After trying and failing to reach Mario for the umpteenth time, Luigi was in a frenzy of worry, pacing back and forth. So much nervous energy filled him that he wanted to go back into the Secret Mine and resume the search for the next Dark Moon piece. However, Gadd was still tracking it down with the Parascope. Eventually, Luigi brewed himself a cup of mint tea to settle his nerves. The hot beverage was just enough to hold him over until the Professor struck gold.
"I've got a signal coming from an unlikely place outside of the mine," said Gadd. "The distant workshop!" He marked the location on the Dual Scream. "Unfortunately for us, the workshop is on the other side of a big chasm, and the nearby Pixelator camera isn't responding."
"There's always a catch," sighed Luigi.
"Don't worry," said Ned. "There's a way across the chasm—a gondola that will take you directly to the workshop."
"I could use a nice gondola ride right about now," said Luigi.
"The weather seems to be getting worse, but the gondola ride shouldn't take too long," said Gadd. "All you need to do is board it at the terminal, and it'll whisk you across the chasm."
"I know where the terminal is," said Luigi. "I passed it when I was escorting Ned to safety."
"Then it'll be easy as pie," said Gadd.
Luigi made a face. "Don't tempt fate," he warned.
"I'll call you on the Dual Scream once you get across," Gadd told him. "Look lively!"
With that, Gadd sent Luigi off as the three Toad Assistants waved after him.
…
Half of the chalet was practically frozen when Luigi arrived, thick ice encasing the elevator. Even with his coat, scarf, earmuffs and gloves, he was shivering; the temperature had surely dropped ten degrees! Freezing wind whistled into the chalet from an open window above him, but there were no stairs for him to climb up. As a couple of Fuzzballs rolled after him, Luigi ducked into a fireplace, which revealed itself as a secret passageway to the chalet's upper level. He used the Poltergust's exhaust to close the window, and then he used the vacuum on a wheel to his right, igniting three overhanging torches which melted the ice around the elevator. He took the elevator down to the airway and went straightaway to the terminal.
The gondola was behind a sheet of ice, which Luigi cleared away by detonating a few Robombs. Just as he was about to board the gondola, however, a Gobber materialized and knocked him backwards! This Gobber had white markings along their body and was also wrapped in white chains. Joining the Gobber were two more ghosts, a Greenie and a Slammer, also wearing chains. As Luigi watched, the three ghosts used a yellow chain, a red chain and a green chain to seal the gondola shut. The three laughed at their handiwork before flying away.
Luigi stared after them, gaping, until the Dual Scream rang.
"Yello?"
"God—mit! Those chains—are paranormal chains!" Gadd exclaimed.
"Paranormal chains? Wha…?"
"They won't go away until the ghosts that made them are defeated," explained the Professor.
"I told you not to tempt fate," said Luigi. "Guess I have to chase after those ghosts if I want to cross the chasm sometime this year. Ciao."
He ended the call and used the Dual Scream to track down the chained ghosts.
The first chained ghost was hiding somewhere in the basin. Luigi could just barely make out the chained Gobber, concealed behind some ice. He uncovered a hidden Robomb with the DLD and detonated it, forcing the gross ghost to break cover.
Luigi was about to give chase when he was stopped by several Hiders, popping out of chests and tossing various projectiles at him. After taking a few hits from these projectiles, Luigi captured the Hiders, only for the chained Gobber to drop down on him from above! He was none-to-thrilled to discover that the chained Gobber had a high amount of HP, along with super strength and more devastating attacks. This was a Super Gobber he was dealing with! Luigi could barely get a Surge in before the Super Gobber broke free, and he was constantly on the lookout for that yellow gunk being launched at him. The yellow gunk from regular Gobbers was just a nuisance, but here, hits from gunk balls could really hurt! And to add insult to injury, the Super Gobber periodically hit Luigi with their large belly, knocking him back a good foot. The ensuing fight consisted of Luigi slipping and scrabbling along the icy ground, doing his best to evade gunk balls and the Super Gobber's belly, his arms starting to shake from the effort of maintaining the suction on such an enhanced ghost.
Finally, Luigi sucked the Super Gobber into the Poltergust, the chains they were wearing snapping apart and knocking the man in green onto his bum. He checked himself for serious injuries, got back up and continued his icy trek.
Collecting a golden bone, a sapphire and some gold bars and dollar bills along the way, Luigi tracked down the next ghost in the smuggler's hideout. One of the suits of armor was shaking and rattling, and the other was hidden by Spirit Balls. Luigi used the DLD to reveal the hidden suit of armor, which thrust its spear forward and removed the rattling armor's helmet. The chained Greenie—or Super Greenie—flew out of the armor, opened the window and fled outside, and a Sneaker entered to deal with Luigi.
Luigi easily captured the Sneaker, only to be accosted by two more who constantly sneak-attacked him. Once he wrestled those Sneakers into the vacuum, the Super Greenie emerged from the fireplace to engage him. The Super Greenie had about 100 HP, but they were easier to deal with than the Super Gobber. Luigi captured them in three Surges, which earned him an energy-replenishing heart.
Now, all that remained was to find the Super Slammer.
