Fred walked into the lounge and spotted Luigi on the couch, cracking open a fresh bottle of wine. A cold compress rested in his lap, and some bandages, disinfectant and ointment sat on a table nearby. The Toad Assistant felt a small pang in his heart. This man in green had taken a thrashing from these ghosts, all to protect him and the professor, and he probably wanted to be anywhere but here. Yet here he stayed. He was just that committed to aiding his friends and proving himself as a hero in his own right.
"Hey, Luigi?" Fred spoke up. "The Professor and I got the key all fixed up for you."
Luigi set down the wine bottle and turned toward Fred. "Great," he said. "Thanks."
"By the way," said Fred. "Thank you—for saving my life and defending me from the Three Sisters."
"You're welcome," beamed Luigi.
"Will you be okay?"
Luigi nodded. "I'll do my best. But I appreciate the concern."
He stood, put the bandages and ointment back into the first-aid kit and followed Fred out of the lounge.
Gadd was waiting for them, wearing a huge smile. "Luigi, it's time to open that creepy door and see what's behind it!" he announced. "Aren't you excited?"
"Do I have to answer?" sighed Luigi.
Gadd just chuckled. "Thanks to my recent analysis of the Dark Moon pieces, the Parascope has become more accurate!"
"Did you find out where it's located?"
"Indeed. It's in the treehouse at the very top of the big tree!"
Luigi bit his lip. "I knew it."
Gadd marked the location on the Dual Scream before handing Luigi the cleaned and newly-repaired special key.
"It wasn't tough to fix," he said as Luigi pocketed it. "The damage was minor, just like I thought."
"Good to know."
"Use the key to open that door, get to the treehouse and find that Dark Moon piece," said Gadd.
"I won't let you down," said Luigi.
"I know you won't," said Gadd. "Oh, and Luigi…"
"Yes?"
"The Parascope picked up some—troubling signals inside the treehouse. Powerful signals."
"Why am I not surprised?" asked Luigi. "They must be coming from whoever's guarding the Dark Moon piece."
Gadd bit his lip. "Be careful up there, youngster," he entreated.
"I'll do my best," said Luigi.
"We're rooting for you!" Fred piped up.
Luigi squared his shoulders and braced himself as Gadd activated the Pixelator.
…
This time, Luigi was pixelated to the Hollow Tree, right in front of the door. He inhaled the scent of wood, moss, soil and bark as he crept to the door, fished out the special key and turned it in the lock. The door's creepy "jaws" opened, and Luigi cautiously stepped through—only to come to a halt when he saw the rows upon rows of stairs before him.
"You've got to be s—ing me," he muttered.
A white ghost popped out in front of him, eliciting a yelp. This ghost had two horns and a purple hue near their chest—surely, it was the Dark Moon piece! In fact, the ghost looked similar to the grouchy Possessor he'd confronted in the Gloomy Manor's cellar!
The ghost laughed at Luigi before floating to the top of the staircase. It was an eerie-looking staircase, indeed, almost completely darkened save for the torches burning with a blue flame. This staircase was arranged in sets of three, which probably meant that only one set of stairs would enable him to proceed.
Luigi's suspicions were confirmed as soon as he was halfway up one of the sets. All of the torches went out, and the stairs dropped out from under him, sending him sliding back down as a Greenie laughed at him. He picked himself up, captured the Greenie and tried again. Luckily, he picked the correct set this time around, the torches reverting to their red-orange flame when he passed.
It was an arduous, frustrating climb up that eerie staircase, since he had no way of knowing which of the sets of stairs were fake and which one was real. If he slipped up, then the torches on the correct stair sets would be temporarily unlit, but this reprieve only lasted a sorry few seconds. To make things worse, there were no checkpoints. One misstep, and he'd be unceremoniously dumped all the way to the bottom with some ghost to fight, with said ghost laughing at and taunting him. Not all of them were Greenies—he wound up battling a few Sneakers and Slammers, as well, even the occasional Creeper.
Why does this [bleep] always happen to me?! He thought.
How long did it take to ascend the eerie staircase? Five minutes? Ten? Twenty-five? An hour? The only sounds filling the air were those of laughing ghosts, the Strobulb, the whirring vacuum and his flurry of swearing each time he wound up on a false set of stairs. So many stairs. So. Many. F—ing. Stairs. What moron designed this staircase, anyway?! The only thing keeping him from going insane was the music softly playing on his phone, which luckily didn't tumble out of his pocket each time he was sent sliding back to square one.
