Chapter 45

After the coronation and Death’s recent news about Igura taking a weapon that could wipe us out, I decided it was time to grab another Foundation Element. Everyone gathered in the Gateway room. Batman, Hongo, Gandalf, Wyldstyle, and I took our places while the rest of the Vortex Riders gathered in a circle. The Rider Chance music played, scaring a few of our newcomers. Ben looked disturbed. “I am not sure this is a pleasant thing,” gulped Rook.

“We’re not entirely comfortable with this, either,” replied Lukas.

“And today’s riders are…” announced X-PO as the hands rotated. They stopped on “Xiomara!”

“Yes!” she cheered.

“And Emmanuel!” called X-PO.

“Très bon!” replied Emmanuel. They took their places on the Gateway Platform.

“Good luck!” wished Mr. Babineaux.

“Come back safe, Your Majesty!” called Michael. Everybody made their farewells.

“Everyone,” I said to my team once the farewells were completed, “CHARGE!” We went through the rift and arrived in 80’s era New York. There was chaos going on and strange lights in the sky. See-through people was terrorizing the citizens, in various states of decay.

“HEY!” protested Gandalf as he was slimed and robbed of his hat. “Accursed Pilfering Phantasm!” He zapped the creature, making it drop his hat.

“Ghosts?” asked Batman.

“G-g-ghosts?” stammered Wyldstyle.

“Surely, you’re not scared of a few specters?” chuckled Xiomara.

“I ain’t afraid of no ghosts,” replied Batman.

“The dead don’t rise from their graves without good reason,” mused Hongo. “We should find out what it is.”

“Agreed,” I affirmed.

“They look like they’re coming from over there,” observed Batman. I saw the building Batman was pointing to.

“Xiomara, Emmanuel, does that look familiar?” I asked. I pointed to a light up sign with a ghost trapped in the “NO” symbol. Their faces lit up.

“Ghostbusters HQ!” called Emmanuel.

“Come on!” cried Xiomara. We then heard something in the sky.

“Is that…screaming?” I muttered.

“Up there!” answered Emmanuel as he pointed upwards. “It looks like…A MAN AND AN ICE CREAM TRUCK FALLING OUT OF THE SKY!!”

“LOOK OUT!” warned the man. We got out of the way as the man landed on his back and the Ice Cream truck falling away from him. “My back!” he groaned. We went to help him up. Hongo’s eyes went wide when he saw the man’s face.

“Takeru?!” he yelped.

“You know him?” asked Batman.

“Tenkūji Takeru,” introduced Hongo, “Kamen Rider Ghost. He helped me fight Shocker and Shocker Nova.” Takeru then got over his pain and saw Hongo.

“Hongo-san!” cheered Takeru.

“Good to see you, Takeru!” replied Hongo. “What brings you here?”

“A fight with Igura,” answered Takeru.

“You met her again?!” yelped Hongo.

“This was back home,” elaborated Takeru. “I was enjoying a nice 20th birthday with my friends, and a celebration of coming back to life, when she attacked the temple. She started demanding a Hero Eyecon, but I wasn’t about to surrender them. I fought her off, then she made a blue vortex and threw me in there which got me here. Ever since then, I’ve been fighting these ghosts.”

“I don’t think that’s what she was talking about,” replied Hongo. “She may have been talking about an Eyecon with her lover’s soul, Hiro Adachi.”

“Never heard of him,” remarked Takeru.

“Former Shocker scientist, my biological father,” I explained. “I’m Megumi Hishikawa, Queen of the Feudal Nerd Society. This is Lady Xiomara.”

“Hola!” cheered Xiomara.

“Emmanuel,” I continued.

“Bonjour,” greeted Emmanuel.

“Batman,” I went on.

“And not the Shocker monster,” answered Batman.

“Wyldstyle,” I continued.

“Not a DJ,” clarified Wyldstyle.

“And Gandalf,” I finished.

“Pleasure to meet you,” greeted Gandalf.

