Ugh. What does the Professor want now?

Beats me. But every second he sits there talking to Luigi about his inventions, research and whatnot is a second lost!

The guy needs to get his priorities straight, and pronto.

Amen.

Hey—if not for him, then Luigi wouldn't have learned how to catch ghosts in the first place, so show him a little respect, all right?

Fine. But he doesn't seem too concerned about us right now.

Don't push it. I think he just needs time to comprehend what's going on.

Whatever you say, Mario…

…

"Finally, you're back!" said Gadd when Luigi walked in, trailed by Gooigi and Polterpup. "You shouldn't keep an old man waiting, you know." However, he was smiling warmly.

"Hey, Professor," said Luigi. "What's this about?"

"I've been busy down here," said Gadd. "The lab is almost fully operational. And by the way—you must be getting pretty good at exploring the hotel! Have you been sucking up stuff with the Poltergust G-00?"

"Indeed," replied Luigi.

"And you've been collecting some gold and dollar bills, correct?"

"I have."

"Well—waste not, I say! I'm proud to announce that my Shopping Network is now open for business!"

Gadd directed Luigi's attention to an area of the lab with a shopping cart icon on it.

"You have a shop inside of a lab?" asked Gooigi.

Gadd nodded. "I've stocked some rather useful items, along with a few snacks, and they're all yours—for a modest fee. To celebrate the Shop's grand opening, I'm offering you a free Gold Bone."

At the mention of his favorite treat, Polterpup woofed happily.

"I'll take it," said Luigi.

Gadd handed Luigi the Gold Bone, who in turn gave it to Polterpup, who gnawed on it happily.

"I also have another matter to address while you're in here," said Gadd.

"What's that?" asked Luigi as he gave Polterpup some belly rubs.

"Could you turn around for a moment? I need to adjust the Poltergust. And Gooigi—I'll need you to hop into your tank for a sec."

Both ghost hunters obliged, Luigi whistling softly as Gadd fiddled around with his ghost vacuum.

"Okay, I'm done!" Gadd said brightly. "I just added a new feature!"

"What is it?" asked Luigi.

"My research indicates that Boos are hiding out in this hotel," explained Gadd. "I just added a feature to help you track them down."

Luigi's blood chilled at the mention of those sadistic little bedsheet ghosts. "How come they haven't attacked me yet?" he asked.

"It's probably a Boo thing," shrugged Gadd.

"How does this feature work?"

"I'll explain later," said Gadd. "Now get back out there and keep exploring the hotel!"

"You've been very helpful," said Luigi before turning on his heel and exiting the lab.

When he emerged into the basement hallway, he felt a vibrating sensation at his back. Almost as if Gooigi was giving him a little massage…

"What are you doing, Gooigi?" he asked.

The VB chime went off.

"Yello?"

"It looks like you've stumbled across a Boo already," said Gadd.

"How do you know that?"

"Gooigi's body is made of Goo, remember? And Goo strongly reacts to the frequency emitted by Boos. So, if there's a Boo hiding nearby—the Goo will vibrate to indicate this!"

"Huh. That makes sense," said Luigi.

"The closer you get to a Boo's location, the stronger Gooigi will vibrate," said Gadd.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Luigi. "Bye-bye."

He hung up and patted the Plexiglass tank. "Okay, Gooigi," he said. "Show me the way home."

First, he walked toward the elevator bay, causing the vibration to lessen. Then, he walked toward the laundry room, where the vibration intensified. When he entered the laundry room, Gooigi started vibrating in urgent, hard pulses. Luigi found it strangely comforting—seeing that there was a Boo lurking in wait around here.

Luigi searched the laundry room top to bottom, first inspecting the washers, and then the dryers, and then the shelves and towel carts. But when he reached a cabinet, Gooigi started vibrating so intensely that the whole apparatus shook slightly. This had to be the Boo's hiding place!

He threw open the cabinet doors and jumped about a mile into the air as a Boo lunged right at his face, licking out their tongue.

"Hey, handsome—I'm Boosement," they said. "Looks like you found me—or did you?"

