A/N: Hello there! So... it's been a while again. I needed to clear my head and take a break after dealing with some personal things (typically work and online school). But I have returned to post a new chapter of Hotel Horror! Thank you all once again for being patient with me, and I appreciate the latest reviews, favorites, and follows while I was gone.

Up next is the Twisted Suites with the magician ghosts: Nikki, Lindsey, and Ginny. Since the game did not specify who is who, I changed a few details to distinguish each of the sisters based on how I portrayed them when I first encountered the trio. Without further ado, let's get right into the next act! (Special thanks to my friend, AzureStriker2014 – formerly known as Infinite's Ruby – for helping me decide on the chapter title.)

Disclaimer: Anything related to Mario or Luigi's Mansion belongs to Nintendo.

Chapter 29: Twist of Fate

~11F – Twisted Suites

Once the ghostbusting gang returned to the elevator, Peach let the new button fly out of her fingers. With the '11' button locked into place, the panel only had four empty spots left. Luigi and his friends could taste sweet revenge from within as they slowly approached the hotel's penthouse. For now, the green plumber tapped on the button, allowing the doors to close and for the lift to carry them up a level.

During the quiet ride, Peach and Daisy examined the layout and name of the upcoming floor. Labeled as the 'Twisted Suites', the princesses were intrigued by the complex layout. It wasn't as massive as the Garden Suites, Boilerworks, or Castle MacFrights. However, the myriad of rooms to explore was likely going to be a chore. The elevator was about to come to a stop until Peach heard some muffled noises.

"Hey, Daisy? Luigi?"

"Yes?" they both replied.

"Do you both hear some voices? Like... high-pitched ones?"

Luigi cupped a hand behind his ear as he tried to discern what Peach was referring to. "Maybe. It sounds very faint from here."

"Maybe we'll find out soon," said Daisy.

A magic wand stopped on the thirteenth tick mark of the elevator dial. When the doors opened, Colombo and Polterkitty were the first two to get a view of the lobby in front of them. The room was adorned in fancy, red décor with hanging drapes, chairs, chests, and other furniture. There were the other embellishments placed around the room. To their right was a standing stack of playing cards arranged into a pyramid. A standard, green and red die acted as a centerpiece on a wooden table. Tons of posters and picture frames were hung on the walls, too. However, the ghost animals were entranced by the floating objects near the middle of the room.

"Arf?" Colombo barked in confusion.

"What is it, boy?" Luigi wondered before his jaw was left wide open. He, Peach, and Daisy were stunned by the trio of top hats circling in midair. After a few more movements, the entities revealed themselves from underneath the headdresses. Three individual female ghosts appeared in an introductory fashion.

"Ta-da!" the ghost to the heroes' left appeared first. She was a blonde-haired girl with two short ponytails, a red top hat, and a matching tuxedo. The young magician also sported a light red cape from behind, a dark red tie, and a pair of white gloves. "My name's Ginny! While I'm the youngest, I'm considered to be the most agile magician you'll ever see!"

"Presto!" the one to their right showed up next. She also had blonde hair with a pair of ponytails, but they were longer than Ginny's. While she wore a similar outfit, her top hat, jacket, cape, and bowtie were all blue. "The name is Lindsey! Admire my long, opulent hair!"

"Shazam!" the ghoul in the middle materialized last. Her blonde hair was wrapped in a single ponytail while dressed in purple. "And I'm Nikki! The oldest sibling and arguably the best!"

From a distance, Lindsey quietly scoffed at her comment. Ginny giggled to herself.

"Did we just run into a circus or some knockoff talent show?" Daisy raised an eyebrow while she and the humans peered from within the elevator.

Nikki turned around and spotted the ghost hunters. Cackling to herself, she floated over to the doors and screamed out loud.

"WAH!" Luigi fell onto his butt in fright. Peach stumbled back and nearly tripped when she hit Luigi's legs. Daisy was barely fazed, but her heart started racing.

All three magicians couldn't help but chuckle at Luigi's reaction. Soon, Lindsey realized the purple kitten standing next to the Polterpup.

"Hmm? I wonder what Hellen's cat is doing here?"

"Huh... It's very odd to see her with the hotel guests. Then again, I don't really care what Hellen or her cat does at the top of the resort. At least she was able to give us a magic-themed area for us to practice our tricks!" exclaimed Nikki.

"Well, since they're here, why don't we put on a show for them?" suggested Ginny.

"I think we should, but how about they chase after us first?" snickered the elder sister. "Follow me, sisters!" Nikki proceeded to fly over to the adjacent room.

"Ugh, just because you're the oldest out of everyone doesn't mean you're the boss of us!" complained Lindsey as she hovered through the same wall.

"Oh, just ignore those two," Ginny replied to the heroes. "They tend to fight a few times, which is a recurring thing I've dealt with while growing up. But trust me, I'm pretty good at playing peacemaker, and we can get along really well! Catch you all on the flipside!" she waved her fingers before joining her siblings.

