Brother's Loyalty

Voices Carry

"Hush, hush, keep it down now—voices carry..."

Softly, Luigi murmured the lyrics to the song currently playing on his iPod as he explored the mansion's armory. Ghosts were concealed inside of stone chests and old suits of armor, and they hummed along to the tune. But Luigi was wearing earbuds, so how could they hear his music? It made them all the more unnerving. And creepier.

He opened the chests and jostled the suits of armor to force the ghosts out of hiding, and he was dismayed to find that the majority of these spirits were grabbing ghosts. The man in green found himself grabbed, squeezed and flung around before finally clearing out the room. After that, he had to chase a Boo with 300 HP from the armory to the hallway and back until he managed to capture him.

His breathing was still a little heavy when he was inspecting the ceramics studio. One of the vases was frozen, and he took the opportunity to absorb an Ice Elemental Ghost. When one Elemental Ghost was around, it was usually a sign that Luigi would need it to either find a ghost or solve a puzzle.

"Hey! You there, with the moustache!"

Luigi jumped, nearly knocking over a vase. A small, purple ghost resided in one of the vases, regarding him curiously.

"Yes, you!" said the ghost. "What do you think of my jar collection? Pretty amazing, don't you think?"

"Yes," replied Luigi. "These are the most ornate jars I've ever seen."

"Why, thank you kindly," said the ghost. "However, we can't just let you look at them for free, now can we?"

As the ghost spoke, Luigi scanned him with the GBH.

"Don't worry, Jarvis," he said, "I can pay you."

"Pay me? You're too kind, but I have no interest in your money. I was thinking something along the lines of—a challenge."

Luigi tensed. "What kind of challenge?"

"I wanna see how handy you are with that ice," said Jarvis, "so, my challenge to you is this—freeze seven or more of me, and you can look at my jars for as long as you wish."

Luigi readied the Poltergust. "I accept your challenge."

Jarvis laughed. "This is gonna be fun!"

He disappeared into one of the jars, and Luigi moved to the center of the room, scanning the jars around him.

Jarvis popped out on Luigi's five o'clock, and the latter quickly pounced, freezing Jarvis with the ice element.

"That's one," Luigi muttered.

He spun around just as Jarvis emerged again, this time at the plumber's ten o'clock, and he blasted away with his ice.

"That's two."

Jarvis popped out at his eleven o'clock, only to be frozen a fraction of a second later. Keeping his eye on the jars, Luigi replenished his ice meter.

Jarvis began to appear and disappear faster and faster, testing the thresholds of Luigi's reaction time. But Luigi was also known for his speed—some said that he was faster than Mario when it came to certain sports. He tended to slip and slide a lot, and over time, he'd learned to turn that weakness into a strength. He just had to be careful not to slide into one of those jars, however.

"And—that's a wrap!" Jarvis said finally.

Luigi stood there, gasping, blood pumping, trying to anticipate the ghost's next move.

"Let's see the results," said Jarvis, pulling out a piece of paper. "I can't believe it—you caught seven of me!" He tossed the paper aside. "How could I lose?! You made me see red tonight, Mr. Moustache! Maybe you'd like to have one of these jars shoved up your [bleep]!"

Several jars levitated off the ground and zipped toward Luigi. He cartwheeled out of the way and turned to face Jarvis.

"Why are you so upset?" he asked. "You challenged me, and I won, fair and square!"

"Yeah, well—I didn't think you'd win!" seethed Jarvis.

"Why are ghosts such sore losers?" Luigi wanted to know.

More jars came Luigi's way, and he evaded them before stunning Jarvis and beginning to suck him up. Several jars hit the man in green, causing his grip on the nozzle to jolt and allowing Jarvis to wrest free. He tried to hide in one of the jars, but it wasn't that difficult for Luigi to uncover him and stun him again. For three minutes, Luigi and Jarvis battled it out, ceramic jars flying all over the place. And in the end, Luigi emerged victorious.

Luigi wiped his brow and then found a Boo hiding in one of the jars, chasing him all the way to the clockworks room before cornering and capturing him.

His current playlist ended, and Luigi put on another playlist before unlocking the door to the pipe room. Small, green ghosts lazily floated around, and he was almost instantly assailed by grabbing ghosts. He wrestled free of them before they could do significant harm and turned the tables, stunning and vacuuming them in droves. Once all of the grabbing ghosts were in the Poltergust, followed by a Boo, Luigi used his ice to freeze the stream, allowing him to cross to the other side of the pipe room and turn off the rushing water, for behind that rushing water was a blue chest, which he knew by now contained a key.

This key unlocked the door to the cold storage room, where everything was blue with ice. In addition to the slippery, icy floor, Luigi had to look out for precariously hanging icicles which could drop down on him at any moment. His breath hung in thick clouds around him, and he couldn't stop shivering. His only saving grace was a nearby Fire Elemental Ghost, and since fire melted ice—

After gaining the Fire Element, Luigi noticed a ghost encased in an ice block. The GBH ID'd him as Sir Weston, a ghost who loved the cold and hadn't "warmed up" to the concept of being a ghost. Those facts gave the plumber enough hints.

Luigi sneaked up on Sir Weston and saw the small piles of logs near the parka-clad ghost. A small smile played at Luigi's lips, and he used his fire element to ignite those logs, watching as the ice around Sir Weston slowly melted.

Wildly, Sir Weston glanced around and saw Luigi as the condensation dissipated. "Hey!" he cried. "You're making it too hot in here! I'm gonna cook in this heat! I'm gonna melt!"

What a drama king, thought Luigi.

"What in God's name were you thinking?!" bellowed Sir Weston. "People who start fires in this mansion had better be ready to pay the price! I have a good mind to teach you a lesson!"

Re-encasing himself in ice, Sir Weston began blowing large ice sheets at Luigi. He leaped aside, replenished his fire element and reignited the logs, which had been put out when Sir Weston reformed his ice barrier. The barrier then shattered, and Luigi quickly stunned the ice-loving ghost.

During the struggle, Sir Weston broke free five times and sent more ice sheets Luigi's way. When they hit, they'd send painful thrills down his nerves, followed by a brief numbing sensation. He'd even be encased in ice for a few seconds. But Luigi pulled back against the parka-clad ghost as hard as he could, not stopping or resting or folding until Sir Weston was captured.

After catching the obligatory Boo, Luigi was more than happy to leave the cold storage room, feeling the warmth quickly returning as he headed back toward the third floor, his music playing the whole way.

Hush, hush, keep it down now—voices carry...