Chapter 3 Boohemoth
As Luigi emerged from the pipe, a million thoughts raced around in his head. Not a single one of them were pleasant in the slightest. All the times he's been to his mansion, he's always come out of it with an elevated heart rate and shivers that caused his entire body to quake. He had tried telling himself that there is nothing scary about ghosts and boos, that they were just like any other enemy he would fight in any other setting. He never believed those words. It didn't matter how many times he would repeat it; he still shook whenever he ran into ghosts of any kind.
He would bet good money that Mario wouldn't be afraid of ghosts.
Well, that was neither here nor there at the moment. With the Poltergust G-00 strapped to his back, he slowly made his way to the mansion. He wished he didn't need the vacuum. He wished that this was the one time in a million were his mansion wasn't crawling with ghosts. Maybe E Gadd had called because a mini goomba infestation. Maybe the Professor had noticed that the floors and ceilings need to be renovated. Maybe he was throwing Luigi a party? That would be beyond pleasant, and almost make up for Mario blowing him off.
But deep down, Luigi knew none of those were the case. It was ghosts, it had to be ghosts. It was pretty much a guarantee that it would be ghosts.
When he finally got to his mansion, he saw E Gadd in the yard. He had a laptop of sorts on his lap, which displayed an image in dark green. Luigi made his way over. "Hey. E Gadd?"
E Gadd turned and breathed a sigh of relief. "It is beyond nice to lay my eyes upon you, Mr. Luigi." He turned his attention back to his laptop. "There is a great supernatural disturbance that I detected within the walls of your mansion today."
Luigi groaned. That confirmed it; there were ghosts. Couldn't he have one day where his mansion is ghost free? Couldn't there be a day where E Gadd throws a surprise party for him within the building's walls (seriously, he liked that idea the more he dwelled upon it)?
"Great." His sarcasm was so bitter that it made unsweetened coffee seem preferable. "That's great."
E Gadd looked up from his laptop. A worry appeared in his eyes and the other parts of his face, making wrinkles appear in his forehead. "Yes. The ghosts are creating quite the hullabaloo. I'm not sure if they have a leader, but their actions are very organized and…well, more deliberately careful than most ghosts. I wouldn't be surprised if there was one acting as a leader; an alpha, of sorts."
Luigi sniffed and tried to prevent himself from shaking. All of these details made his nerves more wracked up. An alpha ghost? Like a bigger, badder boo? Like King Boo? Luigi could barely deal with regular boos! How in the Mushroom World was he supposed to deal with an "alpha?" A monster of that degree would pulverize him!
But that didn't matter. Luigi still had to go into the mansion. If he didn't take care of the boos running rampant within those walls, more would come. They would destroy every last item in the mansion before deciding they could do better and spreading their mischievous influence to neighboring towns. Not preferable. Not preferable at all.
"Well." Luigi tightened his grasp on the straps keeping the poltergust on his back. "They're not going to be there for long." He did his best to sound confident. While he succeeded, it didn't help him feel confident.
E Gadd smiled. "I knew I could count on you to take care of those little devilly boos." He handed Luigi a walkie talkie. "I will be with you every step of the way. Virtually, of course." He pressed a button on the laptop. "I have hacked myself into every hidden camera in the mansion, so I will be able to give you pointers and the like."
Luigi raised an eyebrow. "Hidden cameras? Since when were there hidden cameras in my mansion?"
E Gadd seized up. "Oh." He was silent for a minute before chuckling nervously. "Why, research purposes of course!" His face turned red. "Among other things."
"Mmhm." After getting a flashlight from the Professor, Luigi made his way into the mansion. The flashlight was deemed necessary right from the start; it was like the middle of the night. He turned on the light, trembling in the cold as he traversed down the hallway.
He could do this. He'd beaten ghosts before. Those little buggers wouldn't know the first thing that hit them. When he would suck them up with his vacuum, that would be their end. No way out, no way to call for help, not even any hope that they would eventually be released. In some ways, it was a fate worse than death (ironically funny and fitting as the boos technically already met their death). Yes, Luigi could do this. There was no reason to be afraid. No reason to be a scaredy cat and leave the mansion screaming up a storm…
Teeheehee!
Luigi jumped. This was awful! He was supposed to spend this day hanging out with his older brother! And yet, here he was, experiencing his own personal hell for about the fourth time. He wished he never entered this stupid mansion! He wished Mario never went to give that stupid speech at the mall!
Mario. Oh sweet heavens to betsy Mario. The more Luigi thought about his brother, the more angry he became. The anger didn't drown out the fear, but it did severely dampen it. This was all Mario's fault. He should be spending time with Luigi, going to Water Park and dancing at Electrodrome! They should be eating together, going to the movies and taking their go karts out for a race! Why did Mario have to blow him off like that? Why did he have to leave Luigi to deal with a toilet. Sure, it was his profession, but jobs were much less enjoyable than spending time with loved ones! As soon as Luigi finished up his time hunting boos, he was going to have a long, angry spiel directed at his brother.
Ha ha ha ha!
Luigi nearly shrieked. Where was the boo who was laughing like that? Where was the boo that was making his hair stand on end and making his breathing rate spike up?
Oh, there it was. Milky white and translucent, it drifted out from the wall. It had a grin on its face, a grin that displayed fangs. The way it floated was so carefree. At least, until it knocked a painting off the wall. When it did, it danced around, twirling like a ballerina and throwing his arms up like his favorite football team scored a touchdown.
Luigi gulped. He could do this. He needed to do this.