“We’re heading to the source of all these ghosts,” I explained. “Want to tag along?”

“Sure!” replied Takeru.

“Let’s go!” I called. We walked a few blocks to see a green blob possess another Ice Cream truck and make it go across purple goo and fly away.

“Okay, there’s no way that goo is safe,” remarked Wyldstyle.

“Agreed,” I muttered. “We need to find a way over.” I then got an idea. “Takeru-san, do you still have ghostly powers?”

“Yes, my belt keeps them. Why?” asked Takeru.

“Because we can fly everybody over the goo,” I replied. I then drew out my i.d tag. “Henshin!” I announced. Takeru was surprised when he saw me suit up.

“A Kamen Rider?!” he yelped.

“Kamen Rider Royal,” I answered. “And I have more surprises. Time to test the new Ben 10 i.d tag.” I drew out said i.d tag and swapped mine with that one. Because of the aliens Ben turns into, the icons circled. “You know, I think we should blend in with the ghostly crowd,” I mused.

“Just pay attention to it,” advised Batman.

“I’ll be fine,” I assured. “Look.” I selected an icon. “Boom, armor based off of Ben’s Ectonurite form.”

“Ben 10 Jetray Steel!” announced Vortoranii.

“What?!” I yelped. The wardrobe closed on me and altered my armor. I gained yellow horns, a red color scheme, and had flight suit wings under my arms. The wardrobe vanished as I felt something seize my vocal cords. “JETRAY!” I called. I then sighed and glared at my belt. “I asked for Ghostfreak, not Jetray!” I complained “Are you seriously gonna act like the Omnitrix?!”

“Hey, you’re the one who turned her head when Batman talked!” snapped Vortoranii. “That’s your fault. Besides, you can fly now, so quit complaining!” I sighed again.

“Emmanuel, get on my back,” I directed. “Xiomara, Gandalf, I’ll have to pick you up by my feet. Hongo, Wyldstyle, Batman, you’re with Takeru.” Emmanuel got on my back and I took off into the air. When I landed on the other side, I heard something say “EYE!” I turned to see a black parka with orange trim and orange eyes dancing around Takeru. He was wearing a belt that looked like an eye covered in slime. It had an orange grip that he could pull and push. The belt was saying “Batchiriminā! Batchiriminā!” (Watch out!) He then made various hand signs before putting his right pointer and middle finger in front of his face.

“Henshin!” he announced. He pulled the handle, the pushed it back in. The eye closed, then opened again.

“KAIGAN! ORE!” (Eyes open! It’s me!) called the belt. A suit similar to those of Tron: Legacy formed as the parka landed on him and made an orange faceplate with black eyes and a single horn. “Let’s go! Kakugo! (Dead Set!) Go, Go, Go GHOST! Go! Go! Go! Go!” continued the belt. Takeru pulled the hood back and allowed Hongo onto his back. He then grabbed Wyldstyle and Batman’s wrists and took off, landing on my side of the goo.

“That’s your persona as Kamen Rider Ghost?” I muttered. “Looks like a Tron suit.”

“Tron?” asked Ghost.

“I’ll explain later,” I replied. We went up a street to see four men in a tricked-out hearse. It had all sorts of gadgetry on the roof and was white with red trim. The men had some sort of technological backpacks with rifles connected by a tube to the backpack. The rifles were spitting out orange streams of light with blue streams of light circling the orange ones. The streams were ensnaring the ghosts. When they did so, they threw out metal boxes and opened them with a foot pedal.

“This concentration of spectral activity is too large for us to handle!” called one of the men, wearing glasses. “We need to return to base and recharge the packs!”

“Egon, I thought you said we’d be dead before the packs run out of juice!” remarked another man, going a little bald.

“Egon’s right!” supplied a portly man. “The PKE is actually messing up the packs’ half-life! We need to head to base so we can deal with the source of these ghosts!”

“Base IS the source of these ghosts!” reminded the final man, a black man with a moustache. “Remember?! Peck shut the containment unit down again!”

