Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon
Chapter Thirty: The Railroad Exhibit
"Help!" Princess Daisy's voice called again. "Help me, Luigi!"
Up the polished marble stairs of the mansion, his boots only making a muffled thud with each step because of the thick red carpet that ran down the length, a flash of lightning through the windows briefly showed off more of the building's gothic features before returning Luigi's flashlight to the only source of illumination. Once at the top of the stairs there was only one door in the direction that the Princess's voice came from, but the next outcry for help was suddenly cut off as soon as he opened the door, causing the green plumber to stop in his tracks just as soon as he passed through the doorway.
SLAM! A sudden whoosh of movement and noise as the door loudly closed behind him caused Luigi to cry out in fright, jumping and then spinning around to find that not only had the door closed on its own, but it had also locked when he tried to turn the brass knob. The most surprising part of all was that he was now starting to be able to see features of the door without the aid of his flashlight, so the green plumber slowly turned back around to see that this room was no longer dark. In fact, in the time it had taken him to check the door and look back, a series of candles and lanterns hanging from chains on the ceiling had been lit, causing a dim orange light full of flickering shadows.
No sign of Daisy, though, as he looked around, just a lot of… trains? Yes, with the increased light from his flashlight, Luigi could see that this room was full of them, gothic walls with black and white checkered floors like the main hall, but with old posters on the walls that advertised brand new railroad lines that must've been over a hundred years old, and a whole series of train models that were displayed in glass cases going from coal driven prototypes all the way up to something that was… maybe slightly more modern… just a little. A dusty and worn set of conductor's hat and gloves were in another case, and there was an engine car just big enough for someone to get inside and look around at the controls, set on a set of mock-tracks like a kid's carnival ride that ran around a bigger model train set, again in a glass case.
"I don't see Daisy anywhere, Professor." He said into the radio. "I'm in some kind of train theme room, but I definitely heard her calling from here."
"That's the museum's Railroad Exhibit." The old man's voice replied. "There's not many places to hide a captured Princess in there, so look around carefully. If she was there and the Boos moved her somewhere else, then there should be some clue."
Now looking around the room for some sign of her, like disturbed dust from setting the portrait down, or… or anything at all. The green plumber didn't dare to call out loudly for her just in case King Boo was somewhere nearby, so he looked over and under all of the displays and cases until getting inside the model engine car. Nothing in there had been disturbed, either, and Luigi was about to leave when the door slammed shut net to him. Suddenly the controls came to life, the car's whistle going off as the black smoke flowing from the stack on top caused it to start moving. This didn't exactly worry him, since the track this ride was on only went in a circle around that model train set, but then he noticed that something was different.
First, the engine car was moving a bit faster than it should have been able to, and definitely not traveling in a circle… at least not a small one that would fit in this room… and now that Luigi thought about it… where was the room? Looking out the windows on both sides of the engine car, his eyes were met with fields of grass that were dotted with the occasional pine trees. Lantern posts ran all along the track, somehow bright enough so that he could see the features of the landscape and old wooden buildings that the engine car was now passing like some kind of town, but then his attention was grabbed by the appearance of a white figure passing through the controls toward him.
It was a Boo, but this one looked different than the others, wearing what looked like a long blonde wig that was tied back with a big and bright pink bow, along with thick eye liner and lipstick that was just as bright and pink. This rounded ghost got right in the green plumber's face, grinning like all the others, but instead of attacking him right out, this one grabbed Luigi with both arms and pulled him in close with a hug so tight that he struggled to breathe, while dragging its long red tongue up the entire length of his face.
"Hiya, handsome!" The Boo exclaimed in a surprisingly attractive woman's voice. "The name's Ann Boo-ny, and I'm your biggest fan. Let the King have that two dimensional Princess, I'm all the woman you'll ever need… now kiss me, you gorgeous green hunk!"
She puckered her lips and covered most of his face when she slammed them into him, the whole time Luigi kicking and struggling to free himself, but the way his arms were pinned there was no way to reach the Poltergust. Once Ann Boo-ny was finally done slobbering all over him, she ran that awful red tongue up his face again, before making the green plumber scream when she pushed open the door and tossed him from the train. There wasn't much of a fall, just a few feet until rolling across the grass that felt more like astroturf with… wood underneath? Now that he had a few seconds to stand up and look around once the dizziness wore off, the flashlight beam showed how fake everything else looked as well; the plastic lantern posts, the rubber pine trees, and the surprisingly long train looked flimsy like a model glued together.
