Brad had every right to be frazzled. That caveman ghost was terrifying! Did you see the way he possessed that T-Rex?
He nearly tore Gooigi to shreds and flung my poor bro around like a ragdoll—it's a miracle he's still standing. But who would've thought of using those eggs, huh? I have such a resourceful little brother.
Yes, you do. But now, he's headed toward the Boilerworks. I really don't like the sound of that place.
Me, neither. It's only gonna get more perilous from here. Knowing him, he's gonna knuckle tight, but—
I know. I know.
…
"We're in the bowels of the Last Resort," said Luigi as he, Gooigi and Polterpup disembarked. With the orange glow emanating from grated windows and the steam rising from various places, it was as if they'd arrived in the pits of Hell—Luigi's personal Hell, that is. And he'd fight his way through his personal Hell and claw his way out if it meant freeing his loved ones from a worse Hell.
Soft snoring pulled Luigi out of his thoughts, and after some thorough vacuuming, he and Gooigi walked down a hall to find a purple-hued ghost reclined against a workbench, fast asleep. The ghost was clad in a dirty white shirt and worn blue coveralls, with a dirty blue-and-white baseball cap covering his eyes. His hands were clasped behind his head, but Luigi could see that the ghost was wearing green gloves.
Turning to Gooigi and Polterpup, Luigi put a finger to his lips. Then, the trio slowly tiptoed forward.
All was going well until Luigi accidentally stepped on a rubber duckie, which gave a loud squeak.
The ghost reached up and pulled his baseball cap from over his eyes, one eye peeping open, closely followed by the other. His eyes slid over Luigi, and then Gooigi, and then Polterpup. And a crafty smile slowly formed on his lips.
"Well, howdy do?" the ghost asked in a distinctive Southern drawl. "Name's Clem, and I'm the sheriff around these parts. Now, how can I help you?"
"Sorry to intrude, Clem," said Luigi, "but I heard there was a leak somewhere around here, and I've come to fix it."
"Mmm-hmm—now I see what you look like when you're lying," Clem said lazily, again looking Luigi over. "Now let's see what you look like when you're telling the truth." He grinned. "Bet fixing a leak doesn't require a vacuum, hm?"
"Wha? Oh, I…"
"S'alright, s'alright," Clem said disarmingly. "Everybody lies sometimes. I tend to do so, too. But I'm looking at your getup, and I can't help but wonder—are you a mechanic, too?"
"I was," said Luigi, "but I'm a plumber now."
"Plumber, huh? Well, there's lots of pipes around here," said Clem, "but I know you're not here to clean some pipes, and you're definitely not here to gawk at my rubber duckies. You're here—for this little guy." Tantalizingly, he held up an elevator button. "Isn't that right?"
"Yes—yes it is."
"Well, too bad," laughed Clem, "because this here button has an imaginary stamp on it that says, 'Property of Clem'. Which means you can't have it!" He floated up to a valve and turned it, watching as some pipes hanging overhead began shuddering.
Shouting out a warning, Luigi leaped between Gooigi and an oncoming spout of water, spluttering as he was sprayed directly in the face.
Clem hooted with laughter. "I just thought you needed to cool off," he quipped. "Now scram!" On those words, he turned and phased through a door.
Luigi escaped the spout of water and looked at Gooigi. "I think the Plexiglass tank is the safest place to be at the moment," he said.
Gooigi bit his lip, studying his flesh-and-blood counterpart. He'd taken quite a beating from Ug earlier, first when the caveman ghost was possessing the T-Rex, and then when he was chasing after him with that bone club. Who knew what Clem could do to Luigi to batter him further?
"I'll be fine," Luigi said softly. "There's just—a lot of water here, and I don't want you melting on me."
"I need to protect you—I need to keep you safe…"
"It's only temporary," Luigi assured him. "When the danger has passed, I'll let you out."
Gooigi dropped his eyes. "Okay," he said finally.
He gave Luigi a soft, warm, gooey hug. "Be careful," he cautioned before reluctantly hopping into the tank.
After giving the tank a reassuring pat, Luigi walked through the door where Clem had escaped through—and was instantly beset by three Goobs armed with wrenches and wearing buckets for protection. A good Burst knocked off the buckets, and well-timed dodging and sliding helped him evade the wrench swings. After a good three-minute scuffle, Luigi captured the Goobs, and then he tangled with another group of tickle-happy Mini Goobs, followed by another wrench-wielding Goob. The man in green vacuumed them all, and then he came across a complex system of valves and pipes.
"Okay, Gooigi," he said as he let his gooey companion out of the tank. "I need your help figuring this out."
Gooigi beamed, and the duo set to work solving the puzzle before them. While Luigi spun the valves, Gooigi evaded the streams of water to flash his Strobulb at a green panel, activating a mechanical door.
"We did it!" cheered Luigi.
