(Heehee. I haven't even started writing, and I'm already anticipating what's gonna go down in this chapter. Let's have some fun!)
Luigi and Vinny returned to E. Gadd's lab, and after a few minutes of rest from their previous ordeal, the professor showed them 3D model of the building. "Alright, I'm pleased to say that I have tracked down the location of one of your friends, Luigi. Can't determine which, but knowing where they are really helps, you know?" He then zoomed in, panning the camera so they saw an overview of the 4th floor. An exclamation point symbol being placed in one room. "Right there. And with the dark light in hand, you should have no trouble freeing them... in theory." Vinny looked at the screen. "That's the music hall. One of my favorite places to relax in my free time. Our musical expert, Amadeus Wolfgeist, even gave me piano lessons once. He's really good at his job, but like me, he has a short temper for loud noises and distracting sounds." E. Gadd turned around in his chair. "Yes. It would be foolish to believe they'd simply leave that room unguarded. If this 'Wolfgeist' character is as you say, in all likelihood, he's the one guarding it.
Vinny paused. "I must admit... it brings me no pleasure having to face him. But if he is an obstacle to our goal, it cannot be helped." Gadd leaned toward her. "Don't worry, lass. If my Dark Moon research gets off the ground, maybe we can make him good again." Luigi seemed ready to rescue one of his friends, so Vinny obliged. "So then, you know where to go. Happy travels!" So they hopped on the elevator, and headed for the 4th floor. When they did, Luigi was impressed by the theatre decor. "So Luigi, do you believe in the resonating power of music? It grips you. It synchronizes with you. And suddenly, you're feeling that emotion it portrays. Well, good music, that is. That rap garbage people are into nowadays just ain't my style." They walk through some lines of red rope, seeing posters of other musicians in the ghost world. 'The Next Generation: Melody', 'The Scholar of Music Scores: Poltergeist', and one Luigi hadn't seen before: 'Danger on the Dancefloor: Phantasmagloria'. They then approached some double doors that was painted to look like a sheet of music.
"Well... The stage should be right in here. Are you ready, Luigi?" Luigi nodded, and they walked in. It looked like a normal theatre stage. Lots of seats for the audience, balconies for those who wanted a view, and a fancy looking piano on stage. And on the wall of the stage, just as the professor promised, was the painting of Peach. Luigi was overjoyed that he had tracked down one of his friends, and rushed over to save her. "Luigi, wait!" Vinny bolted in front of him, cutting him off at the very last step before the both of them started hearing music: the piano was playing itself!
(The music, "F4: Vestibule" from Luigi's Mansion 3 plays)
A purple mist spread across the floor of the stage. Luigi had wisely decided to head back down to where the seats were, but it was too late for Vinny to move. As soon as the mist touched her, her eyes began to droop, glowing pink. Her expression became zombie-like, as she then started to sway her head to the music. The mist fortunately stopped spreading at the stage, and didn't fill the entire room. "Good thing she saved you there, Luigi. That mist is having some sort of hypnotic effect on her. If that'd been you, well..." Luigi tried to get Vinny's attention, but she couldn't hear him. The music was now in control of her mind. Then, he saw him: playing the piano was Amadeus Wolfgeist himself! He wore a powdered wig, and had purple-pink skin. He also wore a traditional pianist outfit. He stopped playing for a moment to turn to Luigi, Vinny's head slumping over like a rag doll.
"Welcome to my performance. I am very pleased you could make it. You know, I wasn't at all interested in a talentless fool like yourself. But when he told me what you did to my protégé, Melody... Well, it made me feel something. You should be honored. It was that anger you caused me that inspired me to write this piece. I do hope you enjoy the show." He rolled up his sleeves, and began playing again. Vinny jumped back to life, and began dancing to the music.
(Amadeus Wolfgeist Piano 1 plays)
Suddenly, chairs from around him started flying into the air. Luigi ran across the room as they came crashing down on him one by one! The music progressively got faster and faster, with more chairs being sent raining down from the heavens. "Keep running, Luigi!" E. Gadd advised. It was a full minute of chaos, but after a full minute of madness, Wolfgeist ran out of chairs to throw. In response to this, Wolfgeist accidentally hit a sour note, causing Vinny's body to shake unnaturally in response. Wolfgeist turned to face Luigi again. "Ugh. Such classless menagerie like yourself never fail to get on my nerves. Is it truly that difficult to give my art the appreciation and respect it deserves? And for heaven's sake, stop being so obnoxious while I play! Such work requires absolute concentration!... But I digress, this next one is called 'Elegy of Cherry Blossoms'." He then began playing a lighter, more gentle tune.