Daisy and Peach assisted Luigi by pulling his arms ups. Once he stood, he exited the elevator with his friends to examine the lobby. To his left was the room where the triplets entered. He figured it wasn't going to be easy to access it. Case in point, Luigi saw a welcoming mat by his feet, but he was also met with a fake door. Pulling the tarp off the wall, he discovered a hole in the wall.

"Can you look in there, Luigi?" asked Daisy.

"No, I was thinking about reaching my hand in there and grabbing the button from here. Then, some random object is going to slice my arm in half like it's a horror movie," Luigi replied.

"Geez, what's with the sarcasm?"

Luigi sighed. "Sorry. I'll take a peek."

Creeping near the aperture, he watched the three colored top hats revolving within the Wardrobe. At one point, the purple hat stopped momentarily, causing the one in blue to bump into it.

"Ugh! Nikki!" Lindsey growled.

"What?!" the ghost in purple responded.

"Did you have to stop in the middle of our hat trick?! I could've bent my nose because of you!"

"It was an accidental slip-up, Lindsey!" Nikki retorted.

"A slip-up? On what?! You're not running around on your legs, and we don't even have shoes or laces to trip on! You may be the oldest, but you're undoubtedly the clumsiest!"

"Clumsy?! If anything, you're the most irritating sister!" Nikki pressed a finger against the middle sister's torso.

"Oh, you think I'm irritating? There's a mirror right next to us! Take a good look over there, and tell me if you spot a clown!"

"Hilarious!" Nikki droned, crossing her arms. "Too bad your comedy act hasn't gone anywhere but the recycling bin!"

"Grr! Garden snake!"

"Horse breath!"

"Lindsey! Nikki! Enough!" Ginny appeared in the middle, extending her arms out to the sides. "Simmer down, would ya? You're clearly making an unnecessary commotion. Those people can easily hear you. Heck, they can probably hear you from the Boilerworks with how loud your voices are!"

"Ugh... I hate that place," Luigi whispered to himself.

"Hmph... Maybe if Nikki wasn't a spoiled brat, we can get along better," Lindsey grunted, folding her arms.

"Oh, be quiet, Linds," Nikki mentioned her nickname. "You're just jealous that you're the middle child."

"Right..." the blue-clad magician lowered an eyebrow. "That's the reason why my pants are in a twist."

"Um, I'm pretty sure the correct phrasing, 'Your panties are in a twist.' Having said that, however-"

"Shut up, Ginny! I don't need to be corrected on idioms!" Lindsey quickly disappeared, leaving her with just her blue top hat. She hurriedly vanished out of the Wardrobe.

"Oh, don't listen to her. She's just being her usual self as always," Nikki assured, patting her youngest sister's shoulder.

"I understand, Nikki. But sometimes, I wish we can hang out without any arguments, you know?"

"True, but even as a family, we can argue over the most trivial things. Eventually, we can forgive and forget. Now, come on! Let's get some more practice out of the way!"

The purple magician also retreated as the top hat teleported through the other wall. Ginny was skeptical, but she decided to listen to her words. Expressing a small smile, she spun around and copied her actions, leaving the Wardrobe as well.

"Hey! Look what I found!"

Luigi diverted from the hole in the wall, shifting around to find Peach taking down another fake tarp.

"At first, I thought I saw a standard bookcase here, but it was too flat from an angle. That's when I realized it was just a strip of wallpaper."

"Good eye, bestie!" Daisy winked. "I have a hunch there might be something hidden here."

Turning on her Dark-Light Device, she shined the light near the floor marking. Lo and behold, a doorway materialized after she sucked up the Spirit Balls.

"There's our way out!" Peach proclaimed. "I wonder what's in the next room."

"Hmm..." Luigi put on the Virtual Boo goggles. "According to the map, it's a place called the... Bladed Bedroom?"

"What kind of name is that?" Daisy was perplexed.

"I guess we'll find out when we enter inside," Luigi shrugged as he put the device away.

Peach turned the knob and went in first. With Daisy, Luigi, and the pets traversing from behind, they checked out the intimidating décor. The Bladed Bedroom had limited lighting as the only sources were the lights from either side of the bed, covered by the green lampshades. There was also a small lamp hovering over a desk in the far-left corner. However, the group became unsettled when they approached a large, rectangular box on a table. In the middle was a sharp saw that was wedged within.

"Oh! This is one of those illusionary, sawing boxes magicians use to convince people they can saw a person in half!" acknowledged Daisy. "I remember when I saw a trick like this when I was a kid. I was clearly gullible enough to think someone was able to stay alive from this kind of act!"

"Mamma Mia... Just the thought of it backfiring makes me sick to my stomach..." Luigi groaned.

"How could it backfire? You know the secret behind these things, right?"

"Well, yes. But still, being cut with a saw or having any sharp objects piercing through my body is frightening. Getting nearly impaled by those swords in Castle MacFrights was bad enough."

