Chapter Text
It was 6AM. Today was a cloudy morning at the haunted Peaceful Pines, and Luigi, in his green striped white pajamas, was sleeping on the house’s couch, facing upwards, with his left arm and leg out. The alarm clock, which was placed on the ground the night before, goes off loudly and Luigi quickly turns it off. He yawns while he tries to open his eyes.
“... 6 in the morning already? Mamma mia… I wonder if Professor Gadd is already-” He quickly stops as his eyes widen to witness that there was something, or rather, someone resting in his torso. It was a spherical thing, wearing a red scarf, it looked like one of the Boos that he and Lydia captured back in the library. Said Boo doesn't take long to wake up as well, looking at the boy with a friendly smile, however the boy didn't reciprocate the same way… he screams, terrorized and the Boo screams as well, to Luigi, the thought that a ghost was just out and about inside the only place that was secure in Peaceful Pines could only mean big trouble. He falls on the couch but quickly runs to grab the Poltergust, he aims at the Boo and…
“Luigi, wait!” It was Lydia in her dark long gown, standing right between the Boo and Luigi, “It's just Booster! Don't capture him!”
Luigi lowers his arms, with a confused look, “You mean the ghost that I caught back in the library? How did he…”
“I asked the professor to free him.”
“WHAT!?” He said, his eyes wide open
“But it's going to be fine!” Said Lydia, “He didn't try to hurt or deceive me back in those dark corridors, he was helping me find you.” Despite what the girl was saying, the boy still kept the pipe pointing towards Booster, “... Give him a chance, Luigi, please?” plead the girl.
The boy looks at her, then looks at the Boo, and after a deep breath, he puts the Poltergust down. “Fine…” he said
“Thank you.”
“But if he tries anything, it's back to the vacuum for him. You hear me, little guy?” Said Luigi to Booster, the ghost nods and salutes him like a military soldier. Lydia laughs at the little Boo’s gesture while Luigi frowns.
“Ah, I see you two are up already.” Said Professor E Gadd in his pajamas. His nightcap facing his nose. He was holding a mug of coffee. “The little girl and I were waiting for you two, come on. Today we're having toast for breakfast.”
At the table, Prudence was already sitting on her chair, with Percy, the black scaredy-cat, resting on her lap. The three join her, each one grabbing their pair of toasts and sitting on their respective chairs. It was silent, sounds of the plate touching the wooden table and milk being filled on the mugs, but not a single voice. Luigi was locking his eyes on Booster, who looked back at him awkwardly.
“Luigi?” Said Lydia
“What?”
“Can you stop looking at Booster like that?”
“Like what? I'm just… making sure he's enjoying the meal, that's all.” The boy said, his attention remained on Booster
“Luigi…”
“But I'm not doing anyth-”
“Luigi.” Lydia looks at him with one eyebrow raised and her eyes half open, clearly a tired stare
“Fine…” He sighs, hiding his meal from the ghost’s vision. The Boo was just confused about what just happened. With that current problem solved, she turns her attention to her four eyed friend, changing the topic to something more important.
“Prudence? I didn't see you for four days, you didn't go to school, your parents were worried sick… just what happened to you?”
“Oh! Ummm…” Prudence adjusts her posture and her big glasses, “I remember… that I was at the Mondo Mall with Bertha, looking for new shoes since the ones that I had were starting to wear out, but then Bertha saw a new store at the mall. I think it was called Angel’s Picks? It was a clothing store from what I saw outside of the store.” She then starts hugging Percy like a pillow for comfort, “She looked pretty excited about it, so much that she almost looked hypnotized…”
“And then?” asked Lydia, already finished with her breakfast, and leaning forward with her elbows touching the table
“... Then I followed her, went inside the store, and then everything went dark. Next thing I know, my body was wood and I was smaller than usual.” Prudence looks down
“Well, good thing we managed to get you outta there, right?” Said Luigi with a reassuring smile, as Lydia quickly stands up, slamming her hands on the table, startling everyone in the room.