“Again?” sighed Emmanuel as we stayed out of sight. The recent ghost the men had snared started dragging them and their hearse along. They followed, screaming.

“…Well, that was weird,” I muttered

“Standard fare for those men,” replied Xiomara.

“Who were they?” I asked.

“The balding one is Peter Venkman, the de facto leader,” explained Emmanuel. “The black man is Winston Zeddemore, the mechanic. The man with the glasses is Egon Spengler, the brains of the group. The portly man is Ray Stanz, the handy man. Together, those men make up the Ghostbusters.”

“And this ‘Peck’ they mentioned?” I ventured

“Walter Peck, an EPA representative that harbors a distaste for the Ghostbusters,” replied Xiomara.

“And what did he shut down?” I asked.

“The containment unit for the ghosts the Ghostbusters catch,” explained Xiomara. We then heard a fire escape ladder come down, thanks to Gandalf.

“I believe a higher vantage point will help us,” remarked Gandalf.

“Good idea,” I said. We headed to the fire escape when some ghosts started causing trouble. They messed with the traffic lights and caused a 20-car pile-up at the intersection.

“Oh, these wicked spirits are fiendish!” hissed Gandalf.

“Get them out of there!” I shouted. We got the people out of the cars and checked them over. Surprisingly, they weren’t hurt.

“Now, how are we gonna get past that?!” asked Ghost as he cancelled his transformation.

“With the Chroma Keystone!” replied Wyldstyle. “Batman, the red disc is above us on the fire escape!”

“Got it!” said Batman. He fired his grapple gun at the ladder above us and yanked hard. It didn’t move. He yanked again, but nothing happened. “Er, Megumi, a little help?” he asked.

“Did he just…?” realized Wyldstyle.

“No!” said Batman, hurriedly.

“Stop the presses, I can see it now!” teased Emmanuel. “A headline in the Gotham Newspaper, ‘Batman Asks for Help!’”

“Quit teasing him!” I giggled as I swapped out the Ben 10 i.d tag for Batman’s.

“Batman Steel!” announced Vortoranii. My suit changed, and I fired a grapple gun. Together, we yanked the ladder down. When we made it to the top, we pushed the disc down. Wyldstyle leapt onto the roof of a nearby diner and got the yellow disc down to the street. All that was left was the blue one. We found it in the trunk of one of the cars in the pile-up.

“My turn!” called Wyldstyle.

“Not yet!” I stopped. “We need the Lock design!” My left arm started buzzing. “And I think I can get us that. Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate Rift detection!” I found the rift opening near a pile of goo. “Identify source of rift!” The info beamed into my head. “That one again?” I muttered. “Oh well. Locate help from W-1-Z-4-R-D-0-F-0-Z!” The Wizard of Oz’s podium appeared on top of the goo.

“Master build senses, tingling!” giggled Wyldstyle.

“Have at it!” I directed. Wyldstyle punched the podium, turning it into Lego bricks, and built a large speaker out of them. The ghosts nearby saw this and possessed it, making it move to the pile-up and turn around to make a Chroma Lock design appear. The left L was green, the circle was blue, and the right L was red.

“Now, my turn,” called Wyldstyle. “Chroma Keystone, activate! Chroma lock, reveal!” The lock design appeared. “Chroma! Red! Takeru! Chroma! Yellow! Emmanuel! Chroma! Blue! Batman!”

“What does she…?” began Takeru before I shoved him into the red paint. “HEY!” he snapped.

“It’ll evaporate soon,” I assured. Emmanuel and Batman went into their respective colors. Batman entered the circle, making blue, before heading to the left L. Emmanuel joined Batman and I led Takeru to the right L. The speaker attracted more ghosts before it started playing a snatch of a song.

Who’re you gonna call?

GHOSTBUSTERS!