"Yeah, I guess I see your point." Daisy still hadn't forgotten about the part where he sacrificed his body, only to get perforated by an arrow in his kneecap. She couldn't blame him for being uncomfortable with aichmophobia.

Suddenly, Peach jumped when she noticed something strange. "Uh, is it just me, or did I see that saw move on its own?"

Colombo and Polterkitty cautiously walked over to the box and inspected it from where they stood. A few seconds later, they were also baffled when they saw the tool move ever so slightly.

"That can't be coming from the wind," Daisy quipped.

Following her comment, the saw proceeded to move back and forth until the teeth reached the bottom of the box. Out of nowhere, a pair of brown shoes jolted out of the left half, causing the pets to hop backward. From the right, a head emerged from the opening.

"Hey! What's the meaning behind this, huh?! Are you trying to kill me or something?!" a young boy shouted furiously at the heroes.

Luigi's eyes widened as he noticed the familiar face. The kid had teal skin, blonde hair, and a pair of green eyes. It was Henry... or was it Orville? He couldn't tell just from the head since the twins were similar by their physical traits. The main disparity was their colored attire, but he couldn't tell with just the boy's head protruding out of the box. His other concern falls from the shoes from the left half of the box. Ghosts don't wear shoes... Or do they?

Just then, his thought was soon answered when another ghost floated out of the box with his hands inside the pair of brown boots. Taking a good look at the other twin, Luigi noticed his red vest and light-yellow undershirt. The one controlling the shoes was Orville, flashing a cheeky smirk at the plumber. By that logic, Henry was in the right half of the sawed box. Luigi's intuition was correct as the twin with the purple vest joined his brother beside him.

"Hoo hoo! Why if it isn't the hide-and-seek cheater himself!" Henry spat at him.

"Whoa, you're right! I remember your big nose from anywhere! So, have you had the guts to cheat in other games as well?" teased Orville, hurling the shoes off his hands. Luigi shrieked and turned on the G-00 out of impulse, sucking them up into the container.

"Wow, you can't even properly defend yourself! Old habits die hard for you, I bet."

"Come on, Henry! How about we let this fool play another round, except we'll make it harder for him?"

"Hmm, I'm not really against it. But only if he doesn't swindle us again!" Henry poked a finger at his nose.

"Owie!" Luigi stepped backward, squeezing his eyes in slight pain.

"Hey! Keep your hands off of him!" Daisy held an arm in front of her partner.

"Oh, who's this?" Henry floated around the tomboy, inspecting her appearance. "Some knockoff beauty pageant queen?"

"What did you call me?!" Daisy was offended.

"Hey, Henry! Looks like there's another one of those dress-up girls! This one's got blonde hair and a frilly, pink outfit!" Orville grabbed the hem of her dress.

"Excuse me, but can you please not play with my dress?" Peach tried to be civil to the red-vested child.

"Let the record show that both Peach and I are actual royalty – princesses, to be exact! First and foremost-"

"Okay, listen here, Ms. Bossy Dress," Henry rudely cut Daisy off. "Just because you're bigger, older, and come from some royal family doesn't mean you can walk all over us like we're your peasants!"

"Henry, stop nagging already. Hey, hairy lip!" Orville went over to the man in green. "We're gonna play another game of hide-and-seek again! Simply find us like before, but make sure you aren't gonna dupe us like before!"

"But I never cheated-"

"LIAR!" Henry roared, making the man fall down. "We got our eyes on you!"

"Plus, if you thought it was cool to use some kind of method to find us, maybe we got a few tricks up our own sleeves to mess with your head," Orville snickered. "Let's ditch 'em, Henry!"

The twin brothers blew a raspberry at Luigi before vanishing through the northern wall. Disgusted by the ghosts' saliva, the plumber wiped his face with his glove. He was helped off the floor by Daisy and Peach once more.

"It seems pretty obvious you had quite an ordeal with those ghosts. What is it with you and kids trying to make you join the afterlife?"

"Daisy, I wasn't too satisfied when I had to trap them and many others in the Poltergust. I was only doing it so I could advance through the mansion and rescue Mario. This is what I've been doing since we got to this fraudulent hotel, too. I'm not going to be happy when I have to deal with them again. I already feel bad enough trapping Chauncey a second time."

"You mean the infant we saw back in the RIP Suites?" she recalled.

"Yes. They're ghosts, but they're also kids. It feels like... like I'm tormenting them cruelly."

"I understand how bad you feel, Luigi," Peach sympathized. "While most of the spirits seem to have some kind of evil nature to them, you can't help but think that they weren't like this before their lives got taken away."

"Morty and Clairvoya are two prime examples considering they haven't been influenced by King Boo and Hellen," Daisy brought up.

"Right. Yet with some of these ghosts being innocent children, they don't know any better at a young age. We can try to be courteous if we encounter them again. It goes for either the twin boys, the triplet sisters we met earlier, or anyone in general. Only if they act out of line, we should take some initiative. If they also try to fight with fire, we might have no choice but to take things up a notch. Needless to say, I'll feel terrible about it."

