ITT: We're a Family of Professional Ghost Hunters

"Louie? I'll help you!"

Edited by AutisticAlivia on Jul 9th 2019 at 5:30:21 AM

Louie turned the de-ghostifyer around in his hand a few times, studying the control settings. “First time for everything. The mechanical shop I worked at would get repair requests for these every now and then, but never actually seemed to have tried one in action.”

He gave Sarah a thumbs-up sign, and then turned his helmet to the sky above. With Barclay’s havoc on one side and the reptilian ghost looming on the other, he said, “Right, then. I guess I’ll follow your lead. Who to take care of first, though, Thing 1 or Thing 2?”

Edited by Tre on Jul 9th 2019 at 5:47:05 AM

"   Hm?   " says the other ghost. "   Oh, you're talking to me? Well, thank you for acknowledging me. I'm going to enjoy crushing you.   "

The roller coaster has finished, and Matthew runs over to join the others. "Who are these guys, dad?" He pets Rufus nervously.

"   I am Masakh, little shrimp man. Pleased to meet you, but you're going to die.   "

Diver's our new friend, Louie. The others are bad news. Think you can take Greenie while he and I get the purple one, Matt?

Edited by TropesForever on Jul 9th 2019 at 8:23:00 PM

"Let's do Thing 1!"

"Sure thing, dad!" Matthew says to Felix.

Edited by DrNoPuma on Jul 9th 2019 at 6:45:27 AM

"   ...Well then,   " says Masakh. He flings his cloak open, revealing a very heavily built body with only a waistcloth and golden bracelets. He's holding a staff, which he slams down on the ground where Matthew is. Matthew grabs Rufus and jumps out of the way.

Alright.

Felix moves quickly but carefully over to where Barclay is, trying to stay out of the ghost's line of vision while his ray gets a lock on him.

(Meanwhile, after ten minutes, Priscilla gets off the merry-go-round and starts walking around looking for her family.)
"Daddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Matthew? Where is everyone?! DID YOU LEAVE ME BEHIND???"
(Priscilla then tears up and yails)
"I WANT MY DADDYYYYYYYY!!!"

Felix hears her.

Pricilla!

He waves to her from the middle of the action.

It'll be fine, sweetie. Just business. Look for Uncle Cochran and go with him.

(Priscilla then runs to Felix.)
"What do you mean business?!"

You know, spectral stuff. Now go with Uncle Cochran, I don't want you getting hurt!

He hugs her and then waves her off.

Edited by TropesForever on Jul 11th 2019 at 5:55:53 AM

Matthew narrowly misses Masakh's staff.

"If you're palpable enough to do that, then taking care of you shouldn't be too hard!"

Matthew grabs his ray and begins aiming at the giant ghost.

"Fine... Uncle Cochran! Uncle Cochran, where are you?"

Cochran, boldly gesturing mass crowds to the exits, hears his name over the volume of the parkgoers.

He sees Priscilla, and begins waving her over, retaining some of his more fragile traits as he does so.

(Priscilla then runs to her uncle Cochran and hugs him.)

O-oh, Uh, hello to you too, Priscilla. Please, we don’t have time to sit around, follow the people out, okay?

Edited by TacoBadger on Jul 10th 2019 at 12:13:01 PM

"Oh, grandpa! Where were you?"

While Felix helped Priscilla make her way out with Cochran, Louie took on the task of distracting the would-be Terror of Braun's Park, zipping about in front of Barclay's view of the Fulton's Tilt ride.

"Back and better than before, Barkles," Louie said. "C'mon! Go for it!"

Barclay stopped trying to spin the ride off course, and put his hands where his hips would be.

   "What are you getting out of this besides just being a nuisance?!"   

"I figured I'd do a little bit of haunting while I was out of this regular body, and who better to spook?" the diver replied, making an attempt to wink before remembering that no one could see much beyond the glow underneath his helmet. He made a clicking noise instead to try to make up for it — whether it worked or not, you can guess. "This park's for the fine folks of New Tempesta, not to be your twisted kingdom."

The yellow glow of Barclay's eyes shifted to a red hue, and with all of his might, he yelled,

   "Ghosts don't haunt other ghosts!"   

"Just watch me," Louie said, firing his harpoon and the de-ghostifyer at once.

Edited by Tre on Jul 11th 2019 at 2:14:05 PM

Masakh is distracted watching Barclay.

"   Wow, man, that's gotta bite. Having a ghost working for ghost hunters. Ouch.   "

Masakh doesn't notice Matthew shooting the ray and gets blasted.

"   Ow! Hey, that hurts, man!   "

Edited by DrNoPuma on Jul 13th 2019 at 9:57:02 AM

After being blasted by the ray for 4 days, Masakh growls in anger.

"   Okay! Fine! Maybe this giant thing is too much. I guess I'll go back to my real size.   "

Masakh shrinks down... but when he stops, he's at about 7 feet.

"...I thought you said you were gonna stop at your real size."

"   I did.   "

Masakh swings the staff again, this time hitting Matthew and sending him flying backwards. He skids across the ground a little before coming to a stop.

Edited by DrNoPuma on Jul 17th 2019 at 8:32:31 AM

A horrified Rufus barks a couple of times, then runs to where Matthew landed to see if he is all right. Whimpering, he pokes his master with one of his paws.

In the interim between Matthew starting up the ray and Masakh sizing down to the Biancos’ level, the fight between Barclay and Louie had ended with the would-be invader stuck in a typical mason jar, angry and bouncing about.

The park had since been closed to the public to let the family — mostly Matthew — do their thing, and with some input from Felix, Louie had started up the hunt for the ghost folk that nabbed his body, but was still cold on the trail. He’d come back to the park to check on the situation with Matt, and spotted the ghost whacking him with a staff.

“Whoa! Foul!” He landed in front of Masakh with a pat and poked himself out of the suit for a sec just to glare at him. “You’re a nut, dude!”

Edited by Tre on Jul 17th 2019 at 8:50:59 AM

Matthew lifts his hand and pets Rufus. "It's okay! I'm okay, buddy." Matthew gets up, clutching his stomach. But he takes a deep breath and says "I'm alright."

Masakh stares at Louie. Even if he didn't have his mask, his stare would be just as cold. "   I thought you were getting the other guy. This man,   ", he says, waving in Matthew's direction, "   had it coming. I cannot rest until I have crushed everyone like him.   "

Edited by DrNoPuma on Jul 17th 2019 at 9:47:18 AM

“You’re awful thin skinned for a croc, you know.” Louie took out the harpoon gun, which he’d modified a couple of days before to fire de-ghostifying arrows (in a process that, while similar to his previous work, was much more precarious without a body).

Making a “pshewwww” noise as he fired, Louie let a bolt fly from his new-and-improved weapon, but Masakh had other plans, and caught the arrow as it drifted to him. The diver couldn’t help but be taken off guard.