Meanwhile, King Boo was admiring his beloved Mario painting when he was interrupted by another concerned Greenie. King Boo grunted in utter annoyance with the sudden intrusion. "What?!" He growled through gritted teeth.

"Luigi managed to take out the Slammers and retrieved the gears they have previously stolen to halt his progression." With the mention of his nemesis, King Boo's purple eyes began to glow brighter with anger. All of a sudden, the king turned on the Greenie and shouted, "then try harder! Do something! I want that stupid little fool captured as soon as possible!" The King turned back around. Bringing all of his focus on Mario's painting. King Boo sighed, the glow from his purple eyes faded. "I will not lose my favorite decoration again. Do as much as you can to stop Luigi in his tracks or see to it that stupid machine engulfs you too. Just as long as my boos don't get captured, I don't care what happens to you or the other ghosts here. All that matters to me is getting revenge! Soon, Luigi will be my newest masterpiece alongside his brother."

The Greenie swallowed. "O-of course, your majesty..."

"Good! Now get to it!"
***

Luigi decided to take his free time to look at the vault to see the ghosts he already captured. However, he didn't exactly know where it was located. When he went to the professor to ask how he could get to the vault, the professor turned his swivel chair to face Luigi and gave him a mischievous smirk before answering with a chuckle. "Glad you asked, my boy!"

The Professor moved the joystick attached to his chair's arm down. Luigi felt the platform he was standing on shift a little; beginning to steam up in the process. He stared at the professor with wide eyes before the platform fell from beneath his feet. The man in green suddenly yelped in surprise as he fell straight down to the bottom of the bunker.

Landing on his rear with a thud after the sudden fall, Luigi grunted in protest. "Thanks, Professor...!" He said to himself, sarcastically. Luigi adjusted his cap that fell over his eyes from the fall before he stood up.

Right away, he noticed a device shaped like a canister in front of him along with a clear window that revealed all the money he collected in the Gloomy Manor. Luigi glanced down at the ghost container in front of him and noticed several buttons on a control panel.

Luigi wished sorely that he asked the professor how he was actually supposed to use it but it was too late now. He pressed a few buttons until it eventually allowed him to browse through the Evershade Valley ghosts he had captured.

First, he looked at the ghost he found the very first time he stepped onto the Gloomy Manor—the Greenies. He noticed that the professor added some research notes about them and even included the heaviest weight of each ghost and the weight of the container itself. The Greenies were apparently 8 pounds each with their note stating that they liked to tinker with things they shouldn't and weild every day objects as weapons.

The next ghost, Luigi looked at were the Slammers. Their note mentioned that they might look like ruthless brutes, but these tender creatures have a heart of gold under normal circumstances just as long as they don't give Luigi a round of applause, that is. Now thinking of those ghost's strong shock-wave clapping attack, he flinched again. They were definitely the most heaviest type of ghost with a whopping 27 pounds at the most.

The third and final ghost, Luigi captured so far was unexpectedly called the Hiders who were definitely clever ghosts that loved playing hide-and-seek. They were a bit impatient if Luigi took too long to find them though. They would start throwing things at him just to annoy the seeker. Luigi definitely found those the most annoying while the Slammers were the most violent.

Deciding it was time to return to the Professor for his next mission, he pressed another button on the keyboard that allowed the platform to go back up where it once was. Luigi was launched a few inches up in the air once the platform locked into place that caused his hat to fall over his eyes again. After adjusting his cap for the second time, he looked back at the Professor.

"Any updates, Professor?" Luigi asked.

"Hey there, Luigi. Now where were we?"

"Um..." Luigi wondered for a moment. Questioning how the professor completely forgot about the task at hand. "We were figuring out a way to access the Foyer."

"Oh yes! The access mechanism in the Foyer!" The Professor remembered. He shifted his chair to his work desk and began fumbling around with something.

Luigi curiously stepped off the platform to look over the Professor's shoulder to see what he was doing. The Professor noticed him. "O-oh, w-what are you doing?" He asked, timidly.