Peach's reasoning was somewhat viable to knock some sense into Luigi. The end goal wasn't to be mean or harmful to the apparitions he faced, although he can't take back the battles he endured or the damage he had left. It was almost similar to Mario's instances whenever he faced Bowser's Koopa army. His older sibling wasn't coldblooded nor heartless. He did anything in his power to rescue the princess and prevent the world from falling into a regime. That included physical combat. Even Luigi himself had his fair share of beating up Koopas and stomping on Goombas in those adventures.

"Come on," he urged. "We need to keep going."

"Oh, right. Where to next?" Peach wondered.

Before anyone could reply, they were stunned by another shrilling yelp. Luigi turned around and gasped at what floated in front of him. Colombo and Polterkitty were being held up in midair by the tails. The perpetrator slowly revealed himself, cackling out loud in front of the shocked humans.

"Reeheehee! I'm Boofuddler! You idiots were too distracted by those youngsters that you never bothered to find out who was the one who moved the saw! I did it on purpose to put you on edge! You should've seen the looks on your dumb, silly faces! Especially you, Green Loser!"

"Hey! Let them go!" Daisy demanded at the Boo.

"How about you sit back in the corner and watch my next trick instead? I'll make these ghosts disappear!"

"Don't!" Luigi stretched his arm out.

"Bibbidi-bobbidi-Boo!" To their surprise, Boofuddler raised his stubby arms up high. In a matter of seconds, both pets vanished from his possession.

"How's that for some twisted magic?!"

"Where did they go?" Peach implored for an answer.

"Somewhere far away that you'll never find out! Reeheehee!" Boofuddler chuckled evilly.

However, the gang heard a faint bark from nearby. Luigi glanced at the wall behind. Seconds later, Colombo hopped through the partition and jumped on the Boo, shoving the white ghost to the ground. Polterkitty sauntered in as well, rejoining the group as she sat near Daisy's legs.

"Ow! My aching head!"

"Wait a minute," Daisy narrowed her eyes. "You teleported Colombo and Polterkitty to the room adjacent to us? That was your magic trick?"

Boofuddler let out a guilty chuckle. "To be fair, I don't have a ton of magical abilities compared to my master or those little sisters residing on this floor. Now get this pooch off of me!"

"I don't think so, you con! Peach! Luigi! Help me out here!" she shouted while turning on the Dark-Light Device.

Both of them nodded as the Boo was stunned by the lights. Luigi grabbed the Polterpup off the Boo to give Peach an opening to attack. Once Boofuddler stuck his tongue out in exhaustion, the princess tugged on it with the hose, pulling it far away until she couldn't move back any further. She hurled the ghost over her head and slammed him repeatedly on the floor. Boofuddler shook his head after narrowly escaping. His next magic trick was plain and simple. Like his brethren, Boofuddler disappeared out of thin air – a very unoriginal ploy that didn't deserve any applause.

"He's got to be around here somewhere!" Peach searched.

Polterkitty noticed some strange movement near the three-tiered chest in the bottom-right corner. Suspicious, she guided the heroes to that area. Daisy was quick to follow the feline as she turned on her Dark-Light again. Another screech emitted from the Boo's mouth as he became blind from her flashlight. She called for Luigi after he placed his pet down. He hurried over and arrived the second Boofuddler was fully unveiled. He also tugged on his tongue and slammed the ghost until he was thwarted. Luigi accidentally opened the chest by whacking it, causing the compartments to open. A couple of swords flew out and nearly pierced him and the Boo.

"Yow! I guess I deserve this for my deception..." Boofuddler grumbled before tumbling into the G-00.

"Whew... Another one caught. You okay, boy?" Luigi crouched, enticing his dog to run over to him.

"Arf! Arf!" Colombo wasn't hurt in the slightest as he rushed over to him, jumping into his arms and licking his face happily.

"How about you?" Daisy kneeled down near Polterkitty. "That stupid Boo didn't injure you either, did he?"

Understanding the question, she simply shook her head, completely unharmed.

"Okay, good to know," Peach replied. "So, where should we go next? There are two doors in this room."

"Good question." Daisy took a moment to take out the Dual Scream, glimpsing at the map on the screen. "Well, the door up north takes us to some kind of L-shaped hallway. But there's a bathroom over there, which was where Polterkitty and Colombo were teleported. The bathroom will also take us up to the aforementioned hallway."

"That's what I see on my Virtual Boo map," Luigi commented with the goggles worn over his eyes.

"Well, if we want to explore every nook and cranny for some clues or if the elevator button is nearby, we might go into the bathroom. But if we really think those sisters or maybe the twin brothers have it, we can ignore it and move forward," Peach contemplated.

"Colombo and I can check the Suit Bathroom, according to the map. You girls and Polterkitty can go ahead into the Gallery to the north, and we'll meet you there before advancing."

