Author's Note: This is a novelization of Luigi's Mansion for the Gamecube. Some text will be taken from the game ( this will appear in italics ). All characters/ settings belong to Nintendo, not me. With that said, enjoy!

Luigi's Mansion: Rewritten

Usually the days of Mario's sidekick were boring to say the least. When he wasn't helping his brother save the princess from Bowser, you could find him loitering around the small house they shared.

Today was not a usual day for Luigi, and it was all because of a letter in the mailbox.

It was actually the only letter in the mailbox; a thick envelope with ' Luigi ' printed on it in large block letters. Luigi was unusually cheerful at this sight, fore it was hardly often he received letters with his name on it!

So with that he opened the letter with Mario by his side at the table.

' No wonder this is so thick ' Luigi thought to himself, ' A map of the Mushroom Kingdom is in here as well! '

The piece of paper with the map however was just confusing. It said that Luigi had won a contest and the prize of said contest was a mansion. A mansion?!

" Wait Luigi," Mario started " Did you even enter this contest?"

Luigi, in fact, did not enter this contest, or any other contest for that matter because he did not want to get his hopes up.

That being said, the notion of him winning a contest that he didn't even enter screamed with suspicion. However the thought of a mansion, an honest-to-goodness-mansion in place to their tiny house appealed to the brothers greatly.

" How about we ask the princess what to do? We could get her to have her loyal subjects accompany us," Mario said, now examining the map of the Kingdom. Luigi agreed and before you could say 'pasta' they were off to the castle.

When they got there the guard toads immediately let them in, sometimes being the Mario Bros. has its perks. Finding the princess wasn't all that hard because she was where she normally is; the throne room. Peach herself was looking as regal and beautiful as ever, if slightly confused at the brothers abrupt arrival.

With Mario's encouragement, Luigi started from the beginning; how he had received a letter telling him that he had won a contest that he didn't enter and handed over the letter and map that came with it.

Peach, for her part, was just as baffled as the brothers were. The prize for this quote-on-quote contest was a mansion, the issue with that was she did not know of any mansions in the Mushroom Kingdom. After deliberating with her right-hand-man, Toadsworth, she decided to organize an expedition to the mansion. Mario and a group of Toads were to follow the directions to the mansion and check it out. If all was safe and sound and the building was actually there, then they would be joined by Luigi.

All of this would happen the following day, with the plumbers staying at the castle overnight. Luigi all the while was nervous for the following day. What if something went wrong? He had almost insisted to join Mario on the first journey but he remembered that he would hardly be of use to them. No, it was best to remain until it was certain this was not a hoax.

In what felt like a few hours Luigi was preparing to say goodbye to Mario, at least for the time being. It's not like he wasn't going to see his brother again but Luigi was still, if not more, nervous than he was last night. Mario himself was not scared in the slightest. He was excited to go on another adventure especially when he has the most powerful thing in the world at his disposal: a star. Peach herself handed him the ethereal beauty as a just-in-case. Even though its power lasts for less than a minute, that's more than enough time to run if things get too out of hand. Luigi knew this but was still worried for his brother. Hopefully Mario and the Toads will come back and his worries would be for naught. If they took the warp pipes and walked from there, they should be at this mansion in an hour. No one knew how long they would be in the mansion itself ( if it was even there that is ).

Come evening and they weren't back, Luigi would go there on his own.

He was praying that he wouldn't have to.

As luck would have it, Luigi is currently walking towards the mansion. Waiting for Mario had been fine at first but as the hours ticked away Luigi realized that Mario must be in trouble. The group had left in the morning and it was now the evening; that also happened to have a summer storm.

' I really don't get any breaks, do I?' Luigi scornfully thought as he looked around. He then consulted the map and kept moving.

Should this mansion be real it should be right about…

Here.

Luigi looked up and saw it.

The mansion was real.

Judging by the exterior, a Victorian mansion at that; with very dark green paint, lots of windows ( two of which were lit Luigi noted ) making the mansion look as if it had eyes that were watching his every move. The pièce de résistance however was none of that but rather the front yard graveyard.

Ahead of the mansion to its right was what was once a horse drawn carriage that is now rotted through with age. Slightly closer to the mansion on the left of the dirt path was a run down shack or shed.

' Maybe a caretaker lived here once upon a time.'

No doubt it was abandoned now; the walls looked rotted through and very haphazard . Various bits of what only could be described as junk littered the surrounding land. But he wasn't here for the shack, he was here to save his brother.

Granted he was scared, horrified even. Luigi is not the most brave person on the planet, but if it was for Mario he would go through hell and back to save him, even if there were ( Luigi gulped ) ghosts present.