"Step back, please and let me finish this real quick."

"Oh... Okey dokey. Sorry.."

Not too long after, the Professor finished what he was doing and turned back to Luigi. The Professor was holding a crank that held the four gears in place. "Here you go. Use this crank to operate the access mechanism." He handed it to Luigi who quickly pocketed them as the Professor continued. "Once you do that, you'll be able to access the north rooms of the Gloomy Manor. "

Suddenly, the two men froze when they heard the strange sound of eerie music. "Criminy! You hear that?" E. Gadd gasped in alarm.

Luigi nodded distractedly, a memory returning to him of a certain portrait ghost from his first ghost hunting adventure. Of course, how could he forget Melody, the spectral beauty of the ivory keys, and the sonata she played for him. She was one of the nicer ghosts he'd encountered that night, albeit she still attacked him, the young ghost pianist's only attack, though, consisted of throwing music sheets at him. And after that small memory of capturing her, he remembered the song she played. Mario's song... The song that gave him hope and perseverance through that awful night.

Gadd swiveled back in his chair moving his attention back to his keyboard on his desk and started tapping keys. The squeaking sound of the Professor's chair brought Luigi back to the present.  "The Parascope is picking up an audible signal from the very same area we're trying to reach!" he mused. "Let's see here... It's certainly music! How odd."

Why does he need a Parascope to figure that out? Luigi thought. "Did we not just hear that with our own ears?"

"If I remember correctly, there's a grand piano in the library," said Gadd. "Maybe a ghost is playing around on it."

"Could be," Luigi nervously said.

"Anyhoo, let's mark where you need to go first on the map," Gadd continued.

Luigi took out his Dual Scream just in time to see the exclamation point appear for his next mission destination.

"Luigi, This is the strongest paranormal signal we've seen yet," said Gadd. "With a signal that strong, I reckon the ghost playing the piano might be giving orders to the other ghosts!"

"With a ghost that strong. Maybe it is the one who shattered the Dark Moon," theorized Luigi.

"Could be," Gadd replied. "There's no time to waste, my boy! Get to the library, and catch that ghost!" The Professor ordered, leaping on his swivel chair in excitement.

"O-okay...," Luigi mumbled. He was unsure about this mission but he knew he had no other choice as the Professor pixelated Luigi back to the Gloomy Manor.

He still was unable to land on his feet, but at least the fall hurt less. Luigi muttered something as he got to his feet, hearing the faint sounds of the grand piano. In his distracted state, he jostled a suit of armor, causing the head to fly off and treasure to spill everywhere.

A fortunate accident, Luigi thought, vacuuming everything up. Just as he finished, the Dual Scream rang.

"The Professor? Already?" Luigi questioned before answering the Professor's call.

"Hey there, sonny! I noticed you've been busy collecting coins, bills and gold bars," the Professor began.

"Yes, and..." prompted Luigi.

"There's nothing wrong with that!" chirped E.Gadd. "The mansion is abandoned, so finders keepers, I suppose!"

"Just like last time," mused Luigi.

"As a matter of fact, I'm also gathering some resources of my own," Gadd went on. "I'm gonna use them to develop more upgrades for your Poltergust 5000!"

You'd really do that for me?"

"You'd better believe it! It'll help make things easier for you. That's what I've been using the money you collected for to assist you." chuckled E. Gadd. "Good luck on your treasure hunt, young feller!"

"Thanks, I guess," said Luigi. "Ciao."

He suctioned the armor's head to the nozzle and aimed it at the other suit, hoping to knock that one's head off, as well. The projectile missed and hit one of the paintings on the wall, which moved aside to reveal another gemstone.

"Nice," said Luigi as he grabbed it.

