Now joined by Candlehead, Luigi makes his way to the other mansions to recover the remaining pieces of the Dark Moon, as well as save his other friends (old and new).

DISCLAIMER: Mario and WarioWare Inc. are owned by Nintendo, while Wreck-It Ralph belongs to Disney. Bomberman is a property of Hudson Soft (even though Konami already took it over back in March 2012). The rest of the characters featured from other game franchises are properties of their respective owners. The only characters I own thus far are as follows: Arctic Bomber (Mistress of the Cold), Blaze Bomber (Brother in Flame), Billy and Sid (Wario's fraternity brothers), Phoebe (9-Volt's best friend from another world), and finally, Purple Basilisk and his five Chaotic Bombers.


Chapter 3: Recollecting the Dark Moon pieces

Meanwhile, at Treacherous Mansion's inner courtyard, the Boo Ringmaster was explaining his failure to Luigi-Droid, who was less than thrilled to hear the story about how he was defeated at his own circus. The impostor replied, "You mean to tell me you LOST to a little girl of all people?! That very same one you brainwashed shortly after you brought her back here?!"

"Yes, it's true!" cried the Boo Ringmaster. "Because that louse saved her, she unexpectedly went pro wrestler on me and pounded me to the ground in front of my - I mean, our beloved audience!"

"I thought you told me she's ditzy before you took her to the Booling Bros. and the Three Sisters!"

"I know I did, but I never thought her to be very protective of her friends and not just her precious candle atop her head. Seriously, who adopts a Bob-omb as a pet anyway?"

"Then it's proof you underestimated her. Now Luigi is on his way to defeating the Possessors at the other mansions, thanks to your inability to handle a 'ditzy' child. You just better hope our grand master of this mansion doesn't find out about your humiliating defeat!"

The Boo Ringmaster gulped nervously. "I assure you it won't happen again, Luigi-Droid. I'll gather up the best Boos from our beloved circus to get rid of Luigi, the very moment he's pixelated to Treacherous Mansion's front entrance!"

Luigi-Droid grinned. "Excellent! As soon as he's out of the way, we'll have our complete set of portraits back in good hands once again. Of course, we intend on selling the portraits of Mario and Princess Peach to King Bowser, while we keep the rest for ourselves on behalf of our grand master."

"Erm...I don't mean to rain on your parade, but you know how antsy Bowser gets when someone other than himself kidnaps Peach..."

"Don't be so quick on your judgment. Of course I'll set her free and pay Kamek to hypnotize her into loving Bowser forevermore! Now begone with you! Luigi and that candy-coated brat cannot be allowed to crash our party of the year!"


Elsewhere, Luigi had a chat with Professor E. Gadd about whether it's safe having Candlehead around the bunker. But the conversation was cut short by the young racer's crying - though one might see it as fake due to her insistence on joining him in his quest. She wanted to help him out whether he wanted it or not.

"If you won't take me with you, I'm gonna tell everyone your secret!"

Luigi gasped. "Huh?! But...but how'd you-a know?"

Candlehead pouted. "Where I come from, people talk. I heard you usually can't sleep at night without holding a Fire Flower plushie close to yourself, because you're afraid the ghosts will come out to haunt you."

"That's not-a true! I sleep well at night!"

Candlehead stubbornly shook her head no. "Nuh-uh! You need me more than I need you!"

Luigi sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright...you can-a join me."

"YAY!" Candlehead hopped onto his hands and hugged him tightly, before jumping back down. "Though I come off as silly and scared of spooky things, I often look up to you as my idol in secrecy, in which you single-handedly braved scary places to save your big brother, Mario. I take back what I said about you having a secret. You're right: it's not true. I just want to help you save your friends, and mine as well. Trust me, I can be very helpful in slowing down those mean ghosts for you. Luckily, I stashed a box full of Cherry Bombs from that evil circus before your friend took us back here. I'll try not to be so easily distracted by my candle, I promise!"

"Alright, if you say so."

Then Professor E. Gadd asked, "So, it's settled then?"

"Mm-hmm," answered Luigi. "We're-a gonna save everyone else, recover the Dark Moon, and defeat the Boos."

"That's the spirit, m'boy. Now do be careful, and take good care of your new friend! Seems like she's one of your biggest fans!"

Luigi blushed sheepishly. "I guess you could-a say that..."

