I'm back once more to write.
I don't really have anything to say other than I've been Playing Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak to death…
I'm only stopping because I do believe I've officially hit the point where I can safely say the game is no longer single player friendly, at least it took to the end of Master Rank instead of the middle of High Rank like Monster Hunter World.
Anyway, on with the story.
[[]]
Ruby stood in the library frozen in horror, she knew that high pitched cackle, but that shouldn't have been possible, she had already caught all fifty of them in the Mansion Trap.
So why did she just hear a Boo cackle!?
Ruby fumbled for the TS, the device slipping from her fingers as she brought it up and barely managed to catch it before calling Professor E. Gadd.
E. Gadd answered quickly with a surprised look on his face, "Ruby? Have you found Lui-" He started.
"Professor! Where are the Boo's I caught?" Ruby almost yelled, panic in her eyes.
E. Gadd noticed this and grew concerned, "Buried, after the break in to my lab I had the Boo's sealed in a painting, the painting locked in an iron box, and the box buried." E. Gadd said, "What do you see?"
"The… The door vanished right behind me and then I heard a Boo's cackle." Ruby said with fear in her eyes.
E. Gadd 's eyebrows furrowed behind his glasses, "That should be impossible. The legend said only a legion of fifty Boo's rose from the grave." E. Gadd muttered before Madame Clairvoya floated into view.
"Legends do get muddled up after millenia." Clairvoya pointed out, "Perhaps there were others who became Boo's, not just the knights."
E. Gadd hummed, "Perhaps, but why not bring everyone to the Mansion Trap considering the Boo's power?" E. Gadd muttered.
"Guys!" Ruby cried out, "I'm still trapped in here with potentially a Boo!"
"Oh right." E. Gadd said adjusting his coat, "First off, you're not trapped, remember the Dark Light Device, it should be capable of forcing the door back into a visible state."
"Although." Clairvoya said, "It might be the work of manipulated Spirit Balls."
"Spirit balls?" Ruby whimpered as she continuously scanned the room she was in.
"Ah, Spirit Balls." E. Gadd said with a chuckle, "Well… To be perfectly honest I'm not exactly sure what they are, but according to Clairvoya, ghosts specializing in illusions can actually manipulate them into removing things from human and possibly Faunus sight. Thankfully I can promise you the Dark Light can force them out of whatever they are making invisible, though you will have to keep them away from the object to ensure it becomes visible again."
Ruby nodded, "Okay so if something is invisible I just shine the Dark Light on it." Ruby muttered, "But how the heck can I notice if something is invisible!?"
"These are old buildings Ruby." Clairvoya assured, "Outside of the fact they do still exist and you can bump into them, the fact they are missing will still stick out. Outlines of dust, object's floating without a spiritual aura holding them up, oddly out of place open space. Really invisible objects stand out much more than you would think."
Thankfully this calmed Ruby down, "Okay so, use the Dark Light to reveal the door, catch the Spirit Balls in the Poltergust to keep them away from the door, find and catch the possible Boo, find Luigi." Ruby listed.
"Right." E. Gadd said, "I've got a spare ghost vault in the basement, so I'll reconfigure the system to identify Boo's and lock them in that one. Good luck Ruby, follow the trail of invisible objects and you should catch up to our culprit soon enough, Spirit Balls aren't that fast to gather in an area."
Ruby nodded and hung up the TS before turning to where the door used to be, pulling out her flashlight as she did so.
Turning on the Dark Light device, Ruby aimed it at the spot where the door used to be causing a pale blue image of the missing door to be forced into existence, shortly after the door image pulsed and five ghostly blue orbs popped out.
"Whoa…" Ruby breathed looking at the Spirit Orbs just floating in the room, not making any attempt at attacking her, "I'm gonna feel bad about doing this." And with that, Ruby vacuumed up the five spirit orbs.
The pale blue image of the door pulse once again and this time its normal colors appeared once again.
"That was easier done than said." Ruby muttered, referring to the process of bringing invisible objects back into existence. Actually finding those things would likely be a pain. Nonetheless with the door now revealed Ruby stepped through and returned to the kitchen.
Looking around, Ruby tried to find evidence of missing objects or the possible Boo in the mansion.
Ruby heard the cackle once again, directly above her.
"Dining room." Ruby muttered before running toward the dumbwaiter, pulling the rope to open it, and climbed in before getting shot upward in the blink of an eye.
"Ugh…" Ruby groaned as she rolled out of the dumbwaiter in the dining room, "Okay, where is… Oh." Ruby started only to notice the dining table was missing, but the table cloth and everything on top of the table was still visible.