He strode into the guard hall, where he noticed that all of the suits of armor had disappeared. He sighed in relief realizing he didn't have to deal with them this time around. Although, he still wondered where they went. It was probably something he had to deal with later. A flash of lightning made him jump and then quicken his pace. He could have sworn he saw the knights still standing there when the lightning struck but after it past, they weren't there. "Perhaps they are ghosts themselves?" Luigi wondered with a shutter.

In the foyer, he walked straight up to the mechanism, inserted the gears into the slot and turned the crank. Then, he stood back and watched as the large aquarium lowered onto the first floor. "I did it!" cheered Luigi.

Remembering the huge paranormal signal from the library, Luigi decided to take a bit of a detour and check the hole in the wall again in the Common Hall that allowed Luigi to peek into the Library. He spotted a large yellow-orange ghost with a big round head playing the piano. Once Luigi decided it was time to go before the ghost could see him, he pulled away from the hole, a chill went down his spine after what he saw in there.

The man in green started up the stairs to the newly-revealed set of double doors on the second floor. He jogged up the stairs when he noticed a safe. Luigi used the Strobulb to open it, revealing coins and dollar bills. Once the treasure had been collected, he proceeded through the double doors into a lobby, where two Greenies were playing rock-paper-scissors. Those familiar pink gates slammed down as the Greenies stopped their game and attacked. Luigi stunned and vacuumed the Greenie on the left, followed by the Greenie on the right. When he was finished, he heard an elevator ding and whirled as the lift opened, revealing a Slammer and some spiders. The spiders were easy. All Luigi had to do to take care of the creepy crawlies were either stun them to reveal a coin or vacuum them.

The Slammer, however, was a different story. They couldn't stop taking swipes at him, and when he finally managed to stun and vacuum them, they roughly dragged him all over the place with their sudden strong pull, nearly making him lose his balance. He found a wall to brace himself against, he wrenched his body erect and let his Strobulb rip. Luigi did a few surges, each of them he activated sent a vibration through his entire body, which took his breath away. Eventually the Slammer gave up the struggle succumbing to the power of the Poltergust. The tussle at last ended with all of the ghosts in the Poltergust and Luigi invigorated and ready for more—sort of. He wasn't really looking forward to fighting ghosts but he had to admit that he missed finally being the hero. "I wished Mario could see me in action but maybe it's better that he's safely out of harms way this time around. At least I hope he's safely at home."

Luigi saw another strange mouse poster, learning from the other one he previously found, he sucked it up and found another safe full of coins and dollar bills as well. Afterwards, he stepped into the next room which was a small walking area above the Library. A lively tune played on the grand piano. As if the piano was commanding them, Luigi saw a bunch of books levitating all around the library's first floor. He gasped as one book floated up and then dive-bombed him. More books started flying his way. He found a gold spider and two mice that he tried to flash with the Strobulb to collect some more treasure while trying to dodge the dangerous books. He managed to dodge some and suck up the rest before two of the books hit him.

"Ouch..." he winced, flinching after the books hit him in the back of the head. They were hardcovers too. "Instead of me hitting the books, the books hit me."

He noticed a door at the other side of the room and hurried toward it, evading— or at least trying to evade more attacking books. When he stumbled through the door, he discovered that he was in a dining room.

"Who puts a dining room next to a library?" he wondered aloud, criticizing the mansion's room design.

He vacuumed up tons of treasure and even did the tablecloth trick with the Poltergust. He wasn't sure how but it was easier to do it with the vacuum. There was even a golden bone hiding in one of the food carts and a gemstone inside a safe on the ceiling. He even looked out the window to see a large full moon.

"I think it's time for me to get back to the first floor to confront that ghost,' he murmured, "but how? What could I possibly do to defeat it?"

He noticed another tassel dangling from the ceiling and pulled on it, opening some sort of dumbwaiter for dishes. "Maybe this could be the way down there...Worth a shot." He carefully climbed inside and was taken down into the kitchen.

The first thing Luigi did was check his relative position on his Dual Scream. He was right next to the library's lower level. "Nice," he said. "Just where I need to go."

