That security guard wasn't so bad. In fact, I find him more comical than scary, and I'm sure Luigi did, too.
Yeah. He was kinda like a ghostly Paul Blart, but you didn't hear that from me. Where are they going now?
The mezzanine, I think. A new area just opened up, and where there are new areas, there are new bosses holding those elevator buttons.
And those bosses will be more intimidating the higher up he goes. Thank God he's kept his skills sharp.
C'mon, guys—you know him. No mountain or valley will keep him from getting to us.
Amen.
Hear, hear.
…
Polterpup became an energy canister once he, Gooigi and Luigi reached the mezzanine. As soon as the elevator doors opened, he bounded around the corner to a door blocked by a hazard sign. This door also had the image of a fork and spoon on it, which meant that it had to be some sort of diner or kitchen. No wonder Polterpup was excited.
After Polterpup phased through the door, Luigi used the Suction Shot to yank the sign out of his way before opening the door and stepping inside. And there was the ghost puppy, noshing on some cheese. Laughing softly, the man in green ran over to his pet and gave him a few back rubs.
"I'll give you a few doggie treats later, okay?" he said.
"Arf!" Polterpup replied before leaping into the air and phasing through another door to what appeared to be a banquet hall.
"There must be something important in there," Luigi said to Gooigi. "We'd better get a move on."
They followed Polterpup inside the banquet hall, where they were assailed by the aromas of cheese, freshly baked bread and appetizers. These foods, along with a selection of meats, seafood and dessert, were arranged on a long table. Near that long table were several small tables, where a handful of Goobs were seated.
After picking up a breadstick, Polterpup happily trotted toward the kitchen. Turning off their flashlights, Luigi and Gooigi flattened themselves against the long table, attempting to sneak past the Goobs. Unfortunately, Luigi accidentally knocked over a bottle of olive oil, which shattered into pieces on the floor.
The man in green spat out a curse as the Goobs whirled around, arming themselves with breadsticks and cream puffs. One Goob let out a whistle, summoning more Goobs. Quickly, they surrounded Luigi and Gooigi.
"Well, here goes," said Luigi, charging up his Strobulb. Gooigi followed suit.
Together, they released the flash, stunning some nearby Goobs. Then, the duo began vacuuming them up, slamming them into other Goobs and several tables. They fought valiantly, but these Goobs were getting smarter, continuing to surround them in a pincer move. Before they could be overrun, however, Luigi remembered that burst of air, and he began utilizing it for some crowd control. Gooigi did so, as well, and it wasn't long before they gained the upper hand over the Goobs.
After subduing the last one, Luigi briefly leaned against the long table, gasping for breath. There was sugar and cream filling on his face from the desserts the Goobs had weaponized, as well as several more bruises from the punches they'd thrown at him, but there were no serious injuries. As he regained his wind, he began licking the remnants of cream puff off his face.
"Why did they have to waste such expensive dessert?" he asked.
"I know, right?" chuckled Gooigi as he, too, licked away the dessert. "Are you…?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just bruised up a bit." Luigi brushed the sugar out of his hair and smiled at his clone.
With his thumb, Gooigi wiped the last bit of cream filling from Luigi's cheek and popped it into his mouth. "You sure?" he asked softly.
"I'm sure."
His nose then caught the stench of burning food, and he turned to see black smoke pouring from the kitchen. He also heard a baritone voice singing from within.
"That's one irresponsible chef," opined Gooigi.
"Let's get in there before he burns down the d—n place," added Luigi.
They pushed through the double doors into the kitchen, where the smoke threatened to obscure their vision. Luigi turned his vacuum on the stove, where the smoke was at its thickest, and began to vacuum it up. Gooigi moved to the other side of the kitchen and joined in. Gradually, the smoke cleared away to reveal a ghostly chef with a moustache, sporting a white smock and hat with the name "Soulffle" scrawled across the brim.
Soulffle continued singing to himself as he grilled some fish on a pan. He held the pan toward his nose to take a sniff of his handy work before resuming his cooking. Then, he seemed to realize that he was no longer alone and raised his head to meet Luigi and Gooigi's gazes.
