"GAHHHHH!!!" King Boo's enraged growl could be heard throughout the walls of the Gloomy Manor. He just went down to check on the Grouchy Possessor's work but what he saw was the entire Celler cleaned from its webs and the Possessor himself no where to be seen.

"Luigi!! You foolish little imp!! I won't be outsmarted by the likes of you again! I'll make sure of that!" The King growled, baring his teeth. "He may have managed to recover the Dark Moon piece I ordered the Grouchy Possessor to protect in the Gloomy Manor but this is far from over."

In his painting, Mario was hearing every word coming out of the boo's mouth. He sighed in relief. "Luigi's okay... Thank goodness... I know he can do this. There is no ghost, Luigi, can't handle. Once he finds out that you're behind this and you kidnapped me again, you'll regret it, King Boo!"

For once, Mario was glad that Luigi wasn't at the house with him, especially at the time of the attack. If he was then... Luigi would've been in great danger. At least this way, he had a fighting chance and that was what Mario was grateful for. His brother may have been fighting the ghosts without even knowing of his capture but he knew Luigi was the only one that was capable of ghost wrangling. Just as long as his brother was okay and still fighting, Mario knew that things would be alright. All he needed to do was believe in his little brother's ghost hunting skills.

He continued to listen to King Boo to hear of his next plan. However, King Boo sighed to himself, seemingly done venting to himself for now as he hovered upwards and through the walls of the manor to the outside into the night sky, using his magic to levitate Mario's painting behind him.

"Boolean! Booluga! Boo B. Trap!" King Boo called out in the darkness. Right on cue, three floating white orbs moved towards the king.

"We heard that the Gloomy Manor has been-" Boolean was silenced by King Boo.

"Are my forces in the Haunted Towers prepared?" He asked.

"Affirmative, your Grace. We expect that Luigi will be arriving there shortly." Booluga answered.

"Not yet. I'll make sure of that! I'm not letting the Gloomy Manor go that quickly. Maybe I should give Luigi a little message that we're not going to give up so easily. I'll be releasing a few extra ghosts to play around in the Gloomy Manor for just a little bit longer. Perhaps Luigi will learn that things are not going to be as easy this time as it was before." King Boo smirked. "The more Luigi helps his mentor, the more he'd be woefully unprepared for the surprise I have in store for him. Right now, Luigi is too busy with his quest on recovering the Dark Moon. He is not aware that this is only a ruse— a glorious trap laid out just for him. The Dark Moon was only a mere distraction. You know very well that this is all just a scheme to get back at Luigi and Professor Gadd."

The three boos nodded, giggling in excitement. "Let's watch as he eventually sleeps with the fishes!" Booluga mused, his tongue lolling out in pleasure.

"You fool! Our plan is to lure him into a devious trap, not kill him!" Boo B. Trap argued. "At least not yet. That is unless he really wants to anger the king to his boiling point."

The King laughed darkly, a wide toothy smile on his face. "Perhaps that will be arranged in the near future."

Mario gasped upon hearing that bit of information. "No! They wouldn't dare... They can't!" He hoped dearly that it wouldn't come to that fruition. He shuttered in his painting which to his surprise actually caused the entire painting to shake. King Boo turned his attention to Mario's painting, rather surprised of its sudden movement.

"Ah! It looks like Mario didn't like that consideration. That's too bad..." The king taunted. "The more Luigi gets on my nerves, that might come to pass, but for now, I'd rather have them both in paintings. I don't have the taste for blood just yet. I like to play with my victims first."

Mario knew the King couldn't actually hear or see his reaction this time around but now he was beginning to feel rattled by his dark antics. "You sick monsters!" Mario growled.

"What are the odds of that happening, your majesty?" Boolean asked with a pleased grin.

"Each passing moment and every time he thwarts with my plans, the closer that decision will come." The king attempted to shrug with his large sphere shaped body. "I hate to go through that path but no matter how it goes, I'm eager to get my hands on him dead or alive."

King Boo slid Mario's painting back into its sack upside down again. He wasn't doing it on purpose but he thought it was amusing. "Carefully take Mario's painting to the next location. I will retreat there myself once I'm finished." King Boo's ordered as his eyes glowed purple menacingly, giving the three boos, Mario's painting as he watched them carry it to the Haunted Towers.

King Boo began to conjure a purple paranormal portal from the Paranormal Dimension. Many Greenies, Slammers and Hiders floated out of the portal, chortling in excitement and mischief.

