"You're kidding me, right? One of your friends was originally an artificial being?” Kairi asked Makoto as they went inside the Ecto-1 back to the Ghostbusters' station.
Now that the last node of the mandala that Ivo Shandor had installed on his island, now sunken deep in the Hudson River, had been closed, the threat that loomed over the city and the world had disappeared, so that now everyone was returning to the station to rest and settle some unfinished business, such as the black box and Walter Peck's involvement in the whole thing. And meanwhile, Kairi and Makoto were beginning to get to know each other better now that they were calmer.
"That’s right," Makoto replied. “Although in your case I'm still confused about the Nobody you call Namine. If she’s a part of you, doesn't that make her your sister?"
"Honestly, I had never thought about it," Kairi replied. "Although she is indeed part of Sora too since she was born when he released my heart from his body."
"Seriously, this thing about the Nobodies is too complicated for me," Makoto said, scratching her head.
"Well, I find that interesting," Egon commented. “A life form that is born from another, lacking the original feelings of his original body but keeping the memories of him? That could open a new line of investigation of the human being in environments other than the paranormal. But the topic of the creation of life forms for the exploration of unknown and unstable territories for the human being could also be observed in the future.”
"Egon, that's like opening Pandora's box, so just forget about it," Eve warned.
"She's right, Egon," Peter said. “How many times have we played with something that we didn't know that has ended up exploding in our faces? Do you remember the incident of the stone tablet and the hole that was formed in the middle of the city?
"We were lucky we didn't get sued for it!" Ray exclaimed. "Although in our defense it was all a pretty well-crafted set-up."
"Sometimes I don't know how you're still in business," Edea commented, overhearing the conversation.
As they talked, the Ecto-1 arrived at the Ghostbusters' station, but...
"Guys, I think we have a problem," Winston said.
When they got out of the vehicle, they saw that the interior of the building was a mess, with papers on the floor and some furniture lying on the floor.
"What the hell has happened here?" Edea asked, looking around her.
"Oh, thank god you're here!" Janine exclaimed as she ran towards them and hugged Egon.
"What's going on, Janine? Where’s Ilyssa?” Ray asked.
“She's gone! They took her!” Janine replied, looking at the group all excited. “One minute everything was fine, the next it was chaos! Ghosts flying everywhere!”
"Janine, slow down!" Egon exclaimed to the woman to calm her down. "Start from the beginning."
"Okay. Well," Janine answered, calming down. “I was a little late this morning because one of the heels on my favorite pair of pumps broke and Lester’s was out of my favorite tea. You know how I love my chamomile. Well, a-and…"
"Okay, maybe not the beginning," Peter said when everyone got tired of the woman's verbiage.
"Why don't you start before everything got upside down?" Nina asked.
"Okay, okay," Janina agreed. “Someone jumped me from behind. And before I passed out, I heard Ilyssa struggling and yelling, 'No!' And the last thing I remember was the scream of the dead and damned echoing in my brain!"
"So either there was a mass escape from Rikers…" Peter began to say.
"...or someone shut down our containment grid," Egon finished. "Again."
"Again?" Ray asked, totally annoyed, as well as incredulous.
"Just like Peck threatened to do," Winston said.
"Hey guys, wait a moment. What do you mean by 'again'? Is it that they shut down the containment grid before?” Rena asked.
"That's right. And it was at this time that our old friend Gozer decided to visit the island of Manhattan a few years ago through the dimensional gate that Shandor designed," Ray explained.
"And guess who ordered it to shut down at that time," Winston asked.
"Let me see, Walter Peck?" Makoto asked.
"Correct," Winston admitted.
"It’s funny. I always knew Peck was a pencil-necked, bureaucrat prick. But I never pegged him as an evil occultist," Peter said.
“I don't know…” Kairi said. “Something tells me we're not seeing the whole picture. This all seems too convoluted to me.”
"Well, we'll ask Peck when we rescue Ilyssa from his clutches," Priere said.
"But where did he take her?" Ray asked.
"And where are all the ghosts?" Winston asked. "’Cause, no offense, but if all the ghosts we've ever caught just escaped, I'm clocking out."
"Yeah, they would be awfully mad at us," Ray said.
"Without forgetting the Fallen you've somehow caught and put into that thing," Edea warned.
"Exactly," Winston confirmed. "It’s generally a bad idea for the guards to hang out in the cell blocks just after a prison break."
"But still, where are they?" Eve asked. "Wouldn't it have been better to wait for us hidden here to attack us by surprise as soon as we arrived?"
"That's not funny, Nina," Edea said.
“Uhm, pals?” Makoto said, directing her gaze to the TV, which she was on her side, and on which she seemed to be broadcasting a news item where many ghosts were seen causing chaos.
“This just in: as authorities continue to supervise the Thanksgiving evacuation of Manhattan, increasingly powerful tremors are rocking Central Park. The question is: where are the Ghostbusters?”
Everyone was watching TV at the time, heads bowed to watch the news.
"Tell you what… Kind of a nice day," Peter said. "Why don't we go to Central Park? Could round up some ghosts, save the girl… get back in time for a nap?”
"That’s the first time you've had a good idea, Peter," Rena said.
"Okay! The Ghostbusters ride again!” Ray exclaimed.
Immediately everyone got into the Ecto-1 and headed for Central Park as fast as the vehicle would allow them, while other vehicles moved out of town.
