Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Ghostbusters; or anything associated with either of them. This story is being written just for fun and enjoyment.

Chapter #21: Battle on Shandor Island part 1.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Michiru and the Ghostbusters were suddenly roused from sleep by the loud continuous ringing of their alarm clocks which had been set to go off at 5:30 in the morning, given the early hour along with the tough task that lay ahead of them, none of them were in the mood for leaving the warmth and comfort of their beds right now. Everyone double checked their wristwatches in the off chance that their alarm clocks might be off in the hopes of getting even a few more minutes of relaxation, but sadly that wasn't the case, it was time to get up and head out in search of the fourth and final Mandala node which was supposedly somewhere in the middle of the Hudson river. Saya and Slimer flew inside of the bedroom, the noise from all of the alarm clocks going off had obviously got their attention, Saya flew over to Michiru's bedside while Slimer darted around the room looking for Venkman.

"5:30 in the morning already?" Ray exclaimed after comparing the time on his wristwatch to the time on his alarm clock. "Boy that was a short night."

"Aw man, I'm too tired to go hunting for ghosts." Winston whined softly, making Saya and Slimer sympathize with their human friends.

"Better get up now Michiru, we only have until the sun comes up and it could take hours for us to find the final Mandala node before we even figure out how to seal it." Saya advised with a low whisper, knowing that the Kururugi boy and all of the Ghostbusters had to hurry if they were to successfully complete their task before daybreak so that Peck wouldn't know they were still operating without any licenses.

"Yeah, I know, thanks for coming to say good morning Saya." Michiru whispered back with a soft smile despite his reluctance to get out of bed, he was still tired as well, although he had gone to bed at the same time as everyone else, his mind was burdened with thoughts and feelings of both Sango and Ilyssa which kept him awake for at least another hour or so which explained why he wasn't in his usual cheerful and excited state as he normally was when the time came for another paranormal expedition with his fellow Ghostbusters.

"Your welcome, I understand that you don't want to get out of bed, but we both know you have a busy morning today." Saya said softly with a sympathetic look on his elderly looking face.

"You acting as my care taker now Saya?" Michiru asked sarcastically while stretching his tired limbs out before sitting himself up in bed. "I think you've got the roles mixed up, I should be looking out for you since you're the elderly one…even though you're a ghost."

"He, he, he. Ilyssa and Janine asked me to watch out for you until all of you come back safe and sound." Saya answered, causing Michiru to smile lightly in response. "They knew it would be tough for you to get up and out of bed in the early morning and besides, you're not the only one who has to travel all the way back to Japan, I accompanied you here and so we both have to return home together."

"Gotcha Saya." Michiru replied, pulling the blanket partially aside so he could turn and place his feet on the floor before standing up.

"Aw, it's too early to get up on a cold winter morning…" Venkman commented with a yawn, his voice got the attention of Slimer who dove down and yanked the pillow out from the man's head before smacking it down on his face. "Hey! Knock it off Slimer! Bad enough that we have to get up so early to search the Hudson river, now we have to put up with your pranks and jokes as well, piss off would you?"

"Alright guys, we've got to find a Mandala portal somewhere in the Hudson river and we have several hours at the most to find it and shut it down so the sooner we complete this mission, then the sooner we can come back here and relax where its warm and dry so lets go." Egon announced, taking the initiative to lead by example even though everyone but Venkman was already up and in the process of changing themselves into their Ghostbusters uniforms, though they still moved slowly given how early it was and that they were still tired.

"Alright guys, what are you waiting for? Breakfast in bed?" Winston asked sarcastically, noticing that Venkman hadn't even sat up and was still laying flat on his back in bed, causing everyone to take glances at the two of them, Saya and Slimer especially.

"You know something Winston?" Venkman replied sarcastically, eagerly hoping to prolong his stay in bed. "I'd like that, tell Janine that I'd like scrambled eggs with bacon and toast, orange juice and coffee to drink. Oh, and I'd especially like it if Ilyssa could serve it to me in person…please and thank you."

"Alright Venkman, you heard Egon's orders, now get your lazy ass outta bed before I throw you out!" Winston, reaching down to grab hold of the mattress of Venkman's bed in order to heave the man out so that he'd roll off and on to the floor. "One!…Two!…Three!"

"Wooah!" Venkman shouted, rolling off the bed and on to the floor in a flash, Winston let go of the mattress and resumed his task of changing into his Ghostbusters outfit. "What the hell Winston? A few more minutes aren't too much to…"

"Venkman!" Egon interrupted loudly, his voice alerting everyone in the bedroom as he peered out one of the windows. "Peck's outside!"

"You're kidding!" Ray replied, he along with Michiru, Winston and Venkman immediately feared the worst, Peck had found out everything.

"What?!" Venkman replied in astonishment with a panic stricken look on his face, leaping to his feet and racing over to the window in order to see for himself. "That pain in the butt can't possibly be awake, let alone up and outside at this time and place in the morning!"

"He isn't, I just said that as a joke to make you get a move on." Egon said calmly while walking away from the window, everyone let out a sigh of relief, but Venkman was irritated for having been made a fool.

"AH! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!" Slimer laughed out loud, hovering upside down in the air while holding his fat green gut with both hands.

"That's not funny Slimer, Egon may have had good intentions, but he just gave all of us the scare of our lives." Michiru stated, sitting down on the bed to put his boots on.

"Sorry, I just thought Winston needed some help getting Venkman up and about." Egon stated.

"I don't see why you guys bothered to change into clothes first, we usually shower before eating breakfast, not the other way around." Venkman commented.

"No one showers until after we've sealed that final node and before we do that, we have to find it first so get a move on Venkman." Egon stated. "It'll be really cold and probably windy outside as well so wear lots of layers underneath your uniforms, preferably a thick warm sweater and long johns underneath your other clothes if you have any."

"No shower or breakfast before work?" Venkman cussed. "That's madness!"

"Having a shower before going outside in the winter cold so early in the morning is madness Venkman, you'd lose all the body heat you have now which would make you colder and you'd be too relaxed and unable to perform properly as well." Egon countered cleverly. "As for food, we can grab a bite to eat before heading out or we'll eat while we're on the go now let's get going, we're leaving at 6:00 sharp!"

While everyone waited for Venkman to change into his work clothes, Michiru and the other Ghostbusters took the time to brush teeth and prepare any laundry so that the washer and dryer could work while all of them were gone, having clean and dry clothes once they returned was one less task on their busy schedule today. Slimer kept watch on Venkman in case the guy wasn't hurrying enough while Saya and Michiru chit chatted for a couple of minutes. Egon was studying the Gozerian Codex along with a map of the Hudson River while Ray and Winston went to the kitchen to find some food for everyone to take on the road. Upon opening the fridge, the two of them beheld six square plastic containers sitting together on one shelf, a note was placed on the lid of each container with someone's name on it and inside was a hamburger and a handful of fries.

"What would we do without Janine looking out for us?" Ray asked sarcastically, removing the six containers from the refrigerator.

"We outta thank her nicely when we come back, she made sure we had breakfast to take with us on the go, going to work on an empty stomach isn't a pleasant experience after all." Winston stated, helping Ray to sort through the containers after setting them on the kitchen counter.

Winston wrote a polite thank you note on everyone's behalf to Janine for the hamburgers that their female secretary prepared for their breakfast this morning and placed the sticky note on the coffee machine while Ray loosened the lids of all the plastic containers before placing them in the microwave to heat them up in the short minutes that everyone had left until it was time for them to depart at 6:00 in the morning. Venkman finally arrived fully dressed for work just as the hamburgers were heated up and taken out for eating, Janine must have made mental notes of what ingredients everyone had put on their hamburgers yesterday evening at dinner because each of the burgers were made exactly the same way much to the delight of Michiru and the Ghostbusters who ate their morning meal quickly. Slimer's hamburger had been made with the same ingredients as Venkman's was, this was most likely as a result of the incident when the green ghost had eaten the man's first burger in a surprise raid from underneath the table when Michiru had enlisted Slimer's help to get back at the guy for his rather rude comment following the joke he had pulled on Ilyssa yesterday evening at supper.

"That was good, just what each of us needs to start an early morning workday." Michiru stated as he finished eating his hamburger and fries.

"I couldn't have said it better myself Mitch, now we're all good to go for starting our search of the Hudson river, well…after we drive to where we keep our boat first anyway." Winston said in agreement.

"Now that we've eaten, we'd best brush our teeth really fast before heading out, it's ten to six." Ray stated, gathering up the empty plastic containers and placing them in one of the kitchen sinks while everyone tossed their napkins into the garbage bin underneath after wiping their hands and mouths clean.

"Ten, four Ray, let's go guys." Winston replied as everyone went to the washroom to brush teeth, wash hands and use the washroom before heading downstairs to Ecto-1.

"Saya? Slimer?" Egon called out, summoning the two spiritual entities over to him. "We're going to be searching the Hudson river in darkness, given that its also winter, we'll be needing the two of you to come along to act as additional lookouts in order to avoid any collisions or accidents. This could be a hazardous expedition since we won't know what to expect while we look for the final portal and even once we do find it, none of us have ever had to fight ghosts or paranormal monsters off of land so we'll be depending on you today."

"You can count on us Egon, we'll each keep a sharp lookout for you while we're on the river." Saya stated with a nod, Slimer nodded too.

"Very well, meet us downstairs, we'll be leaving in a couple of minutes." Egon ordered before grabbing the Gozerian Codex and his map of the Hudson River.

After about five minutes or so, Michiru, Saya, Slimer and the Ghostbusters made their way downstairs and crowded into Ecto-1. Venkman sat in the driver's seat, Michiru to his right and Winston in the front passenger seat, Ray and Egon sat in the back of the car while Saya and Slimer hovered inside between their positions where they wouldn't disrupt anyone's visibility with their presence. Ecto-1's engine roared to life as the garage door opened up and the car drove outside to begin its road trip towards a dockyard where Ecto-8 would be waiting for them, despite the un welcome cold weather and winter conditions that they would be facing outside upon their arrival, they at least had the advantage of operating in almost total silence and secrecy. Hardly anyone was awake, let alone out and about at this early morning hour, nor did anyone want to be either which was evident from the empty roads in front of them as they drove along. Upon making a turn to change direction, the calm and peaceful silence was broken as Winston spoke out suddenly without warning, momentarily alarming everyone else in the car.

"What are you turning here for Venkman?" Winston asked out loud upon recognizing the sudden change in direction. "This isn't the road to the dockyard where our boat is."

"Relax Winston, I'm just making a detour so we can quickly go buy some hot coffee before we head to the river, it'll be mighty cold outside and having some hot coffee will help keep us warm while we search for this Mandala node." Venkman answered, glancing at Winston for a brief moment. "What? Its going to take us at least two to three or fours to find and figure out a way to seal this thing, all the other ones we've done have involved fighting against lots of ghosts and critters, we'll be on the water this time and won't know what we'll find out there so some hot coffee will keep us warm and our spirits high."

