Chapter One: Recruiting Day

 

Chapter One: Recruiting Day

38 Years Later

            Aboard the bridge of the USS Enterprise, Star Butterfly led in a joyous sing-along to her favorite tune, Madonna’s “Lucky Star.” It was a tune she discovered while trotting across the multiverse with her best friend, Marco Diaz, and felt a deep connection with it (for obvious reasons). In fact, she called it, “The theme song of my life.”

            Marie Jace, captain of the starship Enterprise, sanctioned off on the festivities to relive tension built up from months of interdimensional traveling. Their five-year mission turned into a journey to find their way back to their home dimension, having been dislodged between worlds. However, upon picking up Star and Marco (two other travelers), as well as Milo Murphy and his friends (Zack Underwood and Melissa Chase), there was question if the Enterprise crew would ever return home – or if there was even a home to return to.

            T’Eve, Jace’s Vulcan first officer, proposed the possibility that their Enterprise was never meant to exist…that they are counterparts to another Enterprise starship with a crew not too dissimilar from theirs. It was a theory that jittered many, including Jace herself, which was why they chose to discredit it until further evidence was discovered.

            Coincidentally, T’Eve – the source of most of the tension within the Enterprise – opted not to join in on the fun and instead work at her station, scanning for the last relic Star required in her final recruitment. Since the day they had obtained the Necronomicon, the search for the other two magical items Star needed – a Calamity Box and a unique spellbook – lasted for more than a few months. In that time, they claimed the Calamity Box, leaving only the spellbook to be found.

            Star never specified which spellbook was necessary to find her final recruit, who she described as being a woman with a chainsaw for a hand. This left T’Eve with quite the challenge, inputting data into the Enterprise’s computer to isolate certain areas on planet Earth (which they had been orbiting during the mission) with enchanted signatures. Out of ten thousand locations, two from which T’Eve got the strongest readings were Oregon and New York.

            Not wasting a single second, she alerted the crew, “I believe I have found the site of your final relic, Miss Butterfly.”

            T’Eve didn’t realize how much of a killjoy she was, abruptly bringing the melodious revelry to an end. Even Milo had to wonder aloud, “Does she ever have any fun?”

            “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her crack a smile,” Marco told him.

            “Where’ve you found our last little item, Miss T’Eve?” Captain Jace inquired.

            “Gravity Falls, Oregon and New York City, specifically the Manhattan borough,” T’Eve disclosed.

            The first location was one that astounded and even infuriated Star. “Gravity Falls?! You mean the last relic’s been there this whole time?! It was right under our noses the whole time?!”

            “Might I indicate it is one of two locations that leave a fifty-fifty chance of being where the spellbook is,” T’Eve specified. “I could isolate the readings even further, if I had more details.”

            “I don’t know any more other than that it’s a book of spells and it’s in this dimension,” Star honestly remarked.

            “Isn’t the Necro-whatever-you-call-it enough?” Zack asked. “It’s a spellbook.”

            “No, no,” Star negated. “Yen Sid told us that to find the warrior with the chainsaw for a hand, we would need to find two magical books and a box to locate her. We need that other book.”

            “Two locations, two teams,” Captain Jace settled. “One team will beam down to Gravity Falls, while the other goes to Manhattan. Star, you and Marco have already been to that little town in Oregon. You’ll investigate there.”

            “No disrespect, Cap,” Star said, “but we’d be more comfortable going to Manhattan and not to Gravity Falls. That place is too weird, even for us.”

            “Yeah, creepy little gnomes roam in their woods, man,” Marco added.

            “And I don’t think New York’s a place I want to be around in either,” Milo said. “Last time I was there on vacation with my family, some scaffolding and a crane collapsed on a street corner right after I walked underneath it – not to mention the wrecking ball that flew into Times Square all the way from Queens.”

            “Alright, I get the picture,” Jace remarked. “I’ll beam down to Gravity Falls with Milo, Melissa, and Zack while T’Eve, Star, and Marco will go to Manhattan.”

            Hearing this plan, Zack nervously whispered to Melissa, “Didn’t they say that creepy little gnomes roam in the woods?”

            “Would you rather avoid being crushed by Lady Liberty’s foot with Milo?” Melissa countered with a clever smirk.

            “Fair point,” Zack acknowledged.