Boosement licked Luigi's face and then disappeared, but the man in green remembered that the Dark Light Device was a potent weapon against Boos. Breath quickening, he shone the multicolored beam all over the laundry room until Boosement rematerialized, dazed. Without a second thought, Luigi seized Boosement's tongue in the vacuum's suction before slamming the Boo in increasingly rapid succession all over the basement floor.

When their HP was halfway depleted, Boosement broke free, cackling, and began to play a twisted game of hide-and-seek with Luigi, spinning into him from behind, licking the nape of his neck or cackling in his ear. Which made it all the more cathartic when the man in green caught Boosement off-guard once again with the DLD and relentlessly slammed them into the first hard surface that caught his eye.

After one last slam, the two struggled for a few seconds before Boosement was sucked into the Poltergust. Slowly, Luigi exhaled.

"Sorry, guys," he said. "I gotta catch as many Boos as possible before continuing my search."

That's perfectly understandable, Luigi.

After putting on his music, Luigi headed to the hotel lobby. And right off the bat, Gooigi started vibrating. The vibration seemed strongest at a nearby wastebasket—which opened to reveal a Boo!

"Yoo-hoo! I'm GumBoo! Haven't we met before?" asked the Boo.

What followed was another harrowing game of hide-and-seek, where GumBoo utilized the wide-open space to psyche out and unnerve Luigi. Thank God for the DLD—Luigi used it to turn the tables on GumBoo and slam them into furniture and the floor, just like he'd done to Boosement. It took two tries before the second Boo was successfully captured.

"There's probably a third Boo on the mezzanine," Luigi mused to himself. "I'd better head over there."

He walked into the mezzanine's dining area, where Gooigi's vibrating led him into the billiards room. The vibration increased until he reached another waste bin, and Luigi opened it to reveal the third Boo.

"I'm Booigi, number one!" cackled the Boo. "'Oh, Mario, help me! I'm scared!' See—I just did a spot-on impression of you!"

Luigi just set his jaw and stunned Booigi with the DLD. Then, he slammed the Boo against the billiards table again and again and again until they were subdued.

"Why do these Boos insist on mocking my situation?" he asked. "Okay, gotta head back to the Hotel Shops."

He took the elevator to the third floor, where Gooigi gently vibrated the minute he stepped off.

"Is the Boo in the shopping center—or in the bathrooms?" he asked.

As if in reply, Gooigi's vibrations intensified when Luigi headed toward the restrooms. He entered the men's room before summoning Gooigi from the tank.

"I'll search the men's room, and you can search the ladies' room," said Luigi.

"I'm on it," said Gooigi, his entire body jiggling, before slipping through the pipe into the ladies' room.

Luigi listened through the wall as Gooigi located the next Boo.

"I'm Kung Boo! You won't catch me—I flow like water!"

Gooigi captured Kung Boo the same way Luigi captured the previous Boos—by grabbing their tongue and slamming them into the floor. After the Boo was defeated, Gooigi rejoined his companion in the men's room before hopping back into his tank.

"All right—time to find the Boo on the fifth floor," murmured Luigi, walking back to the elevator.

When he arrived on the fifth floor, he wound up fighting several Goobs while searching for a Boo. Luckily for him, most of them just gave him a good tickle with their feather dusters before letting him go unharmed. However, he was still breathless with laughter when Gooigi started vibrating at his back.

With Gooigi's help, Luigi tracked the Boo down to Chad's room, where they were hiding in a drawer.

"I'm Boolldog! I'm off the chain!" exclaimed the Boo.

"And I'm taking you to the pound," said Luigi, shining the DLD on Boolldog and setting to work capturing them.

He sat on the bed when he was finished, Polterpup jumping into his lap to make sure he was okay.

Luigi hugged him close. "I played right into their hands again," he murmured. "I got my friends into this, but I swear to God, I'm gonna get them out."

Polterpup licked his cheek comfortingly.

"Well," said Luigi, kissing the top of his ghost puppy's head, "I guess it's time to head to the fourth floor."

He stood and let Gooigi out of his tank, and they all headed back to the elevator, tangling with more Goobs along the way.

Inside the elevator, Gooigi and Luigi studied the 4th floor's floor plan on the LED display.

"Great Stage," murmured Luigi. "I wonder what's so great about it."

There was only one way to find out. Luigi pressed the button to the fourth floor and took several deep breaths as the elevator descended.

Please R&R.