Moments later, Luigi strode out of the lounge, looking stressed. There were some disturbing new developments regarding what might have happened with Mario. The responding officers had obtained permission to enter Mario's home and found signs of a struggle. Whoever attacked him had no doubt gained his trust beforehand. But who in the MK would want to hurt their main protector? And what if the perp wasn't a resident of the MK—what if they were a malicious person in disguise?
These questions and more whirled in Luigi's mind as he approached Gadd. The professor turned and saw his mentee's pale and sweaty face.
"Is something the matter?" he asked with concern.
"I just—I just need something to do right now," said Luigi.
"Is it Mario-related?"
"They found signs of a struggle at his place," Luigi explained. "They're trying to figure out the who and the what. Professor—I'm worried about Mario. By the time they piece together what happened, it could be too late."
Gadd laid a hand on Luigi's shoulder. "Maybe not," he said. "Mario could be fighting for a way out of that situation as we speak. And maybe the authorities can crack the case in time."
"Hope so," said Luigi, "but part of me thinks he's in really bad trouble. I can barely sit still in the lounge because of the thought." He cleared his throat. "Have you found the Poltergeist that took the clock hands yet?"
"I did, thanks to the Parascope," replied Gadd. "The Poltergeist's signal is different than other ghosts. I suspect that we may be dealing with—an Ancient Poltergeist!"
"An Ancient Poltergeist," repeated Luigi. "Are they stronger than regular Poltergeists?"
"And how," chuckled Gadd. "This is some next-level [bleep], Luigi. Capturing an ancient ghost would make for groundbreaking research."
His fingers flew across his keyboard. "Okay—they seem to have settled in the roundhouse," he said as Luigi checked the map on the Dual Scream. "Be very careful in there. Ghosts tend to gain power over time, and this Poltergeist seems to be absolutely ancient."
Luigi bit his lip. "I could use the challenge right about now," he said.
"I guess you could say—he has a lot of time on his hands!" quipped Gadd, eliciting a brief laugh from the man in green.
"Right—because he has the clock hands," said Luigi. "Interesting joke, Professor. But levity is definitely needed in a tense situation, so—thanks."
"You're welcome," said Gadd before activating the Pixelator.
…
This time, the Pixelator deposited Luigi in the warehouse, and for the second time, he managed to land on his feet. He was getting used to this! However, he gave himself a limited amount of time to dwell on that thought. The sooner he reached the roundhouse, the sooner he could claim the clock hands and the sooner he could nab the next Dark Moon piece. Then, he could investigate what happened to Mario.
One end of the warehouse was covered in spiderwebs, and there were no web balls in sight. Nor was there a source of flame. Luigi's eye fell on a couple of Robombs, and he was struck with an idea. After activating them, he led them over to the webbing, which the resulting detonations burned away. Clearing the spiderwebs revealed a safe which contained golden spiders, which disappeared into gold bars when flashed with the Strobulb. There were also more of those ribbons, which Luigi unraveled to earn more treasure. Finally, he boarded the lift which took him to the second floor of the warehouse.
There was a door blocked by debris, and a Robomb next to it. Detonating the Robomb took care of the debris, but then Luigi noticed that a toolbox was moving. Curious, he chased the toolbox until it was stopped by a pile of crates, and when he opened it, a Gold Greenie surprised him. After a brief battle, Luigi vacuumed up the Gold Greenie, collected more treasure and snagged yet another ribbon, which he unraveled downstairs, yielding some coins and dollar bills. Then, he proceeded back upstairs and into the clockmaker's chambers.
A fan-like contraption was on the floor, concealed by a rug, and someone was fast asleep in the bed. Beside the bed was an alarm clock set to go off at 9:00.
Luigi quickly discovered that the fan controlled the LED clock next to the alarm, using his vacuum to spin the fan until the clock read 9:00. The alarm trilled, and a Greenie wearing a wooden bucket on their head bolted upright, flying smack into the door.
When the bucket fell away, Luigi lined up his Strobulb with the Greenie and then unleashed the flash, capturing them in under a minute. Searching the clockmaker's chambers uncovered another golden bone and a ruby. Once all of the treasure had been collected, Luigi pushed through the door and into the upper level of the roundhouse.
Below him, he saw the Ancient Poltergeist, holding one of the clock hands as he telekinetically levitated a pile of bricks into the air. Luigi stared at them until he heard the Dual Scream ring.
"Yello?"
"There they are, Luigi!" Gadd said excitedly. "But—you'll need to reach the other side of the room to get down there. I know—you can use those beams to get across!"
"I think I got that figured out, Professor," said Luigi, apprehensively eyeing the aforementioned beams.
"Hope you're not afraid of heights, youngster," said Gadd.
"Well—not as I used to be," said Luigi. "Ciao."
He hung up, took a deep breath, stepped onto the narrow beam before him and began shuffling across.
