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Ghostbusters: Daybreak

Chapter 8

(Miracle on Naito Parkway)

Written by Leo_Todrius

Supported by my Patrons

Special Thanks to Renian

A dry, distant rumble of thunder carried across the vast expanse of flat, dusty rock. The flashes of lightning were bright violet bursts jumping between bronze colored clouds that churned and spilled over themselves in an endless chase to get from one horizon to the next. It wasn't day, it wasn't night. It was a timeless void where a faint purple and gold glow came down from clouds beyond which there were no stars. As far as Rerun was concerned, it felt like the perfect place to beach himself, feeling washed up and worn down.

Normally when time wyrms slept, their serpentine bodies floated in the air. Rerun couldn't even muster the energy to manage that much. He was sprawled on the dusty rock, his robin's egg blue skin resting on the slightly, unpleasantly warm rock. The dust had caught in his silver hair, longer and more unkempt. If he'd had any use of breathing his breath no doubt would have disturbed the dust on the ground near his nostrils. His green t-shirt had faded, showing cuts and holes that surely would have meant injuries for any mortal creature, but for Rerun it was merely the rigors of time and a symbol for all of his failures.

Maybe it had been naive to think once the temporal cuff had been removed from his wings that he'd been able to solve everything and save his friends. Even after he'd failed a few times, he'd assumed it had just been because of his plan, but he'd gone back over and over and over again and each time he had to take the long way home. It was too much time without Grayson and Seth and Eli and Nico. It was too long without his family. It was too long.... Rerun wasn't even sure where he had wound up this last time. Was it the end of time? The start? Was it some sideline to wait things out, or some sandbar where things washed up in the middle of the river of time? Rerun didn't care, he couldn't afford to.

There was no telling just how long he lay there, nor how long his eyes remained shut, but eventually he sensed something. There were no sounds of footsteps, nor any sound at all. It wasn't really clear what alerted him exactly, but when he opened his eyes, he saw another entity a few dozen feet away. It was mostly spherical, though it was wrapped in torn, weathered cloth strips like a mummy. Two of the strips hung down below it in long flaps, the tattered ends forming into finger like extensions. An amber glow spilled out of the center of the sphere like a singular eye, but another flickering light source came from an antique lantern held by the spirit's long, gangly cloth arm. Rerun's own solid white eyes glowed in the dim atmosphere, regarding the creature.

'Why do you linger, child?' the lantern ghost asked without words as it approached. Rerun had learned that with his powers restored, his voice was once again lost, but most intelligent ghosts could understand him on some level. Apparently the lantern ghost communicated similarly given its lack of a mouth.

'No matter how hard I try, I can't save my friends. I've tried over and over again.' Rerun lamented. The lantern ghost slowed when it was a body's length away.

'The journey is never a single step, nor can it be charted by one precise location. The journey is a series of steps, of moves, building on each other and leading to the destination. It can be hard, especially in darkness, to see the way, but one must not lose their light.' The lantern ghost's voice soothed Rerun's soul. The time wyrm put his pale blue hands on the rock and pushed his humanoid upper torso upright, his long serpentine tail flexing and uncoiling slowly. Rerun looked at the lantern ghost carefully.

'You helped my friends when we were battling Zytu, helped us find the artifacts needed to destroy him and save every dimension, didn't you?' Rerun asked.

'That was also a journey with many steps.' The lantern ghost replied, starting to turn and drift across the rocky expanse. Rerun's body slowly floated up from the ground before he floated after the lantern ghost.

'But where do I start? How do I help save my friends?' Rerun asked urgently. The lantern ghost slowed to a stop, slowly lifting its drooping cloth arm to bring the lantern upright and peer into the darkness beneath the shifting clouds.

'The material to save your friends must be tied with the thread from the loom of fate.' the lantern ghost murmured before it started to float across the endless stone. Rerun remained behind, racking his brain, thinking back to all the legends and myths that Gray and Seth had taught him. A slow smile crept across his blue face, his pointed ears twitching as he got an idea. Rerun's white eyes started to glow brighter as the three silver clockwork wings on his back began to turn and spin, the time wyrm's body disappearing. In his wake there was no movement, no life, no light or shadow, merely the endless and timeless thunder.

****

Nine Mercer stared at the clock over the archway to the school library in a mix of disbelief and mild annoyance. His sense of time was completely out of whack. The ghost apocalypse had essentially trapped citizens in their homes and when the EctoTech had made it safe to gather again, the school district had insisted on a modified winter schedule that all but eliminated winter break, leading all the way up until Christmas Eve. On top of that, Nine still hadn't adjusted to daylight savings after a month and change. It would have been a lot for any eighteen year old to cope with, but Nine had one last wrench in the works - thanks to the Krampus, he still happened to have the body of a seven foot tall elf.

It hadn't been clear how the magic would work once they reached school, but the answer had presented itself quickly enough. The PKE barrier had not turned Nine back to normal, nor had it removed whatever glamor prevented the other students from seeing his modified body. As far as they were concerned, he was his same old usual self, even if they did have to incline their heads to look into his eyes. If the whole thing didn't give him such a headache it would have made for an interesting experiment.

Somewhere down the hall Nine heard Carol of the Bells playing from someone's cellphone. It had always been his favorite Christmas Song and it gave him energy. He reached up, brushing his reddish-copper hair behind his long pointed elf ear, tugged his almost painfully small backpack up onto his broad back and started moving down the hallway, heading to class. He just had to make it through one more day and they'd finally be able to have a well earned winter break. Nine smiled at his classmate playing the Christmas music and taping up paper snowflakes to the lockers as he passed, glad that some cheer was surviving even the hardest of times.

****

The faint sound of jingle bells filled the bathroom, coming in rapid and regular jolts as if they were the percussion beat to some unheard song. They had started off a bit rough and uneven at first, but as Angel had picked up the pace he'd found it quite an intoxicating sound. Then again, each and every moan coming from Gabriel Perez's lips sounded like music to Angel's ears as well. The Cuban teen was bent over the bathroom sink, his juicy plump tan ass spread wide by the thick black equine cock Angel was impaling him with over and over.

Hot snorts blasted from Angel's flared nostrils, his dark horns glistening in the artificial lights of the bathroom. Clove hooves dug into the grout of the tile floor for balance, a long tail whipping back and forth. Long, thick fur billowed from Angel's thick, muscled, burly body. His night time fantasies of becoming a demon had been swapped out for the body of a Krampus and he was intent on putting his switch to good use, ramming as deep as he could get into his friend's body.