And that was when he looked up and noticed how strange the sky looked, sort of like there was a transparent, dusty barrier between this landscape and… the old train posters visible on the wall that were illuminated by candles. Was this whole thing he was standing in a model? But how was that possible? How could Luigi be standing in the middle of the big model train set that was in the center of the exhibit room? As for the engine car that brought him there, it was still traveling around inside of a big circle, but it had gained a couple passenger cars behind it so that the whole thing was almost full size… you know, for a model.
"Ah, what a beautiful night." Ann Boo-ny said as she reappeared, hugging him again. "The King wants us to destroy you, you know, but oh, Luigi, I just can't do it. Everyone else is all mad that you beat the King before and that you vacuumed up a bunch of us, but I like dangerous men, and now we can be together forever in this place. Either that, or you get locked in the cursed train cars until you die of old age. Easy choice, right? Oh Luigi, kiss me!"
Struggling the whole time to free his arms as that awful mouth went all over his face again, this time the green plumber was able to free one arm just enough to grab the vacuum hose, and the rounded ghost got the shock of her life when the button was pressed, causing the suction to grab onto her long red tongue. Ann Boo-ny cried out in shock, fighting to pull back so that the vacuum didn't suck her in, finally managing to push off of the green plumber hard enough so that they separated, him falling to the ground and her spinning out of control for a few moments before righting herself.
"Wow, talk about sparks flying!" The rounded ghost exclaimed happily until looking down at the Poltergust. "I just knew that you were the man for… hey, wait a second… you creep, you tried to vacuum me up! Looks like you need to learn some manners."
Putting the end of one of her hands into her mouth, Ann Boo-ny let out a sharp whistle, and suddenly there was a lot more commotion going on around the model train set as the fake trees and shrubs all around them started moving… moving and laughing. A moment later the source of this movement was revealed as another Boo floated out of hiding, and then another… and then another… and then another until there were almost a dozen of the rounded ghosts were floating over to join with Ann Boo-ny.
"Luigi, I'd like you to meet my brothers." The rounded ghost explained. "Boo, Big Boo, Little Boo, Slim Boo, Boo-Bo, Boo-Bob, Billly-Boo, Billy Joe Boo-Bob, and Steve. They're gonna teach you the proper way to treat a lady, isn't that right, boys?"
"I got him." The one called Steve said, floating slightly forward. "The King wants him taken care of, anyway, so this will be fun."
Laughing as it flew right toward Luigi, apparently the rounded ghost didn't find it very fun when the strobulb went off in its face, temporarily blinding it long enough for one of Steve's arms to get caught by the Poltergust. This might have been the end for the rounded ghost if another of them hadn't circled around and rammed into the green plumber from the side, knocking him down as Luigi and the now very dizzy Steve were separated. Together the two ghosts floated back to rejoin the group while the green plumber got to his feet, trying not to panic now that all of these Boos were glaring angrily at him. He had faced more than one rounded ghost at a time before, but nothing like this, and right now he wasn't sure what to do… and to make matters worse, the Professor wasn't responding on the radio.
"All right, let's get him!" One of the others yelled. "He broke our sister's heart and beat up Steve… so let's just rush him!"
"No, he's too strong and manly for that." Ann Boo-ny replied, stopping him. "We'll never beat such a handsome, er, I mean this won't work. So we need to work together."
All of the other Boos turned toward her and nodded before floating closer and closer together until… until what was happening now? Instead of simply being close together, all of the rounded ghosts seemed to be sort of… merging with each other, each one of them vanishing into Ann Boo-ny's rounded body, and each one causing her to get bigger and bigger. By the time the last of her brother Boos had joined with her, the rounded ghost was easily the size of King Boo, if not a little bit bigger. Now Luigi couldn't help his knees shaking a little, his hands trembling, struggling to hold the vacuum hose as the giant Ann Boo-ny looked down at him with a sinister smile.
"We may not be the King, but we're still pretty big, huh?" She laughed, her voice now deeper and echoing. "Prepare yourself, Luigi… you're gonna learn to love me even if it kills you… and it just might."
