Riding on the professor's poltergust, our five heroes sat waiting to reach their destination: Evershade Valley. A town entirely populated by spirits of the undead. Surprisingly, Luigi seemed the most excited on this trip as he had visited and even saved the town before.
Sonic: That's some story, Luigi. I gotta admit, you're a lot tougher than I gave you credit for.
Luigi stuck out his chest in pride as he relayed to Sonic and Shadow about the times he saved Mario from the evil King Boo and how he conquered his fear of ghosts.
Shadow: What I find most surprising is that the professor would call a coward like you to hunt ghosts.
Luigi grumbled at Shadow's jab.
Sonic: Come on, Shadow. Gotta give credit where credit is due.
Luigi: Mm-hmm!
Sonic: And besides, the only reason he called Luigi was because Mario got caught.
Luigi: D'oh!
Sonic: I'm just kidding ya, Luigi. So are we at this Evershade place yet?
Shadow: Considering that it is now nighttime at 1:30 in the afternoon, I'd say we're close.
Mario and Yoshi were sitting out in front, looking down for Evershade Valley.
Mario: Huh?
Sonic: What is it, Mario?
Mario pointed down and everyone looked at the ground under them. They saw a giant purple force field covering what looked like a large abandoned city.
Luigi: Woah!
Sonic: Is that Evershade Valley,Luigi?
Luigi nodded his head.
Sonic: By any chance, has that weird purple force field always been there?
Luigi shook his head this time.
Sonic: I didn't think so. Let's go down there and investigate.
The heroes descended and landed the poltergust just outside the force field. As soon as they did though, the Emerald Radar started ringing from Mario's pocket. Mario pulled it out and saw the smiling old face of Professor E. Gadd.
E. Gadd: Good day, boys. I just returned to my lab. How goes the Emerald Hunt?
Mario: The Emerald Radar led us to Evershade Valley but we seem to have hit a snag.
E. Gadd: Hmm? How so? The ghosts there are friendly again so there shouldn't be any proble-
Mario turned the Radar to show the Professor the force field and the professor went silent.
E. Gadd: Ah! I see. That definitely could be a problem.
Shadow: Out of my way, fools.
Shadow shoved Sonic and the others aside and approached the force field.
Sonic: Hey! What do you think you're-
Shadow: It's simple. All I need to do is use Chaos Control and I could just warp us into the city.
E. Gadd: I wouldn't recommend that, Shadow my boy. There's no telling where that force field came from, or what effect it might have on your Chaos Control powers. No, I wouldn't consider even touching the thing, let alone trying to get through it.
Shadow: Fine then. So what do you think we should do to get in?
E. Gadd: I have an idea that might work. But first, I need all of you to get to Luigi's house.
Luigi: Eh?
E. Gadd: All will be explained in due time, my lad. While you're there, would you mind grabbing the Poltergust 5000? I've finally created a safe storage space for King Boo.
Sonic: King Boo? Isn't that the guy you told us about, Luigi?
Luigi: Mm-hmm.
E. Gadd: Boos get stronger the more there are of them together. We couldn't run the risk of putting King Boo with them and becoming strong enough to break out. So we left him in the Poltergust 5000 and kept it as far away from the Vault as possible by letting Luigi keep it at his house. But now, I've invented a separate vault just for him, one where he can never escape from. I'll show it to you once you get to Evershade Valley.
Sonic: Got it, Professor. See ya soon.
Shadow: Let's go already! The sooner we get pass that force field, the sooner we can find that fifth Chaos Emerald!
Everyone hopped back on the Poltergust 6000 and flew to Luigi's house.
When the heroes were on their journey to Evershade Valley, they had no idea that they were being followed by the Wario Bros., who were tracking their every move thanks to the Emerald Radar Radar. And while the heroes were concerned about what effects the force field might have on them, the Wario Bros. did not. All that mattered to them was getting that Emerald and striking it rich.
But first they needed to get past that force field. Fortunately, Wario got an excellent idea. He grabbed Waluigi and stretched him out to a long pole-like shape. He then stuck his brother out in front of him and took a few steps back. Waluigi was confused, then when his brother started running towards the force field. Wario was going to use Waluigi as a battering ram to smash through the force field.
But as soon as Waluigi's face hit the force field, both Wario Bros. were zapped with about a thousand volts of electricity, followed by being blown up and sent flying just below the heroes' poltergust 6000, screaming all the way.
Sonic: Do you guys hear something?
Everyone else didn't seem to hear a thing.
Sonic: Must be my imagination then. So anyway, I didn't think you had your own house, Luigi. I just thought you stayed with your brother.
Luigi: I live with Mario because it's closer to the castle, in case something happens to the princess. I do visit occasionally so my polterpup doesn't get lonely.
Sonic: Polterpup? What's that?
Luigi: It's a ghost dog I adopted after I saved Evershade Valley. Before that he caused me a lot of trouble. Do you want me to tell you about it?
Sonic: I'm good. Is that it, Luigi?
Luigi looked down to where Sonic was pointing and nodded his head.