Gabe howled and moaned, his own body not entirely human. After Angel and he had come across the TIkbalang, he'd been left with an equine member of his own that he worked furiously, sending jet after jet of semen into the sink basin before him. His eyes were squeezed shut, his cheeks flushed, sweat soaking his pits. He cooed out loud as Angel hit his prostate with the blunt head of his cock, the second and third hits nearly sending him to his knees. He bit his lip to avoid screaming out Angel's name, but he couldn't let such precise work go unthanked.

"You're a beast, an animal, and I love it!" Gabe moaned. Angel grinned between sharp fang like teeth before a very long tongue slipped out, slathering across the back of Gabriel's neck. The affection elicited another moan of delight, but Angel wanted more. He grabbed onto Gabriel's hips and lifted him up with inhuman strength, letting his own body weight bring him down around the huge pillar of a cock. Gabe screamed, Angel roared, and a geyser of thick minty yuletide cum began to erupt in that deep ass. Gabe flopped back against Angel's broad leathery chest, only faintly aware in his subconscious that no eighteen year old had quite that much body hair, but he didn't care. He might have been mounted on a creature that looked like he came from hell, but as far as Gabriel was concerned, he was in heaven.

****

The clip-clop of reindeer feet echoed in the solid cement stairwell that descended down the back of the Pioneer High campus. The school had been built on a hilltop overlooking part of the city and was quite pristine, but the topography had meant that the school's track had been built at a lower elevation behind the school. Miguel descended, his head lowered a bit as his antlers bumped and scraped the ceiling. He could only imagine what he'd look like once he changed into his PE clothes; his furry legs descending from shorts and wispy tufts of fur coming out from his exposed elbows. He was taller and stronger than he'd ever been before in his life, though he was still a bit gangly despite it all. Miguel felt relieved when he reached the locker room at the base of the stairs, able to stand upright.

"Hey Meego!" a cheerful call came from Keith, one of the senior varsity runners for the school. Keith stood at the locker next to Miguel, already swapping out his sweatshirt for an activewear top.

"Hey Keither Southerland." Miguel joked back as he moved to his own locker, setting his backpack down on the long bench. He tugged out his gym clothes, though his custom PKE meter was tugged half way out onto the bench. Miguel started to pull off the layers he'd worn to keep warm on the walk to school, though he realized a bit late that putting a short sleeve t-shirt over a long sleeve one looked good but it made it a bit more of a struggle to get undressed in the heat of the moment.

"Is that some new cologne, Miguel?" Keith asked, sniffing the air. Miguel shook his head as it disappeared into a tangle of long and short sleeve shirts, revealing his furry stomach and chest, his arms over his head as he tried to extract himself.

"Nope, just my natural scent I guess." Miguel said, his voice muffled from inside the fabric. As Miguel lifted his arms higher and exposed his pits, Keith breathed in deeper and deeper, his lungs filling with the scents of pine, cinnamon, pumpkin, cloves and musk. It smelled like comfort and love with just an edge of naughtiness. Keith couldn't help himself, licking his lips for just a moment before he leaned his face in and planted it directly in Miguel's arm pit. Miguel squeaked, flinging his shirts off of his head and one arm as he fell against the locker, feeling Keith's tongue going at it, slurping and licking at his pit. Miguel grunted, grabbing onto the runner, pulling him off the pit only to have Keith slide down his pec and latch onto his nipple.

"Keith!" Miguel said in shock, but Keith was starting to pepper kisses down from his nipple across his stomach, then his navel, looking up at Miguel with doting eyes.

"Dude, I have to taste you, please..." he whispered. Miguel blushed furiously.

"Keith, you never told me you were gay..." Miguel whispered. Keith shrugged a little.

"I mean, I didn't think I was, although me and the track team have this bonding thing we do... but you smell so good, you make me feel whole. I... I have to taste you, please Meego... I promise I won't ask for anything else for Christmas..." Keith said, his fingers already starting to loop into Miguel's waistband. Miguel looked around a bit nervously.

"But what about the others, what if they see us?" Miguel panted, inhaling sharply as he felt the cool locker room air hit his already stiffening reindeer cock. Keith reached in and wrapped his fingers around Miguel's meat, hoisting out the log as if it were a precious artifact.

"If they see us, they better wait their turn because I found you first." Keith whispered before he leaned down, his lips parting as his tongue found its way to Miguel's plump, fat, quickly hardening member. Miguel groaned sharply, rolling so his back was flat against the locker. He couldn't tip his head back very far before his antler started to click and tap against the metal. Miguel gasped even harder as Keith suddenly popped the head of his cock into his mouth, already sucking and slurping.

With a few suspiciously well practiced head bobs, Keith started to dive deeper around Miguel's rod. Miguel moaned, reaching down to grab his pants and push them down further to let out his furry reindeer balls, his short tail twitching above his furry ass. Teardrop shaped ears twitched and flicked as he felt Keith's mouth get down half way, ten a few inches more. His feet scraped the cement floor. He was sure his shoulders would have felt cold against the locker if it hadn't been for the layer of fur covering his body. Miguel would have normally been petrified, but it didn't take long for his moans and groans to climb in volume, carrying through the locker room.

"Damn, Miguel, when did you start looking so fine?" A voice asked from the end of the row as Damien came to investigate the noises, a hungry looking grin crossing his face, a hand sliding across the tightly braided hair that ran back along his skull to a short ponytail.

"You kidding? I've had a crush on him since fifth grade." A freckled blond said, his eyes lecherous from behind rectangular tinted glasses, a bit of golden fluff hanging down from the point of his chin. The two moved over, edging around Keith before they began to rub their faces at Miguel's under arms, licking and nuzzling, taking a few nips before they slipped over to his chest.

"FUCK!" Miguel gasped, his back arching as he felt three mouths working on his body. They were so hungry, so manly, working together in common purpose like a team. Well, technically they were a team, they were all in track together. Miguel wriggled and grunted as a hand started to fondle his oversized furry balls, another cupping his meaty ass, another sliding up and down the small of his back. Another reached up to caress down his cheek, tracing the contours of his reindeer ear.

The attention was overwhelming, especially when combined with doing something so naughty in such a public place. There were lips and hands everywhere, all of them drinking in his natural musk. Miguel's leather pucker tensed and relaxed in rhythm with Keith's head as it managed to make it all the way around the huge shaft. Miguel's moans grew in volume and intensity until he tipped his head back as far as it could go, his muzzled lips parting to let out the bray of a reindeer.

