Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon

Chapter Five: The Missing Stairs

Backing away from the approaching phantom, Luigi quickly looked back and forth around the room, but all of the exits were now covered by those glowing blue bars, and it wasn't like he had the strength to break through the wall. The blue ghost chuckled to himself, laughing after the green plumber gasped and ran around to the left side of the room in reaction to almost being grabbed, and then the phantom dove at him again, swooping down almost flat to the floor and suddenly coming up. However, this time it was the blue ghost's turn to gasp in shock when the vacuum came to life just as it was reaching out for another grab, and now it desperately pulled back while its glowing blue mouth was sucked into the Poltergust's head.

It hadn't really been that long since facing that family of ghosts inside his mansion, but Luigi had forgotten just how hard a phantom could pull, and now it was all coming back to him as the flailing, screaming ghost dragged him across the floor. Rolling across the tile and bouncing off the wall, the green plumber had never considered trying to capture a ghost simply by letting it get too close to the vacuum until he accidently pushed the switch, but hey a win was a win, right? Wrong! One more strong buck of its body, and the blue phantom freed itself from the vacuum head with a loud pop sound, allowing Luigi to come to a stop on the floor while the ghost slammed into an old coat cabinet, breaking the old wood into a dozen pieces as it slid down to the floor.

"Wow, that was a close one." The blue ghost said, shaking off the dizziness. "Maybe you're not as useless as we first… hey, what do you think you're doing?!"

While the blue phantom was recovering from that crash, the green plumber had scrambled to his feet, doing a sort of stumbling run/crawl over to the nearest side door, where the flashlight beam was reflecting brightly against the dim glowing bars. Remembering what the old man said about each ghost's abilities, Luigi recalled that while the blue one wasn't bothered by things like regular flashlights, the same wasn't true for it's barriers and illusions, and now the blue glow was slowly giving way to the yellowish beam. Again calling out for him to stop, the green plumber kept the flashlight focused until the last bit of the bars faded away, turning the knob and pulling open the door just before the phantom reached him.

Forcing the ghost to turn and fly off in another direction by turning the vacuum on again while aiming it over his shoulder, Luigi ran down this new hallway, brushing against a large gathering of spiderwebs and then throwing open the next door that he came to. He immediately turned off the flashlight so that it wouldn't be so easy for the blue ghost to find him, but of course now it was taking his eyes a minute to adjust to the candles spaced around this smaller room. Like the other parts he had seen of Gloomy Manor, there was just enough flickering light to see the shapes and silhouettes of what was around him, and there was a second smell along with the dust and cobwebs, kind of like drying paint.

As his eyes adjusted more to the darkness, the green plumber realized that this room was some kind of art studio, or maybe a study that was being used for painting. There were small paint cans on the floor with the lids only partway on, an old wooden palette with several colors long ago dried in place, and a large easel propped up where a white canvas was set. Well, it might have been white once upon a time, now more of a faded yellow, and the image created in the center was a disturbing one… that of a familiar looking pair of green overalls and hat being worn by someone who was being hung upside down from a tree next to a very large ghost that was grinning while…

Suddenly the door was thrown open, giving Luigi just enough time to get behind the large easel as, not the blue ghost, but the big red one came floating into the room. Unlike his companions, Mr. Hammer was so big that the glow coming off its body was enough to illuminate, not the whole room, but at least the walls and floor around where he was. Those large glowing yellow eyes moved back and forth, those long, stocky arms hanging down while the fingers opened and closed in anticipation for capturing their target. Slowly and steadily moving through the room, the green plumber watched the ghost while edging his way around the easel, feeling thankful that the old wooden paint stand and its canvas was so big, sliding around to the other side of it and sneaking his way back toward the door while Mr. Hammer kept searching.

"Professor, can you see where the blue one is on the cameras?" Luigi whispered, reaching out and slowly, quietly turning the knob. "Is the hallway clear?"

"The blue ghost is in the hallway, but heading toward the other end." The old man's voice came through. "If you're gonna move, you need to do it right now, and be careful… the red ghost might be somewhere around, too."

