King Boo fazed through the elevator door to the Cellar. He hovered over to the large purple Spider Queen. "I figured this would happen! That little green janitor nuisance managed to clean up every sticky web all over the Gloomy Manor. Now how do you suppose you'll be able to stop him!" King Boo snarled, gritting his sharp teeth.

"My preparations are in order, Master. I know he will be here soon. The eccentric professor is sending him here next, I assure you." The spider queen chirped calmly.

"And how are you certain that you will capture him for me?" King Boo asked, frowning with uncertainty.

The Grouchy Possessor, like all of King Boo's subjects, knew all too well about how intimidating King Boo typically was as a ruler. So he was relieved that the King has felt merciful towards him so far and even to the point of trusting him with one of the valuable Dark Moon pieces that he had embedded in his chest to protect it. Although, now he felt the King's demeanor seemed to have changed to a more serious and cruel tone that could even top his own grouchiness.

"Well it's only a matter of time before we make him fall." The Spider confidently reassures him. "Believe me, even if I fail, there are far too many ghosts in Evershade Valley that not even the most esteemed ghost hunters can take on. He will be overwhelmed eventually. His strength will weaken and he'll eventually exhaust himself. He won't be able to keep it up forever. That'll be the time you will have him for sure."

"I would hope so." King Boo spoke, conjuring Mario's painting with his magic. He ran a nubbed hand over Mario's chin and smiled widely when he looked into his worried expression on his face. "I'm... a rather serious collector." The boo's expression changed to a frown again when he thought of something that perturbed him. "But there are a few very important pieces missing from my collection. All of those arrogant fools that opposed me... Unfortunately..." he paused in thought.

He sighed.
"It's been some time now... It's hard to tell exactly how long it's been when you're trapped inside a glorified vacuum cleaner and... put into your very own painting, then wherever else that old coot decides to put you until he eventually messes up on that front. Selling me in a garage sale like some sort of mere object. At least I wouldn't treat my valuable things that way. Especially if it is sentimental value to me."

His frown turning into a disgruntled glare.
"This time will be different though! I will make BOTH of them pay for what they did to ALL of us! My boos shall be avenged! Especially the ones that have been sacrificed.. I've lost..." The King's eyes glowed a dangerous purple hue.

He paused, his purple eyes dilated from slight embarrassment when he noticed the possessed spider queen staring at him with green eyes.

Finally acknowledging the fact that he wasn't alone right now. He cleared his throat and recomposed himself. "...If you were trapped in a box or container of sorts for so long with nothing to talk to, you'd pick up the habit of talking to yourself too!"

He seemed somewhat defensive; after being caught off guard. He wasn't used to having any company for a long time. He was alone for years—he felt sidelined for several long decades.

He paused.
"Luigi is a coward who does whatever that wretched professor tells him to do... His superior mentor, Professor Gadd was the one to first trap anyone in a painting, my most esteemed force, Boolossus, was what really crossed the line between me and that old geezer professor and my nemesis's brother trespassed on our property before we even knew of his identity! Anything about them!"

Perhaps King Boo wasn't aware that Mario only trespassed because he was trying to get to Bowser to rescue Peach at the time, but he probably wouldn't have cared about that either way. He still attacked his boos in the process and that's what mattered to the king and the exact reason that set him off to go after the Mario Brothers as well.

"But... That's right! I won't let anyone fail me this time... Luigi will finally be trapped somewhere he will NEVER be able to escape from! That's all that I must believe in now. No matter how many ghosts in Evershade Valley have been massacred and defeated by that foul machine, I must have Luigi at all costs. Your noble sacrifice will be obliged as long as I get what I want."

He was smiling now, but he didn't exactly look happy. His expression was more sinister, if anything, and there was a hint of bitterness there. He rose Mario's painting up to his purple glowing eyes, penetrating the canvas with an eerie purple hue. "Your little brother shall be punished for his wrongdoing."

He turned his gaze back to the large purple spider with glowing green eyes. "Take care of that cowardly plumber for me. I want him alive but give him no mercy. I'd like to see him suffer after everything he's done. Make Luigi feel all the pain when you're through with him. I'll be back to retrieve him later. I prefer to see him beaten to a pulp when I arrive."

