Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon
Chapter Nineteen: Lessons in Ghost Hunting
The now invisible ghost's laughter echoed in the darkness of the old mine junction, the constant bouncing of the sounds off the rocks making it impossible for Daisy to tell which direction they were coming from as she continued moving the flashlight's beam around. From what she saw Luigi do inside Gloomy Manor, strong lights revealed the phantoms even if they were hiding, not all the way, but enough for her to make good use of the strobulb… but where was the thing? With all of the support columns and abandoned mine carts, there were a ton of places for a ghost to hide, especially an invisible one, while the Princess was in full view at the center of everything.
Maybe that was the problem, she thought while backing toward the way she came in, if there were so many places for the yellow ghost to hide, then she needed to limit its options, that way even if she couldn't find the darn thing, at least it would have a more difficult time in sneaking up on her. The echoing laughter stopped a few seconds later, and now the mine junction was silent as the Princess backed down into the tunnel leading back up to the Old Clockworks, moving the flashlight beam around a bit faster so that the yellow phantom would be forced to pass through it in order to get to her. There weren't any cameras down there, but as long as the radio still worked she could still report what she was doing to the old man in case he had any advice.
"Daisy, you're in a bad spot." The Professor's voice warned over the radio. "You need to keep moving and stay out in the open."
"But I can't find the thing." She argued, grateful that the radio signal hadn't yet been lost. "As long as I stay here there's only one way it can come at me."
The old man started to say something else that sounded pretty urgent, but his words were interputed when a yellow glow appeared off to the left, and suddenly Daisy was being pulled backwards when the ghost grabbed onto the Poltergust's main unit. It laughed while pulling her right up against the wall roughly as it's transparent body passed right through the stone, and then the Princess cried out while being yanked forward so hard that she tripped and fell. Now being dragged across the rock and loose dirt on top, Daisy was forced back into the mine junction, struggling to aim the head of the vacuum at the now completely visible phantom that was carrying her along by the main unit on her back.
Eventually, she collided with one of the support columns, making the ghost lose it's grip as it passed right through, coins raining down onto the ground as it spun a little out of control before righting itself, only to come back around and grab the vacuum again. This time she was able to aim the head, activating the strobulb's flash just as the yellow phantom was grabbing for it again, and the good news was that it cried out, covering it's glowing eyes with its transparent hands, all while more coins rained down. However, the Princess had to aim the vacuum over her shoulder to hit the ghost, causing the flash to go right into her eyes as well, leaving Daisy just as disoriented as her target.
"Daisy, you can't fight ghosts like you would a Koopa in the Mushroom Kingdom." The Professor's voice said as she crawled forward, keeping one hand on her eyes. "You have to be constantly moving and thinking outside the box, and when it comes to solid objects the only one you can trap is yourself."
The Princess knew that, everyone did that ghosts could pass through walls, but in the tense moment of actually trying to capture one of the phantoms on her own, Daisy had completely forgotten this basic thing. Her eyes were recovering from the flash by this time, allowing her to blink her vision back into focus while the yellow ghost recovered as well, scattering even more gold coins across the floor as it floated around to be in front of her. Then it moved down, grabbing a handful of its own coins from the loose dirt, and started tossing them at her with a surprisingly strong pitching arm.
One hit her in the shoulder, causing a stinging sensation, and the next one bounced off the nearby support column hard enough to make an echo, forcing her to duck around behind it. The yellow phantom was laughing now, throwing more and more at the Princess's hiding place, stopping only for a moment after Daisy picked up one of her own and tossed it back. Floating to the side to avoid it, the coin bounced harmlessly across the ground toward the other end of the mine junction, but as soon as it had passed, the yellow ghost started laughing again as the throwing at her resumed. This was really frustrating, she thought while staying behind cover, if Luigi were in this situation, he probably would have run right at the thing, dodging coins and then blasting right in the phantom's face… but, ow, that coin hit her hard.
There had to be another way to do this, there just had to, but just like the green plumber, all the Princess had available was the Poltergust, along with… along with dozens and dozens of dropped gold coins. Remembering what the old man had been saying about thinking outside the box, Daisy got an idea that was so stupid that… well, maybe it would work. So while the ghost was laughing and throwing coins, she put the vacuum head down at the stone floor, beginning to charge the strobulb while starting to suck up a bunch of dirt and coins of her own. As soon as she had plenty, the Princess turned off the switch, picking up a coin and tossing it so that her target would avoid it like before, and then putting her plan into action.