Figuring the Boo moved on from the room, Ruby aimed her Dark Light at the table and forced the Spirit Balls out of the furniture, this time eight of them popped out, though they were just as quickly captured. However, one thing different she noticed was the familiar shaped outline on the floor below her, indiaticing a ghost had gone through the floor somewhat recently.
With the table visible again, as Ruby didn't want to leave an invisible table to result in trouble- And considering she's in a haunted mansion it was a valid concern- Ruby made her way back to the library.
Looking around the balcony, Ruby prepared to see the Boo, only to hear it above her once again.
"Huh?" Ruby asked looking up, then her pupils shrunk down to pin pricks.
Ruby had looked up to see the ceiling had broken, revealing the attic of the manor, and a familiar white orb-like ghost was floating around, seemingly looking for something.
"It's…" Ruby whispered to herself, before fear took over and Ruby ran back into the dining room.
Ruby slammed the door shut behind her before leaning against the door and sliding down it, "They're back. And this time THEY have control of the lights." Ruby groaned, she and E. Gadd had figured one of the biggest reasons the Boo's were running from her back in the mansion trap was not just because of the Poltergust, but because Ruby was always at an advantage due to the lights being on.
Now there was a Boo in the Gloomy Manor, and the lights worked on the whims of the ghosts.
Thinking of the Ghost's Ruby noticed she wasn't being attacked, not by the boo or any of the manor's spectral denizens.
"I made enough noise, why isn't anything coming after me?" Ruby muttered looking around, then realization hit her, "These aren't Van Gore's paintings, these are just local ghosts, there's a limit to them." Ruby said in realization, "And I may have captured all of them… Or at least most of them."
Digging out the TS, Ruby pulled up the map to see if she could find a way to the attic.
"In that hall." Ruby said to herself as she tapped on the image of the second floor hall, "Right there was a massive wall of spider webs there, plenty of candles too so it shouldn't be a problem."
With that Ruby sped back out of the dining room, not even stopping in the library with the Boo above her, and barely paid any attention to the Elevator Room or Foyer before returning to the second floor hall.
As the door shut itself behind her, Ruby stared down at the MASSIVE spider web that blocked almost half of the hall.
"Okay, let's do this." Ruby said as she walked up to one of the candles on the wall and tapped it a couple times, "Come on out little guy." She said quietly.
Thankfully she had guessed the right candle as a Fire Element Ghost rose out of the candle flames and floated toward Ruby, it looked at Ruby for a moment before it bounced happily upon seeing her.
"It's nice to meet you too." Ruby said smiling, she had truly come to enjoy the Elemental Ghost's that existed in the world as company, just the mere presence seemed to help her perk up on a bad day, "Um, can I ask you for a favor?" Ruby asked pointing at the wall of webs, she could have tried to pick off a candle, but in all honesty she expected the candles wouldn't move if she tried.
Thankfully the Fire Elemental was happy to help as it bobbed twice before tackling through the webs, the threads catching ablaze and dissolving in seconds.
"Thank you." Ruby said as she stepped to the end of the hall, and noticing a rope, pulled it with a bit of force, causing a hatch to open and wooden steps to fall and slide out.
Gathering up all her courage, Ruby stepped up into the attic and looked toward the Boo that was floating around as if looking for something.
Ruby took a deep breath, she needed some answers, "Hey!" She shouted, causing the Boo to pause in its search.
"Huh?" The Boo muttered before turning around and spotting Ruby, "What the!? You're not that green bean pole! Who are you?"
"That's right!" Ruby shouted, then blinked, "Wait, what do you mean 'Who am I?' weren't you hiding in your Kings Mansion trap?"
"Mansion Trap?" The Boo asked as it took a pondering pose, the 'jumped', "Oh that thing!" The Boo said in excitement, "Yeah, the King built that to take care of Summer before she could become too big a problem… Wait, aren't you a bit young to be Summer?"
Ruby blinked, all her fear had drained into confusion, "Um… No, I'm Ruby, her daughter." Ruby said.
The Boo sighed and did its best to facepalm, "I knew his majesty failed in the end with that trap considering he called us, but I didn't think those rookies were all beaten by a girl who barely looks like she's in high school." The Boo said.
"Called you?" Ruby asked, then her eyes widened realizing those words implied that King Boo had ESCAPED! She could ask E. Gadd about that later, first she needed information on these apparently new Boo's, "What did you mean rookies? Didn't the legend say only fifty knights and the King rose from their graves?"
