Mario had somehow vanished into Forever Forest, leaving Luigi and the others to travel to Boo's Mansion without him. This was difficult for the green plumber, as the forest was a new level of creepy for him. But regardless, he and his friends came across a somewhat spooky residence.
"I'm glad we're out of that creepy forest," Luigi sighed with relief.
"Hey, Luigi," said Kooper, "Do you think that might be the mansion the Boo was telling us about?"
Luigi looked up and saw the huge mansion and gulped. He walked up to the gate and tried to open it, but as he laid a finger on it, the gate opened slowly on its own. The quintet went to the front yard of the mansion only for the gate to slam shut behind them, startling Luigi. At that moment, the same Boo they saw at the entrance of Forever Forest appeared.
"Welcome, sirs and madam!" he greeted, "I'm pleased you made it through Forever Forest. My master awaits you in this room highest up in this lovely mansion."
"Please go to the third floor," he directed, "There you will hear all the news of the Star Spirits, I'll see you there."
As the Boo disappeared, Luigi and Co. entered the mansion. Inside, they didn't find any ghosts, much to Luigi's relief. But one of the doors on the first floor was concealed by a bookcase. But they needed to get to the third floor so they took the stairs to the second floor.
Upon the second floor, there were two rooms, the quintet entered the east room. Inside they found some cabinets and an empty bed. Curious as to what was in the cabinets, Luigi approached them.
"W-What do you guys think is in here?" he asked as he opened the middle one.
But as soon as he opened it, Boos came bursting out, one of them was holding a vinyl.
"Luigiiiii... You have come..." the Boo with the record said, "But where's Mario?"
"I don't know what happened to him," Luigi replied.
"No matter. You can still guess which one of us has this record."
"That's it? Doesn't seem too bad," said Parakarry.
"The Lady Bow will be very angry if we let them get the vinyl too easily, fellow Boos! Do your best, as we practiced!"
The Boo dropped the vinyl to another Boo as they continued to spin around. Even though Luigi was scared, he still kept his eye on the one with the vinyl. It wasn't hard, as he whacked the one with his hammer, making him drop the vinyl.
"You got it, Luigi!" Goombario exclaimed as Luigi picked up the vinyl, "Bravo!"
"No! Boohoo!" the Boo cried, "You... You guessed right, go on, take it. Lady Bow is going to flip out on us."
The Boos vanished as they left behind a scary face upon disappearing. While it wasn't a jump scare, it still gave Luigi the shivers. He tried to shake it off, as he inspected the vinyl.
"Wonder what we can do with that?" Kooper wondered.
"Don't know, yet," said Luigi, "We better hang on to it just in case."
Luigi and Co. left the room and decided to go in the left-side door on the second floor. There, they found a phonograph, knowing they had a vinyl, Luigi played it in the phonograph and it played a classic melody that was familiar to him. As he played it, a Boo that was guarding a chest started dancing. The others realized the music was a good distraction and Parakarry went to the chest a pulled out a weight.
"Oh, no!" the Boo realized his mistake, "Lady Bow gave me one job... to guard that treasure chest. She is going to punish me so bad if she finds out about this!"
"Ah, well," he shrugged it off, "It's not you can get anywhere without knowing how to use that weight."
The quintet was puzzled as to what they could use the weight for. They returned to the first floor to figure out their next move.
"What DO we use this weight for?" Luigi wondered aloud.
"I'm honestly confused as you are, Luigi," said Goombario.
"Don't know about you guys," said Bombette, "But I could use a break."
The others agreed and went to the sofa to relax a bit. But as Luigi sat down on the sofa, he sprang up so high, that he could touch the chandelier. Thankfully, the weight he was carrying was enough to lower him down to safety. Placing the weight on the hook, it even moved the bookcase covering the door behind it to move.
Going through the new door, Luigi spotted a treasure chest. But when he opened it, the chandelier quickly dropped towards him. Clenching for his life, he was surprised that it stopped very close to him. He breathed a sigh of relief and went down into the basement. As Luigi and Co. explored the basement, Kooper saw a big treasure chest and opened it. More Boos came out with two pairs of boots.