Oh great, the green plumber thought, taking another look behind him at the still searching Mr. Hammer, clearly the Professor's surveillance system was top-notch. But even if the blue ghost was right out there waiting for him, the red one would find him in a matter of seconds, to Luigi opened the door just enough for him to squeeze through, before letting out a sigh of relief when he didn't see any glowing blue lights while looking up and down the hallway. Quietly closing the door behind him, the green plumber moved faster back into the main hall, running over to the slope where the stairway used to be, and having to grab onto the handrail to stop himself from tripping.

"Luigi, the ghosts are starting to head back." The old man's voice said as he aimed the flashlight at the missing stairs. "Well, the red one keeps circling around the art studio, but the blue one is definitely moving toward you."

Just like with the bars over the door, the flashlight started to reflect brightly, and from the darkness a glowing blue silhouette of stairs began to appear, but slower than dispelling the bars. Maybe it was because the blue phantom was on his way back that it felt like this was taking forever, but at least the stairs were a bit more visible each time that Luigi shifted his gave between them and the door behind him. Then there was a brief flash, and the stairs were back the way they had been when he first got there. Without a second to lose, the green plumber started up, keeping one hand on the railing as he crept his way toward the second floor, and thankfully there was a thick carpet up the center to muffle his…

"There you are!" The blue phantom declared, floating through the closed door. "Hammer, I found him! Hammer, he's out here, I'm looking at him!"

"Are you sure?!" The red one's muffled deep, slow voice yelled back. "I followed him in here, and I think I'm getting close! Come help me, we'll corner him!"

The blue ghost started to argue again, so Luigi took off running up the stairs, to which the phantom raised its arms, sending that same energy at the stairway that it did before. The green plumber fell on his face, the stairs vanishing while his foot was still on the last one, and the blue phantom growled with frustration when he landed on the second floor instead of sliding down. Up ahead was the door that the Professor said would lead to the lab where the Poltergust's upgrade would be found, so he scrambled to his feet, and the blue ghost must've thought he'd never get up there, because the door wasn't blocked. The phantom noticed this, too, and flew upward to block the green plumber's path, getting right in between him and the door with transparent arms reached out to grab him…

Trying his best to stop, but his shoes just sliding across the carpet, Luigi screamed in fright while falling backwards, coming to a stop right underneath the hovering blue ghost, and gripping the vacuum so tightly that the switch was turned on. Now the phantom's scream was added to his own that was still going on, and with its whole glowing blue head stuck inside the Poltergust, the ghost flew straight upward, causing both of them to crash into the ceiling, and they had only just landed back on the floor, when the phantom flew off sideways while the vacuum sucked him in up to his shoulders. Now headed right for the missing stairs, the green plumber stopped this by grabbing onto the balcony's railing with one hand, so the trapped ghost changed direction, this time going right over the edge.

Keeping his grip so that the phantom wouldn't pull him down to the first floor, Luigi struggled to hold on, wrapping his legs around the railing as well, and then he had to grab on with both hands when the ghost stopped pulling. Vanishing down into the Poltergust like the green one, all the commotion stopped, and Luigi had to pull himself back up over the railing once the pull switched from sideways to straight down, and then he just fell onto the floor, laying there on the balcony trying to catch his breath. He thought that ghost hunting was difficult before, but it was so much harder without being able to use light against them, but hey, now that the blue one was gone, that meant no more barriers and missing things, right? Had to, since as soon as the blue phantom was captured the stairs reappeared.

"I think you might be right." Mr. Hammer said as he floated in through the door downstairs. "I don't think he's in that room at all… hey… hey, blue guy… where'd you go? Hey, Luigi… have you seen the blue guy?"

"Uh… yes." The green plumber hesitantly replied, getting up to his knees. "He went that way, out toward the, uh… the garage."

Without saying anything else, the red phantom turned away and started floating toward the wooden double doors leading to the entrance hallway, while Luigi, not quite believing that his trick worked, crawled toward the smaller door in front of him. However, he was just reaching out and turning the knob, when an angry growl reached his ears from down below. The red ghost had stopped moving, and was now turned back toward him, eyes narrowed and blocky jaw clinched in what looked like maybe… frustration? It was hard to tell with Mr. Hammer.

"Wait a second." The red phantom spoke. "Are you… are you trying to pull a fast one on me?"

Luigi just stayed still for a second, trying to think of something to say, but then fear took over and he screamed, pulling the door open and running through while Mr. Hammer floated after him.