Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon
Chapter Twenty Five: The Way Up
The slope leading back up to the wooden shed was too steep and slippery to use, and without any way to fight those supercharged ghosts, the only option left for Luigi and the Toad assistant was to run for it. Following the assistant through the red crystal cavern and down another passageway on the other side, he could hear the angry growls and grunts of their three pursuers as they broke through or pushed over anything that got in their way. These three ghosts were clearly stronger and a lot faster moving than the weaker versions the green plumber had seen inside Gloomy Manor, with the only thing saving them being that the phantoms' intelligence didn't seem to be increased any.
As soon as he and the Toad broke the line of sight with them, they hid around behind a large fallen boulder, staying as still and quiet as possible while the three angry ghosts just floated on by. A few moments later their three pursuers had vanished, splitting up to search down different branching tunnels while inadvertently giving Luigi and the assistant a few moments to rest and figure out what they were going to do to get out of this. Not only did they now have the three supercharged ghosts to deal with, but Boo-ya had disappeared, and they needed to find him again as well if there was to be any hope of getting back the Dark Moon piece to save Princess Daisy.
"Good grief, did you see how the red one clobbered that Boo?!" The Toad exclaimed much louder than he should have. "I mean, Boo-ya was a real jerk and he totally had that coming, but what are we gonna do if that red one clobbers us?!"
"We have to be quiet, that's what!" Luigi replied in a harsh whisper, covering the assistant's mouth with his gloved hand. "Quiet, okay, or that's exactly what will happen… now where is this dark light device thing?"
The Toad started getting loud again as soon as his mouth was uncovered, making the green plumber cover it again, but the second time the assistant actually managed to keep his voice down enough to explain things. To begin with, the dark light device wasn't down in the mines, nor was it in the workshop where Boo-ya had begun his search before forcing the Toad into slave labor out of frustration. Just before the fog had just started to roll in, the assistant had been sent up to the cabin in order to retrieve the device and bring it back to Gloomy Manor where the old man was working at the time, but then the Dark Moon disappeared and there had only been minutes to hide the thing before King Boo himself showed up.
"He said he would turn me into a portrait if I didn't show Boo-ya where the crystals were." The assistant continued. "Then the King left, and that jerk kept me working twenty four hours a day, kept smacking me and laughing at me, but I didn't tell him the dark light device is up in the cabin."
Luigi was shocked both that the Toad had managed to successfully hide the device from the Boos, but also that he had walked right past it upon entering the cabin's front door. While he had been dealing with the hidden Boo-ya underneath that bear rug, the dark light device had been sitting there just a few feet away, hidden behind the moose head mounted above the crackling fireplace. Oh, leapin' linguini, the device had been right there, and both the green plumber and the Boo had gone right past it during the whole chase that ended them up down there in the mines. All right, step one of finding the dark light device was over, and now they just had to find another way to get back up there.
He tried to contact the Professor to ask about a way up, but the radio signal was completely gone, so it was up to the two of them to figure it out. Thankfully, the Toad had been down inside these mines several times, and knew that there was an old service elevator at the far end of the tunnels… down one of the paths where the supercharged ghosts had been floating. Great, this meant that they had to not only reach the elevator, but somehow sneak past all three of those ghosts at the same time. Well, maybe not all three at once, since they had split up to check different tunnels, but then again one of them could easily sound the alarm and bring the others running.
"So, what was the point of all this?" The green plumber asked once they chose a tunnel. "Why would they go through all the trouble of supercharging these ghosts, if they aren't gonna obey the Boos after?"
"Well, I'm not sure if they expected that last part." The assistant replied, both being quiet to check around the next corner. "But King Boo's lost it; he's so mad about getting beaten by Green Mario, that he's doing all this just to get you out of the way. He thinks this is the only way to get his reputation as the biggest meanest ghost back that he'll do anything it takes to get rid of you."