Luigi took a deep breath and opened the wrought iron gates. From outside of them he couldn't tell but now, now he could see the gravestones were very weather worn and illegible. Up the rickety staircase and to the front door… ' Even the door to this place is terrifying!'; with skulls and other symbols Luigi was half tempted to turn around.

Alas, he had a job to do. To find his brother. With that he opened the door and turned on his flashlight…

If he didn't have his flashlight right now he wouldn't be able to see a thing.

Whether it was the storm outside or the place's age that was the cause Luigi didn't know. He did know one thing: he was in a foyer.

The walls were painted an off yellow or beige color. A set of double doors were in front of the main door but something was covering them, making them inaccessible.

' They look like iron thorns…electrified thorns'

One chest of drawers stood to the left of these doors and something ( 'maybe a mirror' ) stood on its right covered in a dusty cloth. Speaking of dust, it was everywhere! It stung Luigi's eyes and made him wish he had a vacuum to clean it all up.

Dual staircases were on opposite ends of the room leading up to a landing on the second floor. With nothing learned here, Luigi advanced up the staircase on the right to the landing.

Another set of double doors were on the landing but, while they weren't covered in electric thorns, they were locked. Looking down Luigi saw a chandelier hanging slightly below the landing he was standing on.

Candelabras were in place on the walls above both staircases, they were lit but they didn't emit much light. On his right a lone door stood that was also locked.

' What should I do? Maybe I missed something down below.' Luigi thought after examining the entirety of the second-floor landing.

Walking down the left staircase this time, Luigi noticed his breath was coming up in clouds of air, like it would on a cold winter's day. Scared by this notion, Luigi stood in the center of the foyer when he saw it.

A cloud of what looked to be orange air was floating several feet above his head. Luigi froze, not being able to move even if he wanted to. The… thing made a sort of gulping sound, then went up the staircase Luigi just came down from and vanished through the set of double doors, making all of the candelabras blow out in its wake.

Luigi took a deep breath to calm himself. Well how about that, this mansion is haunted, who knew? Looking down at the carpet Luigi noticed something he was sure wasn't there before: a key.

' Did that ghost thing drop it?' Luigi thought as he picked it up. The key itself was a brass skeleton key, and judging by where the ghost floated off to it was for the second floor double doors.

With no other options, Luigi trekked up the stairs and to the double doors.

The key fit into the lock like a glove and speaking of gloves, his own glove-clad hand was shaking as it reached for the doorknob. With this thought in mind, Luigi entered the next room.

The only things Luigi noticed about the room was that it wasn't lit and it was even colder in here than it was in the foyer when it happened.

Shakily walking forwards Luigi was looking every which way when-

YYEE-AAAAAHHHH!

An orange ghost with yellow eyes, fangs and a gaping mouth appeared out of nowhere; it's arms reaching out to grab Luigi when suddenly it made a noise of surprise.

Behind the ghost and slightly to its right an old man stood wielding a vacuum, seriously, a vacuum, with a look of triumph on his face.

Luigi took his chance when the ghost was occupied to dive under the nearby table. He looked up from under it to see the old man getting dragged around by the ghost until-

WHAM

The ghost straight up punched the man in the face, then cackled and vanished into thin air.

' That had to hurt' Luigi thought, wincing with sympathy. Now that he was closer to him; Luigi could see that this man was wearing a lab coat, had round glasses with swirls in the lenses and one tuft of white hair on his head. Some age lines and spots marred his face and, if Luigi wasn't mistaken, he had only one tooth.

" Ouch…" The old man spoke " Ooof… I sure take a lot of knocks in this line of work."

' Work? Who would want this to be their job?' Luigi has known this man for all of two seconds and he already thought he was crazy.

Seeing no more ghosts present, Luigi got up from under the table and faced the strange man.

" I'm getting too old for this ghost-catching tomfoolery. Anyway, nice to meet you. I'm Professor E. Gadd." The Professor stated, shaking Luigi's hand.

' Hey at least I'm not alone anymore. Even if E. Gadd is a bit crazy…' Luigi thought.

" This house...I swear it seems to have more ghosts every day!" The Professor exclaimed.

' That's not reassuring…' Luigi shivered.

" What's a young feller like you doing around here, anywho?" E. Gadd asked Luigi this as he's on the lookout for more ghosts.

Which appear a full ten seconds later, three of the orange ghosts, two behind one, begin to advance.

" All right, youngster, look lively! Follow me posthaste!"

