“Huh?” Luigi frowned while flashing the lights on some approaching ghosts. “I think you put it down when you were mumbling all that giving up mumbo-jumbo.”
“I didn’t throw it, did I?” Yoshi asked desperately.
“Not that I remember. The only thing I saw—despite the fact it was pitch black, though when those images were flashed it seemed to lighten up the room a bit—was that you took it off and put it down. After that, I can’t recall if you ever did anything else to it.”
“Looking for this?” King Boo laughed. The two looked up to see Yoshi’s Poltergust floating away from arm’s reach, and kept locked up in a mini vault.
“Why you—” Yoshi was out of a bad enough word to cuss at King Boo for what he’d done.
“The key is hidden within any of these ghosts,” King Boo said, obviously enjoying Yoshi’s moment of inconvenience. “Beat these ghosts, and maybe you’ll be able to find the key for that precious vacuum. But I doubt you’ll be able to last long with all these ghosts.”
“Don’t think you’re at ease with that, King Boo,” Luigi said. “In case you forget, there’s still me!”
“Oh, of course I haven’t forgotten you—I’m practically trembling with fear!” King Boo said in a mocking tone.
Luigi armed the nozzle of his Poltergust, ready to take on the multitude of ghosts King Boo had conjured in the room. “I’ve beaten up these ectoplasmic scums, and I can do it again!!!”
“I’ll fight, too!” Yoshi chimed in. “I mean, just because I don’t have my Poltergust doesn’t mean I won’t be able to help beat these guys up!”
The entire room was filled with King Boo’s mocking laughter. Then he said in a loud voice, “Okay, my underlings! Show no mercy! Finish up these fools! Let them regret they ever bothered setting foot in this mansion!”
“Hoo-boy,” Luigi breathed. “Something a-tells me we crossed the line big time.”
Upon King Boo’s command, the multitude of ghosts flew toward the duo, off to attack.
“Hoo-hah!” Luigi exulted. He flashed the strange light that could stun flashlight-immune ghosts and, quickly as soon as they were stunned, he switched to the vacuum function and sucked the handful of ghosts in. Not including the many ghosts left he needed to bust, Luigi almost felt that it was getting a bit easy—after all, he’d specialized in this field.
Now if only this would be easy to Yoshi as well.
Yoshi was having a tough time beating up the ghosts as it was. He couldn’t really take them in using his tongue (most of it was because they could just phase right through him) and even if he could, he couldn’t really eat them at all.
Yoshi shook his head with exasperation—he really needed his Poltergust right now.
“I’m sorry, Luigi,” Yoshi apologized, feeling disgusted and useless. “I can’t do much help in this situation without my Poltergust!”
“I’m sorry, too, pal,” Luigi sighed as he took down eleven more ghosts that were charging at him.
“How are we ever going to be able to get through this?!” Yoshi complained.
“I don’t know—it’s a-like the more we take down, the more they come!”
“Add to that the fact it’s technically only you who can do something about it!”
“We need to think of a way to be able to stun these ghosts quick without furthering exhausting ourselves! Gah—why is it so hard?!” Luigi threw his head up in pure disgust and irritation.
It was then that he noticed something.
“Huh, I wonder if that will work...,” Luigi said to himself, then he decided, “Well, it’s better than nothing else.”
“Look, I know you’re having fun there with the ceiling, but please, Luigi! More ghosts are still coming even if you’re not getting rid of them!” Yoshi snapped, disbelieved to see Luigi staring off at the ceiling.
“Yoshi, I’ve got an idea.”
“Whoa, you got an idea after staring off at a ceiling?”
“It doesn’t matter now. Listen—you’re not a-going to like the first part of this. I’m a-going to try to suck you in with my Poltergust—”
“You’re right—I don’t like it already.”
“Don’t a-worry, pal, it gets better—see that?” Luigi pointed over at a suspended light bulb, in danger of falling off soon—it was tacked onto the ceiling with a series of loose and worn-out screws. “I’ll a-make sure to blow you up high until you get within arm’s reach of that light bulb, then as soon as you are within arm’s reach of it, you’re going to have to grab it.”
“What will you need a light bulb for? Ordinary light doesn’t work against these kinds of ghosts anymore, remember?”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find out. For now, just trust me on this one, buddy.”