"I'm sorry, sir," said Soulffle, with a slight French accent, "but there are no guests allowed in the kitchen. Feel free to seat yourself at a table outside, and I'm sure that a waiter will be with you shortly."
"I could smell something burning in here," Luigi explained, "and I saw the smoke outside. I figured I could help."
Soulffle frowned. "There was a fire?"
"No, I think some food was burning. Just—just be mindful of your grill, okay?"
"What is this, cooking school?" Soulffle's left eye started to twitch. "Are you insulting my cooking talents?"
"I'm not insulting your cooking talents—I'm just telling you to keep and eye on your grill and your stove, because you were very close to starting a grease fire. If I hadn't shown up, then you would've burned down the hotel."
Soulffle chucked the still-cooking fish at Luigi, who reflexively caught it in his vacuum's nozzle and sent it off-course. "Who are you to tell me how to run my kitchen?!" the chef ghost barked. "Are you a chef?!"
"Look, buddy—I don't want any trouble, all right?" said Luigi, raising his vacuum and retreating two paces.
Soulffle just laughed and brandished a frying pan. "I'll show you how I run things around here!" he crowed. "Let's hope you can stand the heat, little green man!"
He lunged at Luigi, swinging his frying pan, but the man in green dove out of the way.
"We gotta knock that frying pan away!" he shouted to Gooigi. "Otherwise, we can't nail him with the Strobulb!"
"There's lots of pumpkins and watermelons in here!" Gooigi shouted back, the two of them now dodging Soulffle's fish and frying pan strikes. "We can try throwing that at him!"
"Good eye, Gooigi!" As he spoke, Luigi suctioned the first piece of fruit he saw, lined up his shot, and fired it at Soulffle. As Gooigi predicted, the impact jarred the frying pan out of the ghost's hand.
"Let's get cooking!" Luigi cried as he stunned Soulffle, slamming the ghostly chef all over his beloved kitchen.
Soulffle broke free, glaring at Luigi. "Is that all you've got?" he asked.
"Oh, don't worry—there's more," said Luigi, brandishing the Poltergust.
The large chef ghost snatched up his frying pan and went back on the attack, trying to bludgeon both Luigi and Gooigi. And again, the duo dodged about the kitchen, looking for a watermelon or a pumpkin to launch at their opponent, which would give them an opening. Luigi wound up taking hits from the frying pan, and those hits made his ears ring, but he was never down for long. And Gooigi was always there to pick up the slack.
"I've got this one, L!" Gooigi sang out, sending a pumpkin into Soulffle's frying pan and knocking it away. In the next second, his flesh-and-blood counterpart had the ghostly chef back in the suction, slamming him into the sink, countertop, refrigerator, deep freeze and stove.
"You've just moved from the frying pan into the fire!" roared Soulffle when he broke free.
Luigi flicked some sweat from his forehead. "Thanks for the warning," he said.
So, it went on like this for a few minutes. Evading the frying pan, launching the fruit and stunning Soulffle. It took three more tries for Luigi to finally get the ghostly chef into the Poltergust. By then, his midsection throbbed and his sides ached—but it was totally worth it.
Several fish sputtered out of the Poltergust's nozzle upon Soulffle's capture, followed by another elevator button. Breathing hard, Luigi leaned against the sink, laughing quietly.
"I did it," he panted. "I did it."
Polterpup arrived on the scene, saw his master with an arm wrapped around his middle and one hand braced on the sink, and automatically assumed the worst. Barking wildly, he rushed over, stood on his hind legs and placed his front paws on Luigi's knee, staring hugely at him.
"It's not that bad, puppy," said Luigi, but Polterpup wasn't convinced, and neither was Gooigi.
"J—s!" cried the gooey ghost hunter. "I'm gonna get you some ice!"
Gently, Polterpup nuzzled his master's abdomen, stopping instantly when he heard him hiss slightly in pain. Polterpup saw Luigi's eyes clouding over and his brow wrinkling, and a whimper escaped the ghost dog.
"I—I'm fine. Really," Luigi said, but his voice was a bit strained.
