Chapter 7: "E. Gadd's Story"
"All this dust!" Toad groaned, checking another bookshelf and hastily cleaning it with a feather duster. "I'm surprised the old guy ever reads any of these!"
"Uh, Toad?'
Toad turned his head at the sound of the voice, and in the process, fell off the stack of books he was standing on. There stood Luigi, looking tired, but no worse then when he had seen him earlier.
"Luigi!" cried Toad jumping up from his heap of books. "Your back!"
"I can see that." smirked Luigi. "What are you doing anyway?"
"Huh? Oh this." Toad said. "My first job at Peach's Castle was being a janitor. Whenever I'm nervous, I tend to dust and pass the time. But tell me! How did it go?"
"No sign of Mario yet." Luigi said. "But I think I caught some really important ghosts!"
"You did. Luigi!" said an excited E. Gadd, who had just entered from the door that led to the training room. "Those ghosts were the original inhabitants of the mansion." He looked over at Toad. "The little guy really must be nervous. My lab's spotless now! But anyway, Luigi, you need to follow me."
Luigi followed him to a bookshelf. All of the books on this shelf were ghost stories, ranging from ones he had heard on Earth to ones from the Mushroom World.* E. Gadd reached up and pulled on a copy of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and the shelf slid aside to reveal another dirt room, this one mostly occupied by a huge machine that whirred and clanked and spat out steam.
"This, Luigi," said the professor. "Is my Ghost Protofictionizer! My pride and joy! Took me three years to build, mind you."
"Um...I don't mean to sound rude or anything," said Luigi. "But what does it do?"
"Well," E. Gadd walked over to a little grate on the side of the machine. "It turns ghosts into paintings!"
Luigi looked blankly at the old man. "Paintings?"
"Ah. I knew you would be confused." He gestured toward the grate. "Just stick your vacuum's nozzle here and you'll see."
Luigi, still looking perplexed, put the nozzle of the Poltergeist 3000 into the grate. There was a loud whirring noise, followed by a long process that I won't bother to explain (Most of you have probably played the game anyway), in which the ghosts were swished around, squashed, zapped, and thrust into frames, and popped out the other end as oil paintings.
"Wow." Luigi said. "But, why paintings?"
E. Gadd was already scooping the paintings up. "Well, here. Come with me."
He led Luigi into another room, this one made of gray brick. It almost reminded Luigi of a dungeon. Two long hallways stood on his left. In front of him was a statue of an angel.
"Now where are we, professor?" Luigi asked, glancing at the tall angel statue. He could have sworn it just winked at him.
E. Gadd was wondering to various parts of the room, trying to decide where to hang his paintings. "This is my gallery. I keep all my paintings here. Ah. Chauncey can go here," he hung the painting of the baby ghost on the wall behind the angel statue. "And Neville can go here, and this is a lovely spot where Lydia can hang."
Seeing Luigi still looked confused, the professor gestured to a stone block, sitting on the ground. "Have a seat, Luigi. Let me tell you a story."
Luigi, still worried about Mario, yet eager to find out more about what was going on, sat down without a word and listened intently.
The old man cleared his throat, and began. "About a hundred years ago, Forever Forest still had it's reputation of being haunted. Travelers passing through it heard eerie sounds and saw strange sights. Mostly, the forest was haunted because a rich family of Boos built a mansion here, known as Boos mansion. I believe your brother knows the current mistress of the place, Lady Bow. But anyway, one day back then, a family from Earth found themselves stranded here after discovering a Warp Pipe. They were rich folks, and couldn't stand living in the cramped houses of Toad Town, so they built a mansion here in the forest. They didn't care what people said about it being haunted. They didn't believe in ghosts." He chuckled.
"The mansion grew over time, and soon, they were the richest folks around. Then, oddly, strange things began to happen. Some say the forest's curse got to them. Others say the Boos in the neighboring mansion became jealous of the other's wealth. But no matter what happened, people in the mansion began having terrible accidents. The graveyard behind the mansion began to fill more quickly. Then the actual haunting started."