"Alright Peter, but no more detours after this one, time is precious and we have to hurry if we're to accomplish this task before Peck or anyone finds out we've been operating out here." Egon warned, reluctantly letting Peter Venkman have his way just this once, the man did have a point that it would be cold outside so having hot coffee to pass the time during the commencement of their search was a nice idea.

"No need to worry Egon, we'll find that portal and shut it down fast, we'll be in and out before Peck's even hauled himself out of bed." Venkman commented.

The talking stopped for a while and Michiru was thankful for the silence, for it allowed him to collect his thoughts and think easily without any distractions or disturbances, nothing but the sound of Ecto-1 driving on the deserted roads throughout the city during this early morning hour. This was what would possibly be his final mission with the Ghostbusters, once the fourth and final Mandala node was sealed shut for good, than the city would be saved and all of the paranormal monsters and ghosts would be trapped inside their own world or so was the theory that Egon had devised after studying the Gozerian Codex. Once complete, Michiru would then undertake the task of attempting to fly all the way back home to Japan with Saya and the Sounga sword, using the magic carpet as his means of travel. It was going to be hard saying goodbye to the Ghostbusters who had taken him in and treated him so kindly, he had befriended them and parting from friends who live so far away from where he lived is always a tough experience to go through and nevertheless, it had to be done.

The Shikigami user's thoughts then dwelled on Ilyssa, out of everyone he had befriended and interacted with, Michiru knew saying goodbye to her would be the toughest of all. The young woman had been more than just another female friend in his life, she became someone he could find comfort, compassion, strength, trust and advice from. In some ways, he was the same sort of person to her as well even though he was much younger than she was. Michiru wouldn't deny that a part of him felt attracted towards the female research specialist, it was natural for any young teenage boy to have even a small infatuation for a young adult woman, but he never expected that she would feel the same towards him. He had saved her life several times on the night that they had first met and once more on another day when several drunken thugs had entered the Firehouse uninvited, on top of the fact that she had become fascinated by his Feudal era adventures and his Shikigami powers, Ilyssa and Michiru had also shared many experiences together just as he had done with Sango even though a couple of days were quite small compared with the four and a half months he had spent in Feudal Japan.

Try as he might, there was no way around it, Michiru would have to say his farewells to the wonderful woman and also delicately inform her that he loved Sango even though he still held a special place in his heart for Ilyssa and all of the memorable times that they both shared together as friends. He didn't want to hurt Ilyssa's feelings and although he knew she was emotionally strong as most adults were, Michiru had a bad feeling that his words would break her to the point of tears and he especially didn't want for that to happen, recalling the time he had told her about the nightmarish experience the Sounga had put him through and how she had been there to comfort him during his emotionally shattered state made the Kururugi boy worry a lot about how Ilyssa would take hearing him say that they couldn't be together and that he had already promised his love and his heart to someone else. Thankfully, a soft smile came to Michiru's face as he suddenly recalled their "get together" at the museum shortly before the opening night of the new Gozer Exhibit when Ilyssa had stated that until the time came for Michiru to return home, she would enjoy every experience that they would both share together in the meantime while he was still here in New York.

Meanwhile in the Feudal era on the other side of the world, Sango was busy acting out a practice scenario with Shippo and Hachi taking part in disguise with her, Kirara sat close by as well while Kohaku had gone to bed early inside one of the small wooden huts. On Sango's instructions, Shippo took on Kagome's appearance while Hachi took on Inuyasha's appearance just so the female demon slayer would be more comfortable confronting each individual friend whom she would have to break the news of her decision to, one after the other. Once Sango's first conversation ended, Shippo pretended as though he would leave before he and Hachi exchanged places with one another, allowing Hachi to disguise himself as Miroku whom Sango would be talking too next while Shippo taking over the role of Inuyasha who would be standing by as another bodyguard like Kirara as well as a source of strength should the conversation get out of control.

"Ahem, hello Sango, Kagome informed me that you wanted to speak with me and that you would be waiting for me here in the forest." Hachi stated, using his own voice so that Sango was less likely to break down crying during their previous attempt to practice acting out this task which thankfully made the experience much easier and more bearable for the female demon slayer, he also decided to act as though this was any regular conversation in order to allow Sango the opportunity of choosing what their conversation would start with and where it would go as well. "What is it that you wish to speak with me about?"

"Y-Yes Miroku, I do want to speak with you, about something very important." Sango answered, taking advantage of the opportunity Hachi had presented to her and deciding to carry on even though the raccoon demon didn't alter his voice to sound like Miroku, Shippo suddenly realized this and smiled quietly while in disguise as Inuyasha, watching and waiting patiently with Kirara to see if the warrior woman could get through this practice without any troubles or tears. "Miroku…it hasn't been easy for me to move on even though I finally have Kohaku back which is why I had to leave to be by myself for a while. Now that I've had a few days to be alone in order to deal with all of the thoughts and feelings within me, I can finally explain myself to you the hopes that you'll understand what I'm about to say."

"I'm listening." Hachi replied, wearing an uneasy expression on his face as Miroku would surely have done since the monk would undoubtedly see where this conversation was going no thanks to Kagome letting the cat out of the bag on the night that Sango left Kaede's village without warning.

"Miroku…on the day when Michiru was summoned back to his own home in Kagome's era, he…Michiru told me that he loves me." Sango said uneasily, her eyes starting to water as she looked into the eyes and face of the monk who's feelings would be hurt upon hearing every word of this conversation even though it was only Hachi in disguise on this occasion. "I've thought carefully for a long time about how I feel about him and in all honesty, I…feel the same way. I know you and I have been through a lot Miroku, but…I don't see us being anything more than just friends, I know how much hearing me say this to you must hurt and I'm sorry for hurting you after all that you've done for me."

"Sango…" Hachi asked hesitantly in the hopes that the warrior woman wasn't entirely sure about her feelings or of the decision she had just made regarding this matter of who she loved. "…are you absolutely sure this is how you feel? This is what you want after all the times we've spent together whether they've been on the battlefield or while travelling throughout the lands and so on?"

"Y-Yes…even after all that we've shared together, I've made up my mind and my decision stands." Sango answered.

"I understand, but you still haven't told me why and the least you can do is provide me an explanation." Hachi replied. "Why is it that you've come to love Michiru instead of me? Both of you come from different eras just like Kagome and Inuyasha, the two of you have only known each other for a couple of months at best."

"What you've said is true, the two of us may come from different eras and we've only known each other for a short time, but the feelings we have for each other are genuine." Sango explained. "We became friends at the start and during each of the days we took off from our journey for a short break, Michiru and I…our friendship grew with each new experience, through the good times as well as the bad times until one of us eventually fell in love with the other. Michiru fell in love with me well before he was summoned home and he kept his feelings hidden until that day he confessed them to me only moments before his departure, he kept them hidden out of respect for everyone in our group of friends because he feared such a revelation would ruin the friendship he shares with all of us, including you and I as well Miroku."

"And you're going to throw away all that we've shared together just like that?" Hachi replied, waving a hand around. "Because of one boy's words? What about my feelings for you Sango? Aren't they genuine also? What makes you love Michiru instead of me?"

"In the first place, Michiru's always been honest, caring, patient and understanding towards others regardless of who they are even if they're complete strangers to him." Sango explained. "He's never once taken advantage of others by lying or using deceit and trickery for his own selfishness which is more than I can say for you after witnessing all the times you've interacted with unsuspecting villagers or young women over the course of our travels together Miroku."

"That's a different matter altogether Sango…" Hachi blurted out in self defence, keeping his sentences short to simplify this for Sango.

"No, I consider it the same…and further more Miroku, we both know how much you enjoy asking beautiful women to bear your children and why you love to flirt around so much." Sango continued deciding to end the practice session here since her emotional strength couldn't take much more of this. "I know you were hoping that we'd be together eventually now that Naraku is gone for good, but I need a loving relationship built on trust, respect and honesty. Those are qualities you don't possess even though I've prayed and hoped for the longest time that you'd eventually develop them, but I was wrong and a loving relationship without those qualities won't last and wouldn't even be considered to be a romantic relationship at all. Michiru's never once abused my trust or my feelings and no matter how uncertain the path ahead of us might be, I'm willing to tread it with him because I love him enough to try and I know that he'd do the same for me."

"Meow! Meow!" Kirara transformed back into her tiny kitten form and leapt without warning into Sango's arms, rubbing her furry head and body against the depressed demon slayer's face affectionately in an attempt to comfort Sango as well as dry her face from the few tears which ran down from her eyes.

"I-I'm alright Kirara, thank you though." Sango mumbled, gently petting the furry feline in response.

"If you've made up your mind and you have nothing else to say Sango, then…I'll take my leave…a-and let you be alone for a while." Hachi replied before changing back into his raccoon dog appearance, seeing Sango sigh with relief now that she wouldn't have to face Miroku's appearance any longer for the time being even though this encounter was only a stage act so to speak. "That turned out alright, hopefully the real thing will be just as calm and peaceful as this was, for both your sakes."

"For everyone's sake." Shippo added, reverting back into his young fox demon form as they both stepped over to help console Sango. "Will you be alright Sango?"

"Yes I will, thank you Shippo, and you too Hachi." Sango answered, managing a grateful smile as she exchanged glances with the two of her demon friends.

"Its getting late Sango, would you like Shippo and I to help you prepare dinner?" Hachi asked politely, noticing that the sun was setting.

"We still have the last of the roast boar left over from the other night to finish off, but you and Shippo can both chop up some more wood for the fire if you'd like." Sango instructed. "There's a tree stomp just around the corner where the pile of firewood is located, thank you Hachi."

"No problem Sango, come on Shippo." Hachi replied, wandering off in the direction of the firewood pile with Shippo following behind, they discovered that they had nothing with which to chop any more of the firewood logs once they arrived. "How are we supposed to chop any more firewood without an axe?"

"Hey, I know!" Shippo cried out, vanishing in a puff of smoke only to transform himself and emerge in the form of a long handled axe.

"Good idea Shippo, when I get too tired, I'll transform into an axe and you can have a turn at chopping up some firewood." Hachi replied.

While the two demon friends begun their work to chop up more wood for the fire, Sango went for a brief walk amid the ruins of Demon Slayer village, carrying Kirara in her arms and pausing to look at each of the houses or huts for a moment before carrying on. After a short while, the young warrior woman happened upon the graves of her family and fellow demon slayers, Sango strode over to the gravesites belonging to both of her parents and knelt down to pray briefly. Kirara scurried out of Sango's embrace and repositioned herself on Sango's shoulder, managing to balance herself without causing her human companion any discomfort. While Kirara waited patiently for Sango to finish praying, a shimmering blue light rose up from the two gravesites, the spiritual entities of Sango's parents appeared which momentarily surprised the young female fighter.