[Stage BGM: Ghostly Garden (Pac-Man World)]

And so, Luigi and Candlehead explored the rest of Evershade Valley together. Professor E. Gadd pixelized them directly to a large hollow tree inside the Haunted Towers, while Toad and Toadette would look after Candlehead's pet Bob-omb for her. Immediately, Luigi and Candlehead opened a door to the one and only "Eerie Staircase" Luigi remembered having a lot of trouble on during his last visit there. He'd often guess which of the three staircases on each row was the right one, but getting the wrong one sent him sliding all the way down with one of the Greenies taunting him. In fact, since it had been quite a while, he didn't seem to remember the correct order for navigating the entire Eerie Staircase. With no other option but to go forward, he went upstairs anyway. Unsurprisingly, he was sent sliding back down with a Greenie taunting him. Then Candlehead - while trying not to let herself be distracted by so many lit torches - asked if they split up and take the different staircases two at a time. Luigi agreed on the offer, and went along with his new friend's recommendation. After about ten or so missed attempts, they finally made it to the top and reached the tree house. Luigi pulled a cord to reveal the ladder for him to climb up, with Candlehead tagging behind.

From there, they encountered a white-skinned ghost, the Harsh Possessor, who immediately possessed a staircase to do battle. By turning the staircase inside-out, the Possessor made it look like a large, beastly mouth with a pair of blue eyes. Then he attempted to attack Luigi and Candlehead several times before flying into the air in an attempt to crush them both. Luigi held her hand closer to himself as he ran around, not wanting anything bad to happen to her. In the meantime, the Harsh Possessor came crashing down, just barely missing the duo. The staircase fell flat, revealing its "tongue." Suddenly, Luigi was able to remember how to defeat the Harsh Possessor. He used his Poltergust 5000 to stretch the "tongue", sending it flying back into the staircase to force the Harsh Possessor out. In retaliation, he charged forth to ram Luigi down, but Candlehead got out one of her Cherry Bombs, lit the fuse with her candle, and threw it at the Harsh Possessor, instantly stunning him for Luigi to vacuum off one of his skin layers. When the ghost regained consciousness, he flew back into the staircase to continue the fight, but Luigi and Candlehead were able to repeat the same process twice (whilst dodging the blue fireballs thrown at them) until the boss was defeated and trapped inside the Poltergust 5000; the Dark Moon piece popped out afterwards, signaling the duo's victory at the Haunted Towers. Finally, Luigi noticed a portrait containing Vanellope von Schweetz inside; thus he used the Dark-Light Device to set her free.

[End BGM]
[Victory BGM: Level Clear Theme (Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon)]

"Whoa!" exclaimed Vanellope. "I thought I was a goner when those ghosts trapped me here...but thanks for saving me! Hey, aren't you Luigi, the kid brother of Mario in green?"

Luigi replied, "Yep. What's your name?"

"Vanellope von Schweetz. Guess I can't keep a secret like I'm supposed to because I got kidnapped, so the truth is: I'm from the Sugar Rush arcade game."

"That's-a nice. I think I heard about it."

"Vanellope, you're okay!" cheered Candlehead.

"Candlehead! What are you doing here?"

"I'm helping Luigi save everyone! There's this cheap knockoff named Luigi-Droid, who's going around about how he's gonna make it look like Luigi's the bad guy. I dunno about you, but I'm gonna kick his backside for thinking he can make MY idol of all people look bad!"

Luigi explained, "I saved Candlehead at a nearby-a circus when the Boo Ringmaster brainwashed her."

Vanellope gasped. "That scary Boo did what?! I'd sentence him to be executed, but Ralph and the others are still captured. I'll head on to what that knockoff called the Secret Mine to save another of my friends, while you go to the Old Clockworks."

"Erm...thanks, but you can't fight ghosts without a fancy vacuum cleaner like the Poltergust 5000."

"Hey, Sgt. Calhoun from Hero's Duty showed me the ropes of basic combat so I can help my fellow racers protect Sugar Rush in case of another Cy-Bug attack, especially the time that loony named Purple Basilisk tried to take over."

"Wario told me about him and-a his five Chaotic Bombers one time. Anyway, I'll see what we can do right after we talk to Professor E. Gadd."

