A similarly constructed building in NYC had acted as a wormhole gate that created a bridge between our dimension, and one in the underworld. We had to take the risk of crossing the streams of our proton beams to force him back across the void and close up the rift.”

“Wait, isn't that Yuko's apartment building,” Cobalt asked, looking at the map.

“Why yes it is!”, the professor gasped. “That explains why Yuko had asked me if I could assign a robot guard for her, she was a bit nervous about going back to her apartment to spend the night, but she was tired of those capsule hotels as well.”

“I'll stay with her, Hakase,” Cobalt volunteered.

“Why thank you, Coby!,” the professor said. “I'm sure that will make Yuko feel much better.”

[Kitty Lue]

Very good! Now that I'm back in a reading mood, I figured I'd see what this is about, and haven't been able to put it down since!