Chapter 36: Sam's turn part 3

Sam and the Ghostbusters had managed to successfully take down Papa Sargassy—even after he turned himself into a golem made out of kitchen equipment. But before they could celebrate their victory, they heard a deep thud, and the entire hotel shook.

Then, over the comms, they heard Winston's voice saying, "Um, guys… I'm right outside. And so is something else," Winston said.

Peter replied with a sardonic grin, "Gosh, we've missed you, partner. Glad you could make it. But first—how was the opera? While you were enjoying your day off, we had to make do with this new specimen here."

"I've been trying to get here for over four hours," Winston said.

"Traffic's a little blocked right now," Winston said, dryly adding a touch of sarcasm to his calm demeanor.

Then, another heavy thud shook the floor. Ray's eyes widened. "Wait… I know that thud."

Egon immediately grabbed the radio, voice sharp. "Winston. What do you see?"

"It's big. It's clean. It's soft. And white. And you all aren't going to like it," Winston said.

Ray slowly backed away from the windows, eyes filled with dread. As he did, the giant form of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man walked past the hotel.

Ray stammered, "This can't be happening—not here. Not again."

"We're on the third floor… and I still can't see its head. How are we gonna take this thing out?" Sam asked, tension creeping into his voice as he leaned out the window with disbelief in his eyes.

"We can't do what we did last time. We barely survived," Egon said with grim seriousness.

"Yeah. I'd prefer not dying," Sam replied dryly, with that trademark grim humor of his.

"I'm with the kid on that," Peter said, nodding firmly.

"Let's just get to street level. We'll think of a plan when we meet up with Winston," Egon said, already heading for the stairs.

---

Once they got outside, they were greeted by the sight of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man stepping on cars and smashing buildings like they were paper.

It turned toward them and released a mighty, monstrous roar.

"How the hell did a giant marshmallow mascot manage to make itself seem intimidating?" Sam asked, staring up in awe and mild horror.

"I asked myself the same question when I went through this the first time. You get used to it, kid," Peter said, trying to ease the tension with some casual sarcasm.

"I'd like to tell you I've been through worse… but a giant marshmallow man is a new one for me," Sam muttered.

Ray walked up to Egon with hands half-raised. "It wasn't me this time. I swear it."

As Egon and Ray got into the Ecto-1, Winston walked over to Sam. "You must be the new kid," Winston said, offering a friendly hand and a welcoming smile.

"Sam Winchester. Good to know you," Sam said, shaking Winston's hand firmly.

"Oh, manners. I already like you more than the last guy," Winston said, chuckling.

"What happened to the last guy? No one will tell me," Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He got fired because he was an asshole and demanded more money than he was worth. Let me guess—the others just cryptically answered you with, 'You don't want to know,' or, 'We don't talk about it,' right?" Winston said, smirking knowingly.

Sam sighed and nodded. "Yep."

"That's because saying that's funnier than the truth," Winston said, laughing.

---

In the Ecto-1, Ray was still panicking, his voice rising as he frantically adjusted switches.

"Pull it together, Ray. What do we have that can stop that giant cheap confection?" Peter asked, trying to rally him.

"Hey Ray, weren't you supposed to finish the install of the Super Slammer today?" Winston said, glancing toward the back of the vehicle.

"The Super Slammer—sounds untested, tacky, and exciting. I'm in! But will it work?" Peter said with that mix of sarcasm and excitement only he could deliver.

"Against the minions of a god? That was never the intent. But in theory, I suppose it could. But a muon trap of this capacity has never been used—or even tried—before," Egon said with analytical caution.

"And why would that stop guys who don't know any better? I mean, look at the kid—he's excited. Aren't you, kid?" Peter said, flashing a sideways grin at Sam.

Sam just chuckled nervously. "Yep. I'm really happy to bet my life on untested technology."

"We're all in agreement," Peter said, nodding with a smirk.

"We'll have to clear a path through this mess first," Egon said, already scanning the streets ahead.

In the background, Stay Puft continued destroying everything in sight, his deep laughter echoing through the city.

Then, from the other side of the crashed cars, tiny marshmallow monsters emerged and started attacking the Ghostbusters.

"Get moving—his residue is animating!" Egon shouted as he activated his thrower.

Sam, Peter, and Winston started blasting the little monsters, melting and vaporizing them in bursts of proton fire. It didn't take long before the street was clear of the sticky creatures.

"How you holding up, kid?" Winston said, giving Sam a quick look as he reloaded his pack.

"From now on, whenever I eat a marshmallow… I'm just going to consider it revenge," Sam muttered, catching his breath.

"Huh. Kid, you might have just saved marshmallows for me," Winston said, grinning as he slapped Sam on the back.

"Look out!" Ray suddenly shouted from inside the Ecto-1.

Just in time for Winston and Sam to see a flaming car coming straight toward them.

"Hit the deck!" Winston shouted, and he and Sam ran and dove behind the Ecto-1.

They looked back to see the car had smashed through the barricade.

"Well… bright side, the path is clear," Sam said, wiping soot off his jacket.

"Great. Now we can get closer to the giant marshmallow man that wants to kill us," Peter said, shaking his head as they regrouped.

As they advanced, two hobo ghosts attacked from a rooftop, lobbing bottles of noxious, glowing fluid at them.

"You know… this is honestly the first time I've ever been attacked by a homeless ghost," Sam said, dodging one of the bottles.

"Same," Peter and Winston said, nearly in unison as they raised their throwers and blasted both ghosts into oblivion.

"Ray, switch on the muon trap," Egon called over the radio.

"Switching on the muon trap," Ray said, reaching for the controls with practiced fingers

As soon as the trap turned on, Sam, Peter, and Winston wrangled the ghosts they had each been fighting over to the Ecto-1 and slammed them into the trap. They watched the three ghosts disappear in a flash of energy, stunned by the sight.