Polterpup looked over and saw the frying pan, laying there on the floor. And it was a huge frying pan, too. With a growl, the puppy pounced on Soulffle's dropped weapon, trying to maul it. But the cookware was sterling steel, and Polterpup's canines hadn't fully developed.
"Hey—the guy responsible is in here," Luigi said softly, tapping the side of the Poltergust. But that little fact didn't make things any better in Polterpup's eyes.
Meanwhile, Gooigi used his own Poltergust to place some ice chunks on a rag. Then, he wrapped up the rag and carried it over to Luigi.
Luigi huffed. "Seriously?"
However, he sat on a table next to the sink, unbuttoned his overalls and lifted his shirt. Polterpup started a new round of frenzied barking when he saw the deep purple and deep blue swirls on his master's torso.
"Okay, Luigi," Gooigi said comfortingly. "Okay." He pressed the makeshift cold compress onto the injured areas.
"Just don't touch the ice," murmured Luigi.
"It's just open water I'm vulnerable to," said Gooigi. "Open water and open flame."
The ice did its work, dulling the pain. But Luigi bit his lip and stared into space, the anxiety swirling like an approaching storm. He wanted to resume his trek through this haunted hotel more than anything.
"Luigi?" Gooigi spoke up.
"Yeah?"
"We'll get them back," said Gooigi, staring into Luigi's eyes. "I promise."
He has the loveliest blue eyes, thought the gooey humanoid.
"Okay," Luigi said quietly.
Finally, Gooigi pulled away the ice pack, and Luigi pulled down his shirt and rebuttoned his coveralls. Just as he reached for the elevator button, however, a mouse ran over, took the button in its jaws, swallowed it whole and scurried off!
"Hey!" shouted Luigi, chasing the mouse into the banquet hall.
The mouse dove into a nearby mouse hole, but luckily, there was a platter of cheese on the table. Using a slice, Luigi lured the mouse out of the hole, and as it was chowing down on its favorite food, he sneaked up on it and stunned it into submission, recovering the button.
"Okay," said Luigi, picking up the button. "Now to…"
He was cut off as another mouse grabbed the button and ate it.
"You gotta be s—ing me," he said as he took off after the fleeing mouse.
He, Gooigi and Polterpup followed the mouse into a billiards room, where they saw it squeeze between some shelves.
Just as Luigi tiptoed toward the mouse's hiding place, a cue ball sailed past his head, followed by another. He spun around and found himself face-to-face with some slim, gold-colored ghosts. And they did not look happy.
"Oh, boy," said Luigi.
The ghosts began tossing cue balls at Luigi, some of which connected with his still-aching midsection. Finally, he stunned one of the ghosts and began slamming them against the pool table, sending the remaining cue balls into the various holes. Once the ghost was captured, the other ghost was nowhere to be found—until they popped out of hiding to launch more cue balls at him!
"They remind me of those Hiders," he mused when he'd defeated all of the ghosts, "and they look alike. Maybe I'll call them—Oozers."
Using his Suction Shot, Luigi uncovered the mouse's hiding place, chasing it into one of the bathrooms. He didn't see a mouse hole, so he guessed that the mouse was hiding in one of the stalls. Again, he used the Suction Shot to rip away the stall doors. And when he ripped away the stall doors, he was greeted with a pile of mice on the toilet.
He almost puked on the spot.
The mice leaped off the toilet and surrounded Luigi, who regained his composure and easily vacuumed up all of them. When he was finished, the elevator button popped out of the nozzle.
"Yeah!" he cheered. "Got it!"
He took out a handkerchief and wiped off the button before picking it up and pocketing it. "Moving on," he said as he exited the bathroom.
Before leaving the dining area, Gooigi, Luigi and Polterpup searched it for valuable treasure and gems. Then, they headed back to the elevator, where the new button fitted itself into place.
"Luigi, you're doing a great job!" said Gadd. "Why don't you make your way back to the Lab? There's something I need to tell you."
Luigi sighed. "Okay," he said.
"See you soon!" Gadd said cheerfully.
"See ya," said Luigi as he smacked the B1 button.
This had better be quick…
Please R&R.