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Jack and Maddie Fenton stared up at the sign. Dripping in jet black paint, the sign’s message should have been clear. They weren’t welcome at 314 Maple Street, the now-literal haunted house. Cold wind howled, rattling the windows. Looking at each other, they nodded and pushed open the door.
The ecto-entity setting up its lair here proved it caused open havoc without any regard whatsoever to the presence of ghost hunters. Yet, unlike on Halloween, the spirit didn’t trap them inside. Sneaking further into the house, a single blip flashed on the ecto-scanner. Now, when someone put up a fight, it wanted to hide.
“Get out,” the ghost demanded quietly.
Whirling around, they noticed it appeared right behind them. No matter what the children insisted, it meant harm. Ghosts only pretended to have emotion, except for maybe Phantom. Pointing their guns at it, Jack launched a net only for it to disappear. The net hit the ground a little too loudly.
“I said, get out.” it repeated, a touch more aggressive.
Maddie fired at where it should be according to the radar, but the shot stopped in mid-air. A shadow moved, and stood before her. It held an ecto-pistol silhouette- the ghost stole her shadow. The shadow took the same stance she held, pointing its gun at her. Maddie fired somewhere else into the empty air, only for a shadow bullet to whirr by her head.
“I’m warning you,” the ghost was closer showing its true colors, “get out.”
Before the Jack ‘o Nine Tails could find its target, Jack’s shadow emerged and used the shadow version to block its path. Just what they were hoping for... Slowly, she grabbed something from her side. Maddie flung the boo-marang in a lightning movement, landing a hit on the ectoplasmic scum.
When the spook threw it back, holes were gouged through it. It appeared, eyes blazing a purple color. Shadows moved off to the sides, while the ghost’s hair whipped wildly. Grimacing, two rows of shark-like teeth glinted back at the ghost hunters.
“Get out!” it insisted angrily.
The Jack o’ nine tails found its shadowy mark while shots rang out. An ecto-shot grazed the Wraith of Amity Park, causing it to falter for a split second. False fear seeped back into its hate-filled expression. It didn’t matter what it did to scare them off now, they only had to wait until it expended too much energy.
“We’re not afraid of you,” Maddie shot back just as hostile.
“You should be, because I’m terrified of you- and fear is a powerful thing.”
It breathed in purple mist, eyes flaring brighter still, hair whipping more violently than before, and its chest heaving as if it needed to breathe. It was only acting like it was afraid. Its eyes darted, picking out weaknesses as it pretended to look for escape. It backed up. The house went pitch black.
“I told you not to come in here,” the inhuman voice was filled with fake terror, she was sure of it, “I told you to stay out!”
“Then what was that ruckus last month about?” Jack asked, genuinely wanting an explanation.
“A-another ghost was trying to attack those kids, like I was gonna let her,” it shielded itself with an arm, despite having the cover of nearly complete darkness, “what happened afterward wasn’t me asking for anyone to hunt me down.”
As Maddie began stepping forward, the ghost vanished realizing they could see the glow from its eyes. It couldn’t hide from the ecto-scanner just by vanishing. Walking towards it, training her gun in sync with its movements, she slowly, but surely, edged closer. It couldn’t keep this up forever.
“Oh really,” Maddie didn’t believe a word of it, that fight would’ve been a set up, “then why did you decide to wreak havoc on the town?”
“It happens when I drink coffee- I-” it stammered.
Maddie only laughed in reply. It still wanted to convince them it wasn’t lying. It wasn’t as clever as it thought. For a ghost causing so much mayhem and destruction, it didn’t put up much of a real fight. Keeping her finger on the trigger, it backed itself into a corner as Jack and Maddie closed in. It didn’t expect the bullets to suppress her powers, once someone landed a solid hit.
“Mads, are we really in the position to be catching her like this, besides we know a few people who go completely nuts on the stuff.”
Throwing the wraith wrangler over the ghost, she looked up at Jack for a moment once it couldn’t fight its way out. When she looked back at the trapped ghost, that cemented its fate. Picking up the net, Maddie smiled at the trapped ghost.
“Well, we won’t have to worry about you getting you hands on coffee again.”