Luigi's Beta Mansion

Chapter 5 - Of the Doubts and the Dead

   If it weren't for the sudden call from the professor, Luigi might have never left his spot by the kitchen wall.

"Hey now, Luigi, how are you holding up?" E. Gadd asked in a friendly way.

Staring at his image on the Game Boy's small screen, Luigi felt his thin resolve falter. What he would have given just to trade places with the old man...

"I... I'm still alive," he finally managed, quivering visibly.

The professor felt a pang of pity at the sorry sight, but quickly averted it. It would only make the boy feel worse.

"Well, I just wanted to call and warn you," he went on carefully. "I thought you should know about this... strange ghost that likes to dwell near that area you're in."

Shivering at yet another tendril of terror, Luigi swallowed. "What about him?"

"He's not anything like the other ghosts around... I've seen him, but never managed to get up close. I call him... Elh."

Luigi tilted his head. "L?"

E. Gadd nodded. "He's a creature of manifest fear and doubt itself. To be honest I'm doubtful that he even is a ghost at all."

Luigi took a feeble breath and shook his head. This was exactly what he needed to make his night. "Well... I guess I'll watch."

With a slow nod, the professor offered a weak smile. "Don't give up, Luigi. The Poltergust 400 may as of yet be his match."

~

Somewhere in this area... Luigi thought as he proceeded forward through the door beside the dishwasher. It was one stressful thing after another... and this time it was not a new room, but a small back side yard of some sort. Out the kitchen's back door was a little fenced off dog pen, with a low stone wall surrounding an ancient doghouse and the remains of a garden. Pausing for a moment to look around in surprise, Luigi frowned. Was this where...

His thoughts were cut off by the dog's low growling filling the air like thunder. It was recognizable, but still odd somehow; as if...

Another sound, louder and more demanding, snarled in the air behind him, jerking Luigi around. Ghosts!

As he backed into the middle of the yard, they appeared; one after another, several glowing spirits without any trace of human descent. These were the ugly ones; large noses, larger fangs, and a single train of thought.

Filling the air with their faint white and purple hues, they advanced towards him with the most weird, unnatural sounds Luigi had ever heard.

But it was not entirely unfamiliar.

Raising his flashlight in fright, he activated it and cast his beam; as all ghosts did, they froze as if petrified by his light. Then came the Poltergust's job.

In their moment of shock, Luigi turned his vacuum on one and it was sucked away, caught as if by a skillful hand. Another minute and they all were gone, devoured by the unlikely ghost hunter.

Staring at the empty air he had created, Luigi took a quick breath. That was what he'd become.

A sudden lightning strike startled him out of his thoughts, rousing the dog again from his silence. Luigi turned with a gasp, seeing an old stake in the ground move by the doghouse; and there he was.