Ghost in the Falls

Chapter 8

The afternoon was spent going through ghost-related inventions, with Maddie and Jack explaining their purpose, and then deciding whether or not they would be useful against Bill. After showing off several oddly shaped and impractically large guns, all of which were deemed to be good weapons, Jack picked up grey box with an antenna sticking out of it. Danny and Jazz groaned upon seeing it, knowing full well what it was and how annoying it was. "This is the Fenton ghost finder. You saw it in action in the haunted store the other day, shame the ghosts were hiding from us, we'll have to go back there some time to check again."

"Dad, put that thing away," interrupted Jazz, showing slight annoyance. "You can't use that to fight Bill, and it's always malfunctioning."

Maddie was quick to put down Jazz's argument. "Jazz, honey, let him explain what it does first."

"This baby can tell you when a ghost is nearby and help you track it down, if you switch it on like so." The ghost finder powered up and began to give an introduction that was slightly muffled by Jack's massive hands cupped around the speaker.

'There is a ghost to your right,' it chirped, and Jack swiveled around to follow the reading. "I wasn't expecting a reading here and now!" he said, dumbfounded.

Danny backed into Stan's legs as his dad shuffled towards him.

'You're right on top of the ghosts. Thank you for using the Fenton finder.' Jack was utterly confused, looking around for any unseen ghosts, making eye contact with Danny every so often with even more confusion.

"See, it's always malfunctioning," said Jazz, slipping between Danny and her father. Jack sat back down by the piles of inventions, switching off the Fenton finder and dumping it in the 'useless' box.

"Wait a moment," Ford said, looking up from the book he had been taking notes in. "Put it in the 'maybe' box, it did point towards Stan after all, so it might work after all." A fire lit up in Jack's eyes at those words, and he cheerfully moved it to the 'maybe' box.

Next he leaned over and pointed to a hoop with glowing green netting across it. "This is the Fenton ghost catcher. It filters out any ghostly matter that passes through it."

Ford nodded. "Maybe. We could use it to get Bill out of whoever he's possessing - that could be useful."

A few more guns later, including a bazooka that opened up a portal to the ghost zone, which was deemed a 'maybe', they came to a thermos. Dipper perked up. "Hey, that's what Danny used to catch the Basan!"

Jack beamed with pride. "That's right! This bad boy can capture ghosts, sucks them right up, though powerful ones seem to be able to escape the pull of it, like the ghost boy." He said the last bit with frustration.

"Useful," said Ford, taking notes.

The rest of the inventions were sorted through, with most of them being deemed useful, and the sun was now beginning to set, casting a burning orange light across the carpet, contrasting sharply with the green of the inventions. The sound of grumbling stomachs interrupted Jack's explanation of the Fenton fisher, something that was quickly deemed useless by popular vote so they could go and eat supper. The group filtered into the kitchen as Maddie and Jack heaved the boxes of inventions marked as useless over to the RV before joining the rest of the group in the kitchen, where people were helping themselves to sandwiches. Ford was stood by the countertop, deep in thought while munching on his sandwich; the children were all eating with gusto, and Jack beat everyone with the amount of food he consumed. A gentle chit-chat hummed around the table, only to be interrupted by Ford clicking his fingers and clearing his throat. "I have an idea of how to beat Bill, assuming he is possessing Stan."