Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon

Chapter Twenty Three: Sudden Death Overtime

Slowly backing away from the growling bear rug, which was now rising up to all fours in order to pursue its next meal, Luigi moved around away from the crackling fireplace back toward the door he had come in. The bear growled again, licking its lips while coming toward him, but the green plumber didn't intend to face such a creature in this small living room. Instead, he reached back with one hand until feeling the doorknob, and then pulled the door open with the full intention of running out into the snow, however this was stopped by a powerful gust of wind that forced itself into the cabin. Just barely being able to hold onto the knob and doorframe to keep himself from being thrown right into the bear's jaws, the wind almost made his feet leave the floor while the bear rug had to duck down to keep from being pushed… hey, wait a second.

Looking back to see where his pursuer was, Luigi watched as the bear ducked its head down, growling in frustration as the back half of its body simply flailed around in the air more and more until the whole thing was swept away. The green plumber watched as the now motionless bear rug was sent flying into the far wall where it collapsed onto the floor, leaving something unexpected in its place. Still hovering in that same spot, with face turned down and arms in front of itself to block the wind, eyes tightly closed while Luigi pushed with all his might to get the door shut again, it was no bear that was now staring at him once the wind died down.

"Grrrr!" The hovering phantom said, much less convincingly with arms raised. "Uh… oh, the rug's gone… how about that?"

Feeling kind of silly for believing that this impostor had been a real bear, the green plumber pressed the button to charge up the strobulb, knowing that he was going to need it in order to capture this Boo. With as many of them as had been seen in the valley, on top of the fact of knowing who their leader was, it was like King Boo had brought the whole gang with him this time. On top of all that, every one of the rounded white ghosts that had been spotted was also in possession of a Dark Moon piece, so if Luigi was quick maybe he could capture this one right here and now. Quickly stepping forward and flashing the strobulb, the Boo gasped and vanished, reappearing on the other side of the room a couple seconds later.

"Hey, hey, watch it with that thing!" The rounded ghost exclaimed. "The name's Boo-ya, and I'm not going down without a fight. Oh, my God, watch out behind you!"

Reflexively turning around while readying the Poltergust just in time to see… nothing there at all… the green plumber felt stupid once again as he heard the echoing laughter of an escaping Boo. Turning back around just in time to see the rounded ghost fly right through a door next to the fireplace, Luigi followed it across the room, pulling the door open and then shining his flashlight around in what appeared to be some kind of kitchen or maybe an old smokehouse. There was a cast iron wood stove in the center, dark and cold from lack of use, along with some old snow shoes and skis that looked like they were about to fall apart, but so far no sign of the escaping Boo. No trail or anything as the light beam was passed along the walls, so he kept going, pushing the next door open, and gasping in surprise when his boots started to slip out from underneath him.

Forced to grab onto the outside door handle to keep himself from falling, Luigi realized as he looked around at the flat, reflective terrain, that this whole part of the resort was frozen solid. Directly across from where he was standing there was a wooden shack, so maybe the rounded ghost had gone inside? Intending to quickly follow the Boo and capture it since he needed that Dark Moon piece to save Daisy, the green plumber instead found himself crawling along the ice on his hands and knees, the surface so smooth and slippery that his arms and legs were wobbling with the effort of not falling over. The snow was coming down thicker now, but it didn't seem to help much, especially when he noticed that the rounded ghost had reappeared… now wearing a helmet and holding a hockey stick.

"And the crowd goes wild, this is truly the match of the century!" Boo-ya commented loudly, floating around a bunch of snowmen that looked recently built. "It's Luigi the loser vs. Boo-ya the best as we go into everyone's favorite part of the game: Sudden Death Overtime!"

Making mock cheering noises with his own mouth as he continued to float around the snowmen, the Boo moved lower so that he was next to what at first looked like a snow-pyramid, but Luigi quickly realized that it was actually a large pile of snowballs. Continuing his commentary about the next point winning and the crowd being absolutely silent, the rounded ghost swung the hocky stick, hitting the top snowball and sending it flying right into the green plumber's face with a muffled whump sound. There was enough force behind the impact to knock him over, as well as sending him sliding a short distance across the ice while those mock cheering noises continued.

"The crowd is furious with Luigi's attempts to stop Boo-ya's victory!" The phantom continued, lining up another snowball. "This will be tough because while the loser sucks at almost everything else, it turns out he's a pretty good goalie, but our champion has a lot of chances to score!"