(Amadeus Wolfgeist Piano 2 plays)
Vinny started moving again, her moves reminiscent of ballet as she danced off the stage and towards Luigi. Luigi was hesitant, not knowing what to do. "Try your best not to hurt her, Luigi." E. Gadd suggested, stating the obvious. Wolfgeist chuckled, watching Luigi trying to avoid his friend as she tried to attack him with her graceful movements upon getting close enough. But that's when Luigi noticed the many musical brass instruments scattered on the edges of the room. Most likely, this place had some sort of orchestra and they left their instruments here. Getting an idea, Luigi ran over to them one at a time, and started blowing on them with his poltergust to make them play. With each instrument's off key noises, Wolfgeist was getting progressively angrier. First a trumpet, then a trombone, etc. "Quiet down, you INSOLENT little...!" But his patience was brought to its end when his song was interrupted by a full blast blare of a tuba. Wolfgeist got distracted enough to hit several sour notes, causing Vinny to shudder. Wolfgeist angrily rose from his chair, looking down at Luigi. "Moronic, baseborn, imbecilic, INCOMPREHENSIBLE, INCOHERENT...! NNNNG! That's the last straw! That is the VERY LAST straw! I tried to be civilized, but you just couldn't help yourself!"
But before he could do anything, something dropped from the ceiling. Completely crushing his piano, and sending him flying off stage. Luigi took this opportunity to suck him up mid-air, and he succeeded. The mist on the stage dissipated, and Vinny collapsed like a puppet that had had its strings cut. But Luigi saw what had come down and put a premature end to Wolfgeist's performance. It was a ghost he had seen before. He was big, he was round, and he was... fluffy? Except this time, instead of being dressed like an old timey opera singer, he now wore a black leather jacket, a red shirt with a skull on it, a spiked collar and bracelets, similar to Bowser's, and had a black star painted over his eye in a fashion reminiscent of Morton Koopa.
It was the phantom! The one from their adventures in spooky trails, with the rabbids! And he had an electric guitar with him. He picked up Peach's painting. "My beauty. How long it has been." He then kissed it, much to the disgust of Luigi, and a dazed Vinny, still recovering from her hypnosis. The phantom then returned Peach to where she was, and faced Luigi. "Wait... Those clothes... That mustache... Can it be!? It has to...!" He pointed an accusing finger at him. "MARIO!" Luigi facepalmed. The phantom then laughed, and summoned some amps on stage, before plugging his guitar into them. And then... He began singing rock music. "Got a new style, since our time in Spooky Trail. This is MY show! Sorry! You fail. There's only room for ONE rock legend in here. Take in the sight. Poor thing. It'll be your last, I fear."
Then electricity started surging into his guitar. "Pay attention! Listen to Phan. This lovely painting is mine, understand? So you can leeeaaave... the poltergust at the door! Cause the phantom's got the floor!" A bunch of ghost backup singers came in, all of which where red ghosts shaped like a square. They were known as hammers. A ghost type that was known for being the heavy hitters of common ghosts. "The phantom's in the HOOUUUSE! The phantom's in the HOOUUUSE!" They sang. The phantom then started using his guitar, as he played, bolts of electricity blasted out to strike Luigi. Luigi dodged his attacks, and tried to flash him with the strobulb, but the guitar was lit up like a light. And the phantom was invulnerable in the light!
"This is my scene. This is my set. I may be handsome, but I'm bad as it gets. You better run, cause you ain't seen nothing yet. Watch out! The phantom's in the house." Still avoiding getting blasted, Luigi decided to focus on his posey of backup dancers. Vinny was now back on her feet, and ready to help. "Ensure him as long as you can, Luigi! I'll try and sabotage the electrics in his guitar!" She said, as she floated through the wall, to mess with his equipment backstage. "I'll win this battle, I'll win it all. You better get down on your knees, and crawl. You better stop!... You're gonna scream and shout. Cause phantom's gonna walk you out! (The phantom's in the HOOUUUSE! The phantom's in the HOOUUUSE!)" The phantom started throwing his backup singers at Luigi, unintentionally giving him the perfect opponent to take them out of the equation.
