Johnny Ghost stood at the front of the manor, tapping his foot impatiently. His partner, Johnny Toast, was late yet again. After a few more minutes, Toast came riding down the street on a moped. He stopped abruptly and ran over to Ghost.
"Sorry I'm late sir!"
Ghost turned around to face his friend.
"You were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago! What took you so long? And what is that?"
Toast turned and looked at the parked moped.
"It's my grandmother's moped, sir. I was at her house."
Ghost let out a long sigh.
"And why were you at her house?"
His partner turned back to face him.
"It's taco night, sir. And she makes the best tacos around!"
"Yes, Toast! I know! I've been to your house for taco night before! Let's just get inside."
The two paranormal investigators made their way up to the front doors of the estate. Johnny Ghost confidently knocked on the large oak doors. Seconds later, one of the doors slowly opened. In the doorway stood an old man who owned the manor. He was short and round with thick glasses. He spoke slowly.
"Oh! You must be the ghost people! Come in, come in!"
They both stepped inside the well lit house. He closed the door behind them and Ghost started by introducing him and his partner.
"Hello good sir! My name is Johnny Ghost! And this is Johnny Toast! Paranormal Investigators Extraordinaire!"
The old man scuffled along past them.
"Nice to meet you young'uns. I'm Mr. Kazuki. Now, umm, there has been a slight... problem."
Ghost looked at Toast with a confused look.
"A problem?"
"Uh, yes. You see, I called a different ghost whatchamacallit."
Ghost interrupted to fill in Mr. Kazuki.
"Paranormal investigator?"
"Yes, that. She told me she couldn't make it, so I call you fellows. Then she called last minute to say she was available. I was going to call you, but you never answered."
A questioning look grew on Johnny Ghost's face.
"Who is she?"
The old man scratched at his head as he led them to the living room.
"I think she said her name, but I've forgotten."
They stood outside the door to the living room.
"Anyway! She's in there, so you can ask for yourselves. If you need anything, I'll be in my study upstairs."
They both nodded as he walked up the staircase slowly. Ghost entered first, followed by Toast. He looked around for the other mysterious ghost hunter. The room was lit up by a fireplace roaring with heat.
"Hello? Anybody here?"
Ghost called out. The room almost echoed at his voice.
"You must be the other people Mr. Kazuki told me about."
The voice came from the other side of the room. He looked over and saw a figure with a large cloak bent over looking at a book on a small table. Her back was to them.
"Umm, yes. We are. My name's Johnny Gho...."
The words caught in his mouth as the mystery woman turned around. Ghost couldn't believe his eyes. She's beautiful, he thought. She walked up to him.
"Johnny what? I didn't get that last part."
"I.... Uh..."
She leaned out to the side of him to look at Toast.
"He always like this?"
"No."
She looked back up at Ghost. "Hello? Earth to Johnny?"
She flicked him between the eyes.
"Ouch!"
He had finally snapped out of it.
"Who are you guys?"
Finally Johnny could find words and spoke to the gorgeous woman.
"Uh... I'm J-Johnny Ghost. This is Johnny Toast. We're... umm.... uhh....."
Toast butted in.
"We're Paranormal Investigators Extraordinaire." Ghost noded.
"So, you're P.I.E.?"
"Y-yeah."
A small smile grew on her face. It made him blush.
"I'm Ira, I'm a G.R.E."
Both of them were a little confused.
"A G.R.E.?"
They both asked.
"Yeah. A ghost returning expert."
Their confusion only grew more.
"What do they do?"
"Well... they return the ghosts back to their proper dimension."
Toasts face lit up.
"Ohhh! So you send the ghosts to the different dimensions."
She nodded to him.
"Exactly! Here, take a look at this."
Ghost and Toast followed Ira to the table with the book she was looking at. She picked up the book and handed to Ghost. He took it and looked at it with his partner. The pages were filled with nothing but the words 'GET OUT!' over and over.
"What is this?"
Ghost said looking up at her. He blushed again.
"I think it's a message from the ghost. I've found about twenty other books that are the same."
Ghost started to think.
"That sounds like it would be a level-"
"Three ghost."
He turned to her. He was liking her more and more each second.
"What are you talking about?"
"Ah!"
Johnny jumped up in the air. Ira quietly laughed. They then turned to the man.
"Oh! Mr. Kazuki! We've just figured out that this is a level three ghost."
"A what?"
"A level three ghost. It means that the ghost can be seen, but has no physical appearance. A level three would mostly knock things over and break stuff."
"Oh. I see. That's been happening around here a lot. A random pot will break or a chair might fall to the ground."
"Precisely. So, where could it be hiding?"
Ira started to think. So did Ghost and Toast. Then Mr. Kazuki gave the answer.
"A lot of noises have come from the old guest house in the back. You could check there."
"Yes, that might be the place where the ghost would go. And including the strange sounds.... Mmm hmm. Could you show us to this house?"
Mr. Kazuki nodded and led them out the back door. After a short walk, they arrived at the front of the abandoned guest house. In the distance, thunder could be heard.