“Alright, I think we now know where to look next.” She said, “Come on, Luigi!” Lydia quickly walks out of the kitchen to change her clothes
“Can I at least finish my breakfast?” He asked, with some toast on his mouth
“No!” She said, already on the other side of the house, “Now go get your Poltergust already!”
All five look at each other and then back to the door Lydia walked out of. This might be the first time they saw her so energetic and almost desperate, compared to her usual calm and collected attitude.
“Well I… better get going, right?” Said the boy, heading out to get a change of clothes as well.
“And Booster will come with us!”
“WHAT? Oh come on!”
Outside of the house, were Lydia wearing a yellow poncho with a web pattern similar to the red one, and Luigi wearing green overalls and a brown long sleeved shirt, and as Lydia said before, Booster was coming along with them, much to Luigi's disdain. The three were passing by the deserted town, and from the looks of it, there was not a single ghost around, or so they thought, as their Game Boy Horrors started beeping. They stop their bicycles to look at their devices. They were beeping with a blue light blinking from the top of the portable.
“What's this?” Said Lydia
“I don't know…” Said Luigi, “maybe some sort of radar?” He moves the device around, like he was scanning something, and for a moment the light turned yellow and started beeping slightly faster. The boy then walked forward, and after a few steps, the light turned red and it beeped even faster. In front of him was a trash can, why would the Game Boy Horror take him to a trash can of all places? Curious, he tapped the can, but nothing happened.
“... What are you doing?” Lydia asked, as Luigi looked around the can, from top to bottom
“The Game Boy Horror has some kind of radar on it, I think it detected something inside of this-” As he looked at the inside of the trash can, a Boo flew out of it, startling the boy. The Boo was round and slightly bigger, it started laughing quite loudly at Luigi, which he didn't take lightly, as he aimed the Poltergust at it. He turns the vacuum on and starts to pull the Boo to him, but the ghost is very resistant, so much it flew out of the suction whirlwind the vacuum tends to make when capturing ghosts. The Boo taunts Luigi, making funny faces and laughing at him, then flies off.
“You little…” Annoyed, Luigi grabs his bike and follows the ghost “Come back here!”
“Wait, Luigi! Wait for us!” Lydia said, trying to catch up to the heated boy in green.
The Boo was very fast, Luigi tried to catch him with the Poltergust, but every time he thought he captured the ghost, it always managed to set itself free. They followed the Boo corner by corner, slope after slope, until the ghost flew towards a big building, passing through the wall. That was Peaceful Pines’ Mondo Mall, the town's only shopping mall, looking a lot taller and bigger than usual. Luigi rushes to the door, but to his surprise, it doesn't open automatically like usual. He then tries to open it by hand, only to be pushed back by the door itself, falling on the ground.
“HEY!” The door shouted, “Watch those hands boy!”
“I’m so sorry sir, he just has a very… strong personality, hehe…” Said Lydia to the door, nervously chuckling while helping Luigi get up “Could you kindly let us head inside the mall?” She does a kind, princess-like gesture, with Booster imitating the girl.
“I am sorry little girl, but the mall right now is closed.” Said the door. “Come back when we’re open.”
“When does it open?”
“Hmmm… around 6 PM or so.”
“What?” Said Luigi “But malls are supposed to open early in the morning!”
“Ha! Do you really think this is an ordinary mall like the ones you see in big cities? Get outta here!” The Door laughed, which is followed by a long arm coming out of their right side. The arm points to the right, in that direction was a sign, in it was written: “Open from 18 PM to 6 AM, every monday to friday. We do not close during Saturdays and Sundays”
The teens frown, and Lydia sighs, walking back to her bicycle
“Alright, let's come back some other time, let's go you two.” She said, Booster followed, and as Luigi took a step back to his bike, he felt chills up his spine, when he looked up to the roof….
There it was again
The same silhouette from the library.
Its pink eyes looked directly at Luigi's,
Freezing the boy in place, completely
frightened by its presence.
Just what is that? What does it want?
And why is it so focused on Luigi?