"Just once, I wouldn't mind running with these other fools away from the trouble," Winston commented as he drove.
"Where’s the fun in that?" Peter asked.
"I'll tell you where the fun is: nowhere," Kairi replied.
The vehicle reached Central Park, but the place began to turn into a huge cemetery, at the same time that a huge tower began to emerge from the center of the park, a place to which the ghosts seemed to go fly on. Everyone got out of the vehicle to see the whole image.
"Any guesses on where we’ll find Peck and Ilyssa?" Egon asked.
"How about the huge structure that just appeared in the center?" Makoto asked.
"I suspect that we’re going to need the Super Slammer up there," Ray said. "Not telling how powerful Peck has grown."
"That means we gotta take the Ecto-1," Winston said. "I’ll drive."
"Thanks, Winston," Ray said. "Any ideas?"
“First we must open the gate," Kairi said. "I suggest someone jump over the wall and find a way to open the door so the Ecto-1 can get through."
Then Kairi saw that everyone was looking at her. “Let me guess. As I have proposed the idea, it is up to me to execute the plan.”
"If you don’t mind," Ray said.
“And I suggest you go alone. That way if there are any sentinels it will be less likely that they will discover you," Egon proposed.
Kairi sighed resignedly and jumped over a wall.
“Make your way around to the other side and open this gate for us," Egon said.
"It will be a moment," Kairi said. "If I don't get lost."
Kairi began to wander around the graveyard area she was in, looking for some way to access some system that could open the gate.
"Wow! Look at the storm system building above that tower!” Ray exclaimed, being heard on the radio.
"Yes, and it gives me the creeps," Edea commented.
“Remember the last time we saw that kind of atmospheric disturbance?” Egon asked.
"That’s right," Winston said. "At Dana Barrett's building the night she turned into a dog."
“Wait, who became what?” Eve asked.
Kairi continued wandering through the cemetery, having some mishaps in the place because tombstones kept coming out of the ground without warning, blocking the path, and forcing her to use her brute force to be able to continue advancing.
"I don’t get it. We shut down the Mandala," Winston said. "How can all this still be happening?"
"That’s right. This makes no sense. Without the Mandala this should already have been solved," Nina commented.
“In the Gozerian Codex it’s written that a blood sacrifice and a tremendous amount of spiritual energy are needed to generate the Supreme Destructor Form," Ray explained.
“A Destructor Form again?” Winston asked.
"Peck probably couldn’t draw sufficient energy from the mandala before we shut it down," Egon said. "He found an alternate source in our containment unit."
"The energy of the escaped ghosts from our grid might be enough to produce a cross-dimensional event in itself," Ray said.
"But seriously, how MANY ghosts you had in that thing even BEFORE they got out?" Makoto asked.
"Like I said, enough to produce a cross-dimensional event in itself," Ray answered.
"Yes, and with Ilyssa here, I’m sure her Shandor ancestors aren’t far behind," Egon said.
"Well, let's hurry up before this all gets more chaotic than it already is now," Kairi replied as she continued searching the graveyard.
Kairi continued to search for a route to find the mechanism to open the cemetery gate, but the place was more of a labyrinth than anything else, even being forced to wander underground through various catacombs in the cemetery, feeling how the earthquakes continued in the place.
“Earthquakes… great," Winston said. “Could plague, pestilence, and death be far behind?”
"I bet on it," Ray said.
“Look, I don't want to say anything but there is something that has been bugging me for a while. Does it seem normal to you that a park becomes, out of sudden, into a cemetery?” Edea asked.
"Believe me, if you saw what we see every day, you wouldn’t think that way," Winston said. "Although it is weird, in fact."
"By the way, speed it up there, girl," Ray said directly to Kairi over the radio.
"Yeah, we don't want to stand here all day," Winston said.
"Why don't we switch places and you guys find a way to open the door?" Kairi asked, annoyed by the Ghostbusters' latest comments.
Kairi continued to advance through the subsoil until she managed to return to the surface, managing to find the system that controlled the door, and after manipulating it she managed to open it, thus allowing the Ecto-1, the Ghostbusters, and the rest of the group to advance inside the enclosure.
"I'll go with the girl," Ray said. “Nobody should wander around alone in this place. We'll meet you guys a little further on."
"Thanks for thinking of me now Ray, and not when I was trying to open the door," Said Kairi sarcastically as Ray jumped to where Kairi was.
"I'll go too if you don't mind," Makoto said, also jumping to where they both were. "If I have to keep watching Kairi, I prefer to do it until the end."
"Thank you Makoto," Kairi said.
As the rest of the group proceeded down the main path with the Ecto-1, the small group began to make their way through the graveyard, but despite taking several steps inside, a large number of tombstones rose from the ground, blocking their path.
"They aren’t very happy about us being here," Ray commented.
"Seriously? Don’t tell me. I didn’t know about that," Makoto said sarcastically.
After making their way past the tombstones and continuing through the sinister site, they realized that they were being surrounded by a large group of reanimated corpses and some Fallen who were using concealment tactics in hopes of surprising them.
"You saw ‘em too, didn’t ya?" Ray asked the girls. “They think they’re sneaky. Let's spread out and flank them."
"I don't know if spreading out is a good idea here," Kairi said.