The Boo rolled his eyes, "Yes that is true, somewhat." The Boo said, "Those 'Fifty Knights' did rise from their graves… But the thing is that they were all just a bunch of Squires trained by one of us, they had barely reached knighthood at the time they were executed." The Boo sighed in annoyance, "I have no idea why our majesty put so much trust in them, our Inner Circle weren't executed with the rest of them and we rose from our graves much later, but our king puts much more trust into those fools."
Ruby gulped as she took in this information, the Boo's she had captured in the Mansion trap were all apparently a bunch of new knights that hadn't really gotten much combat experience, mostly likely simply relying on the fact they were ghosts.
[Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon OST- Confront the Source Phase 1]
"Well, I've been nice and given you probably a bit too much information." The Boo said, "But in all honesty that was merely pity."
Ruby stepped back and flashed the Strobulb at the Boo, which did nothing to the ghost, then attempted to vacuum the ghost directly, resulting in the same thing happening- Nothing.
"An understandable attempt, but useless." The Boo said as it floated higher, "I may be alone, but everything is on my side here. The light cannot help you, the Poltergust doesn't have the power to drain my energy. And what's more…"
The Boo then vanished from Ruby's sight, causing her to look around the broken attic with fear.
"You can't fight what you can't see!" The Boo's voice echoed in the room.
Just then Ruby felt the ghost ram into her side, throwing her to ground, and causing her Aura to flare to life.
'This is bad.' Ruby thought as she looked around the room.
Ruby saw a swirl of dust on the ground pick up, and jumped to the side as she felt something dash past her.
"Damned layer of dust." Ruby heard the Boo call out.
"There's gotta be something I can fight this thing with." Ruby muttered trying to find the invisible ghost before it could hit her again
Then Ruby blinked as a thought came to her.
Changing the setting on the flashlight, Ruby looked around the room and saw a trail of dust shifting as something moved around it. "Let's see how you like this." Ruby said as she pointed her flashlight at where the Boo was and turned on the Dark Light Device.
"AAHCK!" The Boo cried out as it covered its face, and slowly became visible once again, "What is that!? It burns!" the ghost cried out.
In just a moment the Boo was fully visible, in fact it looked even more solid than it had before, and the ghost's body went limp, still floating in the air as its tongue lolled out.
"Gotcha!" Ruby cried out as she aimed the Poltergust at the ghost and began to vacuum it up, however much to Ruby's confusion only its tongue was caught in the nozzle.
"Le' Oh! Le' Oh!" The boo attempted to cry out in panic as it flailed it's arms, seemingly unable to actually move its body properly in this forcibly corporeal form, though still managing to back up a little.
This gave Ruby an idea, as she began to pull back on the Poltergust, taking steps as she did.
"Hwa are you uoin!? Le' oh of e!" The Boo shouted, demanding Ruby to let go of its tongue.
Ruby smiled as she looked at the Poltergusts charge, "If you say so." Ruby said as she fired the charge, yanking the Boo's tongue with extra force before cutting off the suction of the Poltergust.
The Boo's eyes widened as it realized what Ruby did, its stretched out tongue smacked it in its face, and that force combined with its attempted backwards movement to launch it into the wall behind it.
And because its body was corporeal now, it bounced off the wall at an angle and into another wall, and another, and was then caught in between a few rafter beams for a minute, bouncing like a ping pong ball before it's body landed in front of Ruby, it's eyes swirly with dizziness and stars practically dancing over its head.
"Good night!" Ruby shouted turning on the Poltergust and slamming it against the Boo.
"ACK!" The Boo cried out as it struggled, but with the wind knocked out of it, the ghost couldn't escape… Though he was stuck.
"Come on!" Ruby cried out as she aimed the nozzle and Boo at the ground, then jumped and began to bounce on the ghost, which gave a few squeaks of resistance before it was finally sucked into the Poltergust.
[OST End]
Ruby gave a sigh of relief as she turned off the Poltergust and sat down next to a suit of armor set in the attic, "Thank goodness." Ruby said, then leaned back and let her head hit the side of the armor…
Which began to tilt forward.
"AAAAH!" A familiar voice to Ruby cried out as the armor fell over, causing Ruby to jump up just as the armor crashed to the floor, scattering the pieces of armor to reveal that hiding inside of it was-
"Luigi?" Ruby asked, surprised to find the green plumber was hiding in a suit of armor bigger than him.
[Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon OST- Gloomy Manor- Ambient]
"Oh Ruby…" Luigi's sighed as his body went limp in the armor, "It's just-a you."
Then realizing who it was, the green clad plumber jumped out of the armor, "Wait Ruby? What are-a you doing in this-a place?" Luigi asked.