"On this night. I'll have you begging for mercy. (Mercy.) On this night. I'll send you to years of therapy (complete insanity...)" The phantom abruptly stopped the song for a moment, to see that Luigi had still survived him thus far. "... TWO! THREE! FOUR!" He then exploded into an epic guitar solo, as fire special effects blasted into effect, a disco ball that reflected real laser lights descending from the ceiling, as the phantom strummed his guitar on his nonexistent knees. Luigi frantically ran across the room in a frenzy, almost getting sliced in half by a laser beam, as the phantom's electric assault went into overdrive! The backup singers then started repeating their line again and again, as his guitar solo continued. "So give it up! It's the end for you. Audition's over! And this time, you lose! Look for all related details on the 10 o'clock news! (WATCH OUT! THE PHANTOM'S IN THE HOUSE.) Watch out..." the phantom practically razed his guitar, as he did a sick backspin, the drums being beat in a rapid pace, leading up to the final line of the song. "The phantom's in the house." Phantom concluded, as he smashed his guitar on the floor in a last ditch effort to finish Luigi, with the broken shards flying out, but Luigi sucked them all up.
It was only at this moment that the phantom realized the song was over, and he had just destroyed his only means of defense against Luigi. "So uhhh... On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you-" Luigi then flashed him, and started sucking him up as the backup singers fled the room. It took some real effort, getting phantom's huge gut to fit in the poltergust's vacuum, but after a minute or two, he was properly contained. Vinny floated back out. "Wow. You managed to beat him before I could cut the power. Nicely done." E. Gadd then called up. "Rockstar rabbit ghosts... as a person who's studied ghosts for years, I still have to say that's a first, even for me. Wait a minute... That was the guy who captured me!" Luigi was surprised to hear that, but atleast the phantom's musical career was properly put to an end this time. Vinny readjusted her hat. "As much as I'd hate to be left without a prime suspect, it's clear the phantom isn't the shadowy mastermind we're looking for. That idiot could barely handle a stage performance, let alone craft such a clever and devious scheme." Luigi nodded. "I agree. But now you should be able to free the princess without any trouble."
Luigi remembered Peach was still trapped in the painting. So he walked up onto stage, and used the dark light on the painting. And so Peach was freed from her confinement. "Luigi? Where am... What happened?" Vinny floated over. "You were the victim of a kidnapping, madam. Which if I'm not mistaken, is a fairly common occurrence for you." Peach pouted, sighing. "I guess even when Bowser's taking a break from the usual routine, I still can't avoid these situations. Well, thank you for saving me, Luigi. Are the others with you?" E. Gadd then spoke up. "Unfortunately, no. They're still in there somewhere. And as if that wasn't enough, I'm getting some interference that's stopping me from locating them. If I had to guess, whoever's behind this knows what we're up to." Peach smiled. "Professor E. Gadd? Wow. I haven't seen you since that whole mess with the shroobs. How have you been?" Vinny gestured towards the door. "We can chat later, princess. Right now, it's preferable we get you to safety."
Peach was shocked that Vinny was a ghost, but quickly realized that if Luigi wasn't scared of her, she must be friendly enough. "Alright, good point. Lead the way." And with that, the three of them made it to the elevator, to drop Peach off at the lab. But unbeknownst to them, someone was watching them through the various security cameras in the hotel. And he wasn't very happy that they had managed to slip by with the princess...
(I just wanna take this moment to say Amadeus is my FAVORITE boss in the whole game. And I was glad I was able to give him the proper respect in his portrayal before the phantom showed up. How crazy would that be if the phantom was an actual boss in the game? That'd be almost as off the walls bonkers as my interpretation. Overall, I think this is one of my best chapters so far. And if you were wondering, the phantom's song was set to "The Witch Is In The House", from the muppets wizard of oz. So if you wanna hear what it's supposed to sound like, there you go.)