Chapter 1- Back to the Mansion
Luigi ventures back to Boo Woods, more specifically to E. Gadd's laboratory. His trek is the result of receiving an urgent message from the short professor about the return of Luigi's nemesis, King Boo. The thought of King Boo makes a shiver go down Luigi's spine, but if the pesky phantom is up to his old tricks he knows he has to stop him; he is too dangerous to let run loose. After what seems like an eternity, the green clad plumber finds the tiny wooden shack, which reminds him of an old day outhouse, which camouflages the manhole leading down to the professor's lab. Luigi knocks loudly on the door, "Gadd? Gadd are you there?" A moment later, he hears a hiss and a squeak; the lid of the manhole opening, then the wooden door opens with the elderly professor looking up at him.
"Ah Luigi my boy, glad to see you," E. Gadd greets.
"Good to see you too Professor, wish it was under better circumstances though," Luigi replies.
"Ah I see you got my message then," the professor notes as he ushers Luigi inside the shack then into the manhole. "Just in time my boy, the sun sets in about an hour; that should be enough time to brief you and maybe get some practice in before you go." The little man with coke bottle glasses leads the green clad plumber to the 'command center'.
In the front of the room numerous television screens which make up a larger, slightly curved screen that wraps around a single barstool. On the opposite side, a large steel table stands in front of a wall of shelves, holding various ingredients, liquids, and instruments need by the good professor. Along the wall next to the door that the pair just entered through, is a door and a couple of machines that Gadd uses; what their functions are the plumber is unsure. Finally, on the opposite side of the room there are two doors.
"Wow Professor, it looks like you upgraded a bit," Luigi observes.
"Yes I did," Gadd confirms. "Got more space for all my work and some new gadgets to play with," the man in lab coat grins, like a boy on Christmas morning. "One of which is important to us tonight," Gadd informs as he leads Luigi over to the far corner of the room where a pipe sprouts out of the ground. "I am sure you are familiar with these my boy. King Boo's new mansion is deep, deep, I mean center of the Earth here, deep in the heart of the Forever Forest, so I took it upon myself to take its coordinates and have a pipe installed by a feller named uh, oh shoot I don't remember, but anyways its not important. This pipe means that all you have to do to get to and fro from the mansion is drop down the pipe."
"Well that should make things easier," the plumber notes. "I guess."
"Don't get cold feet on me now lad, you're the only one I can trust with the Poltergust 5000!" The short elderly man scuttle over to a cabinet an pulls out the red vacuum-like, ghost capturing device and drags it over to the plumber.
"5000? What happened to the 3000," Luigi asks confused. "It looks the same," he notes as he slings it onto his back.
"I have made it more powerful and more technologically advanced, along with your flashlight," E. Gadd informs as he hands the plumber a simple looking, silver flashlight, with two buttons. "It now has a strobe feature!"
"Gadd, I'm not going to a disco; why would I need that," the younger Mario Brother asks doubtingly.
"Disco? My boy there is no need to be contemptuous! It has a practical purpose," the professor defends. "Step over here to the and look at what I have found," the short man leads Luigi over to the wall of monitors and brings up video clips of ghosts. "The ghosts in this new mansion are stronger. A couple of them came around me when I went to investigate the house and I was able to scare most of them away with the flashlight; however, there are quite a few stubborn little nippers that were not affected at all. I was able to run outside and some lightning had flashed brilliantly in the yard; scared the living daylights out of me, but not as much as those phantoms were. As soon as it struck, they high-tailed it back inside, hence the new flashlight feature and many others to the Poltergust. I figure that you are going to need all these modifications; King Boo is out for vengeance my boy, so there is no doubt he brought his best apparitions or shall we say, 'A' game," Gadd jokes.
"Yeah funny," Luigi mummers, as he fears the journey ahead.
"Oui, it is a joke lad, lighten up! You have beaten him before; you surely can do it again," Gadd encourages.
"I know, I just I don't know. I feel like this might be a little out of my league, just nerves I guess. Mario is better at this than I am," the younger Mario Brother wavers.
"I told you that King Boo wants you! You foiled his plot last time, not your brother," the little man reminds.
"I know that. I am just saying that he is better at this sort of thing. Besides, I'm sure that King Boo would love another crack at Mario. I mean he has foiled his plots before too…"
"Your brother is impatient and headstrong as was shown last time," Gadd scolds. "He just charges in and disregards any warnings! There is a difference between courage and bravery. Courage is having the guts to face the unknown and tackle it by leaning about it; bravery is having guts to face danger, but stupidly running in without thinking. Your brother is the latter; running in and not listening to me," the little elderly man grumbles.