At that time, both the corpses and the Fallen, being a mixed group of Zombies, Skeleton Soldiers, and Hunters, attacked the group from various sides, but luckily Kairi and Makoto were able to face these entities hand-to-hand, this time combining their attacks against the enemy, while Ray fried them with the Proton Pack, at the same time that they had to face several ghosts that assaulted them, surely deceased members of Shandor’s cult to Gozer. Although like other ghosts, their destiny was to end up inside the ghost trap that Ray always carried.
Kairi, Makoto, and Ray continued to make their way through the graveyard as they continued to clear the place of any paranormals and Fallen that was charging at them, including the annoying Sentinels, Guardians, and other high-level Fallen. They were obviously throwing everything they had to protect the cemetery from intruders.
Especially when they kept blocking the way with closed doors and spectral locks at every step they took, making their progress more and more difficult, which was bothering Kairi more and more with each intrusion of those who guarded the cemetery.
Suddenly, as the small group headed down a tunnel, Ray stopped without warning.
"Wait a minute," Ray said, causing Kairi and Makoto to stop and look around. But Ray was thinking at the time. “Oh… I get it now," Ray said.
“Get what?” Kairi asked. "Don't scare us like that for no reason, okay?"
"This has been bugging me," Ray began. "When the necromantic shockwave summoned Gozer back to our plane, why didn't he assume a more effective Destructor form immediately?"
Kairi and Makoto were going to answer, but they were speechless because it seemed that it didn't make much sense.
"I mean the Marshmallow Man is scary, sure, but there has to be a better way to destroy the world," Ray said.
"The truth is that with what you told us about him, it doesn't make much sense," Kairi said. "If I were in his shoes, I would have taken the form of a dragon or a giant Heartless as an alternative."
“I would have thought of other more effective ways to do it," Makoto said, crossing her arms.
“It’s simple… When he enters our plane of existence, he must be locked into that form since our first encounter," Ray reasoned. “One Destructor from per god, per dimension. I like it! Sounds like the kind of symmetry these things tend to operate on.”
“So as long as Gozer is forced to come here, he will always have to go looking like this, right?” Kairi asked.
"Unless he goes to another dimension, it must be like this," Makoto said.
"Hey, so maybe I didn't choose such a bad destructor after all, huh?" Ray asked.
"Well, it could have been worse," Makoto said.
As they advanced, they watched from a distance as the situation in the large mausoleum in the center was getting worse, indicating that time was running out before a new destroyer appeared in this world. But even so, their progress was always blocked by all kinds of monsters and Fallen that kept crossing their path with the intention of getting rid of the group, or at least delaying it enough so that they didn't stop the process. But Kairi, Makoto, and Ray were willing to go forward, no matter what kind of enemies came their way. And they had the tools for that mission, using them at will against any paranormal or Fallen entity that crossed their path, regardless of their power or size.
Finally, they passed by a gated area, from where they watched the rest of the world go by accompanying the Ecto-1.
“Well, hello there," Said Peter seeing the small group seeing them.
“Kairi! Are you all alright?" Rena asked from next to her gate.
"Yes, we're fine, thanks," Kairi said.
"Man, there ain’t nothing dead in this graveyard," Winston commented from inside the Ecto-1.
"Don’t tell me," Makoto said.
"Thanks for joining the party," Ray said to the rest of the group.
"They’re throwing everything they have at us to stop us from getting to that mausoleum," Egon said.
"Right, it looks like they're sending their big guns at us," Edea said.
“And I think they have more reinforcements ahead from here," Eve said.
“Ray, readings here are extremely unstable. Energy from the mandala and the escape ghosts is building up to a flash point. We don’t have much time," Egon explained.
“You keep moving forward. We will try to meet later," Kairi said.
At her suggestion, the group with the Ecto-1 continued to advance through the main passage, while Kairi, Makoto, and Ray's group advanced through a detour that took them through several tunnels underground. But obviously, the underground route was in real chaos with tombs and coffins poking through the ground everywhere.
"Man! The graves pushing up through here really did a number on this place," Ray commented. “Walter Peck is gonna have a lot to answer for from the City Parks Department.”
“Well, they better get in line. A lot of people will want to have some words with him when this is over," Makoto said.
"That is if we avoid the Apocalypse, of course," Kairi said.
The group continued to advance through the underground tunnels of the graveyard in search of a route to return to the surface, but the whole place was a hive of ghosts and paranormal specters that constantly slowed them down, as well as having to fight in a very small space and control themselves so they not damage too much the structure and cause everything to sink on their heads.
Fortunately, and after passing through long lines of enemies of paranormal origin, the group managed to return to the surface, this time closer to the mausoleum, but their path was blocked by a door that seemed to be locked at first sight. Just then they realized that the ghosts were behind them, behind another closed gate.
"Yo, girls!" Peter exclaimed from the other side of the door.
“We’ve tried everything. This metal is psychonically charged, rendering it effectively indestructible," Egon said.
"And I even hit it the strongest I could," Priere said.
“I highly doubt that this gate is truly indestructible. Nothing in the world is, because everything has a breaking point," Eve said.
"Well, in such an extreme situation, I suppose it’s possible to cause it harm," Egon said. "But I don’t think anything we have is going to make a dent in it."
"Then what’s our plan?" Peter asked.
"Ray, you three check out that side," Egon suggested to Ray.
The three of them began checking the steel door that blocked the rest of the group, looking for a way to open it.
"I think I'm picking up something odd here," Ray said. “What’s your take on this?”