He vacuumed some piles of dirt off the floor and scouted the room for any more valuables. But then those gates slammed down, and he was confronted with a Greenie. This Greenie was armed with a rolling pin and wore a saucepan on their head, presumably to protect themselves against the Strobulb. "Oh, great."

Since the Greenie couldn't see, their swings with the rolling pin were wild and uncoordinated. Luigi dodged and darted out of the way. When he saw that the Greenie was growing dizzy and tired, he pounced, stunning the Greenie and making them drop the rolling pin and saucepan. Then, he captured them with one quick surge.

Two more Greenies came at him, one unarmed and the other one carrying a rolling pin, a saucepan and a pizza pan. "There's the intruder! Get him!" The unarmed Greenie shouted. Luigi captured the unarmed Greenie first and was nailed several times by the armed Greenie before subduing them, too. "They're getting smarter," he gasped once the battle was over. "It's as if they're learning from every move I make. No wonder why the Professor mentioned they liked wielding everyday objects as weapons."

He opened the freezer and noticed a gemstone encased by some ice. Attaching the ice to the nozzle, he held it over a nearby stove, melting it and then pocketing the freed Amethyst gemstone. Finally, he plucked some smaller chunks of ice, put them in a cloth and used it to sooth the bruises he'd recently taken. Once the pain had dulled significantly, Luigi exited the kitchen and stepped into the door to the left where the library was located to confront the ghost.

The ghost in question had a yellow-orange color, a thin body and a swollen head with a pink circle visible inside. It occurred to Luigi that the pink circle was the ghost's brain. That wasn't in the least bit unsettling. Not at all... He has seen a ghost's paranormal heart but their brain was completely different from that.

And then the ghost abruptly stopped playing the piano and turned toward him. "Whoa!" Luigi screamed, jumping a few feet in the air.

The brainy ghost laughed and floated into the air, books beginning to orbit around them. Then, they disappeared. A frenetic, dark tune began to play on the grand piano as Luigi readied the Poltergust, searching for a sign of his brainy foe.

"Sh-show yourself!" he exclaimed.

He heard a low "mimimimimimimi...." and spun around in time to dodge an incoming book. In return, Luigi flashed the brainy ghost with the Strobulb; unfortunately, the ghost used a book to block the flash, chuckling.

"You gotta be kidding me," Luigi groaned.

The brainy ghost's laughter echoed from all around as the game of hide-and-seek began again. Suddenly, unbeknownst to Luigi, a book slammed hard into his side enough to make Luigi lose his balance and collapse to the floor, it was likely to leave a smarting bruise. Quickly getting back up—but not without crying in pain, and barely dodging another airborne book, Luigi whirled on the brainy ghost at once. They blocked the first flash, but they sure didn't expect a second one right after the first one! Ignoring everything else, Luigi rocked back on his heels and pulled, the vacuum surging once... twice... a third time...until the clever brainy ghost suddenly broke free from Luigi's snare.

Luigi spat out in frustration before he winced putting a gloved hand on his burning side. It really hurt, and there was bound to be swelling later on, but at least it wasn't serious. He let out a slow breath, paying no more attention to his side, and instead waited for the brainy ghost to strike.

"Mimimimimimimimi." Luigi spun and flashed the Strobulb once, and then again. One last surge was all it took to capture the brainy nuisance. But then, unexpectedly two more of the brainy ghosts entered the room, coming out to play with their little green victim.

Luigi tightened his grip on the Poltergust and set his eyes on the two brainy ghosts as more books levitated around him. He dodged as many as he could, listening for his new opponents next move, and shook off the books that advanced on him. As soon as he saw a brainy ghost, he lit up the library with a brilliant flash from the Strobulb and started vacuuming. However, the other brainy ghost was still free to throw books, and the impact was powerful enough to jar Luigi's grip and allow the brainy ghost he was trying to capture to escape.

