Mario’s position was not improving much.
Ghosts were no longer an issue. They were still present, cropping up in practically every chamber he entered, but for some reason they seemed to have developed an unholy terror of his presence. All he had to do was poke his nose into a room and the majority of them would scatter like so much wind-blown tissue paper. There were a brave few who still tried to attack him, but even these would shrivel back and vanish before breaching a six-foot radius around his person.
It was helpful, yes, but also exceedingly unnerving.
Nothing had changed since his escape from the dungeon, at least nothing he knew of, and definitely nothing that should trigger this kind of response. So the question was, why was it happening? No answer he came up with made any sense. No comforting answers anyways.
Something was profoundly wrong. His instincts told him to make tracks, take some effort to lose the thing he felt so certain was watching him, but that was a little hard to do when every other direction he turned was barred by a locked door.
Traversing the rooms was painfully slow, even with the lack of ghosts. His original assumption about the doors had only been half-true; it was a pretty even split between the ones that were locked and the ones that weren’t in the chambers. And among these doors there were a fair few that simply refused to open. It would seem, despite the number of keys crammed onto it, the ring he had was incomplete. Or maybe it was more than that. Even at the stuck doors he would often find keys that seemed to fit, but the lock still wouldn’t turn. It was a soft, sticky kind of stuck, as if something were fighting him from the other side. Mario could only assume it was an enchantment of some kind.
It wasn’t that far-fetched; this place was full of boos after all, and King Boo in particular seemed rather ept at enchantments. Mario only hoped he didn’t stumble into anything of a more malicious nature.
Like, maybe the halls.
As a rule Mario tried to stick to the inner rooms as much as he could, but between the impassable doors and the fact that he was trying to get to the front of this place it wasn’t always possible. Every time he used the halls, without fail, he got turned around. There were a number of enchantments that could have that kind of effect, anything from the boo’s subtle skill of befuddlement to a particularly nasty ‘infinite passage’ trap.
So here he was doing the dungeon cha-cha, two steps forward one step back, just waiting for the boos to show up and take another bite out of him.
And to make matters worse, he had just hit another dead end.
Mario pushed into the hall as quietly has he could. He was starting to hate the doors here; some opened as smooth as ice, others… not so much. There was no rhyme or reason to it either; telling the difference between the two was impossible until it was too late to matter. It was the worst thing imaginable for shot nerves, and as much as Mario hated to admit it his nerves were frayed pretty thin at this point.
He moved quickly now that he was in the open, watching every shadow and listening. But there was nothing new to note, just more aged wood paneling and peeling plaster. He didn’t even see any ghosts which was… rather unusual. He tried not to think about it.
Judging by the last set of windows he had encountered, and assuming he hadn’t gotten turned around again, he had a fair idea where front of the building was. Using that information he took the first right turn he encountered and found himself looking down a long, straight passage.
Mario hesitated. After the slow maneuvering of the inner rooms a straightforward passage was a tempting thing. How turned around could you get going in a straight line? He began down the hall at a brisk walk but didn’t get far. After passing what seemed to be the same painting twice, he thought better of his choice. He doused his fireball, pulled the key ring out of his pocket, and chose a door to tackle.
The slow burn of adrenaline was wreaking havoc on his system; his hands were clammy beneath his gloves and they shook. He gripped the little bits of metal tighter and continued to weed through them, comparing each set of embellished hilts to the decorative trim around the door. He only fumbled for a few moments, though, before realizing he wasn’t alone.
There was a low, ragged muttering bleeding up from the other end of the passage. It wasn’t a new sound; Mario had picked up on it soon after entering this hall. At first he had put it down to the common ghosts, that assumption was rapidly deteriorating, though, as he started to pick out actual, intelligible words slurred into it.
Slowly he turned his head, trying not to draw too much attention to himself. At first he saw nothing, just the long, dimly lit passage. As he watched, though, a subtle motion drew his eye.
There was a tall, crooked shadow snaking through the candle light on the walls. The hair on the back of Mario’s neck began to rise as he searched for the source of the shape, but the only thing he could find was a single, unlit candle bracket bobbing gently in the air.