Kairi and Makoto looked at the door, noticing a very unique detail, and that is that, even though the door seemed indestructible, the frame that surrounded it was damaged.
“A few concussive hits and the hinges might just break loose," Ray suggested.
"Well, time to destroy it," Priere said, cracking her fists.
Just then the group was attacked by what looked like stone angels, accompanied by several elemental Wraiths. The Ghostbusters responded to the attack with their proton beams, but these seemed to have little effect on them.
“They’re too well protected. Our energy streams aren’t going to hurt them," Egon said seeing the little effect of his team against this enemy.
"The only hope we have is to stay alive and keep them away from the Ecto," Ray said, as he used his proton beam against the stone angels.
"I wholeheartedly agree with Ray," Winston said.
"And how? Those things keep attacking us!” Edea exclaimed, avoiding the stone angels' arrows.
“More precisely, They're little stone angels, capable of attaining speeds of 198 feet per second before they hit their targets… which is us," Egon explained.
Just one of the stone angels launched at full speed towards Kairi, who dodged it in time before the impact, breaking into pieces as it hit the ground.
“Kamikaze Angels?” Winston asked in surprise. "Man, I'm going back to Sunday school."
"Wait, I think that gave me an idea," Kairi said, immediately approaching the door frame and directing her gaze at the stone angels. “Hey, flying rocks! Why don't you fly on me?"
At that moment, one of the stone angels lunged at Kairi, but she jumped to the side of her causing her to collide with the frame, damaging it even more with the tremendous impact.
"Well thought!" Makoto exclaimed. Just at that moment, she saw another angel approaching her at full speed, but she was able to deflect its trajectory with a punch and make it go to the frame, damaging it even more.
Realizing this, Ray began using mucolytic tethers to grab the stone angels and bind them to the frame, eventually causing them to crash into it, with the same result.
With this in mind, the group began forcibly using the stone angels to destroy the frame holding the door, while the other group tried to contain and distract the Wraith from focusing on Kairi's group.
Eventually, after one last hit, they managed to break the stone frame all the way, causing the door to swing open. And for some reason, the enemies left the area immediately.
"Well, that’s much better," Edea said.
As the rest of the group advanced into the room, they all began to advance at the same pace until they finally reached the entrance to the mausoleum, which was closed by a strange portico.
"Okay. How do we get in? Edea asked.
"Maybe if we use the Tether on the bumper maybe I can pull this door down," Winston said from the car.
“Well, for trying…” Nina said.
"Okay, I'll take care of it!" Ray exclaimed, they began to strap the Ecto-1 to the strange door.
But the door began to act strangely, charging itself with spectral energy.
"Move!" Winston exclaimed, getting out of the Ecto-1 in a hurry, just before a beam from the door hit the Ecto-1, seriously damaging the engine.
"Are you okay?!" Kairi asked after what happened.
"Yes, thanks for asking," Peter answered.
"Winston!" Ray exclaimed, approaching Winston who was on the ground.
"Oh man!" Winston exclaimed as he stood up, approaching to see the state of the vehicle. “It's stuck! For real!"
"It's okay?" Eve asked.
"She's tough, but she took that pretty hard!" Winston replied.
“Can you get her rolling away?” Ray asked.
“Nah. Crickets," Winston answered. "She’s down for the count, guys."
"That means we won't be able to use the vehicle equipment anymore, right?" Edea asked.
"It seems that," Nina replied.
Just then several ghosts and Fallen ambushed them, attacking them from various angles.
"I think we're going to wish we had that Super Slammer," Egon commented, preparing his proton pack.
"Really? Don’t tell me," Priere said.
The group began to face the enemy that was pouncing on them. And it wasn't just ghosts that came with the Fallen, but all kinds of paranormal entities that inhabited that graveyard. It was as if someone had sent everything they had intending to defend the mausoleum since the enemy was coming in large numbers.
While Kairi, Makoto, Priere, and Edea, using the Valkyrie Job, engaged the melee attackers, Rena and Eve repelled the entities and Fallen from a distance with arrows and projectiles respectively, with Nina using her magic on the closest enemies away to weaken their forces. At the same time, the Ghostbusters caught with their traps every ghost that attacked them as they were impossible to destroy by the rest of the group. And the battle was quite complicated because the enemy did nothing but come with everything, which was a battle of attrition. Especially when high-level Fallen were appearing in the area, including Sentinels and Iron Giants.
Eventually, and after an arduous battle, the group managed to clear the entire exterior of the mausoleum of enemies. But there was still one thing to do: enter the mausoleum. And apparently, it was not going to be easy to open that door that blocked their way.
At that moment Kairi had an idea. He picked up his keyblade and aimed it at the door to summon a lock on the door. At first, it was reluctant to show it, but eventually, the lock appeared, and Kairu used his Keyblade on it, causing the door to open.
"Spectacular!" Egon commented as he saw the door open.
"Way to go!" Winston exclaimed.
“Okay, now we can go through!” Rena exclaimed.
“This team can play! No doubt about it!" Winston said excitedly.
"Exciting! And somehow risky!” Peter commented.
"Come on everyone, let’s get inside!" Priere said. "We have a villain to beat."
The group entered the mausoleum, eventually reaching the main hall of the building.
"Wait!" Peter exclaimed as he directed his gaze to an altar at the back of the room. "It's Ilyssa!"