Sonic: Then down we go!
The poltergust landed and everyone hopped off and looked up at Luigi's house.
Sonic: Huh. It's a little smaller than what I thought.
Luigi's home turned out to be a simple one story building with a large window where you can see out through the attic. Aside from a little wear and tear on the outside walls, there wasn't really much to write home about it.
Luigi: Hmm?
Sonic: No offense, Luigi. But with all that cash you found laying around in your story, I'd have thought you'd sprung for something bigger. It's not bad, but compared to a mansion or something, I'd have to give it a D.
Luigi: Hmph!
Sonic: Hey, it could be worse. You could've been living inside a tent, for all I knew! Either way, do you mind leading us inside, Luigi?
Luigi: All right.
Luigi lead the boys into his house.
Luigi: You wait here while I go get the poltergust 5000 from the attic.
Sonic: Alright.
Luigi went upstairs to the attic. He start to wonder where his polterpup was. Normally, whenever Luigi came home it would jump up and lick his owner. But now it would appear that he wasn't even home. Where could he be?
Luigi made it to the attic and once he got there, he was met with a frightening sight. On one wall was the wardrobe where the poltergust 5000 was stored. And it was shaking. Luigi started shaking too and asked for his brother to come.
Luigi: Mariooooo...
Mario, Sonic and Yoshi went to the attic while Shadow stayed behind with the Poltergust 6000. The three of them checked to see what was wrong and saw the shaking cabinet too.
Sonic: That's not normal here, is it?
The other three shook his head.
Sonic: It can never be simple, can it? Alright, me and Mario will go check it out, you just stay here with Yoshi.
Luigi: Mm-hmm.
Sonic and Mario approached the wardrobe. Each of them grabbed a knob and pulled it open. There they saw the cause of the shaking. A scared polterpup with its ghostly tail between them. The polterpup tentatively looked behind and saw his master, Luigi. It leapt out of the wardrobe in excitement and pounced on Luigi, licking his face while the plumber just laughed.
Sonic: Is that the polterpup you were talking about? What was it doing in there?
Luigi: Idunno. Hmm? Waaaaahh!
Luigi's confusion turned into terror as he saw the poltergust 5000 inside the cabinet. It was destroyed and it's sole occupant was nowhere to be seen.
Back downstairs, the TV turned on by itself and Shadow got ready to throw a Chaos Spear if necessary. What appeared was the smiling face of Professor Gadd.
E. Gadd: Ah, Shadow my boy. I take it that you and the others have made it to Luigi's house?
At this point, Sonic and the others appeared downstairs.
Sonic: Hey there, Professor. Listen about the poltergust-
E. Gadd: I'm afraid it will have to wait, we have more pressing metters to attend to right now. Everyone hang on, you're about to be pixelated.
Luigi: Waaah!
Sonic: Pixelated? What does that m-
Before Sonic could finish his sentence, our heroes were transformed into pixels and sucked into the TV. When they reappeared in the real world, they were in the professor's bunker in Evershade Valley.
Sonic: EEAANN?!
The heroes fell on top of another in a big pile.
E. Gadd: Hello Boys! I trust you're trip had went well? Especially, considering that I've never used the pixelator on more than one subject at once.
Shadow: Where the hell are we, you crazy old man!
E. Gadd: Temper, Shadow. Welcome, boys, to my impenetrable bunker inside Evershade Valley.
Sonic: It,uh, doesn't look all that impenetrable, to be honest Professor.
Sonic was right. The interior of the bunker was a total mess. Machines were dented and caved in, fractured glass laid out in front of three large broken computer screens and a water cooler was tipped over and spilling water all over the floor.
E. Gadd: Well, it was impenetrable, but it would appear that someone penetrated it. But back to the more pressing matters, Luigi, where is the poltergust 5000?
Sonic: That's the thing Prof, when we found it, it was destroyed and King Boo escaped.
E. Gadd: Ah! That would explain a lot actually. See that device over there at the end of the room?
The heroes turned to where the professor was pointing and saw a small red and yellow device with a green screen and several buttons on it.
E. Gadd: I call that device "the Vault". It's used to store all sorts of things, most importantly ghosts.
The professor pulled out a remote with two buttons.
E. Gadd: This remote opens two of the Vault's sections. One's for the Ghost Container and the other is for the Boo Canister. Watch what happens when I press the button to release the Boos.
Luigi tried to stop him, but the professor pushed the button to release the Boos from the vault and nothing happened.
Sonic: Eh? Nothing's happening.
E. Gadd: Exactly. Whoever broke in here, released the Boos and destroyed the place from the inside. And after hearing your story, I have every reason to believe it was King Boo. Luckily, I kept an emergency pixelator hidden inside the Bunker just in case something like this may happen. I also kept my latest invention, the Poltergust 7000.
The professor handed the Poltergust 7000 to Luigi, who strapped it onto his back, no questions asked.
E. Gadd: The bad news however is that there's only enough juice left for one more pixelation, and with the monitor destroyed, I can't pinpoint the exact location of the Chaos Emerald.