"H-hello F-Father, hello mother." Sango mumbled, smiling happily even while her eyes threatened to water again from this reunion.

"What ever are you crying for Sango?" The demon slayer's father asked worriedly. "You should be happy, in a few days, Michiru will be returning soon and you'll both be together again."

"Yes, I-I know father, its just that…I can't wait." Sango answered sheepishly, she couldn't help the fact that even though she was maturing into a beautiful young woman, she would always be the beautiful little girl in the eyes of her parents.

"There, there dear, the worst is behind you, it'll only be a few more days before the two of you can see each other in person again." Sango's mother pointed out, trying to provide as much comfort for her daughter as she possibly could even though she was a ghost.

"I know mother, but…" Sango explained, blinking her watery eyes to keep the tears from running down her cheeks. "…I'm just worried that something else unexpected might happen to Michiru before he returns home again and I feel so helpless and powerless without being able to help him out or anything. Could you, could you both please watch over Michiru for me until he safely returns home to Japan?"

"Why of course we can Sango, if it will make you feel any better, we'd be happy too." Sango's father answered reassuringly, earning a grateful smile from Sango.

"Is there anything else we can do for you my dear?" Sango's mother asked curiously.

"Well, mother…if you ever have the chance to meet Michiru when he returns home or just before he returns home then please." Sango then grabbed Kirara from her shoulder and held the two-tail in front of her face, her cheeks flushing pink before she leaned forward and gently planting her lips on Kirara's forehead as she kissed the unsuspecting kitten. "Give Michiru this kiss on my behalf, it is for him…a-and tell him that I'll be waiting for him to return to me once he's safely come home, if you wouldn't mind."

Having been used as a demonstration partner to help convey Sango's request to her mother, Kirara decided to give Sango's parents a good laugh since they were no longer living, she suddenly transformed into her giant fighting form and gently shoved her massive snout into Sango's face as she gave the young warrior woman a big kiss.

SMOOCH!

"Kirara!" Sango blurted out, only to be pushed over until she was laying back on the ground with the giant furry feline standing upon her who proceeded to sniff and lick Sango's face with her massive nose and tongue, both of which were slightly moist. "Get off of me you big silly! Eeeekk! Kirara! Ha! Ha! That tickles! Get your huge nose out of my face! Kirara! Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Both of Sango's parents just stood there watching quietly with big smiles on each of their faces, but the scene had caused so much humour that all the other spiritual entities of Sango's family and fellow demon slayers had appeared briefly, they all cheered and laughed out loud in amusement at the expense of the helpless female fighter who was pinned underneath Kirara's massive feline figure. The commotion had aroused the attention of both Shippo and Hachi who had wandered over to see what was going on, upon seeing the spectacle ahead of them along with the spiritual entities of all the residents who had lived in Demon Slayer village, they couldn't help but stay where they were in order to let the audience enjoy themselves even if this embarrassing event was at Sango's expense.

"Are you sure we should just stay here and watch Shippo? Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Hachi asked, amidst the laughs which escaped from him.

"Oh yeah, we wouldn't want to interrupt Sango from her evening family reunion now would we? Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Shippo answered.

Back in the modern era and on the other side of the world, Michiru and the Ghostbusters were presently in the midst of searching the Hudson river for the fourth and final Mandala node which was still hidden and yet had to be discovered, the team had been on the hunt for an hour with nothing to find for the moment. It was still pitch dark, freezing cold along with all the conditions of the nasty winter weather, making everyone grateful for the hot cups of coffee and hot chocolate which Venkman had bought for all of them during the start of their early morning task. Besides that comfort, there was almost no traffic on the roads leading up to the dockyard where Ecto-8 was kept at anchor and theirs was the only boat on the Hudson river so there was no danger of being caught or having an accidental collision at this early morning hour. Nevertheless, the boat was kept to a very slow speed just to be safe, a dense fog had set in which meant everyone had to rely on their hearing in order to catch a sign of anything out of the ordinary. Other than using their goggles and PKE scanners, Michiru and the Ghostbusters could only listen for any paranormal activity if they would even encounter any out on the river.

Ecto-8 was the final vehicle in the chain of transportation vehicles available for the Ghostbusters, at a glance, it looked like a small coast guard boat with a width of about eight feet and a length of twenty to twenty-five feet. Aside from the cabin's structure along with a short thin mast at the top in the middle of the boat, the deck was left open and empty with tires attached at the front on the outside to act as a brace should Ecto-8 ever hit another solid structure or object. There was a thin antenna like mast pointed straight up at the bow of the boat with a bright red light flashing at the top to warn other vessels of Ecto-8's presence in case of any accidental collisions, two bright and powerful stationary searchlights located atop of the cabin's roof were turned on, pointing their long beams of light directly ahead to light up the water ahead of the vessel and aid anyone looking out on deck. Although everyone was bundled up enough to cope with the winter weather, it was still very cold outside so Michiru and the Ghostbusters each took turns warming up inside of Ecto-8's cabin, Egon and Venkman had taken the first shift inside of the cabin which lasted for about half an hour followed by Ray and Winston who were on the second. Michiru decided to remain outside since it was easier to catch sign of any paranormal activity even though it was still pitch dark outside with the thick fog making their search even more difficult.

Ray was presently at the wheel inside of the cabin with Winston standing to his right as the co pilot while Egon, Venkman and Michiru stood outside on deck at the front of the boat with scanners and equipment in hand. Both Saya and Slimer floated above the cabin, each taking position to watch from an elevated height with the searchlights aiding them, each ready to yell out the alert in the event of spotting anything through this thick fog shielding everything from view all around them. During the uneventful search which seemed to drag on with no end, Egon had told a brief story regarding a supposed island founded by Ivo Shandor himself which seemed to theoretically fit the description of what everyone believed they would eventually find in the middle of the Hudson river despite the fact that no indications of such a place being discovered or found to exist were ever brought to the attention of the Ghostbusters. However, in this line of work, everyone learned from experience to expect the unexpected and so each person continued watching and waiting patiently for such a sign of paranormal activity to occur.

"Interesting story Egon, it'll be neat to see if this so called "Shandor Island" actually exists out here." Michiru commented while looking ahead of the boat.

"Yes, indeed it will." Egon replied in agreement, reading through another paragraph from the Gozerian Codex just in case he had missed any important details regarding Shandor Island.

"We've been out here on the water for about an hour already Egon, I doubt we're going to find anything." Venkman pointed out, sipping the last of his hot coffee while taking a break from looking through his head goggles.

"We really have no other choice Venkman, Peck's going to investigate us should he even suspect us of conducting paranormal activities without any licenses and Michiru has to return home to Japan before Peck discovers his real identity so its now or never." Egon answered.

"The dangers all of us face of going to jail for housing a foreigner fail to compare with what will happen if we fail to find the final node and seal the Mandala in time, the ghost world will eventually break through the dimensional bearers which separate it from our world and absolute chaos will befall the people living here in the city."

"Sorry to point out the obvious Egon, but no thanks to this fog, I don't think we're going to find…the Mandala." Venkman replied, only to pause as he suddenly saw something in the distance ahead as the fog slowly begun to break.

"You were saying?" Egon replied, seeing a massive stone structure rising out of the water a short distance ahead of Ecto-8's position. More sunken stone structures and other buildings began emerging out of the water directly ahead of Ecto-8, as well as on both sides, although this was an awe inspiring sight to behold given that they were outside on the open water as opposed to being inside of a building, this sudden surprise had made the young Shikigami user worry for their fate if Ecto-8 suddenly found itself beached or capsized.

"Kill the engines Ray, best wait until after all of these buildings and structures have stopped rising out of the water before we go ahead any further, the last thing we need right now is a beached or capsized boat." Michiru advised, using his communicator to pass on his message to Ray who was behind the wheel of Ecto-8.

"Point taken Mitch, shutting down the engines." Ray replied, killing the power to the engines and bringing Ecto-8 to a halt in the water. "Would you look at that, Shandor island, its actually here."

"Let's just hope that we don't find a land mass coming outta the water from right underneath us or else we'll all be in deep shit." Winston commented quietly, earning a nod from Ray beside him as everyone watched and waited for all the paranormal activity to come to an end.

Everyone's eyes and mouths were wide open in awe, unable to say anything more until the paranormal activity had finally ceased, for the towering structure along with the other stone buildings were all part of an ancient castle built on the island itself. As if that alone wasn't enough to behold, the grounds on which the castle stood continued to rise up even after they had emerged from the water which revealed an underground cavern directly underneath the grounds themselves, indicating that the grounds above composed of conventional earth while everything else below was solid rock which helped to explain how everything miraculously held together despite being soaked and surrounded by water supposedly during the last hundred and forty years it laid at the bottom of the Hudson river theoretically speaking anyway. After a couple of minutes, Shandor island had finished emerging itself from the cold waters of the Hudson river which enabled Michiru and the Ghostbusters to venture inside through the mouth of the cavern since it was the likely entrance to come ashore, but they proceeded slowly with caution since Ecto-8 was their only means of transport too and from this island when the time came for them to depart once their mission was over.

"Alright, here we go guys, all ahead slow." Ray called out, activating the engines and moving forward slowly while Michiru and the others kept a sharp eye all around for any sudden dangers during their entry into the mouth of the cavern, the top mast of Ecto-8 coming close to colliding with the stone remains of a ruined, overhanging archway which had been built into the mouth of the cavern. An interior inspection showed that the underground cavern was an extension of the castle itself since there were structural ruins and signs of construction inside despite the hazards of such a dangerous environment as this.

"Look out from above guys!" Saya shouted as several giant stalactites suddenly broke off from the rock roof and fell down from above, splashing water and only just missing the boat as they fell into the river on both sides, rocking Ecto-8 in the process, giving everyone a huge alarming scare.

"The rock roof of this cavern is too unstable, I'll have to drop all of you guys off and head back outside where its less hazardous, we're all sunk if we lose Ecto-8 after all." Ray pointed out as he tried to retain control of Ecto-8 despite of the narrow underground passage way along with the hazards it presented. "I'll circle the island and stay on the air while waiting on standby to pick the lot of you up after you've sealed the final Mandala node, make sure you remember your way back and don't get lost or worse, killed on the job."

"Yeah, that goes double for you Michiru, Peck will imprison us all if Ilyssa doesn't kill us first in the event that you're dead." Venkman joked sarcastically.

"Thank you for reminding me…Venkman." Michiru replied with a somewhat annoyed tone of voice as he quickly finished drinking up the last if his hot chocolate now that they finally found Shandor Island and could start exploring it.