Gooigi flashed him a thumbs-up before Luigi recalled him to his tank.
Within this door was a room with lots of rushing water and a rotating walkway with a ladder mounted on top. Luigi scurried up this ladder to reach the Boilerworks' upper level, and through a window, he saw Clem in some sort of mechanical room, hovered in front of a huge switch. Laughing, the mechanic ghost threw the switch, causing water to gush rapidly into the room.
"I did warn you that it was in your best interest to skedaddle," said Clem as he phased into the room. "Ah, well. At least you get to go for a little swim. Hop on in—the water's fine!"
Casually, he picked up Luigi and tossed him over the edge, guffawing as the plumber splashed into the water. Luigi dog-paddled desperately, but the water level was gradually rising, and the Poltergust on his back acted like a dead weight.
"No!" he spluttered. "No! I'm not gonna die like this! I'm not gonna die down here!"
The water was at his shoulders, at his chin, seeping into his mouth, and he was fighting valiantly but increasingly futilely to stay afloat—
—and then Polterpup effortlessly swam over, barking urgently, positioning himself beneath Luigi's hand. Instinctively, Luigi grasped his puppy's collar.
Gasping, Luigi held onto Polterpup like a lifeline as the latter paddled across the water with broad, practiced strokes. In minutes, the ghost doggie hoisted his master up a ladder and onto dry land.
On his knees, Luigi coughed and spluttered before emptying the water from his ears. Then, he threw his arms around Polterpup and buried his face against his "fur".
"Good puppy!" he cried.
"Luigi—Luigi, are you all right?" asked Gadd's voice.
"Yeah, thanks to Polterpup," said Luigi.
"Well, the good news is that the Poltergust G-00 is waterproof," said Gadd.
"Thank God," said Luigi.
"But thanks to that ghost, your path is blocked," Gadd went on. "I think you could walk along the sewer waterway and reach that switch. Give it a try!"
"Okeydokey," said Luigi, walking through another door with his loyal ghost dog at his heels.
He explored a small control room with a coffee machine, and then he walked through another door which took him to another flooded area. A pool floatie bobbed nearby, and Luigi hopped onto it.
"Perfect," he said. "I've got a motorboat of sorts now."
He fiddled with the Poltergust until he figured out the best way to steer the floatie. While facing forwards, he'd use the vacuum function to move forward and the exhaust function to move in reverse. While facing backwards, the controls would be inverted. And if he wanted to turn, then he'd just angle the vacuum in the desired direction.
It was definitely harder than it sounded.
Obstacles such as spiked mines littered the water, which required expert and quick steering to evade. And the ease of controlling the floatie depended whether he was with or against the water flow. Luckily, there was a walkway which he could send Gooigi onto, and the duo worked in tandem to navigate the flooded Boilerworks.
Along the way, Gooigi could slide through pipes to collect treasure, spin valves and open gates for Luigi to pass through. Some of these gates had sharp spikes on them, so Gooigi couldn't afford to dilly-dally. In order to break the tension, the ghost-fighting duo made small talk and told each other dirty jokes. Or, Luigi would play his music with the volume turned up to the max, the two of them singing along. When they encountered a situation which required utter silence and teamwork, Luigi would simply immerse himself in the sounds of rushing water—and of Gooigi's body squishing and sliding as he slipped through this pipe and that pipe, flexing and jiggling as he snapped back into shape.
At one particular area, Luigi noticed three shark fins coming at him. His first worry was that he was about to become shark food, but then he realized that a shark would be too big to fit in the Boilerworks. Once he'd calmed down a little, he noticed that the fins had an artificial appearance. The only other explanation was that there were more ghosts about, up to no good.
With Gooigi holding open the next gate, Luigi skillfully maneuvered his way around the shark fins and into another area with valves. Here, the water was shallow, allowing him to hop off the floatie and wade into the knee-deep water. He looked up, and there was the switch Clem had thrown earlier.
His eyes swung across another network of pipes. "Okay, Gooigi," he said. "You think you can use those pipes to get to that switch?"
"I sure can!" replied Gooigi.
A noise made Luigi turn, and he saw ripples forming across the water, headed toward him. The ripples circled him a few times before a Slinker materialized, smirking at him. Luigi didn't miss a beat, stunning the Slinker and slamming him into submission. After the Slinker were three Mini Hammers, which were relatively easy to capture.
Next, Gooigi and Luigi set to work figuring out the system of pipes and valves, soon discovering that the valves controlled where the pipes would deposit the former. Thanks to a combination of patience and trial-and-error, Luigi helped Gooigi reach the large switch above them. After attaching a Suction Shot to it, Gooigi pulled the switch down, and he and Luigi watched as the water drained from the Boilerworks.
"Good job!" Luigi called to Gooigi.
"Thank you very much!" replied Gooigi.
Gooigi slid back through the pipes to rejoin Luigi, and the two of them hugged.