Mario muffled the key ring in his hands and slid it into his pocket. The new ghost didn’t seem to take any notice of him; by the looks of its shadow, it seemed to be facing the other direction. Silently, Mario began to slip back the way he had come, heading for the bend in the passage. The candle reached the end of its pacing route and stopped, slowly turning around. The horrid shadow turned as well, trailing behind as the whole fiasco moved in Mario’s direction. It still seemed oblivious to his presence, though, at least for now. Mario sped up his retreat, eyes focused on the shadow, only to ram into an end table.
There was a rattle and a crash as the corresponding vase fell to the floor. Both he, and the candlestick froze.
Mario grit his teeth and waited for whatever was to happen next. Slowly, as if it took a great deal of effort, the blued-out impression of an old man eased into view. There was something about his crushed, spindly form that made Mario intensely uneasy, and the look on its sharp, flinty face wasn’t helping. Despite this he held his ground, forcing himself to stay calm. This ghost was like the key keeper, and he had helped him. Maybe this ghost wasn’t an enemy either despite the initial impression it gave.
Mario searched his brain for the proper way to address him, but nothing came to mind. The ghost flew at him.
There was no warning, no indication that it would attack, it just flew at him with a high, wailing shriek. Mario threw his hands up to protect his face, but the creature passed right through that, then through the rest of him as if he didn’t even exist. Mario fell forward with a gasp as he was hit with the most horrible sensation. The drain from the other ghosts was nothing compared to this; it was as if his life was being dragged away right through his skin. He had the vague impression of being pushed against the wall, pinned there by a massive, ethereal hand. He pushed against it, fighting the grip with everything he had, but there wasn’t anything solid enough to pry away.
Mario started to see black in the corners of his vision. Nothing was obstructing his throat, but he couldn’t breath all the same. In desperation, he lashed out in the direction of the ghost, summoning as much fire as he could muster.
This was the best thing he could have done.
Instantly the ghost reeled back, howling in fright. Mario slumped against the wall then staggered forward, gulping down air and kindling a fresh fist full of fire. The ghost retreated to the far wall and prowled back and forth. It had a wild look in its silver, dead eyes, gaze flicking between Mario and his escape route. It shrieked again and made another charge.
Mario held his ground; there wasn’t a lot more he could do. The ghost broke off again as it approached the fire, yattering its displeasure in half intelligible words. Mario sent a shot after him as he retreated. It was a pathetic excuse for a fire blast, but it worked. The creature yowled again, dodged, and ducked through a wall.
He didn’t wait for it to come back. As soon as it was gone Mario ran down the passage, belting as far away from the place as possible, head spinning and vision blurred. Soon he found himself at a dead end, the hall barred over by a slick of glowing vines.
He leaned against the wall, choking down more air. He wasn’t being followed, not that he could hear anyways. Slowly the sickening remnants of the draining began to pass: his vision righted itself and his breath came easier. The grim thought of what would’ve happened if the Key Keeper had attacked him played at the edges of his mind.
For the first time the full gravity of his situation really started to sink in. He had no idea what he was going to do. No supplies, no ‘power ups’, no idea how to get out. He was on his own in the heart of an enemy castle, and it was swarming with creatures he couldn't fight. For once Mario honestly felt outmatched, dropped in the deep end.
And one thing was for sure: he was completely turned around again.
“Are you okay mister?” Asked a small voice to his right.
Mario jumped away as if he’d been stung, nausea clapping down on him at the sudden movement. Vaguely he could discern another blue shape a short ways up the hall.
It looked like a little boy.
• • •
The professor was true to his word. Despite the pouring rain, he walked with Luigi all the way to the front of the mansion.
Luigi appreciated the gesture, he really did, but there was something inexplicably unnerving about him standing at the bottom of the stairs, smiling and waving like that. The professor had full confidence in him, at least that’s what he said. The casual expression was probably supposed to enforce that somehow, boost his confidence, but it wasn’t working. All Luigi felt at this point was nervous, and more than a little worried.
He reached the top of the stairs, gave a final nod to the professor, and walked through the door into the mansion.
The Foyer was empty. He didn’t know what he had expected, but nothing seemed to have changed since his earlier visit. He didn’t linger, just took a deep breath and made for the curving stairs, eyes peeled for lurking specters.