The Grouchy Possessor watched as King Boo went through the ceiling with the Mario painting hovering behind him, at last leaving the ghost possessing the spider alone in peace. "Finally some peace and quiet for at least a little while. That wimpy human doesn't seem too difficult. He'll be finished in just a few seconds."

                                        ***

"Eureka! I've cracked it!"

The Professor shouted those words loud enough to startle Luigi to his feet. He sidled to the Professor's side to see what the commotion was about. "Cracked what?" The Professor spun his swivel chair around in excitement before turning to Luigi and acknowledging his presence.

"I've triangulated the powerful paranormal signal and it's coming from the Cellar."

Um... Did you just say... the Cellar?" Luigi asked, timidly, starting to quiver in fear.

"Yep. The CELLAR." E. Gadd repeated.

"Ohhhh..." Luigi groaned, apprehensively. He knew cellars and basements were favorite hiding places for ghosts. They were the darkest and scariest places in a house. Luigi could certainly attest to that. He was afraid of both, especially if it's dark.

"Scared? Can't say I blame you. Cellars do have a terrible reputation." E. Gadd noticed the more he talked about it, the more Luigi trembled in a panic so he added, "but I believe in you, Luigi!"

He began to calm down a bit after the words of encouragement, he felt a little better. "Thanks, Professor."

"Once we find out who—or what— is behind this mess, we'll put a stop to it."

"And by we, you mean me, right? All you've been doing is sitting here in the Bunker, checking on me and giving me instructions." Luigi thought to himself.

"So button up those overalls real tight, and get ready for action, my boy! Now to get to the Cellar, you'll need to take the elevator." Gadd continued. "It's pretty straightforward, but I'll mark the Cellar on the Dual Scream's map. Just in case."

He pressed a few buttons on his keyboard, and Luigi checked the Dual Scream for that singular exclamation point. "I saw the elevator in the lobby. That must be it. Let's just hope it works. I also noticed a gate in front of the elevator."

As if on cue, the Professor pulled out a key and handed it to Luigi. "This key should open the elevator. Though I imagine the elevator's operating permit may be expired..."

Luigi swallowed. The worry started to come back. "Wait what?! I hope it's safe..."

"Don't sweat it too much, I'm sure the elevator will work fine. There haven't been issues with it yet." E. Gadd assured him.

"Yet... I'm not too sure... This seems too dangerous..."

"Okay, then," said Gadd. "I'll be tracking
your progress from the relative warmth and comfort of this Bunker."

Luigi rolled his eyes. Thanks for rubbing
it in, he thought.

"Ready or not! Good luck, Luigi! Just remember to go straight to the Cellar." The Professor told him before sending him through the Pixelator.

                                          ***
Once Luigi's body reassembled through the Pixelator into the Lobby, he found himself froze in midair again. He looked down to the floor, knowing exactly how he was going to land. "Uh oh..." he muttered, once he felt himself gaining control over his own body again. Luigi violently crashed to the ground on to his stomach as if he was thrown or pushed. He stood back up, remembering to take in his surroundings, he looked around to get his bearings and saw that he was in the upstairs lobby. He noticed immediately there, to his left, was the elevator.

Hesitating for a moment, he decided to stall going to the Cellar to look for extra treasure but the moment he tried to leave the Lobby, the Professor lectured him.

"Luigi? Where are you going? You need to take the elevator down into the Cellar!"

"But Professor, I'm unsure if this is a good idea."

"Luigi! What's wrong with you, boy! Are you chickening out? Get to the Cellar!"

"But..."

"Luigi... Read my lips: GET TO THE CELLAR! POSTHASTE!"

"Okay, okay!"

Fishing out the key, Luigi unlocked the gate, pushed it open and pressed the elevator's button. There was a ding as the elevator doors slid open. He heard calming music playing softly in the elevator's speakers. It seemed too inviting for being in a haunted manor.

He sighed to keep his composure, although it was shaky. Not having any other choice, Luigi stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button to the cellar. He tried to calm his anxiety by humming along to the music as the elevator's doors clanged shut and the elevator began its descent downwards. He twiddled his thumbs nervously as he waited for the elevator to reach the Cellar floor.