Whump! Whump! Whump! More and more snowballs came flying at him, each one perfectly targeted to strike Luigi right in the face no matter what he did to protect himself, and each hit moving him a little farther across the ice toward… what was that? Looking away to keep the next snowball from hitting him, the green plumber noticed that there was what looked like an old goal post with the bottom frozen into the ice. The bars were heavily rusted from being outside for years, the netting in the back was basically gone, and… and somehow the ground directly underneath the goalpost looked even more reflective than the rest of the ice, but how was that possible? Was it melted water?

"It's shot after shot blocked by the loser!" Boo-ya's commentary continued as his pile of snowballs got smaller. "Even though no one likes him and his team hasn't one a game since 1985, Luigi the loser continues to make our champion work for it as he is driven closer and closer to the edge of our goal of sudden death!"

The ice was so slippery that the green plumber couldn't do anything to protect himself from the next volley of snowballs, not even by trying to catch them with the Poltergust, and every move Luigi made just seemed to spin him around a little as he got closer and closer to the goal where his foot sunk down into the melted water and… and didn't feel wet at all… or any water for that matter. Nope, when he looked back his foot was just hanging there not touching anything as if the reflective spot under the goal post was a hole instead of a pool… a hole that once the green plumber was close enough to see it he realized it went a long way down. All the way back down the mountain, in fact.

Now it made sense why Boo-ya was calling this sudden death, since if those snowballs knocked him all the way into that hole in the ice, then the meaning would be quite literal, and now Luigi was only inches away from going into the edge. Back over at the pile the rounded ghost was continuing to make a commentary about this last shot being the one that counted… until realizing that all of the snowballs had been used up. Grunting in frustration, the white phantom floated up above one of the nearest snowmen and knocked its head off with a hard swing, but the bouncing snowball was way off course and missed the green plumber completely.

"The crowd is growing impatient!" Boo-ya yelled angrily after two more such failed attempts. "This leaves our champion no choice but to risk a penalty for high-sticking! Here I come, loser!"

Raising the hockey stick high above his head, and screaming in rage as he flew across the ice, the rounded ghost dove right toward Luigi, and would've gotten him if the Poltergust hadn't managed to grab onto one of the rusty goalposts, allowing the green plumber to pull himself a short distance away from the edge. Now even more angry after missing that first hit, the white phantom swung around to swing the hocky stick again, but this time Luigi released the vacuum from the goal post, and turned it on again just as the stick was coming down. Even though it was designed to capture ghosts, the Poltergust was a strong enough vacuum to grab onto the end of the hockey stick so that he was pulled along with Boo-ya as he passed on by.

"Hey, no fair!" The Boo yelled, trying to shake him off. "Get off me!"

"No way!" Luigi yelled back as they started swinging around in circles. "Give me the Dark Moon piece!"

In his attempts to shake the green plumber off, Boo-ya began to spin around faster and faster until it seemed like the rounded ghost could no longer control their movements, to the point where they were both screaming and flailing around. Only able to see a blurr of snow and darkened landscape features around them, Luigi charged the strobulb, with no choice but to flash it right into the Boo's eyes, temporarily blinding both of them as they were finally able to split apart. The green plumber flew right into what was left of a snowman, while Boo-ya was sent hurdling right into the side of that wooden shack he had seen earlier, passing right through it but leaving the hockey helmet behind.

Luigi had hoped that stunning the white phantom like that would allow him to be captured, but the vacuum was already holding onto the hockey stick, which now fell onto the snowy ground once the Poltergust was turned off. Getting up to go after the Boo, he found himself stumbling sideways so that he fell right into the remains of another snowman, the whole world spinning around as he laid there on his back in the snow. So far Boo-ya hadn't reappeared yet, so maybe he was just as stunned and dizzy as Luigi was. That, or maybe the rounded ghost had already escaped… a thought that forced the green plumber to get up, at least as far as his knees.

"Luigi, you need to stop! Take a break!" The Professor's voice crackled through the radio. "I know King Boo kidnapping Daisy has you all raged-out, but you can't just go charging after 'any' Boo like that, when they are powered by the Dark Moon!"

The green plumber wasn't in any mood to argue with the old man, nor was he capable of standing up and going into that shack just yet, so instead he simply allowed himself to fall back over into the snow, at least until the world stopped spinning.