Just as he said, Ilyssa was at the altar, her arms chained and her mouth gagged, trying to free herself from her bonds. But at that moment they noticed a figure above her.
"It's Peck," Egon said, recognizing him.
The strange thing was that he was hanging with chains by his limbs, in addition to being gagged as well.
"Now that's weird as hell," Edea said. "Usually the bad guys don't stay like that."
“Can't we blast him? Just one really hard?" Peter asked the group. “Nobody’s gonna know!”
"Easy Venkman," Egon said. "Everything points to Peck being a pawn."
“Don’t you think he's in the weirdest place in the world to be the mastermind, to begin with?” Makoto asked, pointing to where Peck was at the moment.
“So someone has been manipulating us and misleading us about this whole thing," Nina said.
"I couldn't have said it better myself," She said a voice behind the group.
They all turned around, seeing the last person they expected to see in this place.
"What? The Mayor?" Rena asked in shock.
“No, Rena, it's not. It is Ivo Shandor," Peter said, as the Mayor, or rather, the Ivo Shandor-possessed Mayor towered over them.
“Ahhh… Shandor possessed the Mayor, turned Peck to us to slow us down," Winston said, realizing what was happening.
"And when we shut down his mandala before time, he released the ghosts you had in the containment unit to use them as an alternate power source to complete his plan," Edea said.
"Very good, and they say you’re the slow ones," Ivo Shandor said through the mayor, taunting Winston and Edea.
“Waaait, what? Who says that?" Winston asked.
"Yeah, can I know who says those things about me?" Edea asked angrily.
"Everybody," Peter said, interrupting them before turning to Shandor. “What’s the girl have to do with it?”
“Taking her was necessary. To assume my own Destructor Form, I require blood. My blood. Which is hard to come by when you’ve been a ghost for seventy years," Shandor responded.
“What about Gozer? I thought you built this all for him?" Ray asked.
"It's true. The cult, the mandala… you did everything for him. And now you stab him in the back?" Priere asked.
“That's right, but he failed me. Twice," Shandor replied, wearing a skull with a toupee on his head. "How he earned the title 'The Destroyer' is beyond me," He said as he looked at the skull, referring to it as what was left of Gozer, before throwing it to the ground. "Anyway, I thought to myself... why worship a god when you can actually become one?"
"Wait a minute, I have a doubt," Kairi interrupted. "If what you wanted was to become a god, why did you made us stay in the city instead of letting us go?"
"Good question," Eve said. “Most likely he sent the Fallen into that building to do the damage and make us stay here.”
“Very good observation, ladies," Shandor responded. “But no, the attack wasn't my doing, but when you showed up at the Town Hall after the incident I remembered the events of what happened 16 years ago, and I thought maybe the Dark Lord would owe us a favor if Gozer got rid of the Phoenix’s Daughter. But when he failed, I thought that if I could wipe you off the map, the Fallen would help me expand my power over all worlds through my services.”
"It makes sense, because the power of a god is linked to the worlds linked to him, so in another world, he would be nothing more than a mortal," Egon said.
"Wait a minute, did you already know who I was from the beginning?" Kairi asked.
"Of course," Shandor responded. “Furthermore, when you left the office to work on these memos, I informed the Fallen’s bosses of your presence in this world, and they were kind enough to send me the forces you've been up against since you've been here. Although it looks like I'll have to take care of this myself. You can't count on anyone to do their job well these days.”
“Guys… slime him!” Said Kairi to the Ghostbusters, angry with the ghost.
The Ghostbusters then used the slime busters on the Mayor, eventually freeing him from the possession and falling to the ground unconscious, while the ghost of Ivo Shando towered over them.
At that moment, several Reditus Wraiths appeared in the room surrounding Shandor and after doing a strange dance, the Fallen became copies of Shandor, starting to fly around the room in all directions.
"Are you kidding me? As if one wasn't enough," Winston said.
“One of them must be the real one!” Ray exclaimed.
“And how do we find him? The scanner has turned crazy," Egon said.
“Well, let’s do it in the old-fashioned way! We beat them all until we found the real one!” Priere exclaimed.
“But even if we find the real Shandor, we won't be able to catch him while the fake ones are still getting in the way," Eve warned.
"So let's clean up the mausoleum from the Fallen, okay?" Kairi suggested.
The group began to attack Shandor and the duplicates using all kinds of ranged attacks except magic, since the Reditus Wraiths were immune to all kinds of elemental magic, and having three of them, and being disguised as Shandor, it was hard to figure out if the one you hit was him or the Fallen.
But that didn't stop Kairi and Makoto who, with the support of Priere and Edea, decided to take a more direct approach and directly attacked Shandor and the duplicates to get rid of the Fallen who were posing as the ghost. If they managed to hit one of the figures, it was a Fallen, and that helped Eve and the Ghostbusters to use their non-elemental arsenal against the replica, avoiding at the same time Shandor's spectral attacks and Fallen spells. Although the fact that they were constantly moving didn't help much, and in many cases the attacks of Shandor and the Fallen caused them to lose sight of who they were attacking, making the fight very difficult.
Slowly the group was fulfilling its objective, even if they were on the ropes at all times, they managed to get rid of each of the replicas in the room, reducing the number of magical attacks of the Fallen, but at the same time, Shandor was harassing the group more with more powerful paranormal attacks. Although that came to reveal himself on several occasions.
Eventually, the group managed to destroy the last of the replicas, so they all focused on attacking the real Shandor with everything they had.