“Luigi? What’s the hold up?” Lydia said to Luigi, making him come back to his senses
“Huh? Oh, it's just… I had a strange feeling, that's all.” He walks to his bike and checks the tires, “Let's go back.”
The three then head back home, to wait for night to fall. After a few hours, around 10AM, a dark cloud surrounded the town, it was so big, and so dark, that it almost felt like night came early. When taking notice of this, Luigi, followed by Booster, went to call Lydia, who had Percy in her lap, looking at Ramon, the boy was still in deep slumber, with no sign of waking up.
“Lydia, I think you need to see something…” Said Luigi. Lydia then stands up from her chair, and follows Luigi outdoors. When she looks at the sky, her eyes are only filled with confusion, and Percy quickly gets inside the house.
“It was morning just a while ago, right?” She said
“Yes! It got all dark all of a sudden!”
“Almost as if…. Quick! To the mall!”
The three quickly go back to the Mondo Mall’s entrance, and once they get there, the door is open, as light emitted from inside of it. Ghosts of all kinds enter the mall, big and small.
“Welcome, welcome everydeadbody!” Cried the door, “We were supposed to open a few hours later, but it seems our great king has decided it would be too much of a waste of time for such a fun activity. So come, all of you! Big and small, short and long, transparent and opaque! Come to enjoy the greatest mall experience of your after-lives!”
Luigi was frightened, Lydia was mesmerized, and Booster was curious. They all look at each other, and together they enter the now Haunted Mondo Mall. The building was bright and colorful, many ghosts flying and running in different directions, the escalators that lead to bizarre directions and floors… the whole mall was remodeled from how it ordinarily looks, all three couldn't stop looking around, the stores were all different.
“What the…”
“Deadly Vu!” Lydia said enthusiastically, “Look at this place! ‘Rest In Peace’, ‘Horrendous Aromas’... ‘DIRTY ANT-IQUES’???” Lydia runs to the Dirty Ant-iques, a store that sells a variety of pet bugs, spiders and worms, but she's quickly stopped by Luigi, stepping on her poncho’s tail. Both he and Booster look at her unamused.
“I'm pretty sure we have something to deal with first?” Said Luigi, she looks at him embarrassed, recomposing herself and taking a deep breath
“*ahem* Yeah, right, sorry about that. I just saw all of these stores and I just got very excited!”
“A little too excited…”
“Anyway, let's look around, she's gotta be around here somew—”
“ATTENTION ATTENTION EVERYONE!” A salesman-like voice is heard from the distance “Are you homeless? Tired of scaring off people around the streets? Would you want to haunt in only one place? Then I got the right business for YOU!” It was a blue skinned man in a grey suit, he had the biggest, brightest smile in the room, his teeth perfectly aligned. He was at a table with a sign on his side, it had “Scare Your Lair” written in neon, with a neon arrow pointed at the man. Luigi instantly recognized him, it was Barry Brook, the man that sold the mansion to his family! All of the nervous feeling the boy had vanished, turning it into anger. His eyes were firing up and his face started to turn as red as a tomato, Lydia looked at him confused while Booster covered his ghostly face with his scarf.
“Luigi?” She asked
“YOU!” Luigi shouted at Brooke, who recognized him. The boy walked right to his direction, pushing the ghosts out of his way, and the closer he got, the faster his steps were. And as soon as Luigi gets to the table, he grabs the dead man by the jacket, and pulls him in for an eye-to-eye talk.
“You were the guy that sold us that mansion, weren't you?”
“H-Hey now…” Said Brooke, sweating bullets, “I sell various buildings to lots of people, you have to be a little bit more-”
“YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW! Or else…”
“I uhhhh…” Brooke tried to find a good excuse to get him out of the situation, but nothing came to mind, and it only got worse as more and more ghosts surrounded the two, some even started whispering to each other. Lydia, passing through the crowd, holds Luigi's right arm, while Booster holds his left.
“Luigi, stop that!” Said Lydia
“Why? We can get something out of this guy!”
“You're drawing too much attention! Look around!”