[End BGM]


[Fight BGM: Gradual Infiltration (Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon)]

Later, the trio were pixelated back to E. Gadd's bunker, where they handed over the next Dark Moon piece. Then they talked with him about where to go from here, despite sharing concerns about Vanellope's involvement, given her lack of knowledge on how the Poltergust 5000 worked. On top of that, E. Gadd revealed that he knew something like this would happen, so he built another Poltergust 5000 (only it's green instead of red) with the help of his Toad assistants. This was intended for teamwork, especially in a distant tower known as the ScareScraper. He had shown Toad and Toadette how to use it while Luigi and Candlehead were fighting the Harsh Possessor, so they could accompany Vanellope on their journey at the Secret Mine. E. Gadd pixelized Toad, Toadette, and Vanellope first, and then did the same for Luigi and Candlehead, only now he pixelized the latter group to the Old Clockworks to defeat one other Possessor.

Visiting the Old Clockworks brought back memories of the time Luigi had to find the three pieces of the Clock Tower Gate, which were pulled off by the rogue ghosts to prevent anybody from reaching the Overset Possessor's personal lair. Luckily, the pieces weren't plucked out this time, but Luigi didn't intend on letting his guard down. Using the nearby rotor, he and Candlehead rotated the clock gate's hands until they displayed 7:30. Then they stepped inside to navigate their way to the Belfry and hopped on a springboard by the ladder, which flung them to the top of the clock tower via the Belfry Clock. The Overset Possessor, having expected their arrival, possessed the clock itself to do battle. Rotating the clock's hands, the Possessor summoned wave after wave of ghosts in accordance to the time to assist him in doing away with the unlikely duo. The hands glowed red each time they rotated, prompting Luigi and Candlehead to avoid getting burned. Nevertheless, they fought the respective wave of ghosts until every fourth hour on the clock passed. Then the Overset Possessor came out to ram them down while the clock hands remained active by his command in an effort to trap the duo. After four missed rams (albeit barely since, unsurprisingly, it had been a while since Luigi last fought him), Candlehead pelted him with some of her Cherry Bombs until he was stunned. Luigi pulled out his Poltergust 5000 to rip one of the ghost's skin layers off his spectral body, prompting him to fly back into the clock. After two more repeated phases - in addition to avoiding the Robot Bombs the ghost summoned to explode on Luigi and Candlehead - the Possessor was defeated and the Dark Moon piece expelled from his body.

"Phew! We made it, Candlehead! Now to free another of-a my friends before we go." Luigi uncovered a hidden portrait of Princess Daisy with the Dark-Light Device, sucked in the Spirit Balls that came out to reveal it, and used the device again to free Daisy.

[End BGM]

"Oh, my goodness! Is that you, Luigi?"

Luigi smiled. "Yeah! I'm-a glad you're okay."

Daisy hugged him warmly. "And so am I. You've gotta save the rest of us before it's too late!"

"I know, right? I was told about-a someone named-a Luigi-Droid."

"I'll bet Bowser did it."

"Toadette thought the same way, too, but-a Toad didn't believe it to be the case-a. Gotta be one of his seven sons, Bowser Jr.!" Luigi imagined Bowser Jr. controlling the robot impostor from inside, gloating about how he would get even with Luigi for spoiling his king dad's fun back on Pi'illo Island. Daisy, however, probably thought otherwise since it's not possible Bowser Jr. or any other Koopalings knew of Evershade Valley's location unless they were told about it. "Guess not, huh?"

"I'm sure we'll find our answer once we get to Treacherous Mansion." Then Daisy turned over to Candlehead. "By the way, who's this kid?"

"It's a long-a story, Daisy..." said Luigi.

Another half hour later, both groups reunited at E. Gadd's bunker with Vanellope, Toad, and Toadette having brought Sgt. Calhoun back from the Secret Mine. They told Luigi and Candlehead how difficult it was to have survived the fight against the Shrewd Possessor, whom Luigi recalled possessing large sheet of ice to attack him. He gulped at the scary thought, but Vanellope assured him that she made it out alive with Toad and Toadette's help, reminding him that Calhoun gave her a heads-up on basic combat sometime before Purple Basilisk and the Chaotic Bombers attempted to conquer Game Central Station.

With five out of all six Dark Moon pieces recovered, the group would eventually be pixelated to Treacherous Mansion for one final mission to save Evershade Valley. While Calhoun leads Vanellope, Toad, Toadette, and Daisy to find the portraits of Mario, Peach, Ralph, and Felix, Luigi and Candlehead would go directly to the party itself and stop Luigi-Droid once and for all.

TO BE CONTINUED...


Only one mansion left, and one more chapter to go. I'll be sure to have this posted by Halloween night however I can, but other than that, see you next time!