[Signal intercepted]
[w%#e &w$%e&#r *e% t&^o#%o* s&$l $o#&w#%-]
[[]]
As the elevator stopped Ruby looked around what was no doubt E. Gadd's Control Room, it had a few chars around and it's walls were made of uneven stones, and there were wooden beams holding the roof up, Ruby also noticed the computer system in the room looked a little... okay very out of date.
"Don't worry Ruby, the equipment here is well advanced enough to help me with my ghost studies." E. Gadd assured, "The look of everything is simply so I don't start paying unnecessary lien for the upkeep of some things."
"Are you really that... strapped for money?" Ruby asked slightly worried for the professor.
E. Gadd simply laughed it off, "Don't worry Ruby, I have plenty of money." E. Gadd assured, "But I've been working here for around ten years now, I've had to switch to low budget equipment so I can continue to work here without suddenly running plum out of funds."
"If you're sure..." Ruby said.
"Why don't I get you something to eat, I'm certain you must be starving at the moment." E. Gadd said as he took the vacuum cleaner off his back and set it next to the computer before walking through a wooden door.
"I hope Yang, Weiss, and Blake are alright..." Ruby muttered as she pulled up a chair and idly sat in it.
Only to jump off when she heard a yelp, Ruby quickly turned to see what she accidentally sat on.
"Zwei!" Ruby cried out in joy picking up the Corgi, "Oh I'm so glad you're safe, where are the others though?" Ruby asked.
Zwei's ears drooped as he whimpered, as sound Ruby didn't hear very often.
"So the little pooch belongs to you I take it?" E. Gadd said stepping back into the room holding a tray, piled with cookies and a glass of milk.
Several Cookies were already stuffed in Ruby's mouth and swallowed before she responded, "Yeah, Zwei is my pet, well, he's my families pet, but still." Ruby said.
"I can see yo really do take after your mother." E. Gadd said, "So, why were you here at this old haunted mansion?"
Ruby halted her cookie binge and pulled out the letter she got from her back pocket, "I was given this letter, saying I was awarded the mansion for my assistance during the Breach of Vale." Ruby explained.
"I see." E. Gadd said taking the envelope and pulling out the deed, "Ruby, I've been living here since I retired from Beacon, and about ten years ago that mansion suddenly appeared in a single night, and not once have I ever seen a deed to this place."
"What!?" Ruby cried out, "It just appeared in a single night!?"
"Indeed." E. Gadd said, "By the way... do you happen to know the people that were with this little Corgi? A girl with long blonde hair that looked a lot like my old student Raven Branwen, a young cat Faunus dressed in monochromatic colors, and a young Schnee?"
"Yeah that's my team." Ruby said, "My half sister Yang, her Partner Blake, and my Partner Weiss... wait, how did you know Blake was a Faunus? She hides her ears under her bow."
E. Gadd chuckled, "So she actually was a Faunus, I was worried I mistook her ears for a ribbon in the darkness." E. Gadd said, "That night vision sure would be handy in that mansion..."
"What happened to them?" Ruby asked.
"I'm not too sure, it was daylight, but the stormclouds made it seem like midnight, and the three of them ran right past me." E. Gadd said, "I grabbed my ghost gear and when I came back out the little Corgi here was running as fast as he could, I brought the guy inside my lab to help calm him down."
"So... what about my team?" Ruby asked as she started to get scared.
E. Gadd's expression fell, "Ruby, I'm afraid the ghosts in the mansion have likely captured them."
"What!?" Ruby cried out, grabbing Crescent Rose, "I gotta go help them!"
Ruby ran to the elevator, only for it to remotely lock down, causing Ruby to run head first into the metal grate in front of it.
"Miss Rose listen, your weapon won't do you any good against the paranormal." E. Gadd said.
"But I have to help my friends!" Ruby cried out, "And my sister!"
E. Gadd held up his hands, "I understand, that's why I'm going to help you." E. Gadd said.
"You are?" Ruby asked surprised.