"What is your bidding, your majesty?" A Slammer asked.

"I want you to crush that little green imbecile when he crosses paths with you. Crush him like the puny bug he is, then bring him to me! That goes for the rest of you, give him a good wallop and knock him out."

"Yes, sir!" The ghosts nodded, before heading down to the Gloomy Manor as King Boo vanished into the portal, closing it behind him.

                                         ***
Luigi was trying to relax while he could but then he started hearing a loud angry voice coming from down below him. "Hey, get me out of this stupid thing!!!!" Luigi heard the voice bellow loudly, that he supposed it was coming from the Possessor. It was loud enough to shake the entire Bunker.

"I don't think the Grouchy Possessor is very happy in the containment unit..." Luigi told the Professor, who quickly shrugged it off, not concerned in the slightest.

"Don't worry about it, Sonny. He'll calm down eventually."

"You don't think he could figure out how to escape, do you?"

"That's doubtful. It would be near impossible for any of those ghosts to escape without my knowledge. The containment unit is made of a special invisible energy field that prevents ghosts from escaping. Trust me, not even the smartest ghosts can figure out how to escape the electrical laser grid in that container." E. Gadd explained.

"Oh, okay..." Luigi muttered, not fully convinced. "I'm going to go check on him, just in case."

"Okay, young feller. I'll let you know when I need you." The Professor told him on his way down to the bottom floor of the Bunker.

Luigi noticed a lot of the common ghosts in their containment unit were conversing angrily to each other and chasing each other around the container, but when he checked on the Possessor he recently caught, he growled at Luigi in anger when he noticed him.

"YOU!!" He growled. "You did this to me!! Get me out of here this instant, you foolish mortal!!"

"Uh... I-I can't do that..." Luigi replied, timidly. He knew he was considered a 'mortal' to the ghosts but he didn't really appreciate being called that. It only brought him back to those past events that he never wanted to remember.

"And why not?! You really are a coward, aren't you? Having to trap your worst fears in a little box? No one likes to be trapped, you know! How would you like it if you were trapped forever and unable to escape?"

Luigi took a few step backwards. "I-I won't let that happen." He bit his lip, attempting to hide any sense of fear from the ghost.

"Hm... I guess we'll see. Perhaps you'll get what's coming for you in due time." The Possessor grinned, crossing his arms, mischievously.

"Wh-What do you mean by that?" Luigi asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. Suddenly, an alarm went off, causing Luigi to jolt. He was abruptly sent back upwards to the professor who had a panicked look on his face. Luigi watched cautiously as he frantically pressed buttons on the keyboard.

"Mamma Mia!! What's going on, Professor?!" Luigi asked, covering his ears from the blazing alarm. The alarm shut off as the Professor continued pressing buttons on his console. "Does it have to do with the Haunted Towers or something else?"

"Hey, youngster! I'm afraid the Haunted Towers will have to wait for now. We've got an unexpected development at the Gloomy Manor. Just when we thought it was finally free of ghosts, the Parascope picked up more paranormal signals."

Luigi sighed softly to himself. "Great... I thought the Gloomy Manor was safe but something doesn't want to let it go just yet... Whatever THAT something is..."

"It's got to be ghosts," the professor continued, "but I have no idea where they're coming from!"

Luigi swallowed. "Yikes..."

"In any case, they're probably up to no good, so we need to capture them."

"Ohhhh..." Luigi groaned. "Do I really have to? We already have the Dark Moon piece."

"Yes, we don't want those pesky ghosts to ruin all your hard work in the Gloomy Manor. We must take care of them all before they can cause even more trouble. I'll pixelate you back to the Gloomy Manor, and we'll take it from there. Sound good?"

"Oh no...!" Luigi quickly shook his head.

"No? Well... think of it as character building. Okay, off you go!" E. Gadd said, before he quickly activated the Pixelator to send Luigi back to the mansion before he could protest.

Luigi gasped in surprise when he was forcefully pulled into the Pixelator.

***

"Oww! Oh boy," sighed Luigi as he landed at
the entrance with a thud, hard on his rear again. He peered around his surroundings to see no ghosts in sight yet. Then, he got to his feet and primed himself for the hunt.

"Luigi?" crackled Gadd's voice from the Dual Scream. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah."

"All right, Luigi! I've got a reading on the ghosts," said Gadd. "Check your map!"

"Got it!" said Luigi, flipping open his Dual Scream and looking for those exclamation marks.

