Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon
Chapter Ten: Haunted Towers
A mechanical pumping sound was heard as soon as the old wooden door was pulled open, and in the darkness beyond, Luigi could see what looked like a set of green indicator lights toward the back of the room. The floor was wet, just enough flowing across the bare concrete so that the green plumber's boots made a splashing sound with each step, but when he moved the flashlight's beam across the large, ancient looking generator on the back wall, the mechanism itself seemed to be working just fine. With it's own fuel supply, which most generators had, it was able to keep pumping water regardless of whether or not the Haunted Towers had power, but the problem was that everything seemed to be getting too much water instead of not enough.
Normally this could've been solved by closing the main valve partway, or adjusting one of the flow regulators that were… that were not visible anywhere around the generator itself or even along the pipes that left the room through the walls in all directions. Well, if the water supply was collected on the roof of this tower, then it stood to reason that maybe the regulator valves were up there, too. Aside from the way he came in, the only way for someone still living to leave the machine shop was an even older, dried out looking door behind the generator, but the good news was that so far there hadn't been any ghosts appearing to try and get in his way. Maybe they panicked when the fog cleared… no, his luck wasn't that good.
Even though the soft putt-putt-putt of the generator was covering up any noise he could have been making, Luigi still moved as quietly as possible over to the old door, feeling it wobble back and forth on its rusted hinges as if the whole thing was about to just collapse, breathing in some dust when it opened to reveal an upward stairwell. The wood there looked just as dried out and brittle as the door, creaking heavily when he stepped up onto the first one, but thankfully it didn't break. Instead of being able to see the top of this tower when he shined the flashlight upward, the green plumber found that this stairwell ended on the second floor, the landing shaking a bit when he stepped onto it, causing Luigi to freeze in place for fear that the whole thing was about to collapse.
"No, no… don't do that… easy now." He whispered while slowly sliding his feet across the wood toward the door. "Just a little farther."
Every time he slid his foot into place the landing shook in a different direction as if the bolts holding it together hadn't been tightened, or maybe the dried out old wood was just breaking from its mounts, not a good sign either way. If there had been a ghost chasing him the whole thing probably would've collapsed, but for once the green plumber was able to take his time in getting to the door, pulling it open, and stepping through onto more solid ground. Letting the door close freely behind him, the first thing Luigi saw was green, nothing but the color green, but then he realized that it was plants in front of him. In pots of all shaped and sizes on top of all the rusted metal shelves that formed aisles inside this single open space, there were lush green plants of every variety, from grass to the ones he had seen outside, and even larger stranger looking ones.
"Professor, I'm in some kind of greenhouse." He reported in, looking out at the darkness and fog through the windows. "I still don't see any valves to cut off the water flow, and no ghosts, either."
"Any ghosts you might find are probably in the other tower; it's more residential." The old man's voice crackled through. "Before the Dark Moon broke apart this was actually a nice place to visit when I wasn't working, and I only remember one ghost regularly tending the plants in the tower you're in. That one could make the most beautiful night blooms, but he got a little protective. Just try not to disturb anything."
All of these plants were being watered from pipes with drip-openings next to the trays of each shelf where it was closest to the walls, allowing the unchecked water to flow freely where the plants in each pot could drink their fill since the roots seemed to have broken out of the pots in small areas. Aside from blocking his path to the tree between the towers, so far the green plumber didn't see any harm in giving these plants all the water they wanted, but then his opinion changed rapidly when one of them moved. The closed up pod on top of its viney body suddenly opened, lunging forward and latching tightly onto his arm, causing Luigi to scream with fright while trying to pull it back.
It wasn't stabbing him, or cutting him or anything like that, but wow this plant had a powerful grip that just wouldn't let go of the green plumber's arm, and was… and was making a kind of chewing motion with its, uh… mouth? A chewing motion that seemed to be pulling his arm deeper inside, and the plant's body was strong enough to keep Luigi from moving far away enough to pull its whole pot over… now the mouth had pulled him in up to his elbow. He pulled and twisted his arm, and hit the plant a few times with the flashlight, but nothing stopped it as his arm was pulled in all the way up to the shoulder. Panic was setting in, the green plumber kicking and punching the plant, with the flashlight beam moving wildly around the greenhouse… until the beam fell onto another one of those plants, making it shrink away for a second.