“Beat him down! Then get a capture stream on him!” Ray alerted the Ghostbusters.
The Ghostbusters used their proton beams to weaken Shandor, eventually grabbing him with the capture stream. At that precise moment a portal had opened, probably to the Ghostworld, and they decided to pull Shandor until he entered through the portal, while Kairi and the others watched for any unexpected visitors.
“He’s through!” Ray warned. "Now de-activate your pulse and we’ll cross the streams with the blast function!"
"Isn't that supposed to be a bad idea?" Eve asked.
"It's the only way!" Ray clarified as he held Shandor in the portal.
"I can't shut down mine, Ray!" Egon warned.
"Me too! Me neither, I mean!” Peter continued.
“Who’s idea was it to attach these things to our bodies?!” Winston asked.
It seemed the Ghostbusters were being dragged by Shandor toward the portal. Seeing this, Kairi and the others grabbed the Ghostbusters from behind.
"What are you doing?! Release him now or he will pull you in with him!” Kairi exclaimed as she held Ray next to Priere.
“What do you think we’re trying? Something prevents us from de-activating the capture stream!” Egon said as he was held down by Eve and Edea.
"Why don't you drop the pack away?" Edea asked as she held Winston down with Rena's help.
"Seriously?! I didn’t know! I've only been trying that from the beginning!" Winston exclaimed.
“Pull harder, baby! Pull harder!" Peter exclaimed who was grabbed by Makoto.
"What do you think I'm doing, you big-mouthed dumbhead?!" Makoto asked, pulling Peter away.
Despite their best efforts, they were all pulled into the portal.
Before they knew it, the group was now in a sinister location that would make anyone in the group's hair stand on end, with damaged structures with ghastly faces.
They had ended up inside the Ghostworld.
Before the silence of the whole group, and without saying a word, they advanced along the only path in front of them. They eventually came to what looked like the torso of a huge statue with its arms crossed with its hands on its shoulders.
At that moment the eyes began to shine, directing their gaze toward them, at the same time that a floating illusion of the ghost of Shandor was shown before them.
Peter swallowed hard, being the first to speak. "Hey Shandor! Where’s your Destructor Form now? Leave it in the other suit?”
“I have chosen!” Shandor said as if sounding as much from the image as from the statue. “I am the destructor. I am the Architect!”
Ray, Egon, and Nina looked at him as if they had seen the devil himself.
"Oh no," Ray said.
"That's very bad," Egon said.
"Bad? It’s the worst choice he could have made," Nina said.
"The Architect?" Peter asked. “Haha... that’s not so scary. The contractor. That’s who kills you!”
"Stop making bad jokes, okay?!" Rena exclaimed.
"Peter... you don't understand," Ray said to Peter. "He’s the Architect, and he controls the Ghostworld!"
“You say that he is the supreme boss of the Ghostworld?” Kairi asked.
"That seems," Nina said.
“And he can come into our world," Egon said. “And what do architects do?”
"Well, they dream and they have mechanical pencils and they forget to put in linen closets," Peter began to ramble, causing Ray and Rena to shake their heads at him.
“And they build OVER things, dumbhead!!!” Rena exclaimed to Peter.
At that moment the image of Shandor began to move from side to side as if he were walking on air.
“I will pave over your fields to start anew!” Shandor began to speak as he moved around. “I will fill your seas with concrete and stone!
“Woah take a break! Don't you ever shut up?" Peter interrupted, making everyone look at him for a moment. Even Rena slapped him on the head. "Okay, I shut up!"
Shandor continued with his speech. "I will pierce your world with girders of steel and panes of glass!"
"Yes…" Ray muttered with his head down until he woke up. "No! Listen!"
"I will crush your world under the weight of my cities!" Shandor continued speaking.
“That's just mean super villain threats, Ray. All those guys talk like that," Winston said to Ray.
"But this one isn't like other super villains, is it?" Kairi asked. "I know because I've faced one before."
"I will smother your creation under my own!" Shandor exclaimed before the image disappeared.
At that moment, the statue of Shandor the Architect began to move, arms outstretched to the sides in preparation to face the group.
“No one is going to believe me when I tell them about this," Kairi said, watching the huge statue move.
"Very well! This is the last battle! Let's show him how tough we are in New York!” Ray exclaimed to encourage the group to prepare their proton team.
After those words, the Ghostbusters began to fire the proton beams at Shandor's head, at the same time that Kairi, Nina, Priere, and Edea with the profession of Black Magician used their magic the same time that Eve used her Nasod arsenal to support fire at the statue, but apparently, the head was too resistant to both magical attacks and proton beams, even when they used the boson darts against it.
"It's no use! He has a very hard head!” Winston exclaimed as he fired his proton beam at Shandor.
“I think we are approaching this the wrong way! We must find a way to damage the stone!” Eve exclaimed.
“And where do we start? Is there a place where it says 'weak point' somewhere?" Peter asked.
The group continued their attack trying to damage the statue until one of the arms began to rise.
"Watch out!" Egon exclaimed as he saw the arm move.
Everyone stopped attacking and spread out enough to avoid being crushed by Shandor's hand at the last moment.
"A little more and it turns us into pancakes," Winston commented.
"Less jokes, okay?" Edea asked.
“Change of plan: we will hit the statue! You prepare yourselves in case an opportunity opens up!” Kairi exclaimed.