"I think that's fair," Daisy nodded. "Let us know if you find anything!"

Luigi gave her a thumbs-up before he and his Polterpup entered the far-left room. Similarly, the place was dark aside from the moonlight barely peering through the glass window above the bathtub. At first, he was confused why it was called the Suit Bathroom. Shouldn't there be fancy tuxedos hung around or something?

However, Luigi quickly found out the answer when Colombo was sniffing a piece of cardboard on the ground. More specifically, it was a large playing card with a black club. The Polterpup also found one with a red diamond in the center. It clicked in Luigi's mind that the cards had suits on them, which nearly resembled the suit keys he, Daisy, Colombo, and Gooigi found in the Hotel Shops. While there was no trace of the elevator button, they noticed that collecting the cards lit up a piece of the ceiling lamp above their heads. After finding all eight of the red and black variety, the glass cover opened up, spewing out a handful of dollar bills and a beautiful white gem in the shape of a die block.

"Wow. It's not the button or any of the Boss Ghosts, but what a nice discovery! Good job!" Luigi smiled.

"Arf!" Colombo patted a paw on his owner's hand.

Meanwhile, the princesses scoured across the Gallery, the corridor north of the Bladed Bedroom. Peach pulled down a ball attached to a rope as she was curious it was part of a contraption. She jumped when she heard a loud crash from behind. When she thought it was a ghost, she was relieved that it was only a broken cage. Peach was entranced by the pearl, rolling out of the debris. Picking it up, she admired the glorious, white shine before storing it in her vacuum.

Daisy and Polterkitty checked the remainder of the hallway, peering under the table and chairs and behind the window's curtains. She pulled down a separate rope and discovered a safe behind a painting of a Goob. After calling for Peach, her friend complied as she charged her Strobulb at the blinking bulb. A ton of gold bars, dollar bills, and gold coins came out of the metal strongbox.

"Hmm... I should've seen that coming. Those boys probably wouldn't hide within a safe," Daisy frowned as she released the rope.

"And the girls we met are likely on the other side of the suites. But it's a total guess from me," Peach shrugged.

Luigi and Colombo came from the lavatory to reunite with the girls. "Any luck?" he inquired.

"Nope. No button, and no ghosts either," stated Daisy.

"At least we checked everything around here thoroughly. How about we continue up ahead?"

"I'm with you, bestie!"

The five of them headed over to a new room, the door creaking loudly as they entered. Their jaws dropped as they came across a new surprise. Fittingly known as the Inverted Bedroom, the team examined the perplexing layout that stood in front of them. What seemed to the floor felt like the ceiling as there was a large fan in the middle. Some of the furniture, rugs, and chairs were placed against the side walls. Even the large bed was hung against the northern wall. Yet nothing fell down. The entirety of the room made Luigi disoriented. Like, what exactly were the heroes standing on?

Then, Princess Peach heard some giggling near a coffee table. She was caught off guard when she found the triplet magicians resting in the lounge chairs, thinking they would be elsewhere instead.

"Oh, what do we have here?" Lindsey, the middle child, floated out of her seat. "I see you've made it to the most mind-boggling area of the Twisted Suites!"

"Most mind-boggling?" Daisy had an eyebrow upraised. "Despite the weird arrangements, I think the Garden Suites' Atrium has a run for its money. I mean, have you seen that freaky beanstalk as it tried to choke us to death?"

"You saw what?" Peach gazed at her friend with a quizzical, yet frightened, look.

"Lindsey, why not play another trick on them?" Ginny giggled.

"Yeah! Show them the ol' flip-a-roo! If you catch my drift," Nikki drew a circle with her fingers.

With a cheeky cackle, Lindsey smirked as she returned to the heroes. "You ready, everyone? Abracadabra!"

"What's going... Whoa!" Peach squealed.

Waving her magic wand in the air, Lindsey levitated the humans from their spots. Colombo barked out loud while standing on his hind legs. Polterkitty remained quiet, but she frankly didn't like the view of seeing Daisy standing upside-down from her vantage point.

Now, the plumber and the princesses were on the ceiling... which looked like the floor. But then the ghost animals who were on the floor which resembled a ceiling were standing normally... Or... wait a minute...

Regardless, a blue aura emitted from their figures as they stood on the opposite plane from where Colombo and Polterkitty remained. Ginny and Nikki chortled loudly before they escaped the Inverted Bedroom. Lindsey was the last one to leave as she taunted them with a wave of her fingers.

"Toodaloo! Hope you don't get lost or hit your heads on the ceiling! Oh, wait! My bad!" she waved her wand once more before leaving.

The magical aura was no longer present around them. Snapping back to reality, it took Luigi a second to soak in the current situation.

"Uh oh..."

Ope. There goes gravity.

"Ow!"

"Oh!"

"Oof!"

