The Surge [SPM Halloween Story!]

(3) Ghost of a Feeling

Luigi breathed heavily as he hugged the Poltergust to his chest, his eyes wide as he stared. Dimentio lay unconscious - or at least unmoving - on the ground. The man in green kept rubbing his eyes and blinking feverously, trying to justify if what he was seeing was real and not a nighttime horror. It was like a real-life nightmare to Luigi, a ghost of Dimentio!

Polterpup, on the other hand, yipped as he excitedly bounded over to Dimentio, sniffing at his see-through hands and jester hat. Luigi shuddered as he watched Polterpup get so close, feeling like he was frozen to the floor in fear.

"P-P-Polterpup! D-don't touch him!" Luigi frantically whispered, trying to stay quiet.

Either the dog didn't listen or didn't hear as he just went back to happily yapping at the jester specter. Luigi let out a groan of frustration, looking around for some kind of idea as he felt his knuckles pop from gripping the Poltergust too hard.

"What if I just suck him up with the Poltergust? Yeah! That could just solve the problem right here and now!" Luigi thought to himself.

He took up the Poltergust, pointing it down at Dimentio on the ground before pausing, a second thought coming to mind.

"But he's extremely powerful! If you suck him up, he'll wake up, teleport out, and then end your game!" Luigi internally reasoned.

The man in green bit his bottom lip as he thought, his nerves threatening to take over. Luigi looked from Polterpup, now licking a bell on Dimentio's hat, to Mario, who still somehow remained asleep through all of that. He paused and thought, concluding that he just had to try and get rid of ghost Dimentio the old-fashioned way.

"Polterpup, could you please take-" Luigi paused to shudder, unable to say his name. "T-take, uh, the purple ghost a-and put him in my room, p-please."

Polterpup looked up at Luigi and barked, tail wagging. The man couldn't help but smile at the dog's enthusiasm. Polterpup grabbed Dimentio where his legs were supposed to be - so I guess what would be called a tail - and dragged him off towards Luigi's bedroom.

With a small sigh, Luigi walked over and scooped his brother into his arms, grunting a little as he did. The man in green was thankful that Mario wasn't awake for this but also frightened because he didn't have his bro for backup. Luigi didn't know what Dimentio could possibly be doing there, especially since he seemed to have returned from the grave for it.

Luigi couldn't stop thinking about Dimentio mentioning his "green power". What could he WANT that for? The man in green just needed to try and get some answers from him now.

-----

The world cut in and out in a blurred haze as Dimentio struggled to peel his eyelids open. He felt rejuvenated! Although, he also felt like he had been pierced by a thousand hot needles, so it was a fairly balanced feeling.

His mind was much more clear than his vision, which was saying something, with memories of recent events slowly coming back to him. Dimentio moved his hand to his face, briefly checking to make sure his mask was still on as he tried to fully wake up. When he moved, he felt something else on top of himself.

Dimentio slowly opened his eyes and came face-to-face with Polterpup sitting on his chest and panting happily with his tongue sticking out.

"AAAAAHHH!?!" Dimentio yelled, scrambling backward on the floor. "Get off of me!"

Dimentio quickly grabbed Polterpup by the back of the collar and pulled him off, trying to recover from the rude awakening. With a small rumble of footsteps thundering down the hall, the door flew open to Luigi, who was alerted by the shout. Both of them froze, their minds processing while Polterpup continued to wag its tail happily.