"Good idea! I will try to calibrate the scanner to locate a possible weak point!” Egon exclaimed, starting to work on his PKE scanner.
Kairi, Makoto, and Priere ran toward Shandor intending to start hitting the statue with everything they had. Seeing them, the statue moved one of its hands, causing pointed pillars to start coming out of the ground to stop them. But that didn’t stop them and they reached the statue.
Priere and Makoto began to pummel him hard in the torso, while Kairi, using the Titan Form, began to pummel the head with her increased strength, but the repeated blows apparently didn't seem to damage the stone Shandor was formed from.
At that moment Kairi charged all of her magical power into her next blow with the Keyblade, striking hard at the forehead. The impact not only caused Shandor's head to react as if it had hurt, but it had caused cracks to his head reaching up to his chest, revealing a small green glow inside. But before they could continue their attack, the girls had to back away before Shandor crushed them with both hands.
“Hey, the girls have found something!” Winston exclaimed.
“I just modified the scanner. Right now I am detecting strong valences coming from the chest," Egon reported.
“That must be his weak point! Get him!" Ray exclaimed.
"Wait! The stones still protect that weak point!” Eve warned.
"She’s right. We should break it up a bit more before we fire the big fireworks," Peter said.
“And he seems to be aware of it," Said Edea seeing how the statue of the Architect positioned her arms to protect himself from future attacks, while he summoned floating building pieces that he threw at them.
"As long as he has those arms in the way, we can't do anything," Priere said, knocking aside one of the floating pieces.
"How about we hold his hands with something?" Winston asked, ducking down to avoid being hit by one of the chunks. "As long as we don’t get crushed!
"Good idea, Winston!" Ray said. "Use the Capture Stream against the arms to grab him!"
Following that order, the Ghostbusters used their tractor beams to grab each of the statue's arms, trapping them on the ground with the beams.
"Good! Now it's your turn! We'll hold him down as long as we can, but you guys have to hit him with everything! Burst that wall!” Ray exclaimed.
Hearing that order, Kairi, Makoto, Priere, and this time with Edea using the Monk Job and Eve launched themselves at Shandor's statue, starting to hit it with everything to try to damage the rock of the torso, while Nina used her magic to support the Ghostbusters and hold back Shandor's arms, while Rena stayed behind watching to warn them in case they should back off.
The entire group was pummeling the statue's chest with every kind of close-range and physical attack they could muster as Shandor struggled to free his arms. After several consecutive blows, they managed to damage the torso a little more, but at that moment the statue managed to break free from the Ghostbusters' grasp.
“It's loose! Back off!” Rena warned.
They all fell back as Shandor roared at them, causing dozens of pieces of debris to fall from the ceiling in front of him, but they managed to get far enough away to avoid the avalanche.
"That was too close!" Edea exclaimed.
"And that we were just this close," Kairi said.
At that moment, Shandor blew up the debris and attached it to the arms, turning them into sturdy bracelets.
“Nice bracelets. They're a luxury brand? Peter joked.
"I doubt we'll achieve the same result if we don't destroy those bracelets," Egon said.
"Then let's break those bracelets," Rena said.
The group split up this time to attack the bracelets Shandor had created to protect the arms, interspersing ranged attacks, melee strikes, and proton beams intended to damage them enough that they fell off. But everything was complicated with Shandor summoning all kinds of traps and structures to stop them however possible. He kept summoning sharp pillars from the ground, pieces of buildings flying towards them, debris falling from the sky, strange rods casting magic autonomously at them, etc. The entire battle was complete chaos, but none of it intimidated the group, as they knew what the alternative was if they failed to defeat Shandor here and now.
They eventually managed to destroy the bracelets protecting the arms, and the Ghostbusters used the same tactic to hold the arms back, giving the girls the opportunity to once again attack the Architect's torso with everything they had, hitting him with all their might to break the armor. rock that covered Shandor's weak spot.
Finally, they managed to destroy the rock enough to reveal a green glow inside the statue, which was already visible through the hole created thanks to the efforts of Kairi and the others. Shandor seemed very furious with what happened, preparing to attack, but the Ghostbusters launched their proton streams against the weak point, managing to hold it with the power of their weapons.
Kairi looked at her partners, who nodded looking at her. Then Kairi released her Esper Form, getting in the middle of the Ghostbusters and focusing her power on the Keyblade she aimed at the statue, launching a powerful beam of energy at the weak spot.
"I am a god!" Shandor exclaimed at the attack, before roaring at them.
"We eat gods for breakfast!" Egon exclaimed indifferently.
"And you should go back to the drawing board!" Eve exclaimed from behind.
The combination of streams and Kairi's magic in her Esper Form seemed to hold Shandor in her place, but they needed to do something else to put an end to it all.
"I'm deactivating the cross-stream governor!" Egon said. “I never thought I‘d say this again! Cross the streams!”
At that moment the Ghostbusters began to cross the streams with Kairi's beam in the center and focus them on the weak point of Shandor the Architect, increasing the power of the attack on it.
The surge of energy was powerful enough to cause the statue of Ivo Shandor the Architect to shatter into a thousand pieces, ending the threat of him once and for all. And the shock wave pushed everyone back, landing back in the mausoleum.
Everyone groaned after the loud explosion and hard landing, but everyone seemed to be safe.
"We eat gods for breakfast?" Ray asked Egon after his comment to Shandor.