It was Luigi's first major ghost battle since this adventure started. As he took more hits, he told himself that it was time to start thinking outside the box. He needed to think of a better strategy. "Maybe if I can catch them both at once, I can do this without much trouble." He focused on the two ghosts, waiting for the perfect moment. His Strobulb flashes grew more precise as he carefully planned to endeavor in order to nail both brainy ghosts at once. "Now!" He had his chance to catch both once they were near each other. They tried to pull away in different directions, but Luigi would simply engage all of his strength to pull right back. And all the while, the piano kept playing, the frenzied tune quite fitting as the fight raged on. After many dodging by jumping over the flying books and surging, the two ghosts were slowly getting weaker.

Finally, the last brainy ghost gave in and was captured. Luigi plopped onto the floor, sweaty and badly bruised.

"Knowledge is power," he murmured, "but not like that. That was... something else.."

He remained seated on the floor, catching his breath, even when his Dual Scream rang.
"Hey Professor..." Luigi answered, tiredly.

"Are you okay, Luigi?!" Gadd asked in alarm.

"Yeah. Don't worry. I'm fine...I'll live," Luigi replied, in between breaths from exhaustion after the big fight.

Gadd relaxed. "You had me worried for a minute there, kiddo! Those big-brained ghosts sure put up a fight! The way they were throwing all those books at you reminded me of my college professors, that's for sure!"

Luigi slightly laughed at that thought as the Professor continued. "Anyhoo, I'll bring you back now so I can study those magnificent specimens!"

"Ciao." Luigi put the Dual Scream away. "At least that didn't take too much longer." At last, the Pixelator activated bringing Luigi back to the Bunker.

"Hello, Luigi!" Gadd greeted upon Luigi's return. "Good to see you back in one piece!"

"That's for sure," Luigi replied, brushing his hand against his brow in relief.

"Now let's put that new ghost in the vault. You know what to do," Luigi unattached the nozzle from the side of the Poltergust and put it into the tube. He emptied the Poltergust before sliding it off, deciding to give his shoulders another break.

"I bet your first upgrade came in handy," E. Gadd mentioned. "Have you noticed the surge meter function of the Poltergust that fills up whenever you're vacuuming a ghost?"

"Yeah."

"As you have seen, it gives you a competitive edge in a ghostly throwdown. The first upgrade expanded that feature. It likely made catching those Poltergeists easier to catch."

"It sure did."

"Those brainy Poltergeists sure are strong, but they don't seem to be in charge of the other ghosts," said Gadd. "I reckon they're still worth studying, though!"

"I've never encountered that type of ghost before," said Luigi, "so this is a bit of a first for me. They were very strong."

The Professor nodded. "It's just so fascinating how some ghosts can evolve into more advanced forms," he said. "I don't fully understand the nature of their power, but I will one day. That will be my legacy in the world of paranormal science! And you, Luigi..."

The man in green turned to the Professor and listened closely when he said his name. "Once this is all over, you'll finally step out of your brother's shadow and be recognized as a true hero... heh heh..."

"I sure hope so!" Luigi replied, proudly.

"First, however, we need to get this Dark Moon mess cleaned up. I'll check with the Parascope for more developments."

"We?!" I'm the one doing the cleaning while you're sitting here safely outta harms way..."
Luigi thought to himself but instead he smiled at Gadd. He needed his help, and he wasn't about to let him down. Besides, like the Professor said, he could be seen as a hero instead of a coward.

"I'll leave you to it, Professor." Luigi told him, quietly before heading off to rest.

________________________________________________________

This chapter was a bit later than I expected to update it but I hope you enjoyed. ^U^ More will be coming soon... Even though this is a bit late. Happy St. Patrick's Day/ Luigi Day.

Soon, I might decide to put this story on hiatus since my copy of Dark Moon is starting to die.  It was used from GameStop without a case so it was bound to happen but if it completely stops working I might have to put this on hiatus until I get the Switch one. We'll just have to see how long it'll last though. Hopefully it lasts until June 27th.