Of course! Remembering how that night bloom outside had retreated when exposed to direct light, Luigi stopped fighting and aimed the light right at the center of the pod, making the chewing motion stop. The green body and pod began to shake more and more, as if it were fighting its instincts in order to get a good meal, but eventually giving up. Making a shrieking noise when it finally let go of the green plumber's arm, the plant moved back as far as it could, its lush green color fading into brown and starting to shrivel up the longer the light beam was directed onto it.
"Hey, you!" A voice called, startling him. "What are you doing to my Dionaea muscipula?!"
The voice came from behind, so Luigi quickly moved the light away from the plant, stepping backwards as the beam revealed a purple phantom moving over to the shelves. It was small, about the same size as that green one in Gloomy Manor, but its movements were a lot quicker as it slid the plant so that its roots could reach more of the flowing water, and moved it into an even darker position next to one of the greenhouse's support pillars. Once this was done the plant made a remarkably fast recovery, its stems and pod regaining that lush green color as if nothing happened… and then the purple ghost turned its attention to the green plumber. Instead of attacking him right away like the other ghosts had done, this phantom tore off in the other direction, grabbing something from on top of a workbench and putting it over its eyes.
"Don't worry, I was warned about you." The purple ghost said, adjusting the object. "Don't think for a minute you're gonna come into my greenhouse and cause the trouble you did at Gloomy Manor."
The object was some kind of dark tinted goggles, kind of resembling the ones welders could wear, but the design was so old that he wasn't sure. Either way, the phantom became a lot more confident once they were on, especially when it came flying right at Luigi even though the strobulb was already charging for a capture. Flashing the room like it always did, the boosted light caused the purple ghost to stop for a second, although not stunning it nearly enough for him to use the vacuum before it moved backwards. All right, so ghosts could put on welder's goggles and resist the strobulb… that was just wonderful and not scary in the slightest. Suddenly the phantom vanished, reappearing right next to him, and the green plumber probably would've been grabbed if he didn't jump so high in reaction.
Trying to back away from his pursuer, Luigi was startled again by the speed of this ghost as it vanished, reappearing on the other side and managing to grab him by the overalls. Out of desperation as they struggled, the green plumber tried to catch the purple ghost's hand in the vacuum like he had done with the blue one, but it was fast enough to get away by letting go of him, but the sudden release caused the green plumber to stumble backwards into one of the metal shelves, making it, himself, and all the plants on top fall onto the floor when it was knocked over. Pots smashed, plants and their dirt tumbled out, and the phantom let out its own scream of fright as it lost all interest in Luigi.
It wasn't like the green plumber hated plants or anything, but he needed to take advantage of the purple ghost's distraction, again attempting to use the vacuum without light while the phantom was trying to scoop up its plants into the pots that remained. No luck, it was moving too fast for him to catch one of it's arms or its ghostly tail, but then something did catch… but it also got the ghost's attention when it's welding goggles began to pull off. Fast enough to grab them before they could be removed completely, the phantom was now pulling away, both of its hands on the goggles it was only partly wearing as the green plumber was dragged down the aisle. Instead of crashing into things, however, the purple ghost made sure not to hit any more of the shelves as it struggled to get free… something that Luigi realized he could take advantage of.
Reaching out with his foot and hooking it on a shelf's legs so that the phantom had to stop once it realized the plants were going to be pulled over, the green plumber charged the strobulb while they were still fighting over the goggles… with one of the purple ghost's glowing yellow eyes completely exposed when it went off. The goggles went flying across the room when it had to protect its eyes instead of the protective wear, and now Luigi had him, turning on the vacuum to catch that ghostly tail. With as fast and strong as this ghost was, it probably could have pulled away if it still hadn't been trying to avoid knocking the plants over during its escape attempt, but this desire to save its greenhouse caused the phantom to quickly vanish down into h the Poltergust where it was no longer a threat.
Now that everything was quiet again, the green plumber wanted to catch his breath, but not in the greenhouse. Now that he knew what to look for, Luigi could see more of those grabbing plants, the Dionaea… whatevers… no, he could rest once he got to the roof. Just like the machine shop below, there was only one other door in this room, again leading to a stairwell that went up, and hopefully this one went all the way to the roof so that he could fix the water flow and make the plants in his way a bit more manageable.