"Of course." E. Gadd said, "May I borrow your flashlight for a moment?"
Ruby nodded and held out her flashlight, "It didn't really do me much good in there." Ruby pouted.
E. Gadd chuckled, "Yes, ghost do have that effect on technology due to their paranormal energies." E. Gadd said, "Wait here a moment."
E. Gadd turned to a small table and pulled out a small box from the drawer, the took the cap off the flashlight and slid the Dust batteries out before sliding in new ones that had the guy's face on it, the then took the bulb out of the cap and put in a new one, "There we go." E. Gadd said handing Ruby the flashlight, "Working with ghosts has given me plenty of time and intensive to create bulbs and batteries that aren't effected by a ghosts paranormal energy. Now your Scroll will be just about useless in there, so here, you can use this to keep in contact with me."
With that E. Gadd handed Ruby what appeared to be an old portable game system, "This is a Dustboy Color." Ruby said.
"Correction, it's the Dustboy Horror." E. Gadd said, "A Dustboy Color is currently the only thing I could find compact, yet large enough to be both portable and capable of everything in it."
"And what would that be?" Ruby asked.
"It's not only a direct like to my communications monitor." E. Gadd started, "But it's also a database for certain ghost in the mansion, a Map of the mansion, an analysis camera, a mirror, it's also capable of identifying the room a key goes to."
"Wow, that's a lot of stuff for a Dustboy." Ruby said putting the device in her pocket and leaving her Scroll and Crescent Rose on the table.
"Lastly you'll definitely need this." E. Gadd said as he held out the Vacuum he wore earlier, "This may look like your ordinary vacuum cleaner, but this is none other than the Poltergust 3000, modified to be able to suck up ghost, sheets and cloths like nobodies business and almost never gets full."
"Wow..." Ruby breathed taking the Poltergust 3000, and throwing it on her back.
"Now then." E. Gadd said, "Let's head to the training room"
[]
A few minute's later Ruby was in the training room, looking around she saw it was relatively bare, with only five metal gates on the floor.
"Now then, take a hold of the Poltergust's handle Ruby." E. Gadd instructed through the Dustboy Horror in her hand.
Ruby nodded and put the Dustboy back in her pockets, fortunately E. Gadd was kind enough to have attached an earpiece for this training session, and took the vacuum handle in her hand and held it at her hip.
"Now, you'll notice two switches on it, Blow and Suck." E. Gadd said, "The Blow function doesn't have much of a use for you at the moment, so just focus on suction, now get ready I'm turning off the lights."
As the professor said, the lights shut off, leaving the room dark, and causing Ruby to instinctively pull out her flashlight and flick it on, said flashlight was clipped the a retracting string on her belt, so she could drop it to grab the vacuum handle quicker.
"Now, to fight ghost's you'll need to use you flashlight and the Poltergust in tandem." E. Gadd said, "Your target with ghost's are what I call their Spectral Heart, which is only visible and as such vulnerable when a Ghost is distracted or stunned. Flashing your flashlight at them will stun them momentarily, but don't shine it on them too long or from too far away, otherwise the ghost will simply disperse for the time."
"So hit them with the light, then suck them up." Ruby said, "Got it."
"Now, for some practice." E. Gadd said, "I'm going to release a few Ghost's in there, don't worry, these ghosts have mellowed out, they won't harm you."
"O-okay." Ruby said gulping.
The metal gate in the middle opened up, letting an orange colored ghost like the one she saw earlier in the mansion float out.
Ruby clicked off her flash light as the ghost approached, and took several steady breaths, when the ghost got close Ruby flicked the flashlight on, the bright light hitting the ghost dead center and freezing it, making a pink heart appear in it's body and beat rapidly.
Ruby dropped her flashlight and grabbed the Poltergust, her flashlight turning off the moment it left her hands due to a quick modification from E. Gadd, and quickly pressed the suction switch.