The double doors to the parlor were still open a smidge. Luigi didn’t push his way in immediately, opting to stop and listen instead. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could catch the ghosts by surprise this time. He didn’t hear anything in the room though.
Luigi swallowed hard, adjusted his grip on the light, and pushed open the door. There was nothing.
Well, nothing was a relative term. Evidence of his first encounter was littered everywhere. Glass was splattered across the floor where he had slammed into the cabinet and the table was slightly askew; the sheepskin rug he had tripped on, or at least he guessed that was what he had tripped on, lay in a bizarre twisted lump, but there were still no ghosts.
Rigidly Luigi entered the room, every muscle tensed, waiting for a snarl and a flash of orange, but none came. After a few moments of waiting he started to wonder if the ghosts had moved off, went to hunt other places when he and the professor had left. Luigi wasn’t about to stake his well-being on that kind of wishful thinking, though. They had waited a good while to attack him the first time after all, and that was before, when all he had to defend himself was his old, dinky flashlight.
He glanced down at the new light; maybe that was the problem. Luigi didn’t allow himself the time to think it over, just flicked it off and waited in the dark. Still nothing. It was almost disappointing, honestly; rather anticlimactic after how worked up he had got himself. Maybe the sight of the Poltergust was enough to deter them. Then again, the training ghosts hadn’t shown much pause; maybe they really had moved off.
Luigi gave a final glance over his shoulder, just in case the ghosts decided to try a more stealthy approach, then began to inspect the room more thoroughly. He didn’t know what he was looking for exactly, some sign that Mario had passed, but there wasn’t much to find. Eventually his searching brought him back around to the dark cabinet, and he took a moment to glower at the candles again. They flickered innocently on their half melted sticks, the blue and purple light making the whole area look rather sad. Luigi was unsympathetic.
He hadn’t been on all that many adventures, but he had been through enough to associate that color flame with enchantments.
Kamek used them sometimes, and so had Cackletta. They were always present when Bowser tried that infinite stairs trick on Mario, or that’s what Mario had told him, and you could always find a few in the ghost infested shacks on the way to Bowser’s territory. Luigi had no idea what this set was tied to, but he didn’t care to find out. Whatever it was, though, he had found its source, and the candles were unprotected.
He didn’t have a fantastic understanding of enchantments, whether they were kept running by the flame, or the flame was just a byproduct he didn’t know. If the latter were true he might not be able to put the candles out, but he was sure going to try. He didn’t want to get close enough to blow them out the normal way, but it didn’t take him long to come up with a solution for that. He raised the nozzle of the Poltergust, pointed it at the candles, and flipped the switch before any countermeasures could stop him.
The spurts of flame went out instantaneously, hot wax splattering all over the dresser. Luigi stepped back in alarm as two of the melty sticks were sucked straight out of their stands and devoured by the machine. They rattled around inside the Poltergust, distressing sounds coming from the hose. Luigi’s heart jumped into his throat, afraid they would clog it, but after a moment the commotion settled as the candles clattered down into the canister.
Great. Now there were enchanted candle sticks in his vacuum. He hoped he wouldn’t regret that later…
He didn’t have long to ponder this, though, as something began to rattle over his head. Luigi jumped back, eyes snapping to the sound; it was the painting above the dresser, and it was bouncing against the wall as if something was trying to get out.
“Who put out the lights! Was it you mister lime green?” spat a gravelly voice.
Luigi was speechless. Rattling was striking up all through the room now; he whipped around to see more portraits, each vibrating in turn with a ferocity to dislodge their nails.
“Well, that’s alright then, we’ve been expecting you,” said the portrait of the man, tone changed to an unpleasant sort of bemused.
“You’re quite late, dear,” said a different voice, the portrait of a young woman. “Don’t you know it’s rude to keep people waiting? But don’t worry, we’ll keep you here until they can collect you.
“And no sneaking away now. We can’t have that.” she added with an obnoxious giggle.
Luigi had indeed been backing away, creeping towards the door to the foyer. That was put to an abrupt stop, though, as the door snicked shut behind him. Luigi tossed caution and made a bolt for the closed door only for a slick of webbing to spring across its surface. The tendrils jumped at him as they grew, lashing around his hand and shocking him right through his glove. He yelped and fell back, bits of stinging vine coming away with him. The portraits laughed as Luigi frantically removed the burning bits. He threw the last remnants to the ground and looked to the other door; that too was a pulsing mesh of vines. He was trapped.