"The ghosts of the past owners of the mansion were seen frequently. A shadowy spirit began to haunt the graveyard. As the fear in the mansion grew, so did the shadow and the other ghosts. Finally, the last person to live there was killed in a fire that burned the whole mansion to the ground. Since then, this spot is considered the most haunted part of the forest, which drew my attention."
"You still haven't told me about the paintings." Luigi said.
"I'm getting to that." E. Gadd said. "I first arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom about twenty years ago. I was trying to capture all the ghosts and put them in paintings. You see, the two things I love most in life are my work and fine art. One day, I says to myself 'Myself, why not find a way to combine the two?' and that's when I built the Poltergeist 3000, the Ghost Protofictionizer and my lab here in Forever Forest. I figured this would be the best place to start, since ghosts are everywhere in these woods. My dream is to capture all the mansions ghosts and make a museum where people can appreciate the paintings. So after a long time, I captured all the wandering ghosts of the mansions grounds, and this whole gallery was filled with fine ghost portraits."
"But then, about three nights ago, the mansion rebuilt itself. I'm not sure how, but when I went to investigate, it was filled with Boos. They chased me back to my lab, and before I could catch them with the Poltergeist 3000, King Boo appeared!"
"King Boo?" Luigi asked.
"Don't ask me. I'd never heard of a King Boo before that." the old man continued. "But anyway, he told me he needed my ghosts for some sort of plot for revenge. Then he freed all the ghosts from my portraits and went back to the mansion! Since then, I've been trying to get them back, but I'm getting old, and now I've passed it on to you, Luigi."
Luigi thought. This King Boo wanted revenge, he assumed, on he and Mario. But he had never even heard of King Boo. He also felt kind of bad E. Gadd had lost his life's work because of this revenge thing.
Luigi heard someone shudder behind him. He turned around and saw Toad peeking through the door. He also felt bad for Toad, after all, how would he feel in Toad's position?
He stood up and strode toward the door. "Where are you going, Luigi?" asked E. Gadd.
Luigi turned to his friends. A determined light glowed in his eyes.
"I'm gonna go find my brother, wherever he is!"
*****************************************************************
King Boo was nervous. Though he had no reason to be nervous, his plan was working and soon, both Mario brothers would fall into his grasp, he was always timid before the might of his master. The monarch ghost drifted before the mirror in his room, shaking. The surface of the mirror rippled like water, then glowed with fire.
"Who dares disturb my sleep!?" said the voice on the other side of the mirror, which was harsh and gruff. "Can't a guy get any peace!?"
"K-King Boo reporting, y-your vileness." the nervous specter stuttered. "M-My plan is going well, and I'm sure you will be pleased to hear t-that one of the Marios has been captured."
There was silence, then… "Which one?"
"Mario Mario," said King Boo, still a little shaky. King Boo was a cruel, evil spirit, but he was nothing compared to his master, the most dreaded tyrant to set foot on the Mushroom World. "But his brother r-remains uncaught as of yet, my liege."
Another pause, then harsh laughter came from the mirror. "No need to worry! That Luigi is a wimp! There's no way you can fail!"
King Boo added to the laughter, relieved the master was not mad. "Thank you again for allowing me to do this, my liege. I will have my revenge on those brothers!"
"No problem, King Boo." said the voice. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need my rest, unlike you. Keep up the good work!" And with that, the mirror shivered and became normal again.
King Boo cackled and rubbed his hands together. No little worthless plumber was going to stand in his way. He'd make sure of that.
At last! Chapter 7! Sorry about the long wait. I've been doing a lot of fun stuff lately. I'm going on vacation to Missouri soon. I can't wait
Once again, I'd like to thank everyone who reveiwed, especially GameCubegirl and the Time Traveler, who have been reading since the beginning. Thanks to everyone! Kudos!