Luigi, Peach, and Daisy landed uncomfortably from the fall. The pets were worried and wondered if they were alright. Peach was a little sore, but she cheered up when the Polterpup gave her a lick on the face. Daisy groaned while Polterkitty snuggled close to the tomboy. Curling her trio of tails gently around her neck, the woman was content by the feline for her geniality – a recurring event since they trekked through the Boilerworks. Meanwhile, Luigi was lying on his back and rubbing a hand over his hat. His head bumped onto the floor pretty hard, nearly suffering from a concussion. It was sad to count how many times Luigi had fallen or gotten hurt since he checked in. He didn't want to know for the record, but he knew how much he has experienced thus far.

The worst part about it? He was still not done with his mission.

"Is everyone alright?" Peach asked.

"Just a little," Daisy replied with a low grunt. "How about you, Luigi?"

Taking a small breather, Luigi recovered from his migraine. The man nodded at his partner with confidence. "Kind of bruised at the moment, but don't worry. I'm fine."

Despite the hesitant answer, the Sarasaland princess didn't want to question him any longer. She was about to head through the next door, only to realize it was locked.

"Oh, great! Now what are we supposed to do?"

"Usually, we need to find a key. Yet I don't know where to begin in a place like this," Luigi scratched his temple.

"I assume we'll find it somewhere here. Or maybe there's a secret passage like the doorway leading to the Bladed Bedroom," Peach hypothesized.

"You honestly never know what to expect unless you search every nook and cranny! Plus, stuff out of the ordinary can reveal something unforeseen!" E. Gadd chimed in on the Virtual Boo.

"Ugh! Sometimes, you need to give me a warning before talking on the microphone unannounced. You nearly blasted my eardrums, Professor!" Luigi complained.

After checking through all of the furniture, Peach observed a large grandfather clock with a green bulb, equivalent to one on the safe she opened in the Gallery. "Hmm... I wonder what if this activates a secret section? Or maybe it's an unimportant knickknack?"

She charged her Strobulb and flashed the clock's light. Suddenly, the bed moved all the way to the right, followed by a random, loud thud. On the clock's face, a red dial was moving clockwise at a quick pace.

"Is there something hidden?" Daisy was at a loss.

"I better hurry if that clock is counting down from a timer," Luigi turned on his Dark-Light. From there, a hidden door was revealed, spewing out five Spirit Balls.

"Hey, Peach! Help me vacuum these!"

"Right! Oh, better watch out that we don't run into the spinning fan!" warned Peach.

The ladies watched their steps as they got rid of the paranormal bubbles. With the doorway uncovered, the heroes went into the Illusion Bathroom. The interior design was slightly different compared to the Suit Bathroom. But in the far-right corner, between the bathtub and the vanity sink, laid a large chest – begging to be opened.

"Ooh, I bet the key we need is in there!"

Before Peach could walk over, Luigi held an arm in front of her, pausing her footsteps.

"Luigi?"

He glanced at the Mushroom Kingdom ruler for a brief second, pressing a finger over his lips. Two seconds later, he tapped the green button on his Poltergust to summon the gooey man.

"I have a weird intuition. Don't ask how or why I feel this way. It's just this weird vibe that I'm feeling right now."

"Um, okay. If you say so."

"One more thing, if you don't mind. Please back me up immediately if I get eaten."

Gooigi took his time, tiptoeing towards the treasure chest. His prediction came true as it roared out loud and opened its lid. The possessed strongbox chomped on Gooigi, struggling to get the goo down its gullet. Peach recalled this exact scenario occurring down in the sewer passage of the Boilerworks. As she was now aware of what to do, she and Daisy hurried over to the chest, keeping their distance from its mouth. The latter shined the Dark-Light Device, freezing the case temporarily. Both princesses swiftly sucked up the Spirit Balls, rendering the chest nonliving. Luigi woke up from his body while Gooigi automatically returned to the empty tank.

"Whew. Thanks for taking care of that."

"Arf! Arf!"

"I'm glad you stopped me before I could try to open it. Otherwise, I could've left this place with a severed arm!" exclaimed Peach.

"Sweet! Here's the key!" Daisy dug it from within. "Let's return to the bedroom and unlock the door!"

However, as they returned to the Inverted Bedroom, the heroes were met with a new ghost. She was a little girl with blonde pigtails, light blue skin, green eyes, and a pink nightgown. The apparition didn't look similar to the magicians they ran into earlier. But to Luigi, her face was quite familiar.

"It's you again! Did you really have to move the bed and disrupt my beauty sleep?!" she caterwauled. "First, you sprayed water on me as if I made another accident on the sheets, and then you push me aside where I hit the wall?! Can't you be nice and not wake me up?!"

Abruptly, the young ghost raised her right hand and attempted to take a swing at Luigi. Then, she was blinded by Daisy's Strobulb.

"AHH! My eyes! Again, you're abusing me! What did I do to deserve this?!"

"Hear us out!" Peach pleaded. "We genuinely didn't know you were resting in this bedroom earlier. All we wanted was to find a key to advance further through the hotel."

