A Train to Catch

A Train to Catch, or E-3, is the third mission of the Treacherous Mansion in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon.

Overview
Professor E. Gadd tells Luigi that the Toads brought back a security image from the Treacherous Mansion. He says that there was something wrong with it, but he thinks he has fixed it. After noting that the image was taken only very recently, the two observe it. As soon as the picure appears, the first thing the pair see is the sack that the Boos have been carrying all around Evershade Valley with them. The sack has slipped down revealing what is inside; a painting of Mario, much like the paintings of Toads. They quickly recognise Mario and E. Gadd suggests that Luigi should save him. From the image, they also note that the room the image was taken in was the Train Exhibit and that one Boo stands out from the rest. When Luigi observes this Boo, it quickly turns around, laughs at the pair, and then glitches the image. When the picture fuzzes out, they recognize this Boo as King Boo, the master of illusions. E. Gadd suggests that King Boo has been pulling the strings the whole time, that he staged the security image, and then set the image so it would do what it did. He checks his Parascope and has found that it is picking up huge paranormal signals in the Train Exhibit. Hoping that Mario could help Luigi defeat King Boo, E. Gadd gives Luigi a rotor that will move the staircase in the Inner Courtyard and sends him to the Front Entrance.

When Luigi arrives at the Inner Courtyard, he fixes E. Gadd's makeshift rotor into the statue at the bottom of the staircase so now the staircase can be twisted around. E. Gadd calls Luigi using the Dual Scream straight after fitting it telling him to head for the Train Exhibit. Luigi has to blow on the new rotor with the Poltergust 5000 to make the staircase twist round so it leads to the East Corridor, where the Train Exhibit is. Luigi proceeds up the stairs and into the East Corridor. If Luigi falls for the trapdoor here, he will get ambushed by one Strong Greenie and two Creepers. Being as Luigi can only enter the Train Exhibit from the Study, he goes there.

While in the Study, Luigi can look through a crack in the wall to see into the Train Exhibit. He sees no activity. Once he goes to the east of the room, he can see a book on a table in the mirror, but not actually there, so he uses the Dark-Light Device to make it visible. Luigi picks up the book and takes it over to the bookcase covering the door to the Train Exhibit. When he puts the book in its place, it gets pushed back out by a yellow hand. Luigi cautiously peers into the hole where the book goes, but gets pushed back out by a Strong Poltergeist. The poltergeist takes the book and exits through the west side.

Shortly after, Luigi gets a call from E. Gadd. He explains that there is no possible way to get into the Train Exhibit without the book, so he tries to use the Parascope to locate the Poltergeist. As the parascope doesn't work very well in the Treacherous Mansion because of all the paranormal activity, E. Gadd can only say that the poltergeist is somewhere on the west side of the first floor, the floor that Luigi is currently on.

Before he goes to the west side, he goes into the Nautical Exhibit. Inside, he finds a Strong Slammer turning a wheel, which is spinning a compass on the floor and a portion of the back wall. Luigi can't stun the slammer as it is too misty in the room to use the Strobulb, so Luigi blows closed the vent that the mist is coming out of and then vaccuums up the mist. Luigi then captures the Strong Slammer and two Strong Greenies that appear. After Luigi has done this, he activates the room's E-Gate and uses the wheel to turn the compass to face north, which makes a portion of the wall flip around, placing the E-Gate in the Study. Luigi then makes his way back to the Inner Courtyard and spins the staircase halfway to get to the west side of the Treacherous Mansion.

When Luigi reaches the West Corridor, he fights three Creepers that were waiting for him. If Luigi looks in the Aviation Exhibit and pulls off one sandbag from the hot air balloon in the middle of the room, he can fight two Strong Greenies and one Strong Hider. If Luigi looks in the Archives, he can find one Gold Greenie. Luigi cannot find any trace of the poltergeist in the Aviation Exhibit or the Archives, so he looks on his map and sees that a door has been hidden. He uses his Dark-Light Device on an empty wall and a door appears. When he goes through the door, he enters the Space Exhibit.

The first thing Luigi does is activate the E-Gate in the rocket to the west of the room. When Luigi looks through the telescope in this room, he can see a planet with rocks surrounding it and the Strong Poltergeist with the book on top of the planet. Around the planet are smaller models of planets with models of moons orbiting them. In the background there is a bright, light blue star. When Luigi walks away from the telescope, he finds that he is on the orbiting rocks of the planet that he just looked at, thrown into a battle with the Strong Poltergeist. The Poltergeist will attack by throwing star-shaped rocks at Luigi, changing the rotation of the rocks so that they rotate the other way, and by throwing bombs and Beetles out of the middle of the planet. When Luigi defeats the Poltergeist, he reappears back in the Space Exhibit with the book. Luigi takes the book and goes through the E-Gate to the Front Entrance, then to the Study.

When Luigi places the book in the bookshelf, the entire shelf move under the floor, revealing the door to the Train Exhibit. Luigi enters the exhibit and gets ambushed by two Strong Hiders and one Strong Sneaker. He defeats these and investigates the room for Mario's painting. Luigi finds it in the miniature train model, shrunken, and surrounded by Boos of similar size. One Boo surprises Luigi, scaring him backwards. E. Gadd calls Luigi, asking if he found Mario. Luigi tells him that Mario is in the train model, and E. Gadd pixelates him back to the Bunker.

Back at the Bunker, E. Gadd reassures Luigi that they will get Mario back. He then explains to Luigi that inside the miniature train model where Mario is being kept, there is a tiny camera that he can hack into and send Luigi through. He hopes that this way, Luigi will ambush King Boo, grab the painting, and get out of there quickly.

Objectives
Mission Goal: ''Use the makeshift rotor to activate the stairwell in the Inner Courtyard. Then rush to the Train Exhibit and rescue Mario.''


 * Activate the stairwell in the Inner Courtyard.
 * Get to the Train Exhibit and look for Mario!
 * Find the Poltergeist and the book he took! / Find the Boffin and reclaim the book.

Boo location
With a Bulb from the Study, take it through the E-Gates to the Dark Age Exhibit, float to the top, grab a Gold Bulb and collect all the coins to make a treasure chest appear. The Boo is inside.

Description
''The Toad curators brought a security camera image back with them. Maybe it'll give us some clues about the next Dark Moon piece.''

Trivia

 * After completing this mission, all of Luigi's yells will change into variations of "Mario" permanently.