“SECURITY!!!” cried Brooke, two big, strong, caveman-looking brutes with cop hats appeared behind him, one had purple skin while the other was cyan, they were the mall’s security guards, the trio had their eyes wide open. The once furious Luigi is now cowering in fear like he always does, and noticing this, Brooke lets out a laugh. “Not so tough now, eh greeny boy? I thought as much. Hey you two! Get rid of these three, they're making my dishonest business look bad!” The cyan guard extends his left arm at Luigi, but the boy quickly jumps over it, the guard then extends his right arm with the same result, then a third arm comes out if his back tries to grab the boy, but Luigi jumps away from him. The boy grabs Lydia under his arm, running in the opposite direction, as Booster follows the two.
“Woah!” Said Lydia, facing Luigi's back
“Let's make a run for it!” Said Luigi, desperately, as he ran as fast as he could, taking a look back, he saw the guards chasing them. Their steps were so heavy, each step felt like an earthquake. The chase was on, as he passed through ghost after ghost, passing over spirits and monsters in a single leap out of pure desperation, Luigi's feet didn't stop for a second. With each step he took, the faster he ran, a shadow surrounded them.
“WATCH OUT!” The girl shouted, the purple took a leap and was about to crash the ground, Luigi grabbed Booster’s tail and took a turn to the left, while the purple guard fell to a fountain with quicksand, leaving the other to finish the job. The boy ran into an escalator, went left and right but never upwards. Luigi stops as he sees another escalator ahead of them, with a third one upside down, going upwards to the upper floor. When looking back, the cyan guard was coming after them full speed.
“Lydia?” He asked, panting from all the running
“What?” She responds
“Do you trust me?”
“... Yeah?” She said with concern in her voice
“T-Then hold on tight!”
“W-Wait, what are you going to—”
Luigi takes a deep breath and jumps to the next escalator, while Lydia screams her heart out. He lands on the nearest escalator and makes his way to the next one. The guard, being too heavy to jump from one escalator to the other, resorts to throwing random objects (and ghosts) at the trio. Vases, pumpkin-balls, spooky-toys, some kind of bat-bird, the boy dodged most of what was thrown at them, the guard throws a pie at them and hits Lydia's face.
“You okay?”
“I'm fine… just a little salty, that's all.” With that comment, Luigi kept running and jumping from one escalator to the next, bit by bit they were getting closer to the upper floor. The guard, as a last resort, takes a huge leap to catch the teens.
“Here comes the other one!”
Luigi did a long jump, the crowd watched the action underneath as they saw two silhouettes moving in the air. The boy managed to make it to the mall's second floor, the guard however, fell to the ground, breaking some escalators on his way down and making the whole building shake once his undead body touched the floor, to the point it left a crater near one of the stores. The trio sighs in relief, as Luigi puts Lydia on the ground, her face still covered in what seems to be some kind of purple goo. Whatever it was, it didn't have the most pleasant smell.
“Mamma mia, he really hit you like a bullseye huh?” Said Luigi, Booster tried his best to hold his laughter, Lydia tried to take the goo off her face, but it only made things worse on her end, which made her slightly annoyed.
“That he did, now I just can't take this thing off at all!”
“Hang on, I think I have something here.” The boy reaches to one of his overalls’ many pockets, taking out a tissue box. He takes one, and rubs it on Lydia’s face a few times, very delicately. She could’ve done it herself, but due to the boy’s generosity, she chose to not say a word. Luigi does this about three times, and by the third time the girl's face looked so clean there wasn't a single trace of the pie.
“Thanks, Luigi. Now, where could Bertha…” She said, but her eyes brought attention to another store like a magnet, the store was called “Ghoul Morning”, a haunted themed bed shop. One of the beds on display is shaped like a coffin, a very big coffin. “... Is that what I think it is??????” Lydia rushes inside the store like a motorcycle at full speed.
“LYDIA, WAIT!” Luigi shouts, but she doesn't listen, the boy lets out a sigh “Come on Booster… I have a feeling this is going to be a long day…”