A few seconds later, it abruptly jolted to a stop, as did the music. Luigi searched for the alarm button, along with the button to call for help, but no such buttons were to be found or they weren't working properly.

"Hello?" he called out.

No answer.

He pressed the button to the cellar again, and then he started doing it excessively in a panic, and then the elevator resumed its descent. Slowly at first, then at its normal speed, and then faster. It was going too fast as if it was malfunctioning, Luigi was clinging onto the railing for dear life, screaming and bracing for the brutal impact.

THUD!

The elevator crash landed hard to the Cellar floor, the doors flying open on impact and sending Luigi violently tumbling out, head over heels. He sat there, regaining his bearings. He grabbed his right arm which stung at his touch. He winced, hoping he didn't sprain anything. He slowly got back up to his feet, okay enough to continue but shaken. He surveyed his new surroundings, his legs shaking at every step he made as he slowly traversed through the cellar.

Well, at least he was finally there and miraculously survived. He'd just started descending the stairs when they gave out from under him and sent him sliding to the floor below. Once he stood back up, he collected some treasure from one of those coin paintings, receiving a lot of coins this time, along with some boxes and a chest beneath the stairs that had more money.

Spiders were scattered all over the floor, in fact they overran the entire place. There were spiders and webs everywhere. "No wonder why the professor got strong readings here. This must be where the spiders have been living before they decided to take over the entire Gloomy Manor. This has to be the worst spider infestation I've ever experienced. At least I'm here to exterminate them. This is just nauseating!"

While Luigi was stuck in his own thoughts as he ventured through the Cellar, he almost got hit by a suit of armor bearing a flaming torch while clearing as many spiders and small webs out. Quickly moving away from the flames to avoid getting burned, he noticed right in front of him were several layers of webbing, and attached to the first web was a web cord.

"Hm. Might as well. I need to get rid of that large web anyways," muttered Luigi as he took the large web cord and dragged it toward the torch-bearing armor. As long as he could pull it to the flaming torch, it'll do the rest of the job for him.

However, he'd only taken a half-dozen steps
backward when—

Along came a spider, a giant purple one, who pounced down on him angrily! It was not just any spider—it was a giant spider queen! This spider queen had glowing green eyes that glared ominously at Luigi, causing him to stumble back, trip and land on his rear.

Hissing, the spider queen raised her forelegs and speared them forward and down, Luigi scrabbled out of the way just in time. The legs of the giant spider, only mere inches away from impaling his leg. So this was definitely the source of all those nasty sticky spiderwebs—an entire colony of spiders had claimed the Gloomy Manor their home! But Luigi was more intimidated over the spider queen and her glowing green eyes. Something was definitely afoot here. He has never seen any spider with piercing green eyes in all his life.

Glancing back at the torch-bearing suit of armor, Luigi knew exactly what to do. He flashed the spider queen with his Strobulb as she poised to attack him again. The bright light of the Strobulb blinded her for a few seconds, causing her to cower in the corner and cover her eyes. It didn't take her long to recover but it was enough time for Luigi to be able to do what he needed to do. He dragged the web cord toward the armor, leaning out of the way so that the torch hit the cord and not him. The cord ignited, the spider queen shrinking backward as the flame approached her. It seemed like she was trying to defuse the web with her legs but it was proven ineffective as-

FWOOM!

The web was blown away, knocking the
spider queen onto her back. And out of that spider queen tumbled a white ghost with a horn on its head and something dark purple inside their chest.

Luigi knew exactly what it was as he gasped, "The Dark Moon piece!"

Luigi set his face and brandished the Poltergust. He had to get that Dark Moon back—he had to! And he was going to, no matter what it took.

The white ghost surrounded itself with a violet force field and charged at Luigi, who swiftly moved out of the way. As a result, the ghost crashed into the wall and the exhausted possessor dropped the force field. Now was his chance to react, Luigi pounced, hitting the ghost with a fully-charged Strobulb flash and turning the vacuum on full-blast, digging in his heels and feeling that satisfying Surge when he pressed the red button giving the large ghost a violent pull back.

Instead of the ghost, Luigi wound up vacuuming a ghostly layer of skin. Luigi stared at the ghost, who was now orange in hue.

