Soo…yeah. I’m back. Sorry. I’ve been suffering from P.E.D.S. or Post-Election Depression Syndrome. But, I know that we will be strong and the stories we share here and the internet will always find a way to thrive.

Anyways, yeah. I’m back. I have been noticing a problem with images here though where they appear to disappear, blocked off for some reason. I’m going to try to get that fixed after Black Friday. Speaking of which, though, I can now finally share something I’ve been holding onto. This is going to be a couple of short-series in-between when my friends and I have our games chronicling various events in the VGB Story. If anyone is still interested in having a team-up or guest appearance, let me know here or send a PM. I also have the team stats in the section ‘Character Profiles,’ and I’m expecting my friend to share the stats for the events and enemies and allies we encountered in our adventures. For now, though, enjoy this short-story and keep an eye out for one I’ll be posting on Black Friday. These two will have hints at what’s to come.

Natalie Denver was surprised when Dr. Rome returned with Sally and a newcomer. The newcomer in general was short, with a wiry frame glasses, wearing matching brown slacks and a sport coat. He had a wide face and short brown hair that was going white below the ear line.
“Alright guys.” The Doctor smiled, “Group meeting! We have some big exciting news for today!”
“First off,” Nat asked as Joe Deemer, Cat Sphinx, and their ghost beagle Barney joined, “Who’s the squirt?”
“You seriously don’t recognize him?” Doctor Rome asked.
“It’s okay, Doctor.” The guy said sheepishly, shaking her hand “Louis Tully. I’m the Junior-Assistant-Vice-President of Finance, Lawyer, Legal Consultant/Representative, and Executive Financial Officer for Ghostbusters International.”
“And apparently you were possessed by a dog during the Ghostbusters very first case involving the coming of Gozer in 84.” Nat pointed out.
“It was actually a Demigod.” Doctor Rome explained, “But yes. That suits it perfectly. Not to mention that he was also the one who helped us get through our visit from Peck.”
“So what’s the deal?” Cat asked them.
“Well, you remember how I’ve always been cautious of protecting our team image, right?” Dr. Rome asked.
“Of course.” Natalie said.
“Well it seems like we’ve actually struck the first real merchandise contract I can actually get behind.” Dr. Rome smiled as Louis opened his briefcase and handed each of them a pamphlet.
“As you guys know,” Louis quickly explained, “The remake didn’t do so well with SONY and with you guys exposing that one guy during your first major client assignment with that Professor Alchanaut Fiasco and how SONY is going to lose seventy-million dollars as a result, the following projects they planned to release in the coming years have been shelved.”
“Wait.” Natalie said, taking her pamphlet, “Is this anything to do with that CODE: ECTO 2099 Crap I read about on the Internet where they’re trying to put Ghostbusters in the future so they can bring that cancelled Colonial Marines Busters concept to life?”
“Well, yes and no.” Louis said, “Which is kind of what involves you guys. See, Dr. Venkman didn’t want to risk getting everything tanked, so he talked to some animation company and they apparently agreed with him to do a new cartoon that he mentioned you all might be interested in.”
Sally was handed a drawing of a tan-skinned woman with dark blue hair wearing a no-ghost T-Shirt and blue jeans. Nat was handed a drawing of a woman with flaming red hair and Harry Potter-like glasses wearing a Ghostbusters Flight Suit that was colored dark blue with the familiar No-Ghost Logo on the arm, but without a nametag topped off with the proton pack and other equipment which looked almost looked like something out of a Disney Cartoon. Joe was given a drawing of a man with parted auburn hair with the same kind of equipment and uniform. Cat was given a drawing of a woman with bright long blonde hair wearing a yellow suit jacket and tie over an orange buttoned-down-shirt and skirt. Lastly, Dr. Rome was handed a drawing of a man wearing the same colored flight suit and equipment who looked a bit fit for his age with medium-length blue hair. Near his feet was a cartoon-friendly-styled ghostly apparition of a beagle.
“What am I looking at?” Natalie asked.
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear you ask that.” Brendan explained, “Well, to answer your question, Nat; you’re looking at yourself.”
“What?!” Everyone save for Sally asked.
“Yeah. They’re going to do an animated series about us now.” Dr. Rome smiled, “And before anyone gets upset, I’ve hammered out all the kinks so we’ll be represented respectfully and in a way that won’t insult children’s intelligence. I also haven’t given them the okay button, and went out of my way to get them to share concept designs and details for ideas and episode formats with us first before they officially started.”
