Brother's Loyalty

I Will Find Him

Gadd then steered Luigi toward his lab's training area.

"However strong you or Mario might be, ghosts are powerful beings—they can't be defeated using conventional methods. The Poltergust is your best bet—it's the only thing they fear."

"Ghosts have fears, too," murmured Luigi, "that's a little comforting."

Luigi now stood in a room with six circular trapdoors around him. Gadd directed him to stand in the middle of these trapdoors and slowly began to dim the lights.

"Ghosts seem to like darkness, and they avoid light," he said. "So, if you hit them with your flashlight beam all of a sudden, then they'll be stunned momentarily! Then, it's vacuuming time! Here, have a try—you'll learn more that way than just listening to me yap about it."

The training room went dark, and an orange ghost emerged from one of the trapdoors, grinning as he lunged at Luigi. But this time, the man in green stood his ground. He steadied his hands, steadied his breathing, and then flashed his light at the ghost, freezing the spirit in place. Next, Luigi let the vacuum rip, pulling back against the ghost, like he saw Gadd do earlier. The ghost was captured in seconds.

"Well done! That's how you do it, Luigi," cheered Gadd.

Another ghost emerged from another trapdoor, and Luigi whirled on him immediately, stunning him and quickly wrestling him into the Poltergust.

"Surprise them with the light when they get close!" Gadd said to him. "Zing! Pow! They'll try to escape, so make sure you yank them in the opposite direction."

"Got it," said Luigi.

"Okay—the real training starts now," said Gadd.

A third ghost emerged from a third trapdoor. Luigi ran forward, stunned him and swiftly vacuumed him up with little difficulty.

"Ghosts won't always show up alone," cautioned Gadd, "but the basics are the same. Now, get ready for two ghosts!"

Two orange ghosts emerged from two side-by-side trapdoors. Coolly, Luigi stunned and vacuumed one of them while evading the other's attacks, and then captured the second one, as well.

"Try to get two or more ghosts at the same time," encouraged Gadd.

Luigi nodded, focusing as three ghosts emerged and closed in on him. Licking his lips, he maneuvered himself into position and managed to stun two ghosts at once. The third ghost nailed Luigi with a good wallop to the jaw, but he shook off the pain and braced backwards, allowing him to capture the ghosts. Finally, he stunned the third ghost when he tried to attack again, sending him off to join his buddies. He was surprised to see that his efforts yielded him some treasure, which he wasted no time collecting.

"Well done, Luigi!" said Gadd. "Don't let your guard down, though! Look! Here they come..."

Ghosts started emerging from all of the trapdoors, and Luigi quickly moved to a corner of the room, tense and waiting. They were millimeters from his face when he blindsided them with his flashlight, stunning about half of them. They began dragging him all over the place, but they were dealing with a young fellow in his twenties, not an elderly man. Luigi was more than able to keep up with these ghosts, shrugging off more punches like they were nothing.