Winston, grinning from ear to ear, said, "Man, I'm loving the Super Slammer. When do you guys find time to build stuff like this?"

After they took care of the final wave of hobo ghosts, Egon glanced down at his PKE meter and said, "I'm detecting something significant... behind us."

Then Winston said, with growing concern, "What is that? Am I hearing wings?"

They all looked back—just in time to see the gargoyles on the hotel roof come to life. With wings wreathed in flame, they launched into the air, screeching toward the group.

Sam's eyes widened. He tensed up, gripping his wand tighter and said, "You guys ever dealt with gargoyles before?"

Winston and Peter, raising their proton wands in unison, just said, "Nope. No, we have not."

The three of them braced themselves, and as soon as the gargoyles were in range, they opened fire. Proton streams lashed out in bursts of light and force.

As they fought, Sam gritted his teeth and shouted over the noise, "Egon! How do we kill these things?!"

Egon replied, adjusting his glasses and raising his voice to be heard, "Well, technically, they were never alive to begin with. So 'kill' isn't the—"

Peter cut him off, yelling, "Just answer the kid's question!"

Egon nodded. "Try slamming them into the ground with the Wrangler!"

Sam locked on to the nearest gargoyle with a snarl and did what Egon said. He yanked the creature out of the sky with the capture stream and slammed it into the pavement with all his strength. The gargoyle shattered into flaming rubble, showing no signs of putting itself back together.

Sam, catching his breath, said, "It worked!"

Winston, pumped up, shouted, "My turn!" He grabbed the nearest one, swung it hard, and hurled it into the side of a building, smashing it into stone chunks.

Peter followed suit, blasting and crashing his gargoyle into a streetlight. Then he grinned and said, "Nice work, everybody. What's next?"

Egon, frowning down at his scanner, said, "Well, the path is blocked again, so not much we can do here. We're going to have to find another way around."

Winston pointed down the street and said, "Try cutting through this alley. We might be able to head off Stay Puft."

The alley was blocked by a massive wall of marshmallow goo.

Ray, standing just behind the car, said, "We need to find a way around this mess."

Winston growled, "I've had just about enough of the marshmallow parade. Rook, follow me. We're going to see if we can find us a shortcut."

Winston kicked open the doors of a nearby laundromat, stepping inside. Sam followed, shaking his head and saying, "How much you wanna bet this place is—"

Winston, already scanning the room, cut him off. "No bet. Look over there."

Sam turned and saw what he meant. The washing machines were slowly shuffling around, scraping and groaning as they moved from one spot to another on their own. The laundromat creaked under the strain of supernatural activity.

They carefully made their way through the building, stepping around puddles of water and rogue socks, and emerged through the back entrance into the alley behind the marshmallow wall.

Embedded in the gooey barricade was a damaged tanker, leaking gasoline.

Winston pointed. "That's our ticket. If we blow that up, it should clear the path."

Sam eyed it warily and said, "And probably take the two buildings on either side of it down."

Winston rolled his eyes and smirked. "You worry too much, Rook. It'll be fine."

Egon, stepping up beside them, added, "I was going to wait until I tested this, but since we're waiving that safety stuff today anyway... you should know I've modified the Neutrona Wand. You can now fire a powerful explosive Boson Dart."

Sam glanced down at the wand in his hands. After a moment of study, he figured out the new control mechanism and nodded.

Winston clapped him on the back. "All right, kid. Whenever you're ready." Then, raising his own wand, he fired at the tanker. "You guys might want to stand back."

Egon frowned. "How far exactly?"

Winston smirked. "Back. Way back."

Sam fired the Boson Dart.

The tanker exploded in a massive fireball, sending marshmallow goo flying and shaking the street. The wall was gone, and as the Ecto-1 drove through the smoldering gap, Egon checked his reflection in the window and said, "Do I still have eyebrows?"

Winston, walking by with a grin, said, "I said way back."

They continued through the alley, weaving around debris and steaming globs of marshmallow, until they emerged on the other side.

There, towering above the street, was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, stomping down the road and peering into buildings like a curious—and very angry—child.

Ray stared at him and said, "He's looking for something."

Egon turned to him slowly. "Is he looking for something... or someone?"

Ray's face darkened with grim understanding. His hands clenched at his sides. He took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped out of the car, bracing himself for the inevitable confrontation with the giant marshmallow menace.

As Tet continued to float lazily through the endless void, his bright, mismatched eyes scanned countless different worlds with idle curiosity and gleeful intrigue. He spun in the air like a child playing in a field, humming to himself as if searching for a fun little secret.

After sifting through dozens—hundreds—he suddenly came to a stop, eyes widening with a gleam of excitement. A slow grin tugged at his lips.

"This one's perfect," he said, voice full of delighted amusement as he hovered in place, his cape billowing despite the lack of wind. "Currently, it doesn't have a high god... and it's off balance as a result."

His tone shifted ever so slightly, still playful, but edged with a calculating undertone. "So not only am I not stealing it from anyone—not that I care about that," he added with a lazy shrug and a knowing smirk, "it's also in need of help."

He leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands, legs crossed mid-air as he floated upside-down and peered into the world like a child watching ants in a jar.

"Let's see... what world is this?"

Once he identified it, his grin widened into a mischievous, toothy smile. He threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing across the void.

"Well," he said, golden eyes gleaming with unrestrained glee, "I guess I don't mind becoming the high deity of this world."

He spun upright in one fluid motion, dusted himself off theatrically, and clapped his hands together.

"Let's go introduce ourselves to the locals, shall we?"And with that, he dropped down—diving headfirst toward the world below.