“Alright, I guess.” Natalie said, “Guess that’s a fair compromise. Intelligence over brain-rotting numbness any day.”
“They’ve also had discussions with some talented guys in the voice acting business already.” Louis explained, “Although they don’t want to recast any of the guys from the series about the New York Team, but they got some top-notch people nonetheless.”
“Really?” Joe asked, “Like who?”
“Well for starters they have Greg Abbey as their top choice for voicing you, Mr. Deemer.” Louis explained, soliciting a snicker from Natalie.
Brendan raised an eyebrow.
“What’s so funny?” He asked.
“Nothing.” Natalie assured, although it was a terrible bluff, “It’s just a joke for kids.”
Brendan stood there confused as Joe slapped his face, obviously getting the reference.
“I’m sure he’s done other roles, Nat.” He noted.
“Anyways,” Louis continued, “They have Tabitha St. Germain voicing you, Ms. Denver. Apparently she heard about casting and is so far the best choice to play you.”
“Nice.” Natalie said, “I get to be voiced by Nazz!”
“Who’s Nazz?” Brendan asked.
“I’ll explain later.” Natalie replied, “Waitasec. Who’d they get to voice you, Brendan?!”
“That’s the big one, Ms. Denver.” Louis explained, “It took some convincing, but they got Mark Hamill to sign on to play Doctor Rome.”
Natalie and Joe gasped.
“THE Mark Hamill?!” Natalie questioned, “The same Mark Hamill who plays Luke Skywalker?! The same Mark Hamill who many consider to be the definitive Joker tied only with Heath Ledger?!”
“The one and the same.” Louis noted, “Additionally, they got Heather Langenkamp to voice Cat and Nicole Vigil to voice Sally. Which is pretty cool because she’s never done any voiceover save for that documentary they did a few years ago. Plus, while Vigil isn’t that well known except for people who remember her from that Telltale Walking Dead Game a few years back, it might be beneficial to get her name back on track. Personally I haven’t played it, but I know someone who did and they got really sad by the end, not that a zombie-apocalypse isn’t cheery, but-”
“Woah,” Joe interrupted, “Hold on, hold on! Why did we need to hear about this outside of looking at the artwork and what-not?”
“Well,” Louis said, “That’s the other thing. In order to make this show different and unique, they’re going to have live-action segments to open and bookend the episodes and they want you guys to host those segments when possible.”
“Seriously?!” Natalie asked, amazed.
“Yeah,” Louis responded, “The plan is each episode will open and end in Dr. Rome’s lab and one of you will play yourselves in the live-action segments as a rotating host thing. At the end of each episode, you’ll explain a homemade science project that kids can try.”
“Which I wholly approve of.” Brendan noted, “That way it can be for everyone to learn from without just talking down to them.”
“I guess I’m in for that then!” Nat declared.
“And so am I.” Joe noted.
“Great.” Louis told them, “Just remember, this doesn’t leave the room.”
“The only thing is we’re going to have to do a live promotion for this thing.” Brendan explained, “And because we have the holiday season coming up, and the fact that we’re going to get swarmed with questions once we go to the press about this, Venkman’s got us booked for a Black Friday Mall Event off-island. Just for us to come out and announce this alongside the stars.”
“You mean I’m actually going to get to meet Mark Hamill?!” Natalie demanded, “I’m going to be living every fanboy/fangirl’s dream?!”
“The voice actors will actually be coming to you guys, once we’ve confirmed the others.” Louis said, “It’s apparently so they can get to know you better and figure out how they’re going to take their approach to portraying you guys.”
“Just don’t geek out when they get here for appearances sake, okay?” Brendan asked for insurance.
“Okay.” Natalie sighed.
“There’s something else that doesn’t leave this room as well.” Brendan stated.
“Oh?” Joe asked, “What is that?”
“Doctor Venkman thinks if this is successful enough, it might spark enough interest to do a proper film continuation with our team as the basis.” Brendan explained, “Obviously a lot will have to be changed because I doubt Bill Murray will ever want to be associated with this again, and without Harold Raimis…”
“Just as long as I get to be played by Daisy Ridley.” Natalie said, imagining what the Force Awakens star might look like as her.
“We’ll see what happens.” Brendan stated, “Like I said, it’s only a rumor at this point in time. But nothing we’ve discussed here leaves the room, okay?”
Everyone nodded.