Damien shivered as he felt the huge furry orb in his hand suddenly kick into life, a thick fountain of sperm pumping right into Keith's stomach. Miguel's muscles tightened as he felt himself cumming like some sort of warm soft serve machine. In a few moments he'd filled up Keith's stomach, but there was no stopping him. The cum kept coming, and it all had to go somewhere... As Miguel watched, two lumps formed on Keith's head, pushing his head back a little. The lumps grew and grew, swelling bigger, the skin looking more irritated by the second. Part of Miguel wanted to pull back, to spare him, to save him, but another part wanted to cum harder and cement his mutation. As Keith's forehead burst with the tips of new antlers, Miguel only came harder.

The bony masses climbed upwards, suddenly zig zagging and then branching, then splitting again. Every swallow of semen gave Keith the fuel he needed. His lithe, slim, trim runner's body was now crowned with two antlers, but the changes were far fro over. His nose darkened as his nostrils widened, his ears twitching and moving of their own volition as they rounded and sloped, taking on faintly ear-drop shapes. His bare chest softened with velvety smooth white fur was darker brown fur began to bristle and emerge from his shoulders. He suckled and fed on Miguel's cum, starting to bob up and down on the cock even as his face stretched out longer and longer into a muzzle around Miguel's meat.

A faint popping sound came as Keith's sneaker toppled to the floor and rolled away, then a moment later a thud came as his other shoe fell off. His beautiful, perfect, sublime runner's feet worthy of being on the cover of a magazine were warping and shifting. His toes realigned, his heel shifted and bony coating protected his digits as they reshaped. Keith's pants began to sag, knocked out of the way as a little tail formed, twitching above newly furred ass cheeks. There were snorts from his nostrils as his face pushed out into a full muzzle, his furry throat gulping at each squirt of semen. There was so much of it that the others could hear each swallow.

"Don't take it all, man, I'm hungry!" The blond said, grabbing Keith by the scruff of his neck and pulling him back. As the huge reindeer cock flung free, sending rope after rope of sperm into the air, the freckled runner soon took up his post, dropping to his knees and going deep. Miguel brayed out again, arching his back as he felt a new mouth with new teeth and new tongue techniques take him on. Not wanting anyone to feel left out, Damien took Keith's muzzled face in his hand and moved to kiss him, soon being rewarded with a mouth full of shared reindeer sperm. Damien swallowed it greedily, his tongue probing Keith's even as his own lips and nose darkened, fur starting to blister and grow from his cheeks.

Miguel felt like he'd stuck his finger into an electrical outlet, his entire body acting as a live wire. He was so sensitive as the blond sucked his cock, but it seemed that the steady yuletide flow wasn't enough for the greedy blond. Miguel's grapefruit sized balls were being massaged, squeezed, stroked and pet. The runner was milking him for all he was worth. In no time at all, the young man's freckled cheeks were speckled with drops of blood as his own new antlers broke free, rising tall and wide. A lighter sandy tan fur sprouted from his shoulders and neck, wrapping around his abdomen like a living vest. Miguel didn't resist or fight it, watching every second as the runner's face grew white fur that clashed with the tuft of golden brown wheat colored hair on his cheek and his head.

Another shiver halted through Miguel as he felt a hoof tipped finger graze his asshole, slipping down his taint before returning to his plump, overstuffed balls. A long, thick muzzle was working Miguel's entire cock at once, and when he looked back up he saw two reindeer making out in front of him. Damien's antlers were a bit short compared to his teammates, but he seemed to be making up for it in other areas. His muscles bulged, his skin was tougher and his meaty frame was resting atop two newly transformed reindeer feet.

Soft moans and murmurs escaped all of their lips as their bodies shifted, taking on the new shape. The wet, lewd sounds of sex coupled with the chorus of enthusiastic lovers made it impossible for Miguel to focus on the soft but insistent buzzing coming from the bench a few inches away, his PKE meter coming to life. The diodes on the device began to flash and pulse as the little arms waggled and flapped in reaction to a sudden change in readings. While the meter detected the psychokinetic imprint that Miguel was passing on to his partners, the screen filled with a signal that was much larger, much broader and farther reaching than any single supernatural act. The tone dropped off to subsonic, the readings showing almost like a drop in the spectral equivalent of barometric pressure. It hardly meant there was a lack of energy out there, but what it did mean was that the excess of energy from elsewhere was on its way to fill the vacuum.

"Who started the party without us?" A mock-disappointed voice came from the stairwell as the captain of the cross country team descended into the locker room, flanked by three more runners. Miguel looked up, still warm from the three furry, muscled bodies grinding and rubbing against him. A grin crossed his lips as he sized up the team captain.

"There's plenty of room in this team building exercise, you're just in time." Miguel said. The captain grinned, already grabbing onto his polo to tear it off as he and the other three approached the hot, furry frenzy tangled together in front of the lockers. Miguel had let himself get lost in the pleasure of his first three partners, but he let out a bit of a coo as strong arms pulled him away from the locker. The blond withdrew from Miguel's long, slick cock, his tinted glasses now resting on a reindeer muzzle. A new mouth took its place as Miguel fed and changed another soul, and soon he felt an oddly talented tongue slipping around the darkened ring of his tail hole before a plump tongue plunged inside.

Miguel howled out, glancing over his shoulder to see the team captain making out with his ass. He clenched and unclenched the dark passage to give the jock more to play with, already feeling the bumps forming on his forehead. Miguel's mouth found Damien's, their heads turning until their muzzles aligned. There were bodies all around him, a complex mixture of soft fur and sharp antlers, all of them hungry and yearning for more. Miguel felt like he was flying, the weight draining away from his body as he was kissed, sucked, licked and probed. It was magical, it was blissful, it was beyond description.

Despite the lust and pleasure slowly marinating his brain and turning it into fruitcake, an idle thought passed through Miguel's mind, wondering if they had scrimped on enough of the EctoTech emitters to cover the gym since it was so far removed from the main building. It was either that or the magic flowing through him was so ancient and timeless that it had surpassed the limitations to give him the power and allure to turn the track team into his own personal herd of reindeer. Miguel moaned around the long tongue invading his throat as he was manhandled, not even fully aware that his reindeer feet were floating a few inches off the ground. Whatever was happening, it was the best Christmas present he could have ever imagined.