Even though slightly annoyed that some people still called him Green Mario after all these years, Luigi was even more concerned for Daisy after hearing all that, and now… get down! His thoughts for the Princess had him distracted to the point where he almost walked right out in front of where the green supercharged ghost was floating across the next junction, grabbing the Toad and covering his mouth while pulling them behind another rock just in time. The green phantom stopped for a second, the pattern across its body giving off double the usual amount of illumination as it looked around, grunting to itself before continuing on so that the tunnel returned to the dim light of the few red minerals in this area.
Letting out a sigh of relief, the green plumber was just thankful that he hadn't been using the flashlight, because there was no way he could have shut it off in time, and now the two of them continued on. Trying to move as quietly as possible, which wasn't easy because the red crystals on the ground made a crunching sound when he stepped on them, it became harder and harder to see the way forward because as they moved away from the crystal cavern, there were les and less of the red minerals to be seen. Eventually Luigi had to turn the flashlight back on, since now the tunnels were dark except for when one of their pursuers were around. This place must have been actively mined at one time, because there were guard rails in front of long falls into chasms, old pick-axes and carts that had been abandoned, and what might have once been some kind of some kind of tram system to take miners across a long gag to another area, but only a couple pieces of rusty track along the cave ceiling remained.
"The elevator is just over this way." The Toad whispered, pointing down the left path in a fork. "It's at the end of the passage, and then just straight up into the cabin."
Taking another look around without the flashlight before clicking it on again, the green plumber sighed with relief that there were none of the supercharged ghosts in sight, allowing him and the assistant to walk down this last tunnel, where a really old looking metal cage elevator was waiting with the door already open. Stepping inside the rusted cage, the Toad pushed the button to bring them up, but nothing happened, and still didn't no matter how many times he pushed the button. Luigi already knew what the problem was; just like with Gloomy Manor and the Haunted Towers, the ghosts taking over had caused the power to go out, and since this was an electric elevator, that meant it wasn't going anywhere.
"Looks like we gotta use the emergency generator." The assistant said, pointing back out into the tunnel. "It's over in that side passage, you should just have to pull the cord."
All right, that seemed simple enough, and there still wasn't any sign of the supercharged ghosts, so the green plumber stepped back out of the cage. Following the Toad's directions, he walked about a hundred meters down the side passage, following a cracked and frayed electric power cable until it led over to a very old generator that was a lot larger than he expected. According to the assistant, all Luigi had to do was pull the cord, so he found the pull start and gave it a strong tug… but nothing happened. The generator shoot and sputtered a little, but that was it, so he pulled on it again… and again… and again until two important things happened. The first was that the generator sputtered to life, kicking out exhaust smoke as the motor got up to speed… and then there was the alarm.
Low pitch, drawn out, and very loud, the siren blared as soon as the generator became fully active, and now all of the lights mounted on the ceiling were slowly coming on… all of these things more and more likely to show their pursuers where they were. Not waiting to find out if the supercharged ghosts had heard the noise or seen the lights, the green plumber went running back down the side passage to the elevator, where he pushed the button, causing a loud, high pitch squeak as the rusted doors slowly closed. Mama mia, it was like he should have just gotten out and screamed to the ghosts where they were, and now… and now a glow was forming at the far end of the tunnel just as the doors finished closing. It was that green ghost, the one that had almost spotted them before, jumping with a start when it spotted them, and now… and now it was… whistling?
"It's callin' it's buddies!" The Toad exclaimed just as the elevator started to move upwards. "Come on, you stupid thing, move!"
Not paying attention to what the assistant was doing, the green plumber's eyes were fixed on the far end of the tunnel as the blue one came into view, followed by the big red one, the green one pointing in their direction just before the elevator passed up into the rock. Well, the good news was that the elevator was working, and the two of them were on their way up into the cabin where the dark light device was hidden. However, the important question was whether or not he and the Toad would be able to reach the top of the shaft, get to the device, and install it for use before their supercharged pursuers were able to catch up with them.