Ruby smiled seeing the friendly face, "E. Gadd kinda called me in when the ghost's went crazy." Ruby said, "Why were you hiding in the armor?" Ruby asked.
"It was-a made of iron." Luigi said, "Is it-a safe to get to a Pixelator camera?"
Ruby hummed, "It should be?" Ruby mostly asked, "I haven't found any ghosts since I caught that Poltergeist."
"Phew." Luigi's said, "Then lets-a go!" Luigi then held up his hands, "Oh wait- One-a second."
Ruby raised an eyebrow as Luigi dug into the fallen armor and pulled out an old, dusty letter, "What's that?" Ruby asked as the two of them left the attic.
"A letter to-a the mistress of-a the Gloomy Manor from a woman called-a Kuro." Luigi said, piquing Ruby interest, "Apparently the owner of-a this place had many hobbies, including jewel cutting and-a wood carving. So this Kuro person asked-a to make a mask for her based on the Gheist Grimm, and-a to put a Blood Diamond in it."
"Blood Diamond?" Ruby asked as they stepped into the Foyer.
"Thats… Something you should-a talk to the Professor about." Luigi said with a shiver, "Come on, a Pixelator camera should-a be in the elevator room."
Ruby nodded and the two stepped into the Elevator room, where a single Slammer was in there scratching it's head.
"Uh oh!" Ruby and Luigi squeaked as the Slammer noticed them and roared.
"Waah!" Luigi cried out and held out his hands, his aura flared for a moment before a sphere of inverted colors spread out from them, enveloping the entire room.
"Huh?" Ruby gasped, her voice sounding watery and distorted, causing her to grab her throat in surprise.
The Slammer however felt different effects, its eyes widened, its angered frown turned into a drunken smile, and the ghost began to tilt as it floated, not moving forward.
The field of negative colors vanished, with the Slammer remaining the way it was, even laughing lowly, giving off the impression that the ghost was high on drugs.
"The Negative Zone." Luigi said, "That's-a my Semblance."
"The Negative Zone?" Ruby asked as she vacuumed up the Slammer, which was sucked into the Poltergust without a fight- The ghost even giving a cheer as if it were on a theme park ride.
"Yep." Luigi said, "To my friends, it-a does nothing, so long as they aren't actually my-a enemies. But-a to my enemies…"
"They… Trip out?" Ruby asked.
"And-a bit more." Luigi said, "It-a weakens them, slows-a them, sometimes it-a even eats away at-a their Aura."
Ruby gulped at the last bit of information, suddenly she was very glad Luigi was a friend.
The Pixelator camera came online at that moment and aimed at Luigi.
"Well." Luigi said, adjusting his overalls, "I'll-a see you at the bunker." And with that, the green plumber was turned into pixels and sucked into the camera.
"Well, now to wait for the Professor to call." Ruby said, only for the Pixelator camera to aim at her then, "Oh."
[[]]
Professor E. Gadd Ghost Dossiers
Subject: The Boo's
Information on these ghosts are extremely limited, as all I have gathered is based on personal observation of a ghost type almost as hostile as the Grimm, and on legends.
Legends state that the Boo's are a unit of 50 Knights that rose from their graves when they were executed alongside their King (See King Boo) and are loyal to one they refer to as 'The Grimm Queen'
Addendum: There appear to be more Boo's than the 'Fifty Knights' known as the Inner Circle, this 'Inner Circle' contains _ Boo's are avoided execution alongside their kings and are much more competent in combat than the 50 Knights
The Boo's possess a unique array of abilities.
They grow stronger in the presence of other Boo's, can merge together to create a stronger larger Boo (See Boolossus), and can survive in light much better than other ghosts.
Addendum: The Inner Circle is also capable of manipulating Spirit Balls and can turn invisible at will, and they are much more capable of combat than the knights- Though these abilities might only be present due to the lights in Evershade Valley reacting to the whims of ghosts, preventing them from being weakened by light.
Threat Level- EXTREME!
Addition- Though I had thought the Fifty Knights were contained, the reveal of the 'Inner Circle' has sparked worry that there may be even more Boo's out there. Should more be discovered, or captured Boo's escape- Lead them to a confined space and employ the Dark Light Device. This device seems to force Boo's into a more corporeal form (A much different reaction compared to normal ghosts, or even the Painted Ghosts.)
After a Boo has been stunned by the Dark Light, proceed to knock the wind out of them with physical force, they seem to bounce rather well so for best result, launch them into a surface in a confined space and let that knock the wind out of them.