"Exactly! Plus, we never saw you snoozing on the bed," Daisy reasoned with her. "How are we supposed to know?"

"None of your silly words matter! The point is, the rotten man with the ugly hairs on his lip woke me up again! I wanted nothing but to remain in slumber, yet he's here again to ruin everything!"

"Sue Pea, I'm truly sorry I disturbed you from your sleep. As I remember my first encounter with you, I probably should've left you alone."

"So then why did you bother to soak my bed?!"

"U-Uh..."

"That's it! I'm making sure you fall into a permanent sleep!"

Daisy refused to let the girl's words ring true. She stunned the light-blue ghoul twice and grabbed her by the tail of her Poltergust 5000. Instead of whacking her, Daisy continuously drained her health the normal way. Sue Pea let out a final cry before her entire body was trapped inside.

Letting out a deep exhale, she narrowed her eyes at Luigi. "You mind explaining the context on 'wetting the bed'?"

Luigi released a sigh of his own. "In the first mansion, I met Sue Pea in a disoriented bedroom like this one, where she was sleeping on a bed with everything upside-down. It turns out she's just a seven-year-old who had a bad tendency of making accidents while sleeping. Despite her being young, she was very threatening when she didn't want me to wake her up. Granted, I thought I needed to defeat her so I can restore the room and find another clue to Mario's whereabouts. Unfortunately, that wasn't how it panned out."

"You said she was seven?" Peach widened her eyes.

"Yeah..." the mustached man peered down at his pet who was eyeing him back. "Based on her lore, she apparently went to sleep one day and never woke up."

"Oh, heavens... I can only imagine how tragic that must've been. The same thing for the twin boys, as well as Nikki, Lindsey, and Ginny."

Daisy eased up on her anger a little. Nevertheless, she reminded her friends, "I don't want to sound rude here, but we might have to mourn for them at a later time. We got a ton of ground to cover moving forward, and Yellow Toad and Mario can't wait any longer to be free from their paintings."

As much as the truth hurt, Luigi thought she was right. Colombo barked twice before hopping through to the next room. Polterkitty softly meowed as she followed him. By then, Daisy unlocked the door, leading the gang into the Lounge. The large space displayed a fancy stage, a mini concession stand, and several tables and chairs set up for an audience. Each member started exploring for any traces of the button or the ghost children. Daisy noticed that the next door was also locked, much to her annoyance. Peach discovered a die block gem in green after triggering a similar timer mechanism. Luigi had trouble opening up the concession booth until he used a Burst. He snuck onto the stage and discovered a hole in the wall. Peeking through it, a golden key glowed brightly in front of his eyes.

"Guys! I found the next key! It's in the area north of us!"

"If we found a secret door to the Illusion Bathroom, we might have to find another to get in there," Daisy held a hand to her chin before bringing out the DS once more. "Looking at the map, there seem to be two rooms over there. In order to get to the Trainer's Bedroom, we need to somehow access the Water Tank Bathroom... whatever that entails. I mean, these small rectangles on the map always indicate an entryway to travel from one part of the floor to another."

"I wonder..." Peach trailed off as she stood in front of a vending machine. "Maybe this is blocking a door?"

"Based on the layout, it might make sense to check," Luigi nodded. Observing a smooth, circular icon on the glass window, he fired a plunger onto the surface. He told Peach to stand back before tugging on the rope. The vending machine collapsed, revealing a new door.

"Nice!" Daisy beamed. "That will definitely help us get to the next area!"

Inside the Water Tank Bathroom, the first thing they found was a large, glass case against the back wall with chains and locks attached around the outside and over the lid.

"Eerie..." Peach whispered.

Colombo sniffed around until he found another fake piece of wallpaper with a window and a rubber duck drawn on it. After Peach got rid of it, Daisy turned on her Dark-Light Device to expose the hidden door. However, the Spirit Balls transported through the floor.

"Hey! How are we supposed to get those?!"

Later, Gooigi was released from the Poltergust G-00 once again. "I got it, Daisy. Just gotta slide on through this grating."

"Be careful!" Peach told him.

His squishy form allowed him to drop into the vent with ease. Landing on a wooden platform, he was surrounded by water and some fish flopping all over the place.

"Yeesh. We got rats, snakes, and now live fish underneath the bathrooms? If this was a real hotel, I wouldn't even give Hellen three stars. I'd give her a failed health inspection and shut this place down immediately."

"Yo, Gooigi! What's taking so long?"

"Oops! Sorry, Daisy!"

He was back on track to vacuum up the paranormal orbs. Once he was finished, Gooigi returned to the tank while Luigi woke up. The door finally appeared for the team to access the Trainer's Bedroom. Daisy and Peach were flabbergasted at the floor. Tons of papers were scattered all over the carpet, accompanied by the crinkling sounds made by Polterkitty and Colombo as they ambled around the room. In the center was a circular stage with a key placed inside an open, golden birdcage.

"What a mess. Didn't you see this through the crack in the wall?" the woman in orange fixed her eyes at Luigi.