****

As far as Nine was concerned, Oregon was a remarkably beautiful state. That being said, Crayola could have filled a box of crayons with the various shades of grey that made up winter. As Nine tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for his last class to end, he stared out at the dark grey clouds and the light grey haze of rain that was starting to turn into snow. School hadn't even let out for the day and it was already starting to darken as the sun slouched towards the mountain range in the west behind its shroud of clouds.

A faint buzz drew Nine's focus away from the window, looking up as one of his classmates checked their watch. Another buzz came as another watch vibrated, then four more, then nearly the entire class. Even the teacher paused as she looked at her own watch, tapping the screen to bring up the notification. As she started reading through it, Nine leaned over to reach into his backpack, pulling out his PKE meter. He flicked the power switch and the screen burst to life, several dancing green bars of energy showing for a moment before it shifted to a spectral readout showing something approaching the city with impressive speed.

"What's a PKE alert?" One of the students asked under his breath, nearly everyone having been given the same warning on their watches.

"Misses August, may I be excused?" Nine asked, already dumping his textbook and notes back into his backpack as he zipped everything up. He was sure he could talk his way out of class, the only question was if he'd be able to round up Angel and Miguel as easily. As Nine rose to his feet and started moving toward the door, he looked out of the windows as the snow got thicker and thicker, icicles starting to stretch down from the upper edge of the window frame.

****

The waters of the Willamette river were still, a crisp sheen of ice stretching out steadily from the banks. Snow had feathered across the waterfront, hiding the dividing line between the walkways and the patches of grass. The bridges spanning the river were lit up with colored projections and rainbows of colorful lights shone out like pinpricks in the white haze of snow falling from the clouds above. It was pristine, like the cover of a Christmas card, unblemished until a large paw print suddenly appeared in the snow, followed by another, then two more, then six, then dozens. The snow coalesced into the shape of a powerful, threatening, familiar shape. As the snowflakes connected and linked together, they formed frozen strands of white fur that built out and around, larger and thicker until eight ghostly polar bears were making their way between the leafless trees. Their nostrils snorted airless breaths and blue flame spilled out from where their eyes should have been.

The few people that had been brave enough to venture out near sunset and walk along the waterfront screamed in terror, turning and heading the other direction. One of the polar bears sniffed at a garbage can before growling, swatting it with a paw. The metal and plastic container snapped free of its chain and went skidding across the park, but as it moved it slowly froze over before becoming encased with an inch and a half thick sheet of ice. When it finally slid to a stop, the image of the polar bears were inverted in the ice, distorted and stretched like a prism - but they weren't the only thing catching in it. A strobing, spinning blue light reflected on the ice, growing brighter and brighter. From the distance a wailing siren sounded, familiar to those in Portland as coming from the one emergency vehicle that the city didn't finance.

The Ecto-11 sailed down Naito Parkway before adjusting its heading, the all-weather tires gripping the curb as it jumped up over the edge and rumbled into waterfront park. The vehicle had barely skidded to a stop before the doors flung open and the trio of young Ghostbusters jumped out. Angel and Miguel had the best traction, their new bodies built for cold winter weather. Nine, however, slid a bit before recovering himself. The three rounded to the back of the car, pulling the modified door open sideways before pulling out the rack of proton packs. The equipment clicked and clinked as it settled onto Miguel's back, the blue haired reindeer making a surprised sound.

"Wow, I wish these things always felt this light." Miguel said with awe, making sure the straps were adjusted before he pulled the neutrona wand from its holster. Angel let out a satisfied growl himself as he pulled his own pack on, reaching back to flick the power switch.

"Yeah, and we could use your antlers to hang a few extra traps." Angel grinned. Miguel puffed out his furry chest.

"I'll have you know that I have a team of reindeer to do such menial tasks." Miguel said. Angel let out a breath as if he'd been burned at that.

"Something tells me that they aren't going to let you list that as an extracurricular activity on your college applications. I'm not sure there's a big draw for corrupting the city's most famous varsity team." Nine said, pulling on his own pack before he grabbed a set of ecto-goggles, slipping them on. He adjusted the strap to rest just behind his pointed elfin ears. Angel, however, was looking out at the polar bears as they grunted and growled, getting into fights with one another. A few of them had rolled and tumbled into the seawall, leaving behind a slope of ice that curved upwards almost like a ramp.

"I'm thinking we don't get too close." Angel said.

"I'm thinking it's time we raise the temperature." Nine said, flicking the power switch on his own pack before initiating the cyclotron with a button on his neutrona wand. A deep resonant hum erupted from the nuclear accelerator on his back as the four red lights started to pulse in sequence. Angel followed suit, Miguel finishing off. White light spilled from grills on the proton blasters, blue bars monitoring energy levels on the back of the packs. They had a lot of equipment at their disposal, but sometimes the classics worked the best. The trio grabbed several box traps from the Ecto before helping each other hang the larger disc traps from a set of twin hooks on the bottom of the cyclotron. Given the size of these things, they had to be prepared for anything.

Despite the powerful hum of the proton packs, the bears seemed to give the newcomers little mind, at least at first. They moved along the waterfront, the slightest touch of their fur encasing a few trees in a thick shell of ice. One of the bears had swung itself over the guardrail of the sea wall, sniffing and snorting at the air before swiping a huge paw outward. It stopped mid-air as a glowing pin salmon appeared from the nothingness. The creature flopped and shimmered, leaving behind wispy tendrils of pink energy before the polar bear devoured it, long sharp fangs dripping with ectoplasmic drool. As it fed, the Ghostbusters shivered a bit, feeling the temperature dropping and the snow getting thicker.

"I don't like where this is headed." Miguel said, his words turning into frosty vapor before his lips. Nine grinned.

"Then let's turn things in another direction." He said before he opened fire. The air crackled as the proton stream erupted out from his neutrona wand, arcing out in a sizzling, unpredictable zig-zag of nuclear energy. While Nine's aim was fairly good, the unpredictable nature of the proton stream did lance across the ground before hitting the first bear, leaving a ten foot gash of smouldering dirt and melted snow. When the stream did connect with the bear, though, it danced and skittered across the furry torso before latching around to itself, coiling the creature in the excess energy. Nine gritted his teeth, his green eyes shimmering in the glow of the proton stream. Angel followed suit, opening fire. His stream danced out across the waterfront before hitting the same bear.

