Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon

Chapter Fourteen: Overload

"Get… back… here!" The massive ghost called between labored breaths. "This… isn't… funny!"

Fine, maybe it wasn't, Luigi thought as he moved away from the pool, toward the now open stairway, but neither was the idea of letting that big yellow phantom get a hold of him. Finally able to move quickly again once he was past the slippery concrete, the green plumber kept one hand on the railing while charging down the stairs, pushing the door open as soon as he reached the second floor to reveal… the little ghost dog. This four legged white phantom was sitting in the middle of the wrecked living space, wagging its ghostly tail and holding the pinwheel device in its mouth, again looking like any normal dog waiting to play fetch with its owner.

"Okay, good doggy, you stay right there." He said calmly, carefully moving forward. "Just be a good little doggy and give me the pinwheel thing, okay?"

Becoming nervous when the ghost dog suddenly stood up, Luigi sighed in relief when instead of running away, the phantom barked happily before starting back toward him. The green plumber was so happy not to have to do something silly like chase the little dog all around Evershade Valley, that he couldn't help jumping with fright when there was a loud crash behind him. Well, it was more like several crashes in rapid succession, followed by the door he had just come through being blasted from its hinges so hard that it broke in half, revealing the massive yellow ghost lying on its back as if it had just fallen down the stairs.

"So tired… so hungry." The prone ghost moaned, struggling to get back up. "Someone… bring me… a Diet Coke."

In response to the commotion and the yellow phantom's reappearance, the phantom dog whined in fright, barking a few times as it turned and float/ran its way toward the door that led to the first-floor stairway. Partly vanishing through, and partly knocking it open because of carrying the pinwheel object, either way the dog was gone again, leaving Luigi to once again face off with the big yellow phantom, its eyes glowing seemingly brighter with rage as it got to its feet, while its stomach grumbled. All this running around was making the green plumber pretty tired as well, and if he kept it up it wouldn't be long before he was moving just as slow as the massive ghost, so something had to be done about it.

"Daisy, keep watch for that dog on the cameras." He said into the radio, pushing the button to charge the Strobulb. "I'm getting too tired to run… I have to capture this ghost."

"Be careful, Luigi." The Princess's voice replied. "I wonder if Peach ever had to see this kind of thing happen to Mario."

Only during the fights with Bowser, the green plumber thought, advancing toward the massive phantom. As soon as he was in range, Luigi released the charged up flash of light, blinding the ghost just like all the others to the point where it covered its eyes. This time he blasted his pursuer a couple different times just to make sure, but when it came time to suck the phantom into the Poltergust, the same problem occurred as with his first attempt. The ghost was just too big and solid for the vacuum to pull it into the hose. Trying this on a couple different areas of the transparent yellow body, the green plumber was having no luck at all, but then he gasped when the phantom's glowing yellow hands wrapped themselves around the vacuum's head.

"No!" He yelled, pulling back on it. "Let go!"

The massive phantom had enough strength to lift Luigi off his feet each time it pulled on the vacuum head in order to try and take it away from him, but the green plumber managed to hold on, probably because his pursuer didn't realize that the Poltergust was attached to his back. Now they were both struggling for grip, the vacuum, flashlight, and strobulb switches being constantly turned on and off as they stumbled around the destroyed living area, until the massive phantom gasped in surprise after tripping over the leg of a broken table. Luigi gasped as well, but the sound was cut off as the large yellow ghost fell forward… landing right on top of him.

In most cases, the green plumber might have been doomed to suffocate underneath the transparent body, but at the same time that the big ghost fell, every single button on the Poltergust was pressed at once, causing the part on his back to vibrate a lot more strongly than it should have. The vibrations got stronger and stronger, becoming a crackling sound like a bunch of small firecrackers had been dropped into the main unit. Vibrating, crackling, and a little black smoke before there was a massive release of energy, like a green lightning bolt from the head, powerful enough to send the big ghost's body flying upward upon contact. When it came back down, smoldering and groaning, the vacuum feature was still running, and this time… this time the Poltergust was having a better effect.