"All right—the water level is back where it was!" cheered Gadd. "Now, the two of you can get that mechanic ghost!"
"His name's Clem," said Luigi, "and he's shaping up to be a tough fight."
He and Gooigi walked back the way they came, listening to 90s and 2000s dance tunes on his phone and battling the shark-fin ghosts that had caused them trouble earlier. They also ran afoul of a treasure chest that came to life and attacked them! Once they subdued the chest by knocking a nearby soccer ball into it, they used their Dark Lights to draw out and vacuum up the purple Spirit Balls possessing it before continuing on their way.
"I meant to thank you," Luigi told Gooigi as they walked along.
"What for?" asked Gooigi.
"What you did for me when we were fighting Ug," clarified Luigi. "After he smashed up the display which gave us the second egg, I had no idea how we could beat him. And you volunteered to use yourself as bait to distract him. I can't believe you'd let him do that to you—for me."
"That first time, I saw you run for the egg, and then he grabbed you in the T-Rex's jaws," said Gooigi. "You escaped, but I told myself that it was better me than you. I saw you in immediate danger and just—did what I had to."
"I was just so upset because—I thought…"
"Hey. You'll never lose me. I'm indestructible," smiled Gooigi.
"Gooigi, I…"
"S'okay. I know why you acted like that." Gooigi slipped his hand into Luigi's. "We're in this together, no matter what. I'm part of you, and you're part of me. Right?"
"Right," said Luigi.
"Like the Professor said, we're over the hump. We're gonna battle our way through the rest of this hotel Hellhole, we're gonna rescue our friends, and we're gonna bring them home."
Luigi nodded. "Whatever it takes," he said.
"Whatever it takes," echoed Gooigi.
"Arf!" Polterpup joined in.
"Whatever it takes," Luigi and Gooigi said in tandem.
Hand-in-hand, they set off to confront Clem.
When they found the mechanic ghost, he was once again asleep, leaning against a pool floatie. Cautiously, the duo crept forward, only for Luigi to step on another rubber duckie, rousing Clem. The ghost peered over the railing at Luigi and shook his head.
"You are one stubborn son of a gun," mused Clem. Touching the bill of his cap, he continued, "I tip my hat to you, my green friend. One blue-collar worker to another."
"Thanks, I guess," said Luigi.
"But—that elevator button is still mine," said Clem. "Which means—you'll have to fight me for it!"
He flew over to another switch and flipped it, Luigi recalling Gooigi to his tank just in time as the area he stood in began to flood. There was another pool floatie nearby, which Luigi shimmied onto, and he gripped his vacuum with both hands as Clem joined him with his own floatie.
"Let's have ourselves a pool party!" laughed Clem, brandishing a paper fan.
Luigi leveled the Poltergust. "Have it your way," he said determinedly.
And so, the battle for the next elevator button began. Clem and Luigi circled each other on their floaties, the latter aware of the spikes lining the walls around them. To compound the danger, Clem tossed mines at his opponent, which could be triggered if Luigi so much as came near them. After some harrowing near-misses, Luigi figured out how to stun Clem with his own mines, stick his floatie into the vacuum's nozzle and then shoot him into the spikes, popping the floatie and sending him onto dry land. Hopping out of his own floatie, Luigi ran over as Clem pulled himself up, hit the mechanic ghost with a Strobulb flash and began the process of slamming him into the floor.
Clem broke free, blew up another pool floatie and jumped back into the water, inviting Luigi to join him. Luigi accepted, and the watery showdown went on for twenty or so minutes, the man in green using the mines and the spikes to cut Clem down to size. And because of his intuition, the mechanic ghost was eventually defeated. After Clem was sucked inside, the elevator button, along with some rubber duckies, popped out of the nozzle and splashed into the water.
Luigi climbed out of the water and used his Suction Shot to pull the switch back down, draining the arena. After letting Gooigi out of the Plexiglass tank, he scurried down a ladder and triumphantly claimed the elevator button.
"Gotcha!" he cried.
He looked up and noticed Gooigi beginning to vibrate. A Boo was lurking nearby.
Gooigi's vibrations were strongest when he was just outside the door. He indicated one of the valves, which Luigi spun until the Boo revealed themselves.
"Fwooosh! I'm ComBooster! Is it just me, or is it getting pretty steamy in here?"
ComBooster floated ominously toward Luigi and Gooigi, but the pair stopped the Boo in their tracks with their Dark Lights. Luigi then slammed ComBooster harshly and repetitively against the floor until they were subdued, and then he wrestled them into the Poltergust.
Back inside the elevator, the duo watched the elevator button fit itself into place, revealing the 10th floor.
"Tomb Suites?" muttered Luigi. "I don't like the sound of that place. But," he pressed the button, "if exploring it is gonna bring me closer to the rest of my friends, then so be it."
Please R&R.