"Did I just pull the ghost's skin off?!" He shouted in alarm. Things were getting a whole lot weirder, and he knew it. Even more so when Luigi saw the ghost fly into the stunned spider queen, who recovered and hissed as she charged forward.

A Possessor, thought Luigi as he took cover. I thought those type of ghosts were only a legend! I didn't know they actually existed!

The possessed spider queen doubled back, smashing through a wall and sending plaster and bricks crashing down. When the dust cleared, Luigi noticed straightaway that the original ball of web he used was way too far away now. The room seemed to have gotten larger, now that the spider queen crashed into the wall that was there previously. However, he also saw an old, dry web cord attached to a ceiling fan. With that in mind, he decided to use what he had at his disposal. Using the vacuum, Luigi sent the dry web cord swinging toward the torch, igniting it and burning away a web which covered a spear-bearing suit of armor. And beneath the spider queen was a fresh web cord.

Perfect!

Of course, Luigi's battle plan was easier said than done. His first course of action was to stun the spider queen just like before. Next, he had to grab the fresh web cord in the nozzle and drag it toward the spear, all the while dodging the spears, smaller spiders and blobs of purple ooze the spider queen spat at him. A spider or two would nip him, causing him to lose his grip on the web cord and repeat the first step. And he wound up slashed a few times by the spider queen's forelegs when he didn't stun her fast enough. Things were starting to become more difficult but he had to win this battle, otherwise he wouldn't be able to retrieve the Dark Moon piece and help the Professor restore it to its original state.

However, he wasn't someone to just give up, throw up his hands and quit, eventually he was able to hook the web cord onto the spear without getting skewered himself. The rest was rather easy—blow on the ceiling fan with the vacuum, ignite the dry web cord, and in turn, ignite the fresh one, which burned away the web and drove the Possessor back out of the spider queen.

The shield reformed around the Possessor, who once again attempted to ride down Luigi, who dodged the oncoming attack again. He patiently waited for his opponent to drop their shield before going on the offensive, stunning the ghost and wrangling him with the Poltergust while he was disoriented, vacuuming away—another layer of skin?! Now the Possessor was a red color. Luigi expected it to be the last layer of the Possessor ghost which means this was the final stretch.

"This is gonna be harder than I thought," panted Luigi.

He leaped aside as the Possessor flew back into the spider queen and charged forward and then back, sending the ceiling fan crashing down. Another wall was also leveled, revealing a web ball as well as a web cord. Luigi also noticed a third suit of armor, covered with webs.

"Okeydokey," Luigi said under his breath. "Let's finish this!"

He took the web ball and carried it all the way back to the first suit of armor, which was a lot farther now. He had to sidestep over spiders that the spider queen was summoning to join the fray only to aid her and dodge the strange purple blobs that the possessed spider queen kept spitting at him. "They are only a distraction. Focus on the real task at hand." Luigi said to himself.

After setting the web ball alight, he walked fairly fast toward the recently-uncovered suit of armor, using the flame to ward off the attacking spiders and narrowly avoiding two collapsing pillars of concrete.

From there, he burned away the web covering the suit of armor while also igniting its torch.

After fending off some more spiders, Luigi whirled on the spider queen, stunning her, taking the web cord and dragging it toward the second torch-bearing armor. It worked out like the previous two times, burning away the last web and sending the Possessor flying out of its host.

Now, the Possessor sported a blood-red hue and appeared quite grouchy. "GAHHH!!! I didn't expect you to be so clever!! You're such a nuisance. Even if I can't defeat you! You won't last for too much longer! You, puny human will never be able to restore the Dark Moon!"

"I don't care. I have to try!" Luigi shouted, angrily. Capturing it was a cinch at this point, but Luigi didn't drop his guard. As soon as the Possessor dropped its force field, the man in green went in for the final blow, the vacuum humming in his hands and each Surge resounding deep within him. Finally, Luigi wrestled the Grouchy Possessor into the Poltergust!

He gasped as the vacuum shuddered, and then the Dark Moon piece was launched out with enough force to knock him back a short distance. However, it felt good. It was a good thing. He finally had another piece of the Dark Moon.

Luigi laughed with relief as he ran over to the Dark Moon piece and tenderly scooped it up.

"Wait till the Professor sees this," he mused.