He spotted a mark on the room closest to him—The Garage, making it the closest area of interest, he opened the door to see two Greenies playing in the Professor's car as a Slammer watched ominously nearby like a bodyguard. His arms were crossed and his face changed to a snarl when he saw Luigi enter.

"It's you!! You think you can just traverse around our property like you own the place? You got another thing coming, little green man!" The Slammer growled, cracking his knuckles before advancing towards Luigi.

The green-clad man wasn't intimidated at the slightest, he was prepared for the Slammer to get close enough before attacking all three of the ghosts at once. Once they were within range, Luigi blasted the ghost trio with the Strobulb to stun them before pulling them into the vacuum cleaner one by one. Luigi sighed in relief, thinking the ghosts were taken care of in the garage.

However, unbeknownst to Luigi, a Slammer appeared behind him. He wasn't aware of it until he turned around to see him, glaring down at him with two angry eyes. His sharp teeth bared as Luigi tried backing away from the red buff ghost as it continued to seemingly corner him. His sapphire blue eyes widened in fear as the ghost raised a fist up and punched him right in the abdomen sending him flying backwards into the hood of the Professor's car. "Owwww!!" He groaned, rolling off of the side of the car and on the Garage floor face first. A Greenie, who he didn't notice appeared in the room along with the other Slammer, laughed and chattered excitedly with the Slammer. "Nice shot! Now we'll get him for sure."

"D-Don't be... So...S-Sure about that!" Luigi breathed. It wasn't the first time, he had the air knocked out of him by a ghost and it certainly wouldn't be the last either. He leaned against the car, gasping for air, as he tried to stabilize his balance and get back up to his feet. The ghosts snarled at him as they quickly advanced toward him. They hoped they could overwhelm him before he had the chance to fully recover.

Driven into a slight panic, he aimed his trusty flashlight like a protective weapon at the other Slammer and Greenie. "Stay away from me!" He warned, one hand on his aching side that hurt the most.

"Is the little green wimpy human hurt?" The Slammer mocked, a mischievous grin plastered on his face. "Maybe I should put you out of your misery."

"I said get back! Leave me alone!" Luigi shouted.

At last, Luigi saw an opening to attack both of them at once. He charged and released the Strobulb, stunning both of the opposing ghosts and wheeling them into the Poltergust. Luigi narrowed his eyes and he and the two ghosts tugged back and forth. Luigi put his foot against the side of the Professor's car to keep him from being pulled into the side of the car during his ghost tussle. He held his thumb over the red button, pressing it whenever the Surge meter filled. They put up quite a fight, but like the others, the Slammer and Greenie soon succumbed to his snare and finally gave up the fight.

"Finally... Thank goodness that's over..." he thought as the lights turned on in the Garage, signaling that it was safe now. He leaned backward, resting his lower back against the car to rest for a moment until he heard the DS beep and the professor's voice speaking through the speakers. "What in tarnation? More readings are popping up. They're in two rooms this time!"

"What?!" He looked at the map on the Dual Scream and noticed an exclamation mark over the Mudroom and the Foyer. He swallowed. "I hope I can make it through this..."

Luigi wiped his brow before taking on the ghosts across the entrance into the Mudroom. They consisted of two Greenies, one of them, however, were wearing sunglasses so he had to take them off before he could make him vulnerable. It wasn't too hard to take them both down and he managed to take them down with ease.

However, what came next wasn't so easy. He had to deal with another Slammer and Greenie. Not wanting to repeat the same trouble he had in the previous room, he kept his eyes on them until he was able to stun them both at the same time, taking them out as quickly and easily as the Greenies.  When he was finished, he peered outside, seeing a small, white ghostly dog prancing happily around the doghouse. Luigi couldn't help but smile at the adorable sight. He had to admit the dog looked cute and harmless but he was still not going to let his guard down. Not this time...

"It looks awfully cute but it's still a ghost dog. It could still potentially cause me harm, no matter how innocent it appears to be. It could just trick me like any other ghost... lure me in until I get close... and... attack me just like Spooky. I can't take my chances again."

Not wanting to waste too much time, he continued through the Guard Hall and pushed open the double doors on the opposite side into the Foyer. Where he was greeted by two Hiders who chuckled mischievously, "let's play hide and seek. Come and find us but don't take too long!"