“Then it’s settled.” Brendan stated, “We’ll have Thanksgiving Dinner, then be ready to move our asses out on Black Friday to meet with them and do the announcement. They will be flying out up here to meet with us though. That way we can shoot some behind the scenes footage for the DVD’s or what-have you.”
“Looking forward to it.” Natalie smiled.

Hope you enjoyed this short-story here. See you all again Black Friday. Stay safe and have a very healthy and happy Thanksgiving.

Hi again, everyone! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed the Black Friday Shopping today. As promised, here’s my Black Friday Short:

Natalie Denver had seen many things. At a very young age, she had a close-encounter with the Greek Lord of the Underworld and now at age 23, she had fought various paranormal entities including God-Level types and had come out victorious alongside her friends. But despite the poor election this year (to be fair, they were still on Martha’s Vineyard and she didn’t expect Brendan would jump onboard to help the next President anytime soon either,) things were still looking up for the team. In fact, Natalie was really looking forward to what was going to happen now.
As the team vehicle pulled into the mall, she read the giant sign ‘MuchoMart Shopping Mall.’ Underneath the letters was an electronic sign which displayed messages like ‘BLACK FRIDAY SALE TODAY!’ and ‘TODD SHIELD’S ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHRISTMAS PANTO TODAY!’ Then of course there was the one Natalie expected to see which read ‘VINEYARD GHOSTBUSTERS SPECIAL EVENT TODAY!’ Natalie’s grin grew even wider as she drove the car around the back and parked behind the mall where the staff members would park. So much was happening today besides her being able to drive the team vehicle.
Today was finally the day that the team would be announcing the official statement of their upcoming animated series. A few months ago, Ghostbusters International’s Junior-Assistant-Vice-President of Finance, Lawyer, Legal Consultant/Representative, and Executive Financial Officer Louis Tully had met with Dr. Rome and had begun making preparations alongside Dr. Peter Venkman to have an animated series based on the Martha’s Vineyard Team due to the cancelation of the CODE: ECTO series, and to hopefully renew and bring back more loyal fans into the fold who they had lost this year. The actual members would portray themselves during the introduction and closing live-action segments which would serve as a framing method for the story, and would also contain science experiments for younger audiences to try at home. However, the animated segments would be portrayed by other actors since any of the team members could be called out at any time. Despite that, they had a truly five-star ensemble featuring the voices of Mark Hamill, Greg Abby, and Tabitha St. Germain as Brendan, Joe, and herself respectively.
Natalie was so excited she had a hard enough time keeping this all to herself, so to be able to finally say it out loud was a great relief. Not to mention that when Mark Hamill had shown up at the HQ to meet with Brendan to discuss his approach to the role, she had to bite her lip to prevent herself from completely geeking out over the whole thing, and asking him to sign her old Original Trilogy VHS Collection. As a kid, the only time Natalie had not been interested in the paranormal was when she watched the original trilogy one day and decided she wanted to be a Jedi Knight when she was older. She had even run around the house in her bedsheets one day wielding a flashlight like a lightsaber before she accidently tripped on the sheets putting an end to those dreams.
As the team exited the car, a man in an outdated vest and firmly pressed plaid pants with wire frame glasses came out of the back entrance. He seemed to be in his 30’s, with his hair slicked back properly.
“There you are.” He said, “You’re here, good. C’mon. We have a lot to do today.”
They nodded and followed him into a small lounge area where an assortment of pastries and cups of water were all set up. And there, sure enough, were the actors portraying the animated Vineyard Ghostbusters all sitting together on a couch.
“Hey, you guys made it!” Hamill stated, waving to them.
“Good to see you too.” Brendan said, shaking his hand.
From there, the team conversed with the actors for a while until the mall worker came back.
“Alright.” He said, “It’s time. If you will all follow me.”
The group got up and followed until they were behind a stage area. The worker went forward and began to speak.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” The man stated, “Welcome to the Martha’s Vineyard Ghostbusters event. I’m so glad to see you’ve decided to take time off from your Black Friday shopping in order to attend this exciting opportunity. We have special surprises in store for you and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do. Now, without further ado, please welcome the Martha’s Vineyard Ghostbusters!”
There was a round of applause as the team took the stage. Brendan smiled at the many reporters and guests who were all dressed in winter gear and who had bags upon bags of various items by their feet.
Brendan adjusted the microphone before speaking into it.
“Hi.” Brendan greeted, “I guess we need no introduction seeing as how we saved this world and possibly others from destruction.”
Everyone chuckled, as Brendan continued.