"Don't forget to let me know everything that happened when you guys come back, I want to know what you found during your exploration of Shandor Island." Ray asked excitedly as Ecto-8 neared what looked like a very old and worn out wooden dockyard.

"Ray, since you're so excited to explore Shandor Island, how about I swap jobs with you so you can take my place with the rest of the guys while I man the boat?" Venkman offered, only to have Ray as well as Winston shake their heads in denial. "What's with those looks on your faces guys? I thought I was doing Ray a favour, no need to suspect me of any foul play, we're Ghostbusters after all and all belong on the same team!"

"Huh! After you ran off to go get coffee during our battle in Times Square with Stay Puft, sorry Venkman, but we're not making the same mistaken twice." Winston remarked, earning a few nods from Michiru and the others who all agreed with his statement which was all true.

"And besides Venkman, you don't know how to drive the boat, we'd only be putting you and by extension, ourselves at risk if we did." Ray added, bringing the matter to a close as Ecto-8 slowly halted along side of the wooden dockyard inside of this underground cavern.

"I'd better leave the Gozerian Codex with you on the boat Ray, no sense taking it with me only to run the risk of losing it during a battle." Egon stated, stepping inside of the cabin to hand Ray the ancient book before departing from the boat and stepping on to the dock with the others. "While you're marking time, maybe have the radio on in case any news of other paranormal activity happens to occur throughout the city, it could take us a while until we're able to seal the final node of the Mandala."

"Copy that Egon, good luck to the rest to you guys, catch you later when its over." Ray replied with a final waving before putting Ecto-8 in reverse in order to turn the boat around so he could go back out the same way that he had entered through the mouth of the cavern.

"Saya, Slimer, aren't the two of you going to stay onboard the boat with Ray?" Michiru asked after noticing the two spiritual entities float over to join himself and the others in exploring Shandor Island.

"Nah!" Slimer answered offhandedly with a quick wave of his hand. "It'll be too boring and besides, we want to explore the island too."

"Ilyssa and Janine said for me to keep an eye on you and that's what I'll do, looks like we're searching the island together Michiru." Saya replied with a gentle grin.

"Alright guys, just be sure to stay close and follow any of Egon's orders, especially once any battles break out between us and…what ever and who ever we happen to encounter on Shandor's island." Michiru replied with a light smile after hearing Saya's mention of both Ilyssa as well as Janine while looking around with his eyes. "This place is certainly holding up well…even if its old, ancient and a bit messy."

"So what's the story again behind this island which supposedly belonged to Ivo Shandor Egon?" Winston asked curiously.

"According to what I read from the Codex, Ivo Shandor's family already owned this island for generations, but the castle itself wasn't built until the 1860s." Egon briefly summarized. "Ivo Shandor himself then used this island fortress as a getaway refuge, and more often as both a paranormal laboratory and a temple for he and many other cult members and followers to worship Gozer."

"I already understand the lot of that Egon, what I'm trying to wrap my head around is how an entire island sinks to the bottom of a river." Winston replied. "Care to offer an estimated guess behind that one?"

"Well, on the night that the last known relative to bear Shandor's name died, there was an immense tidal surge which in simple terms, translates to the Hudson river literally swallowing up the island whole." Egon theoretically explained. "Ivo Shandor consecrated this island to Gozer and so the Ghost world reclaimed it which explains why its presence at the bottom of the Hudson River was never true, that is until all of us saw it rising out of the water with our own eyes after it crossed through the dimensional barrier and back into our world."

"Lucky for us that its in the middle of the river instead of somewhere else in the city like a heavily populated area." Winston commented.

"Lucky for the time being, unless we seal up the last node to the Mandala, the Ghost world will assert itself into our world which will cause incalculable damage until the entire city as we know it becomes nothing more than a mere memory once its destroyed." Egon remarked.

"Just another screwed up paranormal day on the job wouldn't you say guys?" Venkman commented sarcastically without any worries.

"That's a huge understatement, this castle was built in the 1860s and yet, it has modern electrical lights high up on the walls of this cavern still in working order so there must be power coming from somewhere on the island in order to keep them operational." Michiru pointed out. "There's a crane right there as well and our supposed path leading up into the castle from underground looks like that mine shaft right along the cavern wall with all those tracks and support beams running along the whole length of it just up ahead from the dock here."

"There must be power lines running along the roof of that pathway just as in a conventional mine shaft, if we follow it upwards, we should be able to find our way out from underground, the only question is whether or not we'll find ourselves inside or outside of the castle once we arrive at the end." Egon deduced, stepping forwards to try and find a safe approach from the wooden dock to the solid rock floor of the cavern only to be stopped by the huge hole directly ahead which prevented any of the Ghostbusters from getting any further on foot.

"That's a big hole in the dock guys, and I for one am not about to go treading or swimming through ice cold water in a creepy spooky place such as this, especially on a cold winter day like today." Winston commented, looking down at the water some six or seven feet below the dock on which everyone was standing on.

"Anyone feeling bold enough to try a running jump to get across to the other side?" Venkman asked sarcastically, looking around at Michiru and the two other Ghostbusters who in turn, looked back with a questionable expression on each of their faces. "Just a thought."

"Even if I could make the jump to the other side, my momentum would be slowed down because of this heavy proton pack on my back and besides, I seriously don't want to take the risk of plunging down into the ice cold water given that I'd either drown or die of hyperthermia and then there's the strength of the wooden boards making up this dock we're standing on to take into account as well so I guess we've no choice but to try and find another way across." Michiru pointed out, no one could afford to take chances in a paranormal environment such as this with their lives on the line, not to mention the city's survival if they couldn't seal the Mandala node in time.

"I agree, better safe than sorry, right Egon?" Winston replied in agreement as Michiru went looking around for any possible alternative routes or solutions to take.

"My thoughts exactly Winston." Egon agreed while pondering how to overcome this obstacle.

"So, anyone else got any ideas?" Venkman asked, letting out a quick yawn.

"Looks like Mitch just thought of something." Winston pointed out, seeing the Kururugi boy a short distance behind them discharging a slime tether at the stationary crane positioned off to one side of the dock. "Good thinking Mitch, way to go with the slime tethers, swing that sucker around."

"Don't stand underneath the platform though, its so old it might break and fall any moment, bring it over nice and easy." Egon warned cautiously. "That's it Michiru, just like that, a little more until its right over the…"

CRASH!

"Well, that went well." Venkman commented after the crane arm suddenly lowered itself without warning, dropping the giant square metal platform directly over the hole in the dock, allowing for Michiru and the three Ghostbusters to safely cross to the other side without risk.

"I'll take point, the rest of you follow carefully and be sure keep your eyes and hears open." Michiru stated, walking across the metal platform before going upwards along the wooden tracks and floorboards of the mine shaft until a loud grinding noise suddenly forced the young teenager to grab hold of the wooden beam posts and balance himself on the edge to avoid the oncoming trolley rolling down from the top. "Heads up guys! There's a trolley rolling down the tracks!"

The other three Ghostbusters responded accordingly and move themselves out of the way of the danger rolling downhill towards them, Michiru's warning had given them time react and the trolley itself had a bright light fixed on itself which made it easy to see in the dark environment of the underground cavern, the rapid rolling trolley on tracks eventually crashed into the solid stone pillar along with the rock wall at the bottom with a loud crash and the silence that followed told everyone that the danger had now passed.

"You guys alive down there?" Michiru asked, stepping away from the edge and back to the middle of the walkway, looking back in the direction of his friends and fellow Ghostbusters.

"Yeah, we're all fine, thanks for the early warning Mitch!" Winston replied gratefully as all of them carried forward one step at a time.

Michiru walked on heading uphill towards what looked like a light at the end of a tunnel and upon venturing into the outside, his PKE scanner suddenly started beeping, indicating that a cursed artefact of some sort was located somewhere nearby. After homing in on the signal and blasting a few wooden barrels out of the way with his positron collider, the Kururugi boy eventually discovered that the artefact in question was a song book supposedly belonging to the Church of Gozer and the artefact vanished after it was given an analysis scan, telling Michiru that it would be relocated somewhere back at the Firehouse along with all of the other cursed artefacts he had found thus far.

Once Michiru had rejoined with Saya, Slimer and the three Ghostbusters, they then ventured out into the open where they were met with an unexpected and breathtaking sight. The fog which blanketed the Hudson river had now vanished so everyone could see the horizon and view the city from their present position on Shandor island, the sky was dark grey in colour because of the grey and black clouds which meant that the sun had just started coming up even though it was still early in the morning, the towering remnants of the stone castle loomed ahead of them which green vegetation grown here at there all over as well as on the grounds surrounding it. The cold winter wind blowing around coupled with the waves from the Hudson river washing up on the shore of Shandor island gave the place a peaceful and dormant appearance, making everyone look in admiration and awe at their strange surroundings, almost forgetting why they had come here to begin with.

"This is certainly a three million dollar view, even by Manhattan standards." Egon commented while enjoying the scenery with everyone.

"You're telling me, pity we don't have any cameras to take some snapshots or video logs with us while we're here hunting for ghosts." Winston remarked in agreement.

"Check that out guys, look way over there in the distance, you can see the Statue of Liberty from where we're standing on Shandor Island." Michiru said, pointing out the direction with his finger. "A real pity both Ilyssa and Janine aren't here to see this with their eyes."

"As much as I feel sorry that they're both missing out on the view Mitch, I really don't think that they'd want to be here with us right at this moment, we are on an island which just rose itself out of the water in the Hudson river and its sure to be infested by ghosts and multiple monsters." Venkman pointed out, bringing everyone back to reality. "Then there's the fact that its winter outside so its cold, wet, miserable…and they're both probably still asleep in bed since its still early in the morning, ladies need their beauty sleep after all."

Michiru wisely decided not to say anything in response to what Venkman had said even though Venkman had blurted out a lot more than he should have about their female friends and fellow coworkers so he left the matter at that, with the sun coming up and the new day beginning, it was time to get back on track and deal with the task they had set out to accomplish. After one last pause to admire the scenery on the island as well as all around it, Michiru, the Ghostbusters and the two spiritual entities pressed on with their journey to explore as much of the island as possible to find an entrance leading into the enormous castle which towered above them like an ancient monument.

"Although I like fantasy and anything related with castles and magic, this particular castle is a little too…evil looking for my tastes." Michiru commented as everyone walked along an open patch of muddy ground to the right of which was a brick wall with an archway leading into an outer courtyard of the castle while an small staircase outside lead upwards to the top of the wall leading directing into the castle itself.

"Shandor's public architectural style ranged from Federal to Art Deco, but as what we've found on many occasions throughout our research and paranormal investigations, his own personal tastes tend to be the Gozerian." Egon stated as everyone except for Saya and Slimer of course, scurried up the staircase and on to the fortress like courtyard wall which lead towards what looked the castle's entrance.