The two Ghostbusters dug their feet into the ground before they started to lift the blasters. It took some heft, but the ensnared polar bear began to lift off the ground, snarling and swiping at the empty space beneath it. Miguel reached over to unhook the disc trap from Nine's pack before he threw it like a Frisbee, the yellow device spinning before it landed on the snow and skidded a few feet. As it came to a stop, its trapezoidal feet popped out at an angle, wedging into the snow to give it a bit more of an anchor. Miguel squeezed the remote and the surface of the trap broke into three wedges as it opened, a cone of light shooting upward even as the particles of energy that got close to it were drawn down into the swirling ionic vortex.

"On three?" Angel asked, trying to keep the bear aloft.

"Three!" Nine shouted. The two moved together, dragging the bear over the trap. The creature snarled and roared, trying to buck or jump or break free, but as more than half of its body was enveloped in the pearlescent light coming from the trap, its large body broke back into snowflakes, spiraling down into the trap like water in a drain. As it disappeared, the other seven bears froze in place for a split second before they turned, fourteen burning blue eyes looking at the Ghostbusters.

"Okay, so one down.... Any ideas for the rest?" Angel asked. Miguel slid the safety over the trap remote, locking the doors open so they'd continue to draw in whatever came close. He grabbed his own disc trap and threw it out, opening it up. With that one deployed and locked open, he rolled out a box trap and stomped on the foot pedal to open it up as well. Nine nodded at that, grabbing his own disc trap to toss it over.

"Make a minefield. If they want to attack us, they're going to have to get through the traps." Nine said.

"Works for me." Angel said, unloading his own traps across the waterfront.

Even as the dim winter light faded, the ghost traps shot columns of light into the sky like beacons. The air sizzled and crackled as proton streams jolted outward. The bears snarled and growled, charging at their aggressors. As one of them built up speed, the ice and snow rose from the ground to meet the paws, creating a line of pillars that acted like a ramp. It lunged towards the Ghostbusters but Nine dove down into the snow and grabbed one of the disc traps, bringing it around to rest on his chest. He turned his face away as the polar bear came down on top of him, or more accurately, the trap. It's huge body shrank into mist and spiraled into the trap without so much as a jostle of inertia.

As Nine worked to get back on his feet with the heavy equipment, Angel and Miguel ensnared another beast. Unlike the others, this one tried to dig its claws into the ground, fighting and scraping its way as it was dragged over one of the box traps. It let out an angry roar as it was drawn inside and the yellow and black caution striped doors snapped shut to seal it inside. In moments the group of polar bears was nearly down by half, although the others were circling and spectating their hunters. The snow falling was uneven, a rumble of thunder crackling through the clouds above. Little by little, the last of daylight faded away until only the distant muted Christmas lights and the bright, insistent pulse of the Ecto's lights illuminated the battle.

"Oh god, I can't feel my fingers..." Nine murmured, shivering as the snow stuck to his cheeks. Angel huffed a bit, feeling worn out from wrestling the beasts so far.

"No time, here they come!" Miguel said, igniting his proton blaster as one of the bears charged. The bear threw up a skidding slab of ice but the proton stream cut right through it, the hot water splashing outwards before the beam hit the polar bear instead. The energy crackled around the bear, but the momentum carried through the lasso-like energy with a snap and Miguel went toppling backwards.

"Miguel!" Angel and Nine shouted in unison, but Miguel's body slowed before it hit the ground, sliding along just a few inches from the surface. Angel and Nine both watched in shock before Miguel floated upwards and landed again, letting out a snort from his reindeer nostrils before he charged back toward the beast. The proton stream that had been slack suddenly intensified as the distance was closed, halting the bear's advance. With a sudden tug of his arms, Miguel yanked the bear to his side. He stumbled and slid, letting out an angry roar before he tried to climb back up to his feet and attack again... except that one foot was stuck.

The bear turned its head, blue flaming eyes watching as its back paw stretched and dissolved into energy. The polar bear growled, melting away like cotton candy in a rainstorm as it was absorbed by the trap. The other bears growled and roared in rage at losing another of their comrades. Two of them began running at the Ghostbusters, running shoulder and shoulder until they toppled into one another, their fur momentarily bursting into a snow flurry before reforming as a bear that was twice the size of the originals, four flaming blue eyes setting on the Ghostbusters.

Angel opened fire first, then Nine, then Miguel. The three streams hit the beast, wrapping around its shoulders, its legs, then the rest of its body. It tried to keep running but as the Ghostbusters lifted up it lost traction, kicking and clawing at the air. The Ghostbusters stumbled backwards, drawing it closer and closer before they maneuvered the creature over one of the traps. The bear let out a roar that had an ear piercing shriek layered into it as it was pulled into the trap.

"How many are left?" Miguel asked in a shout, his ears still ringing from the tone.

"Two, if I didn't lose count." Nine replied.

"Where are they?" Angel asked, turning around in a circle, trying to see through all the snow. Two burning blue eyes appeared in mid-air before the snow gathered together, a huge bear paw smacking Angel's blaster. The Ghostbuster hit the ground and slid, though he grunted as he heard the crackling of ice forming on the hot metal. Angel scrambled to slip out of the shoulder straps and drop his pack as it froze over with ice, encased in moments.

"No one tries to turn my friend into a meat Popsicle!" Miguel growled, opening fire again. The polar bear tried to disperse but the proton string caught enough to jaggedly loop around the bear, pulling it back together and holding it in place. It tried moving forward, then back, forcing Miguel to slide, his reindeer feet digging troughs into the cold dirt beneath him. He tried to slam the bear to the side but the proton stream merely arched and shuddered.

"We're still missing one, stay sharp!" Nine called out before realizing he had his ecto-goggles on his head. He tipped his head forward to force the goggles to sink down across his nose, the lenses flaring to life as they flipped through different light and PKE spectrums. Settling on infrared, Nine grinned. "He's slinking up along the guard rail.

"How far?" Angel asked, crawling over to one of the traps they'd deployed in the minefield. He flipped the switch to close the doors, making sure it wasn't already occupied.

"Seven feet... Six feet..." Nine murmured.

"Come on you fuzzy son of a bastard!" Miguel groaned, deciding to throw his whole body weight backwards. The sudden momentum shift made the bear he was wrangling stumble forward head first into one of the open disc traps, its huge hind quarters barely shrinking in time to disappear inside.