“I do want to point out one other member here with us who is a very special member of our team.” Brendan said, putting his arm around Sally, “This is Sally Aso. She was an instrumental help in stopping the Tamanaug Crisis, just as much as us Ghostbusters were. And we’ve welcomed her into our little Ghostbusting Team.”
Everyone applauded as Sally took her place next to Nat.
“Now then.” Brendan explained, “I know that next year looks pretty terrifying for anyone who’s a democrat. But my advice; preserve through it. Keep your kids educated. Help teach them to accept other things rather than just dismiss them. But to help you through the coming years, I’m happy to announce that we have reached a deal that will allow you to see us on TV every Saturday and Sunday. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am happy to announce for the first time ever; THE REAL VINEYARD GHOSTBUSTERS ADVENTURES!”
A curtain was pulled down revealing a group shot of the Vineyard Team in their animated form. They were met with thunderous applause and flashing lights from cameras.
“Production is already underway and top animators and storytellers are working their best to give kids a new group of animated heroes to look up to and learn from. While we don’t have a premiere date yet, we’ll be on Saturdays at 9:30 AM and the series will feature live action openings and endings staring myself and my teammates wherein the youth can learn about how to make their own little science experiments, while getting educated on history and science from the animated episodes themselves.”
He paused and looked off-stage at the other actors waiting.
“Now, we do have some of the voice actors playing our animated counterparts to allow us to continue with our normal day-to-day lives, so I’ll introduce them. First off, playing Joe Deemer, our Experimental Equipment Technician; a man who Natalie tells me is great ‘for kids’ (whatever that means,) please welcome Greg Abby!”
Everyone applauded as Greg took his spot next to Joe.
“Playing Natalie Denver, our team’s muscle and mechanic; please welcome a woman who is both pleasant and can be the strong woman that inspires young girls to do more with their lives, the very lovely and talented Tabitha St. Germain.”
Everyone applauded again as Tabitha walked out, shaking Natalie’s hand and then standing side by side with her.
“We’ve already also casted roles for our secretary and for Sally, but we’ll share that in the following months.” Brendan explained, “As for myself… well, GBI’s Dr. Peter Venkman who works in his spare-time in Hollywood as a Producer and who helped personally finance and get our amazing animated series crew together, looked high and low to find a suitable voice actor who could do me justice and portray me in a respectable way just as much as my teammates. He eventually managed to talk one actor into accepting who is no stranger to sci-fi. I admit that I never once watched a science-fiction movie until my new team came together. But over the past few months, my team and I met with our voice actors to help them find their approaches to the roles. This man who is voicing me has also starred in a number of major projects, is considered as much of a fanboy of pop-culture as Natalie is, but I have personally gotten to know him better as a great friend who I think is going to do my animated self justice. Ladies and gentlemen, my animated counterpart’s voice actor, Mark Hamill!”
Everyone went nuts as Mark walked up next to Brendan and smiled, the team taking their place with the voice actors. The crowd snapping as many pictures as they could
“Thank you so much for joining us for the announcement.” Brendan told everyone, “We’ll see you in about a year or two hopefully! Enjoy the rest of Black Friday!”
As they began to go back down, they heard a scream. Looking back, they saw what appeared to be the ghost of a middle-aged woman. She was wearing a flower skirt and shirt, her entire boy featuring what appeared to be footprints and one eyeball in her face appearing as though it were popping out halfway. She also seemed to glow with an aura of red.
“WHYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!” She screamed.
“Just what I was thinking.” Natalie said sarcastically.
“EVERYONE FIND SHELTER!” Brendan declared, “Nat, get our voice actors to safety with our employee friend. Joe, you and I are going to retrieve our stuff.”
He looked at Sally.
“You got this?” He asked.
“Always.” She said.
With that, she grabbed him by his cheek and pulled him in for a quick kiss.
“Good luck.” Brendan said.
He hated leaving her without weapons, but Sally did know a couple of spells that she had been practicing since the Hades incident. Seeing as how she was part of the bloodline of Tamanaug, she had taken it upon herself to see if she had any more hidden potential and with Brendan’s help, she found she was capable of a few spells. Not anything powerful but at least she knew some defensive spells and some small-range portal spells to redirect anything thrown at her.
Sally looked at the ghost determined as it glared daggers at her.
“WHYYYYYYYYY?!?” She screamed.