"Say nighty night, boo diddley." He grasped the nozzle of the poltergust. Switching it on, he aimed for the boo. The windy vortex created by the suction was powerful. It made the curtains near the windows quiver like leaves, it almost pulled flowers out of their vase at the end of the hallway. But most importantly, it drew the boo towards it. The little monster screamed, flailing its arms this way and that as it tried to escape the vacuum's grasp. The last thing it did before it got sucked in was scream its nonexistent lungs off so hard that it hurt Luigi's ears.
"Well done, chap!" E Gadd's voice came over the walkie talkie. "Nobody captures boos like you!"
Luigi sighed as he picked up the walkie talkie and held it to his mouth. "Thanks. Where are the other boos located?"
"Hold on; just give me a second." The other end of the device was silent for about twenty seconds before E Gadd spoke up. "Most of them are gathered in clusters upstairs in the bedroom."
Clusters. Oh goody; boo clusters. Next to peanut clusters, they were Luigis' FAVORITE type of clusters.
"Okay," Luigi said. "I'll make my way there." He put the walkie talkie back in his pocket, ignoring the fact that his hands felt sticky and sweaty underneath his trademark gloves. He adjusted his cap and, still trying to keep his breathing rate under control, made his way toward the staircase.
It's all gonna be okay, Luigi told himself. There's no reason to be alarmed, or frightened, or scared. Once again, those words did nothing to help improve his increasingly frightened mood. So, he tried a different tactic; reminding himself of his accomplishments. You've dealt with ghosts three times before. Heck, all three of those times involved you rescuing your brother! You might not think it Luigi, but you're tough. You're tough and strong. When it comes to ghosts, you put Mario to shame!
Okay, that was helping a little bit. Despite that, the anger still returned when the name Mario came up in his thoughts. How much better would it be if Mario was the one holding the poltergust? How much faster would it take if HE was the one catching the boos? He's defeated Bowser more times than he had fingers. He was brave, and smart, and strong. HE should be the one doing this. HE knew what he was doing. HE wouldn't be scared witless.
But that didn't matter, unfortunately. Luigi was still in the mansion and still needed to deal with these supernatural pests. So, he took in a breath and made his way up the stairs. The creak creak creak the stairs produced as he walked up them made him cringe. It was like they were moaning; moaning in pain and tell Luigi that they couldn't take his weight. They held (that Grambi), but those noises still wracked up Luigi's anxieties.
Finally, he got to the bedroom. Sure enough, just like E Gadd said, there were three clusters of six boos floating around. They laughed like merry kings, the sound causing Luigi's eardrums to burn. He shook so hard it felt like his knees were about to give out from under him. Still, he knew he couldn't let that happen. He took a deep breath and readied the poltergust.
"Sorry boo buddies," he said. "But the party's over."
He cranked the vacuum up to max setting. This action produced incredible results. Every single last boo got dragged toward the nozzle. Heck, it wasn't even exclusive to boos; the blankets and pillows on the bed got sucked up into the vacuum too. The suction was so powerful that Luigi felt the force even behind all the wind. He grit his teeth, pressing his foot into the ground as every single last boo got sucked up. Once the air was clear, Luigi switched off the poltergust.
"Thank…the LORD!" He put his hands to his chest. Now that all the boos were gone, his heart and breathing rates slowed back down to normal levels. His goosebumps went away, he stopped trembling, his perspiration ceased…he was feeling much better. The boos were gone, and he had dealt with all of them without running away screaming like a little girl.
HA HA HA!
And just like that, all of Luigi's anxieties returned. What the heck was that? That laugh was louder than any boo laugh he had ever heard! It shook the very foundation of the mansion!
"Who's there?" Luigi grasped the poltergust, his arms shaking as he did. "Show yourself!"
And show itself it did. Luigi gasped and nearly collapsed right then and there. It wasn't just any boo that had appeared before him, oh no. This boo was big. This boo was terrifying. This boo…
Was a boohemoth.
"AHHH!" Luigi didn't even think twice. He bolted out the room, flew down the stairs, and bust out of the mansion. He ran over to E Gadd, who had witnessed everything on his laptop.
"Luigi! Dear boy, are you alright?" He placed his hands on Luigi's back, patting him in a reassuring way. Even then, Luigi still remained terrified.
"It was a boohemoth," he breathed out. "The alpha boo was a boohemoth!" The pitch of his voice was unnaturally high. "It was big, and had fangs, and was looking right at me with its fangs and its beady eyes…" Before he could even recognize what he was doing, Luigi started crying. He curled up into a little ball, bawling like a baby.
"There there," E Gadd said. He bent down so he was level with Luigi's head. "Are you gonna go back in there?"
Luigi bolted his head up. "Are you crazy?" He wiped his nose with his sleeve. "That thing was a boohemoth! It could eat me whole!" He shook his head. "I'm not going back in there, no siree."
E Gadd pursed his lips. "Well, if you don't do something, that alpha boo is going to summon more of his friends and take over the entire mansion!" Luigi didn't stop trembling at that statement, he sighed. "Okay, okay. How about you go back in tomorrow? I'll use my inventions to keep the boo population contained."
Oh, that was a horrible idea! Now Luigi had something to be nervous about, a worry that was going to keep him from sleeping tonight! However, it was still better than having to go after the boohemoth now.
"Okay," he said, his voice shaky. "Sounds like a plan."
With that, he got up and walked away. As he left the professor alone with his trusty laptop, he couldn't help but grumble under his breath.
"I sure hope Mario's having a better day than I am."