"Five feet... Four." Nine called out, aiming his proton blaster, a bit anxious given that Angel was between the invisible bear and him. Angel made it look like he was still fiddling with the trap even as he heard something crunching through the snow, paw prints compressing through the icy coating. Angel took a breath and then sprung forward, landing on all fours as he flung the trap between his legs like a glorified football quarterback. The box rattled and rolled towards the bear, tugging its long yellow cord behind it. As the foot pedal slid up to Angel he grabbed it and squeezed, depressing the kick plate.

The yellow and black striped doors snapped back open, a column of bright warm cream colored light shooting upward. The bear turned visible just long enough to explode into a flurry of snow, spiraling down into the trap before the doors instinctively slapped themselves shut. An indicator at the front of the box chirped as the panel lit up with a pulsing red light to indicate that it was occupied. Aside from the chirp, there was sudden quiet. No growls, no shrieks, no paw prints in the snow. The Ecto's siren had been muted when they parked. Even the river was quiet, the surface frozen over. Everything was still and calm as the snow fell around them. Nine smiled with relief, taking a long breath.

"How could you?" A young voice asked, steeped in anger and rage despite its youth. Nine turned, meeting eyes with the grey eyed boy. He seemed thin, almost frail. His skin was pale and his irises seemed almost translucent as if you could see through them. The blue in his hair had almost faded to the color of ash while the black had lost its lustrous sheen. Even the material that made up his buttoned up shirt and pants seemed to be flaking and scaling, the material deteriorating. Despite that, he took a step forward, fingers clenched tightly in his hands, "WHY WON'T YOU JUST STOP?!" he shouted, his voice cracking.

Miguel and Nine looked at each other for a split second before they ignited their proton streams. The grey eyed boy held up his hand and the beam split, skittering across the ground and igniting a small pile of leaves that had been beneath the snow. The grey eyed boy snarled and swiped his hand, knocking the two off of their feet and over the guard rail. Nine grabbed onto it with one hand, grunting as his body slung down with the weight of his proton pack strapped to it. Miguel, however, managed to skid weightlessly in the air, using his reindeer abilities. Angel tried to crawl to grab another trap but he suddenly howled out as it felt like something incredibly heavy had landed on his back, pinning him to the ground.

"I already came to this wretched place once... I summoned the four horsemen of the apocalypse to put an end to the Ghostbusters here. Even when they cheated me in their defeat by keeping me out of the firehouse, I knew that in time the system would fail, my siblings would be released... but you, you had to pick up where they left off. You're almost as bad as those Ghostbusters in New York..." the boy growled, turning to look at Miguel where he was trying to pull Nine back up over the sea wall. He reached out to fling Miguel out of the sky but as he watched, the snow flakes falling around them fell slower and slower until they stopped, frozen in mid-air. What had been quiet became absolute silence, the entire city frozen in a moment of time. Disappointment turned into a cruel smile. "So you finally got out, huh?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at Rerun. Rerun lifted his hand, using sign language to convey his response.

'You should understand traps more than anyone.' Rerun signed.

"Maybe that's the problem." The grey eyed boy murmured, "Trapping the humans isn't good enough. Maybe I should just end them." he said, turning to face his closest victim... but where Angel had been there was nothing except a patch of crushed snow. The grey eyed boy sneered, turning one way, then the other, yelping as he turned around to see Angel standing there, his dark black fur dusted with snow, his horns glistening, his leathery chest radiating with heat. The boy looked at him, chuckling weakly, "It's been what, a few months since I released my kind. Already you're consorting with the enemy, becoming one of us."

"I ain't consorting with anyone like you." Angel said. The grey eyed boy's eyes narrowed.

"You also aren't armed, your equipment is frozen in both ice and time." he murmured. Angel gave a small shrug, taking a step forward, lifting up a sack made of fine harvest gold cloth, the top threaded with a golden cord.

"I don't need a positron collider, I'm going to use something a lot older." Angel said, smiling wider, "You see, I'm a Krampus. I'm an ancient spirit who exists for one purpose... and you've been a very naughty boy!" Angel growled before he opened the sack, moving to swipe it over the grey eyed boy. The boy tried to disappear but Rerun closed his eyes, his wings straining and pressing against the flow of time.

"No!" The grey eyed boy roared, straining just as hard. As Rerun narrowed his focus to hold the grey eyed boy in place, the snow started to fall around them again as time resumed. Nine yelped as he lost his grip and fell toward the frozen river, gasping as Miguel caught him by the wrist and brought him back up over the edge, setting him down. Nine looked around, spotting the grey eyed boy struggling and straining. Sunlight spilled out of the sack that Angel was holding, ribbons of the glowing light latching around the grey eyed boy's ankles, then his wrists. He snarled, his teeth stretching into fangs. "You can't stop me, this is my purpose!" he roared, his voice resonating with itself.

"Your purpose is self defeating! You were born out of the resentment of all the ghosts that have ever been captured, but when you set them free, they weren't angry or restless anymore. You released your own power." Nine said, pulling his proton pack back on straight. The grey eyed boy roared again, spittle flinging from his fangs.

"If you trap my siblings again, that resentment will just grow again, and you won't live forever!" He snarled, his feet starting to skid towards the Krampus' sack.

"Maybe, but if you're the conduit for that energy, we just have to make sure you're somewhere safe." Nine said, looking at the light spilling out of the sack as more tendrils wrapped around the grey eyed boy. "Time to send him to where the sun always shines." Nine said before he activated his neutrona wand. The orange, blue and red energy sizzled outwards, hitting the boy, wrapping around him. A moment later a second blast erupted from Miguel's blaster as he got a hold of the angry spirit. The two Ghostbusters moved forward, pushing the grey eyed boy towards Angel.

The boy thrashed and snarled, fingers stretching into claws, ears taking on points as three rows of horns burst from his head. His eyes turned entirely grey, his skin taking on a deathly periwinkle color. He snarled and growled, trying to swipe and slash at anything he could reach but every movement was restrained by the ribbons of sunlight. He fought tooth and claw for every inch, but Angel wasn't going to take any chances. He lunged forward, bringing the sack down over the grey eyed boy's head just as Nine and Miguel cut their streams. The sack dropped down entirely over the spirit's minuscule form before it suddenly went limp, dropping to the ground as if nothing was inside. Steam wafted up from the hot chassis of the neutrona wands as Nine and Miguel stood in uncertainty.

"Did we... do it?" Nine asked softly. The three looked around curiously, Angel pointing across the waterfront to where snow was seeming to land on an invisible surface. Miguel groaned softly.

