Brother's Loyalty

Down a Dark Hall

The next room he found himself in was decorated with vibrantly-colored silks and patterns of the moon and stars. There was a crystal ball in the middle, which lit up when he shone his flashlight upon it. This had to be the fortune-teller's room.

However, his attention was arrested by an adjoining door, which opened into a mirror room. Seconds after Luigi stepped inside, those thorns appeared, locking him in.

True to its name, the mirror room had one huge mirror on one of the walls—which turned out to be a saving grace, because it allowed him to see the grabbing ghosts ganging up on him. It was probably a magic mirror or something. No time to dwell on that now, however.

Luigi spun around and stunned one of the ghosts, quickly capturing him. His reaction time was quickly improving, but such was the power of love. Not romantic love, but familial love between two brothers. That kind of love was the strongest, really. Luigi would do anything to see his brother's wonderful face again, to hold him in his arms and make everything all right. And as he struggled against those grabbing ghosts, he breathed out four words, like an incantation of sorts—Do it for him.

And he would.

After vacuuming the last grabbing ghost, the lights came on, and the Boo Radar went off. Luigi followed the signal to one of the drawers before chasing and capturing the Boo who identified himself as Kung Boo. Then, he sent the data along to Gadd.

There was also a chest, which Luigi opened to reveal a red medallion encircled by a fiery aura.

"Wha...?" murmured Luigi as he studied the medallion.

The Game Boy Horror chimed, and he answered it.

"What have you found there, Luigi?" asked Gadd. "Let's take a look at that."

Luigi held up the medallion for Gadd to see.

"Oh, my—it's a Fire Elemental Medal!" cried Gadd. "Now you can use the Fire Element!"

"So—this medallion kinda works like a Fire Flower," said Luigi.

"Exactly," said Gadd. "With that, you can catch Fire Elemental Ghosts—ghosts born out of the fire, if you will. If you approach a flame, they'll be surprised by your presence and leap out into the air. Then, you vacuum them up right away! After that, you can use your blowing function to expel fire. You can melt ice, light candles, and do all kinds of stuff."

"I could use an extra weapon in my arsenal," said Luigi.

"There's a meter on the vacuum that will help you keep an eye on how much element you have left," Gadd went on. "You may also have to use the Fire Element to defeat some ghosts."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Luigi.

He hung up and noticed a heat lamp nearby. When he approached it, a small, glowing ghost emerged from it, and Luigi quickly sucked it up. He captured more Fire Elemental Ghosts until his meter was full, and then tested the Poltergust's new ability by lighting the candles on either side of the mirror. When he was finished, the thorns on the door disappeared, and he could head back to the fortune teller's room.

There were four candles in each of the room's corners, and lighting them all yielded a key. Luigi smiled—he loved having fire on his side! Hopefully, he could discover more medallions which would enable him to utilize other elements.

Now, he was once again walking down a dark hall, humming to himself and dealing with the ceiling ghosts and annoying bats and mice. But he'd also brought his iPod with him, and when humming didn't quite do the trick, he'd put in one earbud (he needed to keep one ear open) and pick a random playlist to listen to. Nothing like some timeless 80s hits to keep him sane in here...