The two skinny blue ghosts concealed themselves in vases as Luigi was left trying to find them as well as dodging their projectiles and attempting to catch them quick enough before they could hide again. Once he managed to catch one, however, a Slammer appeared right in front of him, causing him to jump back in fear. Now he had to dodge sneak-attack projectiles from the other Hider as well as dodge punches from the Slammer. The Hider threw a fruit towards Luigi, who swiftly ducked and the Slammer behind him got hit himself, causing the Hider to stun his own ally. "Whoops..." The Hider muttered, realizing his mistake and quickly hid in a vase. Luigi took it as an opportunity to capture the Slammer while he was an easy catch before resuming his search of the Hider. The Hider wasn't too hard to find and catch once he was alone.

Luigi loved the sound of the Strobulb humming as he charged it and zapping when he released the bright light around the room to stun the ghosts and the soft whirring vibration of the vacuum and the power surge as every ghost gets captured in the Poltergust 5000 where they belonged. When Luigi thought they were finally done, the Professor's voice from the DS spoke to him again.

"Gah! They just keep on coming! Check your map, Sonny!" E. Gadd warned.

"There's more?!" Luigi groaned. "I'm on it..." He sighed, he was starting to get extremely tired and sore from all the blows he had taken. This was the big one when he noticed six rooms of interest that had an exclamation mark on them now as he consulted his map on the Dual Scream. The Lab, Lobby, Parlor, Dining Room, Kitchen and Library that were once ghost free were now full of ghosts again.

Luigi sighed. "Okay... Where to go first?" He wondered to himself. He realized the Lab was the closest to him now while he was in the Foyer, so he went through the door on the left to the Common Hall and headed to the room closest to him—the Lab.

He found himself having to fight a greenie wearing sunglasses and an unarmed greenie. At this point, he knew this pattern. Once he took them down, a Greenie and Hammer appeared in front of him. Only he wasn't given enough time to dodge, when the Slammer performed a
clapping attack, the resulting shock wave knocked Luigi backwards. The hard blow was enough to send Luigi sliding across the floor and slam into the door.

"Again...! Why did I let that happen again...?!" He scolded himself. Luigi heard the Greenie laugh at his misfortune. Getting fed up at this point, Luigi quickly recovered and angrily wheeled about and stunned the Greenie, quickly capturing him. The slammer started steaming up in anger after Luigi caught his ghost ally. The green-clad ghost hunter was more prepared this time as he flashed his strobulb at the Slammer before he could attack again, finally taking him down.

Luigi moved on to the next room that needed to be cleared, which was the Lobby. It was as if who ever was causing this to happen could read his mind when he saw two Slammers this time and one Greenie wearing sunglasses. Luigi swallowed. "They must be trying to overwhelm me now. They know how exhausted I'm starting to get. Someone is trying to test my limits and I'm not looking forward to what's next..."

Luigi tried to catch the two Slammers at the same time since they were the most dangerous to have around. It was extremely difficult to gain control of them both as they pulled Luigi around the room trying to get him to either go towards the Greenie to get hit by him or to make the ghost hunter lose his grip on them so they could pull free. There were moments where the Greenie actually attempted to throw punches at Luigi who swiftly jumped out of the way to dodge before continuing his fight against the two Slammers.

Eventually Luigi managed to catch the two strong ghosts but he didn't get away unpunished yet. For a moment, he forgot about the Greenie as it saw an opening to deal a harsh punch to Luigi's face.

"Owww!!" He whimpered, wincing in pain. He growled at the Greenie, glaring right at him as he shunned his Strobulb while it was busy celebrating his success of finally landing a hit and quickly capturing the Greenie before he could realize what was happening. The lights finally popped back on in the Lobby and he continued to the Parlor which three unarmed Greenies and two Slammers resided which with what he dealt with wasn't much trouble and they all went down after a few Strobulb flashes and surges.

Luigi's next destinations were the Dining Room followed by the Kitchen which had similar ghosts consisting of six greenies armed with pots and pans in the Dining Room and two armored greenies with pots and pans and a Hider joining them in the Kitchen right down below the Dining Room which he used the dumbwaiter to get to.

A rough battle ensued amongst the armored Greenies and an armored Luigi donning the Poltergust 5000 but at least it gave him more opportunities to practice dealing with armed Greenies. Something told him that he'd wind up seeing more of them the further he got through Evershade Valley.

"The ghosts will only get smarter and more skilled as I go on. They are learning my battle style." Luigi thought.

After defeating the armored Greenies and the Hiders, Luigi finally made it to the last room with an exclamation mark. He went through the door from the Kitchen to the Library.

