Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon

Chapter Nine: Not Finished Yet

"Honestly, I'm not sure where she's from." Princess Daisy's voice was heard saying as Luigi pulled open the door. "I think she's Bowser's maybe… half… cousin or something, but she's real hot for Mario, I mean she's got it bad. Between you and me, I think my dear cousin, Peach, is starting to get jealous. Luigi, you're back!"

Knocking the chair over as she jumped to her feet, Daisy ran over and nearly knocked the green plumber over as well when she threw her arms around him. Rapidly kissing him all over the face, the Princess startled him by pulling him by the arm over to the table where she and the old man had been sitting, kicking up the fallen chair with her foot so that he could sit down while she took the other one next to him. It was a struggle to get the Poltergust off his back while in that position, but once he did it felt a whole lot better to be in that chair, and this was… wow, this was the first time he got to just sit down since entering Gloomy Manor.

"Here's the Dark Moon, and a Poltergust full of ghosts, Professor." Luigi said, setting both on top of the table. "So let's get this over with so we can just… be done with it."

"You haven't changed a bit, boy." The old man replied, first taking the vacuum. "You can't sit still for even a minute, huh? And what did you do to the flashlight?"

Getting up from his wooden chair, the Professor took the vacuum over to a rounded metal slot on the wall, and attached the hose with a twist to lock it in place. Then with a push of another button, the hose started to move a little as the green, blue, yellow, white, and even the massive red one that took a second to get through, were placed into containment. Once that was done, the old man took the purple gem and activated the cleaning machine he had used earlier on the first piece. Thus began the process of literally scrubbing the Dark Moon clean, taking several minutes just like the last one, but that was okay… Luigi didn't mind sitting in that chair.

"Oh, Luigi, you were so brave." Daisy said, holding onto his arm. "These really old cameras only show an updated image every five seconds or so, but it was amazing how you took down each of those ghosts like they were nothing. I mean, I knew you were a big tough ghost hunter already, but to see it for myself like that… Peach can have your brother, I saw you first."

"He's great right up until his luck runs out." The Professor added, sitting down so he could remove the broken lens from the flashlight. "Challenging Mr. Hammer head-on… breaking your flashlight to start a fire when there's no way you could have known that would work for certain… keep flipping a coin for your life, boy, and one day it's gonna come up tails."

Right now the green plumber didn't have the energy to argue with anyone, and he was just so happy to have survive Gloomy Manor that he just sat there quietly, even once the Dark Moon was finished. Like the other piece, this one no longer had dark energy crackling around it, and then it flew off the cleaning machine, attracted to the other piece like a powerful magnet until they fused together with a brief flash of purple light. As soon as this happened, the fog outside started to move, with the monitors showing it clearing out to reveal what looked like another building. This one was different from Gloomy Manor, though, as it had separate towers on both sides and what looked like a… a tree growing right out of the center?

"Look, Luigi, you set the Haunted Towers free." The Princess said excitedly, pointing to the monitor. "That one was always one of my favorites; its filled with special night blooming plants that only grow in Evershade Valley, in addition to all the friendly, er… no longer friendly ghosts."

"Yes, and it looks like we've got trouble." The Professor said, looking away from the broken flashlight to touch another button. "It looks like when the ghosts went wild they damaged the irrigation system, and now the plants are growing out of control. You're going to have to do something about that if you ant any chance of finding the Dark Moon piece."

"Wait a second, what do you mean find the piece?" The green plumber asked, suddenly awake and alert. "You're telling me that wasn't the only missing piece… there's more?!"

Yes, it was true; not only were there more, a few more pieces of the Dark Moon that needed to be recovered, but also more buildings hidden within the fog of Evershade Valley, and still more types of ghosts as well. In that one moment Luigi's hopes of going home with Daisy were dashed, and he suddenly felt even more worn out and tired than before. The security monitors showed partial images that were blocked by leaves and other obstructions, while the scanners were just rapidly moving back and forth across their analog meters as if unable to detect anything at all.

"I hope you still remember how to turn a wrench, boy." The old man said, his voice strained as he tightened the new lens on the flashlight. "Because this water problem has to be fixed before my equipment can even detect ghosts much less the Dark Moon."