"Now I see what everyone means by "Early Demonic." Winston commented, followed by Saya and Slimer who floated behind the others.

Before the company of comrades reached halfway across the fortified wall, a loud predatory cry suddenly echoed from around them and the comfortable silence of this peaceful place was shattered when everyone beheld a swarm of stone gargoyles like those from Times Square circling above their heads, taking turns to dive down and attack their human targets. Despite the fact that these gargoyles were made entirely of stone, they sounded and acted live enough to pass off as the deadly winged creatures that they were created in the same likeness as, and the orange flames coming from their bodies added even more to their already frightening appearances.

"Told you Mitch, Ilyssa and Janine wouldn't want to be with us on this island right now!" Venkman blurted, blasting a boson dart at an attacking gargoyle before it closed in for the kill, blasting the menacing monster into a pile of stone rubble which exploded on impact.

"Saya, Slimer, stay low and keep close!" Egon instructed, discharging a proton stream a second stone gargoyle flying high above in the air after hitting his first. "We don't want either of you to end up in our line of fire while we're battling any monsters or other dangerous foes!"

"What's the plan Egon?" Winston asked out of concern and curiosity while in the midst of combat. "Do we fight our way inside the castle?"

"That's an affirmative Winston, the castle will provide us some shelter and allow us to fight these foes more easily, the gargoyles can't fly around as much or as fast if they're movements are restricted in a confined space!" Egon answered, dodging to the side to avoid an enemy attack.

"Alright guys, make a brake for the castle and don't get killed on the way!" Winston ushered loudly, pointing in the direction of the castle while everyone fought their way over as best as they could, discharging their weapons at the gargoyles to provide cover fire on the way.

"Hurry up you guys! You'll be easy prey if you stay out there, watch out behind you guys!" Venkman shouted out loud, warning Egon and Winston that a pair of stone gargoyles were swooping down to attack simultaneously as a team while the two combatants were assisting each other and unaware of the dangerous duo diving down towards them. "Egon, Winston, two stone gargoyles at your 6 o clock high!"

"Oh shit!" Winston cussed, turning around, but unable to aim his positron collider properly since he was helping Egon to hurry along.

"I got you covered guys, keep running!" Michiru shouted, aiming his weapon at the two menacing monsters diving down from behind and above his fellow combatants, unfortunately there wasn't enough time to effectively destroy both of them and the Japanese student risked accidentally striking his friends if he used a capture stream to slam either of the stone gargoyles into the ground once he ensnared them.

"Damn, I don't have a shot, I'll have to…Shikigami! Please Help!"

The Kururugi boy discharged a boson dart along with a powerful proton stream directly at the stone gargoyle on his left before lowing his weapon and hurling a large ball of flaming red fire which he had summoned in the palm of his right hand, both of the energetic balls of destruction struck their intended targets and blew up each of the menacing monsters one right after another in a violent explosion. The charred remains fell all over the castle floor in a scattered heap of destroyed rubble, giving all of Michiru's companions one heck of an action show, but the battle was far from over. Although Michiru and the Ghostbusters had gotten some protection from the sheltered part of the outer castle, black slime portals suddenly appeared in the floor which allowed slime fiends and other such enemies to enter into the fray, adding more danger to the ever escalating hostilities.

The Ghostbusters had to fight various foes attacking them on the ground and above them from the air, pushing forward as they fought their way along the upper balcony overlooking the courtyard below, they also had to reselect different weapon settings on their proton packs to combat specific foes since other means weren't as effective. Stone gargoyles were fought and brought down with capture streams and boson darts while Slime fiends and other slime related monsters were doused with positively charged slime from the proton's ectoplasm banks, but engaging such foes with the opposite selection of weapons didn't always work. Michiru along with Egon and the others had to admit that their foes had thought and planned ahead how to engage them in combat, this first fight on Shandor island was already tough enough as it was, never mind the fact that it was only the very first taste of what was to come, for it would be a long time before the final decisive battle would take place if they even survived long enough to see it as their three previous tours of duty had already proven.

"Makes sense that we're being attacked by stone gargoyles, they come from buildings architecturally built and or modified by Ivo Shandor." Egon deduced after recalling the stone gargoyles that all of them fought against in Times Square a couple of days ago. "We encountered them during our battle in Times Square shortly before Stay Puft appeared and now we're fighting them again here on Shandor island, I should have realized this sooner."

"Damn!" Michiru commented in an unpleasant tone of voice while switching equipment back and forth to fight various foes coming at him and the others from all around, above and below. "Shandor island sure is well named, what a hornet's nest this place turned out to be!"

"You said it Mitch, wish I was the one manning the boat instead of Ray, this place is down right dangerous!" Winston remarked out loud.

"I don't think he would take you up on trading places with you right now Winston, not while we're stuck in the middle of this ferocious fight!" Venkman replied, firing a capture stream at a gargoyle dodging back and forth behind a ceiling beam directly above him.

"This isn't looking good, its only the opening skirmish and we're already stuck locking horns in a close quarters combat for survival!" Egon commented, trying to seal a black slime portal shut with his slime blower even though he was also being attacked by slime fiends and other such monstrous foes at the same time.

"If this is a skirmish by your definition Egon, then I don't wanna know what an epic battle looks like, heck I don't think we'll live to see one from the way this fight is going." Winston cussed briefly while assisting Egon in shutting down one of the black slime portals.

"Hey Mitch, got any more bright ideas or magic spells to test out on the battlefield right now?" Venkman asked, pausing momentarily to catch his breath and so that the Kururugi boy could hear what he was asking rather than have the noise of his weapon block out his voice.

"Yeah, everyone switch to your slime blowers." Michiru advised, pausing momentarily to catch his breath just as the rest of them did. "Egon, Winston, keep sealing those black slime portals on the floor, Venkman and I will provide cover and take down these foes as best as we can. Leave the gargoyles to me Venkman, you deal with the slime monsters and I'll support you when ever possible, Saya and Slimer stay close and keep your eyes peeled for any new enemies lurking around that might try to ambush us by surprise. Understand?"

"Who made you team captain Mitch?" Venkman asked sarcastically in response, earning a chuckle from both Slimer and Saya.

"You're the one who asked for any ideas weren't you?" Michiru answered with a slight hint of sarcasm even though he was being serious.

"You heard the man, Peter, can it and keep it together so we can get this fight over and done with!" Winston responded loudly.

Egon and Winston busied themselves sealing up all of the black slime portals one after another while Venkman did his best to protect them from any attacking slime monsters by spraying them with the slime blower, Michiru kept one eye on his friends along with the battle on the ground while keeping the other on the gargoyles who happened to swoop down to strike at any of them from the air. Interestingly enough, the sheltered balcony above the courtyard where they were battling their way across in provided more than Egon had originally supposed, Michiru found that he simply had to wait for the gargoyles to swoop out into the open where they were unprotected and he merely had to discharge a slime tether at them before attaching the other end it at the floor or into the solid brick wall which the flying foes smashed apart from the force of impact once they hit it. Despite the risk of missing a shot or having his timing off, the advantage allowed him to fell each gargoyle much faster than with either a boson dart or capture stream and on top of that, Michiru was also ready with the correct equipment selected to deal with any slime monsters or black slime holes in the event that more of them showed up or if Egon and Winston needed any assistance.

Saya verbally warned of any gargoyles which Michiru couldn't see so no surprise attacks could be made against any of them, Slimer proved to be quite the combatant himself when he darted back and forth through some Venom crawlers until they were soaked in ectoplasm residue from his green ghostly body, leaving only the Slime Fiends left to contend with now that all of the black slime portals had been sealed shut for good at their current location. Without the black slime portals, no more monsters other than the stone gargoyles were left to combat and it looked as though the tide of this first ferocious fight had at last turned in favour of the Ghostbusters and their two ghostly companions. Two gargoyles dived down from above in front of Michiru and although there wasn't time enough to fire two slime tethers, the young teenager improvised with just one by attaching both ends of the same tether to each charging monster, causing both stone gargoyles to collide into each other before their bodies burst apart from the force of impact which finally brought the worst of this tiring battle to an end.

"Wooah." Michiru commented once the explosion was over, removing his hand from his eyes to shield them from the deadly blast.

"Whew! I didn't think we'd survive that one, awesome job there Mitch." Winston commented with a wave of relief as he caught his breath.

"The battle's not over yet Winston, now we have to fight our way across that open pathway outside to the other end of the courtyard, but at least we'll be able to stay on the move which is better than being forced in defensive positional fighting." Michiru replied, looking around and listening to the predatory cries of the stone gargoyles flying high in the air outside. "Come on guys, we've got a Mandala node seal up, charge!"

Michiru lead the team of combatants by charging ahead, because they were more focused on running rather than fighting, they covered more ground and eluded some attacking stone gargoyles. Any that dived down to cut across the path of the paranormal eliminators was an easier target to strike at ground level instead of high above in the air, the combination of teamwork, mobility and different weapons selections only when ever necessary allowed the Ghostbusters to press the offensive even though they were getting tired with each foe that they felled and fought against. At the other end of the open upper balcony, two black slime portals blocked the way on the floor and Venom crawlers were guarding them while spewing red balls of acid at the oncoming Ghostbusters, Michiru and the others countered by spraying positively charged slime from their slime blowers as they continued to charge into the defending foes. Halting only once they were close enough to seal both slime portals and simultaneously destroy the giant bug looking Venom crawlers which had emerged from them. After continuing their offensive charge now that these foes were gone, the team of paranormal professionals at last found what appeared to be an entrance leading into the castle, but the doors suddenly closed shut before everyone could rush in and an examination indicated that the doors couldn't be opened from simply pulling or pushing.

"Aww man, just when we were about to bust inside with proton pack blazing." Venkman whined as everyone turned around to look behind.

"Hey, the chain on that structural device down in the courtyard seems to be the locking mechanism for these doors, I'll follow you down there and provide cover if you can figure out how to unlock the doors with that strange mechanism Mitch." Egon pointed out loud.

"Copy that Egon, Winston, you and Venkman stay here to guard the entrance so give us a shout once the doors are open." Michiru said.

"Loud and clear Mitch, good luck down there Egon, we'll see you guys once you both get back." Winston replied with a wave and a nod.