“Aww, look at him shake. Are you scared little man?” crooned the woman.
“What's the matter? We thought you wanted to join red cap,” said the man.
Luigi froze to the spot, eyes rising to face the flat eyes of the speaker.
“What?”
He got another laugh in response.
The spell was broken as a familiar snarl shattered the air behind him. He whipped around with a speed born of pure panic and lasered the orange ghost in the eyes. It vanished with a howl.
Right, too fast, that was too fast.
There was another roar, and the next ghost sprang into existence, a flood of orange filling the room. Luigi held his ground, strangling the flashlight and the Poltergust, counting the seconds and waiting. At the last moment he blasted the thing in the face and sucked it down, just as the next one appeared.
The rest came easily after that. Despite the threats of the portraits there were only three ghosts to deal with. The last one went down with a wail, and all was still. Then the lights flicked on.
Luigi yelled out, stumbling in a blind panic. He was just waiting for something to maul him while he was down, but nothing did. Slowly his eyes adjusted. He peered around the room then wearily at the paintings. They were silent and still.
Or at least, mostly still. Something white was drifting in front of the painting of the man, looking dazed, see-through-ish, and disoriented.
It was a boo.
The boo caught sight of Luigi as well, squealed, and tried to dart away. Not knowing what else to do, Luigi whipped up the Poltergust and jammed the on switch. The suction didn’t latch on like it did to the other ghosts, but it definitely pulled the boo back. The creature yelped again and tried to shake him, but Luigi kept the nozzle trained on it. In another moment it vanished down the pipe.
That explained the talking portraits at least.
Luigi made a loop of the paintings giving each one a suck with the Poltergust. If there was another boo in here, he needed to find it quickly. Or maybe there had just been the one. Boos could change their voices when they wanted to after all, something he had learned first hand on other adventures.
He really hoped there was only the one.
The words of the boo weighed on him as he searched, chewing an anxious hole in his mind. Despite what the professor had said, Luigi had been dubious about how much Mario actually needed his help. Mario had tackled plenty of places like this before and been just fine; Luigi didn’t see why this one would be any different. Was he worried? Yes, but when it really came down to it he was sure his brother was fine, fighting through this place like he always did.
But that comment about ‘red cap’ was not a promising statement.
There was an equally strong chance the boo was messing with him. That’s what boos were known for after all: playing upon people’s fears. It could have been total bularky, specifically tailored to drive him up. The problem was, there was no good way to know the truth of the matter.
He didn’t find any more boos. Even with the ghosts gone and the room lit he felt like the paintings were watching him. Satisfied with his search, Luigi made his way to the door at the other end of the room. The webbing over it was dark now, a dead, limp mess of burnt out brown. He prodded it with the Poltergust, ready to yank it back if the stuff tried to grab it, but the tendrils dissolved to sand at the slightest touch. The door underneath opened easily.
The room beyond was bare, musty, and stuffed with ghosts. He even made a new acquaintance, a purple, beefy fisted specter who tried to punch him from behind. Luigi ducked and wove in a frantic dance, sucking down ghosts as fast as he could. As soon as they were gone the lights winked on here as well.
Luigi stood in the middle of the floor, breathing hard and blinking up at the ceiling bulb. The whole concept made no sense. He spared a moment to have another look at the electrical situation.
The setup here was very similar to the one he had seen in the foyer. Wires ran down the outside of the wall ending in a big, bulky switch. It made sense now, given what he knew about the professor, but he didn’t see any reason the lights should turn on when the ghosts were captured. There didn’t seem to be anything threatening in it though, so he left it alone, turning his attention to the rest of the room.
Not counting the one he had just come through, there were two doors and a downward staircase leading off it; he tried the stairs first, only to nearly walk into another web. This one wasn’t even over a door: it was draped across the passage in glowing mass of ribbon. Beyond he could just barely make out a dark hall. He obviously wasn’t going that way; one passage ruled out, he returned upstairs to check the doors. One was locked, the other wasn’t.