"You can always trust Mario with this sort of job," Luigi defends. "Sure sometimes his tactics are a little rash, but they usually work. He's not the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom for nothing you know."
"Well I prefer cautious and calculation over brash and bold for this sort of thing," Gadd firmly states.
"I would have to agree with you there," the young plumber agrees.
"So does that mean you are ready to take a whirl in my improved practice room, my boy," the elderly professor asks optimistically.
"Sure just so I can get back into the groove of things again," the green clad plumber agrees then steps through the door closest to the pipe.
The practice room has changed significantly since Luigi was here last. Instead of the barren dirt floor with six portals sticking out of the ground, now the floor is tile and there are portals on all sides of the room. Professor E. Gadd also has installed a holographic environment simulator, so that the plumber can be challenged in various rooms with different obstacles. The types of ghosts vary now too, which allows Luigi a better practice session.
After a half hour of practice, Luigi comes out of the practice room feeling more confident than ever. I forgot how irritating those green and blue ghosts can be to catch, but no big deal, the plumber thinks as he steps up to the professor.
"Looks like you're not too rusty," E. Gadd observes.
"Nah, its like riding a bicycle; don't really forget how to do it," Luigi notes.
"Well that's good lad because I figure you'll need to be on your toes," the short elderly man notes as he heads back to his tall chair in front of his wall of monitors. "Wait before you go, don't forget to take this with you," the professor hands the plumber a small dual screened device.
"What's this?"
"The Dual Scream," Gadd replies; "I upgraded the GameBoy Horror as well."
"Ah," Luigi acknowledges.
"Well my boy, are you ready to face the new mansion?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Luigi replies hesitantly.
"Good, just hop into the pipe over there to get started," E. Gadd informs as he motions to the pipe. The professor watches as the plumber takes a deep breath then enters the pipe and disappears. "Good luck my boy, may the heavens watch over you."
The pipe leads him to the heart of the Forever Forest, a perpetually dark forest where the trees creak and the wind carries voices throughout the land. The howling chill of the wind causes a shiver to creep up Luigi's spine. Why can't these mansions ever be in a nice open field with the sun shining overhead, the younger Mario Brother ponders as he jumps off the pipe and onto the small dirt path worn into the forest floor.
He only has to walk about fifty yards down the path to find the black, wrought iron front gate of the mansion. Behind the fence, the mansion looms. It looks similar to the first mansion, as it is made with the dark gray wood and has the dark green shutters and roof, but this mansion is much larger with a Victorian style of architecture. Great, it's going to take a lot longer than the other one, Luigi predicts with a sigh. "Well here we go," the plumber notes trying to get himself started. The gate opens with a long, slow squeak like a groan of pain. He tries to quell the quaking of his legs as he walks up the dirt path through the front yard to the door. He stops at the door, takes out his flashlight and turns it on before hesitantly reaching for the doorknob. His hand clasps the handle and pulls, but the door does not budge. "Huh?" He pulls on the door again and it does not move. "What the?" Luigi puts his flashlight away and pulls with both hands on the door with no success. Suddenly King Boo's cheeky chuckling fills Luigi's ears and the plumber falls back in surprise.
"You didn't think I would make it that easy did you," the manifested monarch quips. "Last time it was too easy for you, this time you are going to have to work for it!" After a couple seconds of snide chuckling, King Boo's voice fades away and Luigi relaxes as he feels the phantom's presence disappear.
"This is going to be a long night," Luigi sighs as he gets back up onto his feet and dusts himself off. The Dual Scream vibrates in his pocket and he pulls it out to answer.
"Are you okay lad," E. Gadd asks concerned.
"Yeah I'm okay," the younger Mario Brother replies; "but it looks like King Boo is set on making this a fun night."
"I noticed," the ghost specialist informs. "How are you going to get in?"
"I guess I'm going to have to find an open window or a key," the green clad plumber muses.
"Okay well good luck and be careful," the professor advises.