Where it had been unable to do anything except attach itself to the ghost's big body before, now the head was slowing drawing the glowing yellow material inward, probably successful because the pursuer was too tired to fight any longer. It took a while, longer than the others phantoms, but eventually it vanished down into the vacuum head, traveled through the hose, and then everything was quiet once it was settled into the main compartment. As much as he wanted to take a rest, the green plumber had to get up and keep going… had to find that ghost dog again and get the pinwheel device before anything else showed up to get him… especially since the Poltergust itself didn't look so good.

The unit's indicator lights were blinking while a light trail of black smoke came out from the vacuum head. Was it some kind of overload that weakened that big ghost for capture? And if so, did the Poltergust simply need to cool down for a while, or was it broken? The indicator on the main unit was still blinking, and now the vacuum's buttons weren't responding, not even the flashlight, making Luigi nervous as he followed the dog down the stairs to the first floor. Thankfully the radio still worked, allowing him to speak with Daisy, informing him that the ghost dog was still downstairs, and also her voice was comforting to him… making it easier to walk down the stairs after being flattened by such a big ghost.

"Oh, Luigi, I thought you were a goner for sure that time." The Princess's voice crackled through the radio. "How did you know overloading the Poltergust like that would work? How did you know it wouldn't kill you?"

"Well… there wasn't much other choice." He explained, reaching the bottom of the stairs. "If the overload didn't work I was gonna be flattened anyway, right?"

More advice about being careful now, making her sound a bit like the Professor, but honestly Luigi wanted nothing more than to be as careful as possible… it was just that these things kept happening to him, and hopefully once this whole thing with the Dark Moon was sorted out, then he could leave his ghost hunting days behind him. For now, the only thing the green plumber was concerned with was finding that dog, and since there weren't very many of the old man's cameras around the outside of the buildings, it was going to be difficult… unless the phantom doggy was just sitting there waiting for him… in front of that closed gate to the massive tree… still holding the pinwheel device.

All right, it was time for a third attempt to reach this transparent little ghost, so the green plumber carefully approached, calling to the phantom and slowly reaching out his gloved hands until they were able to grab onto the pinwheel device. Expecting to have to struggle at least a bit for it, the green plumber was surprised when the dog let go, floating and jumping around excitedly as if it wanted him to throw the pinwheel like a stick. Well, that wasn't going to happen, and he couldn't exactly capture the dog because the Poltergust hadn't cooled down yet, so he did the next best thing. Reaching down and picking up a stick, Luigi tossed it as far away as he could, turning around and putting the pinwheel into place while the ghost dog went after it.

Once the object was locked in, the green plumber spun it around, watching as the bars holding the gate in place slowly released a bit more with each turn until the whole thing started to swing open slowly on rusty hinges. He had to push it a bit… well, a lot since the gate was stopped part way because of a lot of rust, which the constant rain didn't help with, and then with a loud screech, the gate flew open while Luigi fell on his face in the mud. Being as tired as he was, it was tempting for the green plumber to simply lay there and get some sleep, but the Haunted Towers weren't anything close to safe, not until the other piece of the Dark Moon was recovered and cleaned up.

Pulling himself up to a sitting position, Luigi gasped as he was knocked back down by the reappearance of the ghostly dog pouncing on him, the stick clenched in its teeth while its tail wagged happily. He tossed the stick again as soon as the dog let go, using the time before it came back to pull himself up to his feet with the gate, and now… and now the massive tree was before him. Looking up… and up… and up, the tree was far taller than the east and west towers, with its green leafy canopy stretching far beyond both in all directions, and blocking a good portion of the falling rain, but not all. A wooden staircase was built at the base, traveling up to a platform, followed by another staircase… yeah, it all looked like a covered deck that worked its way up toward the leaves.

"Leapin' linguini" He said into the radio. "Daisy, are we sure its all the way up there… like… all the way?"

"That's what it looks like from here." The Princess's voice replied. "I'm not sure how to read all these panels, but the strongest thing it shows is all the way up there."

Oh course it was, the green plumber thought as he started walking toward the base of the tree, followed shortly after by the ghostly dog… of course it was.