Luigi didn't need to be told twice, together the two men bolted out the room, down the foyer, into the elements, not stopping until they reached the shack ahead of the haunted building.

' Does E. Gadd live here?'

Turns out, he does; within the shack at first there was nothing but a ladder leading down underground. From there they were in what could only be a laboratory; with multiple tables throughout the room holding who-knows-what, with an wooden floor, walls and ceiling surrounding it all. The entire room felt lived in, and comfortable. Luigi felt safe here, despite the fact that all of this is underground and E. Gadd is just a little bit crazy. On the wall to his left there were two doors made out of, not wood, but stone.

Luigi then turned back around to face E. Gadd, who up until now was waiting patiently for him to stop gawking at their surroundings. To make the situation slightly less awkward, Luigi introduced himself to the scientist.

" So your name's Luigi? I think our paths were destined to cross. Well met, Luigi." E. Gadd smiled, giving the feeling that he doesn't get much company out here.

Luigi exchanged those same pleasantries. With no prompt from the younger man, E. Gadd started talking, making Luigi's guess that the professor doesn't get much company ring true.

" Why, these cozy quarters are where I do my ghost-studying. Professor E. Gadd's Ghost research laboratory! The Lab, if you're of shortening mind."

' Did he just call me stupid?' That's not exactly a good thing to imply, but Luigi let it slide. Their are more important things to discuss.

Luigi took a deep breath and told E. Gadd what he was doing here, and he was understandably confused.

" You won this mansion in a contest you didn't even enter? I've been living here since I was a lad of twenty or so, and I'll tell you; that mansion appeared just a few days ago!" E. Gadd exclaimed, and now Luigi was really confused. Although it did explain why Princess Peach didn't know of the mansion beforehand, it wasn't even here then!

But that just made even more questions.

Questions that need to be answered.

" I don't know if it's a dream, an illusion, or what-all, but I surely wouldn't be happy winning a haunted house!" said, which prompted Luigi to ask who would be happy to win a haunted house.

" I could just give them the mansion!" Luigi joked, making E. Gadd laugh.

" Now that I get a look at you, " E. Gadd started " I just recalled… A guy with a red hat kind of like yours went up to the mansion without even stopping to chat...and he never returned. Was he a dream, too?" E. Gadd said this with a hint of wonder in his voice while Luigi's heart turned to stone.

' Mario is in that haunted mansion...With those ghosts and more. I need to save him!' Luigi thought desperately, ' But how?'

If these ghosts were similar to the Boos the brothers have previously encountered, then defeating them would be a challenge; after all, you can't jump on a ghost, no matter how many times Mario will try. That is unless he had-

The star.

He had a star.

If Mario used the star, then he should be fine; but that still doesn't explain why he was not, say, outside of the mansion, or even back at the castle. He easily could have been overpowered before he had a chance to use it.

Which means that he is in trouble no matter what, but how was Luigi going to go about saving Mario?

Making his mind up, Luigi quickly told E. Gadd who that guy was.

" What? That guy was your brother? Oh no! That's horrible!" Even having just met Luigi, E. Gadd seemed genuinely upset at this news. " He wouldn't stand a chance against those ghosts without my help! You have to go after him!" E. Gadd exclaimed, turning away from Luigi to face one of the tables on his left.

" Here's the plan: I'll teach you how to deal with ghosts so you can rescue your brother, Luigi." E. Gadd faced Luigi once more, holding up the vacuum he had used mere minutes before.

' Is this thing really going to help?' Luigi speculated. ' Well it is the best chance I have.'

Luigi agreed to the plan and together they headed through one of the stone doors, which Luigi noticed was labeled ' Training Room'.

Upon stepping inside Luigi was greeted with an extremely barren room; the only sort of 'furniture' were six circular vents placed in a column pattern on the floor. The walls were still wooden and the floor was nothing more than dirt.

' How is this going to train me again?' Luigi thought he, well, thought this, but he actually said it aloud. Ops.

E. Gadd didn't seem deterred by Luigi's negativity, rather, he simply handed Luigi the vacuum and told him to put it on.

' Seems easy so far.' Indeed it was, the vacuum itself was painted red except for the hose and the leather straps on its back, similar to a normal backpack. The weight, on the other hand was considerable. How an old man like E. Gadd could walk around with this thing for that long Luigi had no idea.

Granted Luigi didn't know how long 'long' was but whatever.

The vacuum's hose was a white/silver color depending on the lighting; its nozzle was a thin rectangle shape that, when looked in, had a funnel like shape. It also had several buttons on it that Luigi could only guess were its controls.