A noise made him turn.  He watched as the spider queen shrunk back to her normal size and rolled over to stand on her legs. She shook her head to compose herself before giving Luigi a sincere gaze for a second. She gave him a slight nod before crawling away through a hole in the wall peacefully, the other spiders obediently trailing behind her.

Then, Luigi heard a low rumble behind him, he turned and shrieked once he saw what it was. He quickly flattened himself against the wall as waves of spiders stampeded past him after their queen as well.

"Oh my...." He gasped.

The DS rang. "The Professor..."

"Remarkable! A ghost that can possess other beings! And, unless my eyes are going, the possessor had a piece of the Dark Moon inside himself!"

"Yes, it did..."

"Oh... by the way... Are you OK? That was a pretty intense scuffle!"

"Oh, I'm fine. It wasn't that much trouble, really."

"But you and the Poltergust 5000 really showed that boss ghost who's... boss!" Cheered Gadd.

"Thanks, Professor." Luigi smiled.

"I'm sure you're tired after that fight,"
said Gadd. "Let me bring you back."

"Finally time to get out of this creepy place. I sure am tired. See you soon, Professor. Ciao!"

When Luigi pocketed the Dual Scream, it finally sank in that he single-handedly fought a Possessor—possibly one of the most powerful and dangerous ghosts aside from King Boo himself and he won.

"Oh, yeah! I did it!" Luigi did a few leaps
and twirls in the air before winding and swiveling his hips.

"Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah! Oh, y..."
His victory dance was cut off when a stray spider appeared right behind and startled him off his feet.

The spider regarded him curiously, looking at him with its yellow eyes.

"What are you looking at?" asked Luigi as
he stood back up. "Go away!" He shooed it off as it blinked once in response and scuttled off to joined its brethren in the hole.

He stood back up and dusted himself off before he was sent back through the Pixelator.

                                    ***
The Professor greeted the young green clad ghost wrangler eagerly as soon as he arrived safely at the Bunker. "Luigi, my boy! What a fight!"

Luigi smiled bashfully at the Professor.

"You really used your noggin to teach that ghost a lesson! Let's take a look at that body-snatcher ghost!" The Professor sent the tube up so Luigi could empty the Poltergust before he continued talking.

"Fantastic! Now that we've recovered another Dark Moon piece, we just need to find the REST of them!"

"The rest of them?! Oh no!" Luigi sighed.

"Wuzzat? You thought we were done? Ho ho! You didn't think the ghosts would keep all the pieces in the same place, did you?"

"Well, maybe..." Luigi muttered. "That's exactly what I thought..."

"No, these ghosts are far too crafty for that. They've likely spread the pieces across the entire valley! Anyhoo, let's inspect that piece of the Dark Moon!"

Luigi took the Dark Moon piece out of his pocket and showed it off to the Professor.

"Criminy!" He gasped in surprise. "Just like the other one, this thing is covered with the same corrupting energy! But it's nothing a good scrubbing can't fix. Hang on, young feller." E. Gadd summoned the cleaning device for the Dark Moon and signaled to Luigi to place the newly acquired Dark Moon piece into it, where the arms scrubbed it spotless from the corrupted energy.

"Now if my suspicions are correct..." Gadd turned to his console and began fiddling with the keyboard again. "Yes! More of that creepy fog has lifted! Maybe the Parascope will be able to locate more Dark Moon pieces now!"

"I'm sure there are at least one, maybe," said Luigi.

"Let's take a gander at the map and see what shakes loose."
Gadd lowered the fourth monitor, and a projection of another locale with a tree in the middle appeared.

"Yeah..."

"That's it—that's where we've got to go next!" shouted Gadd.

Where I've got to go next, you mean.

"But how do we get there?" Luigi asked.

"How are we getting there, you ask? Good question, well... I thought it might come to this, so I made a couple of tweaks to the Pixelator," Gadd went on. "It should now be able to move you to the next location. Check it out on the monitor. But for now—let's rest awhile."

________________________________
Finally we reached the end of another chapter. Hope you enjoyed. More will be coming... I am uncertain of when exactly updates will come since updates are still slow and not exactly normal yet so they come when they come. Hope you enjoyed though. I was planning on having this one finished tonight, although it came out a bit later than expected but at least it is out somewhat on time.