Trick or Strike!

Trick or Strike!

If you’re too naughty, you’ll get eliminated ☆

Cast

Ghoststriker: Kamira Akiru
Scientist: Hikari Yonaguni


Act I

The town was preparing to celebrate Halloween. As it was approaching, ghosts became more active. Every day, they played new pranks on citizens, bringing about all sorts of trouble. That day was no different, with them messing around on the streets as usual.

Damaging the water supply system, the ghosts caused multiple leaks. As a result, the park was flooded, and the children who played there got soaking wet.

But then ghoststrikers appeared.

“We won’t let you do as you please!!”

Swooping down the slide, a girl sprayed a liquid from a giant water gun she was holding onto the ghosts. Suddenly, they froze in place. That liquid was Buster Water, the mixture containing silver and sodium chloride that could immobilize the ghosts.

The striker

The girl, who was a striker, swept the ghosts into her bag one after the other. She then connected it to a special device and turned on the switch. The device sucked the ghosts in, compressing them, and thus they were eliminated.

“Well, that should do it!”

“Yay, nice job~ I’ll take care of the rest~”

The striker’s companion, another girl, retrieved the device with the compressed ghosts. She was in fact a scientist who designed it. Paying her no mind, the striker turned towards the cheering kids and proceeded to show off a number of poses, but the water gun with Buster Water she carried on her back was too heavy, and she almost fell over.

“Hey, isn’t this thing a bit too heavy?”

“What did you expect? It’s full of liquid, after all~”

“Maybe work on making it lighter?!”

With a friendly banter, the two long-time companions left the scene. Staring after them, the children whispered in amazement, “They are so cool!..”


Act II

The ghoststrikers’ hideout was located in an old apartment building in an obscure corner of the town. The girls tried to save on rent to spare more money for inventions and equipment maintenance.

Once they returned to the hideout, the scientist started with the maintenance of the spray thrower. In truth, she inherited it from her grandfather who passed away due to illness some time ago.

Back when her grandfather was young, ghosts had been messing around just like they did today, and he used to protect the peace of the town as a ghoststriker. However, after he had retired due to old age, ghosts were running unchecked and did whatever they wanted. To fend them off, the scientist decided to take on his mission.

But she wasn’t a very athletic person, so she decided to cooperate with a striker she met. The striker possessed extraordinary sports skills, and teaming up as Ghostbusters the two became invincible. They kept on restlessly fighting ghosts every day.

The scientist

After completing the maintenance and getting some rest, the girls were supposed to go on a daily patrol. But despite having to head out soon, the scientist was nowhere to be seen.

When the striker went to check on her, she found out that the scientist was working on a new device to detect ghosts. Perhaps due to it still being a prototype, the piece of equipment was making dreadful noise and emitting a weird odor. The scientist explained that that was supposed to be a reaction to the presence of ghosts, but the striker noted with disappointment that they couldn’t carry around such a thing.

“It’s so heavy! How much does it weight even? Besides, it stinks, you know?”

The scientist became thoughtful.

“There shouldn’t be any ghosts around here. Why does it make so much noise all of a sudden, I wonder?~”

Despite being fully confident in her companion, the striker could only sigh looking at the new invention.


Act III

Heading out on a patrol, the scientist reluctantly left the device behind.

As the two went out into town, they were captivated by beautiful Halloween decorations.

“Come to think of it, tomorrow’s Halloween, right?”

In this town, it was a Halloween tradition to install festive lights on houses and prepare all kinds of sweets for children parading around in costumes. However, adults were free to treat themselves to the sweets as well. It was an annual festival enjoyed by big and small.

“Yeah, can’t wait to try some sweets,” replied the scientist with a dreamy smile.

Jack-o’-lantern chocolate, monster lollipops… There were so many Halloween treats, one had to make a list not to miss out on anything. Even though there were concerns that the real ghosts might appear, the citizens felt safe as long as the strikers were around and could enjoy the festivities in peace.