The next chamber was very different from the rest. It looked like it had been a sunroom once, or maybe a kind of mini greenhouse. Whatever it had been it was destroyed now. Plants had completely taken over, glossy green vines crawling across the walls and floor before gracefully ducking out through holes in the windows. The drip and patter of water off the leaves dominated the room, and the leaky ceiling left the floor slick and warped. The smells of rain, salt, and deepening evening were thick here, a nice change from the ever-present mustiness inside.
Luigi turned a slow circle, taking in the aesthetic of the room, then yelled when a ghost appeared at his elbow. He sucked the thing down quick, glad there was no one around to have heard, and rounded to face its rapidly appearing companions. Once the colorful crew was gone the light came on, but it was subtle, just a pair of cracked lamps wedged in the far corner.
A scope of the rest of the room turned up nothing useful. There were no signs that Mario had ever been this way before. This impression was strengthened when every one of the three doors leading off the room were locked. There was a pair of smashed glass doors leading onto a balcony, but it was guarded by an intimidating tangle of vines and didn't seem to go anywhere. The floor of the balcony itself was warped and falling apart; one wrong move and you would fall straight through to the muddy courtyard below. Luigi opted not to try his luck. After a good bit of craning, to make sure it didn't connect to the next room, he decided to let the balcony be.
The situation raised an interesting question though: where on earth was Mario? He hadn't had any keys that was for certain, but if he had stayed in the unlocked passages either Luigi or the professor would have found him by now. He must have gone through a locked door somewhere, the question was how. Had the ghosts allowed him passage somehow, then locked the doors behind him? The usual ghosts didn't seem smart enough for that kind of maneuver, but boos...
Luigi shuddered, pressing the image out of his head. Mario was fine. He was sure Mario was fine. And any way you sliced it, he would meet up with him soon.
Luigi spent a good ten minutes trying keys on the locked doors. Not a single one of them would open, so eventually he went back the way he had come. He made for the locked door he had left behind first, but his luck was the same there as well. Mario aside, Luigi started to wonder what he was supposed to do. He wouldn’t be doing anyone a lot of good at this rate. He continued to back-track. There were more locked doors in the foyer; one of them had to open with the keys the professor had given him.
There was a pleasant surprise waiting for him when he got there. At some point while he was gone the lights had started working again. The room looked much different with the gold glow of the chandelier washing over it. It lacked the bright, friendly air of the toad town castle, but it was still lovely in its own way. Properly regal, strong, and very grand.
Luigi wondered how the professor had managed to wire the chandelier on his own. Or how he had managed to do half the things he had done here by himself. Though, from what E. Gadd had said, he had been much younger then.
As if on cue the Gameboy Horror began to ring, spewing its obnoxious tune into the silence. Luigi yelped and shied away then remembered what it was and scrambled to accept the call, feeling like a fool.
“How are you holding out, Lad?” the professor asked before Luigi could say anything. “Oh, you got the lights back on.”
“They come on when I catch all the ghosts in a room.” said Luigi. “I’m fine.”
The professor pondered this for a moment.
“Well, that’s an interesting turn of events. It must be some sort of enchantment then. And here I was thinking the ghosts had torn out the fuse box. Anyhow, it makes your job easier. Not as bad as you thought it would be, is it?”
Luigi didn’t grace that with an answer.
“Can ghosts use enchantments?” he asked.
“No, well yes. Some can, boos are handy with them for one, but none of the generic ghosts can use them, at least, not that I’ve ever found. Elemental ghosts don’t count to my mind. They’re a special case.”
Luigi nodded. He wasn’t sure what an ‘elemental ghost’ was, but he knew dang well about boos.
“I caught a boo in the pantry-” he started.
"Well, did you now?" said the professor, "Those little suckers are quite the pain to catch. I'm surprised it was so close to the front of the place."
Luigi's eyebrows dropped the slightest bit; he could have sworn a shadow passed over the professor's face before he spoke. And any way you sliced it, that was kind of an odd statement.
"Are there more boos here?"
The professor adjusted his glasses. "It's hard to say. There definitely could be, I would even go as far as to say it's likely, considering you've already caught one. What are you doing back this way anyhow?" he asked.
Luigi's eyebrows dropped further and for a moment he seriously considered pressing the subject, but ultimately decided to let it go.