Winston, Saya and Venkman guarded the entrance to the castle while Egon accompanied Michiru and Slimer down into the courtyard below, although the group had spit themselves up, they weren't very far away from each other and nor were either of them in a position of being completely cut off for good. Slimer went to act as an additional pair of eyes and his ability to fly around above the maze of hedges helped Michiru and Egon to find the locking mechanism they were searching for, its just as well, for this courtyard was filled with black slime portals along with Slime fiends and Venom crawlers ready to ambush the unsuspecting trio. Luckily, Egon was able to deal with most of the opponents while Michiru figured out how to adjust the mechanism by turning it a certain direction using slime tethers, Slimer than soared up high to see if the doors opened and saw Saya along with Winston and Venkman waving and shouting back that they had succeeded in their task. Now all the trio had to do was retrace their footsteps and fight their way back to their comrades before entering into the castle.

"The doors are open guys, the doors are open!" Slimer shouted loudly after hovering down to speak in person with Michiru and Egon.

"Good job Slimer, thanks for the good news too, let's fight our way back to the others Mitch!"

"Roger that Egon, I'm right behind you, thanks for the assistance Slimer." Michiru replied while sprinting after Egon in quick succession, earning a goofy grin and a thumbs up from the green ghost who then darted off to rejoin Saya and the other Ghostbusters.

Venkman and Winston had entered inside and were standing by to shut the doors after Egon and Michiru had gotten inside, Saya and Slimer kept watch for any activity inside of the castle while they waited for their team mates to arrive and after rushing up the stone staircase leading from the courtyard to the entrance, the two Ghostbusters raced inside before their fellow combatants slammed the doors shut. Pausing momentarily to catch their breath, Egon and Michiru noticed the unexpected stillness and silence of the inside hallway which ran in opposite directions from the front entrance in left to right, both of them pulled out their PKE meters to try and detect any paranormal activity before exploring inside of the castle now that the fighting had finally stopped…more the time being anyway.

"Its unusually quiet in here given that our presence raised the alarm outside of the castle before we managed to get our way inside of the castle." Egon commented as he glanced down both ends of the hallway in order to decide which direction they should take from here.

"After having to fight our way all the way here Egon, we could use a quiet breather before battling again." Winston replied.

"Michiru? Guys?" Saya said, floating back after going off briefly to take a look at what lay ahead of the group. "You all need to see something."

Everyone turned right and followed Saya down the hallway which was lit up with flaming torches hung from the walls until they arrived at a large open chamber, there were a couple of furniture pieces spread out on the floor and various paintings hanging from the brick walls, the ancient spiritual entity pointed at one of the paintings which had caught his attention. Michiru and the Ghostbusters were astonished to find that the painting was of a young beautiful woman clothed in a dress as all women would normally be in the 19th century and she was sitting comfortably on a bed with a small book in hand, a look on her face however was a striking resemblance to that of Ilyssa who everyone realized after taking a look at the painting.

"That lady in the painting looks just like Ilyssa, a perfect resemblance." Winston pointed out as everyone stood around watching together.

"This is Ivo Shandor's mother, painted in 1885." Egon deduced, causing everyone's eyes to widen momentarily.

"Why is it that when ever we meet a beautiful woman, she always ends up having some sort of connection to what ever paranormal event that threatens to destroy the city?" Venkman whined out loud. "First Dana Barret, and now Ilyssa, oh the fates are always so cruel to me."

"This is all starting to make sense, Ilyssa must have unknowingly triggered the Mandala along with all the paranormal anomalies occurring throughout the city at each location where the nodes reside because she has Shandor blood which makes her a direct descendant of Ivo Shandor himself." Egon deduced after carefully thinking the whole matter through with all the data found throughout the events of the passed couple of days.

"While I do agree that Ilyssa bears a striking resemblance to this woman in the painting Egon, I'm not about to fault her for all these paranormal occurrences throughout the city just because Ivo Shandor happens to be one of her ancestors, I myself went through a similar experience during my Feudal era adventures and eventually discovered that I was summoned back in time by my ancestor Utsugi who was helped by and later betrayed by Naraku who turned out to be the true villain in the end so someone else must be behind what's going on here and I doubt that they have good intentions in mind if they're trying to summon a ghost world or have it cross over into our world." Michiru stated, not wanting to point fingers or put the blame on the female research specialist whom he had befriended so fast and in such a short time.

"She must not know it, when I asked about her profile, Ilyssa told me that she was adopted." Venkman added. "You guys think all of this happened by accident or by a series of coincidences connected to all of the paranormal occurrences throughout the city?"

"No, Mitch is right, someone else must have known and set this whole thing up." Winston replied. "Some evil dude with a mastermind like Naraku, the question is who and where are they right now?"

"If you guys recall from the morning after Michiru's battle with Stay Puft at the Sedgewick Hotel, Peck and the Mayor visited us briefly back at the Firehouse and somewhere in the conversation, the Mayor said Peck personally recommended Ilyssa to be the guest curator of the Gozer exhibit and all three of them were present the night of the opening Gala at the Museum."

"Once a Peck, always a Peck." Winston remarked.

"I don't know Peck as well as the rest of you guys, he may hates your guts and want all of you to rot in jail, but he's neither evil enough nor clever enough to manipulate people or events in order to attain power like Naraku how would do." Michiru mentioned. "Just saying, that's all."

"While I do agree with your statement, Peck's involvement is still something to be suspected and even if he isn't the mastermind behind everything, I believe that he and Ilyssa may eventually lead us to the true culprit who's responsible for all of this." Egon stated in response, holding out his scanner momentarily only to find that no PK energy or paranormal anomalies were coming from the painting. "Hmm, pity there are no anomalies coming from the painting, it would have made nice to souvenir to have with all of the cursed artefacts we've been collecting back at the Firehouse."

"If you'd like Egon, Slimer and I can try removing the painting and take it back to the Firehouse for you to look at after all of you return, that is if you could open the front doors for us at the entrance." Saya suggested to the scientist after glancing at the mysterious painting again.

"Good idea, thank you Saya, it's a priceless piece of art so please be extra careful when the two of you carry it." Egon answered as Saya and Slimer hovered up close to the wall on either side of the painting, after sticking a hand and arm through the wall, both of them slowly pulled out the immense portrait with the greatest of care until they removed it from the brick wall completely.

RING! RING! RING! RING!

"Oh, excuse me guys, someone's calling me." Michiru said, digging through the side opening of his Ghostbusters outfit in order to pull the ringing cellular device from his pants pocket as he walked off to the other corner of the chamber where he could talk privately. "Hello?"

"Hello Michiru!" Inuyasha answered excitedly, talking into the receiver of the house phone inside the living room back at Kagome's house.

"Hey Inuyasha, it must be late in the evening where you are right now, I hope you didn't wake anyone up just so you could use the phone." Michiru replied, glad to hear from his half demon friend again even though Inuyasha had called right in the middle of a mission, while he and the Ghostbusters were exploring Shandor island no less. "How have you been doing Inuyasha? Is everything alright where you are?"

"Yeah, for the most part anyway." Inuyasha answered, deciding to keep the matter about Miroku's jealousy to himself since he knew Michiru probably suspected such behaviour from the lecherous monk and there was no need or desire to bring that up over the phone. "Kagome's upstairs trying to catch up on more homework in her room, all of us had supper a few hours ago so everyone else is just having a relaxing evening, I wish you could have been here early this morning Michiru because you missed one hilarious moment!"

"What did I miss this morning back at in Tokyo, Japan?" Michiru asked curiously, listening closely to his half demon friend over the cell phone while watching Saya and Slimer carrying the huge painting in hand with Egon and the other Ghostbusters accompanying them until they left the room to head down the hallway in the direction of the front doors leading in and out of the castle.

"Mrs. Higurashi asked me to call Kagome down for breakfast, but she was still asleep in bed, so Sota and I sprayed shaving cream on her hands and tickled her face with a feathered pen." Inuyasha explained over the phone, laughing inwardly in the process just as Michiru was laughing out loud on the other end of the line. "The whole can of shaving cream was emptied by the time Kagome woke up, she had a panic attack right before she unleashed her rage on us, she used her sit commands on me which resulted in me falling on my face and sliding down the staircase to the kitchen with Sota still sitting on my shoulders. Upon entering the kitchen, Kagome gave her Grandpa a good scare and the rest of us a huge laugh, Sota recorded the entire incident on a digital camera so I'll have to show it to you once you come home. The best part was we both had the last laugh, Sota merely had to clean up the mess and buy another can of shaving cream, Kagome's mom just told me to grow up. As for Kagome, she had to endure it all before she strode off to go clean herself up before breakfast, I so wish you and the others could have been here to see it for yourselves because it was absolutely hilarious!"

"Ah! Ha! Ha!" Michiru replied, finally managing to calm down enough to stop laughing and talk normally. "That was a very funny story Inuyasha, thanks so much for telling me, but…I only have a short time to talk over the phone and there's something I wish to discuss."

"Go right ahead Michiru, I'm listening." Inuyasha answered, taking notice of the pause in Michiru's sentence as well as the change in tone of the Kururugi boy's voice.

"I've been over here in the United States for almost a week now and I've made friends with everyone employed here at the Ghostbusters' establishment, however…I've also developed a very close friendship with Ilyssa, the lady who's been helping me researching my Shikigami powers." Michiru explained nervously as he recalled all of the experiences he had shared with the female curator, including each of the two occasions when each of them had been kissed by one another followed by the look he had seen in Ilyssa's eyes from the night before. "I honestly wasn't expecting this to happen, but we've developed strong feelings for each other and share an attraction towards one another as well, even though its only been about five or six days since we've met and become close friends."

"I…understand." Inuyasha replied briefly, his mind being overwhelmed by this unexpected turn of events which had recently taken place.

"Its perfectly natural for someone as young as myself to feel an attraction to a beautiful woman who is almost twice my own age and vica versa, even though modern society wouldn't tolerate for such a thing to occur, but this sort of…blew up in our faces and happened before we even knew that it was happening and nothing can undo it." Michiru continued while trying to remain calm even though this conversation had become very uncomfortable because of what they were now talking about. "I'm still going to return home and shortly afterwards, to the Feudal era as well just as I planned and even though this issue had occurred between Ilyssa and I, I'm still have much in love with Sango and I'm still going to return to her in another day or so. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I know that I have to tell Ilyssa that I've already promised my heart to someone else, I just don't know how to tell her or what words to use without hurting her feelings in the process."

While Michiru waited for Inuyasha's reply, the half demon thought carefully about all that his Kururugi friend had just told him and of the difficult dilemma with which he was troubled about, for Michiru was now in the same position as Sango was and that he had two people who had fallen in love with him even though he had to chose which of them he loved and wanted to share a relationship with. The Japanese student had already made his choice about whom he loved, that was never in doubt, the problem was how to explain this to Ilyssa without hurting the young woman's feelings which Michiru was afraid off doing. Nevertheless, Michiru was taking the appropriate action and doing what was in everyone's best interests and Inuyasha himself was immensely proud of his Kururugi friend for that, the same could be said for Sango who was also forced into such a difficult dilemma. What a pity that Miroku couldn't be relied upon to do the same, Kagome had her misgivings about the whole love triangle from the start and although she had committed her share of wrongdoings a few days ago, Kagome had apologized and was prepared to admit her faults in order to make amends with both Michiru and Sango so that at least was a good thing.