            Meanwhile, Marco recommended to his away team, “Since we’re going to be in Manhattan, we might as well get the Ghostbusters’ help. If there’s anybody who knows where to find crazy spellbooks, it’d be…”

            “Dr. J.G. Stantz!” Star elatedly caught Marco’s conjecture. “Good idea, Marco!”

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            Natalie Venkman had always been described as more of a TV hostess than a scientist. She seemed to have capitalized on that idea, signing a deal with Disney to host her own show on their new video-on-demand streaming service, Disney+. The program was titled “Natalie Venkman: Legend, Scientist, Sex Symbol” (with the “o” in “Symbol” replaced with the Ghostbusters logo).

            Christina Melnitz wondered how that provocative title got past Disney’s censors. The secretary of the Ghostbusters streamed the first episode from her desktop computer on the official launch day (November 12th). Contrary to the suggestive title, Natalie’s show wasn’t entirely about herself. It had different segments tackling different topics of Natalie’s interest, from ghost-busting to psychics.

            This week’s episode focused on psychics with a segment called “World of the Psychic.” It featured a lavish, retro-style set with two director’s chairs situated opposite of each other. These chairs were reserved for the show’s hostess herself (Natalie) and her guest of the week, a 33-year-old psychic from Chicago named Raven Baxter.

            At the start of the segment, both women appeared to have difficulty getting their ample butts situated in their chairs.

            “We’re still on a tight budget,” Natalie could be heard saying in the broadcast.

            “Yeah, ‘tight’ is right,” Raven grunted before finally squeezing in between the armrests. “Whoo! Lord!”

            As soon as Natalie got in hers, she faced the camera and began the segment, “Welcome to the World of the Psychic! We’re here with Raven Baxter, a fashion designer from Chicago who also happens to be a clairvoyant. Little known fact about Raven and myself, we met 10 years ago when my team and I were busting a ghost at a Hannah Montana concert at Madison Square Garden. You remember that, Rave?”

            “Sure do, Dr. V,” Raven said. “Me, my brother Cory, his friends, and my friends were there at the Garden and, while we waited for the concert to start, I got this vision of a real nasty of a dog attacking one of us.”

            “And it was that vision that helped us to save everyone there that night,” Natalie concluded. “Now, as I understand it, your son Booker has inherited your psychic ability, correct?”

            “That’s right,” Raven proudly verified. “My baby had a big one just recently, too. He predicted…” Raven paused for dramatic effect and then said close to a whisper, “…the end of the world.”

            “We have Booker here in the studio with us.” Natalie looked towards someone who stood off-camera. The cameraman followed her gaze and aimed at a preteen boy who seemed only slightly amused to be on camera. “Can we get a chair for Booker, please?” A couple of stagehands assisted in bringing another director’s chair for Booker Baxter-Carter to sit in. Because of his smaller, slimmer frame, he didn’t have quite as much difficulty as Natalie and Raven. “Welcome to the show, Booker.”

            “Thanks, Dr. V,” Booker tenderly said. “I’m a big fan.”

            Natalie did notice him wearing a turquoise shirt with the Ghostbusters logo. “So you are. Care to tell our audience what it was that you saw in your vision?”

            Booker hesitated to answer. He looked to his mother, seeking her approval. “It’s alright, baby,” she consoled him.

            “I just don’t want everybody out there to think I’m fake or a weirdo,” Booker said.

            “Booker, sweetie, I promise no one’s gonna think you’re a weirdo or a fake,” Natalie reassured. “That’s what they got The World According to Jeff Goldblum for.”

            With both his mother’s and Natalie’s support, Booker finally opened up, “O.K. My vision was of the entire world getting swallowed up in darkness…like one big shadow falling over everything. And after that…all I could see was pitch blackness.”

            Christina was so into the broadcast (specifically Booker’s vision) that she almost didn’t hear Mickey, Donald, and Goofy bickering all the way down the staircase near her work station. Putting Natalie’s show on pause, she asked the trio, “What’s going on?”

            “Mickey still hasn’t told Minnie he’s a Ghostbuster!” Donald answered in frustration.

            “Why not?” Christina curiously inquired.

            Mickey hated having his personal concerns aired out like they had all of the sudden. “Aw, what’s the big deal?! So I haven’t told Minnie yet! Would you guys have told Daisy or Clarabelle you were involved in such a dangerous profession?”

            “Uh…no?” Goofy replied.

            “They’d make us quit,” Donald added.

            “Exactly,” Mickey said. “And that’s why I haven’t told Minnie!”