"I hit a dead end,” he said instead. "There were only locked doors that way."
E. Gadd looked confused.
"But there's a stair leading to the lower halls. There's no door on that passage, at least none that I remember."
"There wasn't a door," agreed Luigi. "Just a web. Do you know how to get rid of those?"
The professor adjusted his glasses again and there was the sound of typing.
"There's nothing terribly straightforward to say about the subject, unfortunately. They're another sort of enchantment, so clearing out enough ghosts should do the trick."
"I did catch all the ghosts. In every room I've been through."
"I don't know what to tell you, lad. Maybe the ghosts holding that one up are on the other side of the net. I wouldn't worry too much about it though; it should right itself naturally as you continue cleaning out the place. Anyhow, I think you were right to came back this way. Hopefully your luck will be better in the halls."
"You wouldn't happen to know which doors the keys you gave me unlock, would you?" asked Luigi. He might as well. It couldn't hurt, and it had the potential to save him a lot of time.
The professor rubbed his head.
"Well, I couldn't say right off the top of my mind. One of em's to the study I think, and one gets into the kitchen."
"I mean, where are the doors they unlock. Do any of them go to doors in this room?"
"Ah. Well, I sure can't help you there; there are so many doors in this place. But why don't you use the Gameboy?"
"The Gameboy Horror?" repeated Luigi, rather confused.
"Well yes, didn't I... I suppose I didn't, did I."
The professor sighed. There was a rattle as he slid his chair forward and typed. The screen of the Gameboy fizzed, changing from the video call to a gridlock of green squares.
"The device's got a map built into it," he said, as the screen panned to a layout that resembled the foyer. “I'm controlling it from the computer now, but you can do all this from the interface too. There's a notch on the side you can slide keys into, and it'll highlight the corresponding room. Why don't you give it a try?"
Luigi nodded, picked a key at random, and slid it into the slot. After a moment, the light on the top of the device blinked green, the map highlighting a room not far away.
"That would be the study key," said E. Gadd with a nod. "And I'm durned certain I had the key to get into that hall as well. It's a small gold one I think, or brass to be more specific."
Luigi dished through the fist full of keys and held up the one that fit the description best.
"That's the one!"
Luigi plugged the new key into the slot and watched as the map panned to the door directly to his left. Luigi glanced over at it then back at the professor.
"Thank you for your help," he said
"Not at all lad. Sorry I forgot to tell you about that sooner. Now best you be on your way, there's a lot to do tonight yet."
Luigi nodded, and was on the verge of powering the thing off when the professor piped up again.
"Oh, a bit of a warning before you go," he said, tacking at his computer again. "I'm picking up readings of more powerful ghosts ahead, somewhere down that hall."
Luigi's stomach gave a flop. "More powerful ghosts?"
"I wouldn't be too concerned, nothing you shouldn't be able to handle," said the professor in a reassuring tone. "They may be a bit harder to startle, that's all. Once you get a handle on them they should come just as easily as the rest."
Luigi didn't know what to say to that, so he nodded again.
"Well, I won't hold you any longer. Good luck, lad."
And with that, the device fizzed off, and E. Gadd was gone.
Luigi just stood there for a moment thumbing the device and absorbing this new information. 'Stronger ghosts' was not what he needed right now. He stashed the device in his pocket, readjusted his grip on the light, and headed for the new door.
The brass key slid right into place, and Luigi gave it a firm turn. There was a moment of resistance, a sandy, grinding feel of disuse and rust, then the mechanism gave with a crack.
• • •
Mario pushed himself upright, ready for whatever the thing had to throw at him. It didn't move to attack, though, just hung back and watched.
"What do you want?" Mario asked after a wary moment of silence.
"Well, I don't know," said the boy, giving a half shrug. "Nothing I guess. I just wanted to see how you were doing. You weren't looking so good for a minute there."
Mario pitted him with one of his specially reserved scowls. The thing was small and seemed harmless enough, but after his earlier incident Mario wasn't terribly keen on trusting any more ghosts.
The boy looked a little hurt, but he didn't move.
There was another long pause. The ghost shifted uncomfortably, pretending to be interested in anything other than Mario. For whatever reason, though, it didn't seem to have any intention of leaving. Mario, for his part, continued to stare, not taking his eyes off the creature for a moment.