"Its not easy admitting the truth or doing what's best for everyone even though such actions will end with hurting yourself or hurting others, Sango's been burdened with what you've just told me ever since that day you confessed your love to her only moments before you returned home to your own era, being able to talk about it as well takes a huge amount of strength and courage and you've done what most of us haven't been able to do yet or wouldn't be able to do at all." Inuyasha responded, recalling countless incidents involving Miroku being unable to choose between Sango and giving up any of his bad habits, all the times when Kagome was put on the pedestal by her female friends from school or by Koga in the Feudal era and unable to verbally declare whom she felt her feelings of affection for.

Everyone knew that Kagome was being sought after by Inuyasha, Koga, Feudal era Hojo and Modern era Hojo. Despite her unpredictable attitude and deadly temper, Kagome was still as vulnerable and emotionally fragile as any other human being was, regardless of what era she came from. Then there was the love triangle which existed between Inuyasha, Kagome and Kikyo, that love triangle however similar to the one involving Michiru, Sango and the others was entirely different because of the people who were involved. Well Michiru understood the basics behind all that he had learned and seen from the few occasions when Kikyo had made an appearance during his visit to the Feudal era, he didn't know Kikyo well enough to understand how much she had changed because of Naraku's treachery or how painful it was for Inuyasha to be burdened with guilt for having feelings for both her and Kagome and that he was in a more difficult place than either Michiru or Sango no matter which choice he eventually made.

"Are you still there Inuyasha?" Michiru asked, wondering why his half demon friend had been silent for so long after finishing his first reply.

"Sorry Michiru, I was just gathering my thoughts." Inuyasha answered before he continued. "Kagome and I both have…our attitudes and argue a lot from time to time, but we're both…similar than most people would normally think. There are a few reasons why neither of us are able to opening admit out loud who we have feelings for, first off all, because our pride won't it because of the embarrassment that we'd each feel and second, because we're just as afraid of being hurt and of hurting others as you and Sango both are. Thirdly, because each of us has more than one person seeking our affections and each of those persons are different which make the problem all the more complicated."

"What do you mean by more complicated Inuyasha?" Michiru asked, trying his hardest to understand and get passed the confusion.

"Kagome's been visiting my era for a longer time than you did during your first visit and then there's the fact that she's missed the same number of days from your era that she's spent in mine for each visit, that's why she's so far behind in homework and needs to catch up, that coupled with all the hardships of life from both eras along with the fact that I have to chose between her and Kikyo just as she has to choose between Koga, two other guys and I." Inuyasha explained, trying to overcome the tremendous burden which he himself was feeling from his own difficult dilemma as he kept talking. "I've had to grow up and learn to survive in my era without a family to guide me, Kikyo was the first person after my mother to treat me kindly and equally which is why I eventually fell in love with her more than fifty years ago…until that day when Naraku manipulated both of us to turn on each other. Even though I've developed feelings for…Kagome over the many days that we've spent together, I never let go of my feelings for Kikyo, but Naraku's treachery did more damage to her than to me. Kikyo wasn't always the emotionless, wanderer that she is now. In her time when she was a live human woman, she was a kind, caring, and friendly young woman, someone full of strength, happiness and wisdom just like you've seen Sango be during your days off."

Michiru said nothing, but waited patiently and kept listening to all that Inuyasha had told him and would continue to tell him, he had absolutely no idea that his half demon friend had been forced to carry a burden as heavy as this. He thought his own burden and that of Sango's were bad enough, but Inuyasha's burden outweighed both of their's, even the burden that Kagome supposedly felt according to what Inuyasha had told him although neither of them would know for sure about that one. This conversation had certainly taken a change of course, Michiru had brought up the subject under the belief that Inuyasha could offer his advise and in a flash, the roles had changed and Inuyasha was now the one bringing up an equally if not more delicate matter over the phone. But perhaps, in the long run, this was also Inuyasha's way to help explain that he understood how Michiru felt and that by sharing, both of them would eventually overcome their troubles now that they had gotten over the problem of letting it out first.

"It hasn't been easy for me to trust people or befriend them, let alone opening up to them because of how I've been treated and hurt in the passed, by Naraku's actions or otherwise." Inuyasha finally concluded. "This is going to sound strange, but because Kagome and I both have feelings for each other and for others who in turn have feelings for us, both of us are afraid to openly admit them out loud because we risk being hurt from rejection and of hurting others as well as throwing away a chance of seeking a relationship with someone else entirely. Its almost reached a point where each of us is waiting for the other to openly admit their feelings first, I want to tell admit my feelings for Kagome, but I'm afraid of her rejection and for hurting Kikyo at the same time. Kagome won't admit her feelings for anyone yet because she's also afraid of rejection and of throwing away the chance for a relationship with Koga, a guy from school named Hojo and another guy from my era who's also named Hojo because they share the same family lineage. You're doing what's right Michiru, at least you're in a position where you know both people care for you and will still love you no matter which of them you've chosen."

"Pardon me Inuyasha?" Michiru asked, his mind so focussed on processing the matter involving Kagome, Inuyasha and Kikyo that he had completely missed the last sentence his half demon friend had just told him. "Could you repeat that last sentence please? I missed it entirely."

A light bulb suddenly flashed in Inuyasha's memory, causing the half demon to mentally and physically smack himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand, for he had nearly let the cat out of the bag and ruined Sango's opportunity of revealing her love for Michiru in person which she would eventually done upon the young teenager's return to Feudal Japan. Although there was nothing wrong with telling Michiru that Sango had chosen him over Miroku, the half demon had wanted to let Michiru discover this for himself out of respect for his Kururugi friend as well as for Sango, and all of their other friends as well.

"Argh, I said you're doing the right thing!" Inuyasha growled, his angry temper getting the better of him along with his pride as a formidable half demon, feeling embarrassed for having revealed such a delicate matter which he had secretly guarded for such a long time, even though he was talking about it with his Kururugi friend whom he greatly trusted and respected. "You're thinking of others and doing what's best for everyone which is a heck of a lot more than I can say for Miroku! It was great talking with you Michiru, I'll hang up now so you can carry on battling ghosts and monsters, be sure to hurry home soon so we can all get together again. Sango's anxiously waiting for you to return to my era so she can see you again and Kagome's waiting for you to come home so you can help her complete her schoolwork."

"It was great talking to you too Inuyasha, I enjoyed hearing your story about Kagome and the shaving cream, that was especially funny along with that last part about Kagome's homework." Michiru replied, wearing a smile on his face since he could tell his half demon friend as a tad uncomfortable about revealing his own experience involving the two young woman whom he both felt strong feelings for, but he left it at that to safe Inuyasha any further embarrassment. "You didn't have to reveal all of what you told me, but I guess that was the easiest way for you to explain yourself and how you understand what I'm going through so thanks Inuyasha, I'll always remember your words and advice which I'll use for the benefit of others. Although you caught me in the middle of a mission, I'm still glad we got to talk together for a while after all that both of us have been through, take care then and goodbye until next time Inuyasha."

"Bye Michiru, see you later." Inuyasha replied before hanging up the phone, he then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, feeling a great deal better now that he had helped his friend and let out a good portion of the stress which had been bottled up for such a long time because of the burden he had been forced carry. It was quiet all around now that the conversation over the phone was done, everyone else in the house had gone to sleep in bed and it was high time that Inuyasha did the same, he was already laying down on the living room couch so all he had to do was shut his eyes and relax until unconsciousness overcame him. "Aw, peace and quiet at long last."

Back on Shandor island, Michiru had put away his cell phone and rejoined his companions who had returned to the chamber to wait until his call was taken care of, allowing him a few minutes to collect his thoughts about his talk over the phone with his half demon friend. Inuyasha wasn't the sort of person who opened up easily or shared advice, but the formidable fighter had done his best under the circumstances even though the conversation had taken an unexpected turn when Inuyasha then shared his difficult dilemma which he himself was burdened with, and Michiru would be grateful for all the help he had been given. Upon meeting up with the three Ghostbusters, Michiru and his trio of team mates carried on with their exploration of the castle in search of a clue that would lead them to the final node of the Mandala which they needed to seal in order to save the city from disaster.

"This certainly is a hell of a place, given that it was constructed on an island, Ivo Shandor must have employed hundreds of labourers and construction workers to built this complex castle." Winston remarked, looking at the spacious castle interior as the four of them wandered on down the long, winding hallway which looked inward from one side, keeping their eyes and hears open for any opponents lurking nearby.

"The supports are waterlogged, the mortar is decrepit and the foundation is shattered so in physical terms, this castle shouldn't even be standing intact as we see it." Egon deduced before commenting. "But its still very beautiful, in a weird and horrific way."

"You can't deny the pure genius of Ivo Shandor, such a pity all of it was used for evil purposes, he could have achieved wonders if he had only used even a fraction of it with good intentions instead of evil ones." Ray commented over the radio, giving everyone a surprise.

"Glad to hear from you Ray, almost forgot you were still around outside." Winston replied. "How are things looking from where you are?"

"Nothing new to report, a few fires and smoke coming from the castle courtyard outside, but that's about all." Ray answered.

"Well that good news, at least we won't have to fight our way back to Ecto-8 once its time to leave Shandor island." Michiru commented.

"I sincerely hope you're right Mitch, it was tough enough just fighting our way to the castle's front entrance." Venkman remarked.

The company of combatants continued along until they saw another doorway like that of the front entrance leading into another enormous interior similar in size to the one they could already see from their high vantage point, but before they could venture inside to explore it, the doors closed shut without warning. Strange ghostly sounds and monstrous cries echoed from the spacious floor down below from where the four of them were standing on the inner hallway balcony, long iron chains rattled suddenly from the high ceiling above as if a wind from the slamming doors had blown against them, four black slime ghosts who which had a dark blue hooded cloak like appearance with giant hooked tongs in place of their hands hovered around a tall stone Obelisk looking structure as though they were praying to it. The ceiling of the castle was held up by a series of massive stone pillars located evenly throughout this one interior courtroom of the castle, part of the ceiling looked as though the roof was still undergoing construction because of the fact that Michiru and the Ghostbusters could see the clouds in the sky by looking through the centre opening, they then returned their attention to the ghosts below.

"Check that out guys, people still worshipping even after they've already died, now that's what I'd call the power of the church." Winston commented upon seeing the four floating enemy entities gathered together in prayer and worship.