It was at this moment that the green plumber had enough; it wasn't like Mario had been kidnapped this time, and he had already done more about this situation than anyone else in this whole king, making him want to do nothing more than just walk away from it all. Yeah, he could just say no and go back home to his comfortable mansion and… and then he saw the Princess looking at him with so much love and admiration in her eyes, and he knew… he knew that he was about to make a really bad decision, but it couldn't be helped. No matter how terrified Luigi was of ghosts, and he sure was, the thought of Daisy thinking he was a quitter or that he didn't care about Evershade Valley… it was just too much.

"All right, let's get back to it." He reluctantly said once the Professor was finished repairing the flashlight. "Looks like I got a pipe to fix, or whatever's wrong with those towers."

"Chin up, my boy, chin up now." The old man replied, helping him put the vacuum back on. "I know that plumbing isn't nearly as fun as all the death defying crap you pulled back in Gloomy Manor, but no one ever said ghost hunting was all fun and games, and you're the only plumber we got. I promise you'll be back swinging on chandeliers and diving off rooftops or whatever in no time."

"Please be careful, Luigi." Daisy said, giving him a hug. "I know you're a big tough, ruggedly handsome ghost hunter and all, but… just… try not to dive off any rooftops unless you have to, okay?"

Returning the hug while giving her a somewhat confused agreement, a crash of thunder from outside brought the green plumber's thoughts back to the present, and of course it was raining harder outside when he opened the bunker's door. Part of him was jealous that the two of them got to stay in the bunker where it was dry and safe while he had to go out and do all the work. Having gotten used to the light of both the bunker and Gloomy Manor, the Haunted Towers over there in the distance looked even more frightening since they were still dark except for the flashes of lightning, and wow that tree growing out of them was big. It was taller than the whole building with a canopy of leaves wide enough to stop most of the rain from reaching it, which was nice since it gave him a break from the storm without having to go in just yet.

A stone wall surrounded the whole building, and beyond it a single floor middle section seemed to connect the towers like an east and west wing, each with an additional two floors stacked on top. No candle light could be seen, at least not from where he was standing outside the metal gate, but there were certainly a lot of plants. Where most plants shriveled up at night, these ones were in full bloom and open as if the sun was out, same with the large flowers planted around the courtyard beyond the gate. The Princess was right, the night blooming flowers were really beautiful to look at, and Luigi wished he could spend more time looking at them instead of going into a place called Haunted Towers… and hey, they started to close up when the flashlight beam was passed over them.

"You should start by checking the generator for the irrigation system." The Professor's voice said, startling him. "It's located just past the gate in a machine shop to your right."

"Got it." The green plumber replied, passing the fixed flashlight beam around the courtyard. "Maybe it just needs to be restarted, huh?"

No, Luigi didn't believe that, either, but there were no ghosts visible in the courtyard, so he gave the metal gate a push, but it resisted. The latch wasn't locked, the hinges were just rusty, so he put his shoulder against the bars and pushed with all his might until the gate moved with an awful, drawn out squeeeeeeak. Moving it just enough to get himself through, the green plumber took another quick look around with the flashlight before quietly making his way over toward the machine shop. Even though the lights weren't on inside when he pushed open the heavy wooden door, somehow the generator was still running, making a weak kind of putt-putt-putt sound when he walked up to it.

"I can't see anything wrong with the generator itself, Professor." Luigi reported. "Maybe one of the main flow valves is rusted… where's the main water source? Is it a nearby well, or natural water table, or what?"

"No, no, my boy, nothing like that." The old man replied. "This system is probably almost as old as I am, so it doesn't have any of your fancy modern doo-dads. Because of the weather, most of the irrigation water is supplied from rain, which is collected and stored on the roof."

Oh, of course it was… why would it be anything easy like a valve that could be checked from outside, when it could be at the very top of one of the ghost infested towers? What was this, his first day of ghost hunting? The main entrance was at the center but was overgrown with vines that looked like they were coming from that big tree, leaving only another wooden door across from the one leading to the machine shop. Part of him considered simply waiting until sunrise and then taking care of all of this when the ghosts were driven away, but then Luigi remembered that this was Evershade Valley… a place where it was always night. So much for that idea, so the green plumber had no choice but to walk over to the other wooden door, take a deep breath, and push it open.