"So, ah... What are you going to do now?" the boy asked eventually.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Mario, crossing his arms.
"I don't know, you're just kinda standing there; I assumed you had something to do. Unlocking doors, wandering around. The same sort of thing you've done all night?"
"And you've been following me how long?" asked Mario in a low tone.
"Oh, a long time," said the boy eagerly then trailed off as he noticed Mario's expression. He glanced around uneasily and drifted back a few paces. "What? I haven't caused any problems. You don't think the blobbies left you alone because they felt like it, did you?"
Mario glowered at him again as he sorted through this new information. So the boy had been protecting him, or at least that's what he seemed to be claiming. Frankly, Mario saw no reason why the ghost would do that, but it was true he hadn't had trouble with ghosts for a long time now. At least, not until that last attack.
"What about the other ghost? The one in the hall?"
The boy pulled a face.
"I kinda- bailed when you got close to him. Shivers gives me the creeps."
"Thanks for the warning," said Mario flatly.
"Well I didn't want to get fireballed either, yah know," said the boy, puffing himself up defensively.
It was a fair point. Mario didn't press the matter.
"Do you know anything about the boos? Have they been following me too?" he asked, making an effort to sound more civil.
"Nah, we're fine," the boy answered, brightening considerably at the change in tone. "You did pretty good by getting into the chambers. They're all confused now, everybody thinks you're back in the west wing. My brother's down the hall anyways. He'll warn us if anybody starts coming this way."
So there were two of them.
There was another spell of silence. The boy hovered back and forth twiddling his thumbs, but generally seemed more comfortable. He kept glancing at Mario eagerly, but it wasn't in a malicious way, almost as if he was waiting for Mario to speak again.
"Hey," said he said eventually. "There wouldn't happen to be anything I could get for you is there?"
"Like what?" asked Mario, a little surprised.
"Well, I don't know, that's why I asked."
"I don't think you could bring anything that would help."
Of course as soon as the words left Mario's mouth he realized that wasn't exactly true. There were several things he could use right now, ranging from his missing hat and shoe to some sort of map.
"I d'now, the two of us can find some pretty cool stuff around here," said the boy mischievously. "I could probably scrounge up something for your leg if you needed it..."
"That would be fantastic," said Mario.
The boy tapped his chin.
"I'm pretty sure the old man keeps a medical chest with mushroom drops in the 'secret lab', but he forgets to refill it a lot. That king hangs out down there too, and I don't want to run into him. I'm pretty sure the professor grows some fancy herbs somewhere, but that's at those towers he visits sometimes. Maybe he brought some over..."
The boy trailed off, continuing his train of thought silently. Mario eyed him keenly; so the boy was familiar with the professor as well. He was debating the use of asking some questions along those lines when the boy solved his dilemma.
"No, wait!" he shouted, causing Mario to jump--he really had been in this place too long-- "There's a power star tucked away upstairs! Those can heal stuff, right?"
Mario started again, this time for an entirely different reason.
"There's a power star? Here?"
"Yep! Up in the observatory! The professor stashed it there about a month ago. I don't think the boos have found it yet, and I doubt he would mind too much if you borrowed it."
Mario felt a pulse of excitement. No, a power star was not technically a healing item, but injuries or not it might just be the edge he needed. There was always the possibility the ghost was lying, but it was worth the risk.
"Can you show me where it is?" he asked.
The boy's face lit up like a firecracker.
"Just follow me!" he said and darted away down the halls.
Notes:
One thing that's very interesting about Luigi's mansion is how few of the ghosts are actually malicious before they're provoked. About half the ghosts completely ignore you until you start picking fights, and all but six just try to scare you off with random floating projectiles. It's one of those things you never really picked up on when you were ten.
One thing's for sure though, the situation leaves a lot of interesting possibilities open in the writing department. Which of the ghosts are malicious? Which are friendly? A lot of them are probably downright indifferent to what's going on in the mansion so long as they have a place to stay. Figuring out everyone's loyalties and motivations has been one of the most enjoyable parts of building this story.
Where to the twins fall into this? Well, as far as I can figure, those two just want attention from somebody, and Mario just happens to be the closest somebody around.
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