"They must have seen some of Ivo Shandor's followers, they're so committed to worshipping Gozer that their entities are forever tied to this place and the castle as a whole and as crazy as it sounds, perhaps this explains why this castle is still standing intact." Egon deduced as he and Michiru briefly scanned the ghosts with their PKE meters. "Ethereal stability induced by caused by focused concentration of posthumous will."

"Unbelievable." Ray remarked over everyone's radios just moments before the four enemy entities rose high up in the air to attack.

"It seems our presence has disturbed their worshiping ceremony guys." Venkman commented as everyone selected their slime blowers and aimed at an approaching opponent before discharging positively charged slime from their multifunctional weapons, these ghosts responded by ascending higher up out of range and hurling balls of red acid or black slime like the Venom crawlers and Slime fiends would attack with.

"For all we know, they've been worshipping for well over a century and a half if this castle was built in the 1860s, I'd say they've had way more than enough time required for praying and then some." Winston remarked, discharging another fresh burst of positive slime at one of the black slime ghosts. "Their the ones who started this fight, not us so its their fault for causing the commotion, end of story."

Because the black slime ghosts couldn't be beaten conventionally by capture, the battle dragged out with some ghosts vanishing and reappearing elsewhere inside of the inner hallway balcony which forced Michiru and the Ghostbusters to separate and chase after their foes while others stayed put, Slime fiends and Venom crawlers entered the fray from black slime portals suddenly appearing at each corner of in the castle from where the hallway changed direction. Although the black slime ghosts and other menacing monsters were trying to overcome the Ghostbusters by combining their efforts at the same time with different methods of attack, this battle was nowhere near as demanding or as dangerous as the first fight had been and in a short while, all of these opponents were eventually defeated with superior teamwork and combat experience. The portals were sealed shut, the black slime ghosts succumbed to the positively charged slime and evaporated, defeated similarly just like the Venom crawlers and Slime fiends who's bodies exploded from taking too much fire from the slime blowers.

"The doors are open now guys, time to carry on and explore more of this haunted castle." Winston pointed out, walking through to enter with Egon while Venkman followed leisurely behind, Michiru paused for a minute to scan for more enemies before entering through last.

The next large room that the Ghostbusters entered into was completely empty aside from a couple elevated spaces used for statues and other such objects which hadn't been put in place yet, there was an archway at the opposite end of the room leading into another which many spiritual entities could be seen gathered and floating about another stone Obelisk like structure some distance away, but that would have to wait a brief moment until everyone had gathered together.

"Unless my sensory array is malfunctioning, that is definitely the place we're looking for." Egon stated, coming to a halt and getting down on one knee to have a closer look at the floor directly in front of the archway. "Look at the floor here Winston, it's the Mandala."

"Yeah, would you look at that, perfectly carved out of the floor directly in front of that archway leading into that other room up head there." Winston replied, walking up beside Egon to take a closer look.

"Huh?" Michiru called instinctively, losing his balance as the metal platform he was walking on suddenly fell on one end while lifting at the other, his body spinning around and falling backwards before he fully realized he was falling through a secret trapdoor in the floor. "Ahh!"

"Hey, where's Michiru go?" Venkman asked, turning around after the secret trapdoor had repositioned itself, too late for him to hear the Shikigami user's alarmed cry or realize what had happened to the young Japanese student. "Winston, Egon, our Experimental Equipment Technician has all but disappeared."

"What?" Winston replied in disbelief, turning around and looking all around the room as Egon was doing for any sign of the teenage boy.

"Peter, behind you!" Egon warned loudly as two black slime ghosts suddenly came through the open doors that the four of them had just entered, charging forwards to attack the three paranormal eliminators.

Michiru had fallen about ten feet or more and struck the hard stone floor at the bottom of this room supposedly hidden underneath the secret trapdoor he had just fallen through, although he had survived the fall without receiving any broken bones or other serious injuries, he banged his head striking the floor upon impact. The Kururugi boy shook his head whilst trying to get up off of the floor beneath him, but it was no use, the fall had given him a nasty hit in the head and sapped much of the strength from the rest of his body. Even though he had gotten up on his hands and knees, that was all he could manage, his head was swimming and he was slowly drifting into unconsciousness as the voices of his fellow Ghostbusters and noises from battle echoed down from the room above him.

"No! stay back, get your disgusting hands off of me, man!" Winston yelled loudly in disgust while trying to fight off his attackers.

"Ugh! Get your slimy soaking hands off of me you ghastly ghosts!" Venkman demanded in a whiney voice whilst trying to do the same.

"No, there's no many of them for us to…ugh!" Egon shouted before his radio transmission was cut off by the attacking ghosts who managed to overcome and subdue him.

"No! They got Egon!" Venkman shouted, still trying to struggle from the sounds Michiru could still hear from above.

"Bring Egon back here you filthy freaks!" Winston shouted in a panic stricken voice whilst struggling. "Mitch! Help us!"

Michiru reached a hand to his radio in order to reply, but he was too late and fell into unconsciousness as his body collapsed on the floor where he had fallen, there was nothing he could do until after he had rested and recovered from the blow to his head. For now, the Ghostbusters were on there own, Ray was preoccupied with manning Ecto-8 and observing Shandor island as well as listening and watching for any further paranormal occurrences that might arise. Saya and Slimer had gone back to the Firehouse with the painting they were both carrying and they had no knowledge of the events which had befallen their comrades, Ilyssa and Janine were still asleep in bed and wouldn't be awake for another hour or so, all four of them wouldn't know what had happened until long after Michiru and the Ghostbusters had returned from their mission…if any of them were able to return at all.

Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay, Christmas holidays are always a busy time so it was difficult to update even with being off work for a while, work is getting more hectic by the day so its is regretfully going to take a long time to update any of my fanfics until things can calm down. This chapter was so long that I was forced to end the story at this point to simplify things, the remaining events of Shandor island will be included in the next chapter after this one, I think its better this way in the long run.

Greymon Leader Batx flashpoint: Glad you liked the humorous events as well as the serious ones, you've probably figured out by now that Miroku is growing more jealous of Michiru by the day and that will eventually lead to confrontation upon Michiru's return to Feudal Japan, the bonds of friendship between Michiru and Ilyssa have grown somewhat beyond mere friendship and will be tested soon in the future even though its obvious that Michiru will always remain faithful to Sango and keep himself only for her despite what lays ahead for them.

J4RRE77: Yes, the last chapter had its moments of humour, I hope you still enjoyed it though. The next couple of chapters will be focussing more on batting ghosts and other paranormal monsters as I'm sure you're aware which I hope you will look forward too reading later on, though there will be more events for the Inuyasha characters while they wait patiently for Michiru's eventual return home to Japan as well as to the Feudal era, they will most likely vary from humorous towards dramatic depending on what the events are specifically.

HotelKatz: I haven't played all versions of the Ghostbusters video game, but I am aware that certain levels of the game as well as events were cut out or altered in one way or another depending on what system each version is played on, this fanfic focuses on the Xbox360 version of the Ghostbusters game as you have probably figured out by now. The Macy's parade level you mentioned was brought to my attention my a fan named Jetty1 and after reading what data I found available about it, I did my best to make room for its inclusion even though I was forced to recreate everything from a small amount to data which was quite vague and only gave a basic outline of what took place. The events of the Macy's parade and other events which I inserted for the story can be found in chapter 10 if you haven't read it already, I hope you've enjoyed reading this story so far and that you look forward to reading more chapters as they are uploaded.

BloodPokemon101: Yes, Kagome can be quite the handful once her temper takes over and runs her wild, and you're right about Sango being justified in slapping her across the face because of Kagome's actions. But not to worry, she's learned from her mistakes and the worst is over, though I definitely can't say the same about Miroku.

Orionpax09: Yeah, Peter Venkman is at the bottom or close to the bottom of my list of Ghostbusters' characters, he can be really annoying sometimes which is why I thought he had what was coming with the ride in Ecto-2 and with his rude teasing remarks towards both Michiru and Ilyssa.

I'll admit from the beginning, I was laughing inwardly at putting Kagome through that prank which Inuyasha and Sota both staged on her, they both needed a good laugh and that was an opportunity just waiting to be taken advantage of. While I don't hate Kagome, there are some traits or qualities which I don't like at all, but she's learned her lesson from all the previous mistakes that she made throughout this story and is ready and willing to walk on the right path from now on.

I'm glad you liked the humorous scenes whether they involved Michiru with Ilyssa and the Ghostbusters or Sango and the others, more will certainly take place both before and after Michiru's returned to Japan as well as the Feudal era. Sango is still feeling worried about confronting Kagome and then Miroku about her love for Michiru, but she'll gradually find the courage to endure both of those experiences thanks to the assistance and support from Shippo, Hachi and Kirara who have been with her during her break away from Kaede's village.

I wanted to show that Inuyasha's equally capable of improving himself just as all people are and that he's not the angry tempered idiot Kagome claims him to be just because he can't learn everything right off the bat whether its in the Modern era or the Feudal era. No that Naraku is dead and gone, Inuyasha can finally focus on building a new life with all of his friends, all of his actions towards each of his friends have demonstrated that he's come a very long way and that he's been able to make decisions for the good of everyone and not just himself. All the times he's comforted Sango or advised Michiru are proof of that, so when Myoga was blackmailed by Miroku, it was another example of Inuyasha staying the hand of vengeful violence in order to take a more appropriate action which was fair and peaceful. Good suggestion on your part by the way of having Michiru talk to Inuyasha about his relationship with Ilyssa, that was a tough scene to wrap my head around, looking at it from Inuyasha's perspective along with his own experiences so I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Yes, Miroku is unfortunately treading down a very dark path no thanks to his inner jealousy, all the more reason for Inuyasha to keep a careful eye on the monk while he's in Kaede's village. However, as you've probably figured out, Inuyasha won't always be in the Feudal era or in Kaede's village to keep a close watch on Miroku which means that the monk will be free to do more dastardly deeds in the future, Miroku's jealousy had clouded his judgement so he won't think or fully comprehend the consequences of his actions until after its too late to undo them. Now the most Miroku could ever do to turn the tables in his favour is to try talking Sango out of her decision in order to give him another chance, but that's not going to happen as the lecherous monk has already proven that he isn't worthy of Sango's love.

Things are indeed becoming very complicated for Michiru and Ilyssa, two separate incidents where they've both kissed each other adding more fuel to the strong feelings growing between them, its going to be very difficult for them to say their farewells to one another when the times arrives for Michiru to return home to Japan. Although Ilyssa will be sad to see Michiru leave, she's a young female adult so she'll be used to it, Michiru is still a teenage boy so he's more likely to fall apart then she is. While both of them possess strong feelings as well as an attraction towards each other, Michiru is the one who will be forced to the same position that Sango was placed in and even though he's already in love with Sango, he knows his words may still hurt Ilyssa on the inside no matter how delicately he tries to tell her before saying goodbye.