“Ma’am.” She assured, “I think you’re overreacting. Just calm down and we can discuss this…”
The woman simply swiped her arm sideways as though she were trying to hit a fly. However, various shoes of all types appeared and flew right towards Sally. She closed her eyes, repeating one spell she had been practicing drew a line with one finger upwards. As she drew the line, a portal opened up which swallowed the shoes and then distributed them through another portal, causing them to fall on top of some aisles.
“Okay.” Sally said, “Obviously not going to do this the easy way, huh?”
The woman just growled and disappeared. Instantly, she popped up infront of Sally. Before she could ask what was happening, the woman swatted her in the face, sending her into a pile of toasters that were on-sale. As she got up, she saw the woman wave her hands again. This time, it was a series of envelopes that appeared. Except now they were glowing with a blue aura.
“Class I Swarmers.” Sally groaned, “Great.”
Suddenly, the woman was blasted from behind by a familiar proton stream. Sally looked to see the others had returned and were already geared up. She smiled as Brendan was already helping her up and into her own proton pack.
“As much as I love this new magic.” Sally admitted, “I much prefer the packs.”
“What’ve we got now?” Brendan asked.
The Woman yelled and suddenly the letters ripped in two. However, the ripped edges seemed to heal, creating doubles of the letters. Then they ripped and regrew again about four times before the process stopped.
“Far too many letters to sort through.” Sally admitted.
“Well, I just had that guy who lead us here sign the waiver, so that’s something.” Brendan admitted, half-jokingly.
With that, the letters came at them fast. Brendan fired a quick stream as did Sally, taking out a couple of the swarmers in the process. However, most evaded the blast and resulted in a couple of aisles getting singed. The trampled-looking Ghost screamed as she flew off down another isle.
“GO GET HER!” Brendan called out.
“Right!” Joe nodded, as he and Natalie took off.
As the two remaining Ghostbusters dealt with the swarmers, they stood back-to-back. After some time and effort, they had cleared the area of the swarmers.
Brendan pulled out his phone and called up Nat who picked up on the second ring.
“Nat, where are you and Joe currently?” Brendan asked.
“We chased that woman into the parking lot.” Nat explained, “She somehow ditched us, but we’re going in after her.”
“Alright.” Brendan nodded, “Maintain safety. I got a scan on her before she dodged, she seems to be a Class V Remnant Manifestation with unknown abilities.”
“Well, she can throw shoes and summon swarmers, so we know two abilities.” Sally interjected.
“True.” Brendan nodded, “Stay safe and let us know if you find anything. I’m going to put in a call for more info.”
“Roger.” Natalie said, signing off.
“Some way to test the PKE Shades.” Sally noted.
Brendan nodded as he dialed HQ. Following the close-encounter with Hades, Brendan had been working on a way to make a pair of PKE Goggles capable for use among those who required glasses. Within two months, he had drawn up the blueprints and about a week ago, he had completed construction, which seemed to be working like a charm according to him and Joe. Essentially, the PKE Shades worked like google glasses, although they couldn’t give full historical detail from Tobin’s much like the goggles could. But fortunately he could zoom in and out if needed, and they at least allowed people to see in the dark.
After a third ring, Cat picked up on the other line.
“Brendan, you’re all right!” She declared, “Thank god! I was worried!”
“It’s all right, Cat.” Brendan assured, “We could actually use your help. Could you look and see if there’s anything about ghosts in the area we’re in? Specifically anything ranging from the 80’s onwards about women looking like they were stomped over?”
Brendan listened to the sound of typing as he waited for a response.
“Okay.” Cat explained, “Got something.”
“What?” He asked.
“It’s not much.” Cat warned, “But there was apparently an incident that happened years ago back when the place was called Doughtery Mall. The article says that a lady named Lola Tonni was supposedly run over during the Black Friday Rush of 1985. Although they never found a body.”
“So we’re possibly dealing with a ghost being interrupted by our coming here.” Sally surmised, “Great.”
“Cat, can you send me the article via e-mail?” Brendan asked.
“Sure thing, Brendan.” Cat answered, “Aaaaand…done.”
Brendan opened his e-mail and pulled up the article. It was a news article which read ‘LADY MISSING, SUPPOSEDLY DEAD DURING BLACK FRIDAY SALE!’ There was also a photo of police officers looking everywhere. Brendan quickly read over the article and then began scanning the picture with his eyes. When he found something, eyebrows narrowed as he zoomed in on the picture. When he had enough, he showed it to Sally. He had zoomed in on a door which had a little bit of a water stain near it, but was shown to actually be part of a puddle being dragged into the door.