“Too much, you think?” Egon asked.
"No, I liked it," Ray answered.
"Seriously, did you really send him to his room?" Makoto asked Eve as she stood up.
“Did I go a little overboard?” Eve asked.
"No, I liked it," Edea said as she stood up as well.
While Peter, like a knight in shining armor, went to help Ilyssa and free her from the shackles that held her, while the building began to shake.
"I’ve got you," Peter told Ilyssa, helping her out of there.
"Get me down from here!" Peck exclaimed, still hanging in the air. “Please, I’m begging you let me down!”
Rena simply braced herself and shot several arrows at her chains, freeing him from her bonds. Although he fell face down on the ground.
Immediately Peck got up from the ground as if nothing happened. "This is not the last you’ll see of me!" He said to him before running off.
"We better get out of here before this place decides to drop over our heads," Kairi suggested.
After that, everyone left the mausoleum before it began to sink again, and the effects of the paranormal storm began to fade.
Just then, the Mayor, who was being carried by Winston in his arms, regained consciousness.
"Ha ha! The Ghostbusters!" The Mayor exclaimed happily, as Winston set him down on his feet. “Hey, fellas! What are you doing here?" Then he looked around confused. “Uh… what am I doing here? Uh… where is here?” At that moment he almost loses his balance, but the Ghostbusters hold him down.
"You were the victim of a trans-dimensional possession, your Honor," Ray said to the Mayor.
"Uh, what’s that mean?" the Mayor asked.
"Let's say that an evil ghost has been inhabiting your body for a few months," Eve replied.
“Oh. Did anyone notice?" asked the Mayor, totally confused. "How’s my approval rating?"
"Well, you got re-elected," Egon replied.
"Although I wouldn't suggest hiring a ghost as a public relations agent the next time, okay?" Nina said.
"Okay... and who are you?" The Mayor asked Nina, giving to an awkward situation since apparently, the Mayor did not know anything about what had happened before.
As they walked away, Peter and Ilyssa stepped forward a little.
"By the way, you’re a descendant of Shandor," Peter said to Ilyssa.
"Yes... I kinda got that," Ilyssa said sarcastically, though I ended up kissing Peter on her lips.
"Stop that, okay?" interrupted Priere, passing between them. "Wait until we get back to the station."
They both stared at the demon woman, wondering why she did that.
Later, back at the station.
"Looks like things are gonna be a little slow around here for a while," Ray said in a meeting with the group.
"Which means we might be heavy by too many Ghostbusters in New York," Winston said.
"That’s right. Now that the Mayor has come to his senses again, and with everything that has happened, he has lifted the fine on the girls," Said Ilyssa, who was next to Peter.
"Which makes me happy," Edea said. "Believe me, I couldn't stand it in this ghost-infested town for another day."
"It's a shame. When things settle down here, it's a nice place to live, despite the ghosts roaming around," Peter said.
"Okay, whatever you say, but we still have some business on hand before we go," Kairi said.
“Which reminds me, I think I have a solution for our strange cube. If you can come with me," Egon said, walking upstairs.
Everyone followed the lab upstairs, seeing that the mysterious cube was in a strange machine.
"Egon?" Rena asked.
“I have discovered that this box requires some kind of energy to be able to activate," Egon said. “If my calculations are correct, this machine should give it the power to not only activate it but also give it the autonomy to run for quite some time. I don't know for how long, but I hope it will be enough."
“Okay, but if you destroy it, you will answer to us," Kairi warned.
At that moment Egon activated the machine, causing the box to be surrounded by an electric field that ran through the entire surface. After running for a while, Egon turned off the machine, leaving the box for a while.
Although nothing happened at first, the box began to shake, and then parts of the box began to move and retract, showing a spherical object on a small pedestal inside the box, and after lighting up, it generated a huge field with thousands and thousands of dots around it.
"Oh, pretty. Lots of dots floating in the air. That’s all?" Peter asked.
“No, that’s not all…” Rena said, looking at the dots. "Turn off the lights!"
At that moment, they turned off the lights, leaving the room in darkness, with the dots floating around the area.
But that wasn't just dots, as Kairi eventually realized.
"This...this isn't dots...it's a map!" Kairi exclaimed.
"A map? It does not resemble any known map," Peter said.
"Yes. This is a map. A map of the Lanes Between!” Kairi said. "Behold! Olympus! And here is Nottingham! And this is Agrabah!”
“Does anyone else see any sense in this mess? Because I don’t," Peter asked.
“If you are willing to believe in the theory of the existence of other worlds aside from our own, it is quite understandable," Egon said. "It may be a map of the location of all known worlds."
"But... this doesn't make sense," Kairi said. "Some of these worlds are not where they should be."
"What do you think it could mean?" Makoto asked.
"If I'm not mistaken, this map may be from an earlier configuration," Kairi said. “You see, when a big event happens that affects many worlds, they seem to relocate themselves when the connection between them is severed. Perhaps…"
“Perhaps? Don't leave us in suspense, Kairi!" Edea exclaimed.
“Perhaps this map, if I am correct, shows the location of the worlds as they were sixteen years ago. Look!" Kairi said, pointing out various points. “Some of them shine brighter than the others! They may be the places we should go now.”
"Okay, but if this map is from sixteen years ago, do you know where those worlds might be now?" Eve asked
Kairi stared at the large map. Now that they had found a clue to continue their journey, and it is of no use to them now?