"To be honest, the key stood out more than the sheets."

"No worries, Luigi. How about we clean up this mess first so we don't accidentally trip on anything? We can grab the key in the cage afterward."

"Yipe!" Luigi jumped. He was cleaning up the papers near the far-left side of the chamber. Then, he got spooked by a random fish. It popped out from an open hole of a home aquarium. "I think this floor isn't dangerous compared to some of the previous levels. But it's kind of strange, for lack of a better term."

"No, I agree with you, Weege," mentioned Daisy. "Come on, let's grab this key and get out of here!"

"I can reach it! Just let me... Huh?"

Peach was interrupted when three purple Spirit Balls hovered around the cage. They dissolved into the key, causing the tool to shrink.

"Huh? Hey, wait a minute!" Luigi panicked.

"Arf! Arf!"

"Mrow?"

Moments later, in the key's place was a golden rabbit with glowing, pink eyes. Squeaking and twitching its nose, the small animal hopped out of the cage and started running around the stage.

"Ah! No, no, no! Get back here!" Luigi cried out as he started chasing the bunny.

"Hold on! I got him blocked!" Daisy stretched her arms out. However, she didn't expect the creature to jump right over her head. It even knocked her crown off her head. "Huh? Hey!"

Peach was the next to chase after the rabbit. But the tight space around the stage gave her less room to maneuver through. She accidentally bumped into Luigi, causing both to fall.

"Oh! Sorry!"

"Ooh... it's not your fault," Luigi groaned, his face planted against the carpet.

"Seriously, out of all things, why did the key transform into a rabbit?" Daisy snatched her crown and placed it back on her head.

"At least it wasn't a killer chest."

Because the bunny was too quick on its feet and outpaced the humans, the Polterpup challenged the golden animal with his own speed. Unfortunately, he was having just as much trouble as he was mere inches away from stopping the target. He skidded his feet as he nearly ran headfirst into a safe while the bunny kept hopping around, faster than Waluigi in a pogo stick race. Even Colombo became frustrated.

Then, the unexpected occurred yet again. Polterkitty hissed out loud, frightening the bunny. She wasn't the same as her evil panther form when she used to attack Luigi. The violet feline snarled, showing off her teeth and running after the golden mammal. Squeaking in fear, it bounced the opposite way from where it came from. Colombo recovered in time, however, so that he and Polterkitty cornered the rabbit. He carefully snagged it with his mouth and brought it over to Daisy.

"Arf!" his bark was muffled.

"If this works, then the key should go back to be inanimate."

As the rabbit gleamed from the Dark-Light, the purple Spirit Balls spewed out in front of her. She got each one caught in her Poltergust 5000 while the key landed on the floor.

"Wonderful! You recovered the key!" Peach smiled.

"Excellent job, you two!" Daisy crouched down to the dog and cat, petting their heads gently. Colombo panted happily while Polterkitty softly purred, her cheeks blushing.

Speaking of the cat, she watched Daisy and the others exit the bedroom, on their way to the next section of the Twisted Suites. Staying behind for a while, Polterkitty was starting to believe her actions towards helping the heroes have been beneficial for their end. Yet at the same time, she was receiving a pair of intrinsic rewards: praise and love. If only Hellen was caring enough like she once was before building her massive hotel...

Polterkitty could share those feelings with her owner. At this point though, she was aware of the current consequences for a long time. Eventually, the three-tailed kitten was bound to meet the wrath of King Boo and Hellen. But mostly from the latter.

"Ruff! Ruff!"

Polterkitty was deep in her trance until Luigi's Polterpup warped back into the Trainer's Bedroom. Colombo softly whined and tilted his head, frowning with concern. He wondered why she wasn't with the group. Uttering another meow, she shook her head and followed the ghostly pooch.

END OF CHAPTER

And... I'm finally done with this chapter! Do I get a cookie? No? Okay...

Seriously though, thanks again for waiting on this one. I think the Twisted Suites will mark the most appearances of Boss Ghosts, considering we already got to meet six of them, not counting Boofuddler. Those include Henry, Orville, and Sue Pea from the first mansion. Then, there's Nikki, Lindsey, and Ginny – the magician triplets.

Like I said in the introduction, I had to describe who was who aside from their hairstyles. Other than the colored outfits, I tried to give them different personalities. Honestly, I haven't read deep into Superfloxes' LM3 version for the sole reason of trying not to copy anything. I can only hope it's not similar because stealing ideas when someone else did it first is just not right. (So if you're reading this, Superfloxes, please let me know since you finished your story first.)

Anyway, sorry for the long outro. Since I'm still busy with work and school, alongside the fact that I want to return to New Brotherhood at some point, I'll have to see when I'll start Ch. 30. Until then, leave a favorite/follow if you're engaged with the plot so far! If you want to write a review, I would gladly appreciate any positive comment or constructive feedback. Take care, and I'll see you next time on Hotel Horror! This is TGN, signing off.