The Orange Ghost cried out in shock as it tried to run away, Ruby dug her heels into the ground at her feet and pulled back, causing her to only be dragged slightly, and for the ghost to feel it's energy drain.
Ruby continued to pull back until the ghost lost all resistance and was sucked in a spiral into the Poltergust 3000 with a pop.
"Good, good." E. Gadd said, "But next time, yank back repeatedly, because a sudden yank drains a ghosts energy in bursts compared to simply pulling the Poltergust back and holding it that way."
"Thanks." Ruby said as another ghost was let out.
[]
A couple minutes later E. Gadd turned the lights in the room back on, "Well, I think you're ready to go ghost hunting."
"I hope so." Ruby said, her breath still a little shaky.
E. Gadd decided that her last step in training would be seeing how well she held up against 5 ghosts at once. Ruby froze for a moment and backed into a corner, which in turn caused all the ghosts to get caught in a single flash and get sucked up all at once.
"Good job Ruby... Now could you step onto the elevator please, I want to show you something." E. Gadd said.
[]
Ruby then found herself in a hall that looked like it was supposed to be filled with art, yet all there was were a couple of armless angel statues.
"What is this place?" Ruby asked.
"This is my gallery." E. Gadd said, "It was here I kept my collection of Portrait Ghosts."
"Huh?" Ruby asked.
E. Gadd chuckled, "You see Ruby, when I told you I captured ghosts, did you wonder where I kept them?" E. Gadd asked, "Well, when I first started my ghost catching career I invented a machine that can turn stronger ghost's into Portraits, I refer to these ghost as Portrait Ghosts. Sure I could have created some kind of containment device, but that would fill and if it were to lose power the results could easily become disastrous."
"But... isn't being trapped in a painting a bit worse?" Ruby asked.
"Oh not at all." E. Gadd said, "You see my device can turn a Portrait back into it's original state... So as such I turned one of the less violent ghost's I had previously captured, Madame Clairvoya if I recall her name correctly, and asked about what it was like in the portrait. According to her it's nice and peaceful and rather roomy, not to mention the Portraits are all seemingly connected to one another, so they don't exactly get lonely."
"Oh... I guess that's better." Ruby said, "But... where are they all now?"
"Gone..." E. Gadd said sadly, "You see, my most recent capture, which was ten years ago, was a Ghost called Boolossus."
"Boolossus?" Ruby asked.
"An amalgamation of a sub-race of ghost's called Boo's, Boolossus was over a Dozen boo's in one." E. Gadd said, "Anyway, the King of the Boo's, decided to take revenge upon me, releasing Boolossus and all the other Portrait ghosts, creating that mansion that looms over this lab, and turning my former assistant into a painting. Fortunately my machine managed to turn him back, though I sent him off afterwards, he was a good man, a bit cowardly, and he really like the color green, even had a had with his first names initial on it."
"So... you want me to capture the Portrait ghost's in that mansion?" Ruby asked.
"More like I suspect you'll have to." E. Gadd said, "I suspect King Boo has left several keys to the mansion under the protection of the Portrait Ghosts."
Ruby nodded and took a deep breath, "Okay Professor, I'm ready to go now." Ruby said, "Next time I stop by though I'd like to hear about my mom."
E. Gadd smiled, "I'll see if my baking skills haven't rusted over the years, if you're as addicted to cookies as your mother then there should be plenty of practice for me." E. Gadd said, "In fact now that I think about it, her cookie craving's got her detentions a couple of times for eating during classes."
Ruby blushed, she too had been subject to detention for eating cookies in class... though Oobleck was the only one who had ever managed to catch her.
[[]]
Well, that actually took longer to write than I was expecting.
Well anyway, my internet's on the fritz as I'm writing this, and by the time I post it I will probably have fallen asleep.
So I'll just say, I hope you all liked this, also, I'm going to try to fill in some lore gaps when I can, like next chapter when we don't have Toad turning on the Foyer lights.