“It was snowing that day.” Brendan explained, “Which means that someone knew about this and tried to hide it.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“You know…” Joe explained, “This is not how I wanted today to go.”
“Life’s full of disappointments.” Natalie mentioned, as she scanned the area.
Suddenly, the PKE Meter began detecting something coming from a nearby door. However, she noted there were ‘Keep Out’ signs all over the door.
“Well, I think I found something.” Natalie explained.
“Do you have a key?” Joe asked, as he walked next to her.
“Of sorts.” Natalie smirked as she shot a stream at the side of the door, breaking it open.
Natalie then grabbed the doorknob and opened it for Joe.
“After you.” She said, politely.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
“Well,” The aide who had helped them explained to Brendan and Sally, “I was just a young teen then, but I can tell you what happened.”
“Go on.” Brendan explained.
“Well,” He said, “During the Black Friday Sale of 1985, we had our largest crowd yet. Once we were certain everyone was in, we noticed a young boy who was crying for his Mom. We looked all around the store and couldn’t find her to any avail.”
“Is that all that happened that day?” Brendan asked, “You never found the body.”
“No. Never.” The Worker assured, with certainty.
Brendan nodded.
“Sir,” He said, “I spent five years of my life lying to my friends, my family, and even to myself. I’ve watched enough politics to know when a person is truthful or not. I can tell that you’re not being honest.”
“What…” The guy asked, “What do you mean?”
“You answered the question with finality as a man who has said ‘no’ to everything his whole life.” Brendan elaborated, “There was also the faint twitching of an eyeball as though you were hiding something that you never wished to tell to this day. Believe me, it is an impressive feat that you’re able to hold information better than some other people who worked with various franchises have, but it won’t work on me, I’m sorry to say.”
The aide looked at him amazed as Sally looked at him with an assuring look.
“Sir,” She said, “It’s all right. Whatever happened, we’ll sort this out. We promise.”
The man sighed.
“It’s my boss, Kyle Doughtins.” He explained, “Back then we were just cashier workers making our money. When the search had proved fruitless, I went to check on Kyle and found he had dragged the body downstairs to the basement and was in the middle of burying it. He threatened to take my life if I ever exposed him. I’m weaker than him so I had to watch as he rose in the higher-ups.”
“That’s horrible!” Sally declared, “Don’t worry, sir. We’ll make sure he gets his just deserts.”
“For now we gotta take care of that Ghost.” Brendan said, “We’ll trap it and deal with what happens next.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
“Wow!” Natalie whistled, looking at the lower storage area, “Y’know, I always wondered what some stores did with old decorations!”
She and Joe were checking the lower basement for any further signs of the ghost. However, Natalie seemed more impressed with all the retro decorations from past events stored down in the basement area.
“Natalie, can you please focus?” Joe asked.
He was aware that Natalie was often easily sidetracked by certain things, but she was still a good friend and a down-to-earth person he could still converse with on the team who didn’t speak in big scientific words and technobabble like Brendan often did.
“Sorry, Joe.” Natalie apologized, “It’s just hard to believe they’d keep this many decorations.”
“Speaking of which,” Joe added, “What are you going to do for our little Christmas get-together?”
Natalie was suddenly quiet.
“Nat?” Joe asked her.
“I actually haven’t thought about it.” She admitted, “I know Brendan’s obviously going to have Sally over for the first Christmas they’ll ever have together. But I’ve been kinda out-of touch with my own parents.”
“I don’t think it has to be your parents.” Joe suggested.
Natalie sighed.
“There is my older brother.” She admitted, “But he’s working as a college professor now, so I’d have to see if he could take off as well.”
“Give it a shot.” Joe suggested.
“Okay.” She agreed, “I’ll talk to Brendan and then ring him up afterwar-”
She was cut off when her foot suddenly fell a little bit downwards. Regaining her sense of surroundings, Natalie looked and found that it was a crudely-dug grave that she had fallen into. She whipped her cell back out and dialed as fast as she could.
“Brendan?!” She declared, “BRENDAN!!!”
There was nothing.
“Dammit.” She swore, “I can’t get a signal.”
She looked at Joe who was appearing quite uncomfortable for some reason or another.
“What is it, Joe?” She asked.
She turned around and got her answer. Floating in front of her was the ghost they were chasing.
“Well, nuts.” She grumbled.
With that, the Ghost swiped at her. However, Natalie ducked under and rolled around, blasting it in the back. Joe fired a blast as well as the woman let out a wail.