Well, g2g. Byeos! ^_^
"All this dust!" Toad groaned, checking another bookshelf and hastily cleaning it with a feather duster. "I'm surprised the old guy ever reads any of these!"
"Uh, Toad?'
Toad turned his head at the sound of the voice, and in the process, fell off the stack of books he was standing on. There stood Luigi, looking tired, but no worse then when he had seen him earlier.
"Luigi!" cried Toad jumping up from his heap of books. "Your back!"
"I can see that." smirked Luigi. "What are you doing anyway?"
"Huh? Oh this." Toad said. "My first job at Peach's Castle was being a janitor. Whenever I'm nervous, I tend to dust and pass the time. But tell me! How did it go?"
"No sign of Mario yet." Luigi said. "But I think I caught some really important ghosts!"
"You did. Luigi!" said an excited E. Gadd, who had just entered from the door that led to the training room. "Those ghosts were the original inhabitants of the mansion." He looked over at Toad. "The little guy really must be nervous. My lab's spotless now! But anyway, Luigi, you need to follow me."
Luigi followed him to a bookshelf. All of the books on this shelf were ghost stories, ranging from ones he had heard on Earth to ones from the Mushroom World.* E. Gadd reached up and pulled on a copy of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and the shelf slid aside to reveal another dirt room, this one mostly occupied by a huge machine that whirred and clanked and spat out steam.
"This, Luigi," said the professor. "Is my Ghost Protofictionizer! My pride and joy! Took me three years to build, mind you."
"Um...I don't mean to sound rude or anything," said Luigi. "But what does it do?"
"Well," E. Gadd walked over to a little grate on the side of the machine. "It turns ghosts into paintings!"
Luigi looked blankly at the old man. "Paintings?"
"Ah. I knew you would be confused." He gestured toward the grate. "Just stick your vacuum's nozzle here and you'll see."
Luigi, still looking perplexed, put the nozzle of the Poltergeist 3000 into the grate. There was a loud whirring noise, followed by a long process that I won't bother to explain (Most of you have probably played the game anyway), in which the ghosts were swished around, squashed, zapped, and thrust into frames, and popped out the other end as oil paintings.
"Wow." Luigi said. "But, why paintings?"
E. Gadd was already scooping the paintings up. "Well, here. Come with me."
He led Luigi into another room, this one made of gray brick. It almost reminded Luigi of a dungeon. Two long hallways stood on his left. In front of him was a statue of an angel.
"Now where are we, professor?" Luigi asked, glancing at the tall angel statue. He could have sworn it just winked at him.
E. Gadd was wondering to various parts of the room, trying to decide where to hang his paintings. "This is my gallery. I keep all my paintings here. Ah. Chauncey can go here," he hung the painting of the baby ghost on the wall behind the angel statue. "And Neville can go here, and this is a lovely spot where Lydia can hang."
Seeing Luigi still looked confused, the professor gestured to a stone block, sitting on the ground. "Have a seat, Luigi. Let me tell you a story."
Luigi, still worried about Mario, yet eager to find out more about what was going on, sat down without a word and listened intently.
The old man cleared his throat, and began. "About a hundred years ago, Forever Forest still had it's reputation of being haunted. Travelers passing through it heard eerie sounds and saw strange sights. Mostly, the forest was haunted because a rich family of Boos built a mansion here, known as Boos mansion. I believe your brother knows the current mistress of the place, Lady Bow. But anyway, one day back then, a family from Earth found themselves stranded here after discovering a Warp Pipe. They were rich folks, and couldn't stand living in the cramped houses of Toad Town, so they built a mansion here in the forest. They didn't care what people said about it being haunted. They didn't believe in ghosts." He chuckled.
"The mansion grew over time, and soon, they were the richest folks around. Then, oddly, strange things began to happen. Some say the forest's curse got to them. Others say the Boos in the neighboring mansion became jealous of the other's wealth. But no matter what happened, people in the mansion began having terrible accidents. The graveyard behind the mansion began to fill more quickly. Then the actual haunting started."