It was a harrowing trip. Metal fixtures provided some worrisome obstacles, requiring Luigi to hop from beam to beam. It was—just as fun as it sounded. Luigi's heart drummed and thrummed as he thought about the tightrope acts he saw in the circus—or the gymnasts doing all sorts of stunts on the balance beam and trying to win medals for it. Yeesh. That definitely wasn't him.
His legs were like cooked noodles by the time he made it across. Luigi rested for a minute or so before inching across a third beam to pick up some gold bars and a star-shaped ruby. One last treacherous beam-crossing later, he reached the door on the other side of the roundhouse, which shut in his face, startling him. However, he was able to walk through the door without incident, subverting his expectations.
As he started down the transportation hall, he yelped when he saw a Boo at the other end, affixing a portrait to the wall. Then, the Boo turned, looked him square in the face and laughed that high-pitched, creepy laugh before lazily floating off.
"J—s," breathed Luigi, wiping his brow.
He was puzzled and perplexed to discover that the transportation hall's floor acted like a treadmill. In order to get across, he'd have to go through the various doors scattered on each side. Luigi decided to start with the door to the finishing room.
Inside the finishing room, Luigi yanked away a sheet to reveal another strange portal which sucked him into a maze with red coins, which he had to collect in 15 seconds or less. He reached the end of the maze just as time was running out and was rewarded with a treasure chest containing several gold bars.
"Oh, yeah!" he cheered before he was transported back to the finishing room.
There, some Greenies in welding masks confronted him, leading to yet another ghostly fray. Luigi easily vacuumed them up and then continued into a container yard.
A large crate in front of him shuddered, and then burst open in a shower of splinters to reveal a Slammer. After this Slammer came another Slammer, and after Luigi defeated them, he saw a machine which dispensed Robombs with a tug of a chain. Using this machine, Luigi lowered a drawbridge to reach the other side of the room, and then detonated the Robombs to release the extra weight and create another bridge to the exit.
From there, Luigi accessed a kiln room, which was clouded with steam. There were two wheels in this room, one hidden by Spirit Balls, and blowing on them disabled the air flow. Then, he could simply vacuum up the steam, allowing him to flash the Strobulb at a green panel, which opened up a secret passageway. Before he could do anything else, two Greenies surprised him, followed by the Boo!
"Boodonkulous is in the building!" chortled the Boo. "My name makes no sense…"
In short order, Luigi captured the Greenies, sucked up Boodonkulous and finally reached the end of the transportation hall, where he used the DLD to draw a key from the monochrome portrait he saw Boodonkulous affix earlier. This key unlocked the door to the roundhouse's lower level. Steeling his shoulders, Luigi headed downstairs to confront the Ancient Poltergeist.
When Luigi finally reached his destination, the Ancient Poltergeist cackled, telekinetically spun a sand pit with a railroad track on it and then disappeared into said pit, creating a sand whirl. Luigi waited for the powerful ghost to reemerge and went on the attack with a Strobulb flash, and then the roundhouse brawl was on!
During this tussle, Sneakers frequently spawned to aid the Ancient Poltergeist, briefly giving them the upper hand with their powerful scares. This would force Luigi to confront the Sneakers and allow the Ancient Poltergeist to safely get in a few hits. In addition to burrowing in sand, they'd chuck bombs and bricks at Luigi, and while the former projectiles were relatively easy to dodge, the latter projectiles pelted him all over his body. But at least it gave his mind something to focus on so it would stop racing wildly. By now, he was starting to think that this bizarre incident with Mario was far from a coincidence.
The nervous energy helped Luigi prevail over the Ancient Poltergeist, and the clock hand—more specifically, the minute hand—was his prize. After lowering a tilted bridge, Luigi picked up the minute hand, examined it and slipped it into his pocket as the Dual Scream rang.
"Yello?"
"Good going, Luigi! I knew you had it in you," said Gadd. "You recovered the clock hands, and you captured the Ancient Poltergeist! I don't know any other plumber who can put that on their resumé!"
Luigi blushed.
"Let's get you back here," said Gadd. "I don't want that Poltergeist escaping from the Poltergust 5000! Hold on…"
"Ciao. See you soon."
…
"Well done, my boy! Well done," said Gadd. "That Poltergeist's telekinetic power was no match for the Poltergust 5000! Oh, and your—ah—tremendous strength and courage, of course."
Luigi rolled his eyes as he emptied the Poltergust.
"Now, let's see those clock hands," said Gadd.
"Well—I only have the minute hand on me right now," said Luigi as he relinquished the hard-earned clock hand to Gadd.
"Goodness! Where's the hour hand?"
"Beats me," said Luigi.
"Well—one hand is better than no hands, I suppose," mused Gadd.
"But where could that other hand be?" asked Fred.
"I'll try to come up with a plan to find the missing hour hand," said Gadd. "In the meantime, why don't you go wash up? The ghostly goo smell coming from your overalls is making me a little woozy."
"Okeydokey then," said Luigi, sliding off the Poltergust and heading to the washroom.
He could really use a shower, anyway…
Please R&R.