Finishing the patrol with no accidents, the two returned to the hideout. That evening, after her regular muscle training, the striker was passing by the scientist’s room. She noticed the door being slightly open, and as she casually peeked into the room, she saw the scientist talking to a photo of her grandfather.

“Grandpa, you know, the town’s celebrating Halloween tomorrow. This year I eliminated many ghosts, so that people could enjoy it with a smile on their faces. Say, I did well, didn’t I?..”

Seeing her companion so somber was unusual for the striker. After watching her for a little longer, she quietly left the scene.


Act IV

On the day of Halloween the ghosts tended to become even more mischievous than usual.

Going on a patrol, the ghoststrikers had to make sure they were fully prepared. The striker was waiting for the scientist after doing some warm-up exercises, when she saw her pulling along the new invention she was testing the other day.

“I tweaked it a bit! Should work fine now!~”

The girl turned on the switch. However, same as before, the device started to emit a weird odor while making terrible noise.

“Just what’s wrong with it?”

After spending the whole night working on it, the scientist could feel the frustration welling up inside her. The striker tried to reassure her that it was no problem.

“When we’re together, our usual gear is enough! We’ll manage without a detector!”

Without further delay, the two headed out on a patrol. But they immediately noticed that there was something strange about the atmosphere of the town. According to the weather forecast, the day was supposed to be sunny, yet, as the girls looked up at the sky, they saw that the dark clouds were gathering.

“H-hold on a sec! These aren’t clouds!”

Upon taking a better look, they realized that what they thought to be clouds was in fact a ghost of enormous size. It made all the ghosts from around town float up into the sky and merge into it.

“Ah, turns out my detector was working just fine. That’s good~”

“What’s good here?! Anyway, we should get closer!”

Just as the girls were pondering on what they should do about the enemy that was out of reach, it started to descend, intending to attack the town. It was aiming for the town square where many people had gathered. Seeing the ghost closing in, the citizens started to run for their lives. Some were desperately crying for help, some were calling for the ghoststrikers, their voices blending together into a cacophony of sounds. The girls rushed through the crowd.

“Stop right there! Trick or treat?”

“If you don’t have sweets, then prepare for a trick!”

The ghost laughed ominously in return. But the scientist grinned back at it.

“No sweets? Really? Then we have no choice…”

“We’ll play our best trick on you!”

With a proud exclamation, the girls got ready for a fight.

×××

“Phew… We somehow did it…”

After eliminating the ghost, the two were gazing at the people enjoying the Halloween festival. The enemy was huge, but they managed to draw it to their hideout, taking advantage of its movement patterns. There, they put one of the scientist’s inventions to good use, spraying 50 liters of Buster Water onto the creature and finally doing away with it.

The citizens were happy that all ended well. The ghost caused some damage while floating through the streets, and some areas ended up being flooded, but that in itself gave the town a certain Halloween charm.

“We are very sorry for this Halloween prank!”

“Guess, no sweets for us then!~”

Today, Ghostbusters had protected the peace of the town once again!


Aftertalk

Kamira Akiru:
“The shopping mall is so neatly decorated~”

Hikari Yonaguni:
“The Halloween atmosphere is so lovely. You can get all sorts of sweets and Halloween stuff!”

Kamira Akiru:
“Right?~ By the way, amusement parks have attractions that are open only on these days.”

Hikari Yonaguni:
“Ah, the ones where you can test your courage?”

Kamira Akiru:
“Yeah. Like the haunted house in the amusement park we went to the other day!”

Hikari Yonaguni:
“Oh, you must have seen the sign!.. A movie theatre where you’re pursued by a woman with really long hair…”

Kamira Akiru:
“Exactly! Being trapped in a movie theatre where vengeful ghosts come off the screen sure sounds fun.”

Hikari Yonaguni:
“Yeah…”

Kamira Akiru:
“What’s up, Hikarin? Wait, are you maybe… scared?”

Hikari Yonaguni:
“…N-not at all~ Come on, Kamira-chan! Let’s get going!”

Edit
Pub: 01 Nov 2024 14:31 UTC
Edit: 01 Nov 2024 15:07 UTC
Views: 69