"Seems like a storm is headed our way." Ghost looked at the patch of dark clouds drifting towards them.
"Let's get inside then."
Mr. Kazuki just stood there as the rest of the bunch started walking up to the doors.
"Are you coming?"
Ira asked the old man. He shook his head.
"No. I don't want any ghosts messing with me anymore. I'll be in my house where it's safe. Well, safer."
He trotted off into his manor and they were left outside the guest house.
The trio of ghost hunters stood in the front doorway of the abandoned guest house. Ira finally broke the eerie silence.
"Well, are we just gonna stand here? Or are we gonna find that ghost?"
She walked into the house and was shortly followed by Ghost and Toast. The house wasn't that large compared to the manor, but wasn't small either.
"Where should we start, sir?"
Toast quietly asked his partner. Ghost then announced a plan.
"Um, we all should check the kitchen first. The ghost will more than likely be there making noise."
Ira turned and smiled. Ghost once again blushed.
"Great idea."
They made their way towards the kitchen with confidence. The entire place was covered in dust. Ira turned around, her cape swinging behind her.
"Well, we're here. Now what?"
Johnny started thinking about what would impress her.
"We could scan the area."
He blurted out.
"Alright, I'm assuming you two have the proper equipment for that?"
He reached into his leather sling like bag and pulled out a small metal box. At the top of the box, antennae extended out a couple of inches. Johnny pressed one of the many buttons at the front of the machine and it gently whirled on. The screen lit up a glowing green color.
"Here we go."
He started moving the device around the room slowly.
"This might take a while."
"Not with two of them, it won't."
Johnny looked over and Ira had a very similar device. Just like him, she started scanning too. A large smile grew on Johnny's face.
"What's so funny?"
He let out a short chuckle.
"I thought you were an amature when Mr. Kazuki first mentioned you. Now I see that I was very wrong."
Toast then had a brilliant idea.
"How about I go and check the bedroom?"
Ira nodded to him.
"Good idea, but be careful. You never know how crafty this ghost can be. Just keep an eye out and yell if anything happens."
"Alright."
He walked through the archway, into the living area, and disappeared. Ghost suddenly became nervous. He never liked being away from Toast. So he started a conversation with Ira.
"Um, so, how long have you been a ghost returner?"
She continued to look at the monitor of the machine while moving it along the counters.
"Hmm, let's see... I think around six or seven years."
"Wow."
"How long have you been a paranormal investigator?"
"About ten years."
"And how many of those years did you work with your partner?"
Johnny let out a long sigh. He had known Toast since their childhood.
"All of them. We've been friends since we were kids."
"Huh."
They both were still scanning, but Ira had moved to the refrigerator and Johnny had moved to the floor. Johnny wanted to know more about her.
"What about you? Have you ever had a partner?"
"No. I've always worked alone..."
A grim face grew across her face. She stopped scanning for a moment.
"I've kinda always been alone... I never had a family or anything..."
"I know how you feel; I don't remember much of my family, IF I had a family..."
They continued to search the area in silence. It wasn't until Johnny spoke that something happened.
"So, um, what do yo-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
A girlish scream came from the other side of the house.
"JOHNNY!"
"SIR! HELP!"
Ira and Johnny rushed out of the kitchen, through the living room, and into the bedroom. In the middle of the room was a gaping pit.
"Johnny?!"
Ghost's voice echoed into the tunnel with no response.
"Your friend must've had a run in with the ghost. It seems we misjudged its power. I think this is a level seven or eight... What to do now..."
Seconds later, the ground began to shake.
"Oh no!"
The floor cracked beneath them.
"Here we go!"
Ira screamed as they sailed into to pit of darkness. The ground rushed forward and hit them both hard, knocking them unconscious.
Ghost landed in one area and Ira landed in a different one. Toast so happened to be in the area where Ghost landed. He rushed to his side just as he hit the floor.
"Sir?! Sir?! Are you okay, sir?!"
Ghost's eyes slowly open.
"Ugh... What happened..?"
Johnny helped his friend sit up. He looked around the cavern as he got on his feet.
"Wait. Where's Ira?"
They searched around frantically.
"IRA! IRA!"
In the other cavern, Ira woke to the sound of her name. She was flat on the ground covered in dust.
"I'm fine! Just a bit sore! *cough* And dusty."
"We seemed to have landed in different tunnel systems! I think we'll have better luck finding the ghost and getting back together if we follow the corridors!"
Johnny's words echoed in the cavernous space and in Ira's ears.
"Got it! What about your friend, Johnny Toast?"
Toast entered the conversation.
"I'm here! I'm with Ghost!"
"Alright! I'll see you two, maybe!"
Ghost and Toast nodded to each other.
"And we'll see you, probably!"
The two guys walked off into the only tunnel, scanning with their equipment. Ira was still on the cold floor, and she was for sure not okay. She hated the dark, terrified of it in fact. There was also a large gash on her shoulder. Ira had nothing to bandage it with, so she covered it with her hand hopeful to stop the bleeding. She too set off into the nearby corridor.