Leaping out from behind cover just as the yellow phantom was reaching down for another coin, Daisy threw the vacuum into reverse, throwing a large amount of coins and dirt right into the ghost's face, forcing it to protect itself with its arms while being struck again and again by its own coins. As soon as she landed right underneath the yellow phantom, the strobulb flashed right up under its arms into its eyes, and only a second after hitting the suction switch again, the Princess was flying. Unable to keep herself from crying out in surprise as the ghost took off, it began frantically zooming around the mine junction with its tail and one arm stuck deep inside the vacuum head.
Around and around they went, the phantom constantly flailing and changing directions until Daisy was rammed right into one of the support columns, but this time she was able to see it coming, and grabbed on for dear life, wrapping her legs and one arm around it while controlling the vacuum with the other. By this time the yellow phantom was more than halfway inside, still able to flail and struggle, but not to pull her from the column, and then… and then the ghost vanished down inside the Poltergust, and it was over. Without her target's constant pulling, she slid down the column to the ground and just laid there on her back, breathing heavily while starting to realize just how sore her body was.
"Daisy… are you all right?" The Professor's voice crackled through. "I don't hear anything… Daisy?"
"I'm okay." She groaned, struggling to sit up and turn around to lean on the column. "I got the ghost… I got the first clock hand, I'm just… ow, how in the world does Luigi do this so often? I feel like just went three rounds with King Hippo."
Now the old man was urging her to come back, to grab the clock hand she had recovered, and let Luigi do the rest, since she wasn't used to how difficult ghost hunting could be, especially since if the Princess was to go any deeper into the mines they were definitely going to lose radio contact as well. Daisy agreed that she had walked into her first ghostly encounters without really understanding how it all worked, but now she understood that the phantoms needed to be caught off guard and outsmarted, not directly attacked. Now, while this gave her a new respect for how clever and patient her boyfriend was, the Princess knew that Luigi would never give up in a situation like this, and neither could she.
"I have to finish this, Professor." She said, grunting with soreness as she stood up. "I have to beat these ghosts and get the Dark Moon piece, just the one here, and then… and then I'll come back and let Luigi do the rest. But once this is done, I want both of you to teach me everything you know about ghost hunting."
The old man agreed, but wasn't able to say anything else that could be understood, because by the time Daisy was done talking, she had traveled beyond the mine junction, headed down one of the branching tunnels. Now that the yellow phantom was gone, she was once again completely reliant on the flashlight, the only sound being her own footsteps as the Princess headed down, and down… and down. However, soon the walls of the mine began to change from a rugged, carved out tunnel into a passageway with the features of carved stone. The transition was gradual, as if the tunnel slowly merged into an existing passageway made of expertly carved and placed stone blocks on the floor, walls, and ceiling, no longer rounded but with squared edges, too.
"This must be the ruins Boo-dacious was talking about." She said into the radio. "Professor, can you still hear me?"
Nothing came back on the radio except static this time, meaning that yes, the signal was completely lost, and that the Princess was on her own down there… just her and that other ghost, the purple one, that was waiting for her somewhere down in the ruins. Eventually, this passage ended, opening up into a wider chamber that was filled with sand, or at least enough of it to completely cover the stone floor to the point where Daisy's shoes sank a bit with each step. Like with the mine junction, there were a couple open doorways that branched off into the unknown, and she was about to try and pick one, when the flashlight beam passed over something. There, over on some kind of ornate shelf, was the other clock hand… just sitting there.
Taking another look around to see if there were any obvious traps in place, the Princess took a single cautious step forward, only to stop and back away as something began to move underneath the sand… something that was slowly rising up like a mound. Once it got tall enough, the sand rolled away to reveal old looking bandages around something that… something that was as tall as her now and still getting taller as it kept rising out of the sand. When it finally stopped, the rest of the sand fell away to reveal a dusty old mummy… one that growled as its arms slowly outstretched, and it started walking awkwardly toward Daisy.