As soon as he went through the door and shut the door behind him, he heard a familiar
"mimimimimimimi..." echoing throughout the library.

"Oh no! You got to be kidding me!!" Luigi breathed as two Poltergeists materialized and began taunting him with all of the books on the top of the piles around the room beginning to levitate and circled around the timid plumber.

The books went flying in all directions, forcing Luigi to duck for cover to avoid getting hit. Bursts of white light filled the room as Luigi attempted to stun the Poltergeists over and over, but failing each time when they shielded their eyes with the books. He tried to relax, carefully watching the two Poltergeists' movements as he waited for the perfect moment to strike. When he found it, he manage to strike both of them with the Strobulb and began vacuuming them up and dodging an incoming projectile from hitting him.

He kept himself braced against the wall, doors and even the grand piano to avoid getting hit from behind by a hard book, hot sweat dribbled down his face and matted his hair while he continued fighting the Poltergeists. His signature green cap was jostled to the side whenever he had to jump to avoid an incoming book. Luigi was breathing deeply, unnerved by all these ghosts but still desperately committed to help his mentor and avoid being defeated by any of the blood thirsty ghosts.

At last, Luigi saw that the two big-brained ghosts were losing their momentum and finally beginning to lose their strength. With an indignant whine, the Poltergeists finally gave in and was overcome by the Poltergust's powerful suction.

This insane gradual infiltration event that seemed to never end had at last come to pass. The gentle Dual Scream ring tone rang. Blinking the tiredness from his eyes, Luigi answered it with a slow steady breath. "Hey, Professor. Is it finally over?"

"That'll do, Luigi! You weren't quick about it, but you caught 'em all."

"Wasn't quick about it? They made sure it wouldn't end that quickly, but I'm glad it's over now." Luigi replied with a tired sigh.

"Anyhoo, let's bring you back!" Luigi was happy to hear those words at long last as he gave the professor a small weak smile. He was thinking he would never catch a break.

He allowed the Pixelator to bring him back to the safe quarters of the Bunker.

***

"Glad you made it back safely, Luigi! There were more ghosts up there than I originally anticipated."

"No kidding. I almost thought it was too much to handle but I made it in the end. I guess I had it in me to take them all down." Luigi responded, emptying the Poltergust through the tube.

"Those ghosts were no match for you, young feller. No match at all."

"Aw, thanks, Professor." Luigi blushed, chuckling to himself bashfully.

"But don't get too confident, son. You can't afford to let your guard down with all these ghosts about."

"Yeah, I know..." Luigi sighed.

"You took quite a beating this time around. You ought to be more careful out there, son. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you or we'll all be in real trouble. You should take care of those wounds before you have to go to the Haunted Towers." E. Gadd explained.

Luigi didn't respond right away and only nodded in agreement. "Anyhoo... I still have no idea what triggered the ghost resurgence," he wondered, adjusting his glasses before continuing his conversation, "the scientific method doesn't exactly apply to paranormal phenomena, you know. That said, there's no mystery that science can't eventually solve!"

"Maybe we can figure that out together eventually, Professor. There are a lot of things I don't understand either like I'm wondering how in the world did these Boos get into Evershade Valley if they are not native here like you said.

"I'm wondering the same thing too, son, but you know what? I have a feeling we'll figure that out soon too."

"Did they follow the Professor? Do they know about what happened to their king? Were they looking for revenge...?

If the Boos were somehow connected to this whole mess in Evershade Valley, then it was up to Luigi to protect his mentor from anything they are planning. Boos were always up to no good, no matter where they resided. They were always up to something with their mischievous tricks and games. Luigi had to put a stop to their evil plans no matter what they are.

Gadd smiled at the young plumber as Luigi slid off the Poltergust and handed it to the Professor for safe keeping while he took care of his wounds. E. Gadd gave him ice to take care of his bruises he got from the ghosts before sending him off to rest.

______________________________
Finally finished this last chapter of the Gloomy Manor. The next chapter starts the Haunted Towers part of Luigi's second ghost hunting adventure. This took longer to finish than I anticipated but at least it is finished now. This was meant to be a final update for 2024 but it turned out to be a little late and became the first chapter of 2025 but I hope you enjoyed. More will be coming ^U^

I hope I can update more in 2025 than I was able to in 2024. That is one of my New Year's Resolutions this new year and hopefully I can follow it. With that being said: Happy New Year to everyone and let's hope 2025 is a great year for everyone! 🥳🎊🎉