Dark Moon

## **Plot**

Squirt comes barreling towards Luigi alerting him of mail that he received. Luigi goes on to open it to be surprised that it is an invitation to his grand prize for a contest he didn't even enter. He becomes puzzled and Peach suggests that he checks if it really is true or not. He does and becomes immediately suspicious of the invitation, showing no interest. Later that night, Luigi asks if Mario has returned back from his trip out to the fields to which Peach also realizes he has not returned either. The duo assumes the worst and decides to retrace what Mario was looking for in their memories. Luigi takes out his memory ray and shoots it into Peach's head, allowing a mirage of past events to appear. It shows Mario telling Peach that he was going to head out towards a spooky mansion in the lowlands to monitor suspicious activity since there were reports of such but decided not to tell Luigi as he wanted him to rest after all the recent stress they've endured. Luigi immediately goes back to the trash bin and realizes that the mansion he was talking about is the same one on the invitation. Luigi discovers he has to go to the mansion to save Mario who is potentially in danger. He tells Peach he is going to the mansion and coincidentally receives a call from Professor E.Gadd who has a new invention for him to use. He also tells Peach to stay in the castle to watch over the kingdom as he could save Mario. Peach is at first not satisfied with the idea but ultimately gives in after Luigi convinces her he will be brave.

Luigi continues the route on the invitation which finally ends at the top of an ominous-looking hill filled with dead trees and lightning overhead. In a small hut is E.Gadd's shop. E.Gadd tells Luigi that Mario has been kidnapped by none other than King Boo inside the mansion and has been sucked into a giant frame on the wall. Luigi becomes horrified to learn that he will end up having to face King Boo alone but with E.Gadd's newest invention: the Poltergust 3000. He takes it but nervously walks up the hill in anticipation of the worst. He enters the mansion with extreme caution and immediately checks his spirit box to see it lighting up violently along with the lights flickering on and off in a violent fashion as well. Suddenly, a ghost appears behind him catching him off-guard. Luigi runs off to the nearest room and tries to regain his focus and becomes angry with himself for running away. Suddenly, the piano in the room becomes alive and disturbingly opens its casket to reveal razor-sharp teeth around a large gaping mouth, it begins to charge toward Luigi chomping its mouth all the while. Luigi tries to open the doors but they become locked by an unseen force. Luigi is forced to climb through an open-air vent despite how small it is. He barely manages to escape the grasp of the piano's mouth and quickly crawls his way around the mansion yelling out for Mario. He becomes too heavy for one vent and falls through but clings onto the door. Below is a group of sleeping ghosts. Luigi quietly tries to sneak past them ever so slightly making the littlest accidental noise. Unfortunately, just as he is about to open the doors to exit, he underestimates how loud the creak of the doors is, and it awakes the ghosts. They charge at Luigi who is terrified and sprints away, knocking over furniture and items in the process. He is chased throughout hallways meeting with devilish ghouls and boos. Luigi meets a dead end and tries his Poltergust 3000 and manages to make it work and suck one ghost up. The others become nervous and Luigi humbles them but becomes immediately flustered, unable to use it once more, giving the ghosts a free chance to attack. Luigi grows ever so angrily at this but manages to finally make it work and sucks up the remaining ghosts around him, albeit with some struggle. Luigi notices an odd purple aura around all of the ghosts, including the boos.

King Boo is in the master bedroom on the top floor, admiring how Luigi has managed to stay alive for so long. He also reveals that he has broken an ancient malevolent curse that surrounds the mansion. He broke it into 4 pieces, scattered across the mansion, once the curse broke, the once peaceful and non-violent ghosts became rageful and began to run amok, following the commands of King Boo.

Luigi continues to make his way throughout the mansion until he receives a call from E.Gadd regarding the odd effects of the curse on the mansion. He tells Luigi that the ghosts are usually not scary or looking for pain as they are just peacefully living in the afterlife. He gives the exposition of the so-called Dark Moon. In order to restore peace to the mansion's ghosts, he must find the pieces of the Dark Moon King Boo broke and combine them to shine its light over to stop the curse. Luigi becomes more determined to save the ghosts and his brother evermore. He begins to hear a faint Mario voice. He realizes it is him trying to connect his energy with him but is unable to. Luigi runs throughout the mansion trying to find him all the while sucking up any ghost he sees. Luigi finally finds King Boo's room empty. He immediately spots Mario in a frame trapped inside. He is about to head towards it but senses something is wrong and shouts for King Boo, who reveals himself admitting he is surprised Luigi didn't fall for the trap that lay just feet in front of him. He monologues to Luigi about gaining more power over the mansion and its ghosts ever since he broke the moon's curse. He continues on about how he plans to frame anyone and everyone who dares to enter the mansion weaponless. Luigi assures him that will not happen but before he could attempt to suck up King Boo, he reveals an onslaught of ghosts hiding behind pictures on the wall. They ambush Luigi, taking away the poltergust 3000 and throwing him in a dark room with no light. Luigi begs to be let out, pounding on the walls, on the verge of crying. He becomes powerless and begins to become saddened by the mere thought of never seeing his brother ever again. Luigi recollects the things Peach said to him before he left and how he said he will be fine and bring Mario back in one piece. Luigi becomes rageful and uses it to transfer over as energy for his firepower and punches his way out of the room. Luigi finds the poltergust 3000 thrown in the alley of nothing room, which luckily was just sitting in the front.

King Boo is in the middle of telling the ghosts where to find more victims around the kingdom. Luigi suddenly barges into the room and begins sucking up the ghosts and King Boo becomes shocked. He gets angry and tries to shock Luigi with large lightning bolts from his crown among clone himself to confuse Luigi. He doesn't fall for any of his tricks, hitting the real Boo every time. King Boo becomes angrier after every strike, and charges toward Luigi who immediately pulls out the poltergust and sucks in the king with all his might with his eyes beginning to glow green signifying his strength. Luigi succeeds in taking down the King and finds that the pieces of the Dark Moon have been kept hidden in a cage. Luigi sticks the pieces together and it combines to become the Dark Moon and shoots for the sky. The ghosts begin to regain their sanity and thank Luigi for his bravery and perseverance. The poltergust releases the trapped souls except for King Boo. Luigi grabs the frame containing Mario and heads back to E.Gadd who reveals he invented the machine to remove anything in a framed picture. Luigi puts Mario's picture inside the machine and it is a success, leading Mario to escape his painting prison. Luigi thanks the professor for his help but he thanks Luigi back as he reveals it was actually him that sent him the invitation letter. Once asked why he didn't just ask Luigi to come, he says he didn't want to frighten Luigi more than he needed to.

The bros return to the kingdom to a worried Peach who embraces them both with a hug. Squirt asks them if they saw any ghosts and Luigi replies that they're only legends, lost souls if anything. Suddenly, Rosalina comes out to tell the team some troubling news about the Moon. She uses the telescope her father gave her and she notices that there appears to be a secret base on the moon, alerting the team there is something going on and that the moon appears to be turning red.