"I will, talk to you later," Luigi replies then ends the call and heads back down the steps to take a look at the front of the mansion. Well no windows are open in the front, maybe on the side? The plumber investigates the west side, but finds himself blocked by a thick row of hedges and another fence halfway to the back. Stumped, he heads to the east side and finds another building alongside the mansion. "Hmm, now that's interesting; I wonder what's in there." The younger Mario Brother walks further to the east and finds a small window cracked open. "Ah ha!" He jumps and grabs the window ledge then tries to squeeze through the opening, but ends up getting stuck as the red machine on his back knocks up against the window frame. "Oh man," he groans as he shimmies back out of the opening and dangles from the window ledge with one hand. This is not going to be easy, he thinks as he attempts to remove the Poltergust 5000 from his back while keeping a hold of the ledge. Almost got it, then the machine falls to the ground below. "Dang it," Luigi curses and drops down, landing next to the machine. How am I going to get it in there? Maybe…. A smirk grows on his face as he picks up the machine and jump again; this time instead of grabbing the ledge he throws the machine through the window. The Poltergust lands with a loud clatter on the other side. "Playing all that basketball with Mario finally pays off," he grins then he launches himself back up and through the window. He lands harshly inside the building, face first with a whine of pain. Guess I need to work on my landing, Luigi groans as he gets to his feet. Suddenly the Dual Scream alarms once again, E. Gadd is calling. "Hello?"
"What in Sam Hills are you doing lad," the professor exclaims vexed.
"What do you mean?"
"I just received two crash alarms from the Poltergust 5000," Gadd informs.
"It gives you alarms about its condition? Wow, I didn't think it was that technologically advanced," Luigi notes.
"Yes it is and it does, so be careful with it! It is a delicate and important piece of equipment!"
"Sorry," Luigi apologizes as he rubs the back of his head guiltily.
"It's okay. Good luck," the professor says once more before cutting off transmission.
"Oops," Luigi states sheepishly then picks up the Poltergust 5000, straps it to his back, and pulls out his flashlight. "Lets see what's going on here," he scans the room with the small circle of light to find tool hanging on the wall and an old vehicle parked in the middle of the room. It's a garage! Suddenly he hears a semi-silent, hungry chortle, a familiar sound; quickly he turns off his flashlight and waits. The snickering grows louder and the air becomes colder. As soon as he can feel the phantom right behind him, he whips around and turns of his flashlight. The light paralyzes the orange ghost as it shines upon its heart and Luigi pulls out the hose to the Poltergust and sucks the phantom inside. "Phew, like I said its like riding a bike," the plumber states to no one. He looks around the garage with aid of the flashlight to find an old work bench, some gardening tools leaning against a wall, and a turned over wheelbarrow. Then he turns his attention to the old car he spotted earlier and identifies it as a Ford Model T. "Whoa, this is amazing," Luigi exclaims as he circles the car. It is great condition, a little dusty, but still looks fantastic. It reminds him of the Daytripper kart that Peach and Daisy drive during the Mario Kart races, but this one has a top and is dark green. Just how I like it, the younger Mario Brother grins as he mentally drools over the car. "Hmm, I wonder…" he steps up to the driver's door and pulls on the hand; the door pops open. "Sweet!" He slides into the driver's seat and shuts the door behind him. Using his flashlight, he examines the dashboard and notices that the keys are still in the steering column. Curiosity gets the best of him and he turns the key; the engine rumbles, but nothing spews to life. "Well that's not surprising," Luigi notes aloud. "I mean this thing has probably been sitting here since the beginning of the last century." He continues to look around, focusing his gaze on the confusing gearshift configuration when suddenly a female voice interrupts his investigation.
"Off to the mansion James, we must not keep Edward waiting," the woman commands.
Luigi turns pale as he jumps in his seat, startled. Cautiously, he glances at the rear view mirror to see who is in the car with him. His eyes widen as he realizes it's a ghost, not a minion of King Boo, but an actual ghost like Melody and Neville from the previous mansion. She has dark auburn hair pulled up into a French braid; her hat sits upon her lap, which is the same color as her short trench coat, ivory. She looks to be around twenty-five to thirty; that is all Luigi can tell. "Ma'am I'm not James," he stammers, watching the mirror.
"Of course you are silly man, stop teasing me," the woman replies. "We must hurry, you know how Edward will get," the phantom continues; "Amelia where have you been? It is quarter past noon, you are late for lunch with father and I," she continues oblivious to what Luigi said.
"Okay…" the plumber replies, confused. He grabs his flashlight then quickly turns around and shines it upon the ghost to reveal its heart, but the flashlight has no effect. "What the?" Luigi's mouth drops in shock then the quickly turns back around in his seat. What kind of ghost doesn't have a heart to focus on and capture?
Suddenly Amelia sneezes violently, setting Luigi more on edge. "James could you hand me a handkerchief from the glove compartment," she asks sweetly.
Luigi warily complies, slowly reaching over and unhinging the door. He is surprised when he opens the glove box to find, not a handkerchief, but a key. Uh interesting, he turns back to Amelia, but she is gone and the lights in the garage flicker on. "This is definitely going to be an odd, long night," he observes as he grabs the key and steps out of the car.