"Welcome, Luigi," greeted the Boo, "If you want these pairs of boots, you must guess which two of us holds them."
"The Lady Bow will be very angry if we let him and his friends get these too easily, fellow Boos! Do your best, as we practiced!" he ordered.
This time was more tricky as the Boos were throwing both pairs of boots at one another. Goombario assisted Luigi as they had to whack and head bonk the Boos carrying the boots. With that, Luigi now has gotten the Super Boots. Wanting to test them, he replaced the ones he was wearing and put on the new ones.
"What do you think, guys?" Luigi asked.
"They look nice," said Kooper.
"Green seems to be your style," Parakarry added.
Luigi figured the other pair was for Mario, so he hung on to them for the time being.
"Oh drats..." said the Boo, "You guessed right. Lady Bow is going to lose it. So I might as well tell you how the Super Boots work."
"This feels, weird that I'm learning something from one of my fears. How do these work?" Luigi asked.
"When you're in the air, press the A button and you'll ground pound," the Boo explained, "You can also use it to break open wooden floorboards, like that one in front of you."
The Boo pointed to the wooden floorboard on the ground. Luigi gave it a try, and ground-pounded the floorboard, breaking it in the process. Then he and the others jumped down the hole.
Down the hole, they found more of the basement. Luigi saw a blue switch and jumped on it, dropping another one. The second one brought down a huge blue switch, claiming up some old furniture, Luigi and Co. ground-pounded the switch and it created stairs that lead back up.
The quintet then went into the east-side door on the first floor. There they found another wooden floorboard, so Luigi gave it a ground pound and jumped down. They found another part of the basement, but they were on top of a bookshelf. Parakarry saw what looked like a Boo's Portrait. He flew over and grabbed it and they went back up to the first floor.
Luigi then remembered on the second floor, one of the picture frames didn't have a picture in it, so they went up to the second floor and placed the Boo's Portrait back in the empty frame.
"Phew... Ah, that feels better!" the picture spoke, "It's nice to be back in my frame after so long! But I didn't even tell you to go find the drawing! You solved the riddle on your own!"
"I think it was a coincidence," Luigi commented.
"Anyway, you've earned your way to the top floor. Just hop in and I'll do the rest."
Goombario, Kooper, Bombette, and Parakarry jumped in first. Luigi was hesitant at first, but gained some courage and jumped in. He closed his eyes as he was teleported, when he opened them, he saw he was unharmed.
"Come to think of it. That was like when me and Mario jumped into paintings with our friends back in our castle adventure," he said.
"I see you were familiar with that," the picture replied, "Say hello to Bow for me."
"We will," Bombette said as they entered the room on the third floor.
Inside, they saw it was regal, almost like it was supposed to be a ballroom. When they made their way to the steps, ghoulish laughter filled the room.
"Gwah hee haha! You've finally arrived! You took your sweet time, huh?" the voice called out.
"We didn't mean to take this long," Luigi said trying to think of an excuse.
"No worries, I was testing you to see if you live up to your reputation. How were the tests? Tough?"
A few seconds later, a green female Boo with little red bows on her sides and the same pale Boo from earlier appeared. Luigi took a deep breath as he and the others stepped forward.
"You must be Luigi, the Boos told me that you don't know what happened to your brother, Mario," she said, "My name is Lady Bow, but you can just call me Bow. I'm glad to finally meet you."
"H-Hello," Luigi said as he did a slow wave of his hand.
"Sorry, if he sounds nervous," Goombario spoke up, "Luigi's afraid of ghosts."
"None taken, I get that a lot," replied Bow, "Who might you be?"
"I'm Goombario," he introduced, "And that's Kooper, Bombette, and Parakarry."
Kooper and Bombette greeted the ghostly mistress, but Parakarry just stood there flapping his wings. Kooper noticed this and got him to snap out of it, unaware he was going through the same thing as Kooper did for Bombette.