"Did we miss a bear or something?" Miguel asked, but as they watched the object the snow was landing on appeared beneath it; it was a man in his early to mid thirties, his shaggy brown hair shorn short in comparison to the impressively thick, remarkably long goatee that hung down from his chin. A few feet away another individual appeared, thinner and more spry, his wavy blond hair nearly reaching his shoulders. A lanky, pale black haired young man appeared next. They were all faces that Angel and Miguel had seen around the firehouse, but the fourth face to appear belonged to someone Nine had met in person and even studied from.

"Grayson Kale..." Nine whispered in awe. Rerun's tail flicked as he shot out at top speed, surging over to crash into the quartet, knocking them over into the snow as he wrapped his blue arms around them. While the display of affection was touching, Miguel had frozen in place when he'd taken a step to check on them only to have another figure appear a few feet in front of him. The individual was garbed in a dark navy blue jumpsuit, his rusty red colored hair tied back beneath a bandanna emblazoned with a modified version of the Ghostbusters emblem that used a red maple leaf instead of a circle with a cross through it.

"Oh my god..." Angel murmured, watching as more and more people appeared out of thin air, filling up the waterfront along Naito Parkway. Dozens, then dozens more. They started to appear in the street, forcing cars to slow to a stop, honking their horns. Miguel looked around with hesitant excitement.

"Did we do it?" Miguel asked softly, looking at Nine hopefully. Despite the cold, a hot, happy tear rolled down Nine's cheek.

"We did it, we saved the Ghostbusters... all of them..." Nine said, feeling his heart swell up as he watched the original Portland team getting back up and dusting themselves off, giving Rerun hugs and looking around in wonder. There were teams from across the country and even some from other countries, all trying to figure out where they were. One of the freshly returned older Ghostbusters looked around before setting eyes on Nine, sizing him up.

"Hey kid, do you know what day it is?" he asked. Nine glanced down at his watch before looking back at the Ghostbuster, smiling a bit.

"It's Christmas Eve." he replied with a warm smile. Despite the fact that the sun had set, despite the fact that the supernatural aurora still danced above Portland, Nine had no doubt that daybreak had finally come and the long ghostly night was finally going to come to an end. He slid his neutrona wand back onto its hook before he moved over, slinging one tired arm over Angel's shoulder and the other over Miguel's, letting his head sag forward with a happy exhaustion. It took Nine a moment to realize that his arm was sloping up onto Angel's shoulder and down onto Miguel's. He turned, looking at each of them and their entirely human visages. He grinned wide, making Miguel blush a bit.

"What?" Miguel asked, reaching up to brush some of his hair back, realizing that his fingers hadn't bumped into any antlers. His eyes widened as he looked at Nine's perfectly round ears and Angel's perfectly smooth forehead. Miguel gasped, "We're back to normal!" he said. Angel reached down and pulled the waistband of his pants out a few inches to peek inside before shrugging.

"As normal as normal gets." he murmured before looking around with a little anxiety, trying to find the sack that he'd used to trap the Grey Eyed Boy. For a faint moment he thought he saw a horned figure sling the bag over his furry back, but the image melted away into the shadows like a trick of the eyes. Angel looked back at the crowd of Ghostbusters as some mingled and others frantically tried to make phone calls to their loved ones. "Maybe we should excuse ourselves, let them all get back to reconnecting with their lives." Angel said softly. Nine's eyes had settled on the Portland Ghostbusters where they had started talking to others and trying to help coordinate. Nine gave a slow nod.

"I could use a vacation." Nine grinned, giving Miguel's cheek a kiss, then Angel's the same before he started walking with them along the waterfront, leaving footprints in the snow behind them. As they walked, the colorful lights projected on Portland's bridges shimmered, a shot of warmth to break through the darkness.

****

The night had ended and the early morning rays of sunlight were stretching languidly through the skyscrapers of downtown Portland. Even with an office facing away from the sunrise, it was impossible not to see the gleaming illumination shining off of every other tower in the area, all of it filtered through the faintly green glass that made up two walls of Aaron Delgado's office. It was a spacious testament to his rapid ascent, the view unrivaled. Like his office, his desk was an L shape made of glass and steel. The move had been recent and the space still felt a bit hollow and unfinished, a feeling that Aaron had been sharing.

After launching C2 Industries, Aaron had been able to afford the nicer things in life. His long blond hair was perfectly conditioned, his cheeks perfectly smooth. He wore a tailored suit that accentuated his features rather than making him look gaunt. Aaron's Topaz Brown eyes were haunted, his face grim as he focused on the television mounted to the wall across from his desk. KATU was continuing their endless coverage of the Ghostbusters miracle return on Christmas Eve, cutting between short clips of interviews and the footage of over a hundred Ghostbusters trying to make their way back to their respective states and territories.

There had been some public requests for a parade, for a celebration, even a day of recognition. A few of the returned Ghostbusters had seemed interested, but most shied away from the limelight and knew a lot of work had to be done. For Aaron, however, he saw this as a threat to all the work HE had done. The Ghostbusters disappearing had led to a question that he had answered. It had been his EctoTech that had allowed people to go outside again, to live their lives, to be free...and now in an instant all of that was in jeopardy. Aaron grit his teeth as he picked up the television remote and hurtled it across the room. Rather than hitting the television, though, it stopped dead as a well manicured hand caught it mid-flight.

"If you don't like what's on, there are other ways to change the channel..." Sebastian Atonal's smooth voice quipped, a smile crossing a face that was perhaps just a bit too perfect. Then again, Aaron had seen the other side of it when Sebastian was in his natural state.

"How can you be so calm? Everything we've been working on for half a year is at risk." Aaron said. Sebastian made a shushing sound as he moved over to sit on the edge of Aaron's desk, leaning over to pick up one of the EctoTech watches, turning it over in his hand.

"I don't think you fully grasp how revolutionary your product is, mister Delgado." Sebastian chided, "It doesn't matter if the Ghostbusters are back or not. When humanity entered this new era, you were the one to greet them. Ghosts aren't going away, and there is no putting the genie back in the bottle. Humanity has, for the first time, had to coexist with ghosts on a large scale. The Ghostbusters are relics from a time when they could keep them at bay with a few gadgets and a charming perseverance, but you've given people the ability to protect themselves. They may cheer for the Ghostbusters, but you... you are the one that will be stuffing their stockings and putting the presents under their trees. You will keep all the good boys and girls safe and give all the naughty ones new ways to play." Sebastian said smoothly, fiddling with the watch until the white display suddenly turned a rich shade of purple. Aaron leaned forward in his chair, looking at it with wonder.