"The ghosts of the past owners of the mansion were seen frequently. A shadowy spirit began to haunt the graveyard. As the fear in the mansion grew, so did the shadow and the other ghosts. Finally, the last person to live there was killed in a fire that burned the whole mansion to the ground. Since then, this spot is considered the most haunted part of the forest, which drew my attention."
"You still haven't told me about the paintings." Luigi said.
"I'm getting to that." E. Gadd said. "I first arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom about twenty years ago. I was trying to capture all the ghosts and put them in paintings. You see, the two things I love most in life are my work and fine art. One day, I says to myself 'Myself, why not find a way to combine the two?' and that's when I built the Poltergeist 3000, the Ghost Protofictionizer and my lab here in Forever Forest. I figured this would be the best place to start, since ghosts are everywhere in these woods. My dream is to capture all the mansions ghosts and make a museum where people can appreciate the paintings. So after a long time, I captured all the wandering ghosts of the mansions grounds, and this whole gallery was filled with fine ghost portraits."
"But then, about three nights ago, the mansion rebuilt itself. I'm not sure how, but when I went to investigate, it was filled with Boos. They chased me back to my lab, and before I could catch them with the Poltergeist 3000, King Boo appeared!"
"King Boo?" Luigi asked.
"Don't ask me. I'd never heard of a King Boo before that." the old man continued. "But anyway, he told me he needed my ghosts for some sort of plot for revenge. Then he freed all the ghosts from my portraits and went back to the mansion! Since then, I've been trying to get them back, but I'm getting old, and now I've passed it on to you, Luigi."
Luigi thought. This King Boo wanted revenge, he assumed, on he and Mario. But he had never even heard of King Boo. He also felt kind of bad E. Gadd had lost his life's work because of this revenge thing.
Luigi heard someone shudder behind him. He turned around and saw Toad peeking through the door. He also felt bad for Toad, after all, how would he feel in Toad's position?
He stood up and strode toward the door. "Where are you going, Luigi?" asked E. Gadd.
Luigi turned to his friends. A determined light glowed in his eyes.
"I'm gonna go find my brother, wherever he is!"
*****************************************************************
King Boo was nervous. Though he had no reason to be nervous, his plan was working and soon, both Mario brothers would fall into his grasp, he was always timid before the might of his master. The monarch ghost drifted before the mirror in his room, shaking. The surface of the mirror rippled like water, then glowed with fire.
"Who dares disturb my sleep!?" said the voice on the other side of the mirror, which was harsh and gruff. "Can't a guy get any peace!?"
"K-King Boo reporting, y-your vileness." the nervous specter stuttered. "M-My plan is going well, and I'm sure you will be pleased to hear t-that one of the Marios has been captured."
There was silence, then… "Which one?"
"Mario Mario," said King Boo, still a little shaky. King Boo was a cruel, evil spirit, but he was nothing compared to his master, the most dreaded tyrant to set foot on the Mushroom World. "But his brother r-remains uncaught as of yet, my liege."
Another pause, then harsh laughter came from the mirror. "No need to worry! That Luigi is a wimp! There's no way you can fail!"
King Boo added to the laughter, relieved the master was not mad. "Thank you again for allowing me to do this, my liege. I will have my revenge on those brothers!"
"No problem, King Boo." said the voice. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need my rest, unlike you. Keep up the good work!" And with that, the mirror shivered and became normal again.
King Boo cackled and rubbed his hands together. No little worthless plumber was going to stand in his way. He'd make sure of that.
At last! Chapter 7! Sorry about the long wait. I've been doing a lot of fun stuff lately. I'm going on vacation to Missouri soon. I can't wait
Once again, I'd like to thank everyone who reveiwed, especially GameCubegirl and the Time Traveler, who have been reading since the beginning. Thanks to everyone! Kudos!
Well, g2g. Byeos! ^_^