"My apologies for not introducing myself earlier, I'm Bootler, Lady Bow's butler," the pale Boo said.
"The reason why I summoned you here is that I need a favor," said Bow, "Bootler, give them the rundown."
"Of course, my lady," Bootler said before turning to Luigi. "Luigi, do you know the area near here called Gusty Gulch?"
"Well... I've only heard the name," Luigi answered.
"A hill rises at the top of the gulch, and upon it sits the castle of Tubba Blubba," Bootler continued, "He's a monster... and he eats... us! Ghosts!"
"That's horrible!" Parakarry exclaimed.
"Boos are his favorite food. Many friends have been eaten! We've tried attacking the evil fiend to save our friends, but Tubba Blubba is far too strong to slow him down even slightly. He seems invincible. That's why he's known as the Invincible Tubba Blubba," Bootler explained, "There is hope, however. If the rumors are true, then Tubba Blubba has a secret that he closely guards. And that secret is... probably something that relates to his weak point."
"So, Luigi, I want you to find out his secret and defeat him," Bow said, "You'll do it won't you?"
"I mean... I do need to head there anyway," said Luigi.
"Of course, you'll get a reward for doing us this service," Bow continued, "If you beat Tubba Blubba up, I'll let you have this."
With a snap of Bow's fingers, a cage lowered from the ceiling; Luigi and Co. saw it had the third Star Spirit inside it, Skolar.
"Mmmm... Luigi. I'm sorry we must meet in such a dire situation," he said, "My name's Skolar. I escaped from Tubba Blubba's castle, but... I was in a weakened state when I made it outside. As a result, I couldn't go up to the sky at first. I tried to head for Shooting Star Summit to leap for Star Haven, but I became lost in the forest. While hunting for a way out, I was captured by Boos. And now here I am... I don't know what to say..." Skolar's cage rose back up.
"What do you think, Luigi? Not such a bad deal is it?" Bow asked.
"Well...I..." Luigi was at a loss. If he doesn't go to Tubba Blubba, he won't get the Star Spirit. but he still needed to find Mario.
"Guys, I just came up with a terrible thought!" said Kooper.
"What is it?" asked Bombette.
"If Star Spirit Skolar escaped Tubba Blubba; You don't think that maybe what grabbed Mario WAS Tubba Blubba?"
"Mamma mia! I wish I could say otherwise, but you might be right, Kooper!" Luigi exclaimed.
"Seems you would have to fight Tubba Blubba to save Mario and the Star Spirit anyway," said Bow, "This way, you'll help us Boos, too. Besides, I'm going with you. I'll help you like no one else can."
"What?!" said Luigi and Bootler in unison.
"My lady?! What did you say just now? You? At Tubba Blubba's castle? Quite out of the question! I simply cannot allow you to put yourself in such danger!" Bootler cried.
"Still your tongue, Bootler!" Bow retorted, "I've seen too much suffering caused by Tubba Blubba! I wish to see him punished with my own two eyes. Besides, Luigi and his friends will need me. There's no way they can reach the castle without my powers!"
"Oh...alas... Then, Lady, I, Bootler, will accompany you," he requested, "It is my sworn duty to see that no harm falls before you. The ancestors demand it! I will be at your side always."
"You stop that nonsense!" Bow shouted, "I'm not a child anymore! I'll be fin by myself! You wait here for my return."
"La... Lady...." Bootler eventually sighed in defeat.
"Is this all right, Luigi?" Bow asked Luigi, "I'll join up with you until we oust Tubba Blubba."
"Luigi, she seems desperate. So I'd say we let her come with us," said Parakarry.
"I understand your fear of ghosts," Goombario added, "But just... try to push it aside for now, ok?"
"Ookie dookie," Luigi sighed, "You're in, Bow."
"OK, then! Tubba Blubba's going down! Gwahh ha haha!"
Bow's laughter made Luigi feel uncomfortable as they left the third floor. But they decided to wait tomorrow when Luigi checked the time and saw it was late. Tomorrow, they head for Gusty Gulch.
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End of chapter!