The sound blew the pile-up out of the way before the speaker fell apart. We went on our way, avoiding streets with goo blocking the path, and went up one to see the Ghostbusters still being dragged along. The street was blocked by goo at the other end. “Looks like we’re flying,” I mused. I swapped out the current i.d tag for the Ben 10 one again. The alien icons scrolled by. “This time, I want Ghostfreak!” I selected his icon.

“Ben 10 Ghostfreak Steel!” announced Vortoranii.

“Thank you!” I remarked as the wardrobe closed on me. My armor changed into that of a stereotypical ghost with lines all over me. “GHOSTFREAK!” I said. I grabbed Batman, Hongo, and let Wyldstyle onto my back.

“EYE!” called Takeru’s belt. “Batchiriminā! Batchiriminā!”

“Henshin!” announced Takeru. He then pulled and pushed the lever.

“KAIGAN! ORE! Let’s go! Kakugo! Go, Go, Go, Ghost! Go! Go! Go! Go!” continued his belt. Ghost allowed Emmanuel onto his back and grabbed Xiomara and Gandalf. We went over the goo and turned right. We went down some more city blocks and flew over more goo. When we went to another intersection, the Statue of Liberty walked by. The Ghostbusters’ hearse dodged the feet. We followed the hearse to see a rift opening, allowing a dropship in police colors to fly into this universe. A billboard advertising the Ghostbusters fell on one advertising Stay Puft Marshmallows and they tumbled onto the street.

“These specters are truly restless,” muttered Gandalf. “And, rather bothersome!”

“I’ve got an idea,” called Batman. “I need to get onto the roof of that building.”

“I got you!” I replied. I flew Batman up to the rooftop to see a crane over the police dropship.

“Shift Keystone, activate!” announced Batman. “Yellow, on the same rooftop as me! Blue, on the crane! Magenta, above the dropship, same height as the crane arm! Shift! Megumi! Blue!” I arrived on the crane and found the controls. I used them to swing the crane arm over the dropship, under the magenta portal. “Shift! Gandalf! Magenta!” Gandalf appeared on the arm. He made the hook go down and latch onto the dropship. The pilot tried to get away but ended up making the dropship spin around the arm and smash the billboards, allowing us passage. We went to the alleys and arrived at Ghostbusters HQ to see a rift open up near the battered Ghostbusters. A small attack ship came out and a man with military style hair, black clothing, and a full beard flew out of the rift.

“Now, that’s what I call a Phantom Zone,” chuckled the man. He approached Egon, who waved some device over him.

“Ray, this looks extraordinarily bad!” reported Egon.

“The Foundation Element!” cheered the man. “Good!” He swiped the device from Egon’s hands.

“The PKE meter is a Foundation Element?!” gulped Xiomara.

“And PKE means…?” I asked.

“Psychokinetic Energy,” clarified Emmanuel. “The stuff ghosts are made of!”

“Your cooperation is noted,” boomed the man that stole the PKE meter. He then threw the Ghostbusters into his ship.

“Are you sure that’s needed?” burbled a voice. Sludgiona then popped up from the sewers.

“Without the Ghostbusters,” boasted the man, “the pitiful residents of this planet won’t stand a chance! New Krypton will rise from their ashes! All will kneel before Zod!” He flew up to his ship and Sludgiona headed into the Ghostbusters HQ, a firehouse refurbished.

“Krypton?” hissed Batman. “This is the one time I’d be happy to see Superman.”

“What’s General Zod doing, working for Vortech?!” asked Xiomara.

“Not so fast, Zod!” called Batman as he threw a batarang at one of the ship’s wings. It crashed onto the roof of Ghostbusters HQ. “We have to get that Foundation Element before they can escape!” declared Batman.

“Indeed!” replied Gandalf. “Although, I suspect we may encounter some otherworldly resistance!”

“Xiomara, Emmanuel, Hongo, suit up,” I directed. “We’re going in hot!”

“Understood!” replied Emmanuel.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“Henshin!” called the three. They transformed, and we headed into the lion’s spectral den.