Yoshi shook his head and sighed. “What crazy idea could you possibly be coming up with now?”
“Ready?”
Yoshi braced himself. “Ready for whatever you’ve got, pal.”
“Okay, here we go!” And with that, Luigi activated the vacuum function of his Poltergust and sucked Yoshi up to the nozzle (deliberately sending the attacking ghosts—and even King Boo—scratching their heads in confusion) and, with a heavy grunt, he aimed the nozzle—with Yoshi sucked onto it—at the ceiling where the light bulb was, and triggered the “blow” function of the vacuum.
And Yoshi ricocheted up to the sky.
“Whoa!!!” Yoshi screamed at the speed of his vacuum-style flight. It felt three times faster than the warp cannons he and Luigi had used.
“Hey, what the heck—!” King Boo said in a mixture of shock, irritation and confusion as Yoshi sped past him.
“And...I’ve got it...,” Yoshi said as he strained to reach the light bulb and rip it off the ceiling.
“..or not!” Yoshi gulped as his hand missed it off an inch and now he could feel himself falling.
“No!” Luigi moaned.
King Boo just got more confused.
“No—I’ve really got this!” Yoshi’s left hand clung to the very tip of King Boo’s crown.
“Why, you squirming—! Let go of my crown!” King Boo hissed.
“Not until I get what I want!” Yoshi objected in a huff as he used his other hand to grab on as well and climb off, then, before King Boo could shake him off, he finally propelled himself toward the light bulb and made his way down, gliding along the bookshelves and furniture as he did.
“What’s your problem?!” King Boo snarled.
“Thanks, pal,” Luigi said as the green dinosaur handed the light bulb over to him; both of them ignored King Boo’s snarling complaints. Luigi examined it. “Just as I thought—it a-may be worn out, but it still a-works just fine.”
“What are your plans for that, Luigi?”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure it’ll make busting all these ghosts a thousand times easier!” Luigi held out the nozzle of his Poltergust and, switched the lens used for the flashlight with the light bulb.
Yoshi gave Luigi an odd look.
“Just watch this,” Luigi said confidently, patting the light bulb-attached nozzle of his Poltergust 5000.
Luigi once again activated the same strange light emitted to stun flashlight-immune ghosts. There was no difference in the kind of light. But there was a difference in the area being covered by the light.
For, instead of just shooting a ray of light, as with an ordinary flashlight, it now seemed to cover up the entire room, as with an ordinary room light bulb.
Luigi and Yoshi strained not to cover their ears with the combined wails of the thousands and thousands of stunned ghosts.
“Impossible!” King Boo scoffed as he himself was weakened, if not stunned, by the light.
“Amazing, Luigi,” Yoshi gasped. “What an amazing idea!”
“Now it’ll be easier to end all this,” Luigi said, mightily pleased. He once switched back the light bulb with lens of his Poltergust (since, when he’d just tried to activate the vacuum function, it couldn’t work since the nozzle didn’t seem to recognize the lens used) and, again, activated the vacuum function. With that, he spun around while the electrified whirlwind went on, sucking in countless ghosts as he did. Somewhere within the flurry of the wind and the sparks, he saw something glitter off the room.
Now it seemed as if, except for King Boo, the dimly-lit room was empty of ghosts.
“There’s the key,” Yoshi said in delight. He ran toward it, picked it up and went off to unlock it from the padlocked vault. With a click, it opened, and inside was just as Yoshi had expected—his Poltergust.
“Yes,” Yoshi hissed with joy as he strapped it on and, unable to help himself, he played with the nozzle. “By the way, nice idea—you know, the light bulb thing.”
“Thanks, buddy. I figured since light bulbs have the ability to light up a whole room, it a-could work the same way with the Poltergust’s light as well.”
“Well, it did. Gosh, Luigi, you can be really observant when you need to.”
“Now we can bust these ghosts together,” Luigi said, then added with a chuckle, “But too bad it seems there are next to no ghosts around—”
Don’t be so sure, King Boo’s voice echoed in a hiss. You may have beaten my underlings but you still haven’t beaten ME!!!
The duo looked around for King Boo. Even with the dim lights of the room, it was clear that King Boo was nowhere to be found.
“Now where’d he go?!” Luigi wondered.