            “Mickey, I think I’ve got the perfect solution to your problem,” Christina proposed while maintaining giddiness. She had waited for the right moment to don a pair of Minnie ears that she kept in her desk drawer.

            Seeing this confused Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. “Uh, Christina?” Mickey uttered. “What’re ya doin’?”

            With her Minnie ears on, Christina sat upon her desk with her legs crossed. “Pretend I’m Minnie and you’re telling me all about your ghost-busting job,” she instructed. She then cleared her throat and spoke in a high-pitched voice, channeling the personality of Mickey’s longtime sweetheart. “Oh! Hello, Mickey!”

            It was such a spot-on impersonation that Mickey froze in total shock. Once he managed to snap out of it, he said to “Minnie,” “Hiya, Min! How’s it goin’?”

            “Oh, I’m just wonderful, Mickey,” “Minnie” said. “I saw you on the news!”

            “Oh, uh…ya did?”

            “Uh-huh. Why didn’t you tell me you were a Ghostbuster?”

            “Aw, I didn’t wanna worry you, Minnie. It’s such a dangerous job. We carry these nuclear machines on our backs and we fight these big, scary monsters all the time. Our first day on the job, we dealt with Hades! Can ya believe that?”

            “Oh, it sounds so heroic, Mickey! You are the bravest mouse I’ve ever known!”

            “Aww! Ya really think so, Minnie?”

            “I do, Mickey. I love you so much.”

            “I love you more, Minnie.”

            “I love you more than ice cream sundaes.”

            “I love you over the moon and back.”

            “I love you to infinity and beyond.”

            Goofy and Donald could not have felt more awkward watching the exchange between Mickey and Christina, who both seemed to have forgotten they were roleplaying. They suddenly received a welcoming distraction when they detected a flash of light at the corners of their eyes.

            Across from the garage area, where the Ectomobiles were usually parked, there stood three individuals: a teenaged, fair-skinned blonde wearing a red headband with horns and brandishing what looked to be a wand; a teenaged Latino boy in a red hoodie; and a pointy-eared woman wearing a turquoise, short-skirted uniform of some kind while carrying an old book with a revolting cover.

            “What up, GBs!” The teenaged blonde energetically greeted. “Long time, no see!”

            Christina, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy merely gave blank stares at the individuals.

            Noticing them, the teenaged Latino boy said to his blonde companion, “Uh, Star? I don’t think they remember us.”

            Star slapped her forehead from the reminder. “Duh! The Men In Black erased everybody’s memory of our last time together.” With this knowledge, Star approached Christina, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in a more courteous manner. “Hi there. I’m Star Butterfly and these are my friends, Marco and T’Eve. We come from another dimension, seeking the help of the Ghostbusters.”

            “Mostly one of the two smart ones,” Marco emphasized.

            Getting past the obscurity of their interdimensional visitors, Christina told them, “Well, you’re a couple of hours too late, I’m afraid. Both the A-Team and B-Team Ghostbusters are out on busts.”

            Now it was Star’s turn to stare blankly. “The A-what, B-who now?”

            “Guess you guys really aren’t from around here,” Christina surmised from Star’s perplexity. “Between the rapidly increased staff and the establishment of the new Junior Ghostbusters program in the last year, Dr. Venkman decided to split the Ghostbusters into two experienced teams: the more seasoned A-Team and the up-and-coming B-Team.”

            “We’re on the B-Team,” Goofy noted in delight.

            “How come you guys aren’t out there?” Marco asked.

            “We got benched,” the disgruntled Donald remarked.

            “Only because the B-Team’s much bigger than the A-Team,” Mickey said. “Phineas and Ferb aren’t out there either.”

            “That’s ‘cause they’re technical consultants,” Donald argued.

            Star groaned over the complications. “Ugh! We’ve hit a dead end! Maybe we should have gone back to Gravity Falls like Captain Jace suggested.”

            “Do not despair, Miss Butterfly,” T’Eve encouraged. “I believe there still might be a resolution to our conundrum.” She proceeded to flip open her communicator, patching back in with the Enterprise. “T’Eve to Enterprise. Miss Scott, are you there?”

            “Aye, Miss T’Eve,” answered Maighdlin Scott, Enterprise’s resident engineer who currently acted as captain in Marie Jace’s absence. “What ya need?”

            “Lock onto the positronic ionized radiation emitting around the Manhattan area,” T’Eve requested. “We are precisely looking for four signatures, older than the rest.”