After leaving the garage, Luigi heads back to the front door. To his relief, the key fits the lock of the door and he able to step inside. The door leads to the foyer which looks very similar to the one in the previous mansion, but larger. There are two staircases on either side of the room, which leads up to the second floor. Luigi notices something odd about the banister on the left side, like something is perched upon it. He shines his flashlight on the edge of the banister and the color in his face drains. His hand shakes as he picks up the unmistakable red cap belonging to his brother. Lighting flashes and thunder cracks causing the younger Mario Brother to jump back, which causes him to notice another message written for him on the wall above the right staircase. The message reads, "I have somebody you care for. Come and get them if you can!" Bold, dripping red letters comprise the message and the scent of iron is strong in the air, no doubly written with blood.
Luigi gulps then looks back down at Mario's cap. "Mario," he cries out with a quiver in his voice. "Mario?" Without further delay, Luigi starts searching the foyer high and low for a clue or a key, eager to head deeper into the mansion and find his brother. He scours the room; looking under and in small tables by the door and underneath the banner, vacuums the light fixtures, looks in the coat closet next to the front door, then he turns his attention to the floor rug. Hastily he grabs one end and throws it to the side, revealing a trap door in the middle of the floor. "Getting sneaky on me King Boo, but not sneaky enough," Luigi proclaims proudly as he opens the door. As soon as the seal is broken, Boos and rats come spewing out of the opening like water out of a geyser. "Aaaah," Luigi screams in surprise and disgust as the rats crawl all over his shoes. He frantically kicks them off and away until all the creatures have disappeared. "Tricky son of a," Luigi sighs. "I can't believe I fell for that trick again," he groans as he buries his face in his hand remembering the switch behind the poster in the previous mansion having the same effect. Hanging his head in shame, he removes his hands to see a rat still at his feet. He sharply inhales as panic starts to return then he holds back as he notices this rat is different from the others. He swoops down and picks the rodent up; it's an albino and its not feral like the swarm was. "Hi little guy," the younger Mario Brother greets as he pets the rat on the head with two fingers. "Aw you're cute…huh?" He stops in mid-sentence as he notices what looks like a key floating inside the rodent. The rat squeaks happily fades away from existence, leaving a key in Luigi's hand. "Ghost rats? Now this is just getting ridiculous." He shakes his head and takes the key upstairs; he gulps as he passes under the blood note on the wall. He tries the key in the door and fortunately it works, giving him access.
The second story door leads him to the common hall; nothing too special, just a hallway with doors off to each side and a t-intersection at the end of it. He systematically checks each door, seeing which one would open. He finds one unlocked on the left side just before the intersection, it's the bathroom. Well makes sense, if there is one room to keep unlocked, he muses closing the door behind him. After the door closes, a shiver runs down his spine as the room temperature drops. In the dusty vanity mirrors he can see a puff of smoke form and dissipate, leaving behind a white, long armed, lanky ghost.
"I will strangle the life out of you and enjoy consuming it as you weep!" The ghost strikes fast, clamping its hands around Luigi's neck.
The phantom's fingers fell like icicles digging into the younger Mario Brother's skin. The sudden cold steals the air from his lungs causing him to gasp and panic. He starts to shake furiously, desperate to get the specter off of him. Finally he is able to escape the ghoul's grasp and shine the flashlight upon it causing it to become paralyzed. With the Poltergust, he captures and contains the nasty apparition inside. "Phew," Luigi exclaims as he catches his breath. "Is it me or are they much more sinister and hungrier than in the last mansion?" The plumber sits down on the toilet seat to take a break. He leans back and hears the handle jiggle then creak as it pushes down, flushing. The plumber raises an eyebrow confused then suddenly he feels himself getting sucked down into the toilet. "Ahh!" He attempts to push himself off by pushing on the rim, but the force is too strong and he is sucked in. The other side of the toilet is surprising as it is a different room, but very similar to the bathroom he was in; it appears to just be a mirror's reflection of it. "That was different," the plumber observes as he stands. He shines his flashlight to find nothing except the vanity mirror. He gazes into it seeing his reflection, but he soon notices it changing; slowly it fades from his normal, healthy, happy face to a zombie version with grey, scarred skin and his cheek and ear dangling off; holding on only by a thin strip of flesh. Luigi jumps back in fright and with a chortle, five boos fly out from within the vanity. The green clad Mario Brother struggles to suck up the slippery boos in the Poltergust 5000, but after he does another key drops to the floor. "I understand this is revenge, but do we have to try to give me a heart attack?" Luigi sits on the toilet once more and is transported back to the original bathroom.