"What did you do?" he asked softly, taking the watch before gasping, watching as his fingernails started to stretch into sharp claws.

"I think the better question is, my sweet, what will you do with it?" Sebastian whispered.

****

This was the moment. A quick re-examination of his life led back to the same inescapable conclusion. Nine had theorized upon meeting Rerun that if he had been given the powers to rewind time that it would have been impossible not to go back and live in the perfect moment... and, comparing all the previous ones he'd had, this was the moment. Nine sat in the cozy high backed chair on the second floor of the Portland Ghostbusters' firehouse. It was warm, the air smelling of freshly baked cookies and eggnog. He was wearing a red Christmas sweater and sipping french vanilla hot cocoa from a Ghostbusters thermal mug. He'd never heard the firehouse have so many voices in it, let alone such happy voices. Nine had been soaking it all in with his eyes closed, but he opened them and enriched himself with everything going on around him.

It had taken several days for things to get back to normal, or at least as normal as they could in Portland. A few of the returned Ghostbusters had stuck around and Dakota had shown up to pitch in as well. They'd made a team of twelve and made a deep sweep of the city. It had been hard work over long hours, but things had quieted down enough that Grayson had announced to the city that New Year's day would be their day of rest. = = Angel's mom had been almost unusually enthusiastic for them to go, though as far as Miguel could tell it was under the assumption that it would be a final hurrah so they could focus on their last few months of high school before graduation. Maybe it was, maybe their time in the limelight was ending. Then again, with the kind of experience they'd added in, they could probably get hired at any branch they wanted to. Nine didn't really care to think that far ahead. After all, THIS was the moment.

"You're kidding..." Nico said incredulously, his mouth slightly agape in disbelief, "So every day the bus would roll down the street with a ghost in the front seat, but when it got to the spot it died, it'd stop in place and slime everyone all the way back... And you used that to get yourselves back to your normal bodies?" he asked. Miguel grinned wide.

"I mean, sometimes I miss the saber teeth, but yeah... I'm pretty proud we thought of that." Miguel grinned.

"Not everything we came across was as easy to wash off." Angel said from where he was sitting on the couch, arms crossed behind his head as he soaked in some time with the guys.

"Speaking of which, if... you all don't mind me asking, how are you feeling? The last time before you disappeared you had all become the four horsemen of the apocalypse... Among other things." Nine said, hoping he wasn't sounding too insensitive. Gray looked over at where Seth was basting a turkey in the oven with some broth before looking back at Nine.

"From what I can tell, the Man Trap digested our excess PK Energy. I guess it was easier to trap us if we were distilled down to our most basic essence. It seems to have stabilized a lot of the signatures we were coping with before." Gray said, looking back at Seth again. Nine had asked the very thing Gray had asked himself when they had reappeared, and his first act had been to scan Seth. It seemed, at least for the moment, that the condition his boyfriend had been suffering from was in remission. There was no trace of gargoyle or insect, Seth was simply Seth again. If there was a silver lining to anything, it had to be that.

"It was really amazing to see the professionals going at it, you guys are really amazing." Miguel said.

"Hey, don't sell yourself short, kid. You had some pretty impressive moves yourself. You hucked those grabber ghosts into the trap like they were over inflated footballs." Seth said as he moved out to sit down on the other end of the couch next to Angel. Angel looked over, giving an appreciative nod to the man's long goatee.

"How does it feel to be back in the saddle again?" Angel asked. Seth considered.

"Well, other than Eli we didn't really wake up when we were trapped. It doesn't feel like much time has passed." Seth said. Nine tilted his head a bit.

"Where is Eli?" he asked. Gray pursed his lips a bit before he moved over to the stairwell and looked down to the first floor.

"Eli?" he called out, "What are you doing?"

"I was just reading the mail." Eli answered, peeking around the corner at the base of the stairs.

"It's new years day, there is no mail." Gray replied. Eli lifted up a red card scrawled with dark golden ink.

"It didn't come in the mail." Eli said, moving to ascend the steps and join them all. As Eli reached the second floor, the younger Ghostbusters inhaled reflexively upon seeing the letter.

"The Krampus!" Nine gaped. Eli gave a quick nod to them.

"It is a thank you card." Eli said, "To all of us, actually. He said that we fulfilled our end of the bargain months ago with how we helped the bad children he tried to take last year, but that another naughty child kept him from thanking us. The agreement is complete." Eli paused, "And he also mentioned about being sorry that he couldn't let you keep your presents?" he added in confusion. Miguel started to blush at that.

"Well, I guess... in a way he helped orchestrate your return by giving us certain supernatural abilities. Angel was a Krampus, Nine was an elf and I was a reindeer." Miguel said.

"Did your nose glow?" Nico grinned. Nine rolled his eyes at that.

"No, but I made friends with the track team and... gave them all antlers..." Miguel said. Eli's eyebrows rose and Seth let out a long, slow whistle.

"You dog. You absolute hound. There may be hope for the next generation after all." Nico grinned, moving over to ruffle Miguel's colorful hair. Miguel grinned, loving the attention. It had been a long time since he'd had so much masculine attention in his life and it felt quite good. In fact, everything about the moment was almost perfect. The only thing that seemed to tarnish it was the growing smell of smoke starting to build in the air. Seth's skin blanched.

"The turkey..." He muttered, jumping to his feet. He approached the oven and cautiously edged the oven door open to confirm that there was in fact a fire inside. He cursed under his breath and moved to get the fire extinguisher from the wall, but when he turned around the fire was gone and the air had cleared. The turkey sat inside the oven, a little less cooked than it had been before. Seth's eyes drifted from the oven to where Rerun floated at the far end of the kitchen, his teeth crunching through several dill pickles at once. Seth brought his fingers up to his chin to sign thank you to which Rerun responded with the sign for your welcome. Across the room Nine exhaled a little, unable to stop smiling. Maybe this was the moment.... Although the last one had been hard to beat. They were both top five at the very least, all very good moments to reflect back on. The long dark night of the ghost-apocalyptic future had ended. A new day had dawned and it had brought with it friendship, family, hope and possibilities.

For the first time in a long time, Nine wasn't afraid of the future, and he certainly wasn't afraid of any ghost.