Luigi descended into the deep hall, where he discovered a Boo inside a hidden kettle.
"I'm ParaBoola!" declared the Boo. "A symmetrical open-plane curve formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to its side! I mean—BOO!"
"Thanks for the pre-calculus refresher," said Luigi, subduing and capturing ParaBoola faster than he could graph an equation of a parabola. Then, he headed into the crystal quarry and activated an E-Gate which took him back into the chalet.
A sapphire was hidden in the chalet, as was the Super Slammer. The latter retreated into the fireplace, but before Luigi could go after them, some Greenies swarmed in to attack! One even had a red paranormal shield, but one by one, he captured them all. Then, the Super Slammer emerged from the fireplace, and they did not look happy. The big lug had about 300 HP, and their shockwave claps could blow Luigi from one end of the chalet to another. However, Luigi stood his ground, managing to capture the Super Slammer after much struggle.
The final paranormal chain was removed. As Luigi started back toward the terminal, the Dual Scream rang.
"Yello?"
"Good job, youngster! That was the last chain," said Gadd.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious," said Luigi.
"Time to ride that gondola across the chasm. Posthaste!"
"I was just on my way there," Luigi told him. "Ciao."
Back in the terminal, Luigi pushed open the gondola door and stepped inside. It didn't take rocket science for him to figure out that the vehicle was non-operational. But on the other side of the gondola was a mechanism which launched burning rocks. Using this mechanism, Luigi melted the ice on the rest of the wires making up the zipline system. Hopefully, he could use those ziplines to get to the workshop.
As he exited the gondola, the Dual Scream rang again.
"Yello?"
"Luigi, can you hear me?" asked Gadd.
"The reception's weak, but yeah."
"The gondola isn't working anymore, is it?"
"No."
"Fixing it would take way too long!" Gadd sighed. "You're going to have to cross the old-fashioned way!"
"Look that way," said Luigi. "Ciao."
He went out into the high wires and used the first set of ziplines to cross to the other side. Then, he walked across a fallen log and inspected an outhouse, which sucked him into another of those puzzle rooms.
Instead of a maze, Luigi stood in front of a snowy fortress. As a LED timer began to count down from 60, a trio of Hiders popped out from behind the fortress and initiated a snowball fight!
"I love snowball fights," mused Luigi as he lobbed snowballs of his own back at the Hiders. Then, he noticed some larger snowballs nearby, launching them from the vacuum's nozzle and freezing one Hider in their tracks. With each Hider he hit, Luigi earned gold coins and gold bars. And after he defeated the last Hider, he won a sapphire!
"That was fun," he said.
Back on the high wires, Luigi used the second set of ziplines to cross that chasm and reach the workshop landing, where small explosions sounded periodically. In order to get to the workshop, Luigi had to inch his way across a narrow wooden beam. On the beam next to him were three gold bars, but with a stream of crows flying at him, he decided not to get greedy. Besides, there were no more upgrades to look forward to.
When Luigi reached the maintenance room, the Dual Scream rang.
"Yello?" he answered.
"I hope you're doing okay down there," said Gadd.
"Yeah. I crossed the chasm," Luigi told him.
"Looks like you've reached the maintenance room! That's good," said Gadd. "Get that generator going to power up the workshop's door and the Pixelator's camera."
Luigi's gaze played over the generator. "That shouldn't be hard," he said. "Ciao."
It didn't take long for Luigi to pinpoint the source of the problem—the generator was partially frozen! Utilizing some Robombs on a conveyor belt and the generator's panels, Luigi melted all of the ice, getting the generator up and running in minutes.
"I did it!" cheered Luigi.
He gasped as the ground suddenly lurched, hearing a low rumble.
Avalanche, he thought.
Sure enough, when he opened the door, a wall of snow poured into the maintenance room.
"Now what?" he asked.
The Dual Scream rang.
"Yello?"
"Luigi, the interference is terrible. Are you snowed in?"
"I am."
"Good thing you activated the camera outside! I'll get you out of there and pixelate you back later. You'll want to warm up before facing the possessor, anyways!"
"You got that right," said Luigi. "Ciao."
He hung up, starting to feel a bit of appreciation for the Pixelator as it recalled him to the Bunker.
…
"Pixelators aren't really a bad thing, Professor," Luigi said once he was back in the warmth and security of the Bunker. "Otherwise, I would've been stuck in that maintenance room with no food or water…" He cringed. "Better not think about that too much."
He emptied the Poltergust and accepted the cup of hot cocoa Ned offered him.
"Thank God you fixed that generator," said Gadd. "We'd be in a fix if we couldn't open the door to the workshop."
"And now that the Pixelator over there is active," said Ned, "you won't have to mess with that gondola again."
"We're getting close," Fred chimed in.
"The signal in the workshop is definitely a Possessor," said Zed, "and where there's a Possessor, there's usually a Dark Moon piece."
"Take some time to relax and thaw out before the big fight," said Gadd. "Here, I'll wait…"
Luigi headed back into the lounge to enjoy his cup of cocoa. But he'd only taken a few sips when his cell phone chimed—
Please R&R.