Sonic: It should be fine though, right? We still got the Emerald Radar and the ghosts here should me more than willing to help us out.
E. Gadd: They would be if the Dark Moon hadn't disappeared again.
Luigi: WHAAAAT?!
E. Gadd: Yes, I'm afraid that around the same time King Boo released his servants and vandalized the Bunker, he has also destroyed and hidden the Dark Moon once again. So, it's more likely that the ghosts will be more of a hindrance than a help.
Sonic: Even so, I still have confidence we can find it before Mecha Sonic does. We don't have a choice.
E. Gadd: I agree. Still, finding the next Chaos Emerald might prove a very difficult task. Therefore, I propose sending Stuffwell to aid you in your mission.
Mario: You don't really need to do that, professor.
E. Gadd: No, no, I insist. He'll be invaluable in helping you find the Emeralds. I'll be teleporting him here right now. Would you boys mind stepping outside to wait for him? There isn't much fog, so you should be fine. Plus, it's getting rather cramped in here.
Our heroes stepped outside of the Bunker and waited for Stuffwell while Luigi kept an eye out for any ghosts that might approach them with the Poltergust 7000 strapped to his back.
High above the heroes' heads, a ball of light had formed and produced what appeared to be a suitcase. The suitcase fell to the ground at breakneck speeds, with only Luigi noticing and screaming as it headed straight for him.
The suitcase landed on Luigi, sending him straight into the ground. The suitcase then stood up and greeted Sonic, Mario, Shadow and Yoshi.
Stuffwell: Greetings, Master Mario. It has been a while. I trust you are in good health?
Mario: Mm-hmm.
Stuffwell: And you two must be Sonic and Shadow? I am Stuffwell. The professor has briefed me about your mission to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds and I will do everything in my power to assist you.
Sonic: Uh...Thanks, Stuffwell.
Sonic couldn't believe he was talking to a suitcase.
Stuffwell: Hmm...I was also told that Luigi would be with you as well, but I don't see him anywhere. Where could he be, I wonder?
Luigi popped out of the ground under Stuffwell and glared angrily at him.
Stuffwell: Oh, I did not see you there, Master Luigi. We really should stop meeting like this.
Luigi pulled out his hammer, ready to pummel Stuffwell. But before he could, Yoshi grabbed him with his tongue and pulled him into his mouth until he calmed down.
Mario: How are you going to help us, exactly?
Stuffwell: Surely by now, you should now that I am equippified with state-of-the-art navigational technology. I do not doubt your own abilities, but I am sure I can help you locate the Emerald in a shorter amount of time. May I examine the Emerald Radar for a moment?
Mario pulled out the Emerald Radar and showed it to Stuffwell.
Stuffwell: Ah hah! These readings indicate that the Emerald is currently residing inside the Treacherous Mansion. Fortunately, I possess a detailed map of the mansion, so it should not take very long to find it.
Sonic: So, all we really need to do is head on over to the mansion and start searching, right?
Stuffwell: Correct, although it is inadvisable to haphazardly rush towards the Treacherous Mansion. Not only are the ghosts more hostile now that the Dark Moon is missing, but the mansion itself sits right in the middle of a large ravine completely cut off from land. I propose that the most efficient way to the mansion is to have the Professor pixelate us there.
A hologram projection of the Professor appeared right above Stuffwell.
E. Gadd: I couldn't agree more, Stuffwell. I've already programmed the coordinates into the pixelator just outside the Bunker. You'll be just outside the mansion's door lickety-split!
Sonic: Wait, are you sure there's not a-
Again, Sonic was cut off when the red camera just outside the Bunker turned him and the others into blocks and sucked them in. They were spat out and reformed by another camera that was positioned by the front door into the Treacherous Mansion. All the heroes landed on a pile together once more, while Stuffwell landed right in front of them.
During the fall, Yoshi accidentally swallowed Luigi.
Shadow: The next time that quack professor pixelates us, I'll kill him!
Everyone got off of each other and Yoshi tried to squeeze Luigi out of him. Eventually, he managed to produce a large egg that hatched and revealed a dazed and saliva covered Luigi inside.
Luigi: Mamma Mia...
Stuffwell: Welcome, everyone, to the Treacherous Mansion.
Sonic and the others took a look around the exterior of the mansion.
Sonic: Yikes! You weren't kidding about this place being cut off from land. I have no idea how anyone would even get here.
Shadow: Right now, all that matters is finding that Chaos Emerald and getting out of here!
Stuffwell: I concur. With the ghosts back to being mischievous and hostile, there's no telling what may happen inside the mansion. Let us enter and proceed with the utmost caution. BACK TO ADVENTURE!
Yoshi picked up Luigi and put him on his back, then our heroes opened the door and took their first step inside the Treacherous Mansion.
Again, no fight scene, but this chapter has been going on for long enough already. Tomorrow, there may be some action but I'm still working out the kinks of where this episode's going. Tell me what you think, I gleefully await feedback.