“WE GOT HER!” Natalie grinned.
However, the ghost outstretched both of its arms screaming loudly. Four dozen swarmers suddenly flew out as Joe and Nat quickly began trying to keep themselves alive.
“WHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?” It screamed.
“These things just keep coming!!” Natalie yelled as another four dozen swarmers appeared.
“I’m open to suggestions!” Joe screamed.
“Don’t worry!” a familiar voice declared, “The calvary’s here!”
With that, they saw Brendan running down the stairs, pack aimed directly at the female ghost. Before she could make a move, he fired at her left arm as Sally fired at her right, snagging both successfully. Suddenly, the letters vanished as Brendan and Sally began slamming the ghost around everywhere.
“Joe?” Natalie asked, “Care to do the honors?”
“With pleasure.” Joe agreed, sliding out the trap.
With that, he opened it as the ghost screamed trying to resist the pull of the trap. However, it was all for naught as she quickly went in. The trap closed and beeped, showing that it was successfully caught inside there.
“Did you just quote Overwatch?” Natalie asked.
“What’s Overwatch, Natalie?” Brendan asked.
Natalie lifted her glasses up so she could rub her eyes with her fingers.
“Nevermind.” She sighed, before straightening herself back up and looking at him, “So what now?”
“Now we make sure things are okay with everybody upstairs.” Brendan said, “And then I have to have a word with the manager.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Kyle Doughtins was surprised when Doctor Brendan Rome of the Vineyard Ghostbusters entered his office unexpectedly.
“Doctor Rome!” He said, cheerfully, “What a pleasant surprise! I heard you caught the ghost! You must be very proud of you and your team since this’ll surely make a wonderful promo…”
“Shut the f**k up.” Brendan demanded.
Kyle looked at him shocked, angered, and insulted.
“I’m sorry?!” He demanded.
“Shut up.” Brendan said, “Shut up. Just shut the f**k up. I know what we caught, Doughtins. And now, you’re going to confess what you did.”
“What I did?!” Kyle demaned.
“Why’d you hide the body?” Brendan asked, putting his two hands on Doughtins’ desk so he could lean in.
“I was taking quick action.” He told him, “A death like that on the premises would’ve called for tons of paperwork and unnecessary unpleasant memories at what is supposed to be the beginning of the Holliday season. I took it upon myself to simply make it look as though she had vanished. Did it seem suspicious? Sure. But I covered my tracks good and it never got out that someone died here.”
“People can do a lot of things, Doughtins.” Brendan said, “But you know what you can’t do? Pretend that death won’t affect anybody. Because of you, a young boy was taken home by his Dad who didn’t even know if his wife had upped and left him or not, but suspected the worst had happened. He spent a miserable Christmas anyways. Your precious little job might not have suffered, but other people did. So now you’re going to get out there and tell everybody exactly what the hell you did, and then step down from your position.”
“And if I refuse?” Doughtins smirked.
“Well, I thought of that.” Brendan said, pulling out his phone, “Nat? Do you and Mr. Johnson have the little talk we were having recorded from the security cameras?”
“Yep.” Natalie responded, as Kyle’s face turned into a snarl.
“Johnson, you prick!” Doughtins declared.
“So there you go.” Brendan warned, “Either admit to your crimes, or my team and I will do it for you personally. Although I have to admit, if I were in your position, it probably wouldn’t be the best to let us do it seeing as how it’s the beginning of the Holliday season and having someone expose you like that would be bad for publicity. Oh, and don’t even think about threatening me. The last time a normal person did so, he ended up getting arrested big time.”
With that, he turned around and left.
“We also had Johnson sign the waiver so we’re covered, and you also still have to pay us for our job.” Brendan explained, “You can mail the check to us. Happy Holidays, sir.” He called, sarcastically.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Despite the sudden appearance of the ghost, everything had worked out okay. However, when Natalie, Joe, and Sally were interviewing people and making sure they were mentally fine, one woman did have a strange story. She claimed that during the attack, she had run off and somehow found a living toy with crazy red hair and a scar across its face holding a knife who promised he’d be seen ‘in a month or so.’ However, the team had found no other PKE Signatures or signs of such a thing, so they were all right for now. The bottom line was that both the shoppers and the special guest voice actors were safe.