Mercifully, Luigi finally reached the top of the stairs, sweaty, covered in rub burns and splinters, bruised from the ghosts' punches and royally p—ed off. He tugged on a plant-like cord until a door crumbled and then stomped up the flight of (regular) stairs toward the treehouse.
When he finally reached his destination, Luigi wiped his brow and caught his breath. The Dark Moon piece was nowhere in sight, but maybe it was inside the small treehouse across from him. He started to ascend the small flight of stairs into the treehouse—
…only for said stairs to buck him off like a bronco, sending him reeling to the floor!
The staircase then came to life, blue flames licking along its top half, bounding towards Luigi and roaring in his face. He scrambled to safety as the suddenly sentient staircase snapped its "jaws" at him—and then it gave pursuit.
How is this staircase alive?!
For the time being, however, Luigi was focused on staying alive as the staircase pounced after him, repeatedly trying to catch him in its "jaws". Then, it leaped high into the air and slammed down hard. The blue flames went out, and Luigi saw a red, tassel like cord, almost like the staircase's tongue.
Quickly, Luigi ran over and yanked on the cord, causing the horned ghost he saw earlier to topple out. Just as he'd suspected, it was another Possessor—and a harsh one, too.
The harsh Possessor generated a force field and barreled at Luigi, who simply evaded their attacks until they grew exhausted and dropped their shield. Instantly, Luigi stunned them and vacuumed up their first coat. Hastily, the Possessor retreated into the staircase, which roared at Luigi a second time before shooting blue fire at him from its "eyes".
Okay. I'll just have to wait for that "tongue" to reappear.
The entire cycle repeated twice more. Dodging the monstrous staircase as it snapped at him and tried to pounce on him. Pulling on the tassel to jar the Possessor from the staircase. Trying to prevent the Possessor from ramming him—and then going on the attack once they grew tired. Despite the creepiness factor, this fight was shaping up to be easier than the preceding nonsense with the eerie staircase.
Finally, the possessed staircase leaped into the sky one last time before crashing down hard enough to briefly knock Luigi off his feet. Breathing hard, he pushed himself back up and yanked on the red tassel, forcing out the harsh Possessor. They managed to deal a few glancing blows to him before he flashed his Strobulb and let the vacuum rip, finally sucking that Possessor inside.
The Poltergust's nozzle shuddered, and the Dark Moon piece was violently expelled from the vacuum. Luigi was knocked toward the edge of the treetop, landing on his bottom. He remained there for about a minute, composing himself, before getting up and heaving the Possessor-free staircase back toward the treehouse.
Luigi scooped up the Dark Moon piece and held it up in triumph. "Yeah!" he exclaimed.
The Dual Scream rang.
"Yello?"
"Luigi! Are you okay?!" asked Gadd.
"Yeah—I'm fine," said Luigi, still winded from the fight.
"Who would've thought? Another Possessor guarding the Dark Moon piece!"
"This one was pretty harsh," said Luigi, "but I figured out their attack pattern and beat them."
"I'll say—you really took care of business! Nice work, Luigi."
"Thanks," said Luigi.
"I'm sure the view from up there is nice, but we've still got work to do," said Gadd. "I'm bringing you back. Hold on to your overalls!"
"Ciao."
Luigi hung up and launched into another victory dance, stopping when he noticed a spiky fruit stuck to his backside. Taking great care, he managed to pull it off and kick it away.
"Oh, how I've missed this," he said.
…
"Welcome back, Luigi," said Gadd.
"Hi, Professor. Hi, Fred." Luigi wrinkled his nose, catching the faint aroma of buttered popcorn.
Gadd looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry about that," he said. "Your battle with that Possessor was so thrilling, I just had to have some!"
"Hm. Good to know you found that entertaining," said Luigi.
He crossed the room and emptied the Poltergust, sending the harsh Possessor to the Vault.
"I don't think it's a coincidence that both of the Possessors we've seen had Dark Moon pieces in them," said Gadd. "Speaking of which, let's get our new Dark Moon piece all cleaned up, shall we?"
Luigi fished the Dark Moon piece out of his pocket and placed it on the turntable-like contraption, watching as it was wiped spotless.
"More of the fog has cleared," Fred reported. "We're making progress!"
Gadd lowered the fourth monitor, where a projection of the clockworks factory appeared.
"Looks like I have another area to explore," Luigi crisply stated.
"No doubt it's full of pesky ghosts," Gadd put in, "but before we check out Old Clockworks, how about you rest from that fight with the Possessor?"
"I was just thinking that," said Luigi, heading toward the lounge.
He needed to check for news on Mario, anyway.
Please R&R.