Brendan had also done some quick google searching and explained that the spirit, formerly known as Lola Tonni, had a family who was still alive and living not too far from the mall. So in order to help give them closure, the team managed to extend their time here by pushing their ferry reservation back a little bit more, so they could allow the family to say goodbye. First, they had visited her husband who Brendan had stayed with for about twenty minutes before their final stop; her son’s. Brendan was taking longer, but before he went in, Natalie had gotten permission to call her brother and ask him if he’d be able to join them for the Christmas dinner.
After calling his cell number, she waited nervously as the phone rang. Finally, on the third ring, someone picked up.
“Hello?” The voice asked.
“Erik!” She said cheerfully, “Hi! It’s Natalie!”
“Nat!” Erik declared, “How are you?!”
“Well, I’m good if you’ve seen the news about Martha’s Vineyard.” Natalie smiled.
“I did.” Erik responded, “You’re quite the celebrity up there. Tell me; is it true you’re hosting the Oscars next year?!”
“Well I haven’t said yes.” Natalie laughed, “But listen: I want to talk to you about something serious. I know I haven’t talked to you or Mom or Dad in a while, but the Holidays are coming up and I was wondering…do you think you can see if you can come up to the Vineyard and join me and my friends for a Christmas Dinner. I’m sorry if it’s really last-second, but I think I’d appreciate it.”
There was a pause as Natalie was worried that she might’ve blown it.
“I can check.” Erik suggested, “I’m pretty sure I can, but I’ll just make sure. I’d love to anyways.”
“Great!” Natalie told him, happily, “So I’ll let my friends know, and when you find out just text me and I’ll send you directions.”
“Looking forward to it.” Erik admitted.
“All right.” Natalie smiled, “Well, I guess that’s about it. Take care of yourself, Erik.”
“Will do.” He replied, “Bye, Nat.”
“Bye.” Natalie said, hanging up.
She looked at everyone else.
“Good news!” She said, “He’ll most likely be able to come!”
“Terrific, Nat.” Joe declared.
Suddenly, they watched the door to the house open and Brendan exit with the trap.
“So how was it?” Sally asked, as he got in the car.
“As to be expected.” Brendan explained, “But I thought it was only fair to allow them a chance to say goodbye. It was emotional, but worth it.”
“I know.” She said, as she took Brendan’s hand, “But I have good news.”
“Which is?” Brendan asked, as they pulled out of the driveway and began their trip back to the Vineyard.
Sally took out her phone and pulled up an article.
“It seems that Kyle Doughtins admitted to his crimes.” She explained, “They’re already talking about replacements. So far, nothing official but rumor has it Mr. Johnson could be the next manager since he did help us with the info about Lola. So our reputation is fine and his seems to be only going up.”
Brendan smiled, knowing that man fully deserved the spot for all the years he spent in silence. It seemed only right that he was now ready to lead in his own way now.
“Well,” he said, “Tis the season of giving.”

Hope you all enjoyed this. The next few short stories will be little snippets of the team getting ready for the holidays, and then after we have our live show next year, I’ll post how that went. Happy Black Friday!

A/N: Added the explanation for how Sally knows spells. Forgot to mention it there, but yeah. Like I said, nothing too fancy, but always nice to have someone with magical experience on the team.

One thing I forgot to mention; my birthday’s coming up and one of the things I have on my list is a custom-made PKE Meter for my cosplay. The wings don’t go up, but the detection on this device is based on how fast the lights go. I’ll post photos of me with it later. Just wanted to mention this now.

Hi, everyone. It’s been a while since I posted last. I’ve been having some trouble with the most recent player to our game, but we’re working things out and I saw my other player and our previous Ghostmaster over the holidays for a reunion at my Christmas Party. We’ve discussed what I’ve written up so hopefully in March or May, our previous GM will head the first half of our chapter when I return to New York, and then I’ll GM the final part on the Vineyard. We do live in different areas, but I think we can make this work hopefully. Worse-case is that I do a Skype game or run the whole thing with my other player who lives where I am now.

Without giving too much away, story-wise, there are some similarities to GB Resurrection Season 2 where my team’s leaving the Vineyard, but instead of going overseas, we’re going to the West Coast to investigate the disappearance of the new LA Ghostbusters (who like the international branch, are based off of some well-known Video Game characters,) but it will also set-up plans I have for a future game to try and celebrate the upcoming 35th Anniversary of the franchise coming up.

I’ll post more details soon, but I think I have a good feeling that this year we’re going to return to the Vineyard Ghostbusters just as we’ll hopefully see the Central Florida Franchise continue.